Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Hi I am here tonight with news of a Mold II member having her work published yet again. Yes - it is Annette & she has a card featured in the latest issue of "Papercraft Essentials" - & here is her card; This was one of a set of stamps that were free on the magazine a couple of issues back - I thought they were great. I am sure that one of the word stamps said "Does my bum look big in this?".  As I haven't yet found the box with that set in I cannot be sure.  I am sure Annette will let me know. Well done Annette - keep up the good work.

Hi everyone Just popping in to let you know I have made a card over the weekend.  Sadly, not a rubber stamped one - but it means I have started making them again. The one I made was for a CD Challenge.  Here it is ............. ............ & if you would like to know how it was made just pop over to my digital blog by clicking here - or by clicking on the link at the side I hope you all had a good weekend.  More later probably.

Good morning I am just popping in to ask if any of you went to the Stamp Festival in Wrexham yesterday. If you did - why not send me a little write up on your day there (or half day) for me to put on the blog. This blog is for you & I know I write on it every day normally - but you are always welcome to send me information about visits to stamp festivals - or tell us about a favourite craft shop you have visited - or a new one you have found.  You can also send me photos of cards you have made that you are particularly pleased with so that I can show them here - go on - talk about your stamping. Do you surf the Internet?  Have you found interesting stamping styles or techniques - then send me the link along with what you think of what you have found.  I will take a look & either include the technique / style in the club programme or write about it here.  Perhaps you have discovered someones blog that is fascinating to visit - send the link. You can s...

Hi everyone Well! for me it's been another day of trying to sort some more boxes. I now have more floor space & the boxes are beginning to disappear, even though some of them are under my desks.  At least - at one end of the room.  I have found quite a few goodies that I had been intending to be raffle prizes at the club - but had put them in safe places where they were never to be seen again.  But never has started to dwindle now as I am beginning to uncover them. This afternoon as I emptied the contents of one box I found 3 Die'sire dies - 2 were the border ones which hopefully I can cut & roll into flowers.  Only time will tell & the other one was a multi frame with a matching corner & another little embellishment.  I must have decided to treat myself to these - but can't remember when.  Just before moving I think - might have even spent birthday money on them. You may remember seeing photos of my two 10-drawer trolley units? ...

Birthday Greetings Today is 26 July & a CSNW member has a birthday Happy birthday Grace Have a lovely day

Hi everyone After my workshop this morning I decided to have a slightly quieter afternoon. I didn't feel like unpacking any boxes although I knew I should.  Anyway - I lifted a couple of things off the top of one box & found homes for them - they turned out to be family history items. Then I found inside a family history notebook an envelope.  I had discovered it just before moving but didn't have time to look at it much.  It turned out to be the birth certificate for an elderly uncle. he was in fact my brothers uncle - but after he died I looked after my aunt & she lived with me until just before we moved here.  Sadly she passed away in the March as we moved here in the August. I had when researching my brothers side of his family ( he is my half brother) started to look at this gentleman & his family - but had stopped at some time.  I knew him when I was a little girl & he used to take me out with him when he took his dog for a walk i...

Good afternoon ladies Today I have the photos from the Mold II meeting last night.  We were a very small group & there are only 4 cards to show you from the Show & Tell where the theme was "house". A lovely card with a group of bird houses.  This was a mask that had been put through an embossing machine & then coloured through the mask with Distress Inks. An early Christmas card - as you can see - "from our house to yours" I love the way the scene (which is made from separate stamps) is set off by the die-cut frame. A pretty window box to a house - the flower are made from Flower Soft. Different coloured FS has been sprinkled over those flowers in the window box which is really very effective. Just what is needed at the moment - some deck chairs in the sun beside a beach hut. Love the little dog in the right-hand deck chair.  Take a close look at this - the birds on the telephone wires are embossed as are the flowers along...

Hi everyone I have managed to get rid of 2 more boxes today. On Thursday last week one of the Mold ladies asked me if I had "found any more photos?".  Well today I have.  One of the boxes contained photo albums from years ago - those with the sticky pages & cellophane overlay.  Did I have fun getting the photos out of there - I only lost one that got torn.  Although those albums had memorabilia in them as well as photos - so almost the start of a scrapbook - there was no writing.  So now I have to dig deep & try & remember the what, why, where & when. As you know I from time to time mention my grand-daughter (there should actually be a "step" in front of that to be correct but Charlotte never thought of me like that even as a young child - I am her Nanny).  Reason I explain all that is because the other box contained packets & packets of photos with loads of them of Charlotte as she has grown up - an absolutely wonderful find. ...

to the new parents

Hi everyone ................. what have I found? Oh come on I have been going on about it for days............... my E-bosser. Yesterday Bob helped me with a bit more sorting & re-arranging & we managed to clear a little more space.  I now have 2 desks I can use & 3 bookcases with boxes & files on.  Today I have cleared 2 more boxes so the room looks different again.  Here is how it looked this morning -  the boxes between the left desk & the bookcase by the window, have gone now. the gadgets desk - my laptop, netbook & ebosser my stamping desk complete with glass mat & paper cutter So I am getting there a little more quickly now.  I now have room to work & access to almost all of the things I need to stamp.  Yipee! Tomorrow evening is the July meeting for Mold II - so photos on Wednesday.

Good evening Well! here I am at last with the photos I promised.  Let's get to those first - they are of the show & tell of the Mold meeting last Thursday where the task was a card with a house theme. A brilliant "picture" card - you just want to open the door & go & live there. although - there is this delightful thatched cottage to move into complete with cat - or is it cats.  Perhaps the one outside wishes he was inside. A lovely gate-fold card - again - you just want to move in. Spoilt for choice here - a very elegant terrace which ever house you choose. this one has its own waterwheel - beautiful love the street lamp - I always wanted one of those in my garden.  This card looks like it has been painted - it has been achieved by the slightly glossy card it is on. Now - who lives in a house like this? Everyone at the meeting thought this was fantastic - a zentangle house. So if you have noticed that...

Good evening everyone! Two apologies - sorry I didn't write anything last night & sorry that there are no photos tonight. Yesterday we still had the men fitting the new boiler & fire & to check the central heating they had to put everything on - along with the outside heat which yesterday was really hot - it was just too much.  My lovely - almost craft room - was like an oven & I just couldn't work in here.  I can't reach the windows over my desk so couldn't open them - tomorrow I am going to have to rethink the layout in front of the window. This evening we have had a family BBQ & so I haven't sorted the photos from Thursday evening - sorry sorry.  I will do them in the morning when it will be reasonable cool in this room I promise.  But we have had a really lovely evening with Russ & Nadine & also Gareth with his girlfriend Elayne.  A great family evening.  We had our new BBQ to christen & this one is a gas one. ...

Hello everyone It was a little quiet (well in numbers at least) at the Mold meeting tonight as there were quite a few ladies absent - after all it is the holiday season, but we had a good evening & tomorrow I will show you the photos from their Show & Tell. There won't be any photos from the evening's project as we were talking about the colour wheel & everyone worked on a blank wheel applying the appropriate colours. Something learnt from the evening is that you need to either have a whole range of colours in pens, or at least have pens that will blend well - so bear this in mind when it is your evenings turn to look at this.  I don't think the very warm room helped in that respect tonight.  Nonetheless we had a good evening. To brighten the post up here is a photo of my lovely petunia hanging baskets.  Mind you I think I took this fairly late in the evening - so its not too clear. More tomorrow when I will have those photos from tonight. Sleep w...

Good evening everyone. This morning it was time for one of my crochet workshops & a very good morning it was too.  I had 3 ladies, in this group there is normally 5 but 2 of them couldn't make today & will be joining another group in order not to go too long before another session. One of the things I have discovered whilst unpacking these boxes - well more correctly I discovered whilst packing them at the old house - was I just have loads & loads of wool.  About 17 years ago I decided I had too much & there wasn't a lot of use of hanging on to it - so I gave it all to a local Convent.  The reason I know it is about 17 years ago is that shortly after giving it away Bob's daughter told us she was pregnant - so I had to go out & buy wool. Our grand-daughter was 17 in March.  But I didn't realise just how much I must have bought - until now.  So having it for ladies to learn how to crochet is useful - plus the workshops have whetted my appet...

Hi - it's me again. In yesterday afternoon's sort out we found a plastic zip folder with various bits & pieces in.  When I started investigating it I found it contained amongst other things sample cards from old workshops. Some of the pieces showed the use of ultra-thick embossing & that was the topic of my demo last nights - so a great find as it gave me extra items to show. This morning I decided to sort it properly & found  couple of gems.  Not jewellery gems - but gems from the past. This first one is a cutting from the Chester Chronicle.  I had decided to show some of my work in libraries to promote the craft & hopefully get some workshops started.  Never did I think it would lead to lots of workshops for various craft shops & 3 North Wales stamping clubs.  I can't remember the exact year but then they gave my age out - so I can say that this was in 1996. The cutting is looking a bit grey now - bit like me actually - so...

Good morning & isn't it great that this weather is continuing.  Everyone looks so much better for it & people smile when passing you.  The sun certainly makes for a happier place. Well some more boxes disappeared from the craft room yesterday afternoon, & of those left Bob managed to manipulate them so that I could get at one of my bookcases. He also succeeded in revealing my desk - well most of it.  Surprise, surprise the removal men had not taken the things out of the drawers - so some of the things I needed to find are basically where I left them,.  So that is good. Here is what we are looking like now - well the room - not us. Looking from the lounge into the craft room - there is my bookcase with things on it now & next to it my old desk.  As you can see - things have just been dumped on both - but the boxes are gone. View from my desk back to the lounge door.  The items piled really high are cane shelves which fit...

Birthday Greetings Today is 16 July & a Mold member has a birthday Happy birthday Joan (Brown) Have a great day

Popping in again to say I have now updated the Mold II club page with their programme for July through to September.

Just popping in to let you know I have updated the programme for the Mold club on their club page.  I still have to put photos of the projects on the projects page.

Well! good morning everyone.  What a beautiful weekend it has been & the promise of more to come. We had a very nice weekend meeting up with friends on Saturday & having a very nice meal & a really good chat for a couple of hours. One or two more boxes were investigated over the weekend & we are still trying to work out the best way to break the back of it all.  "It all" of course being the craft room. Yesterday, we had to make a long overdue trip to the Supermarket to top up supplies.  In the evening we were joined by Gareth & his girlfriend where we enjoyed a really pleasant meal (in the garden of course), then as it cooled a little we went indoors. Tonight it is the monthly meeting for Happy Stampers meeting & I am giving the demo tonight - helping by standing in for the lady who was going to be doing it.  So I have to make sure I have everything I need packed & ready. Also I must prepare everything for the Mold July meeting w...

Birthday Greetings Today is 13 July & a Mold member has a birthday Happy birthday Rachel Have a lovely day

Hi" It has been another day of looking in boxes. But we have decided that in order to get this room sort of organised is in the following way There are boxes stacked on the right side of the room There are boxes stacked on the left side of the room Behind the boxes on the left hand side of the room is a desk & at least one book case. We need to move the boxes on the left side of the room over to the right side of the room so that we can get at the desk & bookcase. this means that the contents of some of the boxes can go on & in the said bookcase & desk Problem is how to do that without messing up the rooms we have finally got straight. I leave you with this conundrum - & will let you know how we solve it as & when we do. Have a great weekend in this continued beautiful weather. This evening we had a our evening meal out in the garden & sat out there for a while discussing things we had to do.  We were joined for a while by G...

Hi everyone I have just re-read the last few days blog posts - checking what I have told you, so that I don't repeat myself.  I noticed - unless I missed it - that I didn't mention that I had weakened on Monday & ordered some things from Stamps Away.  I had been watching Ali on C&C & was rather taken with her background stamps & a couple of her masks.  I didn't actually want the collection as it was on C&C - so popped into Ali's online shop.  I managed to order the things I wanted & a couple of others too & it was all less than the multi-buy on C&C.  The most amazing thing is - it arrived the next day. Do you watch Ali on C&C - she is something else - I have no idea where she gets some of her ideas from.  The few programmes she has been on recently I have recorded & marked "to keep" because of some of the techniques & ideas she has.  Did you see the one where she made her own stencilling paste?  I wa...

Its 11 July  and a CSNW member has a birthday Happy Birthday Elvena Have a great day

... well, that is still a bit of a stretch of the imagination -but a big improvement. I managed to clear 2 more boxes today - mind you the contents are stacked on top of each other now on trolleys etc.  But once I can get the boxes out the way - I can get to the bookcases & the desk & put more away. Here are the latest views; so, as you step down into the craft room from the lounge - not a lot of difference. this is the view towards the window now - a layer of boxes has gone - I no longer have to squeeze down a narrow aisle, although it still is a bit of a squeeze. Same view - different. Yesterday I found the big zip-up folder with my embossing folders in - still need to find the E-bosser. It's going to be in the last one isn't it? We have started getting visited by birds in the garden now - they have realised that someone is putting out food & a bath.  I just missed taking a photo of a blackbird having a bath today.  I had bee...

Good evening everyone - another scorcher of a day! This morning I unpacked a couple more boxes - one of which was a box of boxes - they had card, paper, embellishments in. There was also my folder in which I store ideas & cuttings for club meetings along with the programme plan where I enter things as I think of things to do.  It also holds other relevant things that I need to refer to from time to time - so a sort of bible folder. I printed & posted out letters about the monthly lunch that I organise which is Thursday next week - so that is another job caught up with.  I also managed to print the letter inserts for the cards I am sending out to let various people know we have moved - & in some cases - as I said last night, to let them know we got married.  Just need to decorate the front of the cards & then get them in the post tomorrow. I found a little 2-drawer unit with my coloured card in, a scrapbook album I have been working on about my litt...

Good evening everyone Another beautiful day - but it is a bit warm to be moving boxes about.  Still! I haven't over done it & have managed to clear another 3 boxes. The best part of it is that I found the box with my Promarkers in.  I was a bit worried about them because I couldn't be sure that they would have been stored horizontally - but they were - so that was a relief.  I have also found the little bags that used to sit on my desk before that hold my brushes for use with Distress inks etc & lots of other useful items.  I found clear embossing powder & some small jars of coloured EP.  I already had a few inks in a box from when I visited the Carmel WI a few weeks back.  This means I can start to stamp as most of my stamps are in one of my 10-drawer trolleys which are right here beside me. I even found my encaustic wax irons (Yes! iron s ) - because some time ago I couldn't find the iron & thought I must have given it to someone so ...

Many congratulations to Andy Murray on winning Wimbledon 2013. Well deserved What a great day!

Good evening all Well! what a beautiful weekend it has been. Over this weekend we have tried to balance the "getting organised" with "the enjoying this lovely weather" problem.  Problem?!!? Surely there is no problem!  Enjoy this weather whilst it is here.  So! we sorted our summerhouse this morning & organised the furniture & other items that had just been put in there at the time of the move.  This way we ended up with an area we could at least sit in when it was actually too hot to sit out on the patio.  This morning was one of those times.  When I took the furniture out of the summerhouse to make sure it was clean it was really hot. I washed all the cane furniture & gave the cushions a really good beating.   By the time this was all done & we had put it back in the summerhouse it was a more pleasant temperature. Whilst I was doing this - Bob went to Asda for the essentials for the weekend & then we gave in & spoilt...

Good evening & what a fantastic day it has been - so good to see the blue skies & sun. This morning Sue came round to be my first visitor (outside of the family) at the new house.  We spent the whole of her visit out in the garden - so I am now sitting here with a rather red face which I hope won't look so red in the morning.  We had a really good natter catching up over the last 2/ 3 weeks. Anyway - the main reason for my post today is that second set of photos from the CSNW meeting on Wednesday.  The project for the evening was trying the wax resist technique. When I use this technique I usually stamp an image in black permanent ink, then highlight areas with a wax crayon, then cover the whole with inks such as Distress Inks blending different colours.  The piece is then buffed with a soft tissue to remove the wax & the white of the card shows through as a highlight.   But colour can be added in any way that is liked & you will see a variet...