A bit of all sorts!

Just a late night post before bed time. It's been a busy day here one way and another. This morning I had the final dental appointment to fit my second replacement crown. This should have been done almost two weeks ago but the new crown had a fault so it had to be made all over again. It's nice to have a decent smile back, though it will take me a while to realise that everything's normal again I think! As my homegrown sweetcorn are very nearly ripe for harvesting, I asked the dentist if my new choppers would withstand biting into the cobs....apparently yes, so I shall look forward to that!

The sweetcorn have been very interesting as I've never grown them before and didn't really know exactly where the cobs grew. I foolishly thought that the yellow spikes growing at the top were going to magically turn into corn and was a bit disappointed at the idea of only one ear of corn per plant! As it turns out, the male flower is at the top and the female flowers that shoot out from the sides are what become the edible cobs - at least three or four on each plant...can't wait!

Talking of things horticultural, I was pretty miffed a couple of weeks ago when my new neighbours decided to cut back the shrubs that are between our front gardens. The shrubs are growing from my neighbour's side and they said they'd like to trim them a bit. The plants have come over onto my side and I said I was fine with them being trimmed as long as it wasn't too drastic as the birds like to perch in them. It was agreed that we'd do the trimming when I was at home so that we could all agree on what got cut back.

Unfortunately, when I was out one morning, my neighbour decided to get busy with the saw and hacked away at everything. Worst of all, he came into my garden and cut back the foliage that was hanging over my low wall as well as breaking one of my solar lamps in the process! I was quite annoyed to say the least. However, nothing has been mentioned and I don't want to fall out with new neighbours who are, otherwise, very pleasant. I'm sure they thought they were doing me a favour, but it has left my garden looking very bare at one side and with no privacy from next door...gggrrrr!!!

To make things worse, there's very little soil on my side in this area so I have been puzzling over what to do next. So, after visiting our mum this morning, Heather and I went to the garden centre and I got some bags of topsoil, compost and grit with a view to creating an area that I can plant up. Last night I found some large rocks that were hidden from view by overgrown Heathers, so I heaved them out and split them with a hammer and chisel. This is as far as I got this afternoon......

.....I've moved a few things around and now I need some new plants!

The gaps above the wall used to be full of lovely shrubbery with blossoms and berries : (  

I've moved some of my pots to fill the gravelly areas that have no soil at all and I've put some new plants into the deeper soil that will, hopefully, grow and create some privacy once more....

...it's not that I'm antisocial, but I don't like having an uninterrupted view into next door's garden! I've planted a lovely fern that I dug out of Heather's garden....she did give me permission! Next to it are a couple of Sunflowers that should flower nicely now that they're in open ground and, to the left of the fern is my bargain of the day..... 

....it's a "Magical Four Seasons" Hydrangea which, apparently, goes through four colour changes through the year. Heather and I loved the vintage look of it and I've wanted a Hydrangea for ages.This one was a steal in the special offers section!

Well, from gardens back to festive makes and here are one or two more examples of what I've been up to with my new stamps. This one is using my Zendoodle ready to go Angel set and the words are from my Inspirational Quotes set. The strip down the side features the Tsukineko Irresisible spray in Lulu Lavender which I then blended over with Shaded Lilac Distress ink.

Here's another card featuring my Peaceful Christmas set. I used a background from my selection that I have ready to use...it was created with Dylusions ink sprays onto damp 300 gsm white card which I then spritzed with white Dyusions through one of Tim's stencils. Not an especially festive stencil, but the colours worked really well and give a Northern Lights glow to the card. For this scene I simply added torn strips of white card with some shading of course....Distress ink applied with a waterbrush.

I'll be making more examples with the new Christmas stamps tomorrow, so will share them as and when!

I thought you might like to see a couple of new spots that Thomas has decided are great places to be. The last couple of days have seen him enjoying being in my company in the garden, but he soon gets bored of me taking more notice of plants than of him! His latest sleeping bed is here......

...curled up on top of the Heathers which make a very springy, if slightly prickly, cushion. If I pat him he goes up and down as if he's on a trampoline!

This morning I couldn't find him in any of his usual places until I went into the bathroom and discovered that his newest resting place is here.....

.....in the bath! Who knows what goes on in the feline mind!

Well, a bit of an eclectic mix of piccies tonight, but I'll be back with more Christmas creations in the next day or two. Nighty night all.

Thank you

Hello folks and thank you for all the good wishes sent to Thomas yesterday! I'm pleased to report that he's feeling much better today. He is hardly limping at all now although he is still lifting his paw up when he's sat down....I think he's got used to all the sympathy!

This was him looking all contented this morning....

 .....but this afternoon....well.....I am keeping my eye on these two.....

......talk about looking for trouble! By the way, I can report that Thomas weighed in at 7.4 kg  yesterday (wow!) but the vet said that he's not fat, he's just a "big boy" and he "carries it well"! Now Tara....well....that could be a different matter!

I've not photographed the rest of the samples I made for Stitches yet, but will do so very shortly. I took delivery of a truly enormous box today which contained my cards, tags and canvasses etc as well as all sorts of new products for me to add to my warehouse...er...spare room!

Today I've been working on samples for my fabric painting demonstration at Studio Craftique in Hessle a week tomorrow. Here's a sneaky peek at something I'm part way through.....

.....Dylusions fans may recognise the images!

I'm signing off now so I can watch "An Island Parish" which always cheers me up!

Back home

Hello folks, I'm safely back home after a very busy few days at the NEC for the annual Stitches trade fair. I've quite a few photos to share from the show but, before that, here's my boy, Thomas, looking very sorry for himself....

...when I got home on Tuesday night he was holding up his front left paw and wouldn't let me give it more than a cursory once over. My neighbour, who's been looking after my pusscats, hadn't seen anything unusual going on, so it was a bit of a mystery. I decided to see how he went over the next day and, as you can see, I made him all comfy with my cardigan and a nice fluffy hot water bottle.

Unfortunately, his leg/paw just went steadily worse and by last night he was really limping badly so it was off to the vet this morning. I was, as you do, thinking the worst....broken leg, dislocation etc. Anyway, I'm relieved to say that the vet found a puncture wound and, along with Thomas having a very high temperature, he decided it was a cat bite.....mmmmm....I wonder who the culprit could be?! Methinks that T&T have been taking out their annoyance at me being away on each other! So, he's had a jab that will dose him up over a fortnight and the vet says he'll be feeling much better by tomorrow.

This was him a few minutes ago...bless him!

So, back to the show, and it was the usual mix of hard work, long hours and lots of fun, meeting friends and colleagues like Paula Pascual  and Paul Browning as well as having the much needed post Christmas boost that Stitches always gives. Saturday is set up day, with the freezing exhibition hall looking so full of boxes, bubble wrap, polystyrene and plastic ties that you'd think it would never be ready by the following day! There are so many men laying carpet around the hall and the sound of stands being built and finished as well as trucks and cherry pickers beeping as they wend their way between the cluttered aisles. The Personal Impressions stand is one of the biggest and it's all hands to the job of getting it ready. This is the view to the side of my demonstration counter with all my bags and boxes gradually being unloaded.......

 .....and a few hours later with my counter getting rapidly filled up!

 

I'm glad to say that everyone seemed to really like my new stamp ranges - always a relief when you bring out a new collection!

It was mid evening before we got to our hotel and were able to get something to eat before a much needed sleep and an early morning start to theopening show day. It wasn't long before my tidy counter didn't look quite so tidy....

I really do have the messiest demo table at the show!

Just along the way was the DecoArt stand where one of my best friends, Andy Skinner, was wowing everyone with the amazing samples of his work.

Round the corner from Andy, Mark Gould was holding make n takes where he was showing people the wonders of the new chalk paints. Here he is, wowing one of the PI team. Some very talented men at this show!

 As well as demonstrating throughout the show I also teach workshops each day. They are only forty five minutes long and there is not much time between everyone's classes to set up and pack away so always a little stressful! This year I was showcasing Tim's new Jumbo Tattered Florals and Spring Greenery Sizzix dies along with Ranger products and some of my quote stamps. Thankfully everything went smoothly and the ladies (yes, this year I didn't have any men in my classes!) all made great job of their projects....

.....everyone chose their colours beautifully.....

 So, Sunday came to a close at around 6pm and then it was time for a quick wash and brush up at the hotel before our carvery dinner that was really delicious. Most of us had a reasonably early night and it didn't feel like very long till we were back at the stand again next day!

One of the products that I was using was the new Distress Marker Spritzer which creates great effects and is especially useful for working with stencils as it blows the ink very specifically without any seepage to ruin the design. Whilst I was discussing the Spritzer with Neil Walker he wondered how it would work for blowing liquid inks.....no sooner said than done! It blows them beautifully - no need to buy canned air sprays or make yourself dizzy using a straw!

Later on I was starting a tag with a background of Dylusions ink spray including one the new colours - Slate Grey which is subtle and gorgeous. I used the Spritzer to blow some of the ink up to create foliage and stamped the leaping hare from my new Hippetty Hoppetty set using the kiss technique with my Zentangle Fillers set.

I decided to add a couple of little bunnies from the same set as the hare but it wasn't until I'd stamped the last bunny that I (and everyone watching) realised just what I'd done! In case you can't quite make it out, here's a close up....

....naughty rabbits!!! Ooops! Thought you might be amused by my faux pas! 

Monday evening was our traditional visit to the Chinese Buffet restaurant where we ate lots of delicious food and had a lovely time. Here's me and Monica who looks after the craft stores in the North West of England.

 

And this is Anke, who was demonstrating Viva Decor products on our stand, Elaine, my best buddy at PI and Andy. 

So, it was soon the final day of the show which is always a mixture of relief to be going home and sadness to be saying cheerio to everyone.....

.....keeping up the strength to pull the stand down are Jan and Monica......

.....but we still have time for some fun of course.......

....we had these amazing masks as part of our new Mamelok collection and I have to say that we had quite a few laughs wearing them. Mine was Dame Edna!

I didn't get chance to take many photos so I will post piccies of more samples in the next few days. Most of my "stuff" is being posted back to me as, even as a semi professional camel, I couldn't carry everything!

Right, the time has flown by whilst typing this - in fact, it was light when I started and now it's dark outside! So, I'd better go and get my dinner and check how my lovely boy is.

Mid breakfast post

Morning everyone, I'm just having my breakfast and first coffee of the day so am taking the chance to sign in and say hello. I've got a lot to get done before bed time tonight, so I was up and working very early to get ahead of myself. The tummy rumbles got rather distracting, reminding me to stop and fuel up before carrying on!

I'm finishing my second Doo Lally sweatshirt this morning before I crack on with the "up against a deadline" project. I took a snap of the work in progress a few minutes ago....

 .....she does look a little weird with the white eyeballs at the moment! I have to complete Princess Tippy Toes and then add all the little extra decorative motifs over the sleeves and front of the sweatshirt. It looks quite peachy here, but it's actually a rather snazzy day glo orange! I'll take a picture of the finished garment later. 

A quick update on my little (big) soldier now. He had a full sachet of cat food yesterday evening, followed by his tablet powdered into evaporated milk, which he lapped up very happily. Later he was following me round in the kitchen so I gave him another sachet of food which he also ate, followed by some cat biccies! What a relief to see him eating and enjoying his food! He sat under my bench in the Doo Lally room last night, laid his head on my foot and purred away happily...obviously feeling relieved of the throbbing pain he must have had in his mouth. Whatever was in the jab he had has really perked him up.This morning he ate his breakfast quite happily followed by his medication - even scraping up a few stray grains of the pink powder off the plate!

Well, I'm off back to the Doo Lally sweatshirt in the Doo Lally room now! Oh, I forgot to say...I have glitter So Soft fabric paint now as well, so I'm going to be adding some sparkly touches here and there. Talk about going over the top - day glo and glitter!

Tablets for tabbies!

Just a quick post to let you know how Thomas got on at the vets this morning. He was very well behaved, going into the carry case with hardly any complaint and he sat in the back of the car with me with his paws through the grille of the box all the way there. He didn't complain at all and just looked a little puzzled!

He wasn't so sure about the smells and sounds once he got into the reception area, but he didn't make a fuss. Once in the surgery he had to be coaxed out but he let the vet look at his mouth and his teeth look pretty reasonable. I was hoping there'd be a black tooth ready for pulling out so he'd feel better very quickly!

However, the gums at the back corners of his mouth were very red and swollen and, going by his reaction, painful. The vet said that, as it was on both sides (more on one) it was most likely to be an infection so he's had a jab and is now on a course of antibiotics.

Of course, it's up to me to get the pills inside him! One and a half of them twice a day and, of course, I am going to be away for some of the ten days that he has to take them. We decided to give it a try as soon as we got back and I sat him on my lap with no great sense of optimism! No chance! His teeth may as well have been superglued together! He did a final Sabre Toothed Tiger impersonation and leaped off my knee.

Mmmmm, another tactic had to be worked out. So, the pills were ground onto a saucer and stirred into a little evaporated milk - success! He lapped up the milk and every bit of powder. Whew!

I realise that the rich evaporated milk is not good for him, but as a temporary measure to get the medicine into him it will  do the job. I couldn't very well ask my poor neighbour to risk life and limb (well...finger!) while I'm away, but this way it's do-able. Heather said she'd come and do it if needs be, but I think it'll be fine.

So, I'm really hoping that he is soon on the mend, though it may take a while to wean him back onto eating properly till he twigs that it doesn't hurt anymore!

Many thanks for all the good wishes and Thomas says "mmmmwwwwweeeayy mmmmeeeaaaaoowow" too!

Seconds out

Just a quick pre night night post. Had a lovely day at Card-Io in Wigan...bitterly cold this morning and myself and other passengers were steadied as we left the train as the platform was so slippery with hailstones! However, it was warm and cosy in the shop and Wendy and Martin looked after me as they always do - I haven't drunk so much coffee in ages!

Hello to everyone who braved the cold to come to the demonstration and glad you all enjoyed it. It seems that quite a few trees will be adorned with paper rosette baubles this Christmas!

The return trip was somewhat eventful (I do seem to attract eventful) as the second leg of the journey was on a replacement coach and, not long after getting onto the motorway, it started juddering as if a tyre had blown out. There followed a tense few minutes as the driver battled to get it under control and, with rain lashing down, he managed to get us onto the hard shoulder. He rang HQ to request a new vehicle (it wasn't a tyre after all - don't know what it was) and said that he was shaking like a leaf. He announced that he was going to carry on carefully and get us to our station, which he did, driving slowly and precisely. I was very impressed with the way he reacted to the situation and equally unimpressed when other passengers got off the coach without so much as even a cursory thank you.Why are people so rude? I did thank him and said how well I thought he'd handled it - it wouldn't cross my mind to do otherwise but maybe that's because I was brung up properly!!

Anyway, I walked home through the rain, got in, put the heat on, fed my two tearways and was more or less straight back out of the door- they were not impressed. I joined a team at the church hall for the quiz and curry evening and we came second which was pretty good as there were a fair few teams there. The winners were the same ones who won last time so I reckon they are swots anyway! Thankfully I got a lift home so avoided getting soaked through again.

I've just watched Strictly on the BBCi player so I'm up to speed before tomorrow's results show - not quite the same watching on the lap top, but I still enjoyed it.

Thomas has refused to go out for more than a couple of minutes over the last couple of days but he was itching to get outside tonight and was disgusted by the torrential rain - you know how cats are...always blaming their human for the bad weather! He must have been cross legged though, and he doesn't like using the litter tray, so he shot out like the proverbial cannon and vanished up the lane at a rate of knots. He just came back in and was absolutely soaked so he's had a rub down with a warm towel which he loves. Very cute as I tell him to "stand" and he goes stock still while I dry him, purring at the top of his voice.

Well, that's been my day and it's definitely time for bed now so I shall bid everyone goodnight. Thank you to everyone today for the very kind comments about my blog - it's good to know that my ramblings are appreciated - and good to know that my "wardrobe malfunction" a few weeks ago caused such laughter! Night night all.

Feel like a giggle? Read on....

I had one of my rather sleepless nights last night, dropping off quite easily then suddenly waking up at 3am and tossing and turning for hours before finally drifting off again. I never set my alarm if I don't have to be anywhere as I almost always wake very early anyway, and, if not, my Tara and Thomas soon let me know it's time to get up!

However, today they must have decided that their mum needed a lie in, so I was suddenly woken by the sound of the doorbell ringing several times at 7.40am. I hopped out of bed and realised my PJ bottoms were on the floor...I must have been too hot and kicked them off in the night! So, more hopping ensued as I tried to coordinate my legs with the legs of the PJ's! I stumbled to the front door, hair everywhere and eyes still bleary, and could see the postman through the small glass panel.

I opened the door a little and peered round, saying "Sorry, I'd overslept, so thanks for that". He smiled and proffered a package. I opened the door fully and he thrust the little computery gadget for me to sign. I was mumbling apologies and thanks again and he just sputtered something before dashing off down the drive. He didn't close the gate which is pretty unusual for the posties around here.

I shut the door and wandered back through the house. As I put the package on the sofa I glanced down and......my left boob had escaped from my pyjama top!!!!!! I was mortified. I shrieked "Oh my god!" and then started laughing! I mean, I haven't exactly been short changed in that department and the poor man must have a right eyeful....or should I say a left eyeful! 

Doubtless the story will have gone round the sorting office now, so I'll either get no post for weeks, or a queue of posties ringing the bell depending on his description! I'm just glad it was one of the postmen I don't really know, if it had been my "nice little man" who always has a chat with me, then I really would have been embarrassed!

Anyway, I thought you might like a laugh at my expense! I know that David would have absolutely laughed his socks off at that one and I even have a sneaky suspicion that he caused it to happen to make me giggle as I had one of my down days yesterday and this certainly set the day off with a hilarious tone. Was the package worth the embarrassment I hear you ask. Well, here are the main items that were inside....

Some tapes, labels, notes and a date stamper to use with my Smash book...I already had the book, but I've included it in the picture anyway. The notepad has pages with lists that you can fill in.....top ten this or that. I think many of us who were brought up on Enid Blyton books have a "thing" about lists.....picnic descriptions were a long list of sandwiches, cakes, bicuits and, of course, lashings of ginger beer! (If that means nothing to you then just be grateful you're still very young!)

The other new products were these sparkly lovelies.....

 They are the Stickles dry glitters from Ranger. The big jar on the left is the larger grained clear rock candy glitter which has a rather more vintage effect. I'm just missing the Eucalyptus green to make up the full set but I'm sure there are enough shades there to keep me happy. They are incredibly fine so I can see I'm going to be leaving sparkly trails wherever I go. 

Thought you might like to see what happens when I put the laptop down.......

.....a certain mister Thomas lets me know that he thinks I've been paying far too much attention to it rather than him! He is a comic.

The third and final part of my stint as guest designer for Darkroom Door is on their blog now if you want to take a look at the last of the projects I made. They were great fun to make and hope you like them.

Well, lunch break is over now so I must get back to the drawing board. It's been so cold here today that I've had to keep stopping to warm up my frozen fingers! And, by the way, you can stop laughing now thank you!

PS I nearly forgot to say that I'll be at Samuel Taylor's at Kershaws Garden centre, Brighouse, West Yorkshire all day tomorrow. So do do pop by if it's in your vicinity...I promise to do a full wardrobe check so as not to scare anyone away!  

Just touching base

Hello folks. Just a fairly quick post tonight. Thank you for the many suggestions, crossed fingers and, even, mantras that I have received to help me find my Journal. Sadly, it has not materialised and I can only think that my worst fears were right, and it was in one of the boxes that got stolen. The fact that I have so little time to create pages makes the loss much worse. Still, in the scheme of things, it isn't life or death, so I won't dwell on it. As Heather suggested, the best I can do is to try to print out the photos I took of some of my pages to journal page size and paste them into a new book. Not the same, but better than nothing.
I have to say a big thank you to my friend Joanne who sent me a very much appreciated envelope that contained swatches of Distress and Alcohol inks as well as labels for my Distress ink pads.....I have been putting off labelling them for so long, but now I have no excuse! Thank you Joanne, you're a treasure. You may have seen Joanne's scary Halloween cat on her blog recently and I'm very happy to say that it was given to me recently...looks even better in real life! Talking of cats, Thomas has been "helping" again today as I prepped things for Saturday's workshops. If it had been a Monday I could have linked these pics to Joanne's Crafting Buddies blog, but pop over there anyway if you get chance.
As per usual, Thomas gave my efforts a good check over, made sure all the lines were straight, everything glued down properly.... ...and then decided that he could do much better. Check out that disdainful expression (and the lopsided mouth!)! For those of you who are joining me on Saturday's workshops, you can see a sneaky peek of what we're doing in the afternoon....I'll post pictures of the finished items next week. Meanwhile, here are just a couple of snaps of some recent demonstration samples. This one features my Script Robin stamp (wooden) which I inked with Distress inks, spritzed with water and stamped onto white card before cutting out. The papers and embellishments are from the lovely MME Lost & Found Christmas range which I have found so easy to work with. I had to add a tissue paper frill! This tag features the same paper range, The Philosophy tag has been drizzled with a teeny drop of Snowcap alcohol ink which I then rubbed off to highlight the word and numbers. If you get the chance to buy the Snowcap ink - do! It's excellent and completely changes the look of all the other colours. I used Rock Candy crackle paint on the numbers, which were cut from the Lost & Found Tim Holtz paper stash. Well, I said this was a quick post, and it is! So I will sign off and return next week with more photos to share.

My funny Friday!

Hello all, back as promised with a few pictures and to hopefully give you a bit of a laugh with my funny Friday story, which started after I checked into my room in Chester-Le-Street. This was a "superior" room in the pub/hotel that I usually stay at when I'm in the area. It's cheap and cheerful, if a bit (well, quite a lot) noisy up to about midnight. However, this room had a whirlpool bath, a four poster bed (without the scary drapes!) and an extra large TV as well as a sofa.
Never having been in a whirpool bath I had no idea how to use it, but one of the staff told me what buttons to press and advised me not to add too much bubble bath. As there were no toiletries in the bathroom I brought some back with me after my usual few hours walking round the shops stretching my legs. I was going to call David but found my phone had switched itself off for some reason. However, it came back on okay and I rang to say "hello" before filling the bath. I added a tiny drop of the bubble bath and then got in and pressed the button to start the whirlpool effects. I then realised that the flat disc beside the button was to set the force of the jets, so I cranked it up and was all set to enjoy the relaxing massage. However, despite the teeniest amount of bubble bath, I watched in amazement as, within a few seconds, the soapy suds began to rise alarmingly! Within moments I could just about see over the top of the bubbles which had now become the consistency of meringue - I felt as if I was inside a Baked Alaska!
Needless to say, I had to switch off, empty the bath and then spend about ten minutes or so showering the suds away before refilling the bath with plain water. It was very funny and I wished I had had my camera as I could easily have taken a picture without showing any naughty bits! The massage was lovely and I was all set for a relaxing night. I set my alarm for 8.15 - almost a lie in!
Unfortunately the bar had "music" thumping out which was directly below my room, so I just turned up the telly and tried to ignore the noise. I eventually got into the big bed which had heavy, carved wooden posts at each corner and was quite high up from the floor. I soon drifted off but woke shortly after to nip to the bathroom whereupon I cracked my head on one of the posts and nearly knocked myself out - as David said, good thing it was my head!
Back into bed and I was out like a light and looking forward to a good sleep. Next thing, I heard my phone alarm going and could tell it had been going for a while whereas I normally wake as soon as the alarm tune starts. I felt really groggy, (unlike me) flicked the lights on and stumbled into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, had a wash and then put the kettle on, putting my fruit tea bag into a mug. I started to get dressed but felt so unusually tired that I sat on the bed while the kettle boiled. It seemed a bit dark and I checked my phone which showed about 8.25am now, so I put the BBC news on and carried on getting ready. My eyes still felt sleepy and I was looking at the TV and the time and trying to figure out what the first digit was......and, you guessed it, it was a three!
Yep, I had got up at 3.15 and spent fifteen minutes getting ready before the penny dropped! When my phone had switched itself off it had then gone to the default time and I hadn't realised. After a mixture of annoyance and relief that it was still a good few hours before I really needed to be up, I got back into bed but it took ages to drift off again. Then, to cap it all, at around six fifteen the darned street cleaning machine came down the main road and that was it, I was wide awake again!
What a night. Needless to say, I didn't exactly feel at my best on Saturday! Thankfully, the bed at the hotel on Saturday night (in Scunthorpe) was the most comfortable I have ever slept in and I made up for the previous night with a really marvellous sleep. Oh the joys of travel!
Anyway, here are just a few pictures of some of the samples I have been making for the coming weekend's demonstrations in Kendal and Poynton. Here are a couple of different cards featuring my cheeky elf stamps... ..."Merry" Christmas seemed very appropriate for this little chap!
Next up is one of the Gorjuss stamps. This character makes me laugh as he looks as if he is melting away beneath his scarf! I coloured him with Promarkers and added pencil scribbles to give him a texture. I've used the Donna Salazar die cut alphabet again for the word. Everything has been Distress inked or Stained to give a more grungy look to this card. Next up is a card that features a combination of stamps by Andy Skinner and myself. I created an alcohol inked background that I spritzed with Stazon spray cleaner. I then stamped Andy's fir tree (from his Winter's Tale set) several times, masking off the base to achieve the varying sizes...this stamp is brilliant for this effect. Some torn card made the snow and I then added the Postbox from my Christmas Post stamp set. I made a couple of "envelopes" to pop into the post box and added the greeting from my Silent Night set. To finish the scene I swooshed some watered down Faded Jeans Distress ink for shadows and highlighted the trees with Liquid Pearls. The last featured card is made using my Build a Snowy Scene stamps to create the focal image. I then cut out the postcards from Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium paper (Believe) and layered everything up. A few extra details were cut from the paper and added and then I simply scribbled the red lines around the card to frame everything. A proper Victorian card! Finally, for feline fans out there, I thought you might like to see our little (quite big actually!) charmer, Thomas, in his current favourite spot on the box seat where he can keep an eye on me working whilst he's lounging on his favourite blankie - thank you Joanne! I love the way the sunlight has just caught his white fur and whiskers. He's really got a lot softer in the last month and has finally stopped nipping and scratching...he's just giving my finger a gentle suck here!!! Aaaah, what a sweetie pie!
Well, must go as dinner is almost ready and I need to tidy up a bit before I relax for the evening.

Quiz winner!

Hello all, and firstly, many thanks for your get well wishes - much appreciated. I think I caught a bug from one of my many brushes with "Joe public" on the trains! David said I was more susceptible as I was tired and it was my body saying "you need a rest!". Many apologies to the ladies who were booked onto my workshop on Wednesday...I can't remember when I last had to cancel something! Hopefully, you will all be able to come to one of the future classes.
I feel tons better now and am going to have a day of colouring some stamped images to use on my demonstration days this weekend in Essex. I'll be at In 2 Crafting in Wickford on Saturday, and I'll be using Distress inks, stamps, punches etc. On Sunday I'll be at Pinnacle Crafts in Billericay, where I'll be focussing on Alcohol inks, Adiroindack inks and stamping ideas. Hope to see some of you on one or other of the days.
Now to the quiz....well, what a tricky one this proved to be!!! The main bug bear has been questions 1, as people have interpreted the definitions of what is edible in very different ways! Question 19 also threw up an alternative answer that I hadn't foreseen! So...I have been a bit flexible about those. Taking this into account, the two top quizzers were Carole and Joanne W, so we had to draw a winner. I thought it would be fun to get Thomas to pick the winning name, and, as you can see, he closed his eyes to be completely fair! But then, being an awkward pusscat, he decided to jump down onto the floor so I had to place the mat with the papers down there. He was very decisive though, and he was certain he wanted the one on his right! And, as you can see, he was keen to see who he had picked! So....well done Joanne, please email me your address so that I can get your prize out to you. Well done to Carole too, who was the quickest off the mark with her answers - Thomas says "mmmrr, mmmeowww, mmmrrow"....I think that means, "sorry"! Thank you to all of you who entered, and hope you enjoyed the brain excercise. I'll get working on another quiz soon, so watch this space.
Okay, I'll pop the answers on the original quiz post further down.....no groaning at the answers now!

Welcome new followers and readers...

I just wanted to say a warm welcome to new followers and readers of my blog (including Lesley, who you can see a piccie of in my previous post, with the wonderful card that she made) and hope that you'll enjoy my ramblings, both arty and otherwise!

Here's a picture of my latest projects which feature in this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine (October issue which is out now - no, I don't understand the magazine dates either!). In the mag they have showed the snowflake decoration from the other side, which has a very pretty pearl in the centre, so I thought I'd show you it from the front. Obviously, it's meant to be seen from either side, so it can be hung up. I used a Martha Stewart edger punch to make the snowflake loops. The penguin stamps are two of my wooden backed rubber designs. For the ladies who were asking me about penguin stamps last week, I do also have some in clear sets too - they are available through QVC as kit number 590197....very small picture below! There are also polar bears in there, some verses and trees - if you look very hard! lol! I don't know if they will be featuring on craft day (from midnight tonight through to midnight on Thursday) but I will definitely have some of my new Christmas designs on in the 23rd hour of the event! Looks like there is going to be an interesting mix of products on over the day, so I'll be sneaking a look between working on some new drawings.
For pusscat lovers, here is a picture of our cheeky Thomas with a new blanket that he was given by two lovely friends of ours..........as you can see, he was pretty impressed and gave it a looong test drive! He sends his thanks!

Well, that's all for now folks, just a quick hello and to say that I hope to see some of you at Sir Stampalot this coming Sunday. It will be my first visit there and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll finish with a Happy Birthday wish to my sister, Heather, who is 27 again today!!!
PS I am working on new questions for my next big quiz for which, as usual, there will be a prize. So, start getting your brain cells in training!

Christmas cards, QVC and a little helper!

Morning everyone, I am just taking a coffee break between making lots of new Christmas card samples for my demonstrations and various events. It's always good to be working with new designs so I am really enjoying this week.....getting the old glitter out always cheers me up!

This Saturday I'll be demonstrating at Crafts 4 U 2 Do in St Helens and I have so many products to show! My new stamps as well as Andy Skinner Christmas designs, Gorjuss Girl stamps and decoupage, Nit Wit festive decoupage, Best Creations papers, Martha Stewart latest Holiday punches.....crikey, I need more hands!

Talking of which, a certain someone decided that he should help out on the design side of things with his very own pencil and paper....... ......though I'm not sure he was too happy with his efforts! Lol! If you are at home this afternoon do tune into QVC as there will be some of my stamps on...I think in the 3pm hour. I haven't made the samples for the show so I'll be interested to see what has been made using them - always fun to see what other people make using my designs! There will also be stamps by my friend Andy as well.

Last Saturday I was at The Craft Box in Elsecar (Barnsley way) where there was a demonstration event to celebrate the opening of their new premises. It's a lovely big (really big!) shop with a very airy, spacious feel. Thanks to Carole for taking these piccies for me on the day! I think my table looks quite tidy for me...for a change! And here's a close up of everyone's favourite card of the day which features the tactile Teddy from Darkroom Door stamp set "Hello Baby". If you look closely at the cards on my table you can also see a girly pink teddy card. Carole kindly emailed me some more photos which I couldn't post as they came out like thumbnails when I save them...David will sort that out though I'm sure, so will show you them once he has got them resized for me.
David and I are really looking forward to Sunday in St Helens too where we will be hosting another day of workshops. These are Christmas themed and using my new stamp designs amongst other things. There are still places available (mostly in the morning session) so if you'd like to come and join in the fun, please drop me an email. There are also more details in my demonstrations and workshop dates sidebar on the left.
So, here are just a couple of cards that I've made for Saturday's Christmas Card Extravaganza! These aren't the workshop projects...they have to be kept under wraps! This first one features my new Elf stamps...cheeky characters! I've kept it pretty simple using Best Creations Trees paper in the background, highlighted with a white pen. Next is one I've made using Andy's Winter's Tale stamp set. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show it too well as I've used Perfect Pearl Mist on the card and it's reflecting in a rather odd way here! It's been Distress inked, Faux Bleached, stamped and spritzed. The words are from my new PICSA6263 set which has lots of little Christmassy sentiments and words in it. Next is a card using Gorjuss Girl Clear stamps...if you love colouring in these are great. What I really love is the new Martha Stewart Holly Leaves Punch around the Page set which I have tinted using good old Distress inks. Think I will be using this punch rather a lot! The little character just fits in the 3.75" x 5" punched mat perfectly. The verse is from my new stamp set PICSA6264.So, just a few sneaky peeks and I'll post more photos in the next few days. That coffee is stone cold now, so I shall drink it up and get cracking again with more stamping!