More haste - less play!

Oh boy! - I can't believe how long it has been since I blogged! There's a whole stack of stuff been happening since my last entry and I just seem to hurtle from one deadline to the next. I'll cover the early stuff in this session and continue with the next.

I suppose the biggest hurdle was getting the shop ready for the grand re-opening at work last month. It was all hands to the pump and I was totally amazed that we actually made it. There were some late nights and early mornings to get there but the two days we had nominated for the opening were a huge success. We had customers who travelled from far and wide, some from Scotland, others from Manchester, Blackpool, the East Midlands and beyond. We had a champagne reception (ooh I enjoyed that part) on the Friday afternoon and a finger buffet on both days. Everyone worked flat out but it was fab. There was a great turn-out from the local area and lots of our loyal friends and customers who'd followed us from Bishop Auckland.

In between, there have been TV deadlines, demonstrations for retailers and another Bank Holiday which was very welcome.

I've not had a huge amount of time to spend playing but I have been doing some merchandising for the shop and preping for workshops.

This is a layout I did of my best buddy Diesel enjoying himself in the spring sunshine and trying to entice me out to play. I use the 'Funky Doodles' Fresh and Retro rubber stamp themeplates from Elusive Images.

The Front Cover

This is my first completed project using 'Ten Second Studio' materials. I decided not to do things by half and tried all sorts of patterns and techniques in my first piece. The concept was inspired by a very old box of natural (unbleached) coffee filters that have been sitting, unopened in my studio for some years. I'll tell you how old these filters are, the box came from Safeways supermarket which disappeared some time ago and I think I must have bought them at least 12 years ago when I actually owned a coffee filter machine.

The Back Cover

I formed the book covers using the filters as a template and used a sheet of platinum foil and several moulds to collage the designs. My trusty Crop-A-Dile ate its way through both the book board and the metal foil and I used some heavy duty brass eyelets and chrome book rings to put it all together.

To finish the inside of the covers I have used 12"x12" papers from Lazar Studiowerks. There's still a lot of work to do on the inside so more to follow later.

I have some photo's of ATC's that I have been making using some brand new stamps from EI which I will share in the next few days. But for now.............. that's all folks!