Things have been a little (!) hectic lately but finding this on YouTube made me stop for a minute! :

...At this time in two weeks I will probably be climbing the walls with excitement 'cos I'll be getting ready to go & see Spandau live again (** years on!) who'd have thought! lol (i'll take the video down soon as I realise not everyone is a fan.... lol)(but come on - how could you not be! lol)

Right must go and do something more constructive... I'm going to be at Card Inspirations on Friday to teach a class and Saturday to demo the Cuttlebug..... 'I love my Cuttlebug'! I say that a lot -its such a great little machine! maybe I should get a t-shirt with that printed on! lol

Taking the time...

... spent yesterday at PaperArtsy HQ getting ready for the ArtsyCrafts weekends coming up in October - can't believe its October tomorrow btw!!

While Mr PaperArtsy -Mark -was busy pressing rubber and Milo the cat was busy playing with a mouse (!), Leandra, Lynne and I were busy creating with the great new stamps they've just released and others coming up v soon.

I picked up some of the new stamps while I was there and this is what I've created so far - just playing around (when I probably should've been doing something else!) but couldn't resist a quick play - this is a sketchbook page .... thinking it through .... so the ideas are still 'in progress'...
I think these new 'clocks' stamps are going to be really good for mens cards.... or for pretty much everything me thinks! lol

stamped the same image several times on to a panel (repeated with different images), cut them up and then tiled them..... really like this one - I like the random that becomes 'neat' 'structured' ... will look really nice mounted onto black with some silver accents...

great weekend...

such a nice weekend!!

Village Green in Chalkwell Park was great - really nice atmosphere, loads of different thing going on - artists and craftspeople selling all manner of work, musicians playing (including Billy Bragg - great!), big inflatable screen in the lower field ready for a film in the evening - it was really great - can't wait to go again next year (when, according to the dh I should have a stall.. . he'll even man it for me apparently!)(bless).

I bought the above panel - gorgeous! The detail on it (screen print, machine embroidery, applique) is beautiful.

And the organisers even decorated the park... creating chandeliers from recycled plastic bottles and of course there was the bunting - the team are still sewing but they are well on track to beat the record. The park looked soooooo pretty with the bunting hanging across the main walk way.

(I couldn't find my 5 in amongst the hanging ones but I've been assured that they are sewn on! probably in that big reel above! yay! I'll have to wait until its hung down the Pier to see them.....)

Saturday night was a fantastic meal with friends - haven't laughed so hard, for so long and got home so late in a long time.

Sunday was spent at AllyPally for the Stamping and Scrapbooking show. Great to see all the creative goodies in one place - so much to look and buy! I didn't take any photos - too busy shopping and talking! lol
Leandra and Lin were demo'ing like mad - with some great new products - head over to their blogs for more info and photos...

It was kn*ckering but I'm really glad I went. Nice to get to see people and catch up, good to see what's out there, and to visit shops that I might not have found by just wandering around on the internet.

While R & I were in the show the dh's took the kiddies to the park, and E is officially the cutest 2 year old around - and yesterday after eating a big pink ice lolly possibly the stickiest one too! lol

aaaanyhoo: here's what I came home with, and I've got some lovely Lavinia stamps coming in the post:

I reeeeeaaaaally want to stay at home and play with all that loveliness but I have to go to work! ho hum Can't wait to play - especially with those little 6x6 templates (stencils) - Oh who am I kidding I can't single just those out - I want to play with it ALL! NOW! roflmao!

storage solution and my new favourite punch...

Punches - I had quite a few years ago then stopped using them (sold them) - tastes change don't they - and now I'm revisiting them and there are some great new ones around.. sometimes its not practical to get out the trusty die cut machine for just a few shapes... aaaanyhoo I've been making bits and pieces to go on cards/ scrapbook pages and to use in classes and I've just bought this one and this is what I made:

Really simple and I made them with just what was in the house - will def' make more with patterned/ textured papers and a touch of shading around the edges - loads of possibilities - also the shape would look good as part of a snowflake don't you think?
(The punch is called Blink-Blink, available from Card Inspirations)

Gotta love the nestabilities! (my collection is growing...) and I've been storing them in magnet sheet (xyron refill) lined cd cases... and this worked fine for a while but once I'd got more than ten sets the pile of cd cases in my cuttlebug box was becoming a bit of a pain and so I bought a cd case and have stored them all in there instead - on bits of card with a magent strip across the centre to stop them sliding out... I was going to make a holder but buying this was so much easier! lol and now all my sets are in there and I can flip through much more easily to get to the ones I want - and they're much easier/safer to transport this way too (and take up less space!)

PA hat off, BF hat on..

..its the 16th so its time for another project from me for Banana Frog. Head on over to the blog to see more of this: which seems to have a colour scheme inspired by this fabulous sunset seen from our bedroom window the other evening:

M&S

I do love M&S, its just such a reliable place to shop and return things - though FYI: they've reduced their returns deadline from 90 days to 35 - which I only found out yesterday when I tried to return something! but bless them : M&S being M&S they gave me my refund (in way of a credit note) which I then promptly spent half of before even leaving the shop on this:

How lush a colour is that! Its so on trend colourwise (get me!) and its quite large - I can get my 25x25cm sketchbook (with all the other normal 'essentials') in it with plenty of room to spare! Love it... and it also came in a v nice ashes grey colour.... its going to look v nice with my green shoes..... oooh colour!! (the bag and shoes together are a bit Adirondack like Wild Plum and Lettuce.. lol)

just wandering around the www ....

... and via the 'simply handmade' blog I found these here. How great are these?! Covered in fabrics. You'd definitely know it was your suitcase as it came along the airport carousel with several hundered black/brown identical suitcases!

I altered my suitcase a few years back, not quite to the above extent, when I was going through a 'I've got a spray can and some lace and I'm not afraid to use them' phase...

No, obviously the fact that my suitcase is bright turquoise didn't make it identifiable enough for me! The lace stripe goes down both sides, and yes, they match! Well they had to didn't they!
M declined my offer of altering his. No fun - I wasn't going to put lace on his, or flowers... I was thinking maybe a big bar code or some cogs/wheels/clocks...... where's his sense of adventure! lol
(and btw for the record, that carpet is not mine! nice as it is...))

PA DT hat on again.....

Back in August I teased you with this, well if you go over the the PaperArtsy blog you will see what it turned into!
Its a day full of Design Team Jo's - and what a clever creative trio we are - even if I do say so myself!
lol

... and if you leave a comment on the blog you get the chance to win stuff - go on over and take a look... its all very christmassy....

ho ho ho

LSNED

Here are some quick shots of my LSNED book. I've made it (6x6in) out of my stash - I made a deliberate decision to only use paper and embellishments that are in my stash- not buying anything new, nothing! I'm using October Afternoon paper that I've had for a while and, 'cos I like it so much, was putting off using....... how daft is that?! (the old 'but if I use it I won't have it anymore' scenario)
It also helps when making a book like this to use a set of papers -makes creating a co-ordinated book soooo much easier! I don't do it a lot but projects do come together 'easier'.....

So, my plan for my book is to put the lesson, briefly, on the front of the page and then any more info, thoughts, explanations on the flip side....

If you're wondering why page 9 is so blank- 'cos it was my wedding anniversary and my dh is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over the other side of the country! lol so what I learnt that day is that its cr*p when that happens! lol

Shimelle's class - Learn Something New Every Day

I'm really enjoying this class ... running through September...make a page a day about what you learnt - however big, small, obvious, trivial or even re-learnt... Its always good to learn something new...

So, the course started at the beginning of the month and I was just rereading the prompts that Shimelle provides and I laughed/spluttered when re-read this : the last sentence of the first prompt:

'..... don't feel that you're going to get started this morning and have your page for the 1st of September done and dusted by 8am today... unless perhaps you've had a very eventful morning!'

Oh Shimelle you have no idea how eventful my day was! : by 9.30am that day (after I'd waved the firemen goodbye!)(see this post) I could quite happily have created my page and gone back to bed to wait under the duvet for the next day to arrive! roflmao

Classes at Card Inspirations

Here are sneak peaks of what I've got planned for classes at CI, see the site for details.
The tutors at the shop have got some great classes planned so come along - we'd love to see you! We have some christmas classes and some not-christmas classes* - definitely something for everyone!

* 'cos there are some super organised crafters out there who have already made all their christmas cards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fyi I am not one of them lol


Stencils & Magenta Christmas

Joyeux Noel & Embellishments

Cuttlebug Creative

Wearing my PaperArtsy hat...

... today I'm wearing my PaperArtsy design team hat.
Me and the other PA DT members have been busy with Christmas, and over on the blog PA are having their own '12 days of christmas' where the team have produced some lovely pieces using the ever lovelier new PA christmas stamps - go check out the blog

Above is a sneak peek of my project - go to the blog for more details. Also see what everyone else has done - the pieces will definitely get you in the christmas mood!
is it too early for a glass of mulled wine......

ho ho ho

(and if you look hard enough you'll see I'm still blushing about what was written about me :o) flattery will get you everywhere - so I'll be back on Thursday with another project! lol)

...by 9am yesterday morning.....

... I had phoned 999, tackled the fire, listened to the sirens as the appliance arrived, greeted 6 firemen and resisted the urge to have a VERY stiff drink!

Everyone needs to get a fire extinguisher and, more importantly, know how to use it.

I've signed up for Shimelle's 'learn something new everyday' class - yesterday's entry is going to be a goody don't you think!

Today I learnt how to tackle a fire while phoning 999!

But, I also learnt that when you are there in the moment its not as easy as you think! NOW, I realise I should have grabbed a towel and smothered the fire while Sarah next door was throwing water at it - she was a star!

Thank goodness we were both in - look how close it was to the house! shudder... could have been much worse if we hadn't been in. shudder.

I don't like to think too much about the 'what ifs....'