The Crafty Cuttings of Wiccababe

Birthday Blog Candy - Winner

2012-02-10T13:39:00.003Z

Good afternoon folks,
well it's time to draw the winner of my birthday blog candy - and before I do I just want to thank everyone who took the time to enter, I appreciate all your comments. And if you're not lucky this time then keep your eyes peeled, I'll be giving away some more goodies soon.

I have some exciting news to share with you very soon, here's a wee hint - it just might have something to do with Valentine's day :)
Ok, getting back to the candy draw...
So I fired up old Mr Random.org and he chose number 33 which turns out to be...

Erin

Congratulations Erin, if you can please email me before Monday at noon with your address I'll get your parcel posted out. (please note, I don't get to the PO very often so please bear with me)
Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Birthday Blog Candy

2012-02-10T12:00:00.000Z

THIS CANDY IS NOW CLOSED - THANKYOU :)

well hello there, seeing as it's my 3*th birthday I thought I'd share some candy with my followers.
So what's in the candy jar this time then....

of course there has to be some Letraset markers, so how do you fancy...
A pack of 6 metallic markers
3 flexmarkers in Rose Peach, Light Fawn and Nutmeg
Ladybug Crafts Ink "Its Only Words 3" sentiment stamp set

So to be in with a chance of winning all I need you to do is post the pic of my banner (below) with a link back to this post on your sidebar. And once you've done that just enter your details on the linky below

NB. the candy will close at 12 noon GMT on Friday 10th February and I will endeavour to post out the candy as soon after that date as possible, however please be patient .
Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

CAS in red and white

2012-02-09T19:28:00.002Z

It's been ages since I've done any crafting that hasn't been for work, so I really enjoyed making a card for a friend.
And this morning I got some really exciting news - I won a giveaway on the Tim Holtz blog, and to be honest I'm not sure if I'm more excited about my name being on his blog or about getting some of his fab new goodies hot off the press after CHA. So of course after I'd finished squealing like a little pig - thank goodness the kids were still in bed - I fired off an email to the lovely Mario. Mario must think I'm a bit of a headcase because he said "I can hear the excitement in your email" lol Now I just have to try and be patient and wait for my wee parcel to fly over the pond.

So here's my card...

Image: Little Red from Gorjuss Girls (PI) coloured with promarkers, greeting from LOTV
red and white card from The Papeterie, used 3 different embossing folders.

I'd like to enter her into:
Paper Pretties - texture
Pixie Cottage - red
Crafty Sentiments - lets get girly
Stamp n Doodle - red
Birthday Sundaes - birthday with sentiment

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any comments
Debzx

2012-02-06T21:13:00.001Z

Hiya,
just a wee quickie from me tonight - had a wee jaunt over to the best craft shop in Aberdeen, you know... The Papeterie to meet Lyn and Kath and of course Charlotte, Pearl and Rachel.

So I thought I'd let you know that The Papeterie blog has been relaunched - there are loads of new things - pages for demos, classes, and even a competition.
So pop over there and have a nosey around.

If you read my blog regularly you'll know that I'm a big fan of Diamond White cardstock for colouring with promarkers, it's made by the Arjo Wiggins mill in Aberdeen and is sold at The Papeterie. It comes in 120, 160, 250 and 300 gsm weights and is sold as loose stock - a deep box costs £5.99 and takes roughly 160 sheets of the heaviest weight card. I prefer to use the 250gsm for most projects.
If you would like to try it out, just contact Charlotte at The Papeterie and ask for a sample of Diamond White, she can also send you a sample pack of all the other cards and papers they do.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Fancy a crafty class?

2012-02-02T19:57:00.001Z

Evening folks :)
well that's Graham away for a fortnight again, poor wee Faithy takes it especially hard and was devastated this morning when we took her to school. And of course daddy then feels like crap for leaving.
But the good thing about taking him over to the heliport is I get to pop in past The Papeterie for a catch up with the girls.
So I thought I'd share with you some of the things that are coming up in February at the fabbest craft shop in Aberdeen (In my opinion of course)...

First up, on Saturday 11th Feb there is a free "quick cards" demo in the morning - a great opportunity to be inspired for all those last minute cards we get caught out with, well now you'll never get caught out again.
And in the afternoon, the gorgeous Charlotte herself will be taking her Vintage Notebook class. She'll be using Tim Holtz products and showing various techniques to create a beautiful notebook - ideal to use as a crafty journal.
In fact here's one she made for me - and I use it as a colouring journal, I colour an image with promarkers/flexmarkers and list the colours I've used for future reference. - So handy!,

Not that you need any more incentive to book a place on this class, but everyone who attends the class will then get 10% off any Tim Holtz products purchased on the day. For any details of any of the classes at The Papeterie, please tel 01224 802337

I'll be at The Papeterie demonstrating Letraset promarkers and flexmarkers on Saturday 25th February (morning only) and I'm more than happy to answer any questions or show you anything you want demonstrated so don't be scared to ask.

I have a class in the afternoon, but it's full - we'll be decorating a gift box using the new Letraset alcohol inks and various different textures and surfaces. So if you didn't manage to book a place this time and quite fancy it then let the girls at The Papeterie know and we'll see what we can do about running this class again. Here's a wee sneaky peek

And the last class for February is a very special one - it's especially for anyone who fancies making their own wedding invitations. Lots of ideas to inspire you to make your own wedding stationery and wow your guests. This is from 1-3pm on Sunday 26th Feb. Again, just call 01224 802337 to book your place.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Thankyou

2012-01-31T20:47:00.000Z

Hello hello,
just a quick post cos I'm not staying at the laptop long tonight. Just wanted to pop on and say thankyou to everyone who wished me a happy birthday on Friday and to everyone who sent me beautiful hand made cards. Oh, and just to clear up a bit of confusion from the opening paragraph on my birthday blog candy - it was my 30-something birthday, not my 3rd birthday, or blogaversary lol. Remember my blog candy is still open until the 10th Feb.

Also a great big bosie to my super crafting buddy Kath who treated me to a trip to the pictures today. Kath and I snuffled our way through 2 and a half hours of the beautifully shot and very emotive War Horse. Now I am an animal lover, although I wouldn't say I was a horsey person at all - I'm highly allergic to them - but wow, what a fab film. And I spotted so many British actors in it too.

I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, but I'm still up to my eyes with Uni stuff, hopefully I'll have another assignment done and dusted by the end of the week though.
But I did manage to get samples made for my next class at The Papeterie - I think there are 1 or 2 places left (call 01224 802337 for more info or to book a place). We'll be decorating a box using various techniques with Letraset alcohol inks, so it's going to be lots of messy fun :)

Another of my bloggy buddies, and fellow Promarker nut Lou has started a special group on Facebook for all of us Letraset marker fans - a place to share inspiration, tips and techniques. So if you fancy joining in, pop over here to Promarker Paradise.

And lastly for today - seeing as it's payday, I thought I'd just mention that there are still places left for the GJWTHF craft day in Aberdeen, - if you are a bit further north and would prefer Banff, or a bit further south and fancy either Perth or Newcastle then give me a shout by email, and I'll pop you on the list so you'll be the first to know about upcoming GJWTHF dates closer to you. Perth and Newcastle especially are proving to be quite popular :)
You'll find more detail on this post or on the GJWTHF Facebook page.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Limited Edition Spring Promarkers

2012-01-26T19:44:00.002Z

yup, that's right, just in case you haven't seen the posts on the Letraset blog, or the tweets, or the Letraset Facebook page lately, Letraset are releasing 6 limited edition brand spanking new colours.
And because they are only going to be available during Spring 2012 they have fabulous spring names. This new pack of 6 promarkers will be released in Feb 2012 and when the stock runs out they will be gone forever - so if you have promarkers already or were thinking of trying them, then this set is an absolute must. In fact, why not get 2 :)

This set includes some lovely fresh, subtle tones that will blend perfectly with the existing promarker and flexmarker collection.

The question I'm most often asked when Letraset release new colours is... "where do they fit into the existing promarker collection?" So to take a little of the guesswork out of it for you I have tried to show this for you...

This is my take on where the new colours fit in and also gives you an idea of colours that may blend well. You'll find more info on the Letraset blog.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

2012-01-26T19:06:00.002Z

I'm finally back with the belated "embarrassing photo cos it's yer birthday" post - and I'm doing this very warily because it's my birthday soon lol
So here is my beautiful little elf from The Papeterie... Rachel...

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Oops

2012-01-25T08:34:00.002Z

Oops, nearly forgot the silly pic of Rachel for her birthday...
I'm having technical difficulties at the moment - please check back later :)

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any commentsDebzx

Happy Birthday Rachel

2012-01-23T19:27:00.001Z

I can safely post this card now as I've given it to the lovely Rachel from The Papeterie who is 19 tomorrow. Oh to be that age again!!
It was a great excuse to get colouring one of Krista's Saturated Canary images. I've bought loads of her gorgeous digi stamps but don't seem to have the time to do much crafting.

Image : Becki from Saturated Canary, coloured with promarkers (fine nibs for the details)
gingham paper was a present from the lovely Tina, grey cardstock is stampin' up, white cardstock and diamond white stamping card from The Papeterie, greeting is Inkadinkado, spellbinders oval and lacy oval dies, Hero Arts envelope pattern stamp with Angel Pink memento inkpad and seam binding from Angel Crafts.

I'd like to enter her into :
Saturated Canary - Dies or punches (dies, plus I used a corner rounder punch on the sentiment)
Sentimental Sundays - die cuts
Cute Card Thursday - Music & Dance (sentiment)

Thanks for looking
Debz
xx

p.s. I haven't forgotten to post the embarrassing birthday pic - wait til tomorrow :)

Blue Snow?

2012-01-21T19:02:00.001Z

No, there's no blue snow - just me doing some crafting lol, I know, it seems like ages doesn't it?
I'm determined to try and enter some of my favourite challenges more often this year - although I don't want to make any promises or resolution as we all know how that goes :S
Anyway, here is one of my favourite stamps from Sugar Nellie: Journey...

Image: Journey by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers, greeting is from a great new greetings set from Woodware, papers are all Kaisercraft - Black & White Timeless which I have coloured with watered down Distress Ink (Faded Jeans) and Distress Stains (Peeled Paint and Picket Fence). I coloured the card candi (craftwork cards) with flexmarker and the eggshell seam binding is from Angel Crafts.

I'd like to enter her into:
Sugar Nellie FB group - blue green and white
The Sugar Bowl - sketch plus birthday
Stampin' for the Weekend - out with the old (papers, distress inks/stains, candi, image)
I Love Promarkers - anything goes

thanks for looking
I appreciate all your comments, so don't be shy
Debbi
x
p.s. am so chuffed that I won a challenge woohooo

Hmmm

2012-01-20T19:23:00.001Z

It was going so well at the start of the year, blogging regularly and then it all went pear-shaped.
Unfortunately life got in the way of my crafting and blogging, but I make no apologies for it. January is always a bit of a nightmare, with finalising accounts, doing tax returns, and of course I have 2 assignments due in in January, the first one is in and marked and I'm pretty chuffed with my marks, and the 2nd one is due in on the 31st so I've still a load of studying to do for that. But I'm getting there. The accounting stuff is all done and dusted as of this afternoon. And to make life a bit easier for myself I've made a start on pulling together all the 2011/12 stuff so far.
But never mind all that, have you seen the exciting news from Letraset? Have you seen all the new limited edition colours they've been revealing on the Letraset Facebook page?

I know some of you were concerned when you heard there were going to be more promarker colours, but there's no need to panic, there's only 6 new colours this time.

I've also been busy with the admin side of the Girls Just Want To Have Fun crafty days - we announced the first date for Aberdeen (see this post for details) and we also announced that we'll be holding more crafty days in Banff, Perth and Newcastle. So if you live within travelling distance of any of those places and want to know more then email me here and I'll add you to our mailing list, so when we finalise the details you'll be the first to hear about it. I've already got quite a lot of names already for Banff, Perth and Newcastle. And a third of our places for the Aberdeen crafty day are now reserved.
And if you have no idea what I'm waffling about.... well the incredibly talented Kath and Anne get together with myself to put together 3 workshops featuring all the latest products and techniques. We provide all the materials and tools (we only ask you to bring a pair of scissors if you want to) and we also provide a buffet lunch and refreshments. The Aberdeen crafty days are held at The Papeterie so there is also the opportunity to shop afterwards too.
Here are some of the workshops we've done at previous GJWTHF days....

The projects for 2012 are all brand new, and you won't see them anywhere else.
So if you fancy joining us please don't hang about as spaces are limited
Have a great day
Debz
x

GJWTHF3 - news

2012-01-12T07:00:00.001Z

Well, we can finally give you some news about our Girls Just Want To Have Fun plans for 2012, are you ready?

And if you're not within easy travelling distance of Aberdeen never fear, we'll soon be revealing details of more GJWTHF crafty days in Perth, Banff and Newcastle, numbers permitting.

So I'm now accepting bookings for Aberdeen - just email me as per the poster above or click on this link.

I'm also taking names and email addresses for the other venues, so if you are interested in attending either Perth, Banff or Newcastle (in the UK) please email me and I'll contact you before we publicly announce.

We're so excited to be doing GJWTHF again this year, we have some great projects to share with you and we're so looking forward to GJWTHF on tour!!

So remember, if you're interested in any of our venues, get in touch soon as places are limited and they fill up incredibly quickly

see you soon

Debz

I might have some news...

2012-01-11T22:48:00.000Z

I may or may not have some news to tell you tomorrow, here's a clue...

If you want to keep up to date with GJWTHF news you can join our facebook page here or you can email me and I'll add you to any info that gets emailed out.
Back at 7am :)
Debz
x

Day Off

2012-01-10T18:35:00.000Z

Well I had a day off yesterday, from blogging to get going with my Uni assignment, so I made a good start on it - just need to try to finish it by the end of the week, just not sure where I'm going to get the time, as it's a busy one this week.
Tomorrow I'm off out to The Sew Room to meet up with Anne and Kath to discuss this years Girls Just Want To Have Fun crafty days, then Graham's home Thursday.
It's my dad's birthday today - he's 69 :)

I have loads of exciting things coming up over the next few weeks, my first class of the year at The Papeterie next month is going to be loads of fun - using the new Letraset alcohol inks to make a pretty keepsake box.
I'm also planning to add to my video tutorials - so if there are any special requests just let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Plus I'll be doing my review of "bleedproof" card for using with alcohol markers soon too.
have a good evening
Debz
x

1st Boy Card of 2012

2012-01-08T13:47:00.002Z

I've seen a couple of challenges this year so far that I wanted to enter and so I coloured this Whimsy Stamp from Angel Crafts up especially for them.

I'm told that I'm not bad at boys cards, and I must admit I quite like doing them - if you know me, you'll know that I'm really not a girly girl, I was always more of a tomboy when I was a kid - I certainly find them easier than the whole pink flowery thing.

Anyway, I'm sure you're not interested in me waffling on here, so here's the card....

Image: Teen Idol, greeting is from Film Strip Sentiments and I also used the matching Film Strip die , coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
black and white card from The Papeterie, Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon. And of course the distressed edges were done with the Distrezz It All.

I'd like to enter him into the following challenges:

Enfys' Going Buggy Challenge - grey white and red

PfP - Thankyou

Fabulous Friday - no patterned paper

C.R.A.F.T.http://www.trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com// - Thankyou

Cute Card Thursday - something new (stamps)

Sisterhood of Crafters - black white and 1 other colour

Deep Ocean Challenge - lots of white

Finally some crafting

2012-01-07T17:38:00.000Z

I decided that I really needed to do some colouring, so I stamped up some of my new Whimsy stamps from Angel Crafts.

As you can see from the pics I've been playing with my new Distrezz It All too :) so much quicker and easier than a distressing tool or a pair of scissors.
I've had to stop to make tea for the kids, but the girls want to do some crafting too, so I'll hopefully get it finished off this evening.

Well tomorrow is the last day of the christmas holidays, and back to school on Monday for the kids - and not a minute too soon. They're getting bored now, and with my kids bored = destructive and messy. And I can finally get some serious studying done while they're at school - get this assignment out of the way and on to the next topic of this module - one that I'm a bit more comfortable with (accounting).
See you tomorrow :)
Debz
x

Even More Stuff

2012-01-06T15:58:00.001Z

Well I've still never got round to getting any crafting done and it's not looking good over the next week or so either, with tax return deadlines looming and an assignment due in too.
But I had a wee crafty sale splurge at Angel Crafts - Angela always has a fantastic sale and I could've gone completely nuts. But I've decided that I'm not going to buy any more papers this year until I've made a big dent in the ones I have..... I have 3 RUB 12x12 suspension boxes FULL of 12x12 papers that haven't been touched. In fact if anyone is interested I might just invest in some 12x12 pizza boxes and sell some of them.

Anyway, here's what I did splash out on - loads and loads of eggshell seam binding, bling and some Whimsy stamps and dies.

And just a wee heads up - the Glamour Dust is in the sale, and I don't know about you, but I can never have enough Glamour Dust, so well worth stocking up.

Short and sweet today - way too much to do, off to collect my Tesco clothing order from my local mini Tesco. Bought the girls new school jackets in the sale and a new robe for Scott cos his one is barely skimming his bum.... he grows far too quickly!

Thanks for looking
Debz
x

More stuff

2012-01-05T10:00:00.026Z

Hiya,
back again with more stuff, a bit craftier than yesterday but still nothing that I've made...
I thought I'd share some more of the crafty goodies I got at xmas with you. So firstly I got a fantastic selection of crafty goodness from the wonderful Kath including the pearls, Memory Box dies and charms below, Graham got me the beautiful layered 3 stage butterfly punch and the Distressed Doily Tim Holtz die, and the gorgeous "crafty things" journal was made for me by none other than Charlotte from The Papeterie

Here's another shot of the crafty journal - isn't it just stunning?

believe me, the pics really don't do it justice - I just can't help stroking it.
Talking of The Papeterie, have you popped in to see the sale yet? definitely worth a trip.
Thanks for looking
Debz
x

Stuff

2012-01-04T16:52:00.000Z

Hiya,
just want to say thankyou for the lovely comments I've had so far on my review of the Daylight lamps, and can I just say - for all those who commented on my nice tidy craft room..... sorry but looks can be very deceiving, I purposely took photos of the bit of my desk that I had tidied, the rest of my craft space looks like an explosion in a paper factory.
I'm afraid I don't have any crafty stuff to share today, so I thought I'd share some gems from the kids. My favourite Faith quote of the day today was "mummy, when we have kids of our own, you'll be close to dead won't you?" which I thought was particularly charming.
Scott has been hard at work with all the lego and Megabloks Halo stuff he got for xmas, so here he is showing off his very first Lego Technic model...

and my little rubber-faced girl wanted her picture taken - never one to miss a photo opportunity, that one! So here she is demonstrating her grumpy face, I didn't realise that I was mirroring her expression (you can see me reflected in the microwave).

Better go get the tea started, catch ya tomorrow for more stuff
Thanks for looking
Debz
x

The Daylight Company

2012-01-03T21:28:00.001Z

I'm sure you've seen on some other blogs, reviews of craft lamps. I've also been asked to review a lamp from The Daylight Company, so I hope you find it interesting.

I was asked to chose a lamp to review on my blog and unfortunately the one I chose had been spectacularly popular and had sold out, so instead they offered to send me the LED MicroMax Light and the Twist portable lamp

So I'm going to tell you about the LED MicroMax Light first because it's a very portable, handy addition for any crafter. I took this wee light with me when I stayed in Glasgow to demo at the SECC in October and I can honestly say it was just perfect. It has a couple of nifty features that I really liked, you can either place it on the desk or worksurface using the detachable cradle which has 4 wee feet that swivel out for stability, or you can take the black cradle off and clip the unit to your worksurface or to whatever is handy - this is terrific for when space is at a premium, or if I was drawing or colouring at an easel for example. The light itself consists of 4 Daylight LEDs on one of it's bendy poseable arms and a magnifier on the other bendy arm - so you can position the light and magnifier exactly where you need them. It also has 2 power settings so that you can extend the battery life, full power gives you 12 hours of light and half power gives you 24 hours of light. This is an ideal light if you travel, or for taking to crops and craft classes, it's small enough to slip into an overnight bag or craft tote and only needs 3xAAA batteries.

Here are some pics of me using it to colour some images while I was at the hotel the night before the SECC demos...

So next up, is the Twist Portable Lamp. I wanted this type of lamp for a reason - being that I wanted a decent sized lamp that I could take on holiday when we go on caravan holidays. Unfortunately we haven't been on holiday since I got the lamp, but I decided to use it to replace my existing lamp...

So here's the science bit....

It has an Easy-Twist 320° head-joint, you can rotate the shade and direct the light exactly where you want. It is mains operated and has a detachable base.

No switch, just flip it to turn it on, it has a 13w Daylight energy saving tube, it only weighs 3lbs so great for taking on holiday.

I get very little natural light in my craft area so this lamp is ideal - I get a sharp clean light which is a must for colouring.

These 2 shots show the tilt of the lamp - so I can point it wherever I need it....

This shot shows how neat it all is when it's closed.

I'll definitely be packing it when we next go on a caravan holiday :)

You can buy the LED MicroMax Light and the Twist portable lamp from The Daylight Company along with any of their huge range of specialist lighting.

New Year Offshore

2012-01-02T10:00:00.003Z

As you know, Graham was home for xmas in 2011, but he had to go offshore a few days later and had the task of organising and preparing the New Year meals for the rig he's on - because it's not much fun being in the middle of the North Sea over the festive period, and they're not allowed alcohol for obvious reasons, the festive menus are quite a big deal. Graham is a Chef Manager which means he's in charge of all the catering and domestic staff on the rig and he likes to pull out all the stops when it comes to the festive meals. Although I have to stay Graham's standards are incredibly high all year round.
Now, normally Graham prints off menus to display for the days meals, but at xmas and new year he like to make them a bit special and tarts them up a bit in Powerpoint. And this is the 2nd year he's asked me to add a bit of craftiness to them.
So I was a bit short on time (he's promised to give me more notice next year) so this is what I came up with..

I kept it simple with the Spellbinders Poinsettia dies and some Craftwork Cards candi.
So I did 15 table menus and 2 display menus for the New Years Day meal and 15 table menus and 2 display menus for the 2nd Jan Buffet.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T13:15:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all - I wish you all a healthy, happy, prosperous and of course crafty 2012.

I'm not making any resolutions this year - are any of you? Did any of you have any wild Hogmanay parties? I just curled up on the settee and watched the last Harry Potter film then trotted off to bed - forgot to even have a wee glass of alcohol.

Willow is itching to get to The Papeterie, and I'm pretty much the same, Graham got me some vouchers for there and they're burning a hole in my pocket - but it doesn't open til the 3rd lol.

Santa was exceptionally good to me at christmas, I must've been an angel in 2011 lol It's a little embarrassing though... as an Aquarian, I'm not much of a conformist, if everyone else has something then I want to have something else just to be different. Well, Graham is a bit of an Apple nerd and anything that Apple release is held in the highest regard and has to be purchased as soon as possible. Just about everyone I know has an iphone now and I was determined that I wasn't going to get "sucked in", it took me ages to work out how to use my Blackberry and I was determined to stick with it.

Well, Graham bought me an iphone for my xmas and I was a bit gutted to be honest when I opened the parcel - and I know how selfish and ungrateful that sounds but it made me think that he just doesn't listen to me at all. BUT he set it all up for me - we had a bit of trouble getting all my numbers from my Blackberry, but that's more to do with Blackberry making life difficult for moving to a different manufacturer - and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I LOVE IT!! I've been faffing around with facetime, Instagram, Whatsapp etc and I just love it to bits. And believe me when I say that I really didn't want to like it at all lol

Well I'd have been more than happy with just that from Santa, but I also got the few thingies that I'd asked for...

a Distrezz-It-All....

Now this is something that I've ummed and aahed over for a long time, so when Graham asked what crafty stuff I wanted for xmas this was the first thing that sprung to mind. So there's a good chance that everything I make this year will be distressed :)

I also got an Alterations die and a layering punch - so look out for those being used soon :)

And a couple of very good friends of mine got together and bought me another Tim Holtz bag - the one I've been eyeing up...

So I now have a Timmy bag to go with everything :)

The kids were thoroughly ruined and I thought I'd share this wee snippet of xmas morning with you - wait til very near the end, to see Willow's reaction to getting some stamps, an inkpad and the Little Mix single in her stocking...

Merry Christmas Everyone

2011-12-25T07:00:00.001Z

Merry Christmas!!
Just want to wish all my followers and crafty friends a very Merry Christmas, hope Santa is good to you all.

Those of you who are my friends on Facebook will already know that we were very close to cancelling the big day here. But the culprit apologised and after a heartfelt plea from her big sister, daddy relented and it's all on again.

I'm going to leave you with a pic of my christmas card design for this year in the 3 colourways..

I used 3 of the Tim Holtz limited edition distress inks, Gathered Twigs from the autumn set and Iced Spruce and Festive Berries from the winter set to ink up the Spellbinders poinsettias, cream seam binding from Angel Crafts and base card from The Papeterie. The greeting is Hero Arts stamped with Tuxedo black Memento ink.

Have a great day everyone, and see you on the other side...

Flexmarker winner

2011-12-23T12:52:00.000Z

Good afternoon, how is everyone? all set for the fat man in red?
well we had a minor setback today - Tesco delivered our order and Graham reckons the turkey crown isn't going to be big enough, they didn't send the selection boxes, luxury xmas pud, box of fudge for my mum or box of choc orange segments for my dad, or the roast tatties - and they didn't substitute them either. So poor Graham has already been at Asda and the Co-op, then back out to Sainsbury's as the previous 2 didn't have roast tatties either. And according to the text he just sent me, he is sitting at Aberdeen Tyres waiting to get the spare tyre changed over - we had a flat a few days ago.
So while he was busy with all of that, I've been wrapping the last of the presents.

So, enough of my waffling - I'll get on with announcing the winner of the 6 flexmarkers that I used in the video. And the lucky winner was number 46 .... Christine L - congratulations! just email me your home address and I'll get them posted off to you as soon as I can manage.
Thank you to everyone who entered and for all the lovely comments about my video.
If the candy is not claimed by noon on the 27th I will draw another winner.

Flexmarkers - basic skin and hair tutorial

2011-12-23T12:00:00.000Z

This is a sticky post - please scroll down for more recent posts

As promised, I'm back with a quick video tutorial showing how I use flexmarkers. For those of you who are used to working with promarkers, I find that you have to be much lighter with your handling of the flexmarkers and hopefully you can see that on the video. I've kept it brief, I know there's nothing more boring than a video that goes on and on, so I have not been too fussy or fernickity.

Because I really appreciate all of you watching and reading my tutorials, and for all the fabulous feedback and suggestions I get I'd like to share a wee something..
Courtesy of the very generous folks at Letraset I have a set of the flexmarkers that I used in the video. I will send the winner one each of: Rose Peach, Sunkissed Pink, Blush, Nutmeg, Light Fawn and Buttercup flexmarkers

So all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is

copy the pic above and post to your sidebar with a link to this post
enter your details in the Inlinkz below

This candy will close at 12 noon GMT on Friday 23rd December.

Sugar Nellie FB Group

2011-12-22T10:50:00.000Z

Where has the time gone? December has just disappeared in a blur this year and there's been a distinct lack of blogging on here, so I thought I'd share some things before the big day.

Are you a member of the Sugar Nellie Facebook group? If not then, what are you playing at?... you're missing out on loads of sneaky peeks, RAKs and sharing some Sugar. This month there was a xmas card RAK running and I wanted to show you the card I made for Rachel...

Image is from the HomeGrown range at Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
gathered twigs distress ink to "age" the stamped cardstock. Tim Holtz kraft core core'dinations card, sizzix EF, spellbinders poinsettia dies, glamour dust, bling

some close-ups of the glamour dusted details

I'd like to enter him into:

Cards und More - monochrome
Papertake Weekly - last christmas, card of the year
Passion for Promarkers - celebrations

Sassy Candy Giveaway - week 3 winner

2011-12-16T15:12:00.000Z

Just a quick wee post to announce the winner of my Sassy Candy Giveaway week 3. Keep your eyes peeled as Graham is busy processing my latest video tutorial... I've been asked by several people to do a tutorial on how to use letraset Flexmarkers, so I've finally had 10 minutes free to do it. I've kept it simple and tried to concentrate more on showing how to use the brush nib. And as a wee extra, seeing as it's nearly christmas, I have some more goodies to give away.

Ok, so I'll shut up and get on with announcing the winner eh?
well random.org chose number 12 which is... Marianne's Craftroom - congrats Marianne, just email me your address and I'll get your prize off to you.

All 3 prizes will be posted by Monday so you should all get them by xmas.

Sassy Candy Giveaway - week 3

2011-12-16T12:00:00.001Z

This candy is now closed :)
Hi there and I'm back with the last of my 3 Simply Sassy stamps from Sugar Nellie to give away

So to be in with a chance of winning this gorgeous, brand new stamp from Sugar Nellie's last ever Simply Sassy release all you have to do is...
copy the purple pic above and post it with a link to this post on your sidebar
after you've done that, leave your details on the linky below

The stamp I'm giving away this week is "Domestic Goddess" from Sugar Nellie - available from funkykits.co.uk (currently out of stock)
This candy will close at 12noon GMT on Friday 16th December

The winner for week 2 - for the Tease Me stamp is number 24 Paula Ponton (PEP), please email me before noon on Sunday with your address so I can post her out.

Sassy Candy Giveaway - week 2

2011-12-09T12:00:00.004Z

This candy is now closed

Hi there and I'm back with another beautiful Simply Sassy stamp from Sugar Nellie to give away

The stamp I'm giving away this week is "Tease Me" from Sugar Nellie - available from funkykits.co.uk (currently out of stock)

This candy will close at 12noon GMT on Friday 9th December

The winner for week one - for the Cinders stamp is number 8 Shellshearer, please email me before noon on Sunday with your address so I can post her out.

The Last Sassy Spotlight of 2011

2011-12-06T09:00:00.039Z

I've been keeping a wee secret from you all!
I was absolutely thrilled to bits when Maria from the Simply Sassy blog emailed me to ask if I would like to be a part of the last Sassy Spotlight of the year. Maria has selected a handful of ladies that have been spotlighted on the Simply Sassy blog to take part so I'm very privileged, and of course I jumped at the chance.
Regular readers here know that my first and favourite love when it comes to stamping is a wee Scottish company called Sugar Nellie who introduced us to some wonderful designers. Of course I fell in love with the Simply Sassy range from the minute they were launched last year.

Anyway, I'm waffling here. I asked Maria if there was any particular stamp she would like me to use and her reply was "Since you're asking it would be fantastic if you use one of the boys as I really love your boys cards" . Well I did kind of groan a little, cos I think we all groan just a little when we're asked to make cards for men and boys. But I pulled up my big girl knickers (following in my crafty chum Kath's footsteps there) and got on with it. And I have to say I really enjoyed making this card, it took a wee bit longer to make but I quite like it.

Image: Number One Fan from Sugar Nellie - coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
Papers are MME Kraft Fun Day, Happy Days. Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon, memo pin, tissue tape, sprocket gears and rosette die used to cut Papermania kraft cardstock, cream trim from stash

Now you must go over and see all the other Spotlighters over on the Simply Sassy blog, there's loads of inspiration and I'm so lucky to be in such great company.

I would like to enter him into:

It's starting to look a lot like....

2011-12-03T23:15:00.000Z

I had a bit of a brainstorm this afternoon and decided it would be a good idea to put up the xmas tree.The only problem was I have to have a major clean up, to the point of dragging out all the furniture, scrubbing the floor and rearranging things. I even unplugged everything and made an attempt at reorganising all the plugs and cables.
So by the time I'd done all that I was cream-crackered, and I would've just forgotten about putting up the tree. But oh no, I had already opened my cakehole and mentioned xmas decorations to the kids, so there was no putting my feet up and waiting for another day.
So while the kids were eating their tea I got all the xmas decoration boxes and the tree out and then was subjected to the girls "helping" me - argh!!
anyway, it's up now and I think it's quite pretty. Graham and I both absolutely hate the tangled-to-hell-xmas-tree-light scenario so we bought a pre-lit tree a few years back so it makes life a little easier.

I didn't notice until I put this pic up on Facebook that Willow was sitting eating a tangerine lol

Right, better get back to it...

Sassy Candy Giveaway

2011-12-02T12:00:00.002Z

This candy is now closed.

As promised, I'm back with some more candy to give away. Over the next 3 weeks I'll be giving away some Sassy candy.

The stamp I'm giving away this week is "Cinders" from Sugar Nellie - available from funkykits.co.uk
This candy will close at 12noon GMT on Friday 2nd December

Seeing Spots

2011-12-01T09:00:00.008Z

I'm scheduling this post, so hopefully Mr Blogger will play the game and publish this on Thursday morning. I'm up to my eyes again, Willow is having a few teeth removed under general anaesthetic this morning so I need to make sure she eats or drinks nothing before we go.

So I have nothing crafty to share with you, but I remembered that I still haven't shown you our DIY spotty tops that the girls and I threw together the night before Children in Need day....

Faith with her promarker coloured dots...and we also drew a wee Pudsey on the back

Willow decided to have Pudsey as the main feature on her top - with hundreds of tiny promarker coloured dots.

They also made Pudsey and Blush masks to take to school too.

And if you're at a loose end today, why not pop over to the blog of King Tim Holtz, today is the start of his 12 tags of christmas.

Busy Busy

2011-11-30T14:27:00.000Z

Gosh, this time of year just flashes past doesn't it? Tomorrow's the 1st of December and before we know it the big day will be upon us.
But I've made a pretty good start to the xmas shopping, in fact I have the bulk of it done and dusted - xmas cards, however are another story.
Don't have anything that I can share with you at the moment, and I'll be busy over the next couple of days with a Uni assignment so I thought I'd show you some pics I've taken lately.
Now I don't pretend to be any David Bailey, I'm a point and shoot kinda girl. The one good thing about this time of year is the stunningly beautiful sunrises, and being right on the NE coast, it's such a treat to see the sun rise over the sea...

Oh, it's also St Andrew's day today - so I've come over all patriotic and changed my FB profile pic to this...

In case you don't know, this is Scotland's other flag - most of you will already be familiar with the saltire (the blue one with the diagonal white cross) The Lion Rampant is the Royal Standard of Scotland.

So what's everyone else up to today? Have you entered my candy?

Sunday Roundup

2011-11-27T13:20:00.000Z

Hiya,
back for another Sunday Roundup -
remember to have a nosey at Kim and Lou's blogs for their Sunday Roundups too.

Well, that's the last weekend of November nearly over, and another week has passed in a blur.
The weather seems to be featuring quite a bit at the moment - now I know there are folks further North of here that are getting it a whole lot worse so I'm not moaning, but I had to laugh when I got up this morning to be greeted with this...

apparently our Koi have decided to take up trampolining during the night! Although I don't know how I'm going to manage to pull that out of there on my own!

So what's happening in craft and blog land this week?....well I'm giving away some Simply Sassy stamps over the next few weeks - you'll find this week's giveaway here. And keep your eyes peeled as I have 2 more stamps to give away soon.

Here are a few more candies that you might be interested in...

Marianne is giving away some candy here.

Another bloggy friend of mine, Cathy, is giving away some Sugar Nellie candy too here.

I was lucky enough to meet the very famous and talented Andy Skinner and Lindsay Mason last night at The Papeterie. And I practically got them all to myself as all the other customers had gone home and they were just waiting for their taxi.
Unfortunately I couldn't make any of the workshops today with either of them as Graham is offshore and nobody else is brave enough to look after my kids :)

Are you looking for christmas present ideas for the crafter in your life? or are you trying to think of what you would like from other people this xmas. Well, Letraset have released the 4 12-packs of Flexmarkers so all 72 colours are now available, there are also some cracking Metallic packs - all 6 metallic markers are now available in a pack and these are really lovely - silver and gold that have always been available, but now you can also get red-gold, green, blue and violet - let me tell you they are gorgeous - these are water based. There is also a couple of combi packs available - contemporary christmas contains 5 pretty contemporary coloured promarkers plus a silver metallic marker OR traditional christmas contains 5 traditional coloured promarkers plus a gold metallic marker.
And there's even more.... check out all these fab gift packs.

Right, better get back to making soup and laundry duties, ready for the school week starting again.

Congratulations....

2011-11-25T12:32:00.000Z

Well, it's time to draw a winner of my Winter Distress Inks giveaway, because I'm just away to post some more candy after I've done this.

But before I do, can I just say TGIF!! I don't think I've stopped moving all week, in fact this month has just been a blur. But I'm really pleased that I've made some big inroads into the mahoosive xmas shopping that I have to do. While I'm on the subject of xmas shopping, why is it that I have to buy, wrap and send everyone's pressies and cards and all the other half has to do is get mine!!
Anyway, have managed to get some presents for some of my close crafty chums, the majority of the kids things and some bits and bobs for family.
Graham's home for xmas this year so we'll be having xmas dinner at our house with my parents coming over - the deal is we cook and feed them, mum makes the sweet and they do the dishes after the meal. Which as far as I'm concerned is a great deal.

So now that I've bored you to tears, I'd better announce the lucky winner - and I'm really pleased to see that Mr Random.org has picked a lassie that regularly visits my blog and leaves such lovely comments, so come one down Lee (craftyloops) email me your home address and I'll get your yummy Distress Inks off in the post - if you're quick I might even get them posted today.
If Lee doesn't email me before Sunday noon, then I'll redraw a winner.

Winter Distress Inks Giveaway

2011-11-25T12:00:00.001Z

This candy is now closed

As promised, I'm giving away a set of Tim Holtz' Limited Edition Winter 2011 Distress Inks

Let me tell you, these colours are absolute must-haves. My favourite so far is the Evergreen Bough, and here's a reminder of the birthday card I made for Kath using it...

So what do you have to do to get you sticky mitts on a set for free?
well it's easy peasy, just leave a comment telling me what is top of your crafty wish list for xmas and post a pic of the inks with a link to this post on your sidebar.

The giveaway ends on Friday 25th November at noon GMT and I'll draw a winner in the afternoon.

Happy Birthday Tina

2011-11-24T22:11:00.000Z

Hi folks
I have to apologise again, it's been another busy week, dentist appointments for everyone this week, Willow's had 2 hospital appointments, I've had one too. And of course made a good dent in the xmas shopping so I'm afraid there has been a distinct lack of crafting going on, let alone anything else.
But I did do a late-night crafting session to make a 40th birthday card for my beautiful friend Tina...

Image: The Collector - Gorjuss Stamps from PI coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
The 4 and 0 are papermania stamps, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers then covered with glamour dust
MS border and butterfly punches, core'dinations card, stickles
the gingham paper was a gift from Tina.

Remember to enter my distress ink candy - closes at noon Friday, and look out for more candy tomorrow too :)

Sunday Roundup

2011-11-20T09:00:00.003Z

Thought I'd join in with Kim Dellow's Sunday Roundup - which I read about on the fabulous Lou's blog.
So what have I got to share with you? well if you're quick you can pick up an exclusive stamp... this weekend only Sugar Nellie have a special offer on the last release of the beautiful Simply Sassy stamps. You can buy all 6 for the price of 5 plus you get an exclusive stamp also free. So that is 7 stamps for the price of 5. So pop over here and grab yourself a bargain.**edited - sorry folks the special offer has sold out, but you can still buy the 6 stamps individually here . And if you need a little inspiration - you can pop over to the Simply Sassy blog-hop.

Talking of stamps, Hero Arts are showing off some sneaky peeks of the 2012 stamp catalogue, so just click on the blinkie below for your chance to join in and win some prizes.

I've had the 2012 diary out and have booked in some dates for the first half of the year, with some exciting new classes and demos happening and some exciting other things that I can't tell you about just yet ;) You'll find all the info you need on this page.

Another giveaway that finishes tonight is Kath's super Distress Ink giveaway.

And if you're not the lucky winner of that giveaway, don't despair - I'll be posting a giveaway tomorrow for my followers :)

**Edited to add - I have had a clear out of some of my rubber stamps and a few other bits and bobs, so please have a look at my For Sale page and grab a bargain

Breaking Dawn

2011-11-18T09:00:00.003Z

Yes, I'm off to the pictures this morning - how decadent is that!, going to the pictures at 10am on my own woohoo.
Yup, I'm off to see the latest of the Twilight movies... Breaking Dawn part 1

The kids are off to school in some home made spotty tops - thank goodness for Promarkers, I tell ya - in aid of Children in Need.

I've pledged £1 for every time I bubble at CiNRocks last night and at CiN tonight on the telly. I'm one of these emotional saps that cries at the John Lewis advert, the RSPCA and NSPCC adverts, I even bubbled at Andrea Bocelli singing Nessum Dorma last night. So there's a good chance CiN are going to make a fortune out of me :)

Hopefully I'll be back later to update this post with pics of the kids in their home-made spotty tops :)

Ugly Gordon

2011-11-17T09:00:00.001Z

Hiya,
haven't had time for any crafting this week yet, so I thought I'd share a story with you today instead.
As I said in yesterday's post, we were off to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital with Willow for her consultant appointment. For a treat, and because I was in a fairly generous mood I let Willow choose a small toy at the WRVS shop. So that nobody felt left out I also chose something for Faith and Scott too. Scott got an alien keyring and I chose a wee soft toy for Faith. They had quite a large stand of small RUSS toys, the usual selection of kittens, puppies, lions bears etc and then I spotted the ugliest thing I've seen in a long time, and I knew Faith would love him like nobody else... so here's Ugly Gordon...

I've checked and apparently he's supposed to be an Orangutan - think I need to watch more nature programmes, cos they didn't look like this the last time I checked.
But I just knew Faithy would love him, she's gonna be the one who takes home all the waifs and strays, I just know it.

Bluebird 2

2011-11-16T18:02:00.000Z

Good afternoon,
back again with the last of my samples for last weekend using the Letraset Flexmarkers.
Yesterday was a busy busy day - had lined up a photo shoot for the kids seeing as they were off school, so we trotted off to Deeside Photographics in Banchory. I'd asked for Logan to do the shoot because he is fantastic with kids, and he always puts everyone at ease. I personally hate my photo taken, and always feel really awkward when asked to smile, but Logan did my engagement and wedding photos many moons ago and my cheeks were hurting with the amount of smiling I'd been doing. So I would highly recommend him - although be warned, he can be a bit cheeky, so if you're easily offended you might want to choose someone else lol
Anyway, Willow did her usual and came over all shy - but Logan managed to coax her into it.
So after that it was home for lunch then off into town for Willow's consultants appointment which ended up taking much longer than I'd planned, but hey-ho.
And then home to wait for my Tesco grocery delivery which never arrived. After a few phonecalls it turns out that the driver fobbed the customer services team off by telling them he was on his way when in actual fact he had already taken the van back to the store! So I had to reschedule the delivery for this morning.
Today has had a little less drama though, some guy from some agency came round to look at the insulation in the loft, so we're going to get more fitted next week. I've had to cancel Willow's hospital tooth extraction appt tomorrow because she's developed a chesty cough, and now Graham has a cold.
Don't ask me what I've done today - it just seems to be a day spent making phonecalls, paying bills and sorting out paperwork.
Anyway, here's a wee cuties to look at...

Image: Bluebirds Proposal - Gorjuss stamp by PI coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
assorted ribbons and twills all coloured with flexmarkers all woven to make the background.
prima e line flowers, american crafts and papermania pearl brads coloured with flexmarkers

Bluebirds Proposal

2011-11-15T09:00:00.000Z

Here's another sample from Saturday's demo at The Papeterie, we also used these stamps for the class...

Image: Bluebirds Proposal - Gorjuss stamp by PI, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
Papers are BG Two Scoops (don't ask how long I've had that paper pad!), blue core'dinations card and spellbinders nesties

Rose, Mk 2

2011-11-14T09:00:00.001Z

Morning, I'm back again with another take on the same stamp I used on yesterday's card.
This is the colour I would love to dye my hair, couple of problems though... 1 would be the cost and 2 would be the level of maintenance. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not into faffing around. I wash my hair, towel it roughly dry, brush it through and that's it... I never ever use heated things on my hair or any other products, apart from the odd semi-permanent dye to cover the ever increasing grey hairs lol
Anyway, you didn't come here to listen to me waffle on about my vanity.
Before I forget... I've been having a bit of a clear out of my rubber stamps - so if you fancy a bargain, have a nosey on my Facebook selling album. I'm selling a selection of Whiff of Joy, The Greeting Farm and Sugar Nellie stamps.

Image: "Rose" - Gorjuss stamp from PI, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers (Imperial Purple, Wild Orchid flexmarkers)
black and white card from The Papeterie, spellbinders A4 impressabilities stencil to emboss the white panel. Tim Holtz limited edition Fall Distress Ink in Seedless Preserve to blend the edges. The seam binding (also from The Papeterie) was coloured with Imperial Purple flexmarker.

I'd like to enter her into...
CAS Sunday - flowers (in the debossed background)

Flexmarkers at The Papeterie

2011-11-13T13:13:00.000Z

MIA again folks, sorry!
But now that I've finished my last demo/class for the year I might be able to get back into blogging a bit more regularly.
Yesterday was my Flexmarker demo morning with a promarker class in the afternoon at The Papeterie. And another crafty hooligan, the fabulous Kath was also in residence demoing the new Tim Holtz limited edition Distress Inks.
So a big thank you to all the ladies who came to see us, it was lovely to see some familiar and some new faces.
And a huge thankyou to my beautiful chum Tina, who came down for lunch and then come to my class - the cupcakes are gorgeous and I'll be trying out the jellies later xx

Here's one of my samples for the demo, using the brand new Gorjuss stamps and Flexmarkers...

Image: "Rose" Gorjuss stamp from PI, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers (the dress/boots are Egyptian Blue, Sapphire and Celestial Blue, her hair is Saddle Brown, Auburn, Nutmeg and Light Fawn, all in flexmarkers)
I also coloured the adhesive stones with Egyptian Blue, and the ribbon with Sapphire flexmarkers
The papers are Kaisercraft - Black & White Timeless, black and white card all from The Papeterie and the faux stitching was done with Letraset Fineliner.

I'd like to enter this card into...
A Gem of a Challenge - sketch, stitching and sentiment
Allsorts - Black, white and one other colour

Happy Birthday Kath

2011-11-07T10:00:00.001Z

Slap my wrists again, I've been a very naughty blogger and haven't blogged in a whole week, and I don't even know why.... apart from the fact that I've not done any crafting to blog about.
Anyway, never mind that, it's our local celebrity, and my very good friend, Kath's birthday today - she's 21 :)
So by the time you read this I'll have been over with the card I made for her and a wee pressie.
so here's the totally Kath-inspired card that I made for her, using some of her favourite things... remember to pop over and wish her a happy birthday.

The butterflies are part of one of the new Hero Arts/Sizzix stamp/die combos, coloured with flexmarkers. I've also used Poinsettia Circle and Envelope Pattern stamps which are also Hero Arts. Do you like the shade of green on the poinsettia circle, envelope pattern background and the seam binding? well it's the brand new Evergreen Bough from the Winter limited edition Tim Holtz distress inks - isn't it gorgeous? The greeting is PI and the seam binding and white cardstock are from The Papeterie.

I'd like to enter it into:
Crafty Catz - anything goes
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Ribbon Carousel - anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday - make your own backgrounds

Hobbycrafts Show, SECC - done & dusted

2011-10-30T19:26:00.000Z

Hiya, well I'm back from the SECC and before I do anything else I just want to give a big wave out to all the crafters (and their kids!) who came to see me at the Hotshot Crafts and Craft Obsessions stands yesterday. It was fab to see some old friends again, to meet some that I know from blogland and Facebook but have never met IRL before, and to meet some brand new people too. I hope I managed to inspire you and that some of my enthusiasm has rubbed off on you all - I'd love to see how you're all getting on with your promarkers & flexmarkers and if you need to ask me anything please don't be scared to ask, I'll do whatever I can to help or answer your queries :)

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics during the day - I was wayyyyyyyy too busy demoing and chatting to customers, and I'm pretty sure nobody took my pic either (woohoo lol) But I had a great day - it was fab working with the Hotshot staff and the lovely David and Brenda from Craft Obsessions.

My poor mum was watching the kids for me as Graham is offshore but she managed to keep them amused quite well. Although I think she has learned that my kids can't keep secrets - especially wee Faithy. And I had a great surprise when I got home, they were all hiding in the kitchen with the lights off to show off the pumpkins they had carved with Nana - and here they are...

I didn't have a lot of time to shop, and I'm not fit to walk very far round the halls anyway so I didn't buy very much, just went to a few stands that I know well, so here's my stash...

I also bought a load of die-cut decoupage sheets for my mum, to thank her for having the kids, and I bought a couple craftwork cards goody bags..... but Willow and Faith snaffled them the minute I took them out of my bag :S
I'm really loving the Urban Stamps - terrific value.
Well, I'm away to crash in front of the box tonight, so have a great evening everyone :)

Hobbycrafts Show, SECC

2011-10-29T08:00:00.001+01:00

Today I'm at the Hobbycraft Show at the SECC in Glasgow - if you're coming along today, please come and say hello. I'll be demoing the new flexmarkers at the Hotshot Crafts and Craft Obsessions stands.
And in case you didn't know, you'll not only be able to buy the 6-packs of flexmarkers, but also the 51 new colours - colours that you can't get in promarkers!

Hopefully I'll get time to tweet during the day - you can find me on twitter @wiccababe73.
And I'll be back tomorrow with all the gossip

1 more sleepie

2011-10-28T14:58:00.000+01:00

Well. I'm all packed - kinda - for tomorrow at the SECC, am hoping for a quiet train tonight so I can get some colouring done, but am not holding my breath :)
Should be arriving in Glasgow early evening then off to my hotel in the city centre and hopefully a bite to eat. I can't even remember the last time I had a night away on my own - think it must've been in my single days, certainly before I had the kids. So although I'll miss them, I'm really looking forward to an evening by myself - does that sound weird?
And then I'm looking forward to working with Hotshot Crafts and Craft Obsessions tomorrow and meeting all my facebook and bloggy buddies who are coming to the show.

So before I go and leave the kids, cat and dog in my mother's care I'm going to leave you with some pics of the girls at the school disco last night. Scroll down to the post below to see the details of where I'm demoing at the SECC on Saturday.

Glasgow anyone?

2011-10-27T23:04:00.000+01:00

Evening!
well this week has just been a blur, and I don't think I've stopped moving. Between ferrying the kids around to Lego Club, Rainbows, Brownies and school halloween discos, and my poor washing machine and tumble dryer have been on all day and I'm still nowhere near the bottom of the linen bin.
Anyway, never mind all that - tomorrow night I will be on my way to Glasgow because I'm demoing on behalf of Letraset at the Hobbycraft show at the SECC on Saturday
So if you're going to the show this weekend please pop in and say hello... here's my timetable...

9.20am Hotshot Crafts - stand M25
10.35am Craft Obsessions - stand K18
1.15pm Hotshot Crafts - stand M25

I'll be demonstrating Letraset Flexmarkers - so if you want to see anything in particular or want some advice about the flexmarkers or promarkers just ask and I'll see what I can do.

Both the stands that I'm working at will be selling the 51 new flexmarker colours - that's 51 colours that you can't get as promarkers. And I must be the luckiest girl in the world because I have them all - so if you add them to the 148 promarkers, if my maths skills are up to scratch, that makes 199 colours!

Just a couple of quick tips for you, whether you're buying flexmarkers at the SECC or if you already have some.... some of the paler colours, especially those in Set 1 and 2 of the 6-packs, require to be primed. Now I just know some of you are already thinking OMG that sounds difficult/complicated and I can't be bothered with that. Well, it really couldn't be simpler... all you have to do is colour an area, roughly the size of a tag or ATC, this gets the ink moving along the brush nib - and you only ever need to do this once.

If there's anything you want to know, or would like any advice then please feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do to help. Letraset have also put together a fantastic Flexmarker Info site, so have a nosey around there, especially at their FAQ's. They have provided downloadable colour charts that you can colour in yourself - if you would prefer one that incorporates the flexmarkers and promarkers together then you can find one that I made up here.

Timmy Totes

2011-10-25T18:07:00.000+01:00

Well I've been waiting a long time for this - ever since Tim Holtz announced his new District Market range, and finally it's here.

I pre-ordered this from Inspiration Emporium back in May and it's been a long and painful wait, but oh boy was it totally worth it...

Now I'm not a bag/shoe/clothes/fashion kinda girl, but I have a major crush on this bag!

The quality has to be seen to be appreciated, in fact I'd far rather have this bag than any of those designer bags out there. A big plus for me is it's wipe clean surface, getting caught in the rain is certainly not gonna ruin this bag, it's roomy - plenty of room for all the stuff I carry around with me, purse, keys, notebook, A5 appointment book, tablets, mirror, mobile phone.... and even with all than gunk in it there's gonna be plenty of room for me to fill with goodies at the SECC this weekend.
There's a large zipped compartment inside, plenty big enough to keep your purse hidden away, and another 2 open pockets for keeping other things separate.
And it's arrived just in time for it to come to the SECC with me this weekend - more about that tomorrow.

Freedom!

2011-10-24T08:00:00.001+01:00

yay, they're back to school today and I've scheduled this post so I can get on with tidying and sorting out my craft desk. I've loads to do this week, new mattress arriving for Scott today, have ordered winter tyres for the car and then it goes in for it's 2nd service plus I have to get the place sorted out before I'm off to the SECC this weekend and leaving my mum in charge of the kids, cat, dog and house for a couple of days.
So in the meantime I'll show you some more samples I made for last weekend at Dundee's new Hobbycraft store...

Image: The Winters Night - Gorjuss, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
Finnish star made with Bo Bunny papers from xmas 2010, MS large and medium snowflake punch
I'd like to enter this one into:
Christmas Inspirations - die cuts/punches
Totally Gorjuss - Pastel Xmas

Image: Fox Gloves - Gorjuss coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
spellbinders dies were used to make the card blank and to cut the layers
marianne poinsettia die, pearls coloured with promarker. glamour dust
I'd like to enter this one into:
Crafting When We Can - Christmas
Secret Crafter - Wrap Up Warm

Last Day of The Tattie Holidays

2011-10-23T09:00:00.002+01:00

kids are back to school tomorrow, and not a moment too soon lol
I love my kids more than anything else in the world, but when they're bored they drive me bananas. And with the rotten weather, they've been confined inside for a lot of the time - let's just say I'm looking forward to my own company for 6 hours tomorrow :)

I'm back to share some more samples from last weekend with you. As a Product Coach for Letraset, I'm required to demonstrate a whole range of products - I know, it's a hard life isn't it lol Because Promarkers and Flexmarkers are so popular, I spend the majority of my time with them. But now and again I get to play with all the other products that Letraset produce, including Aquamarkers.

Aquamarkers are ideal for making quick and easy backgrounds, so I thought I'd illustrate this point by making up some simple ATC's. It's also a quick and easy technique to demonstrate in store.
All you need is a craft mat/baking sheet, some aquamarkers and a water or mica spray.

Inkadinkado greeting, aquamarkers, That Special Touch mica spray, Tonic butterfly punch

I tilted the ATC to show off the mica spray

Fiskars birdie punch, Tim Holtz filmstrip stamp, aquamarkers, That Special Touch Mica Spray.

I'd like to enter these into:
Flutter By Wednesday - open
Try it on Tuesday - taking to the skies
ATC Challenges - anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge - flying things
Scrappy Frogs - something that flies

Happy Birthday Charlotte

2011-10-22T09:00:00.001+01:00

Good morning, today's post is all about the gorgeous manageress at The Papeterie.... Charlotte because today is her birthday. So...wishing you a mahoosive day missus, enjoy today and your week off :)

Here's the birthday cards the girls and I made for her..
Faith's one:

Faith drew herself, Charlotte and me on a sunshiney day :)

Willow decided to colour "Snow White" from Saturated Canary Digi with her own promarkers and glitter gel pens

And lastly, my card...

Image: Nevaeh from Saturated Canary Digi, coloured with promarkers and accented with pearl pen on the skirt and white gel pen on her stockings
white and red cardstock is from The Papeterie, Sizzix embossing folder, red satin ribbon from stash and faux stitching done with Letraset fineliner. The "friend" was cut with a sizzix die, if you look closely you can see I've done a faux running stitch on it too then triple clear embossed.

I'd like to enter her into
Saturated Canary Challenge - Stitching
4 Crafty Chicks - Marker It Up
Charisma Cards - embossing (both)
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday
Anything Goes Challenge - To The Letter

The Sew Room - Kids Classes

2011-10-21T10:08:00.000+01:00

I mentioned yesterday that we were going out to The Sew Room for one of Anne's kids classes and boy did we all have fun. All 3 kids are highly delighted with their Halloween Treat Buckets, here's some pics of the day - NB, I've only taken pics of my own kids at the class, as I don't have permission from the parents of the others.

Scott sewing on his buttons, and Anne showing Willow how to sew hers on

Lyn to the rescue to thread Scott's needle

Back to the sewing

Faith chuffed to bits with my attempt to sew on her buttons for her

Look, it's the lovely Lyn sewing!

Scott, getting on way better than he thought he would

The finished treat bucket :)

Off to the Sew Room

2011-10-20T07:50:00.000+01:00

I'm off out to The Sew Room this morning with the kids, I managed to book them onto one of Anne's fantastic kids classes, this one is to make a Halloween Treat Bucket.
So I'm dropping Graham at the heliport then heading straight out to the class. Faith's probably a bit wee for the class, but I'll be there to help her so it should be fine.
If you haven't seen Anne's new shop then you need to pop over to The Sew Room blog for all the details of her upcoming workshops and some pics of the gorgeous things she stocks.

So I'm going to leave you with some more samples from Sunday's Hobbycraft demo...

This is an idea I got from Pinterest..
I bought some pump bottles of body lotion from Tesco (£2 each and they are on 3 for 2 at the moment) , pulled off the existing labels then designed my own personalised labels on the pc and printed them off onto Letraset Safmat - all I had to do was cut round the design, peel it from the backing sheet and gently stick it onto the bottles.
I'm using this idea to make personalised teacher's xmas gifts that are quick and easy to make and don't break the bank.

Hump Day Again

2011-10-19T16:44:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon, well it's the middle of the week again and this is the first chance I've had to blog since the weekend.
Sunday went incredibly well at the new Hobbycraft store in Dundee, it is always a pleasure to demonstrate Letraset products and meet new people. I spoke to all ages from wee lassies of 7 years old, to retired ladies and gentlemen, the thing I like best about demoing is to show just how easy it is to get beautiful effects with the promarkers, flexmarkers and aquamarkers. And I just want to say that the manageress, Stephanie and all her staff are top-notch. A quick wee toot for Paula, one of the associates who is also a design student .
So here are a few pics of the store, as I'm sure you're aware, Hobbycraft have rebranded and all the new stores have new signage and layouts....

and this on the inside of the toilet door really tickled me...

I'll be showing you my samples over the rest of the week.
I used this one to illustrate that you can use promarkers for other things besides colouring stamped images...

Image: Little Red, Gorjuss from PI, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers - cloak is Aubergine, Plum and Mulberry, dress is Wild Orchid (f), Orchid and Soft Mauve (f)
The wooden door hanger is coloured with the new Letraset alcohol inks in Plum as it is an exact match with the Plum promarker (you could also colour the wood with your promarker, but the alcohol ink does it much quicker)
All the different ribbons and clear adhesive stones are coloured with promarkers too.
the greeting is from Inkadinkado and white embossed.

I'd like to enter her into:
Stamp With Fun - Gift
Fashionable Stamping - Anything but a card
Stamptacular Sunday - you choose
The Squirrel & the Fox - One for the girls

Hobbycraft Dundee

2011-10-16T08:21:00.000+01:00

Morning,
just a quickie this morning as I'm leaving very shortly to go to the brand spanking new Hobbycraft store in Dundee. I'll be demoing Letraset products including Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers, Letratec and Safmat so why not pop along and say hello, I'll be there from 10am - 4pm.

Seeing as I'm away today I thought I'd share a sample from yesterdays demo at The Papeterie

I'll come back and fill in the details later - better go...

Busy Weekend Heading This Way

2011-10-14T18:53:00.000+01:00

It's nose to the grindstone stuff today here at Wiccababe HQ in preparation for a busy weekend of demos and classes.
Tomorrow (Saturday 15th October) I will be demonstrating the new Flexmarkers at The Papeterie in Aberdeen from 10.30am to 1pm
Then in the afternoon from 1.30pm I'll be teaching a Promarker techniques class - I think there are one or two spaces left if you fancy - call 01224 802337.

Then on Sunday I will be demonstrating Letraset Products including Promarkers, Alcohol Inks, Aquamarkers, Letratac and Safmat at the brand new Hobbycraft Store in Dundee

So if any of you are within travelling distance of Aberdeen or Dundee I'd love to see you - remember don't be shy, just come and say hello :)

I can't share any of the samples with you yet, so I thought I'd share this card instead, it's for a special crafty friend of mine.

Image: Gorjuss - Little Red, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers - I also coloured the ribbon with a promarker to match
black and white cardstock from The Papeterie, 3d dots embossing folder from cArt Us, greeting is Hero Arts, glamour dust

I'd like to enter her into..
C.R.A.F.T. - 1 ribbon, 2 shapes, some glitter
Colour Create - Lilac, Grey & White

My Birthday Girl

2011-10-13T14:02:00.000+01:00

Willow, as you probably already know is my middle child and the last of the kids birthdays this year. Yesterday she was 7, she had a fantastic day. She's been on a bit of a downer for the last week or so, and every time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she told us that she didnt want anything, and then went around with a face like a wet weekend.
So I was working blind when I went to Toys R Us at the beginning of the week - but I think I managed to get everything she likes...

The birthday girl ...

So she was highly delighted with all her presents - and her diva cake from M&S, aren't Markies cakes just yummy!!

I ended up making 2 birthday cards for the little madam - I made a pretty one with a Gorjuss stamp, but she came through to my room and decided she wanted me to use a different image, so she chose the image for this card...

Image: Janessa from Saturated Canary Digis, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
card blank is Craftwork Cards, paper is Tim Holtz, La Blanche flourish stamp, Papermania daughter stamp, Prima e line pearls and white organza ribbon from stash

I'd like to enter my card into:
The Stamping Boutique - Someone Special
Tuesday Throwdown - Think Pink
Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday

Brave Little Sausage

2011-10-12T12:55:00.000+01:00

Oh what a day yesterday turned into!
I was having a craft day, flat out making samples for this weekend and making Willow's birthday card. Graham was outside cutting the grass then started washing the car, Scott was playing his 3DS and the girls were outside playing.
Then all of a suddden Graham came bursting into the house, shouting for me in that urgent panicky way that just freezes your heart, and Faithy was screaming.
Well, we have a wooden swing/slide set in the garden that has a seesaw type swing on it for 2 kids, and apparently Faith walked too close to where it was swinging and it caught her just above her right eye and sent her flying.
So I gave it a quick clean and popped her up to the Children's A&E. 4.30pm on a Tuesday seems to be a good time to go to A&E because we were seen to almost immediately.
Faith was such a brave little soldier, never cried or moaned - did exactly what she was told and was quite amused at having to lie on the bed and get her steri-strips put on and some glue put on too. She didn't even flinch when the nurse took the first lot of steri-strips off because they weren't sticking down properly on her eyebrow.
So here's my brave little soldier...

She's been so good about not picking at the steri-strips, even though she has said they're itchy.

And today they don't seem to be bothering her at all. She's way too interested in all Willow's birthday presents.
Today is Willow's 7th birthday so I'll not spend any more time blogging - I'll be back tomorrow with all the birthday pics

The Sew Room

2011-10-11T09:00:00.006+01:00

Time is running away from me again, so I'm playing catch up once more...
Had a pretty busy weekend, haircuts all round on Saturday morning, then a flying visit to The Papeterie on the way out to the grand opening of The Sew Room.
Kath shared some more pics of the shop the other day and it really is a beautiful shop, full of wonderful things. The girls managed to empty my purse for me, so the next time I go I think I'll be leaving them at home so I can buy some goodies for myself :)
Anyway, I made a wee shop-warming gift for Anne...

I used Kaisercraft - Black and White Timeless papers coloured with Distress Stain (spun sugar)
Tim Holtz - Sewing Room die (cut from Papermania Kraft cardstock)
Prima - butterfly alphabet stamp, PI stamps, EK Success button border punch, Claudine Hellmuth sticky backed canvas, memento and distress ink pads
I'd like to enter this into...
Lexis Creations - Pink for Boobies
Make It Monday with Kraft Outlet - to die cut
Stamptacular Sunday - so distressing

A wee bag to put it in...

Image: Sizzix/Hero Arts - Antique Flowers & Butterflies stamp and die
stamped with Memento Angel Pink on the bag and tag, and Memento Tuxedo Black for the main image then coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers
I'd like to enter it into
Make it Monday - anything goes
Touch Twin Challenges - floral
Lets Ink It Up - think pink

And a good luck card..

Image: Stitched Hearts from Stampavie coloured with flexmarkers and promarkers
core'dinations card, background stamped with PI stamps and Angel Pink Memento ink, greeting is Inkadinkado, EK Success button border punch

I'd like to enter this card into:
Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes
Sentimental Sundays - anything goes
One Stop Craft - anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - in stitches
Totally Papercrafts - animals

Finnish Star - Tutorial

2011-10-10T16:20:00.002+01:00

This tutorial is especially for a lady that I met a week past Saturday at The Papeterie while doing GJWTHF. It's far easier to put together than it looks...

you will need:
1 sheet 12x12 (30x30cm) paper - double-sided patterned paper works perfectly.
adhesive
scissors and paper trimmer/guillotine
paperclips or small pegs to hold pieces together while the adhesive dries
1. Cut the sheet of paper into 12 1" wide strips
2. Lay 1 strip over another strip, exactly centred. Glue in place

3. Glue another strip on either side of the vertical strip - ensure that the vertical strip is under the horizontal strip, and the 2 new strips are glued over the horizontal strip. It is important that the strips are evenly spaced and all ends are even.

4. Weave 2 more strips - either side of the horizontal strip. These strips cross over the 1st and 3rd strip and are under the middle strip

When all strips are in place, this is what it should look like in the middle.

5. Turn the top right vertical strip to the back so that the backside of it is facing you. At the same time, turn the top right horizontal strip also towards the vertical strip and glue its backside to the backside of the horizontal strip. The picture below explains better..

6. repeat for the other 3 corners and it should look like this...

This is now the 1st half of your star complete.
7. repeat steps 1-6 for the remaining 6 strips
8. place one half star on top of the other with the curved points to the inside like this...so that each of the loops is laying on a strip from the other half star.

9. Lay each strip from one star half inside the curved loop from the other star half. Pull the strip up far enough so that the corner point of the loop touches the straight line of the strip and glue in place. see pics below...

10. Once all of the strips are glued on, this is how the star looks....

11. Once the glue is dried you can trim the points of the strips to match the points of the loops, and your finished star will look like this (punch a hole on one of the loops and use thread/cord to make a hanging loop)

You can either leave your star like this - or decorate it further for example by adding a stamped image to the centre, or punched snowflakes etc

If you give this tutorial a try, remember to come back and leave me a link to your creation, I love to see what other people do with it.

The Sew Room - Grand Opening

2011-10-06T19:20:00.003+01:00

I'm so excited to tell you about my good friend and fellow GJWTHF'er Anne is holding her Grand Opening of The Sew Room this Saturday.
You'll find all the details on the brand new The Sew Room blog. And boy are you all in for a treat..

Anne has just taken delivery of some of the latest on-trend fabrics and I can't wait to get my hands on some up-to-the-minute designs, just look at this scrummy fabric goodness...

So that's where I'll be on Saturday, will you be there too?

Next week Anne has the cutest workshop for kids - you'll find all the details on the Childrens Workshops page of The Sew Room Blog. The perfect way to keep the kids busy during the Tattie Holidays...

Calling all Dundonians

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

There's a new Hobbycraft store opening in Dundee this month and they've got loads planned for their opening week.

And I'm thrilled to let you know that I'll be there demoing Letraset products from 10am - 4pm on Sunday 16th October.
So if you're in the area I would love to meet you - please don't be shy, just come and say hello.
You'll find the stores details here.

I'll also be demoing at the Hobbycrafts Show at the SECC on Saturday 30th October - watch this space for more details coming soon.

GJWTHF - the projects

2011-10-04T08:00:00.002+01:00

As promised, I'm back with the details of the project that I did at GJWTHF on Saturday. As you all know by know, my speciality is Promarkers so this is what we made...

The cream textured cardstock is available in 12x12 from The Papeterie
Butterflies CG130 (for the background) and Stencil Flower CG194 from Hero Arts, also available at The Papeterie. The flower image was coloured with Walnut, Cocoa, Cinnamon and Almond promarkers.
Kaisercraft brads
Calendar tabs are Anita's, card candy from Craftwork Cards and MS PATP corner punch

Now if you pop over and see Kath for the details of her gorgeous project, and Anne will be posting the details of her project too.

If you want to keep up to date with all all future GJWTHF events, join our facebook page here

It's that Monday Feeling

2011-10-03T13:06:00.000+01:00

Oh I'm so glad it was my turn for a lie-in this morning! When Graham's at home we take it in turns to get up with the kids so that we both get a chance to have a lie-in - well that's the theory, but it doesn't always work out that way. Graham got home on Thursday and with the way the days worked out and with GJWTHF this is the first lie-in I've had, and it was definitely worth waiting for mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Anyway, it's nose-to-the-grindstone this month, I have loads on and loads of prep to do for it. But I'm going to try and do some stuff just for fun that I can share on my blog, I know it would be very boring for you if all my posts consisted of, "doing stuff, but can't show you"

So what's coming up this week...
It's the Grand Opening of The Sew Room this Saturday - so if you can get to Alford this is well worth the trip.

I'll be back tomorrow with pics of what we created at GJWTHF at the weekend

Girls Just Want to Have Fun - 2 - the pictures :)

2011-10-02T13:01:00.000+01:00

Morning folks, wow - what an amazing day we had yesterday. A fantastic bunch of ladies, all 34 of them, joined Kath, Anne and myself for GJWTHF2 and we had a ball.
Before I forget, we'd like to thank Letraset, Craftwork Cards, The Ribbon Girl and The Papeterie for providing us with raffle prizes, they just finish the day perfectly.
Without making this sound like an Oscar speech, I also want to thank Charlotte and Rachel for all their help with the organisation and for hiring us the perfect classroom, I want to thank the fantastically talented Kath and Anne for letting me be a part of the team and for all the hard work they put in, and finally I want to thank each of the 34 wonderful ladies who shared the day with us. I just hope that all of you enjoyed the day as much as I did.
I always find it especially exciting to see crafting friends again, and it's equally exciting to meet new faces and we had a great mix of both yesterday.
So, enough of my waffle and lets get down to the pics, you'll find more on Kath and Anne's blogs, so remember to pop over and see the girls :)
Firstly, the all important buffet lunch being set up - helped by the lovely Alison...

Tina, Stacey, do you think you'll behave today? hmmmmmmm?

And they're off -

Group 2 getting settled in...

~~Rudolph~~ Kath the red-nosed reindeer...

Kath ensuring that Tina is behaving herself

Group 3....

all 3 groups hard at work...

and the party is over, all tidied up and ready to go home :)

And just want to say a special thank you to my beautiful friend Tina for the Raspberry and Plum preserves, can't wait to get stuck into them, just look at the bag and tag that she decorated...isn't it gorgeous...

and another big thankyou to Maureen, who travelled all the way from Somerset and hand crocheted these beautiful snowflakes for us :)

Well, I'm off to empty out my tote and start making samples for upcoming demos this month - on a bit of a tour of Scotland this month... off to Dundee and Glasgow as well as right here in Aberdeen.

If you want to keep up to date with future GJWTHF craft days then please join our Facebook page here. We're hoping to go on tour in 2012, so keep your eyes peeled for more news.

To the lady who asked about the tutorial for the Finnish Star that's on display at The Papeterie - I am remembering about you and will get the tut up very soon

GJWTHF - here we go

2011-10-01T07:52:00.000+01:00

The day is here, and I'm actually quite glad to see the cooler weather and rain this morning - Kath and I were cooking alive in the classroom at The Papeterie yesterday when we were setting up.
I'm so excited - this is about the 4th time I've woken up through the night lol
All I need to do is pack up some last minute bits and bobs and off I go.
I'll be tweeting throughout the day, so you can keep up with that @wiccababe73 on twitter, or on my facebook.

Before I go and get organised I just want to say a b ig thankyou to the following companies for generously donating prizes for our end of the day raffle....

Letraset

Craftwork Cards

The Ribbon Girl

I'll leave you with another wee sneaky peek

OOO and before I forget in all the GJWTHF excitement, am over the moon to have won a top 3 place at If The Shoe Fits - Scrap It challenge on my very first attempt with this card.

Right, better go and meet up with Anne & Kath - back tomorrow with all the gossip :)

Princess Manga

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Morning,
OMG I can hardly contain myself - just one more sleep until GJWTHF2, woohoo

But enough of that for now, I want to share a wee card I made for this lovely wee girl that I know.

Image: Manga Princess from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and trias, sakura white gel pen and glamour dust.
Papers are all Kaisercraft, SU border punch

I'd like to enter her into:
Sugar Bowl - sketch
Gingersnap Creations - turquoise, blue & purple
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Scrap Creations - its a girl thing

This morning I'm off to meet Kath at The Papeterie, to get everything set up for GJWTHF tomorrow. We're getting so excited now - can't wait.

Just a wee heads-up for anyone in the Dundee area, I may have some news for you very soon :)

GJWTHF2 - Sneaky Peeks

2011-09-29T12:17:00.000+01:00

Thought I'd share a cheeky wee sneaky peek with you today of what my workshop at GJWTHF2 on Saturday is going to be...

Did you see Kath and Anne's sneaky peeks the other day? if not then you'd better hop over to their blogs and have a nosey.

It's only 2 more sleepies until GJWTHF2 at The Papeterie and we're getting very excited now. Can't wait to see some faces I know and some that I don't yet.
If you want to keep up to date with future GJWTHF craft days then we have a facebook page where we post all our news, so please feel free to join us there. This is also where we'll be posting pics after Saturday

Back tomorrow with my Sugar Bowl entry :)

Christmas Candy - Winner

2011-09-28T16:44:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon,
I feel like a manic thing today, seem to be running around doing 5 million things at once.... exaggerate? me?
Chasing up appointments, making important phonecalls, catching up with dad on the phone after their holidays, taking Willow to an appt, sorting out paperwork blah blah blah
And now that I'm home and the kids are home I'm tring to sort out homework, schoolbags packed for tomorrow, uniform looked out, and supervising them tidying their rooms cos dad is home tomorrow.
Would you believe the girls have grown out of their school tights already? so had to stock up on bigger sizes for them both - only nipped to Matalan for their tights and came home 50 quid lighter arhgh!!
Anyway, am boring myself to tears here... you'll want to know who won the advent calendar.. ok drum roll please....

the winner is number 29 which is

Lilackat

so congrats Kat - and I'll take your prize with me on Saturday :)

big thankyou to everyone who entered and helped to spread the word - I'll be having some more candy soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Christmas Candy

2011-09-28T12:00:00.002+01:00

THIS IS A STICKY - PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE RECENT POSTS :)

Hiya, I thought it was about time I gave away some candy - and seeing as I'm in full Xmas flow, craftily speaking I thought I would give away one of these super cute Tudor style Martha Stewart Advent Cottage Calendar kits.

All you have to do is leave your name in the inlinks tool at the bottom of this post and please copy this pic to your sidebar with a link back to my blog, to help spread the word. Only those with blogs can enter - if you don't have a blog, it's easy to create one.

The candy closes Wednesday 28th September at 12 noon GMT.
Good Luck

Postponed!

2011-09-26T12:27:00.000+01:00

My "next step" class at The Papeterie tomorrow (27th September) has been postponed until next week. It will now go ahead at 10am on Tuesday 4th October.
To reserve your place please call The Papeterie on 01224 802337

This class is at aimed at people who want to move on from beginner classes and learn crafting techniques. I will be concentrating on a different set of techniques at each class.
For the first class we'll be concentrating on using die-cutting machines to emboss card and other materials and putting together these cards...

The next class will be featuring heat embossing, sneaky peeks coming soon :)

Splash

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

I was scrolling down my blog the other day and realised there was a distinct lack of me actually making anything that I could show - so I thought I'd rectify that with a bit of an instant digi image hit.

I'm sure most of you will already know about Krista's new Saturated Canary digi images, and the challenge blog has just gone live over the weekend too, so for a quick fix I decided to colour Pearl, A Mermaid in.

Image: Pearl, A Mermaid from Saturated Canary Digis coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers - to get the scaly type effect on her tail, I touched the blender pen to the paper and lifted off, repeating as required.
Core'dinations card, lacy ovals and oval nesties - I wove some Anita's white organza ribbon round the lacy oval, bling clusters from The Papeterie, papers are Tilda that I got in a candy from Elaine, and I doodled the faux stitching. Pearl pen for the accents in her hair.

I'd like to enter her into:
Addicted to Stamps - stitching
Paper Sundaes - anything goes
My Sheri Crafts - sew simple
If the Shoe Fits Scrap it - Bejewelled blue
Outlawz - Anything Goes
Colour Create - Lime, Aqua and White
For Your Inspiration - photo

GJWTHF2 - Sneaky Peeks

2011-09-25T20:03:00.000+01:00

Well I had planned to show you this sneaky peek earlier today but things didn't go according to plan. My photo manipulation program decided to seize up and nothing short of a reboot would get it moving again. Anyway, I won't bore you with excuses.
As you can see by the ticker at the top of my sidebar there is only 6 more sleeps until Girls Just Want To Have Fun 2, and the excitement is building.
So here's my workshop all 34 kitted up and ready to boogie....

well, you didn't seriously think I was gonna give anything away did you?
more sneaky peeks over at chez Kath. And keep your eyes peeled on Anne's and Kath's blogs this week for more, and I might even have another soon ; )

The Sew Room - workshops

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

You saw my post about Anne's beautiful new shop yesterday? well she's just announced details of her first workshop..
fancy making one of these..

then pop over to Anne's blog for all the details

Sew Impressive

2011-09-23T11:39:00.001+01:00

Morning folks,
well if you've been over at Kath's blog this morning you will already know where I was yesterday, but if not then I'll tell you. Kath and I went out to visit our GJWTHF buddy Anne now that she has opened her very own shop....

THE SEW ROOM

44 Main Street

Alford

Aberdeenshire

an exciting new retail sewing destination,

where you can create and make in the studio workroom,

support and inspiration always on hand.

workshops , sew socials and private tuition.

not forgetting retail therapy

want to have a sneaky look?....

just the cutest pin cushions ..... ever!

Isn't it just beautiful?
And the ever "sew" talented Anne is going to be running fabulous workshops - details to follow.
Just look at the fabulous canvas Kath gave Anne as a shop-warming present, isn't it amazing?

I'm just back from having a lovely coffee with Elaine in Stonehaven - oh life is hard ;) so I guess I better go do some housework :(

Next Step Classes

2011-09-20T08:00:00.001+01:00

Today I'm going to be having a wee trip to The Papeterie to get some bits and bobs to finish kitting for GJWTHF and for my Next Steps class next Tuesday. And I'll be meeting up with one of my GJWTHF partners-in-crime, Kath so I think I might have to take some mini muffins for her, Charlotte and Rachel the Elf. And a little birdie tells me there are some new goodies in mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I'll also be dropping off the samples for my Next Steps class - to book a place just call The Papeterie on 01224 802337.
As I mentioned last week, this first class is concentrating on embossing with die-cutting machines...

I Don't Like Mondays

2011-09-19T08:00:00.001+01:00

Sir Bob definitely had a point all those years ago - yes I know I'm showing my age there, and all you youngsters probably have no clue what I'm waffling about.

Nose back to the grindstone today, Faith gets a wee reprieve from school this morning to go and pick up her new glasses and if I remember I might nip in past one of the charity shops for a quick rummage.
And after I've dropped her back at school I'll be getting busy with the kitting for next weeks embossing class.

So I better not spend too long on blogger, so I'll leave you with a pic of the two pests who were keeping me company while I crafted yesterday afternoon - cos of course there's no show without Punch!

as you can see, they had a bit of a jammie day :)

Inspiration Showcase - progress

2011-09-18T16:51:00.000+01:00

I'm actually amazed that I've managed to fit this class in - between the usual house stuff, kid stuff, kitting for GJWTHF and doing samples and kitting for my class on the 27th. But that's the beauty of this class, because each project is just wee, it takes no time at all :)

I shared the first 2 rows of my canvas with you the other day and today I'm sharing the next 2 rows. Now I'm certainly no neat freak, by any stretch of the imagination, but i have always been a little reluctant to get down and dirty with Distress Inks, well..... you'll be pleased to know I'm now over that, thanks to Jennifer's "finger inking" technique - certainly not one for the faint hearted lol

Row 3 - Distress Ink/Stain techniques
Row 4 - Other than paper and inks techniques

Of course what would the Distress Inks techniques day be without a guest appearance from King Tim Holtz himself with a clever technique using the new Distress Stains - which I'll be trying out as soon as I invest in some more stains - I only have one :(
I mentioned in my post the other day that Jennifer is encouraging students to use what they already have - rather than rushing out to buy new supplies and to illustrate this point.... 2 of the techniques in row 4 used Memento markers, well I only have 2 and they are Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa because I use them for touching up stamps that haven't stamped out correctly or for freehand drawing images that I'll be colouring with promarkers. So what did I have instead... well my kids vandalised my old Whispers markers so they got binned a while back... hmmm - well I dusted off my forgotten about Letraset Aquamarkers and wow, they work a treat.

Well I guess I better go and make a start on dinner, then hopefully I'll get the kids off to bed nice and early after their baths tonight so I can snuggle up on the settee with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 that arrived from Love Film yesterday :)

Inspiration Showcase

2011-09-16T07:31:00.000+01:00

hiya, I thought I'd share something a wee bit different with you today. I signed up for the Inspiration Showcase online techniques class by Jennifer McGuire after seeing it mentioned on Tim Holtz's blog
It's terrific value for money - 2 weeks online classes for $19 which works out at just over £12 and once the class is over you will have lifetime access to all the class materials and instructions - you'll find all the info here.
Today is day 5 so we'll be learning some Distress Ink/Stain techniques for row 3, but I thought I'd show you my progress so far...

Row 1 featured 7 different resist techniques
Row 2 featured embossing, die-cutting and punching

As well as featuring these techniques and showing us alternative ways of using those techniques, Jennifer has lined up some special guests to show us some techniques including 2 of my favourites Shari Carroll and Tim Holtz.
I think the thing I like most about this online class is the fact that you can use what you already have - although Jennifer and her guests have provided comprehensive supply lists, Jennifer does say that you should use what you have rather than buy everything on the list. And so far I've only had to get some glossy paper (The Papeterie do one that works just the same as Ranger Glossy Paper but is way cheaper).