Extravaganza

The alarm went of early this morning and I thought 'what on earth are you doing getting up this early - it's Saturday'? Well, yes it was but I had decided it was time to spend the Birthday money and what better place to head off to than The Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza at the Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate.

So at 0800 hours, I jumped into my little car and headed off down the A1M. I had had little withdrawal pangs yesterday at work when I looked at my watch mid afternoon and realised that under normal circumstances we would have been setting up our stand - I really miss the show 'buzz' and the great fun of the team being out on the road. So the next best thing was to enjoy it from the other side of the counter and boy, did I plan to do it justice.

Got there nice and early, I think my little Punto had wings today instead of wheels. It was great to see everyone and really nice to have time to talk to all. Of course, I did plenty of shopping. Magazines, papers (new Basic Grey collections in Stella Ruby and Perhaps) Cosmo Cricket double sided papers and some fab Fancy Pants designs. The paper collections were flying out. I hammered Once Upon a Stamp where I bought the new Invoke Stamps and Basic Grey, Rob was trying to get me to demonstrate but I was determined to shop. So it was on to Impression Obsession stamps from Wendy and some lovely floral collage images from Jean and Malcolme at Crafty Individuals. There were several other things in several other bags.

By about 1400 hours I'd had enough and to be honest, a lot of stuff had sold out. It was absolutely heaving from the doors opening at 1000 hours and all the exhibitors seemed to be doing really well which was great, as I understand that the Glasgow and Newcastle shows were poor. I saw quite a few people walking around with Cricut machines and there were at least two companies demonstrating them.

Oh! one other find that I was really delighted with was an antique printers drawer from Daphne who was demonstrating for Crafty Individuals. I will clean it up a little and turn it into an altered art project........... one day!

Well, this was my plan to get back in the groove. Has it worked? I don't know. I am so exhausted and my head is full to bursting with ideas. I even managed to find a few things that I plan to use to do some prep for the next TV show which I will start work on in the morning. But for now, I'm off to bed to flick through some of the lovely altered art mags I got at the show.

Night Night..........

Ooo! just remembered. Got to put the clocks forward one hour so it's not 2355 Oh NO! It's 0055 hours. Well, maybe no mags tonight!

Inspiration Lost

I've been really naughty again! No blogging for several weeks now but I didn't really have anything that inspired me to blog. In fact, the last few weeks have been a real none starter.

I had a Birthday, yes 'another' one! Didn't do anything special to celebrate it but I did get some lovely cards from family and friends - Kath sent a wonderful quirky sheep card called 'Down at the Trough' from a watercolour by Alex Clark, Carrie Anne's card featured one of her own fantastic carvings and my card from everyone at work really got me going........ Glenda made it and I felt so privileged as it was made from one of her new Artylicious papers. What really made it special was the fact that this was the first time the paper has been seen. The CD ROM will launch in a couple of months and I've had a sneaky peek at some of the designs. Well, if you're fortunate enough to have got your hands on the first two (Fantasy Florals and Filigree Fusion) let me tell you, 'You Ain't Seen Nuthin Yet'! Wow, the colours are unbelievable and so are the designs. Let me at them! Back to the cards, I got lots of lovely cards from the family and a 'Chocolate' card from Lynn and Jessica. The Chocolate bar on the front looks so realistic that several people including me, wanted to eat it. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, I love them all.

I was a very lucky on the pressy front too. From the girls and boys at work I got a Maya Road Lunch tin full of fantastic crafting goodies that I haven't seen on the UK market yet - must take a photo for the blog. Lynn and Jessica sent crafting treasures too and I can't wait to play with them all. The family donated money to feed my habit and my wonderful brother sent a fab spring bouquet that smelt heavenly and lit up the lounge.

Then the following week I hit the ground with a thump and haven't really picked myself up since. We heard that a very dear friend who I have known for many many years, lost her husband to cancer. Life is so unfair............

The weather, which up until last weekend had been quite spring-like, suddenly took a turn for the worse. We took my parents out for lunch on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day and encountered flurries of snow during the drive out to Barnard Castle. Of course, that was just the start of things to come during the week. Tuesday and Wednesday saw overnight snow which layed but cleared throughout the day. It reminded me of last March at the Glasgow Craft Show when we got snowed in on the Sunday morning. I still think that was one of the most memorable shows that I have done and most definitely the funniest. But that's a whole other story!

I'm hoping that the sun will come out this week end and that I'll 'find my groove' again and with it, some inspiration. I have a plan in mind for tomorrow that should get me going big time. I'll report back soon with the outcome.

Play Time vs Work Time

I have to go work in my little studio today...... must do some prep for the TV shows on Thursday. Problem is, there are so many things I want to do as well.

It's a beautiful bright sunny day, just a little nip in the air but a day that is perfect for getting out and about with my four-legged-friend in the presence of a camera. Nooooo! Too much to do. The nearest we got to it was his early morning constitutional and then when he hopped into the back of the car for a quick trip to Teesside Park - more accurately, Borders Book Shop.

Another project I should be finishing is a friends birthday pressy. Nooooo! It was only her birthday two weeks ago now. I hope she'll forgive me for being late. I might get a chance to finish it over the weekend.

Then there's all the housework! Definitely Nooooo! Far too busy.

These pictures are of a Star Book ATC holder that I've made complete with ATC's.

I really enjoyed making this project as the book signatures are stitched using some traditional bookbinding methods. Note to self: must make another one!

Ok! time to go create. I've managed to procrastinate for long enough, now I must go and try to come up with some fresh ideas for the Victorian Ladies and Accessories stamps that are featuring on the TV on the 8th. I also get to play with the Artylicious papers again as they are on too. This is a big problem for me because every time I print off the papers I come up with so many ideas for how I want to use them that I go off on a tangent and forget what I'm meant to be focusing on.

Must focus......... must focus.......... must focus!