Here we are again, and not too long after my last post considering. I'm jumping up and down shouting 'its a miracle' lol.  Actually it is, cos I'd rather be curled up with the dog in front of the telly with a nose bag to catch the drips.  I don't think its a cold (I hope not anyway), just infection spread from my abscess into my sinuses, but I'm on good old penicillin so I'm not fretting about it.

Did you see the Polkadoodles shows on Saturday? Yay some stamps at last, it's been a while since we had some new ones, and these are real cuties.  It's just occurred to me that these were rabbits too, do we have a theme running here?  You can order them from Polkadoodles or Create and Craft.

I'd just like to make a little point that has reared it's ugly head again. Copied crafting CD Roms.  If you get offered them please don't buy them, even if you really want it and can't afford the real thing.  This is theft pure and simple and its taking away valuable income from all the smaller designers such as Cupcake Crafting, Polkadoodles, Robert Adams, Sharon Duncan etc.  These smaller companies cannot afford to lose this income.  Things are tough enough at the moment without making them worse for people who spend hours of blood, sweat and tears designing them.  It really can make the difference of them staying in business or going under.  So please please don't buy them.  The sorry excuses for human beings that sell these copies deserve to be shopped.  Theft is theft and there is no excuse for it, we are all hard up but we don't all go round breaking the law just because it's easy.

This week I had a play with a crafty prototype. It was supposed to be a quick play, but it lasted all day nearly. I had a blast, unfortunately I cant tell you what it is cos I'm quite fond of living, but if you like messy crafting you'll love it.

Anyway, onto the Clarity Samples from today's show. Its always such a shame from our point of views that all the samples don't get shown when they sell out quickly, however it is very good for Barbara which is the main point of doing them.  The bunny rabbits didn't hang about long did they, they hopped right off rather quickly, but then they were rather sweet and my fave sample this time was made with them.

I stamped on fabric with deColourant for this one, then used it to cover a notebook.  Bookbinding glue is essential for this

 

Aww, the wee bunnies, the one above is so simple but so effective. Mind you I nearly lost the top of a finger cutting out the whiskers, a very near miss indeedy.  The one below is a Joanna Sheen backing paper, it seemed the perfect thing to put the bunnies on

A couple of ATC's.  I don't make them very often, maybe I should make more of them, they are so much quicker than the other samples.

Hello there, here I am again and I have some news.  I've been asked to do some Create and Craft shows by Creative Expressions and Kuretake, so including the deColourant shows I already do I'm going to be clocking up few miles driving backwards and forwards .  Keep an eye on left side bar for dates etc.

Nikky has a fabulous competition this month over at the Studio 12 blog, she's giving away £50 worth of Polka Doodles goodies, so head on over to the blog and get entering, you never know you may just be the lucky one.  There's also an international design team call for the Polka Doodles DT. There's still some time to apply so if you live outside the UK and fancy a shot send your details to Nikky.

 

I'll be at Monkton Elm Garden Centre Taunton next Saturday demonstrating.  It's a lovely place to visit and it has a fantastic demo area.  If you live in the area and have some free time pop along and say hi.

A Couple of DT cards for Studio 12.  Both use the Studio 12 Picknix Gingerbread Twist CD 

Creative Expressions samples from this weekends demo

That special touch masks, clear embossing powder, distress inkpads

That special touch masks, Couture Creations embossing folder, clear embossing powder, Cosmic Shimmer vintage mica spray, Cosmic Shimmer pearl pva

That Special Touch mask, Creative Expressions stamps, ribbon, twine, embossing powders. sparkler and hat pin, distress inkpads, Spellbinders die, TH bulldog clips and Vintaj patina's

 Creative Expressions stamps, clear embossing powder, pearl pva and vintage ribbon, Spellbinders die and distress inkpad

Creative Expressions stamps, clear and white embossing powders and twine, Spellbinders die, distress inkpad, distress markers, TH xmas embellishment and black archival inkpad

Creative Expressions stamp, ribbon and embossing powder, Spellbinders dies archival inkpad and distress inkpad

Creative Expressions stamps, vintage ribbon, pearl pva and micro beads, archival inkpad and adirondack inkpads

Creative Expressions stamps, embossing powder, ribbon, metal embellishments and embossing folder, distress markers, distress inkpads and spellbinders die

Some deColourant samples from the last C&C show

The picture is on Handmade paper which has been coloured with Kuretake Art and Graphic pens. I used deColourant, deColourant plus stamps and Thermafax screen

 

You can get fantastic detail with the screens although it's not showing that well in the photo

Patterns made with masking tape

These are the trousers I did on the show before, they've been ironed properly now so you can really see the design

 A pillow case using de\Colourant and a Thermafax screen

 

The fabric panel before it was mounted on the card and embellished.  Stamps and hand painting with deColourant and deColourant plus

Hand painted deColourant plus and stamped deColourant on inked card

Thermafax Screens on handmade paper using deColourant plus.

Well I'm off to bed now, my body clock is all up the creak again.  I do hate it when the clock changes.

Happy crafting.

Hello all, I've not really got much to say today (brain has switched off lol) so I'll get straight into pics from the Mulberry Silks deColourant show samples and a few of  'he who must be obeyed'. 

This Sunday sees the start of the Oct comp give away at the Studio 12 blog so check it out, it's easy to entre.

Just look at those eyes and cute little chops wrapped round Duckie, how are you supposed to resist that and not give in.  And doesn't he know it the little devil.

Now the weather is turning he's feeling the cold, I wish his coat was thicker as he spends half the winter shivering bless him, even in his coats and jumpers

And this is Baggins giving Sammy her unimpressed stare

A card I made for my Creative Expressions demo. I missed it last time sorry.

 

A padded fabric canvas. I wanted a vintage feel to this so I didn't heat the snowflakes round the edge much and I flicked decolourant plus on it at the end too to add some textural effects.  deColourant, deColourant plus (bright red, pearl, gold and bronze).  That Special Touch mini mask, Creative expressions stamps, Clarity stamp, beads, stickles and charms

deColourant plus (silver), beads and a bell. Creative Expressions stamp

deColourant plus (gold), bell and Creative Expressions stamp

deColourant plus (pearl) stickles, Creative Expressions stamp and bell

deColourant Plus (Bronze), sequins and beads, Creative Expressions stamp and bell

deColourant works incredibly well through screens.  The card below uses two, the background and the butterflies and I'm totally in love with them.  They could be my next obsession!  deColourant, deColourant plus (bright purple), Spellbinder dies, Couture Creations embossing folder, distress ink pads, Cosmic Simmer mister and Chocolate Baroque stamp.

Another fabric panel mounted on a card. deColourant, deColourant plus (white, sunlight yellow, Tuscan Brown, and spruce), Creative Expressions stamps, Clarity Stamp, stickles, ribbons and gems

deColourant, Clarity stamps, Creative Expressions stamps, Clarity cardstock (coated silk art card), Kaleidacolor inkpad applied with a brayer, Cosmic shimmer mister, ribbons and brads

deColourant, deColourant plus (Carnation and Venetian red), That Special Touch mask, Paper Artsey stamp, a flower stamp and bubble wrap

deColourant, a flower stamp, cosmic shimmer acrylic mister, distress inkpad pearls and ribbon

deColourant, deColourant plus (robins egg blue, cobalt blue, sunlight yellow and landscape golden yellow)
Again I didn't heat some elements much so they are faded, I wanted a vintage collage feel without the vintage colours.  It's a shame some of the fainter elements aren't showing on the photo so it looks a little unbalanced. I used a whole host of stamps, masks and stencils on this Tshirt..