Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Good evening everyone I have just returned home from my Rubber Stamping talk.  It was to a Women's League Group not the Women's Institute.  There were about 18 ladies present & 2 of them had done rubber stamping & also attended the HSNW stamp festivals.  My system of prepared demonstrations worked very well - I took six, & carried out five in the time allocated, including a little background talk about myself.  All in all I was very pleased with the evening.  I have another talk to do next week & will use the same system.  Also I stamped the demonstrations in such a way as to be able to use the images later on a card. I haven't done any crafting today except that mentioned above.  There were some domestic duties to carry out then I took a fairly lazy afternoon to make sure I was not tired for this evening. Tomorrow morning is eye test day & definitely new glasses - oops, my credit card just hid at the bottom of my bag! Tod...

Good morning everyone & a nice sunny morning it is too. Oops speak too soon - the sun has just gone in. This morning I finally got around to photographing those cards made from the pyramage kit.  Here they are;  Before that I prepared my box for my WI talk tomorrow.  I had already decided what I would be doing & had got out all the stamps etc on my desk yesterday.  This morning I decided that I should prepare them in a Create & Craft, & Blue Peter-ish style.  So I have a poly pocket for each sample I am going to work that contains the stamp, ink pad, card, acrylic block if required, EP, glitter & a finished sample.  Then I have a box with my Aquacolour markers in, plus the smaller tools such as craft knife, tweezers, bone folder, scoring tool, paintbrush, adhesive.  Also a pocket with previously made cards in. Added to that a bag with cutting board, ruler, heat gun, baby wipes & kitchen roll. On a sheet of paper I have typed...

It's 29th January & a Mold II RS Member has a birthday today. Happy Birthday, Liz Have a great day

Hi everyone Although I am feeling rather tired again today I decided to take part in some blog challenges.  As the title says - three in one day!  You can see them over on my personal blog by clicking HERE . I finally photographed the 2 little tags that I had made during that tag workshop.  There isn't any stamping involved as it wasn't a stamping workshop.  I just gave them a box of papers & embellishment & went from there.  The photo is at the end of the blog. I was really lucky with the heart tag, as I just pulled out some items from the box & there was the piece of red card with the heart aperture & the outline silver heart, which of course just fitted inside the aperture.  After another look in the box I found the other silver heart & the word Love on a piece of paper which I trimmed & popped inside the outline heart. The other tag was made to show how using papers in strips or patchwork can really work well.  Then i...

Good evening everyone Today was another of my crochet workshops & once again it went well - I really must think about doing some of my own. Anyway, stamping - I haven't done any today but have prepared my club box for the CSNW meeting next week & also put some things ready for a talk I am going to be doing for a WI group on Monday evening. Yesterday afternoon I posted on my personal blog, showing some of the stamped cards I had made recently & also entered one of the blog challenges.  This one was using CD's - I did try to think of a way to stamp with it, but couldn't get the brain in gear.  When I popped in to write todays blog here I noticed I had comments on my blog.  Very nice comments too - I am really pleased. If you want to take a look click HERE Also yesterday I was watching a little bit of Create & Craft & one of the items on the programme was the x-cut punch that can cut a design in 2 sizes of circles, an oval, a square, a border ...

Good morning Stampers! Well here I am as promised last night with the photos from the Mold II meeting.  The slide show is the photos of their show & tell - which was using those strips of card!  After that there will be 3 pictures showing 3 of the albums that were almost finished.   I do feel rather tired this morning - so will not be doing anything strenous.  Probably sit & make some more cards & providing I can decide straight away what I am doing I shouldn't get stressed out by it.  Do you agree that it takes longer to decide what to do than actually do it - most times anyway? I mentioned yesterday the tag workshop I had done in the morning.  I am going to put photos up of the 2 tags I made whilst showing the ladies - but I am going to put them on my personal blog - as I haven't put anything on there for a while.  Will let you know when they are there just in case you want to take a look. I will probably pop back in ag...

"Happy Birthday" It's 26 January & there is a Mold Club member with a birthday today Happy Birthday Joanna Have a great day

Hi everyone It was the Mold II club meeting tonight - the first for 2011. The Show & Tell was the use of those strips of card I left before Christmas & there were some great designs.  Also we made the little toilet roll inner album.  During the course of the evening I had a couple of other ideas to make a similar item & I am going to try & find time tomorrow to follow one of them through. Forgive me but no photos tonight - I have some from the meeting to show you - but I am just too tired to be able to upload them & include them here.  I will probably blog in the morning getting up to date with photos. I had a workshop this morning at Purple Butterfly Crafts - we did a tag workshop.  There were 3 ladies on it & just using luggage labels & scraps of paper from a box of stash & some peel-offs, stamps & images for toppers they made 3 different tags. They looked really good.  I made 2 as well whilst explaining to ...

Hi everyone Today i had a very pleasant day out with our daughter-in-law Nadine. We had a nice drive to Llandudno & of course visited the craft shop there.  I didn't buy much but I couldn't actually go in & buy nothing.  Sorry ....................... not buy anything. I bought some nice black square cards, some 6x6 papers (Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen no less); & something else which I can't remember.  That's bad isn't it/ The we had a nice scenic drive back along the coast. When I got home I put the box ready for tomorrows Mold II meeting. This morning Gareth set off early for Germany where he is working for a little while.  He is in Dusseldorf, & will be home on Thursday evening.  This will be going on for quite a few weeks I think - if not months later. That's my news for today.  As I was out all day I didn't get photographs taken of the cards made over the weekend. Hope you had a good weekend.  That's it for tonight....

Yes, you have read that right - 44 cards. Good afternoon ladies Yesterday & today whilst Bob has been watching Rugby I have been up in my little craft room making cards & sorting more stash. Of the 44 cards - 2 were rubber stamped & were made from toppers that I had made last year.  They were in fact the 2 toppers I made for the HSNW Festival Exhibition board when we did the black & white theme. 24 of them were made from the left-overs of a kit I had bought in 2009 from Create & Craft. The kit contained 40 beautiful floral cards with decoupage, which when you popped out the layers gave you pryamage & invertage (in's & out's!) - so 20 of each.  I made up quite a few of them some time back for fundraising & used the decoupage option.  A couple of people who bought them remarked on the amount that it cost them in postage because of the depth.  So when I sorted them out yesterday I made the other 14 with just one...

Good morning ladies - well, it was when I first started today's blog.  Now it's good afternoon. Several things happened - I had three phone calls on the trot, then Bob decided we deserved a treat & we went out to lunch.  We3 went just down the road to The Plough on Aston Hill just above Queensferry.  Lunch was really good value & very tasty indeed.  Enough about my lunch. Well the rubber stamping year has started with the first meeting for 2011 for Mold club taking place last night.  There was a lot of information to pass on at the beginning of the evening & all that information will be given out at each of the other 2 clubs - (Mold II next Tuesday & CSNW on 3 Feb). This did eat into the play part of the evening a little but none the less I think the ladies enjoyed the evening.  I need to put here a reminder to the ladies to bring their finished project back next month in order for me to take photos.  Will probably send you all...

It's 21 January & there is a Mold Club member with a birthday today Happy Birthday Janet Have a great day 

Hi everyone I have just got in from the Mold club meeting - the first for 2011. The drive home was not very pleasant as there was quite thick fog.  So although I wasn't tired  from the club meeting I am afraid the drive home has left me a bit weary.  Fog takes it's toll on your eyes doesn't it?  Particularly night driving. So, I apologise but cannot manage a full blog tonight. We had a good evening - not everyone was there - but a good turnout.  Will tell you about it tomorrow along with some photos, probably write it up in the morning. Take care in this icy fog. Night night.

I just popped in to prepare the blog for tonight & I find I didn't blog yesterday. I was a busy girl yesterday & thought I had done it!  I must have thought it through & my mind thought I had actually typed it up.  Gosh - the minds going. I am off to Mold Club in about 2 hours - so will blog when I get back from there & should have some pictures. Made lots of cards yesterday - but more of that later. Bye for now.

Hi everyone That title sounds a bit melodramatic doesn't it?  But it is the end of an era, for me - because last night I finished as Chairman of HSNW after 14 years in  "office".  I explained a couple of days ago about it - it's all part of my cutting back on some of my workload.  It was quite a sad moment really, but of course I will still be attending & enjoying the meetings. Today I have been card making & have done some more of my quick cards - plus 2 stamped ones & some work done towards 3 more which I will finish tomorrow. I used a stamp that I hadn't used for some time, & the non-stamped ones used more of my paper stash.  Good couple of hours work. Also I had a good look around blog land & the challenges out there & I am hoping to join in with 3 or 4 of those this week. Hopefully if I think things through carefully before starting - one card can be made to fit more than one challenge.  We will see. I am not going to ...

Hi everyone Here's a little idea I have decided to include - hope you like it - Birthdays! Mold club        January                              Shirley                      6th                                                                Wyn                         ...

Well! that's another weekend almost over & have you noticed how the evenings are slowly drawing out.  Spring is just around the corner I think - actually I mean I would like to think - but it possibly isn't so yet. Good evening ladies - I almost forgot! I have spent most of today getting the admin side of the clubs sorted - new membership lists, birthday lists - reorganising my own folder, tidying those club boxes & making sure they have everything in them.  Raffle books, box for raffle money, programmme slips, sketches & whatever else is needed for the next few meetings.  That has got me organised for a while now,  so I should stay on top of things. Also tomorrow night is the AGM of  HSNW club.  We have been committee run for quite a few years now & tomorrow night is my final night as Chairman.  I am standing down & going to be an "ordinary" member.  It will seem very strange as I have been Chairman since the year w...

Hi everyone Just popping in quickly to upload those missed Christmas Cards.  Here they arel More later.     Bye.

Good evening ladies. The oops is because whilst pottering around this morning before going to meet Caroline I spotted that on the top of a corner unit in our dining room I was still displaying 4 Christmas cards.  So they haven't appeared in the slide show.  Also on Tuesday I was given a Christmas Card that had been left for me at the craft shop down the road & today I met up with Caroline to exchange Christmas stockings & that included her Christmas Card to me.  So will photograph them tomorrow & put them on tomorrows blog. I had a nice few hours with Caroline - we visited a wholesale store on the Wirral & I bought some things  towards next Christmas.  Yes! I really am getting organised.  But - of course I will have to remember where I have put them.  Afterwards we went to the garden centre behind Hulme Hall & had lunch & a good long natter.  Very nice indeed. When I got home I had received a parcel from one of t...

Hi there everyone I have had a busy day today.  This morning it was my Learn to Crochet workshop.  I had 5 ladies on it & I am pleased to say it went very well. They were a really good group who all got on well & enjoyed the workshop & have fixed their dates for the follow on lessons. In the afternoon I took our daughter-in-law Nadine out for the afternoon.  We ended up at Burleydam Garden Centre on the A41 - it has a really nice gift section & they sell Yankee candles which Nadine loves. I bought a Yankee candle car freshener - I love the candles too - but - they make Bob sneeze, so we tend not to have them. I know that doesn't sound busy - but it was two sessions in one day which can still leave me tired at the end of it, but not as tired as I used to get.  So things are on the up. Whilst at my workshop this morning I bought the latest copy of the "Docraft" magazine which had a free stamp on the front.  It was to do with "cupcakes" whic...

Hi there Not a lot to report today - I have been sorting family history records/paperwork as it had begun to take over my work desk - that's a different desk to my craft desk. I have some paper & toppers on my craft desk ready to make some quick cards, & also I have a slightly different design card to make - it is very simple - so rather than save it for a club night - I will put it on the tutorials page.  I will also print off some notes too - for those ladies who do not read the blog. There was something else I was going to do a tutorial for - & I can't remember what.  I will have to read back through the postings to remind me. Off to do my crochet workshop tomorrow morning. That's it for tonight.  Sleep well xx

Good evening ladies Well tonight I have some photos for you.  A slide show of all the lovely Christmas Cards I received - they were absolutely gorgeous, thank you.  At one point when opening them I thought I was going to have my first double up on handmade cards - which would have been very weird.  But no - one was my lucky dip card from Mold II & the other one which was slightly different in fact - was from one of the ladies of Mold II who obviously made my lucky dip card too. There were so many techniques & styles amongst them it really is a pleasure receiving them & looking at them again later. Here is the slide show; The other photo is of the card I made Bob for his birthday last week.  It was from a kit I downloaded but we had made this style of card at club night some time back - this one had the added arch which I thought looked good.  With the kit you could do two arches but I thought that was a bit over the top - so back...

Hi everyone Had a big sorting day today - most of those toppers & papers I mentioned.  So haven't even made a card - so 2 to do tomorrow. I am looking forward to the start of this years club meetings - the first one being a week Thursday for Mold.  Then the following Tuesday after that for Mold II.  CSNW takes place on the following Wednesday to that which will be 2 February.  Poor ladies - they have not had their Christmas raffle goods yet. I have much going on In my head for the club & the first thing is a new idea to do with the Show & Tell. Hope you will like it.  Then I have something new & big on the boil - so make sure you are at the first meetings to hear all about them. Today I have also been busy taking photos of the handmade Christmas Cards I received - it has been a bit of an overcast day & getting the right light slowed the process down a bit.  Hope to have them for you to see tomorrow. That is is for today - more t...

Hi everyone Today has turned out to be a non card making day. After going to Asda for our shopping I decided that I would make sure everything was in order for my first 2011 workshop.  It is  "Learn to Crochet". I finished my worked samples using the notes I had written rather than by memory to make sure they worked & read correctly.  There were a couple of amendments to make - mainly because I decided to reduce the number of rows that would be worked at certain points.  So after correcting the notes & finishing the samples I had to put the notes back into a folder in a sensible order, & work out how to show the samples.  I decided to put each piece in a cello bag & attach them to an A4 sheet of card.  That way I can actually pass them around & they will be kept clean in between times. I did all that sat beside Bob whilst he watched the Rugby. On the card making front an important thing to do is re-sort all those ...

No! I don't mean I have received one - I have made one. Yes! - made a Christmas Card, in the first week of the New Year.  It is certainly a first for me. I thought with the snow on the ground the obvious card to make today would be a Christmas one.  It isn't a stamped card - it is using one of the many Christmas pictures I have in my stash. These cards I am making at the moment will be for this years fund-raising box, so they are more simple in design to those I make for giving to friends & family. I will be making quite a few of these obviously, & using up all this stash, so will probably save them up & put photos here in batches in a slide show. Here is today's card. The little girl & the mini message have been raised with foam pads, & to give it a bit of sparkle I have outlined the main picture & the greeting with glittery gold peel-off borders. I have stamped a card today as well - which is my entry for one of the challenge websites I fo...

Good morning ladies Well! they did say it would snow - but I didn't think we would get this much.  Mind you rain is forecast later in the day so it could all be gone by tonight. I had to get the camera out again - & took a picture of that same tree that is in the Boxing day sunrise.  I will be back later on today.  For now - here's that picture - & wouldn't the next one make a good Christmas Card?  Have to include some stamping somewhere on it, though & disguie the TV aerials perhaps.

Good evening ladies That statements really refers to the days now - decorations are down -  well Christmas Cards & a little fibre optic tree.  Bob is back at work & I have some "normal" things to do. It certainly doesn't refer to me.  I had to pop into Mold this morning to pay some bills.  I got right to the car park of the first place I had to go to & found I hadn't brought the folder with the paperwork & money - so had to drive back home & do the journey all over again.  Head saving feet - sort of comes to mind. Anyway, once back home I got some paperwork printed, emails caught up on, telephone calls made & then had some time to play. I have 3 photos for you tonight - the 2 from yesterday which were a funny colour & one of the card I made this afternoon.  This time it's a stamped one.  It's a 20''s style lady with a cloche hat.  On the stamp index it has been painted red - but I didn't fancy red - & I do...

Hi there everyone The title doesn't mean I swapped one of my Christmas presents - I finally got to meet up with Sue today & we swapped presents & Christmas cards.  Although totally different - we gave each other bags - strange wasn't it!.  I think I mentioned the other day the bag I was making in the Pinflair Craft style - well that was for Sue.  In it I placed a book I thought might interest her  - it was making "Inchies" in fabric, & also a cute little Christmas cat stamp.  Sue gave me a Papermania - stitch it together yourself - felt bag & a beautiful fabric embroidered bracelet she had made. If I start soon I should be able to get the bag put together for my holiday. My visit to the Dentist was ok - although I spent more time waiting to go in for my appointment than I did in there. Then this evening I have attended a local meeting - so quite a busy day, but I still found time to make 2 cards.  I will put the photos on...

Hi everyone Just a short blog today - & I do mean short. I haven't done any crafting today as it was Bob's birthday & we were out most of the morning; then I couldn't get settled into anything as I was waiting for the Car Repair firm to come & pick up the courtesy car & give me my car back.  It has come back all nicely mended & they washed & cleaned her inside & out as well.  Very nice indeed.  Looking forward to having a run out in her tomorrow - although at the moment that will be as far as the dentist. Fortunately it's just a check-up. Then later this afternoon we met Gareth at the Running Hare in Ewloe where he bought his Dad a birthday meal,  Well, me too.  Another very pleasant couple of hours. I will be taking a photo of the card I made for Bob - sadly not stamped, made from a great kit I had found.  Will show you tomorrow along with anything I make.  Also I have seen an adaptation to the stepper card whic...

Hi everyone We had a great family meal out tonight.  It was for Bob's birthday which is actually tomorrow - but this evening was best for Gareth, Russ & Nadine due to their work.  Russ & Nadine work late shifts sometimes.  We went to Ghandi's in Queensferry & had a great meal - it really is excellent value & very good food. At the weekend I completed the work on writing & printing Nadine's family history & gave it to her when they came round on New Years Day.  Today I have been doing a similar thing for Caroline typing up the research I carried out on her family history  &  hope to give it to her in about a week when I see her. I also found time to make a card - rubber stamped! So I have photographed it along with the 2 that I made yesterday.  I did 2 yesterday to make up for the fact I didn't make one on New Years Day.  As I think I said a couple of days ago I want to try & make at least 1 card a d...

Good morning everyone I didn't blog yesterday as I decided to have a very lazy do-not-a lot kind of day, but take a deep breath & read on because I make up for it today. There is going to be several photos including slide-show & the first is that beautiful sunrise I took on Boxing day morning standing at the front door still in my dressing gown.  I can never tire of looking at such beautiful sights.  I spent  the afternoon reading one of the books I had downloaded to my nice Christmas pressie - Kindle.  I had downloaded several classics - so the one I decided to start reading was "Cranford".  I found it really pleasant to read - it's been quite a while since I read a classic & sometimes the vocabulary & way of writing takes a while to get into - but this didn't.  Did you see the TV serialisation of it?  Judi Dench played one of the main character - Mattie - as I read the words she would have spoken you could almost hear...

Happy New Year everyone