WOYWW 454 - post show post

Hi happy deskers!  Last week got away with me and I know I missed some desks... this week I will try harder, but I am going away on Thursday; more about that later .  If you need to know where to go to link your desk, it is here

So, post show post it says... Sunday was the stamp show at Stevenage, always used to be one of my favourites, although like so many it's not what it used to be, so many bargain price stands (nothing wrong with bargains, obviously, but not at the expense of "proper" crafting)
As you may have seen in my report, however, my favourite company, Paperartsy announced that apart from Ally Pally they won't be attending shows any more... I am gutted, as that was the only reason I go to most of them

 the full pics from the show are here

but in case you missed it, these are my small purchases...



ahem

but that was Sunday and since then I have "tidied" ... well,  moved stuff around a bit....to uncover my craft mat

I used some of the new stuff, as I had to make a couple of birthday cards -
this one for my niece (she'll be 18, but this is such a cute duck I couldn't resist using it straight away!)

 and her mum, my sister in law...








JoFY stamps



(arrived on Friday, lol!)
they were a delayed pre-order

and this is what my desk looks like at the time of writing (Tuesday night)

train tickets, a small gift and a list of things I need to pack..

I am heading to Poole (Dorset) to stay with my mate Lin, on Thursday afternoon, and then on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, we are doing a couple of workshops with Antonis Tzanidakis - so I am really looking forward to that.

So, forgive me if I don't have time to visit all of you this week too!  I need to pack Wednesday night as I am working Thursday morning before I go.

WOYWW 451 - new journal pages, new stamps!

Welcome to another Wednesday desk-fest... Week 451...
I am still (buying new stash) using stash I haven't used before; using new stamps; creating art... did I mention buying new stamps?

I have had a bit of a splurge (and some!) on some of the new Paperartsy releases that have been launched at Creativation (what used to be called CHA, much easier!) and the first two sets have arrived..

so these are the first two  - designs by Raquel Burillo Perez ("Scrapcosy")  and I inked them up straight away (because I am going to now.  No more storing stroking not using stuff.. Buy it.. Use it..for a while at least!)

You can see they are laying against my square journal which I am having such fun in... so, Monday night I used the ship set, on the blue page... and Tuesday night (tonight, but don't tell) I used the seahorse set on the pink page..

 the blue paints were brayered and when the stamps arrived, I added a bit more white paint to allow the ship to show up... it stamps beautifully, as you would expect for Paperartsy stamps...

the pink page (applied paint with my fingers, something I never do, and really don't like to do much, but for some reason it felt right...)  It started as so often, with leftover paint from something else

I know pink is odd for a seascape, but hey it's a fantasty seascape! 

I had forgotten that the page beneath this one was the one with all the die cut flowers glued to it, so some dodgy stamping happened - so I re-stamped the big seahorse and the octopus on tissue and glued it over the dodgy images..
See, on WOYWW we share our secrets! 

and here they are on my desk!


There is a lot more stuff to come, but some of it is on pre-order, so I don't know exactly when it will be making it's desk appearance! 

you'll just have to keep watching..


Thanks for your visits last week (and in advance of today)  and I will catch you very soon

Crafting at Ally Pally show

Hi, one and all.  Rounded my week off with another long day on my feet!! The Crafting at Ally Pally show is on this weekend.
Got there early,and the skies were cloudy but it was clear enough so took some views from the top of the hill outside Ally Pally.

 good view of the city Canary Wharf tower blocks between the trees

 Alexandra Palace in all her glory..

 signs of autumn

 stopped to chat to a stall holder on a cigarette break (him not me!) from the final setting up, tried to answer his questions about what all the tall buildings we could see were!

 Had time for a coffee and cake to fortify myself, then to the queue to get in at 10...

 obviously first port of call - Paperartsy...

 Leandra was demoing Oxides over embossed stamping

 the make and takes underway - this table by Courtney, Leandra and Mark's daughter, and the second by Raquel

 settled in to watch demos - Leandra

 and Lauren - let's see how long her tidy workspace lasts...

WOYWWer Cindy doing a make and take with her mum

 Lauren demoing for Jo V and me

 watching Leandra as well!!

 still tidy Lauren;  it's no good protesting, I will keep taking photos!

 after a good long time I pulled myself away to see what else was happening and if there was anything else I "needed"
Visible Image stand.. (not so fond of polymer stamps but the designs are gorgeous)

 Button Moon (nearly bought a bag of ribbon)

 bit of a crowd for the dies and stuff here...

 though some of the stands had quite a crowd round them, there definitely seemed lots fewer people here than normal

 lunchtime.  look how empty it is! (those of you who've been will appreciate this)

fab samples on the Card-io stand

 Carabelle Studio were here from France for the first time... love their stamps but they're very pricey...

 Alison and Hazel were having a rummage in a box of loose stamps...

 and there was a make and take using Oxides with their stamps

















this was as I sat and had my lunch... about 1pm probably.   very empty.  also fewer stalls I think than normal.

 when I got back to Paperartsy, I had a lovely surprise as Alison Bomber was there



She didn't want me to take this but I bribed her by showing her I'd bought some of her stamps...

 having a quick play - Leandra is watching on

 Leandra then made Alison have her picture taken in front of her own stamps - so I got one of them both - love this!

 Leandra demoing Oxides over a crackle Fresco paint background

 more make and takes at Paperartsy

 love the Infusion storage box - get them made Mark!!

 Leandra doing vintage grungy with the Zinski monsters

over a background from Infusions over Frescos

 then moving onto JoFY stamps

 HA!!  caught Lauren with a messy table... not very messy to be fair! 5 hours - a record!

 Leandra adding white pen scribbles...

 to her finished masterpiece

 tidy again!















I had a really smooth journey home, connections at tube and mainline train worked perfectly, and got home just before it rained

my purchases fitted into one of the small Paperartsy bags (if you know your bag sizes!!)  This will probably surprise some of you.....












and here it is.   Some stencils - the ones standing are Kim Dellow's (Paperartsy) one Carabelle stamp (standing) some packs of paper flowers and some double sided tape

3 large stencils by Imagination Crafts, and a few (ok, 6) new Paperartsy stamp sets...




now I need to eat and put my feet up!
I've not been home an hour yet - hope you're impressed at my speed getting this out there.