It's Been A Fun Time........

I've been absent from my blog for a week or two, mainly due to the work load at the moment. It's been incredibly busy at work since our buying trip. We bought such a lot of product and it all had to be sorted, priced and merchandised for the two open days that we had planned (05th and 06th September).

In amongst getting the August Graphicus Guild newsletter published and starting the articles for the September issue which we are trying to bring forward, Glenda thought it would be a really good idea to pull the shop apart. In hindsight, it was! But none of us thought so when we walked in at the beginning of last week, just a few days away from a major event and saw what looked like WWIII had started and ended in the shop. Wish I'd taken a photo of it from my office.... you wouldn't ever have believed the mess.

Anyway, everyone mucked in and worked really hard and put together the most incredible results. I did plan on taking photos of the shop before the event started on Friday but things overtook us and I never got the opportunity to get the camera out. I will get some photos this week and put them on the blog for anyone who didn't manage to make it to the event last Friday and Saturday.

Guess what arrived in the post at work on Saturday morning just before the second day of the event kicked off? This........

Yes, that's my Stampbord Mirror on the front cover and there's an article inside too. The article features an array of information and techniques by Glenda and my Stampbord Mirror Project.

I must say a huge thank you to Glenda for submitting this...... she is always telling me that I should submit my work to a magazine. So a big thank you Glenda! I am delighted that it got into the mag - I'm ecstatic that it made the front cover.

The Craft Stamper Magazine is full of wonderful work by some amazing designers including our wonderful Helen Chilton (stamp designer and card maker extraordinaire). I love the new format that the magazine has adopted since all the changes have been made and very much admire the
work of all the designers including Katy Fox, the editor. If you are one of the many people who stopped buying the magazine some time ago, please do give it another try! I think you will be very surprised at how good it now is. I read it cover to cover... there's some real cool stuff in there!

Back to the open days: despite appalling weather the event was well attended. It never ceases to amaze me how far people travel in such dreadful conditions to join us at our event days. Thank you to every one who made the effort and battled through the horrid weather to be with us, it was a brill two days, we met some wonderful people - some old friends and lots of new ones!

Glenda, Annette, Lesley and I were all demonstrating and we were supported by Judith, Carrie, Denise, Vickie, Kath and Jess who did a sterling job of keeping the shop shelves stocked (now that's a tongue twister), answering questions and locating goodies for the customers. Judith, who is our Guild Administrator was kept really busy by all you new members who joined at the weekend and were eager to get your hands on the latest Graphicus Guild Newsletter and Welcome Pack! And, last but not least - David (Lesley's husband) better known as 'Chef' who once again did a fantastic job of turning into Gordon Ramsey (without attitude) to produce some fab cuisine that kept us all going throughout the two days. I must say a big thank you too to Adrian who fixed my demo chair after the foot went missing from one of the legs.... oooo painful!

Debi, accompanied by her husband and lovely friend visited on Saturday. A fellow blogger and avid crafter (and shopper) drove quite a distance to be with us and brought some wonderful samples of her work for us to see. Both Glenda and I had seen photos of Debi's cards on her blog and when we found out she intended coming to the event, we asked her to bring the cards for us to 'stroke'. They were even more beautiful in real life and I was stunned when Debi gave me this card. I love it! I think it should have been the other way around though as it was Debi's birthday on Saturday..... I didn't know until just as she was leaving. So a very Happy (belated) Birthday Debi and thank you for spending it with us.

After we finished on Saturday evening I packed up all my demo equipment intent on carrying on with some projects at home on Sunday/Monday. Well, my knees had other ideas. I don't want to dwell on this subject too much (they occupy enough of my time). After a much misspent youth where years of ice skating/ice dancing, Latin American dancing and walking my way around the world for twenty five years whilst working for an airline just about destroyed all of the cartilage in my knee joints, I am now in severe pain most of the time. I am lucky that some times it's the right knee that is worse and others the left knee but this weekend it's been both of them together and the copious amounts of medication I have to take just hasn't had any effect at all. I'm waiting for the results of x-rays I had taken last Monday to find out what can be done. Anyway, it put pay to the plans I had to do more in my work room and to the shopping I had planned for today!

I have managed to do some work on an album whilst sitting on the sofa today. A few months back, Glenda and I attended a couple of workshops with Lance Anderson - Mr Rusty Pickle, when he was over here from the USA. I didn't manage to finish the album at the workshop and have been putting the finishing touches to the pages before adding photos and journalling.

The afternoon session was called the "Rustic Journey" workshop. We made an Altered Tag Accordion Envelope Album using Rusty Pickle papers and ephemera. Each of the envelopes contains a double sided tag - some of them are interactive.

This tag opens to reveal about 6 pages of plain paper for pictures and journalling. How cool is that?

Another little journalling 'tag' book I added to the page tag myself. There are more tags that I haven't included here.... too many for one post!

There is also a file folder tucked into the middle of the concertina album which houses another tag that pulls out sideways.

And finally, this is a find from a lovely shop in Barnard Castle that Glenda introduced me to. They have soooooo many fabulous things from small ornaments, lamps, jewellery and cushions right up to full sized pieces of furniture. It's one of those shops that you go into and spend ages browsing through the entire contents but still don't manage to take everything in. I saw this and thought that it would make a great home for my small albums! It is quite opulent and has a wonderful ornate catch. One thing's for certain...... I will definitely be going back there to visit again!