Ally Pally...

...was packed!  I arrived at at 9.30am and sat and had a coffee, and the queue was right the way across the palm court entrance hall and round the side corridor!  I have never seen it that busy before.  I waited until the queue had gone down before going in to the hall, and it was heaving.  Usually for the first hour or so you can move around the stands a bit, but not this time.  So much for the recession!  Anyway, spent waaay too much, as usual. Here is my haul .

I stopped by the LB Crafts stall and saw the amazing Julia Roberts lookalike Linda E and the fantastic l!n Brown doing amazing demos (and spent some money).  Linda was talking to Cardarian.  How amazing is that?  WOYWW is everywhere!

Jennie's Tag

I then wandered over to The Artistic Stamper stand and watched Jennie doing some amazing things with the melt pot.  She made a tag which she gave me :)  The leaf shape was die cut from some fab plastic stuff that isn't acetate which she dipped in the UTEE and stamped then heated slightly with a heat tool which made it pliable enough to bend in to shape which is kept when it cooled... amazing or what!! So I had to have some of that, plus some of the new stamps.... I actually love this background stamp here.... should have got that one too.  Guess I'll have to do some online shopping!  I managed to spend over £25 (what a suprise) so I got one of their fab grunge roses too

Jennie's Grunge Rose

Isn't it beautiful.  This one was made by Jennie too.   I bumped in to Alison watching Hels doing make and takes, but the hall was so crowded we didn't get a chance to do much other than wave and say hello!  Later on I did pop back to the stand (and spent some more money) and it was a bit quieter then so I did one of the make and takes

Make & Take with Hels

So not only did I get to shop, but I got inky and messy too! What more could you want?!

Visited quite a few other stands too (Scrap Revolution, Art From The Heart - Dyan looked great and was doing amazing art journal pages - Lavinia Stamps to name but a few).  There was also a Decopatch stand there which I hadn't seen at Ally Pally before, which was useful as I was thinking about using some decopatch papers on a couple of things.

Lin's Tag

I wandered back over to the LB Crafts stand and, while Linda E skived off for a while, poor l!n was left alone demoing her little heart out.  She made me this fabulous creation - isn't it stunning? I also got my mucky paws on one of the Paper Artsy button badges too :) I bumped in to Helen while I was watching the demo and we had a brief chat... she was laden with bags of stash as usual!

I was spent out by this time, and a bit washed out too - got the remains of some nasty throat lurgy hanging around - so I headed off to the bus and made my way home to stroke my new stash :)

Had a great time.  The thing I love most about Ally Pally is the inspiration.  Watching the demos and seeing the samples really gets the ideas buzzing and makes you think of new ways to use your stash.

Off now to stroke my stash some more!

WOYWW 22nd Sept

Wednesday again, so time to hop on over to Julia's Blog log in and wander round the desks of the creative blogosphere.

Usual here, bit tidier than normal I think!  Some brilliance inks I've been playing with, and a few shrink plastic charms I have made, plus a couple of boxes for altering that have had a coat of gesso (sorry Doone!) and are now drying..... not sure what the next step is yet, still thinking about that!  Yes, I know the tag on my easel is upside down... it was put there in a hurry in an effort to tidy up a bit for company!

 

So.... what is this that sits behind me at the foot of my bed?  Well, it used to be a toy box when the kids were small and now.........

It has MY toys in it.  Lots of stuff to alter... should keep me busy for a while LOL!

Happy Wednesday everyone.

A bit of a make-over

I decided to give my blog a make-over.  I loved the original template but as it was pre-designed it was a bit limiting in what I could do with it.  So I played around for a while, then I found a fabulous site Blogger Sentral which has all kinds of amazing tips and tricks to customize your blog.  After browsing around Blogger Sentral for a while, I realised I wanted an image for my header, so I made a tag.

The more observant among you may realise this is slightly different to the actual header up there.  This is because I stamped the corn advert on to it afterwards!  I coloured a tag with Wild Honey DI which I then splashed with some water to give some interest.  I then played with my Paper Artsy HP1009 plate and stamped the flower head and the birdies in the grass also in wild honey.  I then stamped the flower head again on some card colourd with wild honey and spritzed with gold shimmer mist with Coffee archival.  I then cut out the flowers and layered them on to the tag.  I finished off with some Crafty Individuals birds then photographed it for the blog header.  I then added the Shepard Corn stamp and now I am entering it to the Sunday Stampers challenge week 121.  The theme is movies, so this is Children of the Corn... or maybe The Birds, I'll let Hels decide, lol

WOYWW - Flotsam and Jetsam

If you want to know why I am showing my very messy desk, hop on over to our fearless leader Julia's blog to join the WOYWW club.
So, here is the debris left from my crafting.  The strange lady with the giant flower on her head was going to go on my wall hanging thingy from the last post, but I decided against her in the end, so back to the "interesting images and other stuff" box... when I get around to tidying away that is.  Not sure why I have 3 pairs of scissors out, nor what I was planning on doing with the string.  Anway, there's all sorts of stuff laying about, chipboard letters, packets of beads, unmounted rubber stamps waiting to be mounted (yuck! hate that job), paints, glues, tissue tape, a paper stump, a file... it's a bit like the generation game, lol.  There's also a reel of invisible thread at the back there - though you may not be able to see that (ha-ha!).
Happy Wednesday everybody

Steampunk?

Not sure what qualifies as steampunk to be honest.  I know what steampunk literature is, but not really clear in terms of artwork.
Anyway, this was inspired by l!n's post here (I know, it doesn't look much like it, but then I'm not in her league!) I loved it, but didn't have any of the materials, so I used a large chip shape I had, and the Tim masks I did have and started from there.  The bird and flowers at the bottom are from some napkins I bought at The Craft Barn on Saturday, the colours matched perfectly so I layered up some images from one of those, and I used some tissue tape at the top... first time I've used that and I am in love!!  Because I had used the timeworks masks, the sprocket gears and game spinners fitted perfectly.  A couple of the images from the Steampunk Debutante stack matched with the colour scheme (and the sprocket gear theme), and the image of the strange woman hugging the tree is from a sheet of vintage images I found in my stash (another drunken shopping spree I guess!)
I'm quite pleased with it, whatever it is anyway.
So... who managed to get their Tim tickets then?

Purple Haze

Mr Blogger has not been playing nicely lately!  For the past couple of days he has been telling me "service unavailable" whenever I try to get to my dashboard or when I try to comment on anyone elses blog.  He seems to have let me get to my dashboard today on my third attempt, so maybe this post will appear!
Went to The Craft Barn Extravaganza yesterday and blew lots of dosh (I really shouldn't be let anywhere near stash with money in my purse!).  One of the things I bought was a Spellbinder butterfly die which you can see here.  After watching the demo for Viva Papersoft I had to have some, so got a couple of colours as well as a paper pen and applicators.  I played with those earlier and made this card... yes, another card!

I've also used some Inca Gold on this card, which was another purchase yesterday (got three pots). I wish they would sell it in smaller pots because it goes a long way and there are so many gorgeous colours that it would be easier on the old bank balance if the pots were half the size at least!
I had a list, which I stuck to in so far as I bought what was on the list... but then I made a few impulse purchases as well, including the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante paper pad... well how could I resist?  I had Hot Pick 1006 on my list, but I got 1009 instead, because I wanted that too and that one was ready mounted whereas the 1006 was only in unmounted and I hate, loathe and detest mounting stamps!
I bumped into Alison watching Beatrice demoing Katzelcraft stamps, and had a lovely chat with Helen over a cup of tea.  Jo Firth Young was demoing the Letterpress and was suprising unjetlagged after her trip to New York. Was a great day, despite the weather, although my bank manager is probably not of the same opinion!
Anyway, the big news of the week/year/century is obviously that Tim Holtz is coming to teach a class in the UK, courtesy of Artsy Crafts.  Big dilema for me.  Apart from the fact that paying for this now is nigh on impossible, although I could find the dosh at a pinch, if I did go to the event in February then that would be it for the year in terms of retreats, so I wouldn't be able to do a full Artsy Crafts weekend as well.  Now, I am in awe of Tim Holtz and his techniques but.... do I sacrifice a full weekend of Lin and Leandra and their amazing team for 4 hours worth of Tim?  Having given it a lot of thought, I had to consider is Tim a better teacher than Lin or Leandra.  In my opinion, not really.  He may be as good, but not better.  Having attended Artsy Crafts events and seen lots of videos and step-by-steps on the web of Tim's techniques, I think Lin and Leandra can do what he does (though maybe not the skiing down mountains, saving the world type stuff that Linda E attributes to him, lol).  I also love his stamps and his projects are amazing but... I also love Leandra's stamps and both Lin and Leandra produce amazing projects too.  At the end of the day, I think Lin and Leandra's stuff has the edge for me.  Again, this is just my opinion and my personal taste, but I prefer the stuff that l!n and THE Leandra Franiche produce over the stuff by Tim ...... don't shoot me!!  So, while I congratulate Lin and Leandra on the amazing coup of getting Tim over here to teach a class, and I am sure lots of crafters here in the UK thank them from the bottom of their hearts, I am going to save my pennies for the amazing Artsy Crafts weekend in May and pass on Sir Tim of Holtz.... which I am sure won't have the slightest impact on him, lol, and I hope everyone who manages to get a ticket  to the February events has an amazing time (I'm sure you will). I, on the other hand, will look forward to an equally amazing time in May :)  Good luck for everyone at 8pm tomorrow when the tickets go up for grabs!!

It's Wednesday

so it's time for WOYWW.  For the uninitiated, get over to Julia's Blog and join in the weekly blog hop around the craft desks of the universe!

I managed to miss last Wednesday... I think the whole week went missing somewhere!  Anyway, here is my very messy desk this week

Lots of assorted bits and bobs, and a page I am working on from my postage stamp "tag" book.  I only have one more to do after this.. woohoo!

Nothing else to report here.  Long and horrible week at work (and we're only at the half way post!), my herniated disk is giving me hell, but on the bright side I am looking forward to the Craft Barn Extravaganza on the weekend :)

Hope all you WOYWWers are well.  Happy Wednesday everyone.

Unfinished Symphony

My mojo has been away on holiday for a couple of weeks :( 
This morning I was browsing around loooking for inspiration and over on Hels Blog the Sunday Stamper's challenge this week is "everything".
Well, I am the proud owner of a whole two (count them, an entire two, not just one, but two) sets of Studio 490 stamps. 
Now I could have bought one of the actual acrylic binder thingies to keep them in, but I thought I would save my pennies to hopefully increase my collection.  Instead, I decided to go for my fave material for such things... an empty cereal packet, lol. I cut the card to the same shape as the stamp backing and gave it a coat of gesso.  Once the gesso was dry I set to giving the whole thing a grungy, art journaly sort of background with some spray inks, sequin waste, acrylic paint and stampd the background from Art-fully Said.  The background still needed something, so I used some of t!m's stamps along the bottom.  I then turned to my other set  - Make Mine Mini Art, and stamped some of the flowers and the butterfly onto grungeboard and DIed them, then stamped some of the sentiments from Art-fully Said.  The rather large empty space at the top will be filled with more Wendy Vecchi art when I get my mucky paws on more of her stamp sets.

So this now hangs on my rail above my desk with my whole two Studio 490 sets inside. 
Ok, so it's not quite finished, and won't be until I get more Studio 490 stamps, but in the meantime it is my entry for the Sunday Stamper's Challenge as it uses everything Wendy Vecchi that I own.