Catch up time and American Candy

After my long absence, this could take a while! Firstly, thank you for the good wishes sent to both Heather, Graham and myself which have been much appreciated. As a family we've been, and still are, going through the mill but are trying to carry on as normally as possible through difficult times. I don't want to dwell on bad times here though....just wanted to say thank you for positive wishes and prayers that have been sent.

So, onto other things and I have lots of pictures to share, but I think I'll post some of them another time or I'll be here all night! Most of you will know that it was the big Personal Impressions/Ranger event this last week, and, one of the great things about designing for and working with PI is that I get to attend all of these "do's"! I travelled down to Coventry on Tuesday with my friend and colleague, Jan, where we met up with Jayne and Kathy from PI and, of course, Tim, Mario and Alain from Ranger as well as Dyan, Caz and Ben. Here's Dyan, Mario, Leslie (our latest PI demonstrator), Tim and Jan.

Everything was just about ready for the next day which was going to be an all day techniques workshop for retailers. There were also tables groaning under the weight of Ranger goodies in the "pop up" shop. The room looked great - the Ranger team do such a grand job of organising kits that it makes setting up so much easier.....

It was a very airy room too, lots of good, natural light and french windows opening onto a balcony with stunning views of the landscaping around the hotel.....

 We're usually here during Stitches trade show in February, when it's normally frosty, foggy or pitch dark, so it was nice to see the surroundings in glorious sunshine for once! In the evening we went for a fabulous meal at our favourite local restaurant where they have a Chinese and Indian buffet as well as an area where you can pick any meats, fish and veg etc that you fancy and have it cooked right in front of you. On leaving, it's traditional to rub the Buddha's tummy....

 .....hate this pic of me, but, of course, Tim is his usual photogenic self! Then, after a quick drink back at the hotel it was time for a reasonably early night ahead of the busy day to come.
Lots of people arriving early on Wednesday morning, eager to find a good spot!

 And here is the kit that was in front of my spot.....

 ....we all had the same kit, but with different colours so that we could swap and share throughout the day. We were all kept really busy making tags with different techniques that we can refer to at any time - we all had numbered labels with instructions of the techniques used to stick to the reverse of each tag.
Tim is a natural teacher - keeping the pace steady and quite fast (no time to spend dithering about choosing options!) and injecting humour into the proceedings of course.

 

Having the big screen was a big help for everyone. We ended the afternoon with an hour of Dyan teaching techniques with her fabulous ink sprays....

Sorry about the rather blurry image here!

My sister Heather arrived in the afternoon - we had arranged for her to share my room that night and then do the morning workshop next day. 

Another busy day dawned and this time it was two sessions working on a tag book project with Tim. I was lucky enough to be doing the afternoon session but, in the morning, I was kept busy acting as price finder, personal shopper, photographer, drinks fetcher etc etc! We had a great system whereby anyone could raise their hand and one of us would write down what they wanted and then go and add it to their shopping bag.

Here's the morning session underway...you can see Heather right near the front as I got her a good spot!!!

 ....and Heather, alongside our friend Chris, both concentrating very hard on their projects....

 ....."personal shopping anyone?"......I really enjoyed myself running around and taking orders for ink pads, stamps, stains and Idea-ology treasures!

 After the morning workshop there was time for everyone to do even more shopping! Monica and I were kept very busy checking prices and finding things for everyone. Heather's in the background waiting to say goodbye before catching the train home. Another blurry picture I'm afraid!

 Here's me with Chris, Heather and Tim - I think everyone was having a good time....Lol!

After the busy morning there was time for a quick bite, then it was back to getting everything tidied and set up again for the afternoon session and more excited ladies (and some men!). I was really glad to sit down and get stuck into making the fabulous tag book Here are some pages in progress....... 

 Each session had a raffle prize and here's the lucky winner in the afternoon collecting her bag of goodies.

Everyone also received a signed copy of Tim's second book, an apron and a "can't buy these anywhere" bag - all this plus the contents of the kits that each person had used in the workshop. Brilliant!
A really wonderful few days in great company, learning more about new products and having a whale of a time altogether! It was a real boost for Heather and myself.

Well, now onto the "American Candy" part of my post title! As I was on two workshops, I received two bags and two aprons.....so.....I am giving away a Tim Holtz Idea-ology apron, a photo card of Tim and a signed messenger style bag! 

Woo hoo! To have a chance to win this great candy, just leave a comment on this particular post between now and September 17th (it's a Tuesday). I will use a number generator to choose a winner on Wednesday 18th September, so be sure to come back and check if you've won - you have no idea how many times people forget to check! If you can add a link from your blog to here that would be even more appreciated. Good luck all!
I shall be back to post about other things, including where I'm going to be demonstrating and teaching, very soon, but, meanwhile, don't forget...you have to be in it to win it!

Just a quick sign in...

Thanks for the messages that I've had this last week asking if all is well after my absence from my blog. This is just a quick few words to say "I'm still here!", and I'll try to do a more interesting, longer post before too long.

I won't go into all the details, but mum has been really poorly, my brother in law is very ill and my sister, Heather, is struggling with a sciatic type of pain that's kept her immobile over the last few weeks. It's all meant extra time being spent using the buses to get about, make visits etc, as well as trying to catch up with all my work so blogging has just taken a back seat for the time being.

I do have lots of photos to share from the last week or two though, so I will try to spend a decent amount of time on here very soon. I will be replying to emails soon too - I promise!

A mixed bag of a week

It's been a week of opposites really....hot one moment, pouring down the next, garden beds looking weed free and back to being covered with unwanted green invaders the next day, ideas that turned out well and others that were not so great etc etc. Keeps things interesting I suppose!

Thursday evening was spent at the local C of E school, which is the meeting place for the "Poulton Pearls" WI group. I know that the WI still seem to carry this connotation of older ladies who make jam and bake cakes all day, but it really isn't like that! There are a real mixed group of people at the monthly meetings and interesting talks on all sorts of subjects. Well, on Thursday it was my turn to "entertain and inform" for the evening! 

I trolleyed a bag full of my card, canvas and tag samples as well as some of my paintings and jewellery and set up a display before everyone came into the hall. I hadn't really prepared my talk (some of the ladies may well have thought that was obvious!) so I just related a bit about how I came to be doing what I now do in my work as well as passing around some examples for closer perusal.

Then we set about making a card each - I chose the frame fold that I used on my Fluffy Owl card that I made for the demonstration at Coleman's Craft Warehouse a few weeks ago. Anything too messy or inky wasn't really an option! The ladies had great fun choosing brads, papers, ribbons and elements to pop on to the front of their cards.

  Busy planning and sticking....

 ....the evening was rounded off with an arty crafty quiz with a prize of one of my little folksy angel paintings.

A really fun evening!

I've been busy over the last couple of days getting my samples made up for my trip to Durham on Thursday where I'm teaching an evening workshop. I also had a bit of a tidy up (!) though everywhere still looks like a tornado has swept through the house!

I did, however, make an effort to sort and clean one of the kitchen cupboards that has been niggling away at me for a while now. You know what it's like when the pepper spills out a bit, the soy sauce bottle leaves little rings under it and the half used stock cubes spill out and go syrupy....no? Okay, just me then! Anyway, I made use of waiting time in the kitchen (more of that in a moment!) to give the cupboard a thorough blitz - threw out most of the contents that were well past their sell by dates and then cleaned everything else and cut up some cat food boxes to make trays to keep jars and bottles neatly organised. It's lovely - no more dreading opening that particular cupboard!

On Friday I decided to use the courgette that I'd somehow missed and had grown into a marrow!

 Yes, that is a full sized dinner plate that it's sitting on! It was one of those evenings where the fridge was almost bare, so I checked out a few recipes for vegetarian stuffed marrow and set about it. Split in half and scooped out this monster would only just fit into the roasting pan! After forty minutes it was just barely soft and I'd made a risotto type filling with onions, my last few green beans, some cherry tomatoes and rice - all flavoured with a hearty vegetable stock. Back into the oven (hence all the time to clean the cupboard!) and I grated the last of my cheese with some stale bread to make a gratin to top it with for the final baking period.

Here's how it looked after about two hours in total!

 I was quite chuffed and looking forward to getting a good few meals from it. I sat down with my first portion and......it was vile!!! Really unpleasant, dry and tasteless - the whole lot went into the bin I'm afraid, as it was so awful that it made me feel slightly queasy! I ended up having a bowl of muesli for dinner instead! Oh well, you can't win them all!

Once I post this I am heading to the kitchen to cook a veggie curry. Courgettes will be featuring again as I have quite a few ready for cutting. My neighbour popped over this afternoon though and gave me some butternut squash and sweet potatoes, so the squash will add a nice sweetness to tonight's concoction. Hopefully this meal will restore my faith in my cooking abilities!

All this veggie food has been helping with my healthy diet though, and I've lost about half a stone over the last five weeks, so am really pleased about that. I'm not "dieting", just eating healthily, and it is definitely paying benefits.

Well, I'd better go and get that curry sorted now as I am going to watch the Dr Who live special to see who the new incarnation will be. I haven't really watched much since Mr Tennant left, but it's always interesting to see the transformation to the new Doctor. If it's a woman I shan't bother watching again! I'm all for equality, but some things are meant to be male roles as far as I'm concerned!

I'll share some more Christmassy samples next time, but for now, cheerio and hope everyone had a great weekend. 
PS Just popped back to say the veggie curry was delicious!

Magazines

Just a quick post this morning while I have my cuppa. I've been clearing away my drawing and colouring pens after my Zentangling spree....I could hardly see the table for pens! I don't know about you, but I sometimes reach the point where my untidy mess just goes beyond the pale and I can't do anything until I've had a bit of a tidy up. My Doo Lally room is still very messy, but I have put away most of the things that I know I won't need to use today. There's definitely a big clear up on the cards though!

Anyway, thanks to Chris for a heads up in the comment she left after my last night's post. I did a couple of magazine projects recently and, although I knew that the Crafts Beautiful one was in the current issue, I didn't know that the September issue of Craft Stamper was out yet. That sounds rather scary doesn't it? The "September" issue.....crikey!

I created a set of a canvas, card and tag for CB using the Anthem Collection from Bo Bunny. Here's a sneaky peek.....

 .....needless to say the magazine have photographed everything beautifully and my picture does not really compare in any way! The Anthem collection was really lovely to work with, gorgeous shades of red, blue and a sort of weathered white which gives a shabby chic feel.

As I haven't seen the feature in Craft Stamper magazine yet, I won't post any pictures until I see exactly what has been included, but it does feature my Doo Lally Pip characters. Thanks for the info Chris!

Well, I'd better drain my mug and get cracking now. I have to sort out papers, brads etc for my WI evening on Thursday....I wrote the quiz questions last night so all I need to worry about now is what I'm actually going to talk about at the start of the evening - think I'll just do it off the cuff!

Once I've sorted Thursday's materials out I'll be back to making Christmas samples again - just what I need too as it looks like, after all the rain yesterday, it's going to get pretty warm again today...my thermometers are pushing 21 degrees already and it's only just past 8am!

Visitors

Well, one visitor really. My auntie came down from Scotland to stay with me for a few days, hence my absence from Blogland all this week. It was mum's birthday on Wednesday, so we spent most of the day with her and she had a lovely time eating cupcakes and sweeties....mum's favourite things!

I've been trying to fit work in around being a hostess, but I never find it easy to be creative unless I can properly concentrate on what I'm doing. I have two events coming up though, so have been planning those, as well as finishing some pieces for my Etsy shop.

This coming Thursday I am the guest speaker at the local WI meeting! I'm going to be giving a talk about the kinds of things that I do, a few stories from my travels around the country, followed by a simple card making session and then a short quiz to finish things off. I hope the ladies enjoy it!

The following Thursday I'll be at Crafty-Nook in Durham teaching an evening workshop for around twenty five ladies, so that will be a fun night I'm sure.

I've been making good use of my arty birthday gifts and have been inspired to do some Zentangling which I haven't done for a long time.....I used to love spending hours on detailed "doodles" when I was a teenager! Anyway, I decided to draw some owls - well, two actually! Once I'd drawn them I filled them in with lots of different Zentangle designs and then came the difficult decision....to keep the drawing black and white...or...to add colour? No going back once a decision to start colouring was made, so I just decided to go for it and was pleased that I did......

 .....I was really happy with the vibrant results using my ultra fine coloured ink pens. Once I'd coloured the owls I painted the moon with matte Glue n Seal and made a wavy frame mask so that I could blend some subtle blue ink over the background...I was then able to remove the ink from the moon to leave it white again. I added a wavy border with a fine black pen and coloured some areas of it to match the owls.

This piece was going to go onto my Etsy shop but it was snapped up before it made it onto there! I have since created another Zentangled owl picture which I have added to my shop though, as well as this painting that I've called "Meadow Poppies"......

 ......I used my new Inktense watercolours for this one. They are lovely to work with, with very strong pigments that allow for all sorts of techniques.

Last night I was out at a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for two friends from church. It was a lovely change to be at a party, although the fact that the music from the time of their wedding was 60's music gave pause for thought......surely the sixties can't be fifty years ago?! I had made a simple card for them using a Martha Stewart PATP heart punch, some My Mind's Eye paper, a Sizzix die for the numbers and a little hand written message. Very simple but they liked it!

 It had been another hot day but, thankfully, I'd heeded the weather forecast and taken my brolly with me as the heavens opened and I had to walk home (or should I say "squelch home") in torrential rain. Still, it was very refreshing after the muggy day!

After church and then coffee at the church hall, I just got home before the rains came again today and then I sat down to do some more Zentangling. This time I decided on mushrooms - or toadstools if you prefer...they are the same thing anyway! This was my drawing once I'd filled in with various patterns....

 ....I think mushrooms really lend themselves to this style. I've now started to colour the design and this is the point that I'm up to as of tonight.....

 ......I really do like the monochrome look, but I have always been drawn (ouch!) to colours. Even as a little girl I used to carefully colour in the illustrations in my Enid Blyton books....I did do them very carefully!

The mushroom drawing will go into my Etsy shop once it's finished and put into a mount.

Well, I think I had better sign off now as it very nearly tomorrow! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and apologies to anyone that I owe an email to - I will be catching up with everything as soon as possible.

Thoughts of snow

Thinking of snow has been a help over these past few very hot days. Thankfully it's been a little fresher here this afternoon, with a subtle breeze wafting through the open doors and cooling things down a little.

Anyway, back to the snow. I have a couple of snowmen cards to share today though they are two quite different characters. This first one is from my Doo Lally Pip Steampunk Snowmen set and I've used a decorative aperture card for a change.

 I distress inked the sky using a scrap of paper to mask off the snow line, then stamped a few simple trees from my Winter Silhouettes set. A couple more layers of scrap card edged with a touch of Tumbled Glass ink created a bit more depth to the scene.

I stamped, coloured and cut out the snowman before coating him with Rock Candy distress glitter - it's much less glitzy than everyday glitter, more of a vintage look.

I stuck him down quite loosely so that his stove pipe hat was slightly above the background.

The second card features a completely different style of snowman, one with a very friendly face! This one is from my Snowtime Snowmen set. I've teamed him with a great Sizzix die, one of Tim's Bigz dies called Holiday Lamp Post, which I cut from black Kraft Core card so I could sand it back for a slightly worn look.

 To give the lamp post a more rounded out appearance, I used a black pen to draw lines where the shadows would be. I also cut a piece of white card to fit behind the lamp which I inked to match the background sky before streaking some oranges and reds into the centre. I stuck a piece of acetate behind the lamp followed by the inked card to give a nice glowing light.

I've also added some white Gesso and I may well add some to the holly...not quite decided yet!

Due to those twiggy arms, I've stamped the snowman directly onto the card using Coffee Archival ink and then again onto white card ready for colouring. The hat and scarf were stamped onto decorative paper which I shaded a little before assembling everything. The robin and little nest were also coloured and cut out a second time before sticking down.

Well, hope you like my little touch of Winter on another very warm day! The eagle eyed among you may also spot some of my ubiquitous bleached out fir trees in the background too....well, it's got to be done!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

 

That was the day that was...

...and if the allusion to TWTWTW means nothing to you, then you're younger than me! Up here in the North West we have a level 3 heatwave alert and it's been truly unbearable today. I have little digital thermometers in various rooms in the house, and even in the shadiest rooms they were registering 27 degrees. As for the ones in the conservatory and kitchen, it was so hot that the displays had completely packed up! 

I woke really early today so I got up and opened all the doors to get some air flowing and let my two terrors out, although, being animals they are sensible about the heat and tend to spend most of their time asleep in shady spots. 
It being my birthday, once I'd brewed some fruit tea, I listened to Mario Lanza. David and I always began both our birthdays this way, starting with our song, "Because". David would always join in and serenade me with his beautiful tenor voice whilst I snuggled into his arms...hearing a tenor voice is one thing, but to feel it right next to you is something else.
Needless to say it was bitter sweet to listen to Mario on my own this morning and I did shed more than a few tears. "Serenade" was another favourite song, this one from the film The Student Prince, which featured Mario Lanza's voice although the part was acted on screen by Edmund Perdom. I found this You Tube video to share here - some of the pictures are an odd choice, but the song and the singing are out of this world....

.....despite the tears, this was a beautiful way to start the day.
It was always going to be a rather unusual birthday as I had to perform Verger duties at a funeral at lunchtime which rather split the day down the middle. Heather had been thinking we might take a trip to the zoo, but we've shelved that till the weather cools down a bit. She came round this morning instead and gave me some scrumptious gifts including some Inktense sets. I've been wanting to use their pencils or blocks for ages now, so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into using them. I think the blocks will be great for making backgrounds especially...and there are two layers of gorgeous colours in the tin!
Heather had also created something special for me, although she was convinced it was "rubbish"! I think that my reaction convinced her otherwise...it's a beautiful canvas....

.....the words "Wherever there are birds there is hope" are written along the birds' bodies. Isn't it lovely?
So, along with some gift vouchers, I've had some very special gifts today, as well as lovely cards.
Heather dropped me off at church in time for me to set everything up for the funeral...I have to set out candles, service sheets etc and I'm in charge of the CD's if there is any special music to be played ....which can be a little nerve wracking! Poor Heather had to wait around for over two hours in the blazing sun whilst I did my duties and, by then, we both decided it was too late and way too hot to do anything really, so we just came back here to cool off again!
I've just had a quiet evening, finishing a small plaque, deadheading some flowers and making a very simple supper that was both delicious and healthy! I just sliced some freshly picked courgettes lengthways and laid them in a baking dish, threw some home grown cherry tomatoes, stalks intact, on top of them, drizzled with olive oil and a few grinds of course salt and popped the dish into the oven. Absolutely delicious! I don't know about you, but this weather makes me less hungry, so this was all I needed...no meat, no carbs!
The little plaque I finished uses the deer from my Winter Silhouettes set and the words are from our Tinchies range of stamps.

The trees are a Sizzix "on the edge" die that I'm very fond of. I've used Distress Paints over the corrugated backing, with Deco Art Silver Sparkle metal lustre stroked across. I used white Gesso for the snow. The deer was stamped onto acetate but I wanted it to be much blacker and stronger so I used black enamel accents to carefully pipe over the stamped image, then sprinkled a little Distress Rock Candy glitter over it. A few dabs of silicone glue lifted it from the background and I added more Gesso over the feet to secure it more fully.

I had been looking through my old blog posts and came across a plaque that I'd made a couple of years ago so I decided I'd make this one the same way but with a totally different look. It's good to look back at what you made and surprising how you can forget about techniques or ideas, so it's nice to use them again! Here's the one I posted a picture of back in 2009 - crikey!

It was a much larger piece and I think I cut all the trees by hand! The one I made today is a much simpler affair, but I'm sure I'll be making another more full on version again.
Well, I guess I really should sign off and get to bed. Hopefully it will feel a little cooler tonight as there's a bit of a breeze out there now. I have my spritzer bottle of chilled water on my bedside table just in case though!
Oh, just to leave you with an image that might make you laugh...I'm still without a lawnmower and the grass has been getting longer and longer again. Yesterday morning I was so fed up with it that I cut the entire lawn with....a pair of scissors! I was on my hands and knees for over an hour. It doesn't look great, but it does look shorter!