News......

Hello crafters.

Sorry for my absence. Life. It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure. A very very emotional one. 

It’s times when you are at your lowest ebb when peoples true colours are shown. And I am so so lucky. I have so many wonderful people in my life. I have felt true love, support, charity and kindness. It has also shown me how very, very truly evil some people can be. Which is disappointing, but thankfully one bad apple in a cart of goodness, can be dealt with. 

Obviously loosing my sister has been dramatic, but it also made me take a step back from my work and see where my direction has been going.

At first, I just needed a break from everything, but on Sunday, I met my lovely friend, Barbara Gray, and we chatted (for hours), discussed, planned, cried (a lot!! Seems standard at the moment) and cemented our idea to start a brand new adventure. We are going to have a mixed media line with Clarity!

I’m really excited, and it feels perfect. Barbara is my friend, I love her work, in fact I’ve admired Barbara for years. I love her team, and look forward to working alongside them. They’re also nice and close to me when I’m home, so I can nip in to work!!

I’m so excited, and wanted to share the news.

It’s very very important however , that I take this opportunity to say a MASSIVE thank you to Crafters Companion. Leann and Ross have been fantastic. So patient, so helpful, and they really guided me in the right direction. Sara of course is incredible, and her energy is unbelievable. I sincerely appreciate all their help. And part company with nothing but respect and gratitude. Crafters are an amazing company, with a good team.

I also need to say a HUGE thank you to each one of my design team. They supported me, inspired me, and made everything i created look fantastic. They’ve also been incredibly patient with me, as I’ve been utterly off the radar, for which I really apologise!! I’m so sorry team. You are wonderful.

So, next!! Obviously we’re not rushing anything, my heads not great still, so it’s going to be a gentle launch, hopefully building into a fantastic collection. Barbara is funny, she knew my head was all over the place, so rang me Monday and managed to get me out of my headpit and start thinking about craft!! Thank you Barb!

Happy days indeed xxxx

Let leonie loose...Carabelle and the wonderful Gelpress

Carabelle....how much do I love these stamps.  The designs, the quality.  The variety.  They're ace.  This weeks LLL show was made up of good worker stamps, you know, the sort that will be a good background for all your other stamps, dies, stencils...all your stash.  Use them with clay, angelina fibres, texture paste or lashings of paint.  Whatever...they will work.

I had my first proper play with the Gelpress.

Addicted.

Honestly, I'm having withdrawal symptoms...I had to do "other stuff" today, and quite frankly didn't want to.  Well, I say this, I wanted to combine it with the other stuff to be honest! Block printing on top of these backgrounds....that is definitely going to happen!






The joy of all the pieces is how easy they are.  I had to have a play to find my feet first of all, but when I got the hang of it, there was no stopping me.  The stamps are amazing, as you lift the paint off the Gelpress, and then take a print.  Layering, and adding more detail, colour and texture adds such depth to each piece.



It did help having a block of card stock at hand.  The Clarity card is perfect, it prints beautifully, and has been cut to the perfect size, so you can easily print in precisely the same place - making the ability to layer your images really simple.  I also used the paints from Barbara, these were the Viva Decor acrylic, and of course the Gel Press.













I used the stencil below, from Indigo Blu, quite a lot, as it's perfect for pulling out specific words, or using it for the full verse. 











Many of the layers were also using the bird stencil from Carabelle, which again is such a handy tool.  I also reached for my Mamma Makes stamps - always handy for journaling and art pieces.



Homework for myself.....who fancies a GelPress workshop next year?  :)

Ally Pally

Good evening crafters.

That was a looonnnngggg drive home.  Shattered, but now home with my two happy dogs, who were just a little bit happy to see me.

What a smashing weekend we've had at Ally Pally.  I was lucky enough to demo all weekend with paints and stamps - obviously covered in a multitude of colours at the end of each day.  I shared my delight in watching what paint does when splattered onto wet card.....seriously, it never gets boring!  Thankfully, other people agree, and were just as keen to see the results as I was (i'm not out of a job yet then).

I was demoing with another selection of cool stamps from Carabelle - who were actually at the show!  It's the first time they have brought their products to a UK show, so I was thrilled when they actually reconised me.  Their designers are amazing, and it's so good to see all the finished samples and stamps in real life.

A usual Ally Pally is the best place to catch up with crafty pals.  There are always so many familiar faces.  Thank you to everyone who came to visit, who said lovely things, and brought us lovely things!  I always come away worn out, but happy.






Dave!  If you saw the wonderful poem I shared on facebook (all the colours of the distress pads)....this is the very gent who penned it for me.




I love theses ladies!!!!  Always laughing, always bringing us a ray of sunshine....and also THE BEST vegan food xxxx



Ahem!!......





Awww, so pleased that Carol and Mum came to visit

saw

Carabelle!!!!!  All the squeals



The wonderfully talented (and just lovely) Tracey from Lavinia Stamps




It was great to see some of my design team members as well, the very talented Anne and Jane.  Thank you for all your inspirational work ladies :)








Aww, crafty buddies.  Our Lisa, Julia and Phil :) xxx


And the Hochanda gang!!  We cracked it team



The weekend was topped off with the best greeting and big hug from the lovely Katie, and seeing my lovely mate Barbara.