Monday 31 January 2011

Tweet tweet... so sweet..

You know, I love my job... I love working for Docrafts, and I love meeting lots of lovely people when I do my demonstrations.. but most of all, I love all the lovely papers we get sent every two months to play with!

But, this paper, Birdsong, really wasn't my thing. I opened up my kit in dread knowing that it was going to be facing me at some point. Green?? Me?? No way! I don't like green paper, in fact, green in general, and I don't like bird prints.. or orange, or in fact other 'earthy' types of colours.. so this filled me with panic.

However, after looking through the rest of the kit, I opened up my Birdsong and found it was really lovely! There is probably one sheet in there that is actually a bit too brown (not green!!) that I'm not too sure about. But I knew straight away what I wanted to do with it.

And this is what I wanted to do -

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Since our 'bad' experience in Arran in 2008, the photos have been printed and stored in the deep dark depths of my memory.. until I got these papers, and I thought 'Perfect!'. The colours and designs that are in this pack are just right to go with this project, and the birds? Well, they are well matched too because we saw lots of scenery whilst out hiking on Arran and lots of birds that came into the garden along with the red squirrels.

This is one of the inside pages -

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and this is the other..

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I used some of the stickers from the Birdsong range to decorate up my album. The journalling still needs finishing off, but all in all, a good start was made to my collection of Arran albums.. so now, onto number two.. and I'll show you when it's ready!

Saturday 29 January 2011

Fancy a cake?

Cupcake I mean ... and these are the low calorie type too! How good can that get?!

I have done a few samples for my demo's using the new Papermania Little Cake Shoppe papers and various elements that go along with that range to make these -

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This one was made using the Cake Shoppe embossing folder and I have just embossed it on various colour cards, then cut and layered them up.

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This one is quite self explanatory really - a very simple and popular pocket card.

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And this one... an acetate card. I cut out the window panels so that they would be see through, then layered up the decoupage sections on the bottom of the card.. a window full of cakes. How nice!

I hope you like the cakey items.. No calories incurred.. all is well eh?!

A few sample cards

Blimey.. it seems so long since I managed to post a card on here! However, I've had a bit of time this afternoon after my last January demo up at the Range in Doncaster, so thought I'd take photos of some of my cards and put them up on here.

This one was one of my favourites.

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I decided to do an easel card, but use a scallop circle instead of the traditional square-ish shapes.

Here's the image in more detail.

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I hope you like it.. I'm going to upload a few more now, so I can share those too!

Thursday 27 January 2011

Well.... that's not a sparrow!

That's exactly what I said to my hubby when he came in from work last night!

My post today is about this little guy .....


Yesterday I was sat in my craft room doing some tidying after my class on Tuesday evening, and I looked up from under my table and saw this bird sat on the fence.

Now, obviously I knew it wasn't a sparrow.. but I wasn't sure if it was the bird that flew into the garden at around 200mph (you think I'm joking??!!) last year trying to catch the sparrows and birds that were feeding.  At the time, my hubby asked his work colleague, Andrew, what bird it could be, and obviously there were a few different ones we could choose from.

So, yesterday, this little cute bird was sitting on my fence... and honestly, it was quite large, so I grabbed my camera and big lens, and took this photo.. not a brilliant one, but there you go. Now isn't it the cutest birdy?
So, I printed out the picture, and said to my hubby... 'Now, THAT's not a sparrow!' ... and of course it isn't..

According to my birdy-spotter book, it looks like a Sparrow Hawk. But it doesn't have beautiful colours that an adult one has, because it's just a juvenile.



I feel quite blessed having my craft room overlooking the garden and all the little birds.. where's your room? What's your view? I'd love to know.

And do you have a name for your room? Hubby calls mine the Studio.. I don't know what to call it yet, other than the Hovel... lol.

Monday 24 January 2011

Fur and feathers..

Sorry for the delay in posting to my blog, but things have been really hectic this last week - and the next one is  probably going to be the same too! However, I may have company come the end of the week as my sister in law has broken her wrist.. so may need to be here..... we'll have to see. She does worry me sometimes as she is in Kent and we are in Doncaster.. and even though it only takes a few hours to get there, it is a bit concerning sometimes in case things like this happen! Tilly - you need to be nearer!!!

Anyway.. work is still busy - I have been upto County Durham, down to Bath, across to Southport and this week am staying in Doncaster! I don't mind doing the miles, as the people who come to the demo's are sooo supportive and always welcoming. It's also great to exchange ideas, and sit for a few hours with like minded people. However.. the trip to Southport was a bit scary - the fog as you drop down out of Manchester was a bit thick - a real pea souper!! But the hoar frost on the trees and surroundings looked rather lovely. So, I'm in Doncaster this week as I say, so if you're passing, come along and say Hi.. it would be lovely to see you.

I'm also seeing a few crafty friends this week - one of them, Lynne, owns a fabulous little craft haven - the Craft Den in Sheffield.. honestly.. what a corker of a shop.. so many beautiful things and Lynne is probably one of the nicest people you could meet.  I'm also going to see Jane at the relatively new Unicorn crafts, where I do workshops. We have a few planned in, so I will put them in my diary as soon as I have definate classes. We always have such a laugh so I'm looking forward to seeing her.

I am also currently working on a new project, something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but never really had the chance. I'm keeping it under wraps at the moment, but will reveal and give some hints soon when I know where I'm going with it. However, I've a feeling it'll get put on hold again if I get too busy.. lol.

So many things to do, so little time! In between all my appointments for this week, I will probably do a bit more painting. I have had some oils for a while, and never really played with them, I'm a watercolour person really! But, I watched Bob Ross on the TV the other day and last night, did one painting. First attempts weren't too bad, and if I get a picture later, I'll show you. It makes a change from making cards I guess.

So.. onto my photo for today - only a photo because I haven't photographed my cards! - and it's one of a cheeky little robin that comes into the garden. I have two actually.. and they don't fight.. I thought they did as they are quite territorial aren't they??


The picture isn't all that clear, as it was taken through the window.. I am currently working in my 'indoor' room instead of the shed. I'm still sorting out my craft stuff into there as I moved in after my daughter moved out at Christmas.. but I want to keep it more as a spare room, than a craft room... and it's taking some doing! lol. But still.. I can sit in the warmth and look at all the lovely birds that grace our garden looking for their food.

I will get around to photographing some cards to put up on here this afternoon hopefully. So please check back soon..

Friday 21 January 2011

I've been sorting...

For those that email me to find out when my demonstrations are, I have uploaded a Google Calendar with my Demo dates and Craft Class details on.

I hope you find this helpful.

Just go to the Pages section at the top of the blog, and click on the 'Things to Do.. Places to Be' section.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

It's all very quiet....

Maybe it's that I miss the hustle and bustle of three busy spaniels, or maybe I just miss being at home, but it is really very very quiet here.

I am spending today and tomorrow down in Bath, filming a couple of episodes for Creativity TV. How very exciting eh??!!

The drive down today was very tiring.. the sun was shining straight into the car and the motorway was on slow-go.. but most of the way was fine and I landed here around five o'clock. And my room is awesome!

I tell you, Travelodge has nothing on this hotel. I even have a four poster bed.. The room is a similar layout to the one here... probably a tad smaller.. but hey - I've never slept in a four poster bed so that is a first!


But the hotel looks over some beautiful scenery which you can find on the site link above..

And have you noticed?? I'm posting to my blog!

Basically, I haven't posted for a while because I've been having problems with the computer. But, my hubby worked out that it was probably the internet because I could type with no problems on Word. And it was. Firefox, therefore, is no longer on my computer, and I am now a Google girl !! Whoo hoo.. go me. lol.

Right.. I must make a move and get some bits and pieces done.. I look forward to getting more things uploaded soon.

Monday 10 January 2011

Oh Gosh… it worked!

Finally.. I think I've managed to find myself a way of publishing a post!!!

I was getting so despairing of the fact that I can't post a post on here due to not being able to move my cursor down where it needed to be to post a post! Hope that makes sense.. lol.

Now the one thing I haven't tried is to upload a picture.. but I'm sure I'll get to that one later as I have some to show you.

So.. onto this week..

I had my very first demo of 2011. I was down in Derby and we had a great time at the demo. It was very busy most of the day, people saying how nice the new product was and thankfully, loved the samples that I had made. It was lovely to see some familiar faces too.. even two lovely ladies who are jetting off on an around the world trip in a few days. Unfortunately they'll miss my next demo, but will be with me for the one after in May. Another thing that I liked, was that I had chance to see the manager, Jackie. I don't get to work with her too often as it's usually her day off, so it was nice to say HI.. and we also had a new girl too.. and of course, HI to Carol who is a familiar face to me as I had worked at Papermill from time to time when she was there.. so it's lovely to have her around on my demo days. I wish you all a very happy 2011!

Next week, I'm having myself a road trip to County Durham.. so if you're around the Lambton Garden Centre area, then pop in and say HI.. it would be lovely to see you.

Until next time …

Just trying this out…

Well, after hassle this week trying to sort out the blog and getting this computer to work with it, I am trying a new way of publishing my post!

This is published using the Blog editor on Word 2010… now let's see if this works..

Well, at least my cursor is working!!

Thursday 6 January 2011

Happy New Year...

And all the best for 2011.. 

Well, it seems that the laptop has finally sorted itself out and I can post onto Blogger as usual. Thank you Lynda for commenting for me. I was starting to think that Windows 7 and my blog just didn't work right together and everytime I tried to put a post up it took ages! My enter key wouldn't move things down and everything was all over. **update as I'm typing - - it's stopped again!!**

But it seems okay today.... so I'll see if I can put a post up later. Now, that'll make a change won't it?

I've got a few things to get on with today.. I need to finish my magasine commissions so they can get posted later today, as they need to be there tomorrow.. then I have samples to finish for my demo in Derby on Saturday. I then have my next craft class on Tuesday evening.

I also have some exciting things coming up in the few weeks, but I'm not sharing for now.. we'll just have to see how we go with that one.

Right.. must make a move. See you all again soon xx
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