What a Difference a Day Makes (or 7 of them to be precise)

Having been away at the NEC, it's now seven days since I last made the almost 60 mile round trip to work and what a surprise I got this morning. In only seven days - Spring has Sprung (despite the fact that snow is forecast for Easter this weekend).

It was a mild morning and quite bright and as I drove along the very scenic route to work. I was taken aback by the beautiful blossoms in abundance on the trees, some pink and some white. These trees had been completely bare last week. Japonika and Forsythia bushes were in full bloom and the sunny yellow of their flowers made everywhere look stunning. I had to resist the urge to stop and take photographs - I'd never have got to work if I had.

Now, back to my adventures at the NEC:

Having got the first very successful day over with, I returned to the hotel in the evening. There were several other exhibitors staying in the same hotel and we made arrangements to all have dinner together. The company was good even if the food was just 'OK'.

Friday 14th: You could really be forgiven for thinking today was Friday the 13th not the 14th. Overnight, the hotel car park had been hit by a gang breaking into cars looking for lap tops and sat navs. Seven cars were targeted where I was staying and one of them just happened to belong to a colleague and friend also exhibiting at the show. They seem to have gone for cars that looked like they could be 'reps' cars. Mine was fine but as I walked out to it that morning I could see glass all over the ground and a car just one away from where I was parked had been broken into.

We later learned that just about every hotel car park on the NEC complex had been targeted.

Although the day had got off to a bad start for some, the show turned out to be another successful and enjoyable day. A bit of a strange day in a way as one moment the stand was completely inundated and the next the aisle was almost completely empty. It left you wondering if the hall had been evacuated and no one had told you! But then the next wave would hit and you couldn't see the stands across the way again.

Some more examples of some of stamps and techniques that I was demonstrating at the show. Sorry about the lighting on these examples, I tried using the flash but it was bouncing off the pearlescent card and the pearlescent paint on the Peacock feathers. The Peacock has been stamped on vellum and 'bowed' out from the front of the card to give it dimension. I adore the little Peacock Feather stamp around the border - it is so delicate. The background stamp in black on the card above is also on the Peacock Glory themeplate and gives such a lovely damask 'feel' when stamped repeatedly. This is a very adaptable plate of stamps and well worth having in your collection.

Saturday 15th: Such a sad day. The show got off to a great start, it was busy from the word GO at 9.30 and by 11 a.m the hall was heaving. Then tragedy struck. I'm not going to go into too much detail, you'll understand why. One of the exhibitors collapsed on his stand and a very serious medical emergency was declared. The show was temporarily closed while the paramedics gave assistance and the air ambulance was brought in but I'm very sorry to say that every ones efforts were in vain. This very sad event cast a subdued air over most of the exhibitors I spoke to that day and our thoughts and commiserations are with his wife and family.

On a happier note, everyone I spoke to who stopped by the stand appeared to be enjoying the show - many people, even late into the afternoon had not stopped for lunch in fear of missing something good and they kept walking the show.

I got a lot of enquiries about the ink pad storage system I was using. It's called an Ink Pad Craft Locker. I knew that we didn't have many left back at Graphicus and some of you have been on the phone and placed your order for this very nifty little locker since seeing mine at the show. When I got back to work this morning I checked to see how many we have and there is ONLY ONE left now. So if you were one of the people who wanted one and you haven't secured yours yet, do it now! I know that we haven't got any more on order at this moment in time.

Sunday 16th: and the final day of the show started quietly, probably due to a combination of heavy rain and the fact the it was Palm Sunday. But again, by 11 a.m. we were in full flow and it was fast and furious. I love the buzz of the show, to hear all about the exciting things people have found to buy and what you have planned for using them. I was also really delighted to see how many 'young folk' we have coming into the crafting community - and boys too. Maybe the next Tim Holtz was standing watching my demo's over the last four days - who knows?

All too soon, it was time to pack up my demo equipment and head off back up the motorway in the direction of home. I'm pleased to say that the heavy rain of the morning had passed over and the driving conditions were relatively good. My little Punto did it's 'Transformer' impersonation and turned into a Porche and I was home in next to no time. Exhausted, but at the same time wired with enthusiasm to continue creating and I have lots of plans for the next two weeks to get some 'eye candy' ready for our Open Days at Graphicus on the 04th and 05th of April.

Here's a peak of a work in progress.... this is how it looked when I put all the elements together to get started, it's looking a little different now that it's about half way to being completed. Any ideas? I'll show you when it's finished!

And last but not least, I did get back in time to see the end of the final of Dancing On Ice. Wow, what a show. I'm sorry I missed the fly wire performances but what I did see was spectacular and on a completely difference level to last weeks show. This series has been the most brilliant entertainment and has given Sunday night viewing the sparkle it has sadly lacked for many a year now. Just a pity that they can't find a show to do the same for Saturday night viewing! The great British viewing public pulled it out of the hat again and the results were spot on. Hurrah!

Hobbycrafts Show, NEC

Last Wednesday (12th March) I packed up my car, said goodbye to the family and all at work and headed off down the motorway to Birmingham for four days at the Hobbycrafts Show taking place at the NEC.

As you may remember, we had some pretty atrocious weather last week and a journey that normally takes me about 2 and a half to three hours took me a gruelling 4 and a half hours. I arrived with cramp and a stinking headache but at least I arrived safely. It was a drive that really tested my driving skills to the max!

I was going to be demonstrating Elusive Images stamps and Artylicous CD Papers on Joanna Sheen's stand for the four days of the show so I went straight to the Exhibition Centre to drop off my demo equipment. The stand was all up, stocked, dressed and looking beautiful when I arrived but as it was so late, everyone had gone. So I stashed my kit and took myself off to the hotel where I promptly crashed out for the night.

Thursday (1st day) was a very busy day. I got to walk the show before it opened and most of my favourite exhibitors were there, although LB Crafts weren't this time - a shame as I really love their things and Linda is a brilliant demonstrator. It was really great seeing everyone from the show circuit again.

The show was due to open at 9.30 a.m. and at 9.25 a.m. they drew back the big entrance doors and from our position on the stand we could see everyone lined up and ready for the off when they officially opened the show. Virtually from the word 'GO', Joanna's stand was heaving - all day.

I don't know where the day went, it was so hectic that before I knew it, it was late afternoon and time for a sandwich and cuppa.

Here are some of the cards that I had such fun making whilst demonstrating. These are made from one of the new themeplates 'Flora Bella' and the Poppy is from 'Flora and Fauna'. I really love Flora Bella , they are very definitely my fave stamps at the moment and they work brilliantly with the Adirondack inking technique that I favour so much. It lends itself so beautifully to simple 'black and white' layouts too.

Or maybe........ the Peacock is my favourite? Oh soooo much choice. I'm just so lucky that I can play with them ALL!

These three envelope cards were made from the Artylicious papers and closed with interlocking hearts from the 'Damask Hearts' themeplate. The closure idea was inspired by a card made by one of our DTM's - Sandra Taylor. Nice one Sandra and thank you! The photography just doesn't do the vellum hearts on the middle card or the butterfly on the bottom one, justice. They were embossed with a truly fabulous set of embossing powders 'Sparkle and Sprinkle' that Joanna Sheen sells. I used the 'Black and White' set, the results are fabulous and the value is astonishing.

I really had fun with these embossing powders and vellum - now I just need to convince Glenda that we really do have to have them in the shop!!! The only problem is....... there's 104 different colours to choose from and they do Glitters too.

Well, I don't like admitting defeat, but Blogger is playing silly beggars tonight and it's taken me an hour and a half just to get this far. The photo's are taking an age to upload despite reducing them in size for posting to the blog. I do have some more to show you so I will continue tomorrow night providing Blogger decides to play nicely.

Before I go, I would like to say a big 'thank you' on two accounts. The first 'Thank You' goes to all of you who have left comments on my blog recently. I really do appreciate it and I love to hear from you so if you haven't left a comment yet - don't be shy, pleeeease DO. The second 'Thank You' is to all of you who came to say hello and watch the demo's at the show. I met so many bloggers, Graphicus Guild members, Sheenies and dedicated Craft Addicts - all lovely people. The time you spent watching and chatting (not to mention 'buying', I said not to mention that)! was fantastic and now I can put so many faces to the names I see attached to the comments both here, on the Graphicus Blog and Glenda's Blog.

Back again soon!

Don't Ya Just Love It?

Just got back from demonstrating at the HobbyCrafts Show at the NEC, Birmingham. I'm on a high but very tired after a long week and a long drive home. I will take some photos of some of the cards I made during the show and put them on my blog with an update - hopefully tomorrow.

But for now, I was just checking my emails with the TV on in the background when I got distracted by the most amazing ad. I have put on here for you to have a chuckle at too if you haven't seen it already....... it's so good it almost makes me want to buy a Polo.



Enjoy!

Wild Weather

What a day it has been weather wise. I know that we've not had the extreme weather that the south has been experiencing, but it's been pretty wet and very windy. My brother lives in West Sussex, about 25 minutes away from Brighton and he's been telling me how bad it has been there. Now, forgive me while I have a moan but..... a few weeks ago here in the north east, we had some really extreme weather with winds gusting in excess of 80mph. It was so bad that someone I know from work had his car lifted off two wheels whilst driving in a cross wind! Then it snowed horizontally as well. Did any of this make the national news? I will say no more.

It does however, bring back very fond memories of this time two years ago. We (the Graphicus Show Team) were all up in Glasgow at the SEC for the HobbyCraft Show when it snowed overnight. Boy was that fun, it's a long time since I've seen snow that thick. It was so bad that we couldn't get the van out of the hotel car park and had to walk to the Exhibition Centre. What fun we had that weekend!

I haven't been doing too much on the home crafting scene of late. It has mainly been projects for the Graphicus Guild News Letter and a stitched ATC book for Glenda's TV show last Friday. I don't have photos at the moment as it was a rush to get the book finished in time.

I have been doing more organising in the craft room and found some nice things on a recent shopping expedition.

This lovely little distressed letter rack with drawer makes a great storage unit for tags, blank ATC's, bits and pieces etc. I'm really pleased with it. I also found this in the same shop.....

I've been back again since finding these and have bought some more, I love them and they look great dotted around the studio. Must get more room to display stuff! I'm definitely going to have to move into a bigger room.

This is a great Christmas pressy from Glenda and Adrian. Everyone at work got one and all the mugs have different sayings on them. As you can see, I'm a 'Party Animal'...... uhmm...... the less said..... but the reason I am showing you this is the tin. I love the mug but isn't the tin just crying out to be altered?

So the next time you see this, Jamie will have disappeared and there will be something entirely different in his place. I haven't decided exactly what yet, we'll just go with the flow and see what happens. I think it may have to be a touch of the good old alcohol inks. I'll let you see what happens.

Wow! What a Show - Part Two

Danger! Long Blog.........

WARNING! This entry is photo heavy........

So, as promised - here is 'Percival Ponsonby Smyth' in all his glory and doesn't he suit his name?

Friday 15th: Van Loading Day! Lesley's husband David came in to help Adrian load the van.... we had a lovely new one with a tail lift which made loading the furniture for the stand a whole lot easier. Everything went in very neatly and without too many hick-ups.

Percival was finished early in the afternoon and was placed on a large board and carefully wrapped in copious amounts of bubble wrap and cling film and was loaded into the back of the van. Glenda and Adrian set off late afternoon and headed down to Birmingham to be ready to unload early Saturday morning. Apparently, he behaved beautifully throughout the journey and he arrived still in one piece!

Saturday 16th: The rest of the team rendezvoused at 0800 hours. We were taking two vehicles so Judith accompanied Lesley and Emma kept me company. It was a very cold, frosty but bright morning and the traffic was light. We were off and the drive was good all the way.

By the time we arrived at the NEC, the van had been unloaded (courtesy of Mike and Mike, the burly assistants hired to help set up the stand). We all set about unpacking the art work and making the stand look astonishing. It was sooooo cold. With it being an Exhibition Centre, most of the outside walls are actually huge access doors which roll up to allow the lorries to unload and they were open all day, brrrrrrrr.

The wonderful Helen (Chilton) arrived mid afternoon to help out. Helen is a fabulously talented stamp designer, artist and member of our design team and was going to be with us on the stand throughout the show. We're a big team this year but with Glenda teaching and demonstrating every day, we need all hands on deck!

We finished setting up about 6p.m. and left to check-in to the hotel. By the time we got to our rooms there was just time to drop of the luggage, slap on some lipstick and we were off again. This time to one of our favourite restaurant called the Tea Room, a really good Chinese not too far from the hotel. It was a fab meal as usual and then back to the hotel for an earlyish night. We have a very early start in the morning (0530 for me) and an incredibly long day!

Ok! So here we go with all the photos from the show. Starting with, of course...... the inimitable 'Percival'. Doesn't he look haughty?

Here's a close up of his feathers.... all those lovely luscious Artylicious papers mixed with splendid peacock feathers, sequins, glitter and Glimmer Mists - Yumm!

Here we all are..... raring to go before the show opens (I daren't show you photos of how we looked at the end of the day after 11 hours on the stand). Here is Lesley who is taking care of 'Meet and Greet, and Emma who is brill with sales.

Adrian's looking very pleased with himself after setting up all the IT side of the stand.... it all works too! Yey!!.....

......and Judith is ready and waiting for the onslaught. Don't worry Judith, it's not that bad really!

The product viewing area......

Unmounted Stamps, and don't those new 'all-colour' inserts look fab?

Even the wood mounted stamps have new coloured index. They really drew a lot of attention and there were far more orders for mounted than usual.

Here's Glenda and Helen looking pleased with themselves. And so they should! Just to the left of Glenda, sitting on the shelf you can see the most incredible 'doll' which was made for Glenda by Helen. I didn't get a close up of the doll, but I'm sure that Glenda will post a photograph of her on her blog - what a fantastic doll!

This year, we mounted the cards onto hand painted and colour co-ordinated canvasses. You can see them on top of the display stands.

Uhmmm! Me thinks I've seen this somewhere before?

It's going well....... don't you just love Glenda's pinny? Very colour co-ordinated.

All our uniforms match, we found them in America when we were there in September for the Memory Trends Trade Show in Las Vegas. Lots of people commented on how great we all looked and how 'classy' the stand was.

At the end of the day..... inputting orders and checking the paperwork.
And a final word from Percival..... the lord and master of all he serveys.

The show closes at 16.30 on Tuesday when tear-down starts. Our Mr Shifters arrive to load the van while we pack away all the art work. It's still very, very cold outside. In fact, there has been freezing fog for most of the day and when I ring home before leaving the NEC, I'm told that the visibility at home is really poor and temperatures are down to -4. Ooooh that's cold.

Our drive north is not too bad but we do drive through some heavy snow showers that last only a couple of minutes and vanish as quickly as they appeared. The further north we go the worse the visibility becomes but we all arrive home safely - although nowhere near as quickly as I normally manage to do the 200 mile drive home. So that's it for another year....... well, in the UK anyway. Who knows where the next one might be?

All in all, the show seemed a lot quieter (foot-fall wise) than it normally is but having said that it was a remarkably successful show for us. We met some lovely people, had some very exciting things happen (can't share at the moment, it's early days) did some very good business with lots of orders and we ALL enjoyed ourselves immensely. Wish I could say the same about my feet!

I just had to share these photos with you. This is the morning after getting home from the show. Taken on the lane leading from home when setting off for work, the sun was shining and it was just so beautiful I had to stop and capture the scene. You can still see a little of the fog lingering in the trees.
Boy! What a frost. It was so heavy that it looked more like snow - I don't like the cold but when it looks this spectacular I'll put up with it.

Wow! What a Show.

I've been teasing you for long enough with little snippets of a Stampbord Collage I've been working on. Well here's the finished article.

I made the Stampbord mirror to display on the stand at 'Stitches' to demonstrate the versatility of Stampbord and all the different products that can be used in conjunction with it.

It has been a whirlwind of a fortnight........

We have been away at Craft Hobby and Stitch International or 'Stitches' as it is better known. Stitches is a trade only show held at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham and is the UK equivalent of the American trade show CHA. The show takes place over three days and opened on Sunday 17th and ran until Tuesday 19th of February.

But let me take things back to the week before and all the preparation that went into getting ready to go. Anyone who reads Glenda's blog will know that Glenda and Adrian had both been very poorly in the run up to the show and thank goodness, were both ok (but only just) and back at work last week. We had a contingency plan just in case but didn't need it in the end.

It was all hands to the pump so to speak and some of the Elusive Images design team members who live close enough came in to help prep all the art work and displays. A big thank you to Kathleen, Lesley, Annette and Barbara who all rose to the occasion and did a fantastic job wielding paint brushes, stamping, painting canvases, spraying Glimmer Mists and carefully wrapping and packing away all the wonderful pieces. Another big thank you goes out to the rest of the design team: Helen, Sue, Rose, Eunice, Elaine and Sandra who made such fantastic pieces to be displayed at the show. We are incredibly fortunate in having the most 'awesome' bunch of artists who make up our design team.

Everyone worked really hard to put the show together. Val, Sheila, Bill and Vickie in production did an amazing job with the stamps and other products and getting all the stock packed and ready to go. Carrie Anne, our very talented graphic designer was totally awesome and beavered away (we hardly heard a peep out of her all week she was so busy), and Denise our accountant did just about everything else. From doing accountancy things to picking and packing Graphicus orders and getting them out the door to keep the other side of the business running smoothly.

Then there was the show team who went to Birmingham: Glenda, Adrian, Emma from Sales, Judith our Office Manager and me.

Everyone played their part and what a success it resulted in.

During the early stages of planning the show, we had decided to go with a strong 'Peacock' theme for the stand to complement a brand new range of stamps that would launch in two phases. The Peacock Glory themeplate launched on Glenda's new Create and Craft TV show - Stampbord Sensations and the second themeplate Peacock Lady was released at the trade show together with some other fabulous new stamps (look out for them on the website soon).

Anyway, to cut a long story short....... I had this vision for a piece of artwork to decorate the stand which would encompass the peacock stamps and show off a selection of Artylicious papers printed from the CD ROM collection. It was a very strong vision in my head, I just wasn't too sure how I was going to transform the idea into a 3D piece of art work.

This is how my idea started out. I struggled with the roll of chicken wire at home until my DH stepped in to save me from its very sharp and unforgiving edges. He formed it into a tube (using our dogs rugby ball to wrap it around) and then he handed it over for me to transform which I did wearing some very thick oven gloves to protect my hands while I pushed, squeezed, stretched and moulded the wire into shape. The next day at work (Thursday) I started to assemble all of the elements.

Artylicious papers were printed double-sided, cut into different sized squares and formed into cones.I inserted Peacock feathers into some of the larger cones - the hot glue gun got a lot of use I can tell you!
Kathleen was hard at work, first spraying sheets of tissue paper with a variety of colours from our huge selection of Glimmer Mists.
I covered the frame of the peacock with papier mache and when it was dry, painted it with a base of white emulsion. I forgot to bring some Gesso with me!
Here are some of the cones being glued into place to form the tail feathers. Below, Kathleen has stamped peacock feathers onto the tissue paper and is hand tearing the individual feathers for me to glue onto the peacocks body.

Well, I'm afraid I'm going to do it again and keep you in suspense for just a little longer. It's getting very late and I have an early start in the morning. I will be back tomorrow with photo's of the finished peacock - his name is Percival by the way.

I will tell you more about the trade show and have pictures of our stand and more of the artwork.

Sunday - A Day of Three Halves (I know it should be thirds, but it doesn't sound right)!

Sunday started well...... the sun was shining beautifully if not a little icy but it soon melted and there really was some warmth in the sun for most of the day. I got a lot done in the morning and most of the afternoon - work stuff, but it went well. Until it came to driving home from Barnard Castle and that's when things changed with a 'Bang'!

Now, to explain a little about 'sods law', it goes like this.... Knowing that I have a long trip to do by road at the end of the week, on Saturday morning I popped my car down to my friendly, local tyre shop and asked them to check it over for me. I've had to put air in the front tyres several times over the winter and they always look a little flat to me. I know low profile tyres are supposed to look like that but....

Anyway, they said the back ones were absolutely fine but I should start to think about changing the front ones. 'Fine' says me, order them up. 'Come in on Monday and we'll have them for you by early afternoon' they say. That's great! I've used this garage for many years and if they say I should have tyres then I should have tyres. They have always be extremely honest and trust worthy and as I'm driving two other people to Birmingham for the trade show at the weekend, I'd rather be safe than sorry. I do an awful lot of miles in the space of a week and at quite high speed most of the time. So off I go happy in the thought that I've taken care of that before anything untoward happens.

So back to Sunday afternoon, I'm tootling along with the sun sinking low in the bright blue sky, I've done everything I set out to do and I'm enjoying the drive. Flying past all the Sunday drivers, boy does this little car motor. I call it my 'Pocket Rocket' you know. Then, hey! what was that? Something feels mighty strange whoho..... my car doesn't normally feel like this and what's that noise? Something's definitely wrong. Oh boy, is it ever - yeh! you've guessed it. My nearside tyre has blown and there's a gash some 10 centimeters long on the edge of the tyre.

My wonderful husband sorts it out for me but I have to drive on one of those horrid solid spare wheel thingies that has been hiding under the carpet in the boot. My car has low profile, wide wheels and I'm used to it cornering like it's on rails. Not on this 'thing' it doesn't. At one point I almost take an iron railing with me going round a corner and I wasn't even driving fast. So that's the second half of the day taken care of.

Last week I told you the tale of the Pigeon and about my sister-in-law taking it in and caring for it. Well, Susan and her husband Howard, have been to Otterburn (Sunday morning) to collect a little baby Chihauhuas - I think that's how you spell it. It's how I spell it if it's wrong.

So Sunday evening we set off to go and visit Susan and Howard, Mr Pigeon and welcome the Pup and we arrive in one piece despite the solid lump of rubber that's a poor excuse for a tyre. (Shouldn't moan really - at least I'm still mobile)!

The trauma of the afternoon just melts away when I'm handed this wonderful little bundle of fur.... let me introduce you to Rupert!

Isn't he adorable? I am so used to big dogs, I've always had Afghan Hounds or German Shepherds, my Mum and Dad have Rotties so this little mite just seems so tiny. Let me tell you, what he lacks in size he sure makes up for in peronality and ghusto. Susan's other dog is a Tibetan Spaniel and little Rupert was really giving him what for. But it wasn't long before he was pooped and he crashed out on my lap.......

He really made himself at home and I didn't want to give him back. This little chap is going to be loved so much. Susan and Howard lost their beautiful Chihauhuas 'Peanut' just before Christmas in very sad circumstances and with very little warning. He was a rescue dog who had been very badly treated and when he came to live with them he had hardly any fur and could barely put one foot in front of the other without falling over. They sorted him out very quickly and he was a little treasure who we all miss dearly.

So I have no doubt that Rupert is going to capture everyones heart - he already has mine!
Unfortunately, I had to give him back and here he is in his own little house. It's really a cat house but shush! don't tell him that. Mr Pigeon is doing well too, he's settled in really well and looks a lot more relaxed. His wing is still not fully repaired but it's improving. So it has been a nice end to a day of three halves!

Here are a few more pieces of Stampbord from the Stampbord Sampler that I finished last Monday. I will post a pic of the completed piece soon..... promise!