Sunday at home....mmmm....bliss!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I am just enjoying a quiet day at home after all the hustle and bustle of the last week. Not sure how many miles I have travelled over the last few days, but it was enough! I feel as if I've hardly seen David at all!

So here are some pictures from my trip to A Maze of Memories in Long Crendon, near Thame, owned by the lovely Christina, who picked me up from the station, took my heavy craft case off me (bliss!) and then dropped me in Thame so I could have a wander before checking into my hotel. Normally Thame is a peaceful little town, full of old buildings, characterful shops and tea rooms. However, this is how the town looked on Friday as the annual fair had been erected down the length of the main road..... .....the colours of the stands really looked vibrant against the beautiful sunny sky and the usually sedate streets. There was a lot of screaming too from the people who had ventured onto some of the more adventurous rides! I was quite glad that my hotel was just out of the town centre!
After a good night's sleep it was time to get ready for the demonstration and make n takes and time, too, to meet up with some familiar people....was it really six months since I was lat there? Apparently so, much to all our disbelief - where is this year going? Here are some of the ladies having a little look at some of my cards. And some piccies of the ladies working away on their Nativity cards, using alcohol inks...........stamps and Distress ink pads. Looking good..... ....... watch your fingers there! And here's Diane who used my favourite colour combination of purple, pink and blue! It was great to see you all again ladies, and you all make me feel so welcome. I will be sorting out another visit with Christina, so will keep you posted about when I'll be back. Thank you for all the cuppas, cold drinks, lunch and offers of the handmade cakes...I was very good, but did bring two slices home with me to share with David!
I have finally sorted out all the questions for my craft quiz number 3, so will be posting this shortly. I know that some of you found quiz 1 too hard, whilst others found quiz 2 too easy, so I have mixed up the type of questions for number three and there are a real mix of straightforward ones and some more tricksy, cryptic ones! So, do call back soon and have a go.

Quiz number two!

Okay, after the success of the last quiz, it's time for the second one. Once again there will be a prize for the person who gets the most answers right and if there is a tie, David will draw the winner.

Thanks to Carole, winner of the first quiz, for emailing to let me know I had a couple of mistakes in my anagrams! Whooops! I can only apologise and say that I was trying to get the quiz up as quickly as I could in a short time scale! So, please see questions 3 and 10 for amended anagrams! I know, as if it wasn't hard enough already!

This quiz is a little different from the last one in fairness to those who hate full on cryptic clues! So, I have created anagrams of the answers as well as a clue (some trickier than others) which I hope will make things a little easier without spoiling the fun. The anagrams are in uppercase and the may be one word or more. All the answers are products from Ranger or Tim Holtz's own ranges, and all of them can be found on Personal Impressions website ( http://www.personalimpressions.com/ ) if you need some nudging!

Please email me your answers by Tuesday 3rd May - I will announce the winner and answers on Wednesday 4th. Good luck!

1. KIND SISTERS - 36 scrummy colours DISTRESS INK

2. COWARDLY HOUSES - you may want to wear gloves when spraying these! COLOURWASH DYES

3. CONTAIN SOUR FIG - boxes of delights CONFIGURATIONS

4. A SCHOOL LINK - tipsy colours! ALCOHOL INKS

5. PETER CLAPS REF - iridescent shimmer PERFECT PEARLS

6. FARM GENTS - 48 pieces FRAGMENTS

7. PALLID SQUIRE - these could be piped round one's neck! LIQUID PEARLS

8. ASSIST SID'S RENT - a new way to ink! DISTRESS STAINS

9. DAMMIT MULE - MUTE IT! - not a shiny adhesive MULTI MATTE MEDIUM

10. DARN - NO STEM! - lovely embellishments ADORNMENTS

11. RUGGED BARON - grey, but not boring! GRUNGEBOARD

12. PETAL QUEST - numbered signs PLAQUETTES

13. FREE ARMY MOMS - attractive aide memoires MEMORY FRAMES

14. SCARCE NECK TALC - easy wrinkles! CRACKLE ACCENTS

15. DIG TEA CASKET - perforated word labels ADAGE TICKETS

16. DOT CARD TWICE - a full room at the top CROWDED ATTIC

17. VISCERAL GASKETS - reclaimed cardstock embellishments SALVAGE STICKERS

18. LACKED VISOR - fill them with potions! CORKED VIALS

19. LIPPY SOOTHS HAG - these are engraved with words PHILOSOPHY TAGS

20. SCALD OLDER TURF - these little ladies are 'armless FRACTURED DOLLS

21. EMPTIES ICE - look, no hands! TIMEPIECES

22. ROGER'S PACKETS - metal Steampunk lovelies SPROCKET GEARS

Just discovered I somehow did 22 questions - oh well! My top tip is to write the anagram letters in a circle - helps to see the letters in no particular order!
Good luck all!

Post weekend post!

Hello folks, and welcome to any new followers or readers. Wasn't it a lovely weekend? My idea of perfect weather...sunny and warm with a cooling breeze. Hope those of you who are mums, or who have mums, had a lovely day yesterday. I was over at mum and dad's and we had a lovely trip to a little village called Scorton where we had lunch and a bit of a wander with window shopping and an ice cream cone each thrown in.

On Saturday I was at A for Art in Chesterfield where I had another lovely day. I was really well looked after and everyone who came along was so friendly that the day just flew by. I still have purple fingers after using Colourwash dyes which is my own fault for preferring not to wear any gloves and liking to handle ribbons that I've just sprayed with inks! Here's me with the lovely A for Art ladies - I wasn't wiping my inky hands onto their shoulders...honestly!

And this image proved to be one of the most popular of the day. It is a really evocative stamp from the Darkroom Door set called Wilderness 2. The scene puts me in mind of one of my favourite artists called Atkinson Grimshaw. I did several examples of how this stamp could be used to show how versatile it could be - will post some pictures of those next time. I used Colourwash dyes for this one, onto PI's infamous 300gsm card. I sprayed a mix of purple, blue and stream before spritzing with water and pressing a second piece of card on top to get two for the price of one! A little water brushed onto strategic areas gives the look of moon, stars and some light on the pathway. I used one of the new MS deep edge PATP sets (just the edger this time). This one is the double loop. The phrase is from the same stamp set. I'll be up in Lancaster at Card Craft (Millenium Heights) on Saturday, so if you'd like to see some of the techniques using Rangers spritzes and sprays I'll hope to see you there. On Sunday I'll be at Topaz to teach workshops - card making in the morning and a mini grungeboard album in the afternoon. Bound to be fun!

Meanwhile, why not join in my sister's Heather's ATC swap? Hope the link works, as I didn't know how to do this until Heather told me! Fingers crossed! The theme for the swap is "in the pink" and is a fun combination of vintage men and the colour pink! All is explained on Heather's blog and, not only is there the fun of the swap, but the fascinating Cabinet card that she has made is up for grabs...it's gorgeous - well worth joining in for a chance to win it.

Don't forget to email your quiz answers to me by this coming Saturday, as I'll be revealing the answers (hoorah, I hear some of you cry!) and the name of the brainbox winner on Sunday! You may or may not be pleased to know that I am already half way through setting the next one, though it will be a little different from the current one to give those of you who are being made ill by my cryptic clues a chance!

Finally, my new stamps will be hitting the shops any day now, but I will keep you updated on that and let you know when they are officially "out there"!

Twenty Questions!

Hello all and sorry I haven't posted for a while...you know what it's like though! Anyway, by way of a change, and after chatting to my sister, Heather, on the phone yesterday, when we were discussing things to put onto our blogs, I decided I'd do a little quiz on here. There are twenty questions, all a bit (or a lot!) cryptic, and all with answers that are craft related.

Have a crack at them and, if you'd like the chance of little prize, send me your answers by email at ljm.design@ntlworld,com by Saturday 9th April. Whoever gets the most right answers will win, and if there is more than one person with them all right (or sharing the highest number) then David will draw one winner and I'll post the result - and answers! - on Sunday night. I hope you have fun with this, and that my clues aren't too tricky, or too easy! Good luck!

Okay, eyes down, look in!

1. This inky colour sounds like a tasty morning treat.

Spiced Marmalade distress ink

2. These could be a Top Cat's little card swaps.

ATC's (as in "TC" or "Top Cat" the cartoon character)

3. A little girl having a tantrum whilst crafting might be doing this!

Stamping - always seems to be a little girl thing that!

4. My own feelings are that this is a great UK company!

Personal Impressions - self explanatory!

5. Geordie, Glaswegian, Brummie and Cockney - they're all super shiny!

Glossy Accents...groan!

6. Don't get this ink in the wrong place....it does exactly what it says on the tin!

Stazon ( stays on......)

7. Open an Oyster and you might just find some unimproveable powder!

Perfect Pearls

8. You might think you could stick two paper handkerchiefs together with this.

Tissue Tape

9. This lady goes around, all over and along the edge.

Martha Stewart - as in her punch ranges

10. This paper stash had vanished but then it re-appeared!

Lost & Found by Tim Holtz

11. These tongue twisting American mountains come in lots of lovely colours.

Adirondacks....as in Adirondack ink pads, colourwash dyes etc - any spelling accepted!

12. Don't open this unless all the lights are off! You might ruin the stamps!

Darkroom Door (range of stamps)

13. You could ask this magical man to "Cut it out!"!!!

Wizard - die cutting machine

14. This could clearly be the answer to making a merger.

Wait for it.....BLENDING SOLUTION!!! I can hear the groans already!

15. Mr Pitt might come in handy to help you attach something.

Brad!

16. Are these stamps designed by Superman, Spiderman and Batman?!

Hero Arts - honourable mention for Joanne here with "Stampers Anonymous" which was a

wrong, but great answer!

17. One of this iconic Star Trek race might stick to your rubber stamps!

Kling-On! (mounting sheets for unmounted rubber stamps)

18. A really, really small fastening tool.

Tiny Attacher - tiny stapler from Tim Holtz

19. This clue is transparent. Clearly it's a good stamping surface.

Acetate

20. Don't keep this as a souvenir...use it on your stamps!

Memento - ink pads and pens

Well, there you go! I expect some of you will whizz through those clues and some of you might think "What on earth is she on about!" !!! I say that, because David finds cryptic clues totally nonsensical and I guess he won't be alone! Anyway, hope you have a bit of fun with them and don't forget to email me your answers - just put your answers in numbered order, and don't forget to check back on Sunday 10th to see if you've won! Lindsay