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!

Wow! Where did the Weekend Go?

In fact, where did the week go?

Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to attend a course with Linda at LB Crafts in Olney, Bucks. We are going to be stocking the 'Ten Second Studio' products at work (whoopee) and although I have seen Linda demonstrate the line in the past, I really did need to know more about them. It was a fab day and the products are so easy to use - they make you look really good! I couldn't wait to get home and play some more. I must say, LB Crafts is a wonderful place - full of inspiration for the serious crafter, both in the products they sell and the fabulous array of art work on display. If you are ever on the M1 and in the vicinity of Junction 14 - I think it is? (that's what comes of relying on your Tom Tom, you stop paying attention), make the detour. It's only about 10 minutes to Olney and well worth the effort, you won't be sorry! Well, your Bank Manager may well be but you won't!!!

It was a long drive back and although the M1 was extremely busy everything was moving - very quickly. The drive was uneventful and I was home in just 3 hours.

The rest of the week just evaporated and before I knew it Good Friday had arrived. I was very good, no big Easter Eggs this year except for some Chocolate Llindt Bunnies and Mini Egg selection that Glenda and Adrian very kindly bought us all, Yummy.

Friday brought pain........ I don't know what I've done but my back was playing me up and got worse throughout the day, so it was a pottering day for me. I popped out briefly to Staples to buy a Guillotine. It's an A4 Swordfish and I'm very impressed with it. I was cutting metal foil on the one that Linda has and I have to say it's the best I've ever used.

Saturday morning we were up with the larks but, ouch! ooooo! aghhh! trying to stand up was agony. We were planning a day out in York and I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. My back problem had got so much worse but I wasn't giving in. It may have taken me 10 minutes to get down the stairs and even longer to find a position that I could bear to sit in but I took some pain killers and Stuart said he would do the driving so I wasn't going to ruin our plans by giving in to it.

The weather was just fab. We got to York about 0845 and headed straight to Betty's for breakfast (via Borders of course, had to have something to read whilst we waited for our breaky). We then had a walk around the City and as usual it was full of visitors from afar - lots of American and Canadian accents to be heard around town. 'Gee man, have you ever seen such a skinny road' we heard one man declare in a southern drawl, 'do ya really think you could drive an automobile up there'? he said taking a photograph of the Shambles whilst the rest of his family stood shaking their heads with looks of disbelief on their faces. Well yes, the USA is the land of the 5 lane (and more) highways so it must have looked pretty scary I suppose.

There was a tremendous Easter Craft Market and the Yorkshire Farmers Market too. We came across the most wonderful stall selling silk/wool shawls and wraps. The colours drew my attention. Hot, vivid, sublime colours. I just had to touch and of course, once I had one in my hands I just had to have. My WH said, 'which colour do you like, I'll buy it for you'? So after a good 15 minutes of trying to determine what one would wear with each colour-way I finally settled on a two-way wrap that is hot red on one side and hot tangerine on the other and I made sure that I found out where to find the stall will be in the future. I can see that I am going to have to have more and have ear-marked at least another three.

We made our way back to the car parked in MaryGate. On the way back through the park I took some photos, it was so warm and the sky was cloud free, a perfect photo opportunity. Here's my WH

looking cool in his shades and a really cheeky squirrel who was playing hide and seek in the flower bed. I wish this photo was a 'smellygraph' because the aroma that the flowers were emitting was heavenly.

We then headed off the York Race Course where the Model Railway Exhibition was taking place over Easter. By now it was nearly noon and the show had been open since 1000 and there was still a Que to get in. Inside it was heaving but well worth it for Stuart. He has been waiting for Hornby to introduce the new DCC Elite system to the UK. He is a model railway enthusiast and is in the process of going digital (and this from a man who thinks 'computer' is a swear word)!

The first trade stand we visited said yes, they had the DCC Elite but hadn't brought it to the show and WH's face dropped. I could see that he didn't think he was going to get it here at the show. I however, am an optimistic shopper and we were on the ground floor with another 3 floors of trade stands and exhibits above our heads, so onwards and upwards. We found it! and WH's face lit up with glee. Bag after bag was added to the stash until we could carry no more and just had to collapse into the bar and hospitality area on the 3rd floor. Time for some liquid refreshments me thinks!

Even I managed to find a few things that I was looking for for the studio. I got some Hypo Glue which I've only ever found in the USA up to now, an Olfa Circle Cutter, a device with clamps for holding things (useful as an extra hand whilst soldering) and a few other bits and bobs. All in all it was a really great day which we both enjoyed!

The rest of the weekend has disappeared in a blur. Sunday I spent tidying the Studio that got blitzed whilst preparing for the last TV show. WH spent almost all day in his Signal Box playing trains (whoops, I mean serious set-up of the DCC system and track cleaning) leaves on the lines and all that sort of thing. We spent the evening having dinner with my parents. Managed to get started on some Ten Second Studio stuff when I got home though. I'll do some crafty photo's next time with the results.

Today has been a mammoth exercise in getting my Dad's PC on-line. We had to run a new phone line through first of all which took some time lifting carpets and floor boards and then putting it all back. Then we started to install the Internet software and make the Broadband connection. Of course, it is never as smooth as you expect it to be. Internet security and firewall made sure of that. After the fourth attempt and with everything disabled I finally managed to establish the connection and set up the email. So eight and a half hours later we got home and that was Easter gone for another year.

When's the next Bank Holiday.......................?

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!

Back from the Abyss

I am exasperated! I have tried so many times to get onto Blogger over the past week that I had just about resigned myself to the fact the I should look at another site. Finally managed to get on tonight through a back door. Is anyone else out there having problems?

Well, we're back from the trade show that was held in Birmingham, seems like an age but it was only a week tonight that it drew to a close.

However, it all started when Emma and I set off at 0800 hours on Saturday the 17th to drive to the NEC to meet up with Glenda and Adrian who had driven the van down in the early hours of the morning. Set up was pretty straight forward with no major hitches. It was a long and arduous day but with the most magnificent 90 minute respite for Glenda and myself when we attended a work shop in the afternoon with the wonderful Mr Tim Holtz. Then all too quickly, it was back to work and dressing the stand. We finally finished for the evening at 2055 hours and headed off to our hotel to meet up with Paddy, the fifth member of our team, have something to eat and off to bed at a reasonable time. Sunday would be a very long day.

The stand looked absolutely fantastic and drew so many compliments from our visitors and other exhibitors. We were all very proud and it was a real team effort, from everyone back at the office and in Production to the team at the show, that made it the huge success it turned out to be . So many people stopped to admire the artwork and Kathlene had done a wonderful job of setting out the art boards in the run up to the show.

In fact, the official photographer turned up to take photos of the stand and all of the beautiful artwork.
The days were very long, very tiring and very,very successful! Paddy demonstrated some of the new Stampbord products coming in April which went down a storm and complemented all of the new stamps beautifully. The Creative Acrylics were a runaway success and everyone loved our new catalogue.

The show closed at 1630 on Tuesday and we had to tear down the stand, pack up the van and make our way back to the North East. We had a good journey home, traffic was light and the road conditions were good once we were clear of the M42. All in all, it was an exhausting week but one that was extremely successful. We were all left longing for the weekend and days off and they couldn't come quick enough.

It was a quiet weekend for a change and not a lot got done - a little tidying here and there, washing, food shopping, Sunday dinner with Mum and Dad and just a little crafting - in a round about sort of way. Whilst sitting watching TV, I mounted some of the new stamps launched at the trade show, onto KlingOn and cut them out. There are so many new designs, I didn't get them all done but concentrated mainly on the A4 themeplates of Flora and Fauna and the Alphabets. I had already had the opportunity to use the Grungy Uppercase Alphabet on some Stampbord pieces:

This alphabet is fantastic, I really love it and it goes so well with the Stampbord, I can see that it is going to be one of my all time favourites.

There is another alphabet that I can't wait to use on some scrapbook layouts I have planned.

Here it is mounted onto KlingOn and all trimmed up. I'm pleased with my scissor work, just have to test them now. I was a bit brainless at the weekend (what's new I hear you ask), just hope I haven't decapitated something I shouldn't have. Time will tell...........

Busy, Busy, Busy.

It really has been such a busy week and the weekend won't be any different. At work, we are preparing for the trade show 'Stitches' at the NEC Birmingham which starts next weekend. But I shall start back to the beginning of the week - Monday! Although cold, it was a bright sunny day and despite having to food shop and do the housey chores, I managed to get out into the garden for half an hour and have a tidy round the beds. Things are really greening up early and this mock orange blossom has tiny new buds appearing.

As soon as I got the camera out Diesel decided to get in on the action and climbed into the shrubbery bed. Next thing I knew he was sticking his head through the bushes and pleading: 'Take one of me Mum......Pleeease!' Well, how could I refuse his pleadings? So here he is looking cute for the camera.

Unfortunately, this was the last we saw of the sun this week. We have had dusting's of snow (but nowhere near as much as in some parts of the country), freezing temperatures, ice and more freezing temperatures.

Tuesday at work was funny. I was the first to arrive and I thought it was cold when I went into the office so my first job was to turn up all the radiators. They were all on the highest setting and stone cold! As we are working between split sites at the moment, all of the portable heating units have gone up to our new premises. I wish I had taken my camera with me on Tuesday I could have made a fortune. We were all sitting at our desks with several layers of clothing on (in fact, as many as we could get our hands on) including: hats, gloves and I even had Diesel's travelling blanket from the back of my car, wrapped around my legs. We had run out of oil for the heating - it had to happen in the coldest spell of the winter didn't it.

Glenda soon arranged for some heaters and we managed to all operate from one room for the day - it was quite good fun and we had copious amounts of steaming hot tea, chocolate and Chocolate cake to keep us going. The cake was for Judiths birthday which we celebrated at lunch time.

The preparations for the trade show have dominated the week for us all. The team will be heading off down to Birmingham next Friday to set up the stand on Saturday. There is still an awful lot to do and in amongst all the show activity, we have two TV shows on Tuesday to prepare for. Glenda is doing a live show in the morning and I have a pre-record to film in the afternoon. Stress? What? Who? Me?........nah!

This weekend will predominantly be taken up with prep for the TV and getting some more artwork done for the stand but I will hopefully find time to post some more photos at some stage and of course......... watch 'Dancing On Ice'! tomorrow night.