Workshop updates

I do hope you are having a good Monday Bank holiday.. me: I am working some of it.. and having some time off tomorrow to visit one of my favourite places- Hastings! Felt there might not be so many crowds on the roads or even on the seafront tomorrow! lol
I have several workshops coming up for the next month, and beyond, and if you fancy a play day with me, all the information is here! You could come along and play with utee and metal and Tim's dies at Pickleberry Papercrafts on Saturday September 11th

or you could come and create with lots of grungepaper and metal and mica sprays with me at Sharon's Card Crafts on Saturday September 18th.

If you are coming along to Artisan, you can also make an altered mini suitcase with me on both days.

I also have play days ( ooh so lucky to call them those..lol not that I get to play much...but you do!) at It's Crafting Time near Cambridge on Saturday and Sunday October 23rd and 24th.... The information and contacts are down the side of this blog or on this page..
Come and have fun with me!
Hope you are having a very Creative Monday

Get me to the church on time!

Yesterday the sun shone ... well it didn't rain ( that's for sure!) and we went to a wedding! I could show pictures of the bride and groom ( my stepson Dan and his new wife Jodie), but the photos are not brilliant.. everyone seemed to move when I clicked the camera!! lol but I did make a card.. no surprises there then?
 I wanted to make something that wasn't the norm, but was still pretty, and bought some rub-ons. yes rub-ons! not peel-offs! I think I would have been better buying peel-offs, as these particular rub-ons didn't work!! You would think it was simple... cut them out lay them in said order on the card, rub them off with said enclosed stick! I am old aficionado at using rub-ons. I used to use Letraset in all it's glory for years, so have the right tools, and I tried those, but nothing. I rubbed hard and and I even dented the card trying to get the rub-on's onto the card!  Was it the paper I used? Was it the tool?  I even re-read the instructions! me who never reads instructions! nah! nothing! de nada!They did come off the backing in a fashion but left behind some of the colour and letters!! The card was a disaster! So an hour before we are due to leave, (I do tend to leave things to the last minute)  I had to compromise and use a couple of toppers and the lovely stickers by the girls' paperie!! I did manage to get 2 or 3 of the rub-ons off onto a new card, but was extremely disappointed. Needless to say I won't be buying Papermania rub-ons again! btw in case you wondered I didn't buy the toppers, they came in a box of goodies I bought from a friend a while ago.. and have proved extremely useful!
Lesson learnt stamp it!! lol

I am having a very lazy day today... being that it is a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, and plan to do nothing more than read the papers, and watch the tv... any bets on if that happens?? lol
Have a great day!

Sneaky peek!

I love sneaky peeks, and in Creative Cardmaking issue 19 , Hels and I have designed a couple of cards and a tag for you. For obvious reasons I cannot show you a full picture of them, but suffice it to say run down to your local newsagent and buy a copy!!

I do hope you are having a good Bank Holiday weekend, our last till Christmas.. eek who mentioned the word.. Christmas!! oooh I did twice!! *sneeks away into a corner, muttering..lol)
I have so much news, and we have some new stamps, (steampunk orientated).  I had a request for them , so have re-released them!

Also new in the shop are those gorgeous wire hangers that are now back in stock!

Sid has done a gorgeous piece on The Creative Team blog, and you can win an ATC from Minxy, and my Bank Holiday gift to you is 10% off all orders over £30! just pop the code bankholiday into the discount voucher box after you have shopped (£30.00 minimum) to get your discount!
I am off to a wedding today, so have to get my hair done, nails painted, dress ironed ( I wish! lol) and keeping my fingers crossed the sun stays out!
Have a creative day!

Blend it, blend it!

I am loving the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over on Linda's blog, for the simple fact that I can use a technique I already know and maybe push the boundaries on it a little bit. That is exactly what I did with this tag for the challenge. To find out what I did you need to turn to page 36 of Tim's newest book.. and follow the instructions. I did follow them, and pushed the blended batik a little further than normal. I have to say the idea came from the first tag I did, then I messed it up, so did a second tag, and actually I even did a third tag! This is the 4th one! and on this I even made a mistake.. Can you spot it ? it is very glaringly obvious!! lol I used stamps from both of the new birds ranges and the bare tree, adding the leaves to it..loved the effect.. just as I had hoped for :))The background is a Calligraphy Mat ( we have lots of these)  In spite of the mistake.. I adore the effect the batik can produce.

If you have never entered this challenge, the prizes are awesome, and it is such fun. If you don't have the book, we do have some in stock here. Don't forget the blog candy over on The Creative Team blog ends today too at 6pm GMT, when I will be picking the winner!!

Linda, thank you for the challenge, I had a blast doing it!

Have a very creative day,

 

Ali Baba and the 40 crafters!...woyww

I realised that every week on What's on Your workdesk, hosted by the delectable Mrs Dunnit, I show a different angle of my desk, and almost always there is never anything on it! How remiss of me! All you get to see is the bits and bobs I work with and absolutely nothing finished! So I have rectified it this week, and made something especially for you! I love my boxes, and even more so when I can alter/decorate them. Inspiration came yesterday when I watched the very hilarious videos from Cheryl and Megan  at Ten Seconds Studio, and this week's is glitta!, hence the title of the post, which came courtesy of Mal, when he saw the box!! ( he has a very obscure sense of humour)
I had already made my mind up, previous to the video that I was going to cover one of these papier mache boxes in metal using one of the new TSS moulds (no 13 to be precise). The next step wasn't hard... just cover the box in black Rock Star metal which I run through the Big Shot... believe me it took quite a few goes to figure out the sandwich scenario!! I ended up using 4 cutting mats, and a piece of rubber and a blue mat! I do really need to know what the correct sandwich for the Big Shot is.. please????? anyone???? lol
I then added humungo tape to the metal pieces and attached them to the box. I even went out and bought glitter for this project.. what do you mean don't I have any?.. yes, but please tell me where I put it!! I added the glitter with glossy accents... and also the desk, the guillotine (which is the glass thingy to the right of my picture which someone asked last week about), my clothes, the carpet, my face, my hands, the computer keyboard.. you get the picture!)

Anyways I have waffled and spouted enough.. here is my box, which I love... on my nearly tidy desk :)))

I also have to apologise, as all intentions were that I went round everyone's desk last week, but never quite made it.. absolutely gonna do it this week, or if not at the weekend.

Happy Woywwing day!

Winner!

It's Sunday, and I should have done this Friday, and I forgot!! It's all those hormones, and tiredness, and oh do I have any other excuses.. oh yes time! lol. What am I waffling on about?.. the winner of my tag giveaway... of course..this one...

Well I used Mr Random.org and the winner is

 SHE!

yah! Congratulations! please email me your address so I can put it in the post for you.

Would you like more giveaways.. well hop, skip and jump over to HERE. We have goodies!!

On a more serious note, I am angry, as  I have had to put word verification back on my blog after a few years, as in the past week I have had at least 10 unsolicited anonymous pieces of spam as comments!! I seriously don't like word verification ( almost as much as I hate music on blogs!) as I find it a pain especially if you want to be quickish commenting, and I almost always get it wrong! But needs must, and hopefully I will be able to take it off again. ( as an aside I am hoping they won't be bothered to do the word verification, otherwise I will have to stop anonymous's as well! grrr) This is in spite of Blogger saying they now have spam filters!! Obviously they don't work all of the time!! Ok, stepped off my soapbox now! tell me what you think?

Have a creative Sunday.. I am having a lazy one :))

Back to Basics...

When the mojo goes on holiday, it is always hard to find a starting point to kick it back into life! For me I often go back to basics... a little normal stamping or some embossing. Over on Gingersnap Creations I have a mini tutorial for you using just these techniques. Please pop over and have a little look and tell me what you think.. I love comments :))

Have a very Creative weekend

Zentangles, blog candy.. and lost mojo!

What do you do when your mojo, creativity and crafting ability pops off for a holiday? Do you get out your stash and look at it endlessly hoping something will happen?... do you go out for the day for retail therapy? Do you wander off aimlessly looking for it in a cupboard or under the carpet? lol Mine seems to have gone on holiday this week with its bikini and sunglasses, and I do wish that I could be with it.. sun sea and sand...rofl!
So I did what I always do, went shopping at Bluewater Shopping Mall , bought a 70% off VERY large sketchbook, bought a gorgeous ring designed by my sister ( for HedKandi, who opened their first shop yesterday), and of course some Lush bubble bath! Did my mojo come back.. nah! not a hope! So I tried the zentangle challenge over at Lots to Do to see if that helped, it was interesting as I had never done one of these before.. It is supposed to be 3.5 inches square, and me who NEVER reads instructions made it 2.5 inch square, so there was a lot less space to fill! (weird red mark on the picture, but not on the drawing , so guessing I need to clean my scanner!) I quite liked my first attempt and there is another one being worked on, which I may show at a later date.

Thank you girls for the challenge, it certainly gave me something different to do :))
If you have lost your crafting mojo to the sun, sea and sand.. pop over to The Creative Team blog, for a chance to bring it back to life with some great goodies!

Hope you have a more creative day than me, and show me what you can do.. I LOVE comments!
Hugs

I am distressed!

because this week over on Compendium of Curiosities,week 10,  there is no page number, just Distress Stickles! lol.. It meant I had to make something up!  Actually these are so underused, that it was pleasure to get them out and play. I actually used them to make a Birthday card for my step-daughter, Mickey , who was 21 last week! Happy Birthday Mickey!! (Hoping she doesn't spot this on facebook before I give it to her! :))))  I used some of the girls's paperie stickers, a few of  the Salvage Stickers, and of, course, how could one not, a calendar paper from Lost and Found! Add a star for a star, and my distress is over!

I used Distress stickle colours Faded Jeans, Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick ( just love this name!) Shabby Shutters and Spice Marmalade.
Thank you Linda for the challenge, and if you have no idea what on earth I am going on about pop over to Linda's blog , and check it out!
Happy stickly Creating!

It's that day again... WOYWW Wednesday!!

Seems like it has been a very quick week this week since last Wednesday! One puff of ink!!, and I have spent a week moulding stamps, pricing goodies, packing a truck, unpacking a truck, setting up a shop, demoing, packing up a shop, packing up a truck, unpacking a truck, and am still moulding stamps! Note: the view has a different perspective this week. This is the view I get while sat at my computer. It is proof in living colour that really if I wanted to make anything I will have to tidy up,.. did I say that?....mmm I did, (not even a square inch left.. althugh I can work on a minute space!). Do you know where there is a spare hour I can borrow to do that? Please show me the buy one get one free hour in the day where this is possible...lol
So I can see a push it pull it, pile it up higher than it is, to spend some time creating art to share with you. 2nd Note: Dumped on desk... new stash bought at Stamperama... and the new moulds from Ten Seconds Studio now available from us!

I do seem to have waffled a lot today... so if you haven't a clue what I am talking about , hop skip and jump to Mrs Dunnit's HERE, take a picture of your crafty space, pop it on your blog, and show off! We love it!!
I am giving away the tag you can see in the top right corner.. to be in with a chance,post a comment here :)
Have a more creative day than me, and I hope to be round to your place later today ;))

Dreaming of roses....

Finally this morning I feel a little more human... having slept the night away! I did go through what I had left on my demo table yesterday and came across this little tag that I had started but never finished! Apparently I seem to multi task while demoing... talking, to several people at once, showing product and answering questions.. I do believe I was called manic, but in a nice way ( apparently) lol.. I don't disagree.., think the adrenalin takes over while I am at shows!!! Anyway I digress.. here is a tag that I put together with one of the grungepaper rosebud we made ( see here on Lynne's blog how to make them) . I stamped up the Baroque background with Copper Dabber onto a distress inked background, and then stuck Symphony tissue tape at a diagonal over the tag. I distress inked it to the blend in with the background. Add a rose, an adage ticket in a memo pin, and a simple little tag for a pressie.

 Would you like it?  Add your name and a comment to this post, and I will give it away on Friday to one lucky person:))
If you are blog hopping today you must see Minxy's great take ( or is a copycat?? rofl)
 on a Wendy Vecchi style piece on The Creative Team blog.. just fabulous ..
Don't forget to leave your comment...
Have creatively filled day!

A lovely day was had by all...

at least I hope it was...We had a great day at Stamperama on Sunday... Hels made lots of make and takes, Zoe ( thank you :)) worked the till and her magic on our customers, and I demoed. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, it was great to see old and new faces.. sorry didn't mean old as in old, but familiar faces! lol.
I did take a few pics, and this one shows the stand with the till, and hidden away Mrs Sheridan doing her magic! She is very shy you know:)) and will not let me show any pictures of her on the blog.. shame... I am afraid all you can see if Zoe's back (do you think she will kill me for this piccie? )

I did make lots of different style tags, and probably the one I liked the most I did give away to Janet, and it has give me a brilliant idea which hopefully I will get to make later in the week when I have time. The bird is actually stamped on the inside of the jar, which was Janet's idea :))

I am off now to put up my feet and get an early night.. it's amazing how much energy is used up in doing these shows!!
Have a creative evening

We have goodies...

at Stamperama tomorrow! Hels is there, I am there... and if you are coming along, you can get to make and take with us for free!! Hels will be showing you a new technique which is such fun, and so very very addictive! I promise you will have fun, and get to look at lots of goodies and stash! I love doing the shows, despite the inordinate hard work, getting ready, setting up, but it is always taken over by the fact that I get to meet you!  and Stamperama is a fun , easy going show, with great booths!
Please pop by and say hi to us.. always like to put a face to a blog commenter :))
P.S. this is what you might make :)) make it.. take it away with you... get hooked!! lol

My greatest thanks to Lynne for this amazing technique :)
Have a creatively good weekend

On a rose role...

I have been hooked on grungepaper roses ever since I first learnt about them, and they are not an immediate thing.. they take time to make.. no instant fix here! Over on the Creative Team blog, I have explained how I made this piece, well ok it is a short post, as I up to my ears in packing boxes, and making sure we have everything we need for Stamperama on Sunday! I would love you to hop over there and comment...we LOVE comments!! :)))

Have a very Creative Friday, after all it is the end of the week, and it's Saturday tomorrow!! Yea!!

Cracking Curiosity...

This week over on LInda's blog Studio L3 ( what a great name :) we have reached week 9 of Compendium of Curiosities challenge!! week 9! I only think I have done some of them, and this one appealed. No telling you how to do it.. you need THE BOOK!  However I can tell you I made a tag, used the Fanciful Flight die, and Tim's Grunge paper stack.. Was great fun making this...and a challenge to say the least!

Thank you Linda... and if you haven't taken part yet.. have a go.. some great prizes up for grabs:)))
Edited....to also include Simon Says Stamp And Show as this also fits the bill, and it was suggested to me by Lynne that I enter it!
Have crackingly creative day!
Hugs

woyww...a different perspective!

It's Wednesday again.. my how quick it comes round every week, blink and you are there! I can't fathom it out at all! Mrs Dunnit has us all up at the crack of dawn photographing our desks and workspaces to show the world! Are we mad???? yep is the answer to that, but we love it, judging by the number of blog posts :)))
I have shown you a sort of sideways on view of my extremely cluttered, push it back, pile it high, "have an inch" to work on desk!

I am working on a post for tomorrow, and trying to get ready for Stamperama at the weekend. Are you coming along?  If you are come and say hi, so I can put a face to a blog :))
Have a great day blog hopping. I do hope I will get a chance to visit as I am busy pressing new stamps for the show, and packing boxes.. lots of boxes!! lol
If you have never taken part in What's on your workdesk Wednesday then you must!!It is the law!! Pop over to Julia's and have a look see, you will be amazed :))
Have a very Happy Wednesday!

Musically speaking...

I just had time this weekend to create something for the Sunday Stamper hosted by the delectable Miss Sheridan! The theme this week is music, and I wanted to use the new empty jar stamp. I had an idea to stamp it into clear utee, and fill it with music, which I have done. Easy to say, not quite so easy to do, however! I did manage successfully to stamp the bottle into clear utee poured onto a craft sheet. While it was till relatively warm, I trimmed around the bottle, and bent it over a round form, so you get the bottle shape. The utee remains fairly fragile once it has cooled, so handle it with care. If you mess it up just remelt and start again!
 A smattering of perfect pearls coloured the bottle. I glued an old music sheet to the inside of it, and using my still going silicone glue ( I am truly amazed by this!), I glued it to a mini canvas , which I painted in Claudine's Modern Red Studio paint , and covered with gold Mica spray while still wet. A few of the teeny weeny flowers from the Flower blooms stamp set decorated the edge.

I made gold metal flowers backed on Sticky back canvas from Tim's Tattered Floral die, and ran them through an embossing die. Smoosh a bit of red paint on a non stick crafts sheet and whoosh the flowers through it to get the raised edges red. Do you like the terminology? lol smoosh and whoosh!!

 I love the texture from the canvas through the metal. I added wire to the flowers , and slid them inside the jar.
The photos definitely do not do this justice sad face:( It was seriuosly difficult to photograph!
Thank you Hels for the challenge :))
Have a creative day!

Pure Indulgence on a Saturday!

Actually the indulgence occurred on a Friday, and I played hookey from work yesterday afternoon, and spent a happy hour or two playing...sorry working hard crafting! lol. I had finally got my Craft Stamper with Hel's inspiring creation on the front cover, and had forgotten how much I loved making these porcelain flowers, but I wanted to make something different with them. I used Tim's papers from the Shabby VIntage pack, and cut them out on the Tattered Florals die ( now back in stock! yea) . Melt lots of clear utee in the meltpot, and shape your flowers, then dip them in the utee, and drain off over the meltpot before drying on a non-stick sheet. I did several layers. I was surprised at how well the paper took the utee, and also stayed with the shape. I think this is because the paper is so thick. I did punch holes in the largest flower first, so I could hang beads off it. The rose in the middle is a new mould I got this week...

I have finally realised that I am getting old...*sad face here* as I had to put on my reading glasses to thread the beads for the cotton reel, because I couldn't see them with my ordinary glasses!!! I want to be 21 again!! Anyway I digress. Wrap the beads on the wire around the middle of the cotton reel, and secure the wire with glue or wrap it around itself. I used the remnants of an old necklace picked up on my travels for the hanging beads.

I added another flower for the base, and using my still working silicone glue!, attached the top flowers and the bottom flowers to the reel. Not sure the photos do it justice.. it is very pretty in real life.
If you have finally read this long convoluted post, and not skipped to the bottom!, then please pop over to The Creative Team blog, where Minxy has her first post for the blog,

There is also the chance to win candy too on there :))))
Have a very indulgent Saturday, and treat yourself
Hugs