Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Hi everyone Brrrr! I swear its even colder & have you heard what they think the temperatures are going to be over the next couple of days!!   Whilst having a poke around the Internet recently about everything & nothing I came across the following rather cute poem.  Now seems the right time to include it; Snowman by William Cline In a yard a snowman will stand A little boy will take his hand They'll stand & talk for a little while On the snowman's face there's a happy smile As I look at the child's face I know there's nothing can take the place Of a snowman on a winter day As all the children run & play I think of years that have travelled by Since I looked towards the sky And watch the snowflakes tumble down To make a white blanket o'er the ground We all seem to grow up fast And look to years that have raced past When we were filled with that wonderful joy Like the happiness I see in that little boy Next year when the snow comes down Ther...

Hi everyone I do hope you have managed to keep warm over the weekend & avoided any mishaps on the icy roads. Here in Hawarden we didn't get any more snow but I believe it has been promised. I managed to do some card making over this weekend - I got the wedding anniversary card done - its for Bobs daughter who lives in the States.  Then I remembered I had in a moment of madness just after coming home from hospital - bought a package from Create & Craft for some Christmas Cards.  It was a kit for 10 cards with decoupage with boxes, plus there were some vellum overlays.  So I have put the 10 cards together with one layer of decoupage.  I am going to turn the vellum overlays into wraps around base cards, then I have some decoupage left which I am hoping I will be able to make some more cards from if I use it sensibly.  Sensibly - I am not sure that's the word - but can't think of another one more suitable.  I haven't taken photos yet....

Hi everyone I hope you are all wrapped up warm & if you have to go out you are taking it very carefully, whether in the car or on foot.  My advice is .......................... That's fun isn't it!  I had a very nice evening yesterday - my brother was over from the Isle of Man.  It was a bit of a flying visit, he arrived about 4:30pm - a bit later we went out for a meal, then came home chatted until quite late.  This morning he left about 10:00 am to go about his visiting throughout the UK.  He had phoned home before leaving here to find it had snowed on the IOM, which he found amusing then within about 45 minutes it had started here.  But it was only a little flurry -  that is until later. The meal we had was down at the fairly new Indian Restaurant in Queensferry called "Gandhi" - the food was excellent - the 3 of us chose the special offer menu - 2 course for £6-95 - it was wonderful & the portions & quality were certainly not compromi...

Hi everyone Sorry I didn't get to blog yesterday but I had a meeting with my HSNW festival colleagues & I for some reason had thought it was going to be a short meeting.  But it wasn't it - it was the meeting to sort out the retailers for the 2011 festivals - so it took most of the day.  When I got in I was absolutely whacked - so I am afraid the blog didn't get a look in. So here I am now a little more revived, although I had a workshop this morning with 7 people which is a little more than we usually have.  We worked with using ink pads rather than stamps - it was a good morning - a little Tim Holtz style!! So here are the photos from Mold II Christmas evening - I took a few more of Wendy's boards & one of the easel card that she made which was the one I missed last time.  More chat tomorrow - hope you are all well.  Oh, by the way - my friend Caroline is back home - they were worried she had had a PE (like me) but she hadn't & her heart ...

Good evening everyone Well!  I have just got back home after the Mold II Christmas meeting which was a most enjoyable evening & included another evening of great demonstrations by Wendy of Card-io, & of course rounded off with a drink & some mince-pies.  Oh yes, I did weaken & buy some stamps - this time some rather nice word stamps. We had a slight problem at the start as the caretaker had not turned up to open the hall for us.  So I started at the top of the list of numbers attached to the door to find out why.  In the end it was the other caretaker & his wife who jumped in their car & came down & opened up for us.  Evidently this had happened to Mold II before & it had happened to Mold back in October. I will be ringing the hall tomorrow morning not only to complain but to have our thanks passed on to the couple who did come out - it wasn't very warm stood around outside.  He was there when we finished s...

Hi everyone Today I have been busy making sure I have everything ready for tomorrow nights Mold II meeting - the last for them for 2010.  Also we have the visit from Wendy & Martin of Card-io. I also had to finish a couple of the Christmas cards for tomorrow as I had miscounted the number needed.  Something struck me that I am pretty sure I haven't mentioned before.  When I first started on the cards & was thinking about the best medium to use to colour the images I started looking in the little set of drawers on my desk.  In them I found 4 little jars of Radiant Pearls - 2 of them just ideal for Christmas.  So returning to my statement when I first started this sort out - find it, use it - I used them.  Today I looked at the empty unit from my sort out at the weekend to find it was not completely empty - right at the back were 2 jars of Pearl-Ex powders.  A beautiful copper colour & an Interference colour.  So when making car...

Good evening ladies Ooh I had better say good evening to Gareth too, as it appears he still pops in from time to time & reads the blog.  He mentioned something about it to Bob yesterday whilst they were watching the rugby. Well, today I have done some more sorting.  Yes there is still boxes & cupboards to go through.  All sorts of things have been found - some lost & thought gone forever, some that have just been hoarded for no particular reason.  When I first started stamping seriously I kept stamps in seed trays, then there were too many to do that- - so I bought some of the card drawer units you can get.  They come flat packed & have 3 or 4 drawers in them.  Eventually of course I needed different storage but that's another story.  The old drawers were kept in the spare bedroom & over time had had things stuffed in the drawers any old way.  Also on top of the drawers I had some card magazine file holders - there were 3 of...

Good morning ladies & welcome to a rather belated Friday morning.  Te he Well, finally the photos from Thursdays meeting.  There are two photos of Wendy doing her demonstration (& I apologise that taking photos when people are talking quite often freezes faces in strange poses).  Then there are two photos of the three demonstration cards Wendy made for us - not sure how I didn't manage to take the third one.  Probably I was busy taking photos of two of the display boards Wendy & Martin had brought with them.  Sorry that there is a bit of a shine back it's due to the lighting in the room & the cellophane covering.  Isn't that tree absolutely lovely ........... & she had sold out of them.  Shame! I hope to do some crafting today - if I do - look for more photos - perhaps tomorrow rather than later today. Here's the slide show; Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Oops! Where did this day go. This morning I shot off earlyish to the shops to get various plastic crate type boxes & more of those flat pack boxes to continue with the next stage of my "sorting".  On the way to the shop I was going to I remembered the new Morrisons that had opened.  Well! as I was passing I thought I would take a look.  It's very nice.  I also found several Christmas Stocking goodies - so that was good.  Then from there continued my journey to the shop for the boxes. By then it was time for some lunch - i don't dash from one thing to another at the moment - so some time had passed. When I got home I had my lunch then worked on a little admin stuff I had to do related to a function I had been to yesterday lunch time.  On finishing that I had to pop a few roads away to hand the money over to the group treasurer. Timings were good - everything was on plan - well except for the fact that I had originally planned to put th...

Hello ladies Well tonight saw the last meeting for 2010 of the Mold Club & we had a really good turnout. As the other two clubs will be having, tonight was our visit from Wendy & Martin of Card-io who brought their daughter Amber along with them as well. Wendy gave us several brilliant demonstrations - I love those little stamps - little stamps with big hearts - it is amazing just how much they can be used & you don't have to necessarily make little cards.  Putting some thought into it & you will find that quiet large cards can be created.  Wendy has some lovely decorative, or perhaps I mean style, ideas which I am sure we are going to see appearing in peoples cards now. I hope that description whets the appetite of the other 2 clubs for when they have their visit. I took some pictures of Wendy at work & of some of her samples which I will put on the blog - but perhaps you will forgive me if I don't do that until the morning.  I have to a...

Good evening I was about to retire for the evening when I remembered I hadn't blogged today - so here I am with a quick chat. I actually did some stamping today.  I made a few more toppers for Christmas Cards for club members & friends. I also finished my lucky dip Christmas Card for the Mold Club meeting tomorrow evening - completely stamped.  So for that reason I cannot show you pictures til later. I am looking forward to the meeting tomorrow night as it is the first one to have Wendy & Martin from Card-io visiting.  With their permission I will be taking some photographs which will appear on tomorrow nights blog. It has been a particularly unpleasant day today weather wise I hope you all managed to stay reasonably dry. More tomorrow.  Night night.

Hi everyone Today has been a paperwork day of the other kind. The first set is the paperwork for HSNW - we hold an AGM at our January meeting.  Because the club is run by a committee there have to be nominations & possibly ballots & I create all that paperwork.  The nominations have been received so I  needed to collate them & prepare the ballot forms.  Although the meeting is not until January if I do it now it is done & filed away ready.  Last night was our last meeting & we traditionally have a "party" - one of the members makes us a beautiful buffet - we then have a quiz sometimes two & someone will show the ladies how to make something quick & simple.  It was a very pleasant evening. I think we should have a quiz sometime too at our clubs - but as we have a retailer visiting for our last meeting perhaps I will do a New Year quiz. Its nothing difficult & is great fun & there is always a prize for the wi...

Hi everyone Oooh, what a cold morning it was & I think the evening is going to be the same!  I do believe winter is virtually here. I have taken some pictures of the paper & pyramage cutouts for the cards for Bob's company that I was chatting about yesterday, & I think I have decided on a stepper style card after all.  But as I will be putting it all together tomorrow - who knows what I will change my mind to. Here they are; Also I had a play with one of those left over aperture pieces to see how I could use them.  I have taken a photo of that too - but it is lacking something - I think I should have coloured the edges of the card to go with the coloured mount.  I might be able to add that in - or I may just leave that one as it is.  I seem to have rather a large collection of those fabric flowers so I thought that they might be good for the toppers.  I will review the situation on that card tomorrow with a fresh mind and see where I go...

Hello again ladies I didn't get to blog later yesterday after all - I had such plans for the day but they didn't quite work out. After that very quick blog pointing you to a fun blog I went down to Sealand Shopping Centre.  It was mainly to go to Tesco Home Store or PC World for ink cartridges for my printer.  After parking near Hobbycraft - which I managed to avoid entering - I popped into TK-Max (is that right?) - for a look round.  Whilst there I found a couple of little things for Christmas & Christmas Stocking presents.  Then I popped over to Tesco & got my cartridges, taking a slow walk round as I was already feeling the effort of walking around the shops.  When I got back home I couldn't believe how tired I was. The all day workshop last Saturday hadn't made me feel so tired. I had plans to continue making cards but was a bit concerned that I would spoil them - so decided to do something else.  It was a big Rugby day & Gareth had...

At the bottom of yesterdays post there is a question from Jo.  I am not sure which part Jo can't see - so I have generally checked everything out. I have been back in on my posting & the link to the fun blog works - where it says "click here". If it is the lady's craft blog that hasn't been found - here is the direct link  .......... http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/ (you will have to excuse the f word in her blog name - but if you go to the site you will see it is quite innocent)  ......... b ut the link on the fun blog was a picture of some coloured blocks way way down on the right hand side. I have since found that on the fun blog the link to kindness day fails, but it works from the above blog. Sorry there were problems - please do pop in on both blogs - & of course let me know if there are still problems, although as soon as I have posted this blog I will check out all links. Craftier news later.

Good morning all.  I was just having my breakfast snoop around the blogs & challenge sites & from one of them there was a link to a fun blog that I was visiting quite regularly but haven't been to for a while.  So due to the heading under the link I went for a nose. I don't know yet  - as I haven't read it all - as to whether it is the idea of the blogger or if it is a greater idea than that.  Whichever I think it is a good idea. The blog is really cute - I won't describe it here - just pop along & take a look.  The actual blogger also has a blog that is about crafts, there should be a link to her site on this one.  Go have a look & get yourself a big warm smile.  Click here. I will be back later.  Ooh don't forget to look at the craft blog as well - the lady is always on the look for bargains - not always stamp related - but good to watch.  There is a link to her blog down the right-hand side.  It's ...

Good evening all Well! I said I wanted to be creative today & I have been.  I made the masculine card for next week & I am sorry but I put it in the envelope & sealed it without photographing it.  I didn't do a faux book, or a faux card in an envelope - I used a decoupage sheet that I bought some time ago.  It consisted of a box/window aperture style card.  In the window was a picture of a mans shirt & tie, umbrella, briefcase, shoes.  These were then decoupaged. In the afternoon I set to on making more Christmas cards & made 24.  I can't show you those either as they are the cards that I make for all you club members. Then this evening I had quite a start as I realised that I must create the ones that have to go abroad - I have one to go to France, one to the States & the other to Australia.  So busy weekend I think. Whatever you are doing this weekend - have fun. Talk again tomorrow.

Good evening everyone - I trust that you haven't been blown into the middle of next week by all this wind. Well as the heading says - it's all wrapped up.  The "it" being the Christmas raffles for your last meetings of 2010.  Sue & I had quite a pleasant couple of hours this afternoon, having a good natter whilst we wrapped. In the morning I had, as I think I mentioned yesterday - a basic card making workshop.  There was to have been 4 ladies, one lady arrived, one lady had to cancel for personal reasons & the other two - well who knows where they are.  Lesley didn't have the heart to say no to the one lady so she had a 1 to 1 workshop.  It was a lovely workshop she had never ever made a card before or even tried.  So I found it "fun" (I hope that's the right word) - to make sure I didn't leave any basic details out.  It was quite a test. I am very pleased to say that as well as all the test folding we had done just with paper so ...

For all have done & for all your are doing - we remember you, always

Hi again everyone.  What a lovely sunny day it has been - a nice crispy frosty start & then sunshine.  I hear the forecast is for rain & lots of it.  Ah well, not much we can do. I managed to be creative this afternoon & made my challenge card for the CD Sunday Challenge that I usually enter quite regularly.  But this is the first one for a couple of weeks.  You can see the photo of the card on my website here . I also managed to sort the Christmas cards I have made - & there is not nearly enough - so more to do.  Although I do have quite a few toppers prepared.  I need to start thinking about the designs for the extra special ones that I have to make as well. Tomorrow I have a workshop in the morning - a class on basic card making - which is always interesting.  I like watching the way the cards progress during the morning, especially when someone has possibly never made a card before.  Then in the afternoon I am off ...

Hi everyone Do you buy Craft Stamper?  Well some of our members do & are also having great success with their work being featured. The latest success is in the December issue on page 60.  Congratulations to Annette Jones who entered the Trade It! from last months issue of a Mini Christmas Card Swap.  Here is her card; I have that snowman stamp too - he is absolutely delightful - he got used quite a bit last year. Also - Betty Langdon entered the Giveaway options & won £60 worth of stamps - so congratulations to her too.  I only popped in at this time to spread the news - I am off to be creative now - well! when I have had a cup of tea & some lunch.  More later.

Well! good evening everyone. Today I spent some time purchasing the last of the items that will make up the free Christmas raffle at your last meetings for 2010, then in a couple of days Sue is going to help me wrap them all up. I took a trip to Llandudno for this which was a very pleasant drive most of the time - but boy did the wind blow.  On the way back to the car I could hardly stand up. Managed to build up my stock of cards too. Next thing was to start preparing some images for some Christmas cards - but nothing put together yet - these are the lucky dip ones for each of the clubs. Tomorrow I need to see how many cards I actually have left as I did sell some on Friday.  Then I need to check that with my list of people I send & give cards to & make sure I have enough.  That's not counting the specials, of course, & time is running out.  Ooooh!!! did I need to put that counter at the top of the page? I forgot to mention the other day t...

Hi everyone I had a thought earlier.  Have you at some time read a posting on this blog & thought "I think I might leave a comment"?  If so - you either know how to do this or you don't. If you don't know then two problems arise  - first, how to or where to leave the comment; secondly when you get to the area to leave a comment - how do you post it because of the options available to you. Lets deal with the first problem - to leave a comment the first thing you do is click at the bottom of the posting where it says "x comments".  (x being the number of comments already left - if any).  Click on those words.  This refreshes the display & shows the comments already left, after which there is an open comments box.  In the box type your comment & please type your name at the end of the comment . Now the second problem arises - underneath the comments box it asks you to "comment as" & there is a little box with an arrow at the s...

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend. Here Saturday was Nadine's birthday, so we had all the "children" ........... te, he they will love me for that I think not .............. round for dinner yesterday.  So! just so that I mention everyone - that meant Nadine, Russ & Gareth.  After dinner we had a lovely long chat, like we do most times when we are all together - no TV, just family natters. I can now show you a picture of Nadine's card.  I didn't do any stamping but used papers & toppers from a "Making Cards" magazine, & used them to create an easel card.  I just can't stop making my cards that way, I really enjoy that shape. So here is the card; Yesterday afternoon I loaded the pictures from the HSNW workshop that I did with Sue on Saturday & you can see them over on my blog - here . That's it for this morning - depending on what I achieve through the day, may be back again later.  

Hi everyone - well I am now back home after my day workshop with Sue for HSNW members.  Our two projects were the two that we did for you last year - the star book & the CD case calendar.  I had shown them to the committee & they then asked that we do it for the ladies.  So! fortunately it meant an easier job for me to prepare as I had done it before.  We did the workshop the same way as we do here for you - two sessions, swapping over at lunch time.  The only difference being the numbers - there were a total of 38 ladies present so 19 each rather than 19 between us.  So! I am tired - I have been home about 40 minutes & thought I would do a bit of blogging because I am sure before the evening is out I am likely to nod. I mentioned whilst preparing for today that I had come up with an off shoot project. Because I had lots of different sized offcuts left over after cutting up the squares I had to come up with something to do with them. I have a ...

If you are having fireworks tonight ........... please be very careful Aren't those colours fantastic - makes you want to go & interpret it into stamped backgrounds.  More later.

Hi everyone. I had a rubber stamping workshop this morning & we used an item I haven't played with for some time - shrink plastic. I love watching peoples faces as the image curls & shrinks & that's when I am demonstrating how it works.  It is even better when it is their first try & there is that look of panic, followed by sheer pleasure at this miniature version of something they stamped earlier. We weren't stamping any tricky shapes this morning but even so there was one moment when it looked like one ladies piece was going to stay rolled over itself & stuck.  But as I said - keep heating it will work.  Thank goodness it did.  I must take a picture of the little teddy stamp that I often shrink - that one can stick as it will often curl over & then get one of its paws stuck to its nose.  Great fun. We also had a session doing ultra thick embossing.  The first was embossing in clear powder over a stamped image making a beauti...

Hi again. Tonight I popped along to the CSNW club night to see how they interpreted fireworks night in ATC's.  Here is a slide show of their work; I had a pleasant 15 - 30 minutes with them & then left them to their project for the evening.  Oops - I forgot to ask if someone would be taking pictures.  With the help of a new member they were going to be doing the nail varnish remover transfer technique.  I am really looking forward to seeing the results of that, & thank you to Edna for showing the ladies this.  Earlier in the afternoon I had also made some quick cards for some fundraising at my meeting on Friday. Although not stamping it did get me thinking of getting back to some stamped cards - but that will have to wait until after the workshop on Saturday.  Sorry I have been chatting about it a bit - I know its not for one of the clubs here - but it is one I am connected with.  I can't let you know what I am doing in case one of the l...

Hi - how are you all. Well, I am pleased to say my latest problem seems to have cleared & I am feeling much brighter.  In fact I was feeling quite a bit brighter yesterday & managed to get on top of some jobs that needed doing.  I have a meeting in Llandudno on Friday & there was some admin work to do towards that including sorting out all the different paperwork in order to hand it over to a new pair of hands. I didn't get any creativity done & I haven't this week joined in on any of the challenges I have been entering.  Hope to get back to that next week. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday - but once all the above work was done - I was quite tired.  Then the evening disappeared & it was only when I got to bed I remembered I hadn't blogged.  So this little chat is to make up for it. You will be proud of me.  Today I have been doing some "work" & have managed to get rather messy (well, for me anyway).  This time I took a phot...

Yes, what have I been up to.    The day seems to have disappeared very quickly & we are heading very fast towards the evening.  I had a visit from Sue who was taking a look through my stash of 12x12 papers for her project for the workshop we are doing on Saturday for HSNW.  We also had a natter for ideas for you for a 2011 workshop - so I hope you have been giving the date some thought.  We also picked a day to wrap the Christmas raffle goodies - Sue is going to help me this year. Then I sat & emailed Wendy from Cardio with details of how to reach us & some other information she required. After that I thought, before I find the November meetings are right upon me I had better write up the first 3 months programme for 2011.  So - I have chosen what we will be doing & also I am part way through typing up the sheets to hand out at the November meetings.  I won't be updating the club pages until after the last meeting for this year...

Good morning everyone - I hope your evening was not disturbed too much by trick & treaters!  We didn't have any at all - I think that is possibly due to there not being many young children around here. Well! I think I am almost back to normal now - isn't it wonderful how quick some medicines work.  I don't look like a discoloured cheetah any  more although the left eye lid still a bit puffy. Which means it is not so uncomfortable so I think I should be able to do some crafting today. Right, that was just a quick pop in to say good morning - will pop back later & show you what I have been up to.  I hope so anyway. Have a good day.  Talk later.