Hello, I'm here at last, sorry it has been so long.  I'm actually sat here trying not to fall asleep, it seems I'm having a fall asleep day today.  That's the thing with Lupus, indeed most Auto-Immune diseases, you can feel relatively fine one day and downright awful the next without actually doing anything to spark it off.

Well rather than waffle on I will get straight onto samples and news for you.  First off I have a date for Create and Craft TV, 11th August at 11am demonstrating deColourant for Mulberry Silks.  I'm told there will be plenty of  bargains in the show.  So if you've been thinking about trying it, maybe its the ideal time to get some.  Of course it is subject to change so keep an eye out just in case.

Over at Polka Doodles Nikky has been very busy with several new offerings for you, just launched is the new Angelberry Christmas CD, and just before that the Bon Bon Belles Double CD, both are super gorge.  There's always new stash added to the website so keep your eyes open.  And don't forget the digi downloads, there really is some fabby kits just waiting to be made into wondrous projects. 

 Image from Angelberry Christmas CD, backing paper from Studio 12 Gingerbread Snaps CD

 Image from Angelberry Christmas CD, backing paper from Studio 12 Gingerbread Snaps CD

 All bits from Angelberry Christmas

Excellent new is that Polkadoodles products are now being distributed by Personal Impressions, and they are making all the stamps so those gorgeous Studio 12 stamps that we have all been waiting for are now available, yayyyy

 Completely stamped with Studio 12 Stamps

Sorry if I've already shown this, but the old brain isn't updating me and I really can't remember.

I have to go now, I was going to upload Clarity samples but I'm feeling rather icky so I'll be back soon with them.  Until then happy crafting.

Boo.....

Did I make you jump? it has been a while and I am sorry, but life and work has been getting in the way somewhat.

I did however almost have the whole weekend off from work. A rarity such as this must be noted and celebrated.  But alas there was nobody here to celebrate with as Colin was in Le Mans watching the practice sessions for the 24 hour race in 2 weeks.  The dog, the cat and myself did however share some scones and clotted cream, very rock'n'roll don't you think?  The rest of the time I was either sleeping or digging up weeds (and there are plenty of them, 13 bags so far and I'm still not finished) in the garden.

The lovely Nikky Hall over at Polkadoodles has been a busy bee, you can pre-order the new double CD Bonbon Belles.  It has oodles and oodles of embellies and backing papers and the belles themselves are soo cute.  There are also new digi's on the website just waiting to be downloaded and coloured in.

Here's a little card I made for the Studio 12 blog a few weeks ago.

The papers and elements are all from the Welcome Home collection.  The only bits I've added are cardstock, garden twine and small paper roses, and I inked all the edges with a Tea Dye Distress inkpad.  The ribbon and string running across the backing paper are a part of the paper, I simply cut along the edge of the ribbon with a craft knife and slipped my topper under it to make it look like its a separate piece.  I also made a card with the gorgeous Missy stamp, I do love this stamp range (Cherry Blossom Lane), such gentle images and can be used for a variety of occasions. There's even a CD to go with them.

Here are the cards from my Creative Expressions show.  There should also have been samples from my demo day at Emerald Crafts but I was in such a rush that I completely forgot to photograph them. I could kick myself I really could, but whats done is done and there's no going back now.

The items in the show were 3 Umount Posy stamp plates, Heartfelt Creations Rye Grass Flourish stamps, Couture Creations Embossing Folders, Spellbinder Nestibilities, Misting inks, Drawing Inks, Cosmic Shimmer Detail Embossing Powders, Mica Beads and Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewell's. 

 With mica beads on the background on the left, without on the right.

Well I'd best get back to work now, have a good day everyone.

Sorry for the absence everyone, normal service will be resumed shortly I promise.

I wi8ll be at Emerald Crafts, Lyndhurst, Hants, tomorrow, demonstrating for Creative Expressions, 10 till 4. If you are in the area pop by and say hi.

Sorry everyone for misleading you but my Creative Expressions shows next Wednesday are on Ideal World not Create and Craft.

Thank you to everyone for watching the Polka Doodles show today, and thank you to everyone that emailed in, and all the lovely messages sent to me.  I will get the instructions for the star card done soon I promise.

Here are the Clarity Samples as promised.

 Gold Pearl embossing powders

 Archival inkpads and kiss stamping

 Distress inkpads and lovely pink embossing powder

 Copic pens

 Kuteratake Zig Art and Graphic Twin Tip pens

 Archival and Distress inkpads and clear and metalic embossing powders

 Kuretake Zig Art and Graphic Twin Tip pens

 Archival inkpad, Spellbinders and A4 Embossing folder.

Just a quickie to let you all know I'll be on Create and Craft TV this Fri at 8am for Polkadoodles (heaven help me, I'll have to be up at the crack of doom!), and then I'll be back on C&C next Wed at 11am and 6pm Creative Expressions.

I will do a post with all the Clarity samples soon I promise, but I'm flat out at the mo.
 

Hello everyone, I'm here at last with plenty of pics for you to see.  I really don't know what happened to March, so much work and it flashed past before I knew it.  April has been a little bit calmer, but only a bit. 

This last week I've been doing some artwork with paints and inks and having a whale of a time with it.  I do love paints and inks, maybe that's why I took to Faux painting/effects.  It's a real shame I don't have more time to do it more often, I do miss it.  I would have loved to work for National Heritage/Trust restoring the old big houses, but alas I needed a degree which entailed being at Uni 5 days a week and with a morgage to pay I just couldn't do it.  If only I'd found it when I was younger.  Our careers advisers at school never gave us any information on jobs like that, all they ever banged on about was shop, office and bank work, none of which was I the slightest bit interested in.  Had I known about restoration of faux painting it may have been a different story.

I had a 50th birthday pressie to make for our friend Jez, it took me a while to decide what to do for him as it had to be something special that he could keep.  Inspiration hit when I was sat in the Dr's surgery, not quite as strange as it seems.  They have a few shelves of second hand books that they sell for charity, so that was what got me thinking.  Below is what I made, I was quite pleased with it, but flip me did it take a long time to do, even after ripping out about a quarter of the pages.  I don't think I'll be doing another one anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

I've also done a couple of projects for the Polka Doodles Studio 12 blog since my last post, both use Studio 12 stamps.  Nikky has loads of new goodies added to the shop website, it's well worth having a gander.  The first project is a wooden sign I picked up in Wilkinson's for £3, it's about 14" long so it was a real bargain.

 

A bit late now, but here are the Clarity samples from the April shows.

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for now. Have fun creating till I'm back again.