Pink Strawberry

Easter Weekend

Easter Weekend was a weekend of work for me this year. I was demonstrating at the Craft Weekend for Millers the Art Store at The Thistle Hotel in Glasgow. It was a great weekend,The Miller Family are a lovely family to work for. The current Miller Family are the 4th Generation in the family business and have been trading in Glasgow for 174 years! Amazing. The show could have been busier, which was a shame, but I had a fab time demonstrating Sakura's fabulous Art Pens and also the new range of Joanna Sheen's Oriental stamps, papers and CD roms.(Lots of samples to follow very soon).

So my Easter Monday was spent having cuddly quality time with my twin daughters, we cuddled up on the the couch....all in our Jim-Jams, eating chocolate easter eggs and watching movies on the Disney Channel....sheer Bliss!

I have purchased  lots of new craft stash, thats the down side of being a craft addict working at these shows! Maya Road stash,Art Materials, new Jolly Nation stamps, the most gorgeous new Laura Ashley Papers, Stamps and Embellishments by Trimcraft and lots more. It gives me great pleasure and makes me happy so that's all that matters!

I have lots of new card samples to make up this week so look forward to seeing more posts with my pictures of them made up.

In the meantime I will leave you with some cards I have made recently.

"With Deepest Sympathy"

This is a recent Sympathy Card I made. Rubber Stamps are Hero Arts. Card is all Bazzill, with hand made papers for the with deepest sympathy stamp and I also made the insert inside with hand made paper. I painted this card with Sakura/Bruynzeel Super Point Pens using them as watercolor's and applying with the Sakura Koi fine water brush. Adding some stickles to highlight. The acorns on the back card are applied with a Versamark ink pad to give a shadow/watermark effect as the background paper.

"Sugar Nellie Happy Birthday"

Background paper is Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding Collection from Craft Heaven Craft Heaven. The Stamp is Sugar Nellie (Nellie with Crochet Hat and Scarf) from Funky Kits www.funkykits.co.uk. I have used Tim Holtz Distress ink pads as my medium for a watercolour lifting the colour with my Koi fine water-brush. A bit of Stickles to hi Light the fur on her boots. Tiny small Crystals on the flower of her hat and scarf. Prima Flowers, Bazzill Card and the Happy Birthday circle stamp on the tag I made is by Hero Arts from Craft Heaven.

This is a Close up of my wee circle tag with the Happy Birthday Greeting on it. I am right into making these little dangling greetings at present, so I am sure they will appear in a few images this period!

"Papa Birthday Card"

This is a quick and easy card to make using my Cricut Expression machine. The backing papers are from The English Paper Company available on the site Craft Heaven. The Congratulations stamp at the bottom left is a Hero Arts one, the PAPA IAN text is my own hand writing!

I used Bazzill Bling for the PAPA (from Krafty Bitz in Paisley) and the cricut cartridge used is Alphalicious.

Here you can see the word PAPA a bit clearer. Once I cut the letters in my Cricut Expression machine I ran them all through the Cuttlebug in the Happy Birthday embossing folder, then highlighted with turquoise ultra fine glitter using my SAKURA Quickie Glue Pen. (Fab pen...could not live without this..! ).

"Man's Slipper Card"

I so loved the way that this card turned out! I stamped the Slipper Stamp from Dimension Fourth (I so love this stamp company...one of my all time favorites) onto white card and then heat embossed with Blonde Moments embossing powder, colour is Iridescent Savoury Sky, Suet Pudding range. I stamped the slipper image again onto brown tartan fabric (using a material swatch from M&S!!!) heat embossed with silver embossing powder, cut it out and layered it on the top. Hero Arts circle stamp for my dangly tag, Scrabble letters are by Make Me from Kars. I used the slipper stamp with Versamark Ink Pad to make a shadow/watermark background on the card, adding a torn strip of K & Co. Blue Distress paper from Craft Heaven and the swirly centre piece is just white card with the Hero Arts Swirl stamp and a Brilliance ink-pad.

Here is a close up of my slippers! 

I even put an insole in with the size of slippers that my dad has....how's that for personal? LOL

MORE DEMO DAYS FOR YOU HAPPY CRAFTERS!

I will be Demonstrating for SAKURA art pens for Millers Art Store Craft Weekend which will be held in:

THE ROBERT BURNS SUITE ,THE THISTLE HOTEL , CAMBRIDGE STREET, GLASGOW.G2 3HN

Easter Weekend:

Friday 21st March 10am till 6pm

Saturday 22nd March 10am till 6pm

Sunday 23rd March 10am till 4pm

      ***FREE ENTRY***FREE ENTRY***FREE ENTRY***

Still Here ! ........

Hi All,

So sorry I have been a bad Blogger. This is my first post since way before Christmas.  Due to kids being ill one after the other and then I have not been right for a couple of months, thats me getting back on track.

I shall be Demonstrating for Sakura Art Pens and materials at the SECC in GlASGOW for the 4 days, from Tursday 6th - Sunday 9th March 2008. Show times are 09.30am until 17.30pm (Sun 17.00pm).

If any of you are there please pop by and say Hi. I will confirm the stand number and company I am working for later this week.

Love and Hugs to all who read here, back soon with more projects, pictures and Stash Shopping experiences! Carol xxx

Creative Crafts & Gifts for Christmas

   

                            Creative Crafts & Gifts for Christmas

            Highland Hall, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh

Friday 30th November 2007:  9.30am - 5.00pm

Saturday 1st December 2007: 9.30am - 5.00pm

Sunday 2nd December 2007:  9.30am - 5.00pm

For more information and ticket details please go to www.stitchandcreativecrafts.co.uk

I will be there, all 3 days, demonstrating for Sakura. Showing you their Craft Pens: Glitter, Metallics, Glaze and Souffle, as well as Sakuras range of Art products including Water Colour Pencils, Water Colour Pans, Oil Pastels and fine Art Pens.Oh and the ever trusty, can't live without Glue Pen! Please pop by and say hello if you are there.

The company I am working for is called M & M Paper Convertors, I have no confirmation of the stand number yet, if I have time and know it before hand I will edit to add on here.

So it's not all glam in the life of a Demonstrator, I am this evening up extremely late preparing myself for a busy weekend! Last night was an early night for me, I was tucked up in bed at 8pm!

This evening I am cutting a stash load of card and watercolour card to sample size and stamping random images ready to be 'coloured in' on stand:

Several pre-stamped sample card images to take with me for my Demonstrations at the weekend.

And last but not least before I retire exhausted to my bed, I am going to 'school' tomorrow. Not as a pupil or for a telling off, but to help Primary 3 with a project that they are working on about Supermarkets. I am assisting 60 little darlings in the making of brown paper shopping bags! Wish me Luck!

A Busy Craft Week

I am having a very busy and productive craft week, it all happens at once! I am participating in a Christmas ATC swap and another swap which is rather exciting, is a Christmas Advent Swap. For the ATC swap, mine is called "The Twelve Day's of Christmas" so I have made 12 ATC cards comprising of 4 sets of 3 ATC's.(Artist Trading Cards) so here is some pictures of mine that all went safely in the post today to the ATC organiser, whilst I wait in anticipation for my return swaps:

      

My Christmas Advent Swap was a pleasure to do, I become 'Secret Santa' and I am given the name of another craft lady in the advent swap (who does not know who is buying for her). I have a list of their likes and dislikes and I buy a gift for each of the 25 advent days for December. The fun part was buying all the nice gifts, especially when I had a list of her likes/dislikes. The hard part was wrapping and numbering 25 parcels, then packing them all into a box to prepare to be posted safely.I can't show a picture of the wrapped parcels as it is a 'secret' ! In return I receive my own box with 25 wrapped presents suited to my likes/dislikes from another 'Secret Santa', I can't wait, it's all very exciting!

So I am up to date and both parcels went safely today, on schedule. Phew..........

Wednesday Class

Hi Crafty friends,

I have not had time to update this week as I have been a Busy Bee. Today's class, at "Art, Craft and Hobbies" in Greenock, was The Exploding Box. It has still to be completed so I will post again with new piccies when I have covered it with more papers and embellishments. I will also be posting instructions if anyone would like to have a go. Thanks to Dianne at The Wee Craft Factory in Elderslie, for spot on instructions with the sizes.

      Pic 1 is the complete box. Pic 2 is a close up of the lid. Pic 3 is another of the complete box. Pic 4 is the inside 'exploding' part of the box.

Last weeks class was using the Cuttlebug machine and at last I managed to complete a card with one of my stamped Magnolia images!:

This little cutie is "Tilda with Wellies". We coloured Tilda with Copic pens and Pantone pens for the flowers and wellies. Oil pastels to get a perfect shade for her face and blusher. Tilda's wings were glttered with ultra fine Angel Dust and her wellies were glazed with 3D crystal laquer.Cuttlebug embossing folder used is spots and dots and the backing papers are from The English Paper Company available from www.craftheaven.net

Little Cutie Magnolia Stamps!

I have fallen in love with the new stamps that a lot of my crafty cyber buds are playing with....so, as usual, I just HAD to have some! I have 17 so far and another 6 should be with me later on today when my Postie visits.

I have stamped and coloured them and they are all ready now to make into some lovely cards, I had a lovely morning on Tuesday 'colouring in' after my bairns went to school! Here they are so far in progress!:

1. This is Tilda Baking Cookies. The image on the left is the image just stamped onto card with black staz-on. The image on the right is Tilda colured in with Copic pens and cut out. I have glittered her wings with ultra fine glitter.

 

2. This is a wee collection of some that I have stamped and coloured so far, mainly with Copic pens and some with Pantone Tria pens. For most of the skin tones I used a mixture of watercolours to get the correct shade I wanted.

3. This is more, stamped & coloured images, again coloured using Copic pens and some with Pantones.

4. This is Tilda sitting on a Present. I have coloured this one with Pantones, glittered her furry trimmings with ultra fine glitter and this time I have tried glazing the present using Sakura 3D Crystal Laquer. (Glossy Accents or Diamond Glaze would do the same trick!)                                                                                     

5. This is such a wee cutie and definately one of my favorites! This is Tilda with Teddy Bear, she is not finished yet, still to colour her hair and glitter her wings! I used the red copic pen for this one, colour is R29.

6. This one I tried a different medium for the colour, as you do when practicing, the colours for this one are the new Sakura Metallics.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

7. This is a closer view of picture 1. This is Baking Tilda, this little image acctually has been through the mill! My twins bumped my table and spilt my cup of tea all over my newly stamped & coloured Tildas! I could have wept! Instead....I let them all dry off and re-painted it all! So this Tilda looks like she is wearing Pan Stick!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

8.In this wee Tilda with teddy bear I have used Sakura Stardust glitter pens to add a little bit of sparkle to our Tilda.

   

9. Tilda with Plaits sitting. I used the new Sakura Metallics again for this one.

10. This is a lovely one to colour as it is a doddle!Lots of open space to colour, no fiddly bits. Using a  watercolour pad for this one, coloured with Copic pens, watercolours for the face and a cheeky tiny wee red pom-pom for the hat!

Sorry to bore you all with so many images, but had to show them to see the colour variations !!!!!

This afternoon I am teaching a class in Art, Craft and Hobbies in Greenock, the class is the Cuttlebug machine so I am going to incorporate my new Magnolia stamps with some of the embossed images from the Cuttlebug and make some nice cards. My next post will hopefully have a nice card to show the finished result with some of my Magnolia images.

Thanks for Looking!

Carol xxx

Stash Shopping!

This week I have bought lots of nice new stash and had some exciting orders arriving at my door.

I have always had an odd passion for wearing aprons, especially when teaching my craft classes (must have been the old habit of wearing an apron every day at work for 12 years when I was a Hostie). This week I purchased 2 new 'pinnies' for the Season:

This will be my Festive Apron which I shall be sporting throughout the month of December accompanied with matching Santa Hat.

This little number will be for me to bring in the New Year, 2008! I shall get good use of this pinnie in January as we shall also have our Scottish celebration day for Rabbie Burns on 25th January!   

I am loving my Cricut Expression and also the Cuttlebug Machine, so I had a nice delivery of 6 new Embossing Folders and 3 dies which make up the wee cute Train with carriages. It is so cute!                                                                                                The top 3 are the Train cutting dies and the 6 at the bottom are more Embossing Folder for my Cuttlebug, I so LURV these!                                           

I adore these sparkly Crystal Gem Brads by Dovecraft, bought these too this week from The Wee Craft Factory, Elderslie, Fab price at just £1.99 for a pack of 16, so I had to have 3 different colour packs!

Dovecraft Jewel Brads.

Last but by no means least, I had a delivery for the shop/website arrive on Thursday from The English Paper Company. I had recently bought some of their wee 6" x 6" Bumper Stash packs and really love the mixture of papers.

Two Yummy Boxes of Stash for the shop: www.craftheaven.net

I love this paper, "Fancy Fairies" by Kim Martin.

Here is a card I made earlier......using the "Fancy Fairies" paper.

Wireless!

Yesterday and Today we had a PC fix-it Man in ! At long last we have the 2 laptops configured to wireless and my main PC in my craft room is now also wireless. Yipee!

I now have no excuse not to be more frequent with my Crafty Goings on in my blog! Except of course for the one crucial thing we all need....'More Time'!!!!

I have started my Christmas Shopping and feel good, that for once, I am a bit more organised. I am involved in an Advent Secret Santa Swap and I have now completed all my shopping for it, just to make my yummy boxes and wrapping and get all 25 gifts put together..............that's where I will need the Time and TLC, so I plan to complete this over this weekend.

The housework and a sore shoulder took over my week, so not a lot of crafting acctually done. (Despite the fact that I have loads of projects to be getting on with!). I was teaching a class on Wednesday afternoon at Art, Craft and Hobbies in Greenock. I brought along my Cricut Expression and we made lots of nice boxes, a handbag card and general shape toppers. I took along a card I had made recently using the Toe Tapper Shoe Templates, this one was a Funky Flip-Flop:

                          Flip-Flop card made using Coppernob's Toe Tapper Template:'Beach Shoe'. Main card is 'Lagoon' stardream card, Junkitz paper, Blossoms and Big Brads from Queen & Co.

Halloween 2007

It's that time of year, Halloween, a busy time of year for our family as my twin daughters have a Birthday on the 29th October, so lots of activity.

Their costumes this year were 'Withches'......again!

This year was a Hot Pink witch. 2006 was a Candy Pink Witch and 2005 was a Purple Witch! Their choice not mine!

This years dilemma was what shoes! No shoes matched and no time left to go and get a new pair........so Crafty Mum opened the spare pair of black school plimsoles (I knew they would come in handy!) and I altered them! LOL

The girls' Dad always gets rather involved in the old Pumpkin carving here is some samples of his 'handiwork' this year:

                                                  

Right, off to prepare for Bonfire Night!

Thanks for reading!