Away days

Good evening folks, I was away from home for three days over the weekend, and was kept very busy but with plenty of smiles thrown in. I travelled down to Thame on Friday, where the lovely Christina met me at the station and unburdened me of all my heavy bags before dropping me in the town itself. I spent a good few hours having a brisk walk round as well as a bit of shopping...of the window variety anyway! I then walked to my hotel and relaxed for the evening before my busy day on Saturday at A Maze of Memories.
It was a fab day as I was demonstrating, as well as doing Make n Takes with all the ladies. Everyone was set to enjoy themselves. Here are Betty, Carol, Sue and Tina around my table and you can see some of the ladies making their cards. Christina, her staff and helpers were kept busy helping the ladies, keeping the kettle on the go and serving homemade cakes. Everyone's cards were great and all were different from each other - here's Marilyn with her version using my I Dreamed of Castles, Laugh Often and Hoist the Flags stamp sets. Everyone who did the make n take got one of the stamp sets in their pack and were able to use more stamps and inks etc that were laid out on the tables. Here I am with Linda and Zoe, seeing how they are getting on...at this point they were trying out stamping and colouring onto gloss card. You can check out more pictures by going to www.amazeofmemories.com - which, for some reason is not coming up as a link on here...ggggrrr! Special mentions must be made of Diane and Susie J who presented me with a bag and told me that it was a gift for Thomas! Inside were some Whiskas treats and a set of two colourful catnip mice. It was so lovely of them and piccies of Thomas and one his new toys are further down. Aren't people kind? People who are fond of animals as well as crafting are probably the kindest. Thank you ladies, from me and Thomas!
It was a really fun day all round and, as soon as we had tidied everything up it was time for me to set off to reading for my demonstration at Hobbycraft in Reading the following day. Normally I would have been making my way through London and the underground....a particular nightmare at weekends. However, with great generosity, Christina drove me there, so we were able to have a good chat about the day. We also saw some Red Kites soaring above us....first time I have seen one in "real life" so that was the icing on Saturday's cake! I had been looking forward to a quiet evening watching some tv, maybe a film, after a meal at the hotel, but, as it happened, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and was asleep before I knew it! Next day I was at Hobbycraft and met some new crafters as well as more experienced ones. Hello to Diane (yes, another one!) who hadn't known I would be there and gave me a big hug! Hope you had fun with the new ideas when you got home!
Then it was a three and a half hour journey home. It was a packed train, but no yobbish behaviour I'm pleased to report. I was nodding off almost the whole way! When David picked me up from the station he said that Thomas had been out all night, no sign of him anywhere, but, as we drove in, there he was, telling us off quite vociferously! He had some of his new treats and then I gave him one of the catnip mice....... .....although he looks asleep, he just had his eyes closed in dreamy ecstacy and was tossing the little toy around and rubbing his face all over it. Thankyou Diane and Susie J....think this was a hit! Not sure if this counts for the Crafting Buddies blog as it is really meant to be about pets "helping" us to craft, but think Joanne will like these pics anyway! So, it's been a resting day today, except for catching up with emails etc. I'll be at Crafty By Nature in Kearsley on Saturday, and then at Dainty Supplies on Saturday, so hope to see you there if you live nearby. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Oooh I do like this feeling!

That sounds much more interesting than it is! But the feeling that I have just now is of jobs being done. My stamp designs are on their way to Personal Impressions today, which always feels great. I have made samples for this weekend and my bags are packed apart from a couple of clothing and my specs! It does feel nice.
Tomorrow I'll be trolling down to Haddenham & Thame via Leamington Spa which should give me some lovely scenery to look at on the way. I'm planning on a tootle around Thame, well more of a long walk really, with window shopping thrown in! Then I'll be at A Maze of Memories all day on Saturday where I'll be demonstrating and hosting Make n Take sessions. I'm looking forward to it as Christina, her staff and customers are really lovely, friendly and enthusiastic.
On Saturday evening I'll be carrying on down to Reading for my Sunday at the local Hobbycraft, where I'll be doing a Ranger demonstration as part of their discounted papercraft weekend. So, a busy few days ahead but I know it will be a lot of fun.
Talking of fun, as promised, her is a closer look at one of the cards that I made for the workshop last Sunday. This card used a fair few techniques! The main card was covered with a Distress Stained sheet from the Kraft Resist paper stash....I used Broken China in this case.
I then used PI's fabby dabby cardstock (gloriously named PIP300CWH) as the base for the panel - if you haven't tried this card, do ask your craft shop to order some for you...it's incredible stuff. I stamped some areas with Snow Cap acrylic paint using a Tim Holtz foliage design. I mixed up several Mini Misters with Distress Re-Inker and a scoop of Perfect Pearls powder, added water, shook (lid on first of course.....I know you were trying to catch me out there!) and spritzed these, one colour at a time, over the card. I lightly dabbed each layer to remover the ink from the painted areas. Next I smudged Distress inks over the card and used a damp tissue to remove the ink from the acrylic again.Next came stamping, and I used a scroll stamp and the words stamp from Tim Holtz, before matting onto book paper and attaching to the card front.
The Tim Holtz bird and Darkroom Door butterflies were stamped onto white and Distress inked before cutting out. I "Glossy Accented" a Charm Fragment over book paper and attached a pearl bauble before sticking to the card with 3D foam and sticking the bird and butterflies into place. A simple cord tied round the spine was the finishing touch.
This next card is just a bit of fun (?) really!! Doing the "bingo splats" with Distress Stains gave me the idea for Vampirish red ones, so I combined my Castle stamp with images from Andy Skinner's Gothic stamp set. I used Stains again for the background but also to colour the images. Some enthusiastic splatting added the blood stains! I used Tissue tape around the card as well as letters cut from one of Tim's stashes. It's not a great card, but as I said, just a bit of fun that might appeal to the Vampire fans! I'm sure I'll come up with a better design on the same theme when I have some more time to think about it!
Well, just a quick post really to say that I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Looking forward to seeing some of you of course. I'm off to relax a bit now!

Paddling and Paper Cuts

Hello folks, hope everyone had a good weekend whatever you were doing. I had a lovely weekend which began on Friday when I travelled up to Whitley Bay in Tyneside for my demonstration the following day. It was a glorious day, vivid blue, cloudless skies, sunshine and a little breeze to keep things fresh. After I'd checked into my hotel I went for a long trawl around the town to do some window shopping - no luck with finding any "nicky nacky noos" for future Configuration boxes! After a few hours my feet were a bit sore as I had my boots on and it was really very warm. So, I set off in the opposite direction toward the prom. I had been really keen for a paddle and I just hoped that the tide would be out! As you can see, it was pretty much in and I stood for quite a while just watching the waves crashing in to the sea wall. I did try to capture the moment when the water exploded into white surf and, after I don't know how many snaps, this was the best I could do! Doesn't do justice to the height and power of some of the wave crashes that were quite spectacular. To the left of me was a ramp down to the beach and the sea was going out, so I made my way down to the sand. There were a few people walking along with their dogs which were enjoying the sea of course. I took off my boots and socks, rolled up my trousers and headed towards the water....crikey, it bwas freezing! The first wave nearly knocked me over, but, once I had managed to breathe again (!) the water was so refreshing and you can't beat the feeling of sand underfoot. I had a really long walk in and out of the water and then clambered onto some rocks at the edge of the beach where I sat, poured water over my tootsies to wash off the sand and put my socks and boots back on. My feet were tingling but all feeling of weariness had left them! I then had a wander around the beach side of town and decided to have a bit of fun in the arcade - well you have to don't you?! I set myself a limit and got a pile of 2p pieces....I only like the coin pushing machines! I managed to win two keyrings and a weird little angel before I ran out of coins!

Next day I was at Papercuts - A Slice of Imagination for their grand opening day. It was a busy old day and I must say hello to all the ladies (and some husbands) who came along - it was lovely to meet you all. Here are Joanne and her mum Shirley behind the counter, looking very happy mid way through their first day.And this is the shop front - it was such lovely weather that the door was open all day, and you can just see my demonstration table inside. The shop is in Roxburgh House, just beside the shopping arcade on Park Avenue.Here are just a couple of the cards that I made - I was focussing on Martha Stewart punches and Distress inks. This one has the very useful Infinity Loop on the left, the PATP is the Flowers CET (I call it the Pansy set!) and the large butterfly punch. Really simple card that I made on the day. Oh, please ignore the squished Liquid Pearl centres on the flowers - someone put another card on top of this one before they had set - oops! The stamped flowers were from the Wildflowers set from Darkroom Door, stamped in black onto gloss card and smudged with Mustard Seed Distress ink.This card has the same punches (except for the Loop) but I've used TH Vintage Shabby paper for the PATP mat. I'm really trying to use some different colours than my usual favourites as you can see! Very simple cards, but sometimes simple is best! Well, I must get on with work now. I am sorting everything out for my workshops at Topaz this coming Sunday. In the morning we'll be making Steampunk style cards in a two hour class. We'll be using new stamps from Tim Holtz and Andy Skinner who is a new designer for Personal Impressions. All the new PI stamps will be available very soon, but everyone on this Sunday's classes will be using pre production sets that I have in advance. The Steampunk cards are great for men or teens - two of the trickiest groups to make cards for! They will feature Top Hatted Victorians, watches, wings and....oh, all sorts of eclectic images! In the afternoon we will be making cards using my new designs. We'll be stamping onto book pages and using paints, pens, inks etc to create a range of cards in this three hour class. I just checked and there are some places still available if you would like to come along to join in the fun. Please contact Topaz direct on 01254 356501 if you'd like more information.

Meanwhile, I'm off to Hobbycraft in Chester on Saturday to join in their fifth anniversary celebrations. I'll be demonstrating Ranger products, MS punches and stamping, so do pop in if you're in the area. Right, I'd better press on! Have a good week everyone. Lindsay