Concord & 9th Winter Wear

Oh boy has it ever been busy here since I last blogged, we seem to have gone straight from one thing in to another since September, always something happening or somewhere to be.

We added to the workload with the bedroom decorating which now looks lovely I may add 😀 Although the door still needs painting so does the radiator, and those are jobs for the Xmas hols lol! How are you getting on with your festive jobs? I'm down to the general cleaning and tidy up and the food shop left to do, the decorations are all up, all the wrapping, card writing and faffing has been done.

I confess that this year despite wanting to make a lot of gifts to send to people, I just didn't get the time, I had lots of ideas and made a start on several projects which just didn't get finished sadly 😞 So much happened in the last quarter of the year that I found it difficult to keep up sometimes and from mid October to today, there hasn't been a lot of time for crafting. Tomorrow we do our last teaching session of the year, Simon finishes work for the holidays, and aside from a trip to visit my family in Manchester sometime over the weekend we are all done and we can now chill and relax. Time to regroup and plan for 2019, we already have the first Young Roboteers sessions booked early in the year and have had enquiries to run some other events.

I started my chilling session earlier today, I'd done all my chores for the day, so I got out a new stamp and die set I'd recently been treated to, its by Concord & 9th and is called Winter Wear, I fell in love with the set back in November when I saw Kristina Werner use it to make a card as part of her 2018 Holiday Card Series, that's 2 stamp sets I bought as a result of her demos lol! I used Nuvo Alcohol Markers for the first example, they blend very well but there aren't very many colours, I'm hoping they will release more soon as the choice is pretty limited at the minute. Kristina used Copic Markers on her card but they are way out of my price range at the moment, but I would like a set of basic colours, something to collect in 2019 maybe?

I confess that I had a minor fluff up, originally I stamped direct on to the card blank with the intention of making a single layer card, but I stamped the elements to low down and it didn't look right, so I die cut the stamped image using one of my favourite wonky stitched circle dies and stuck it on to a card blank that was sitting on my desk left over from the 2018 cards. I decided not to add a sentiment on the outside, keeping the focus on the images and stamped a nice sentiment inside the card. I didn't get the scarf and face bits lined up and small amounts of white space were left. So after I'd coloured the image I used a black fine liner pen to finish off the lines.

I've got lots of ideas for using this stamp set and I'll be making batches for sending, the two cards in this post are now officially my first cards for posting out for Christmas 2019! I know it may seem early, but I'm taking the stance that early in the year and in parts of the summer nothing is happening. So if I use that time to make my Christmas cards and other items, then I won't be as stressed as I was this year because I still needed to make cards to send instead of having them all ready.

The second card was coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol, I need more practice with coloured pencils but the finished card didn't turn out so bad. I used an embossing folder that was free with issue 185 of Simply Cards & Papercraft. I bought the magazine for the folder as I'd been trying to find a knitting effect embossing folder for a while. The sentiment is from the Winter Wear set and was originally going to go on the first card, but I decided that it didn't look right so put it to one side.

In 2019 I want to improve my colouring skills, I may even try to take a class either near me or online! I also want to try harder to only buy things that I will actually use, and not buy things just because I think they look cute. Something else I need to do is stop buying all the colours of a new ink pad, embossing powder etc until I've actually tried the product out. I've been caught out on more than one occasion, allowing my "full set" syndrome to dictate how I spend. I started dabbling with Mixed Media this year and bought lots of jolly things to pursue that area of crafting, so over the Xmas hols I think I'll have a play and see what I can create.

I'm hoping I'll have time to make another post before the years out, but in the event that I don't here's wishing everyone that reads my blog and takes the time to comment, a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years. May 2019 be filled with crafting time a plenty, mojo abounding, health and happiness in no particular order. Your lovely words have cheered me when I've been down this year and I appreciate each and every one of you. 💖💖💖

DIY Epsom Salt Herbal Muscle Spray

When my Plantar fasciitis plays up I soak my foot in a bowl of warm water that I've added a handful of Epsom salts (Magnesium sulfate) and a few drops of lavender oil to and it helps ease my foot, and when my back aches from too much exercise or from a long session in the garden I have a warm bath, this time with a couple of handfuls of Epsom salts and essential oils of my choice, I use oils that have warming properties like rosemary, ginger and black pepper which are good for easing muscles aches and pains.

I have a bath blend to share a bit further on, but a lady in a group I belong to wanted something she could use to help ease her aching muscles without having to have a bath or shower, so enter my Epsom Salt Muscle Spray which can be carried around and used whenever you need to. A small caveat before you make and use this spray, if you get it on your clothes the Epsom salts will leave a powdery residue when they dry, it will wash out but it will be noticeable until the garment is washed.

Epsom Salt Muscle Spray

The base for your spray will always be a 1 part water to 1 part Epsom salt mix and you can add your choice of beneficial essential oils, I give two versions below that I find best.

250ml Bottle
125ml Boiling Water
125g Epsom Salts

Then either: -

15 Drops Lavender Essential Oil

15 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil

Or: -

15 Drops Rosemary Essential Oil
15 Drops Ginger Essential Oil

Method: Boil your water in a kettle and place your Epsom salts in a jug or glass bowl that is suitable for boiling liquids and stir until the Epsom salts are dissolved. Once they are completely dissolved set the mixture aside to go cold, once its cold add your essential oils of choice, don't be tempted to add the oils whilst the mixture is hot, the oils with evaporate in the heat and lose their beneficial and aromatic properties.

Pour the mixture into your spray bottle and label it with name and date, then use it to spritz your aching muscles e.g. arms, legs, neck or shoulders.

You can make this spray in any quantity you like the key is to always use 1 part boiling water to 1 part Epsom salts. So if you only have a 100ml bottle 50ml water and 50g Epsom salts. A 500ml bottle then 250ml water and 250g Epsom salts, you get the picture?

Epsom Salt & Herb Bath Muscle Soak

Back pain and muscle problems seem to occur in our house rather a lot these days, a sign of our ageing bodies methinks, and when the lighter days come around and garden activity increases the aches and pains increase as well. Usually after several hours of gardening, I have a nice long soak in the bath with my favourite herbal bath blend from a jar I keep of this bath soak recipe I make up at the start of the gardening season, but its now being used to soak muscles after a long walks and runs (my husband not me, I'm not fit enough to run yet lol).

The mix makes enough to fill 18 bath bags containing 25g per bag, alternatively have one bag and store the rest of the mixture in a sealed jar and add 25g of the mixture to a muslin bag at each bath time.

Ingredients:

15g Dried Thyme
30g Dried Rosemary
30g Dried Lavender Flowers
25g Dried Cramp Bark
25g Dried Peppermint Leaf
150g Oats
200g Epsom Salts
12 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
12 Drops Rosemary Essential Oil
12 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil

Method: Mix all the dry ingredients together, stir in the essential oils and put in a large, well-sealed, glass jar such as a kilner jar. To use, put 25g of the mix into a muslin bath bag or into the centre of a circle of muslin tied up with string or ribbon and hang over the bath tap. Relax in the bath and let the herbs and Epsom salts soak away the aches and pains.

If a long soak doesn’t help and there's pain rather than just aches going on, then make an appointment to see your GP.

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to source the most up to date and accurate information, we cannot guarantee that remedies in our articles are effective, when in doubt, consult your GP or a qualified Medicinal Herbalist. Remember also that herbal remedies can be dangerous under certain circumstances therefore you should always seek medical advice before self-treating with a homemade remedy, especially if you suffer from any known illness which could be adversely affected by self-treatment.

Christmas Themed Floating 'Pop Cards' 🎅

Good morning to you, winter is definitely coming here in Derby, last night we had frost and ice forming and the temperature went to down to -1℃ and I got an extra blanket out lol! The colder weather has put me in the mood for making more Xmas cards, so my current projects all have a festive flavour, speaking of flavours there is a Beef Jalfrezi in the slow cooker wafting its aromas in my direction and I have some Christmas tunes playing on the PC so I'm good to go.

I saw an example of this style of card pop up on my Facebook news-feed yesterday and I thought it was amazing, simple to do and so effective and the beauty is it folds flat to fit in a standard 6"x6" envelope meaning you can use regular 1st or 2nd class postage. Assuming that is that you don't put too many embellishments on the card to make the whole thing thicker than 0.5cm!

I got the idea from Sam over at Mixed Up Crafts, if you follow that link you'll be taken to her blog post which has all the details including measurements, tips and a useful YouTube video that walks you through the construction step by step.  In her tutorial Sam shows several ways to make the card using different layers and shows examples of cards made for other occasions, the fold/shape is very versatile. I made the two cards up in the blog post here and cut the base and decorative panels to make 6 more cards in the same style, although they are not all circular apertures. I don't want to share photos of those cards on my blog when they are finished, because they will be going to some lovely people that read my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise 😉

Once you get your head around the positioning and decide in what papers, style of aperture you're going to use the cards are very quick to put together. It was even faster for me because I already had a lot of images that I'd stamped, coloured and cut out, like this adorable little image from the 'Newton's Holiday Mischief' set.

If you look closely at the image you can just see the piece of acetate that the image is 'floating' on
Crafting has been slow the past few weeks with the decorating going on in the background.

Sadly the photos don't do the cards proper justice, the papers I used are from a 6"x6" Trimcraft pack called 'Christmas Wishes' and the ones I've used for the cards I'm sharing today both have glittery, shimmery bits on them. I used another Newton's Nook stamp set called 'Ornamental Newton' and some of the new 'Red Glitz' WOW embossing powder I got from the NEC earlier this month. I finished the card off with 6 gems from my stash which added a lovely little bit of bling to the card.

For my second Floating Pop Card I did a bit of recycling, last year I made a set of gift tags to add to Si's Christmas presents, and I was very proud of the colouring I did with my Inktense pencils, I actually made them in 2016 for using in 2017, I was organised back then lol! So again making this card was quick. I decided to use a flower nesting die set, not sure who made it it was a second hand job lot from Ebay.

I actually matted the panels with the same silver card that I used as one of the front panel pieces and used the same stitched flower shape (I thought it looked a little snowflake like) and stamped my sentiment using some Delicata Silver Shimmer ink. Each of the cards have a plain back panel for adding my message.

Now I just have to crack on with the other 6 and I have about 12 other cards to construct, all I need to do is some embossing and assembling so they should come together quickly. Tomorrow is our 16th wedding anniversary so we won't be getting any decorating done, its all about the two of us, we have a date night planned with a steak dinner and a trip to the cinema to see Fantastic Beasts 2.

On the decorating front the floor is all fixed and no longer squeaks, the electrics are now done and we've sorted a good chunk of the loft out, it needed sorting to allow access to the ceiling bits for adding wall lights and a new ceiling light. So on Saturday we'll finally be ready to fill in holes in the walls, sand down paintwork and start painting the ceiling and woodwork lol!

Over 2 weeks since the job was started and it will be another 2 weeks until its finished, work and doing after school robot sessions are going to take up time, I'm hoping we can get stuff done sooner rather than later though so we can get the Xmas tree up and the house back to normal (not that we do normal in this house lol!) Well that's all for me for today, I need to get some chores done and then get myself ready for a dentist appointment and after that some Christmas shopping, so glad that curry is in the slow cooker for tea!

Flurries of Warm Wishes

It's been a busy week and I've just realised that I forgot to share a couple of cards that I made with one of my NEC purchases that I got almost 2 weeks ago now! When I came back from the NEC I had a head swimming with ideas of ways to use the goodies I bought but I've just not had time to turn the ideas into projects.

My idea isn't an original one, I must give credit where its due to the lovely and talented Kristina Werner, I've CAS'ed a card made by her as part of her 2018 Holiday Card Series and it uses a lovely Pink & Main stamp set called Flurries. Like Kristina I made a circle card but I used dark card stock and a scalloped edge die and I different colour combination of Distress Oxides.

In the first example I used Picked Raspberry DO, Wilted Violet and Faded Jeans, I prefer to use Chipped Sapphire when working with this colour combo, but the Chipped Sapphire DO hasn't arrived yet. I'm still waiting for my order from Craft Stash, hopefully it will arrive soon and I will have the last batch of 12 Distress Oxides.  I've also noticed when I made these cards that my Wilted Violet DO pad was starting to not have as much ink in it. Its not a fault of the ink pad, it just shows that its one of my most used inks, so this week I purchased a re-inker for it and a few for my standard distress inks as well.

For the second card example I used Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet DO's blending them into each other as best I could. I realised just after I started blending the inks on to the card stock that I'd picked up the wrong type of card stock to use so blending the inks was a bit of a struggle, but I got there in the end!

I used Ocean Blue and Purple 300gsm card stock to make the card blanks, I got both of them at the NEC from Limetree Crafts. The colours are gorgeous and they cut really well.  I made the card blanks in the same way I did from the Festive Circle Wreath cards, you can see how I did it in the video on that post.

I allowed the inked panels to completely dry out and then I arranged my stamps and sentiment on the circle and inked up with Versamark, having first used my anti-static powder tool on the coloured panel, I transferred the stamped image to the card panel and then covered it with WOW Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder and heat set it. I had to repeat some of the snowflakes, so after stamping and embossing both panels I rearranged some of the snowflakes and repeated the procedure.

Once both of the panels had been embossed I adhered the panels to the card based and then placed a gem from Lucy's cards in the centre of each one and finally added some iridescent sequins that I picked up last year from The Range. The cards fir inside a 6" x 6" envelope and are relatively flat for posting. I have some more ideas for using these stamps and will hopefully get to share those ideas soon. At least this is another couple of cards ready to send, I've got a little behind with my xmas makes, I need to get a wiggle on and soon because there's just over 5 weeks now until the last post for Christmas eek!

Cool Little Dude Card

Hello lovely people in blog land :) I hope that life is treating you kindly and you are all safe and well? I haven't had much time for blogging so far this month, we've undertaken a large DIY project this month. It started with just laying a new carpet in our bedroom and morphed in to getting new plug sockets and lighting installed, fixing all the squeaky floorboards and decorating the room, before we put the carpet down!

I'm using the time that everything has been boxed and bagged up to do some de-cluttering and redistribution, books to both Cats protection and the local National Trust book shop and clothes to a local charity shop. I really cannot believe how much clutter and things we have in our home that have been bought but never used or worn! I'm sure it will all be worthwhile when we're finished but at the minute the house looks like a bomb has gone off lol!

Until today I couldn't get at my craft desk because things from out of our room had been put in my crafting room, so there was no free desk space, but as I've boxed and bagged things up over the past few days, I've made some space to be able to get my craft on! I've been saying for a while now that I wanted to add more cards for the menfolk in my life to my box of made cards. So when a lady in a group I belong to on Facebook posted a card using this cool little dude I was smitten and knew I wanted to use the image to create a card or two (most likely more because he's such a cool little dude).

The images are meant to be used with a die from the latest issue of the Tattered Lace magazine which is issue 60, sadly I haven't been able to find the magazine locally yet, but the images and backgrounds can currently be downloaded from the Tattered Lace website. The Little Dude is available in 5 different colour combinations with colour co-ordinated backing papers. Once I'd downloaded the images and printed off the colour I wanted to use I carefully fussy cut out the Little Dude and added some card stock to the back of the paper to give him a little more substance. I used brown, black and burgundy markers to trace around the edge of the dude to hide any cutting imperfections.

I have to say I am impressed with the cutting I did on this image. I'm getting a lot better at fussy cutting and I think that is down to the scissors I use. My fussy cutting has always until recently been a bit hit and miss, but last year I invested in a pair of Fiskar's Softouch Spring Action Micro-Tip scissors, they are the dogs doodah's as far as fussy cutting goes, they are very comfortable to use and very easy to control.

As there wasn't much to do to this card because of how colourful the little dude and backing papers were I wanted to add some little touches. I used a Versamarker watermark pen to add some gold embossing powder to the little dude's chain and some Tonic Crystal Glaze to his shades. The sentiment is from a set of stamps that came with issue 52 of Creative Stamping magazine. I stamped the image with Versamark on to black card stock and used the same WOW Metallic Gold Rich Super Fine embossing powder that I'd used for his chain and then fussy cut the image out. I used a metallic gold sharpie around the edge of the cut out image to hide any little imperfections.

I used some 300gsm Purple Cardstock that I got from Limetree Crafts at the NEC, its an absolutely gorgeous shade, I've used it to make some Christmas cards and to make a Fairy themed card. The card base I made is tent fold and I added a mat of gold metallic card on to the purple then added the printed backing paper on top of that. I added the little dude and the sentiment to the front of the card using some 3D foam pads and popped some star shaped gems to the front from my stash of gems and bling and voila the card was complete.

I have to say the hardest part of this card was finding a sentiment, I wanted a 'cool dude' phrase but I don't seem to have anything like it, so I'll have to acquire something soon. I'm hoping to find the die at some point in the not to distant future, but for now I can continue to fussy cut the little dudes to make more cards!

Creative Craft Show NEC November 2018

On Friday I had a fabulous crafty day out thanks to my wonderful husband, I got to have a brief chat with Keren Baker one of my lovely Facebook friends who I've never met but she inspires me with her wonderful creations, you may know her? Keren is a designer and demonstrator for Fiskars, Winnie and Walter, Tonic Studios and Clearly Besotted. I played with Powertex, learnt to use the gelli plate correctly thank you Amanda Branston! I met an old friend and a new one, got oodles of new crafting goodies to play with and got the chance to try new products and techniques. Ooh yes and I wore a Unicorn headband and made a few people smile 😁

It was a day of discovery and even though I had a few mini panic attacks, Si was there to ground me and make me feel better/calmer, he's really amazing and senses when I'm having trouble coping and just appears and all is right with the world again. But I digress, and lets get back to why I'm writing this, we didn't arrive at the NEC until just after 10am the first thing I did was find the Lavinia Stamps stand so I could book a make and take session, so glad I did because Hazel informed me that there was just one session left at 4pm!!! On Facebook they had said to come early to book because the sessions go fast, I didn't realise how fast lol!

The hall where the Creative Craft Show was situated was very busy when we first arrived, so we decided instead of starting at row A, we'd go to the end and work our way back round, so pleased I did because we ended up in the 'Art Materials Live' area and wandered in to the Pebeo stand just as the lovely Jenny Muncaster started a mixed media demo using a selection of Pebeo products.

I truly didn't realise how versatile Pebeo paints were and that you could mix their glass paints with ceramic paints and also the Fantasy Moon and Prisme paints, and when you do, the effects are amazing. So much so, my first purchase of the day was a Pebeo Mixed Media Ultimate Kit, which contained loads of things to help me play with the techniques that Jenny demonstrated. Sadly though the Glitter Medium was missing, but the lovely people at The Art Shop Skipton who were running the Pebeo stand are already on the case and my missing medium will be sent out on Monday :) Heads up also if you have Amazon Prime, Jenny has a 6 part series on there called 'The Artist in You' where she shows some fab mixed media projects and other creative techniques.

After Pebeo I continued to wander and found the Crafts4Less stand which had lots of dies and other goodies for sale, Si liked the Sue Wilson Festive Industrial Chic Flying Santa die so I guess that die will feature on his Chrimbo card this year 😉

I also got the matching sentiment die to go with it and and a jolly set by Sweet Dixie called 'Christmas Jumper' that will make some quick fun cards. Whilst I was stood at Crafts4Less I heard someone call out my name, I turned round right in to a hug from my friend Sarah Jane whom I'd lost touch with. She is now the co-owner of White Gecko Craft Lounge in Dinas Powys and was there with her stand. It was such a surprise to see her there in the NEC with a stand but I was so pleased to see her, we're now Facebook friends so we can natter properly. As hard as it was I dragged myself away from Sarah and continued to shop and browse, I called at the Crafty Devils stand and picked up some Tonic Nuvo goodies and the Media Tool set to go with my Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat.

I found the Powertex stand and donned rubber gloves to have a play with powertex, and discovered that it wasn't for me sadly. I do like some of the their stencils, plaster embellishments and their pigment colours but I didn't like the feel of the powertex and I didn't like the smell either. Some of the things you can make with it are amazing, but its a messy craft that I don't have space for. Still that's the beauty of shows like this, you get to try before you buy, saving yourself from another costly start up project you think you may like, only to find actually you don't and you've wasted a lot of money.

We went for a little break in the VIP area and got free coffee and cake YUM! It was nice to be able to sit down on a chair, in previous years we had to sit on the floor, so this year Si treated me to the VIP tickets which gave us fast track entry, a goodie bag (which wasn't anything to write home about really), a free area to store your purchases and there were make and takes happening inside, but I didn't try any of them because I didn't have enough time lol!

After the first break I'd made a note to visit the Craft Stash stand and watch their Facebook Live, so off we set for stand E10 only to discover it wasn't there! That's because some numpty in her eagerness to get there took a wrong turn and ended up in the Simply Christmas hall. A quick turn around and mad dash back through the Creative Craft show hall and we found Craft Stash, hurrah and watched the FB live even getting to wave at my crafty chums as well.

Next I visited the WOW! Embossing Powder people, I was amazed to discover that they now stock Pink & Main dies and stamps. I'd seen Kristina Werner use a Pink & Main set called 'Flurries' the day before the NEC and loved the card she made with the set, and liked the look of the 3 inverse stamps. I had an idea for using the sets but knew that it wouldn't be easy to find the set in the UK easily, so you can imagine my joy when I found it at the NEC and lots of other Pink & Main goodies to boot!

Next stop was the Inkylicious stand where I watched Emma Redfearn do a demo which was incredible, she showed lots of new techniques and ideas to try, watching her was quite mesmerising. After Emma's stag card demo I asked her about using the Splatter Circle XL stamp and she very kindly gave me a demo and let me take the piece home that she demonstrated.

Emma used Distress Oxides for this demo piece but she said you can use any inks. The trick is to put them in a line using the edge of the ink pad and leave a small gap inbetween so as not to contaminate your ink pad. She said that to use the stamp its best to use a stamping platform as its so large.

Once you've inked up your stamp, spritz the stamp with water and when you place the stamp on to the card the water spread out and mixes with the inks to fill in the gaps. I think the water that Emma used for spritzing had some mica in as the piece has a shimmer to it. Emma also showed me how to use a white Posca pen to create stars, it was a light bulb moment. The other discovery was the white gel pen Emma used, I have one by Ranger which to be frank is PANTS! It's very hit and miss, so I don't use it, I have a white Sakura gelly roll but that isn't always useful.

The one that Emma used is a Uni-Ball Signo Broad pen that contains pigment ink. I picked one up when I bought my other Inkylicious goodies and I love it, making lines is so much easier, it writes straight away, non of this scribbling on paper first to get it to work like the Ranger pen or trying to write and it stalling like the Sakura pen.

I bought a few more Inkylicious stamp sets and a couple of stencils, I couldn't resist the bigger brother Unicorn to the one that Emma used in the example above and of course the new 'Cat Face' and the 'Silhouette Stag Deer' stamps. I also picked up a a stamp cleaning mat, it was only £2 and I've used it already to clean stamps yesterday and it gets right in to the details on the stamps and cleans them so much quicker and cleaner than a baby wipe.

I couldn't wait to have a play with some of my new goodies when I got home on Friday but I was so tired after all the walking and Saturday turned in to a rather busy day, but I managed to get some crafty time in on Saturday evening.

I taped the Inkylicious 'Snowflake' stencil down on to a piece of card and used Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Chipped Sapphire) and Ink Duster brushes to create the snowflake. before I removed the stencil I spritzed the inks with some shimmer mist and blotted off the water.

I left it to dry for a while, and then whilst the stencil was still in place, I stamped the trees and the stag with Versafine ink in 'Majestic Blue'.
At that point I removed the stencil, cleaned it off and used a Chipped Sapphire Distress Marker to create shadows at the base of the stag. Once that was done I ran the panel through my Big Shot in a snow effect embossing folder.

I made a card blank using some gorgeous 300gsm Ocean Blue lightly textured card I got at the NEC from Limetree Crafts and adhered the panel to it, all that needed to be done then to add some white highlights with my new gel pen and add a few sparkly gems. I still need to add a insert to the card so I can stamp and write my message but the whole card took about 40 minutes to make. I reckon you could make 6 or more in a couple of hours if you did everything in batch stages.

I picked up some of my favourite Black Smooth 260gsm cardstock as well whilst I was there, I was down to my last 5 sheets so needed a top up, Limetree Crafts card and paper is absolutely brilliant quality and a fab price. I also picked up some of their water colour paper and some of the card for using with alcohol markers, I'll be giving it a try in the next few days and see how it performs.

By this time it was 3pm, so we went for more free cake and coffee in the VIP area and had a bit of a sit and chill, after that we had a lesiurely stroll through the stands again on route to my lavinia stamps make and take at 4pm.

I was pretty nervous, especially when Si decided to go and look at some of the other stands whilst I crafted, but Amanda Branston soon had us all laughing with her gelliplate spa night anecdotes. I explained to Amanda that I'd bought a gelli plate last time I was at the NEC in 2016, used it once fluffed it up, put it back in the package and its been there ever since!

During the make and take Amanda showed us how to use the gelli plate and how NOT to use it and we got to play with inks, stamps and glitter. I was impressed with my little self, although when it comes to anything I make myself, my ever critical eye looked at what I made and found flaws. I stamped the the lowest hollyhock in the wrong place, the purple ink just didn't take, but that wasn't my fault, Amanda discovered after the session that the pad had run out of juice and binned it lol!

I added some water droplets as well but added too many and they were more like blobs than droplets. Add to that I didn't put enough ink on the fairy so her leg looked a bit patchy, but considering how nervous I was I didn't do too badly.

Lets not get started with the carefully putting pearl drops on the piece and adding lovely sparkly glitter to it, then promptly putting your thumb in it smearing the glitter everywhere when you decide to 'ground' the fairy lol!

I am very taken with the new Versa Fine Clair inks and I'll be adding them to my inking arsenal in the not too distant future. A few at a time though as there are 24 in the set at around £5 per pad, that's a lot of cash to pay out for a full set of inks. So picking a few and then expanding the colours is the way to go.

I need more flowers and foliage stamps for my lavinia designs, one day very soon I'm going to do an inventory of what I have so far and then make a kind of wish list (one of everything 😉). I do have Inkylicious stamps that I can use and some new fairy foliage stamps from the new Crafters Companion 'Enchanted' range. There were other purchases made and stands visited but I think this post is long enough already. Suffice to say I had a wonderful day, yes I did almost not go at two points, that happens a lot I build myself up to doing something then chicken out at the end. I think I did spend a little too much but at the end of the day I ended up with lots of new goodies and things to allow me to try new techniques, and lets not forget reconnecting with Sarah Jane and literally bumping in to Sheila a new friend from the Stampin Up classes I recently started going to 💖😀