Happy Birthday Diesel

My blog post today is dedicated entirely to this young man...

Yes, today has been Diesel's 7th Birthday! I can't believe the years have passed so quickly but fortunately, it's true what they say about German Shepherds.... they never grow up. To prove it, here are some pics of Diesel doing precisely what Diesel does best - PLAYING! They are 'action' shots so please forgive the blurs.


Diesel is a real play boy, he's into all the extreme sports you'd expect of a super cool guy.... here he is taking a dip!

.....and still trying to play ball! We take him to the hydro therapy pool on a regular basis. GSD's are prone to problems with hip dysplasia and although he has an excellent hip score, we don't want to take any chances. Swimming is a great way to keep him fit and as long as he has a toy to retrieve he's quite happy, although if you take your eye off him for just one minute he turns around and swims with the current instead of against it... this dog's not daft by any means.

You should see him now, he's flat out on his blanket fast asleep. This little man's had a busy day.

Happy Birthday Diesel!

Busy, Busy, Busy..........

No, I haven't been on an extended holiday, nor have I ventured to the Moon... or Mars! I have simply been incredibly busy. Mainly with planning workshops, prepping workshops, planning and prepping for the fantastic up-coming Graphicus Retreat, Christmas (although that's not had much of a look in so far), working of course and what seems like a million other things. I'm afraid something has had to go and one of the things that has been totally neglected among others, is my poor old Blog.

I have been doing arty things but so few of them can be shared at the moment as they are either for Workshops, the Retreat or Magazine features. I'm still having fun though and one of the best things I've done for a long time took place over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

Glenda and Lesley taught a Photoshop Weekend at a fabulous Training Centre in Middlesbrough. I have been wanting to learn more about Photoshop for such a long time, I dabble but end up totally frustrated when I can't make it do what I want it to do. So, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to finally get to grips with it. Oh Boy, what a fantastic two days. Most of the ladies attending had travelled for hours, some from the opposite end of the country... they were all fab and threw themselves into it with gusto! It was quite intense and I went home totally brain boggled at the end of each day with so many new things bouncing around in my head. Sorry, although it was all about photo's I didn't get to take any during the workshop, much too busy.

I really didn't think I'd managed to retain very much at all but I took lots of notes - all I have to do was decipher them. Not quite sure what language I was writing in but the Egyptians would have been proud of me. I switched my lap top on late last night meaning to write up a magazine article as the deadline for submission was today and found the mouse hovering over a certain photo manipulation icon on the desk top. Well, that was it - I just had to click on it didn't I? I amazed myself at how much I had managed to retain and had a really great time playing er, practicing. I WAS practicing really Glenda! I do hope that everyone else on the course got as much out of it as I did and if you've ever wanted to get past the fear factor and start working with Photoshop, look out for any future workshop Glenda might run.... I can highly recommend it!

Ok, onto some painty 'arty' stuff. I've been doing quite a bit of painting of late. Most of which has been for Workshops, but one in particular featuring GrungePaper was just so much fun that I'm going to share some, ok... lots of photo's. Now don't go assessing my photoshop abilities will you? I've just grabbed these straight from my photo organiser 'untouched'. The stamps used are Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 and Elusive Images.....




Time is of the essence again and I don't have enough of it to write up all the details of the products used and what I've done with them so I'm afraid I'm going to tease you a little now. Those of you who are members of the Graphicus Guild will be able to read more about this project and other canvases in this months Guild Newsletter. If you're not a member but would like to know more ring Judith at Graphicus or go here to join the Guild and get in on the action each month.




I spent months trying different ways of making GrungePaper Roses but wasn't totally happy with the results I was getting, some were a bit 'flat' and not what I wanted at all. I would like to say a big thank you to Kat who was kind and generous in sharing information which most certainly helped me to perfect the technique. Kat has a lovely blog so do take a look if you have a moment.



I have seen some of the finished canvases produced by the ladies who attended. They continued working on them after the workshop until they had them just as they wanted them and they look absolutely spectacular..... their canvases were much bigger than mine too!

Well, I'm out of that four letter word (time.... ) again! I have some more art work to share but it will have to keep until later. There's another workshop to start prepping for Thursday and I'll try to find time to take some pictures to show you of all the wonderful pieces the ladies create on the Mail Art workshop.

For now.... Happy Crafting!

What a Blast!

Friday 03rd and Saturday 04th July saw us all having a whale of a time at our Graphicus Open Day events, during which we celebrated the '04th of July' in honour of all of our American suppliers. Let's face it, a large proportion of the fabulous crafting goodies available here in the UK originate from the USA and any excuse for a huge crafting 'knees-up' is a good one!

I must admit, on Wednesday 01st of July I was having serious doubts about the event going ahead. At one point I imagined Graphicus floating away down the bank and into the town of Barnard Castle after torrential rain fell all day, accompanied by the most awful electrical storms complete with clashes of thunder that shook the building to its very core. We lost all of our electrics, computers, phones... everything! Our regular Wednesday Crop was taking place during all of this and the Cricut machines kept stopping in mid cut every time the electrics went off and eventually we lost the electrics completely for the rest of the evening with just the emergency lights at strategic points throughout the building giving a limited amount of light. But the girls were brilliant, they just carried on cropping and enjoying themselves while we continued stocking the shop and setting up the demo areas.

Thursday brought a new day and beautiful sunshine. At one point I was outside, up a ladder hanging all of the bunting and thinking 'phew - it's hot' (or words to that effect) and decided to open my car windows to help keep the temperature down inside for the drive home. I had to put the keys in to get power to the windows and the temperature guage was giving an outside reading of 34 degrees! What a difference twenty four hours can bring.

Friday was unbelieveable... it was so hectic from the doors opening at ten until we closed at five. What a fantastic turnout and that was even with the two Andy's battling it out for a place in the mens final at Wimbledon! Saturday was busy but without the crush of the previous day, just a nice steady flow throughout with several of our Graphicus Guild members meeting up at the event, some for the first time. It was great to see everyone having such a good time enjoying each others company and watching the demo's.

We had visitors from far and wide... from Devon in the South West, the Midlands, Scotland and I do believe we even had visitors from distant shores, together with all of our local customers who support us so well. It really was a blast. Everyone was lovely, friendly and extremely generous in helping us to raise funds for Graphicus's chosen charity: P.S.P. (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy). It was great to catch up with everyone and share in the fun.

This lovely lady is Issy, one of our customers who travelled from Stirling in Scotland to support the event and got into the theme of things sporting a fantastic top paying homage to the USA!

David (Lesley's husband and resident Chef) was once again working his magic in the kitchen serving up hot food with an American flavour. As the weather was so beautiful on Friday, many people ate alfresco under the sun shades.... not the only thing going on out there, let me tell you!

We even had some alfresco shopping going on on when the bargain bins ended up outside under the sunshade... nice one Ladies - I hope you found some great stamps in there!

On the Demo front we had Glenda showing off wonderful new stamps and doing amaizing things with Copic Markers (brand new and just put on the shelves on Thursday) together with lots of other lovely arty products. Lesley was having great fun getting inky with the Speedball Brayers, Big and Juicy ink pads, glossy card, and lots of fab stamp designs from Clarity Stamps. All of the things Lesley used were new in and just about everything sold out but they will be back in stock very soon. Judith was showing the versitility of the Melt Pot, UTEE, wire and beads and made some totally stunning jewellery with a centre core of Dew Drops... sooooooo cool! (Look out for Judith's Melt Pot Workshops coming soon). Annette was our Machine Specialist, being our resident expert on the Cricut, Expression, Create and the Slice and was just to the right of my demo table and those machines were smokin I can tell you.

Then there was me! I got to play with some fab new stuff... how about Heidi Swapp's Mega Masks, Invisibles and Distress Inks. Mix in awesome stamps from Elusive Images, Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi and 7 Gypsies, Perfect Pearls, lots of lovely 'trinkets' from the Ideaology line, Dew Drops, Prima Flowers, Tags, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glass Albums and whatever else anyone wanted to see. Ooo - seventh heaven! I have to admit, I'm somewhat addicted to those Mega Masks together with the Invisibles and Distress Inks, they are quite incredible and such fun to use.

The event would never have been the success it was without the invaluable assistance and very hard work of the front line crew. Denise, Emma and Victoria manned the tills, restocked the shelves, answered phones and looked after our guests. If there was an award for being a good sport it would have to go to Denise who turned out dressed (very daringly) as Daisy Dukes, complete with a long blonde wig which must have been terribly hot! In fact, all of the staff dressed in accordance with the theme of the event but Denise and Victoria were VERY daring. Adrian looked dashing and quite distinguished dressed all in black with a suave silver grey stetson hat, silver adorned belt and yes.... heeled cowboy boots! He manned the presses to manufacture more stamps when stocks ran low and very kindly offered a chauffeur service for a special lady who would not have been able to join us without his assistance. Val did a sterling job of manufacturing all of the stamps with which to stock the shop and David did a brilliant job providing the hospitality and keeping the demonstrators fed and well watered even though he was run off his feet in the 'chuck wagon'.

I have only one regret from the two days...... not having time to walk the floor with my camera! I didn't get any photos of the shinnanigans I'm afraid although, I did see Judith with a camera in her hand at one point, so look out! It may be worth checking Judith's blog to see what appears.

I did get some photos (post event) of a few of the pieces I made whilst demonstrating:

Heidi Swapp Invisibles, Hearts Mega Mask and Flower Mask, together with Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick and Tea Dye applied with the Inkssentials Cut 'n' Dry Foam Applicator. I just need the right photograph of Diesel to finish this off now.......

Heidi Swapp Circles Mega Mask on coloured paper and inked with Peeled Paint and Tea Dye Distress Inks. Collaged images (Elusive Images and Clarity Stamps) stamped with Black VersaFine Ink.

Rangers Adirondack Alcohol Inks - NEW colours from the Lights and Brights range together with Pearl Mixative, Blending Solution and Tim Holtz Stamps.

Distress Inks, stamps from Elusive Images, Tim Holtz and 7 Gypsies. Embellished with Glossy Accents, Ideaology Trinkets and Dew Drops.

Distress Inks, Elusive Images Stamps, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Prima Flowers and Dew Drops.

Distress Inks, Elusive Images Stamps, and Dew Drop Embellishments, Water Colour effect achieved by spritzing the inked stamp with a Mini Mister containing water, before stamping.

I know I shouldn't be wishing the months away, heaven knows - they go fast enough as it is but I am so looking forward to the next event days in September. Better get my thinking cap on now and start coming up with ideas for demos and samples!

Have fun all and Happy Crafting!

A Little Light Entertainment!

I'm really busy this weekend... as many of you probably already know, there are two fab event days happening next Friday (03rd) and Saturday (o4th) of July at Graphicus and I am up to my eyes getting stuff ready (that's not a complaint by the way - I'm really having some fun getting very inky and very painty) and working out what I'm going to be demonstrating. But unfortunately, I can't share anything just at the moment - it's under wraps until Friday.

Recently, I have found myself returning to my roots and picking up the pencils and pens... I have started drawing again! It's strange how, after such a long time out of it I've almost had to start from scratch to get anywhere near the quality I used to be able to achieve, but it's coming back - slowly.

What started it all? Well, I had a bit of a turf out and found some old charcoal and ink fashion drawings I'd done many, many years ago and some of my old journals and really liked what I had been doing. I then looked at all the blank journals I've collected over the years (can't help it, I have an addiction to beautiful books) just sitting on one of the book shelves in my studio and I knew that the time was right to get back into the groove.

I want to share something with you that I found while whizzing around the Internet looking at art supplies and yes, more journals. I howled at this.... it scratched my itch on two levels. One: my love of drawing and Two: we used to have a smooth haired Dachshund when I was little and I can just see her doing this!



I hope that made you chuckle as much as it did me!

Well, time to get back to getting even more inky. I might just post a real sneaky peek of some of the things I'm up to later... If not tonight, tomorrow maybe!

Enjoy your Sunday and Happy Crafting!

Blog Candy Alert!

There are brand new Elusive Images stamps on the way..... they will be released next week and there's a different type of giveaway happening over on the Elusive Images blog.

You might want to hot foot it over there to check it out! Remember: You've gotta be in it to win it!

Good Luck All and Happy Crafting!

Playing Catch Up - Part Two

Oh dear, I've been missing in action.... again! It was another dose of hospital and treatment last week which really did put me out of action for a few days. However, I'm going to endeavour to catch up with events and photos from the last few months and then I can get this blog up to date and back to the good stuff... crafting!

In my last post I mentioned that Diesel was off to the vets for his EPI check which I'm pleased to report, he passed with flying colours. Derek was really pleased with his weight and condition. While we were there he had his annual vaccinations and he is such a sweetie, I think he must be one of very few German Shepherd dogs who will turn around and lick his vet smack in the mush for being jabbed with a big needle. My last boy Degas would have taken the vets face off given half the chance.

February was a month packed full of events... some nice and some... not so nice! Early February saw us all at Elusive Images madly preparing for our big annual trade show at the NEC Birmingham. I should explain that most of the time when I refer to work I talk about Graphicus but I actually work for two companies (under one roof) confused? I am, most of the time, especially when it comes to answering the phone on my desk. For those who haven't a clue what I'm on about, Graphicus is the retail side of the company that sells all sorts of wonderful crafting goodies to all of you craft addicts out there whilst Elusive Images manufactures fab products such as the Elusive Images range of rubber stamp themeplates, wood mounted stamps and Artylicious CD ROM's but sells only to the trade. So this show was just for the shop owners, craft buyers and the press and it's spread over three action packed days.

Each year we try to theme our stand and the theme usually reflects a range of new stamps being launched at the show. Last year it was Peacocks whilst this year was Mardi Gras. Of course, the team on the stand have to be appropriately dressed and Glenda had sourced some fabuloso devore jackets in the company colours. Some visitors to the stand thought we looked very 'Harry Potterish'?

Here's Glenda, Helen and Emma all looking very elegant in their beautiful silk devore creations....

Glenda in full flow demonstrating......

And Carrie, Judith and Annette with Adrian beavering away in the background, taking the opportunity to get a hot cuppa before the mayhem begins when the show opens.

What you can't see in these photo's are the totally incredible watches we were all wearing that Glenda commissioned as a surprise for each of us manning the stand. We all sat down to dinner the night before the show opened after spending all day setting up and Glenda presented each of us with a beautiful little pouch and this is what it contained....

Aren't they exquisite? They were designed and hand made by the extremely talented beader extraordinaire.... our very own JUDITH! I was so surprised (although I did suspect Glenda was up to 'something' a few weeks before the show) and I will always treasure this very special piece.
Some of the art work and stock displays from around the stand.........

I have had to scrutinize all of the photos as several pieces of art work displayed on the stand are reserved for editorial features over the next few months, so some of the photos I wanted to show you.... I can't, at the moment.


As we had a strong Mardi Gras theme, I made this Venetian Mask using Elusive Images corporate colours and some of the brand new stamps released at the show. This was a real labour of love, originally inspired by the magnificent masks we saw in Il Prato, a shop in the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas some eighteen months ago when Glenda, Adrian and I attended the Memory Trends trade show.

..... and the sumtuous colours of all of the other art work..... such stunning pieces!

The trade show is a lot of hard work and planning which usually starts mid summer the year before but it is such a fun thing to do and it's great meeting all of our trade customers, potential new customers, press contacts and of course, some of those well known guru's of the craft industry.

Well, when I sat down to do this post I had intended continuing with the February events which culminated in my knee replacement surgery but I really think that Part Three can wait until next time. It seems a shame to spoil these lovely arty photos with pics of my leg.... post surgery! I do want to share some pictures of the really lovely cards and special things people sent to me during my recuperation so they will be coming up soon.

Just to finish, I will leave you with some images of a tag I made last night. I was just messing around testing inks and ended up with this:

Using VersaMagic inks I stamped all around the edge of the tag using the lovely Christmas Rose stamp from the Roses Themeplate, with one full image in the centre of the tag towards the bottom. I then stamped the Art Words down the centre in quite a pale ink and took a large soft stipple brush and blended the inks while they were still wet.

Then I spritzed over the surface of the tag with Sticky Fingers Luster Spray Ink (Apricot I think) and finally with Fireworks Gold..... so zingy!

I took a Grungeboard flourish from the Elements pack and using my finger blended two of the Adirondack Acrylic Paints onto the flourish and dried. Then I added some Stickles to the flourish which was attached to the tag with silicone glue. Finally, some flat bottomed pearls, a large flower brad, rub-on letters and some ribbon finished the piece.

So, until next time.... thank you for all the lovely comments left on my last post, I really love to hear from you and appreciate the time you take to visit the blog and to leave messages.

Have fun and Happy Crafting!

Playing Catch Up - Part One

Sorry I didn't make a return to the blog last night but my back didn't hold up long enough to get done all that needed doing. However, I now have a lovely cup of latte at my side and a very 'hot' water bottle that I'm half leaning and half sitting on so what more can a girl want? It's quite comforting really!

Moira, I hope you have your cuppa and biccies ready! There's an awful lot to cover going back over the last few months and I'll recap in stages but I want to start with an event from the weekend before last... yes, we had another two 'open days' at Graphicus on Friday the 08th and Saturday the 09th of May.

'Hello' to everyone who attended and boy, was there a lot of you. What a fantastic turn out, particularly on Friday - it was quite a crush. I was a little late arriving as I had a review with my Surgeon before I could get underway to Barny which meant I didn't arrive until about 11.20. The event opened at 11.00 and by the time I got there is was heaving and there was nowhere to park near the building and my boot was full with all my demo kit. I managed to squeeze my car into the tiniest of spaces in front of the big roller door but had a real problem getting stuff out of the boot as I'd had to go so far back. I want to say a huge 'thank you' to the two ladies who came to my rescue and helped me lift my rolling trolleys out of the little hole I'd managed to get myself into... I really appreciated your help.

It was a fun event with so much going on. Glenda was doing wonderful things with awesome paints, inks, stamps, Tattered Angels NEW stamps and all of EI's new stamps too. Lesley made a fab job of reviewing Glenda's new CD Rom which will be coming soon and she made lovely arty samples with sneeky peeks of some of the papers. Then there was our Judith playing with her latest and greatest toy... Suze Weinburg's Melt Pot. Wow! what truly amazing stuff she was doing, the most glorious UTEE beads and some even had centres made with the new CD Rom papers! You have to see Judith's stuff it is wondrous and she's got so many requests for workshops with Melt Pot Jewellery so look out - they'll be coming up in the next workshop timetable. Annette had a real bumper demo going on featuring the Cuttlebug, Cricut's (Personal Cutter, Expression and the Create), the Cricut Juke Box and the brand new Slice from Making Memories. Wow, I was so impressed and both Annette and I have added the Slice to our shopping lists. It is such a brilliant little machine and so portable - just what you need when you want to sit in front of the TV and craft or if you are going to craft away from your normal work area.

I was playing with all things Ranger, Tim Holts Ideaology, his stamps and Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamps with a sprinkling of EI too - in other words 'totally awesome' products. Here's a look at a few of the things I made along the way:

A Maya Road tin (Ribbon Sliders) which has been inked with Adirondack Alcohol Inks, although the colours I used were from the original sets we had just taken delivery of the brand new colour ranges. At least one person I know bought one of every colour.... yes Jo, you know who you are and I'm green with envy - aren't they gorgeous colours? Another 24 items to add to my shopping list!

I tore an elegant picture from a glossy mag, trimmed it to fit and slotted it into the little metal tabs on the inside of the lid, yay no glue needed! Idea for the Christmas table: one for each place setting with a special little something inside and a photo of the recipient on the lid - maybe a childhood photo could be fun. They will make great place settings with a difference!

Onto my fave product: Grungeboard (GB). Unfortunately, I couldn't demo Grungepaper as we just can't keep it in stock. The minute it comes in it goes out and the suppliers seem to be having exactly the same problem but hopefully, there's more on the way from the USA as I write this. This flower is a real mish-mash of stamps: I used EI's Big Flowers for the largest layer but stamped on the back of the GB, cut it out and stamped the front with one of Wendy Vecchi's (WV) large background stamps - so usable. The second layer is a WV's Studio 490 flower and back to Big Flowers for the top layer. Inked with Distress Inks and finished with Distressed Stickles and Tim's Metal Foliage = Yummy!

A Butterfly pin cut on the Cricut, embossed with the Cuttlebug, inked with Distress Ink and smooched with Distressed Stickles again. Ideaology pieces to finish. [Thanks to Ranger for the lovely idea for this piece]!

Tim's stamps, this time with Distressed Inks a little Grungeboard and the lovely Metal Foliage again.

Back to Wendy Vecchi's super stamps for this tag but I've mixed them up with Tim's. The Grungeboard Flowers and tag are inked with Distress Inks.

Lovely sentiments on these stamps....

Now, here's a complete mix of Wendy's stamps for the flowers and leaves, Maya Road chipboard swirls stamped with a WV background stamp, Grungeboard for the flower heads and leaves and a pin back attached to the reverse side and you have your very own designer corsage! We were making these in a workshop a couple of weeks ago. I have some pics from the day which I'll get onto the Graphicus blog soon.

I really do love Wendy Vecchi's 'Studio 490' stamps, they are designed especially with products like Grungeboard and Maya Road Chipboard in mind and are manufactured beautifully by Stampers Anonymous - quality through and through and worth every penny!

When I first came across WV's blog at the back end of last year I almost had a heart attack. I saw some tags there and instantly thought 'what're my tags doing on this blog'? Then I looked again and saw that they weren't mine but we obviously have very similar tastes both in products and designs that it's frightening. Then came the stamps which I instantly fell in love with but didn't buy for fear of my work looking even more like Wendy's (only Wendy's work is outstanding - have you seen the stuff she did for CHA Winter)?

On my birthday this year I'd just come out of hospital and was recovering from the surgery at home when Glenda and Adrian pitched up loaded with goodies for me. A chocolate birthday cake from - wait for it:- 'Thornton's', some of Tim's brand new stamps and yes... some of Wendy's too! (Pic above with some of the lovely gifts I got from fabulous friends.) Oh I was in seventh heaven - how generous and kind and that's not all, Glenda kept me going sending me aid parcels on a regular basis filled with new releases from Elusive Images and new papers from Artylicious together with many other fabby things.... am I making you drool? Do you need a new knee too?

Well, it would have been so rude of me not to use the WV stamps wouldn't it? They are so wonderful for using with GB, I just had to come up with things that hopefully don't look the same as Wendy's and I had to stop reading her blog on a regular basis too for fear of her lovely work influencing what I was doing. I do sneak back occasionally in hope that she will give a sneek peak of some more of her lovely stamps that are on the way, presumably for CHA - Summer Show. How will she top what she's already done? Do give them a try.... they're not just for GB but I do love the way you can give your flowers dimension by curling them.

My lap top's started playing up again so I can't link to the products at the moment - it keeps telling me that the 'link is broken' when I know it's not. The pc works fine but I can't sit at it at the mo with my back problem, I need a comfy sofa that absorbs the compression on the discs so I'll try to edit this later and insert the links so you can find stuff easily if you want more info on what I've used.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through my prolonged absence on the blog and for all the lovely welcome back messages... I'll be back with another installment soon, I just hope I don't bore you all to death!

For now, I have to go practice balancing on one leg while I get dressed to go out, can't slob around in these exercise pants for a minute longer I'm afraid. Thank goodness you can't see me, you'd never come back! I'm off to the vets later this afternoon with Diesel for his annual EPI check up (he was diagnosed with Canine Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency when he was four), in other words his pancreas doesn't work and therefore he can't process his food and without daily meds he would just waste away. It's all under control but Derek, our fabulous vet, keeps a close eye on him to make sure all his organs are fit and healthy and that he continues to do well. It's not something that he can be cured of but with very careful nutrition we can keep him well and looking good.

Catch ya later..... Happy Crafting all!