It's Christmas!!!...........

.................well ok not literally!  It's just my way of telling you that I thought I'd show you a Christmas card!  This is one of the cards that we made last time I was at The Glitter Pot using this cute Merry Bear stamp from the Laurence Collection by StampAvie along with some Penny Black Christmas Stamps - Starlit (the tree), Winter Whites and Greens (snowflakes and wording) and Snow Scroll.

The background was created by stamping the tree and snowflakes using Moonlight White Brilliance ink and the embossed snowflakes were done using the Crafts Too Snowflakes embossing folder.  All of which are available from The Glitter Pot.

No prizes for guessing that I coloured in my main image using my trusty Copics.  (Sorry can't tell you the colours I used this time as it isn't fair to those that paid to attend this class!)

For anyone that is interested in doing a Christmas based Copic class I am back again at The Glitter Pot on Saturday 13th November where we will be doing this sort of blended colouring in the morning using some cute Christmas stamps and in the afternoon I'll be teaching my new technique using Copics called Resist Watercolour.  (Look out for my Snowman project coming up in the December issue of Craft Stamper which shows this technique.)  Click here for more details on the classes.

Then on Saturday 20th November I am at The Craft Barn using Copic markers again along with the new Sarah Kay and Penny Johnson Christmas stamps. (These Craft Barn classes will be limited to a maximum of 8 people so that I will be able to devote more time to each person so you will need to book quite soon to avoid disappointment as these classes tend to be quite popular!) Click here for more details on the classes.

Lastly but certainly not least my thanks to everyone who booked on my classes this Saturday (just gone) at The Craft Barn - it was lovely to see you all and I am so pleased that you enjoyed the classes! Hope to see you again soon!

Just Dropping By.......

Morning everyone.  Have spent the last couple of days trying to catch up with stuff and am getting there now.  I still have all my cards to load up from last weekend so until I've done that I thought I'd continue showing you the cards I did for The Glitter Pot's Spring Spectacular weekend.

This card was made from the Penny Black Make A Wish clear stamp set - the one that I ended up having to have myself!  I truly LOVE this set!  The mice were stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured using Copic markers.  The background paper is by Basic Grey and is from the Kioshi collection which is just gorgeous!  The swirls and wording came from my Funky Flourishes stamp sheet.  All of which can be purchased from The Glitter Pot.

Here's a closer look at the mice panel for you. The mice on the blackberry stalk is one stamp and then the mice floating down - one with a daisy head; the other with a dandelion head are separate stamps from the stamp sheet, which being clear allowed me to stamp them exactly where I wanted them. The soft background around the mice was also done using Copic markers and I do have a class coming up at The Glitter Pot showing you how to do this on Saturday 10th July.  In the morning we will be using this particular stamp sheet and I will show you how to colour these cute little mice and add a soft dotty  background to them (like this one) using the Copic markers and in the afternoon we will be using Copics again along with the Milton and Milly characters from Wild Rose Studio. Click here for more details.

Getting back to this card I also used the Clear Copic Spica pen on the dandelion heads but I don't think I got the light right for you to see the wonderful shimmer!

May Classes at The Glitter Pot

Morning everyone.  Just thought I'd quickly pop by to let you know that I will be at The Glitter Pot taking some classes on Saturday 8th May just incase anyone is interested!  Click here for more details!

At the moment I am busy preparing my cards for my classes there in a couple of weeks time - only they are not going to plan at the moment!!  Why is it some card come together soooo easily and others just won't look right no matter what you do?  Still I am determined to crack them so I guess I ought to get back to it!  Wish me luck...........

By the way if any of you have my Funky Flowers stamp sheet and want some inspiration they pop on over to The Craft Barn's blog and check out their post today - you may recognise a couple of the images!!

Some Class Dates and a New Challenge Blog

Hi everyone - I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend!  I know that it is the Harrogate show this weekend and I am sure that lots of you will be going to that and buying lots of lovely things!  Unfortunately it is too far away for me - although with the way I've been spending recently perhaps that is a good thing!

I have added some class dates to My Event Diary on my sidebar incase anyone is interested?  I will be taking a morning and an afternoon class at The Glitter Pot on 17th April.  You can click here to find out more about them.

I found out yesterday that my good friends at Sir Stampalot are soon going to be doing a new Challenge Blog!  I am really hoping that I can find the time to have a go at some of these challenges as I just know that the prizes will definitely be worth having as they stock some wonderful products!  That is of course if they don't mind me entering!! If you want to find out more about it click here and it will take you straight to their brand new Challenge Blog which is being run and orchestrated by the very talented Brenda!  I am really looking forward to the 1st April 2010 when it all kicks off!

Classes for March

Morning guys.  Yes!!  Today is the day!!!  No........................nothing to do with Valentines Day!!!  Today is SUNDAY which means.......................................it's Dancing On Ice day!!!  HURRAY!!  Ooooohhhhh!!  Can't wait!!  (Yes - don't worry - I know that I am very sad! Lol!)

Anyway what I did stop by to tell you is that I have just added some class dates for the month of March to My Event Diary on my sidebar.  On Saturday the 6th March I will be doing an all day class at The Glitter Pot showing how to make a pretty, floral concertina card which would make an ideal card for Mother's Day or a very pretty birthday card for a special person and on Saturday 20th March I am back at The Craft Barn taking classes with the 3C factor - Charismatic, Cute and coloured with Copics!!

Before the classes happen though I will be demoing at Stevenage on the 28th Feb for Stamp Addicts - I can hardly believe that this is only two weeks away now!  I have been working on some sample cards for this over this last week using some of the latest Denami stamps which as ever are fantastic.  If you are very good I may post up a few sneak peeks of some of these cards soon!

Meanwhile I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and are staying warm!!  It is bitterly cold here outside although the snow is beginning to melt away - we have just got a cold wind to replace the snow instead!  Still it is perfect card making weather as I have no yearnings to be out and about in this!!

A Day Of Rest!

Hi Guys.  Well with all the paperwork I had to catch up on and then with the preparing I needed to do for my classes at The Barn yesterday I never did get round to trying my hand at making any more things!  Today I am having a day of rest as I am shattered from my day teaching yesterday and then this afternoon I am off to Brighton to go and see Holiday On Ice.  We normally go and see this every year as it is such a good show - each year the theme is different and all the ice skaters in it are absolutely incredible!  It does mean that I won't be at home to watch Dancing On Ice though but I have already Sky +'d it so I can catch up with it later!  (I am soooooo sad as this is currently my highlight of the week!!  I can't wait for Sundays to come around!!)

Anyway back to crafting and I must say a huge thank you to all the ladies on my classes yesterday - without you the classes wouldn't go ahead so I really appreciate it when you spend your pennies to come along!  It was really lovely for me to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones and I hope that you all enjoyed it!  I know that I worked you hard but the cards you made looked stunning!  When I get my act together I will post up the cards that we made so that everyone can see what we got up to. 

I will be back at The Craft Barn again for another day of classes in March. Meanwhile I have some classes booked at The Glitter Pot in a couple of weeks time on Saturday 6th Feb.  In the morning we will be colouring with Distress Inkpads and then using these inkpads to create matching backgrounds. In the afternoon we will be making some Cute Cards - not giving anything away about this one just yet though as I currently have such a list of favourite cute images that I haven't made up my mind which ones to go with yet!  For more information on these classes just click here.

While I was at The Craft Barn I decided to make the most of my time there and did a little bit of shopping!  After being in the doldrums for the last few days I decided that perhaps I needed to buy a few more craft things to get my excitement back for crafting and I think this may have worked as I feel more positive today.  Also I was able to pick up my DT pack whilst I was there so I have lots of new things to play with!!  I'll take a photo of everything this afternoon so that I can upload it in the next few days and show you what I got!!

If you are still reading this I want to say a big THANK YOU to Nicola (winner of the Christmas Card Competition) as yesterday I received an absolutely beautiful card from her thanking me for the Colouring Techniques DVD.  Nicola your card is absolutely stunning and I was absolutely thrilled to receive it.  Would it be ok for me to post it up so everyone else can see it too?

I also have another thank you to make to Jo - I won't embarrass her and say what it is for but my sincere thanks Jo. What you did really cheered me up and was soooo thoughtful!

Well it seems that I have got verbal diarrohea today so I had better go and have something to eat before getting ready to head on over to Brighton.  I hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend.

Guess What's Arrived!!

Morning everyone.  Just look what turned up here yesterday afternoon!!  At last I have been able to see what the covers of my new DVD's look like and I must say that I think they look very pretty!  I have added each of them to my sidebar with details of how you can get hold of them.

In the next couple of days I will post up details on how to enter my Christmas Card Competition where the prize will be your choice of one of these DVD's so don't forget to check back!

I have added a new date to My Event Diary which is a day of classes at The Craft Barn on Saturday January 23rd 2010.  In the morning I'll be showing you how to create some beautiful backgrounds using my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet and in the afternoon I'll be taking you step-by-step on how to build up different arrangements using some of the different flowers and leaves elements from the Funky Flowers stamp sheet along with some basic masking.  So if you fancy joining me for either of these classes you know what to do!!

Meanwhile my last day of classes for this year will soon be approaching on Thursday 10th December 2009 at The Glitter Pot.  So if you fancy getting away from all the Christmas mayhem for a few hours it would be great to see you!

Talking of Glitter Pot classes here is a card we made from one of my last classes there using a Sarah Kay image along with some co-ordinating background papers which I embellished a little using a snowflake from the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  The Sarah Kay image was coloured using Copic Ciaos and I will be showing you how to get the best from these pens in my classes in December.  The greeting was taken from a Popcorn Bear Christmas stamp set.

Apple Pickin'

Here is the other card that we made in the afternoon class at The Glitter Pot. The little girl is another Sarah Kay stamp and she is just sooooooooo sweet!! I really like these images as the detail is amazing and they look sooooo dainty. Just like the last card she was stamped onto watercolour card using Brilliance ink and watercoloured using Tombow/Marvy pens and a water brush. The background paper is by MME and is the reverse side of the brown flowery paper that was on the other card I showed a couple of days ago.

**********

As you already know I had a lovely time on Saturday whilst I was demoing at The Glitter Pot. I was kept busy most of the day demoing the Copic Ciaos which I must say I do love and will load up some of the cards that I made using them as soon as I've sorted them out. Meanwhile if anyone is interested I am doing a day of classes at The Glitter Pot on Friday 30th October using these wonderful markers. In the morning class I'll be showing how to achieve a good blend using the markers and along with showing the benefits of the blender pen (which I could not live without!!) and in the afternoon we will be progressing to adding the Copic Spica pens to add some subtle shimmer to your colouring.

August Classes

Just a quick post today to let you know that I have a day of classes booked at The Glitter Pot on Saturday 22nd August. Because of other commitments this will be my last Saturday class there for some while. Both of these classes are going to be technique based so if any of you out there struggle with your colouring then these will be the classes for you!! In the morning I will be showing you how to colour with dye-based inkpads and in the afternoon we will be covering how to colour with watercolour pens (i.e. Marvy's/Tombows).

My classes on 24th July at The Glitter Pot are fast approaching now too and as far as I know there are still a few spaces left. For more details on any of the classes click here and this will take you to The Glitter Pot's website.

Right I'm off to my crafting mess.....................

New Classes Added

Morning everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I have another day of classes booked at The Glitter Pot on Friday 24th July. In the morning we will be stamping with some of my favourite flower stamps to create some pretty cards and in the afternoon I will be showing you my tips on how to make quick cards which still look stunning - even I have to do quick cards sometimes!! So if you fancy either of these classes do book on as it would be great to see you.

A bit later on today I'll be announcing the winner of the blog candy.................

Classes

Morning everyone. Well at last I can breathe again! I am glad to announce that finally I was able to use that cover mount stamp in a way that I was satisfied with! (I just don't know what it is with me and my own designs. I don't get this problem with other stamps - just mine!) So I just have the text to do for these now and they can be sent on their merry way.

Next Saturday I am teaching all day at The Glitter Pot - the cards for this are already done, I just need to get on with typing up some project sheets which I will probably do today. These classes are full up but I am back at The Glitter Pot again on Sat 20th June if anyone is interested. In the morning we will be combining stamping along with some backgrounds created with cuttlebug embossing folders and core-dinations cardstock and in the afternoon I will be showing how to double emboss in two different ways using cuttlebug embossing folders combined with some stamped foreground images. So if anyone fancies a day of cuttlebugging do book on! For more information on the classes click here.

Also Sarah (from Stamp Addicts) and I have now decided to base my workshop at Stamp Addicts on Friday 29th May at 3pm on the new Judikins girl stamp sheets so if any of you fancy a couple of hours of girl power you know what to do! Click here for information on how to book on.

Right I'm off to go and do some more typing!