Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Good evening ladies Well! I have held my first full Friendly Plastic workshop today.  I had two ladies on the workshop who were certainly very interested in finding out more. After explaining bits & pieces about FP we settled down to making our first piece of artwork.  I showed how to fuse more than one strip together to create another piece of FP,  Then a second piece was constructed which was then marbled - you remember when we did it club night - where you drag the needle tool through to create the chevron pattern.  Other pieces that were made were the lace effect & also stamping into FP.  Then I suggested that they make their own marbling tool.  That was good fun & was made from two rectangles of FP with some needles placed between them with the points sticking out.  We used 5 needles for each tool & then of course they had to be put to the test, & another piece of FP was fused then marbled with the new tool.  Brilliant! It was a most enjoyable couple of ho

Good evening ladies Well I didn't have an active crafting day after all - more a research & write up workshop notes type of crafting day. Do you often say - I know what would be a good idea - then later wonder why?  When sorting the theme for the September workshops at PBC I thought we should start on Christmas. The idea that I had?  Let's do a Black & White Christmas.  Now that in itself is not a problem - you can basically just replace coloured card & images with black & white card & images.  Not worth going to a workshop for - unless you have never made any Christmas cards before.  So today has been spent coming up with some different ideas as well as just using black & white.  I have thought out some templates for shaped cards with a Christmas theme, & where I cannot draw them myself have researched to see if someone else has already done so. Then I have had to research papers - a couple I have designed on my computer with my graphics packag

Hello ladies I hope despite the weather that you are having a good weekend. Our thoughts have to be with our colleagues in the USA - especially New York & nearby States with the awful weather they are experiencing.  We moan about our British weather but at least we do not experience things like that - I am sure they are in our thoughts. I haven't dropped by for a couple of days because there has not been something crafty to report. Anyway today I can report some crafty activity - well yesterdays activity actually.  I finished off that series of stamped images - turning them into cards.  Here are two examples - The first one is one of the Celtic style tulip designs that I stamped.  I have done, for me, some quite intricate cutting out as there is full image & then there is a cutout image.  The cutout consists of the central tulip & it's stem & the two outer curved leaves. All the space in between I have cut away. The second card is one of the elegan

Hi everyone No crafting to speak about today I am afraid & not from yesterday either. Yesterday after the lunch Bob & I attended, I carried on with some more sorting of personal paperwork.  Doesn't it mount up?  They say you should keep it for 7 years - I think I have got it way beyond that. This sorting continued this morning as well & then we had a phone call from Gareth inviting us out to lunch, which was very nice. Then I had an appointment in Mold which was the rest of the day taken care of. So I have really just popped in to let you know I am here just nothing to report.  But - you never know about tomorrow - because it is rugby Saturday - so I will probably do some crafting whilst Bob & Gareth are watching the games. Well! here we are at the last bank holiday of 2011 - I hope you have some nice things to do over the weekend & that the weather is kind to us.  Having said that - the rain & thunder tonight does not bode too well, does it? Anyw

Good evening ladies As promised here are the photo's from last nights Mold II meeting, including a picture of Marie whilst she was talking.  That was the most difficult photo to take as every time I was ready to snap the photo she moved or turned the other way.  Here is the photo of Marie talking about some stamping on bamboo tiles.   Sorry about the shadow Marie. Here are the Show & Tell cards. I have had a very domestic day today - clearing out a backlog of paperwork that can now be got rid of.   You know the sort of thing I mean - old manuals for things you no longer have, very old receipts & cheque book stubs going back years.  There was also some good finds that had crept in amongst them - some teabag papers, some plastic templates & old magazine articles I had pulled out to add to my to do list.  I went through them again - but as some were really quite dated they were thrown out but a couple made it back into the box. Tomorrow I have a lunch to a

Good evening ladies Another good meeting with visiting retailer Marie of Artisan.  Once again the ladies so enjoyed listening to all her ideas & hints and tips that nobody had a play.  So like the other two clubs I am hoping that their bamboo tiles will be brought to the next club night.  I will be taking photos which will not only go here on the blog - but will be given to Marie to see. I took a photo of Marie talking to the ladies & also took photos of the show & tell for tonight - which, was the two cards made from the packs left with them at the June meeting.  I will load those onto the blog tomorrow as it is rather late to do it tonight. This morning I had a good workshop down at PBC showing two types of hidden message cards.  That is my only workshop this week - but September is going to be busier. That is me for tonight - more tomorrow. Night night

Hello everyone This morning I drove to Warrington & back to take Russ there for a job interview. Nadine came along as well as we weren't sure how long he would be.  I had checked the area & there was a Hobbycraft nearby.  So as we had parked in a Tesco car park we did some shopping first - it was a really large store with lots of room.  We really took our time shopping, after that we then drove a little further up the road to Hobbycraft.  We got just inside the door when Nadine had a call from Russ to say he had finished his interview.  That has to be my quickest visit to a Hobbycraft  store ever. This afternoon I completed a multi fold card I had seen on the Internet - to take a look at the photos I have taken of it - please go to my personal blog.  Click HERE . Out of the group of images I have been working on to make some cards - I have finished one.  Here is the photo; After choosing the red card to layer the sentiment image onto - it looked rather white,stark &a

Hi everyone This weekend I have done a little more work on some images I stamped ready for cards.  Also I have uploaded the photos I took of them & of the little box that Mold club will be making at their September meeting.  I am going to put the photos of the boxes here as I had been absent minded & left them at home last week. Here are the boxes.   I made two to give a different look.  There is no spectacular appearance to them just made very basically to show them.  I have cut out another template for one & will try & make a more ornate one. The box measures 1" square on each side & on this one I have put some little beads to act as feet. I seem to have taken the one on the right at a funny angle as it is all out of perspective. They would make nice little boxes to pop a chocolate in to put on the Christmas dinner table. I think I might make a Christmas one next. This version I put some cord into one of the corners so that it could hang diamond

Birthday greetings It;s 20 August & a Mold II member has a birthday Happy Birthday Annette have a lovely day

Good evening ladies Here I am with the photos of the Show & Tell cards from Mold meeting last night.  Their Show & Tell was to make two cards using the items in the packs I gave them last month, which they made during the July meeting. It was the project section of the evening. Do you like the use of the hair clips? Oh boy these pictures gave me big problens loading them - never mind they are all there now & here to finish the photos of the evening is one of Marie - mid flow in her presentation.  Never easy to get a good photo when someone is talking. Thank you Marie - it was another great evening & I have already heard from ladies that their heads are full of ideas. That's me for tonight ladies.  Have a great weekend.  I will be crafting tomorrow whilst Bob & Gareth watch the rugby. Night night.

Hi everyone I have started typing up some of the blog before going to the meeting as there were a couple of things to chat about. I seem to remember that I did mention that I joined the UK Stampers Network - paper exchange club - when I visited the Stamping show in Wrexham.  Yes - I did I remember telling you how Sue & I came to be at the table.  There are several sections & the one I joined was the Gift Tag group.  I have now received my first set of tags.  I have to take one out & put one in & send the envelope on to someone else in the group.  I also have to make 4 identical tags & start those on a similar round.  But along with my first gift tag came another package.  Mickey the lady demonstrating the group at Wrexham was putting the names of everyone who joined that day, in a bag & at the end of the show a name would be drawn out & that person would win a little bag of goodies.  It turns out that I was the winner.  There is a pack of mulberry paper;

Hi everyone This morning's workshop was attended by 3 ladies & went very well, with the ladies having a good play just getting used to the corner stamps with single colour ink pads & starting to make some patterns.  We then moved on to using the Kaleidacolor ink pads & getting even better results.  Then after they had had a little break I just let them play in whatever way they wished. It seemed more benificial to just use the stamps & discover things for themselves rather than forcing the making of a completed card. There were one or two surprises I have to say.  It's the very reason that I love running workshops & showing the things at the club - I learn too.  Each one of the ladies came up with something new - things I just hadn't thought about.  One in particular stood out & was quite different & tomorrow I am going to reproduce it & photograph it. After the workshop I set to & made my first mock up of the box for HSNW I was tell

Hi everyone Today I have been busy sorting out a project that I am doing for HSNW. I have been deconstructing a rather clever collapsing box so that it can be reproduced in smaller sizes & also replicated in its original size.  I say deconstructing the box - but I am not taking it apart.  The first thing I had to do was to" break it down" into sections & see how they worked together to make the complete box.  Then I drew up a draft plan of the various pieces with the original measurements marked on it.  Following that I drew up two more layouts one at half the size of the original & one at a quarter smaller than the original. Does that make sense.  Another stage was to calculate how much card is needed to make the two smaller sizes. Of course my final test will be in drawing out the sections at the required sizes, cutting them out & making up the two boxes, & for it to actually look right it will need to be decorated too. This will keep me a bit occ

Hi everyone Well a much nicer day today weather wise.  We can take plenty more of that, can't we. Today I have had a very nice day out with our daughter-in-law.  After a quick trip into Mold for me to sort out a new bracelet for my medi-alert bracelet we drove to Llandudno. Yes, you are probably right in your thinking - I was visiting the Llancraft shop.  I needed red & green cards & envelopes for some of my Christmas cards I will be making & thought they would be good value there - plus we would have a nice drive & lots of time to natter.  Another item I wanted was those plastic A4 boxes for some storage - but they didn't have any & were expecting them in anytime.  Oh dear that will mean another trip. After that we took a leisurely drive back long the country lanes & stopped off at Tweedmill, just outside St. Asaph  where we grabbed a cup of tea & coffee, then a look around the store.  My that place has expanded since I first went there &

............ with what?  I hear you ask. Oops nearly forgot - hello again everyone - I am back with another post. I did mention a couple of posts back how I had started working on a project (for me - perhaps I should say - pour moi?).  Also I mentioned that I had started something else alongside the project.  This second project got me thinking that it was time I started doing something I had been going to try for sometime.  I am talking about books. Now I cannot get enough of them.  Currently I am working on envelope books  - although most of the time they are referred to as albums.  This weekend I have made two - yes two!  One has all the pages covered & card put into the pockets which will hold various items.  I haven't really decided what I want to put in it yet - I just wanted to make one.  Let me show you the cover. I have got as far as putting a little bit of bling on the front along with a little tag for the title. Inside there are various pockets created but di

Hi everyone I hope you have been having a great weekend - it would have been nice to have had some better weather though, wouldn't it? Well whilst Bob & Gareth were watching the rugby yesterday afternoon I got on & finished my friend's birthday card & thought you would like to see it.  She doesn't read my blog - well she might read my personal one but not the club one - so I can show it to you. I really fancied doing a shape I hadn't done for a while so chose this cascade style. I chose the black card after choosing the pink & black papers.  If you click on the photos you will be shown a larger version which will op-en in another window.  You will then be able to see the gems that are on the card to add a bit of bling. I have done some stamping on it - the verse inside is stamped with one of my favourite birthday messages. As you know I have so many background papers & toppers so this was a nice card where I could use good papers & do

Hi everyone Will this rain never end?  I feel, sadly, that summer has been & gone.  If you don't remember it you must have blinked. I have been good today & done a fair amount of crafting.  I decided what sort of card & what with to make for my friend who has a birthday next week, & got that made.  It just needs some little bits & pieces added to dress it up & for the message to be put on it, which hopefully I will get done tomorrow whilst Bob & Gareth are watching the rugby.  I haven't made it a standard size so I will also have to organise an envelope for it. I also worked on my project a little more I am quite pleased with the way it is coming along.  I also decided that I really must start scrap booking my holidays & the best way to do it I think is to start on the holiday this year in Brittany & work backwards.  I don't think I will be doing large 12x12 pages I have a yen to do some mini albums & handmade ones at that. But I

Good evening ladies I am finally putting up the photos of the hidden message cards I made.  I will put them here amongst the blogging news I am giving today. Talking of today - where was I yesterday? Well! it was a bitty, but busy day - a final check to see I had everything I needed for my workshop this morning. Some domestic duties.  Some more research for projects for workshops & the clubs, including sourcing some of the materials required. I had to keep to my plan for the day as we were going out in the evening at about 4:15pm - then suddenly the goal post was moved & we were going out an hour earlier.  Where were we off to? We were joining Russ & Nadine to go & see the final Harry Potter film.  I read the first few books & saw a couple of the earlier films but that was it.  So I wasn't really up to date with what was happening - but it was a chance for us to go out together so I went along.  It was a great film & the magic (pun intended) of effect

Good evening ladies Well I seem to have achieved quite a bit today in my little crafting world. I started by sorting some card & decorative papers for my workshop on Thursday morning - I am doing a waterfall card & a penny roller card.  Then I had to rewrite some of the notes for these 2 cards as I had changed slightly the way we were going to be making them. Next I started on my 2011 project.  First by putting together in a box, some bits & pieces I knew I wanted to use so I wouldn't lose them.  Then it was a case of getting started.  I am in fact running two 2011 projects side by side - they are of a similar nature.  This is handy as when I hit a lack of creativity (although it is fairly relaxed) with one I can move to the other.  I am sorry to be mysterious about what I am doing but I want it to be something you see when it is finished. The other thing I then did was gather together the components for my brothers birthday card.  He is 65 (bless him) at the en

Good evening ladiesDon't worry I am not going all classical story telling.  But before that I just want to make a quick reference back to the last blog & leaving comments.  For that blog I used Betty's email to show that I can take the content of the email & turn it into a comment.  If you use that method I will cut & paste the comment from your email into the comment box at the end of the blog.  Once posted it will look like it came from me but I will make sure that the persons name appears at the beginning. If the email needs a reply from me - that will not appear in the comment box.  Just your comments. Back to my blog title - it is related to my card-making experiences this morning.  I was making two samples for PBC for a future workshop - they were hidden message cards.  The first one was the card that has central panels which have a secret way to open them to reveal the message.  The panels are woven through slits in the base card.  The second card was a l

Good afternoon everyone I am just popping in to talk about leaving comments on the blog.  If you want to say something & don't have the means as per the options when you select  "comment" at the end of the blog, then just email me & I will paste your comments in. This thought came about today as I have just checked my emails & there was one from Betty of Mold II.  Betty was making a comment about my statement on the blog a couple of days ago about the possibility of ............... well here is what she said ............. "Hi Gloria WHERE'S MY SCRAPBOOK PAGE? only joking!!  Also I can't believe you considered buying a birthday card, with all your resources. I haven't bought a single one since I started card making (goody goody!!). I am glad you didn't in the end. Happy crafting Betty" The reference to her scrapbook page is because there is not a photo of it amongst the photos on the blog following the Mold II meeting. Here

Good evening ladies Today I have spent quite a while sorting through my stash.  By now you must be wondering just how much stash I have. Believe me - there is lots of it - & most of it is not even seeing daylight & I am not using it fast enough.  So today's sort out was to throw away anything that was definitely not worth keeping. You know that saying?  "a crafter never throws anything away!"  Well there comes a point when she/he has to.  That point is where I am at now. As I took things from shelves & out of boxes - there were part used sheets of paper that were all creased - perhaps put away in haste - but no longer really useful.  For some of the other items of stash I have outlets - some things can go to Clare of Mold club for her to raise money for MS, & a couple of ladies at Mold II I think are still involved with school & I shall see if the would like some of the items if they are useful. I have some of my older stamps that need to be r

Birthday Greetings It's 5 August & a Mold member has a birthday Happy birthday Jan (Wilding) Have a lovely day

Birthday greetings It's 5 August & a CSNW member has a birthday Happy Birthday Ann (F) Have a lovely day

Birthday Greeting It's 5 July & a Mold member has a birthday happy Birthday Mair Have a lovely day

Hello again Two posts in one day!  I thought it best to keep the CSNW news separate to my nephews birthday card. Last night the ladies were shown lots of great ways to stamp & use non-card items.  But also how to use those items on cards if they wished.  Our visitor was Marie Bellamy from Artisan (whom you may have seen at Port Sunlight - may have? - I am sure you have) & she was accompanied by her husband Chris. We were shown stamped bamboo tiles - clear buttons coloured with alcohol inks & other products.  The products to make these 2 items were given to each lady present in a little goodie bag, & the 2 Mold clubs will get the same.  I am hoping that they all remembered that I asked that they decorate the items at home & bring them back next month.  I will then take photos which will be sent to Marie. The ladies decided not to have a go during the evening but preferred to listen to Marie talking about her ideas.  Marie allowed me to take some photos of her

Hi everyone Well I managed it - I made a card for my nephew I didn't buy one. Yesterday I had a good browse amongst my Cd's that are loaded on to my laptop & found a suitable image & background sheet.  I printed off the items I needed & this morning put the card together.  I printed the picture of the people standing around the car twice then on the second picture cut out the car & 3-d it over the base car. So! record unbroken - the question is - can I keep it going!

Good evening everyoneI have just got in from the CSNW meeting so this is just a quick line or two. We have just spent a really pleasant evening with my colleague Marie - I am sure you will enjoy the evening too when it comes to your club later this month. I have photos from the meeting of Marie whilst she was talking to us - & photos of the show & tell.  I will put those on the blog tomorrow when I have loaded them onto my laptop. I hope you have all had a pleasant evening - my but it's warm. Nice though.. More tomorrow - night, night

Birthday Greetings It's 3 August & a Mold member has a birthday Happy Birthday Tina Have a lovely day 

Hi everyone Well, I guess the garden needed the rain - what a downpour!  Well we had one here anyway - I don't think it was all over the area. So! my five plastic boxes I bought on Saturday?  They now have my papers in - Christmas, Masculine, Sets (ie toppers & backing papers that match; pyramage sheets etc). Backgrounds & lastly Any other sort.  Really neat - the sets box is full so need to start using them up. I found lots of pretty vellums that I had forgotten about.  Also I pulled out any papers that I knew I wouldn't use & have put them in a bag to bring to the clubs - you can help yourselves to any you might like.  If you don't want them for your own work but run an after school club -take them for that.  These will be going on the shelves tomorrow which will make that area look a little neater.  But there is still a mountain of sorting to go.  I will win through - I will. This morning I spent about an hour on my French.  It is very good but I have f

Good evening everyone Well not a very nice day was it.  I know my new plants need water - but I would rather water them than have it rain.  Not a good start to August.  Only 5 months left in this year.  Down at PBC they have on the counter a little Father Christmas holding a blackboard & every day they mark down how many days to Christmas & there are, as of today - 146. Today is the start of a new promise to myself - for quite a few years now as you know we have been holidaying in France.  After this last holiday I decided it was time I learnt to speak French.  I am not worried about writing it - just conversational.  So I have invested in a French Course on CD - I read a lot of reviews about this particular system & it really sounded like it is the one for me - so we will see.  I can understand a certain amount but not quick enough to reply.  So often I am looking pleadingly at Bob to tell me.  So this morning in went the CD, then I sat back with my eyes closed so that