Stitches...

... is this coming weekend. The trade show is open to retailers and professionals in the craft and hobby sector, and PaperArtsy have planned 6 workshops featuring all their new and exciting products.

I'm pleased to be running a workshop on Sunday morning... designed especially for the show the class project features all the new JOFY products and I can't wait to share it with everyone.....

There are a few places remaining - head on over to the PaperArtsy WHOLESALE site to book your place.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Jo

'Stitches' CHA 2016

Yesterday I visited the 'Stitches' trade show in Birmingham - a really inspiring place to see all the latest products that the craft companies have to offer.. this was one of the Creativ displays opposite the PaperArtsy stand..

This company has a fantastic range of substrates on offer ready to be painted and decorated - I really liked how it was displayed on a dark blue background - really sets off the wood items... I mentally added the hexagonal box to the left of the photo to my shopping list!
All the stands have really picked up their game in how they display products which makes it all the more interesting and inspiring.

The PaperArtsy stand looked VERY fine indeed but I forgot to photograph it (but its hard to do that anyway as there are always people on the stand!)... but I did Periscope! - this is my first 'action/reporting' periscope so please excuse any sound/camera issues! lol... but it captures the stand with all its lovely samples and stamp releases... enjoy!


I demo'd on the stand while Leandra & Lin were teaching - thanks to everyone who stopped at the stand and watched my demo, asked questions, liked the new products - its good to see you all and get feedback.

So here are my samples - I mixed up the ranges on each sample...

 'Dream' and spots are from Emma Godfrey EEG18, flowerheads are Kay Carley EKC02, bud stems and loopy border are JOFY42.... paints are Coral, Chalk and White Fire.. word is stamped in Plum.

 Lovely blended background of Bougainvillea and Coral washed and lifted off with Chalk.  Numbers (JOFY22), flower heads as before - this is a new favourite stamp!!

Dusty Teal and Hint of Mind background, numbers are Hot Picks 1604 (in Chalk),flowerheads & loops as before - loops stamped in Dusty Teal to give tone on tone.

and finally here is 'Skid' - so called because of his mismatched feet - he always skids to a stop!  The background is Slate & Antarctic, the numbers (Hot Picks 1604) are stamped in a paler version of the same.  Skid, nuts and bolts and words are from JOFY44.

And I've saved the best 'til last - the VERY new, very exciting & very lovely product from PaperArtsy...INFUSIONS - these are little bottles of stain powder in fabulous colours - you 'NEED' them all.. seriously, you do.... the eagle-eyed of you may have spotted the little bottles in a 'crate' on the sample table during my periscope... these are such an interesting addition to the PaperArtsy range.. sprinkle them on to your project spritz lightly with water and release the 'colour' as listed on the bottle.. spritz liberally and Walnut Stain brown is released.. Lin Brown was making a lovely sample with the powders, and Emma has created a great colour chart - photos of which I hope will come your way soon! Add these to your shopping lists for Stamperama and your local PaperArtsy stockists.

(nb names are still works in progress so for now just sit back and enjoy the colours!!)

I only went to Stitches for the day - wish I'd gone for longer - there is a lot to see, lots to take in.. I went to a seminar by Sara Neumann on (diy)videos - really informative - if she is giving a seminar at a show you're visiting then go and watch it - really interesting.

That is my (very) mini report from Stitches... key points - lots of wool, fabrics sewing and haberdashery making a come back - not a bad thing at all!... stencils and paints still popular... sparkly things (again, not a bad thing!)... stamps still strong in the market... all good and very creative!

(note to self - next year go for 2 days!!)

Stitches 2014...

... was a whirlwind weekend - creative & inspiring!  Its a really good trade show - full of inspiring stands (Sizzix always creates a beautiful stand) and exciting new products...

On the Saturday myself and Lin Brown taught classes to PaperArtsy retailers (nice to put many faces to names) - a really fun day where the retailers made some lovely pieces using the new products that PaperArtsy are launching at the show...

 (Leandra came in and took this photo..)

Here is the morning class busy painting their projects...

... and here is the project I designed for them using the new JOFY Limited Edition Fresco Finish Paints, Stencils and of course new JOFY stamps
:

The PaperArtsy stand looked fantastic- lots of art boards of beautiful samples (of which I took very few photographs! very unusual for me!) opposite these products racks was a wall of art boards - very lovely:

The boards were all filled with amazing samples but these in particular caught my eye - top one is showing the new (beautiful) Lynne Perrella stamps:

 .. and these are misc samples.. love the rich red tones:

Lovely to see all the JOFY stamps and products on the stand.

Here are the beautiful JOFY artboards created by members of the PaperArtsy DT - thank you all (again) for your fabulous samples!

The last sample is by Liz - lovely coppery tones - warm and opulent... I'm not a fan of yellow but I love the flowers on this:

Not may photos of the show itself - sorry about that :o/ ... lovely to see everyone and to meet people in-real-life - not just through twitter etc... and now to get busy designing classes and projects with the new stamps...

xx

Stitches 2013....

... I had a great day at Stitches on Monday .... even if it did mean getting up and being in the car at 7:00 am!!   eek (& big thanks to the Emmas for driving) - its been a while since I had to be up and ready at that time lol

The show was good - lots of reeeeaaallly nice bits and pieces - papers, dies (gorgeous Sizzix stand as usual!!) (why, why, why didn't I take any photos of that!!), stencils.....

One of my favourite stands is the Button Company!! oh be still my button loving heart! lol  this year I was shocked, surprised and pleased at the change in colours - yes they had their existing range of gorgeous softer toned elements:

 but they also had these:

wowzaa - how fabulously bright and loud are those colours! love them!

I  had fun at the show meeting lots of people, putting faces to people I normally talk to on the phone or via email... catching up with existing crafting friends... its tricky to walk the show:  walk two stands, meet someone you know,  walk another 2 or 3 stands, meet someone else you know! lol  It can take a loooong time to get anywhere!  but that is one of the fun aspects of Stitches.

But the most fun part for me was that it was the first Trade show where my products with PaperArtsy have been for sale - that was exciting and fun to watch people choosing what they were going to order (and reeaaally hard not to step in and 'help' them make their decision! lol)

Great to see all the PaperArtsy DT pieces in one place - really beautiful samples.

Apologies for the dodgy photos (I was using my phone, trying to take pictures quickly before somebody walked past and got in the way! lol)

This is probably my favourite photo from the Show (I didn't take many), I have no idea who these ladies are but they were engrossed in choosing my stamps and I couldn't resist taking their photo.  :o)  (and I liked the pattern on the cardigan of lady on right! lol)  So whoever you are, I hope you don't mind the photo - and thankyou for taking the time on the PaperArtsy stand to look at ALL the fabulous products that were on display.

The PaperArtsy stand looked great - lots of really inspiring samples of all the new ranges - (Lin Brown's were so detailed and layered, gorgeous - but we wouldn't expect anything else would we! lol ) - and NEW PAINT COLOURS!!!!... and dies!!!

Its all so exciting - there were be lots going on over on the PaperArtsy blog...

aaaanyhooo that's Stitches over for another year - its well worth the visit...

Don't forget - I have a class at The Craft Barn on Sunday if any of you are at a loose end and fancy a day of crafting JOFY stylee....