Ally Pally Spring 2012

This is our stand at Ally Pally last weekend just before the show opened. I don't think we would have got it finished in time had it not been for all the help we had from two of our DT, Gillian & Nicky, who came along on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning when they could have been off enjoying themselves.

I so wish we had stopped to take some photos of the outside of the building and the fantastic views over the city, but we had so many stamp plates to unpack and hang, panic took over!

This turned out to be the last outing of our pre 2012 Hero Arts designs and I hope all the ladies who bought them have great fun with their bargains - I've now got wall space in the store for new stamps so a win win all round.

This was a rare sighting - you didn't really think I would let them take my photo did you! - of me at the demo desk as for the first time I was able to go shopping at a show.....for stamps. Well, what else would I be buying :0)

We were very fortunate to have Nicky demonstrating Pan Pastels so I had a lovely weekend chatting to customers old and new, and despite what the Headmaster says the till was only out by 30p at the end of the show proving I can multitask.

We had a great time in the wonderful company of Gillian & Nicky, we met lots of people whom we had only previously 'met' online so, roll on September when we hope to be back on the same spot but perhaps with a smidge more space.

On Wednesday we are off to the Stitch and Creative Craft show at the royal Bath & West showground at Shepton Mallet so if you are down that way do drop by stand A50 and say hello xx

Steampunk Shoes & Mechanical Handbags from Creative Expressions

Last Saturday we had some fun with these designs from Sam Poole combined with black and frosted Shrink Plastic, Aluminium and tools from Walnut Hollow, StazOn inks in Jet Black and Opaque White, a touch of Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Ink in Silver Sheen, Alcohol Inks and a bit of ribbon.

Just a very quick post as busy packing for Ally Pally.

We will be on Stand 55A - hope to see you there xx

Woodland Dreams from Chocolate Baroque

When we exhibited at Malvern last month one of the stamp plates I used in my demo was Woodland Dreams from Chocolate Baroque. After the show, when I created display board and workshop samples from my demo bits, it brought home to me what a versatile plate this is, and I didn't even use the large square feature stamp!

I was using home made masks cut from Bazzill Plastic Paper with Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door in these samples ....

....with a little added Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Ink in Marigold Burst. The other samples were all made using Distress Inks in Crushed Olive and Tumbled Glass....

a little touch of Glitter, courtesy of the lovely ladies from Glitter Perfect (we have their fabby glue in store now BTW!)....

....and a touch of Cosmic Shimmer Drawing ink in Silver Sheen to finish with.

Different shadings were achieved simply by varying the order in which I applied the Distress Inks. The punched edges were done with one of the new Tonic Studios Border Punches which will slip through 300gsm cardstock effortlessly thanks to their geared action.

These stamps featured in a recent Take One Stamp workshop at Snazzys, and if this has whetted your appetite for a similar workshop - I only ever teach projects once so there is always something new to try - you can pop over and inspect the next three months' workshop schedules here.

That's all for now, thanks for looking and have a very Happy Easter xx