Hollywood Squares, How A Musing!

There's another fun game over on the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA blog. All you have to do is guess which designer's square is hiding a prize to get through to the next round and the game will continue, adding new prizes each time until they get to one eventual winner. That person (and I soooo want it to be me LOL) will pick up all the prizes from every round - so it could be a huge prize.
As with all the games, you will need to be registered so if you're not already I guess you better do it now LOL. Please do mention me as the referrer as I'm entered into the ambassador's competition & I think I might have already mentioned how much I want to win that LOL.

There's still time to enter a card into the Week 5 designer challenge too. The winner is always picked by a random number generator (which is sooo cool I've used it to pick my blog candy winner) so it doesn't matter whether you are a beginner or have been stamping forever, you'll have just as much chance as the next person. You have until Sunday!

Good luck everyone!!

I Want (blog) Candy!! (Does That A Muse You?)

Each comment I received got one chance in the draw and each person that registered for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA was allocated an extra five chances. I used this random number generator to pick a winner. The winner of the Blog Candy is ....

LEONIE!!

Congratulations!! I already have your e-mail address, so I'll contact you to get your postal address and your blog candy will be on its way.
Thank you to everybody who posted a comment & especially those who registered for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA. Keep your eye on this blog - there will be lots of other chances to win over the coming weeks.

I Got Caught Out! (How A Musing!)

Well it seems I was wrong & this week's A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA design challenge was posted at the crack of dawn (just past midnight actually) so it's up already. Challenge 5 is to create a scene (of the pictorial kind - not a tantrum LOL) & I think it's going to be - well, a challenge really LOL. You can view all the details here and just take a look at that yummy prize MMMMmmmmmm! An A Muse clear alpha set, two new Clearsnap pigment inks and Strano ribbons - I'm loving all the products from the sponsors of A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA & can't wait to get mine!! Why not pop over to the sponsors websites (there are links on the AP blog) & take a look for yourself.

And don't forget to register to take part in the free weekly draws - please mention me as the referrer - I want to win stuff too LOL

Don't forget to make a comment to win blog candy at the bottom of this post

I Bet The Winners Are A Mused!

Loads of winners posted on the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA blog today (& nope! I wasn't among them ). A mammoth FOUR prizes this week: the usual two drawn from registrations (see! there is a reason you all need to register); the design challenge winner (who I believe picvked up a prize a couple of weeks back too - you lucky, lucky lady); and an extra one this week to celebrate A Muse's 6th birthday! You can check out all the winners so far here.

I can't believe how much cool stuff is up for grabs - they've had Strano ribbons, rubber stamps, clear stamp alphabets & numbers, splitcoast stampers stuff, t-shirts, stickers, notecards & pretty little papers - I soooo need all this stuff!

Keep an eye out tomorrow (oops! that's today now LOL) for the next design challenge. With the difference in time zones, it hits the blog at around 5-6 pm in the UK! But never fear - I'll be looking for it & will post here too!

Bee A Mused!

I spent a few hours making cards today for the AP Ambassador's Competition. They are, of course, all available to view in my gallery but I just wanted to share this one with you (it's my favourite!!). The flowers are punched from ribbon (yes really!) that has been treated with a very cool product called ribbon stiffener (see, there's a clue in the title there) which, once dry, allows you to punch, die cut etc without fraying.

The challenge for this week, which ends today, was to use punches as well as the A Muse stamps so I had a lot of fun trying out the ribbon stiffener with various punches and conbining with a few of the stamps that I've not used before. This card uses two punches, the flower and a circle punch for the greeting. I've also used a couple of the stamps that Auntie Jane has lent me and some Strano ribbon samples (the joys of owning a shop!) sent over from the US for me to try out (they also make the ribbon stiffener). The flower centres are mini heart Twinkle Stickers, also by A Muse. I usually avoid gems, partly because they are a bit fiddly but these are self adhesive and soooo easy to use that I think I might becaome a BIG fan. To add movement to the bees (this stamp is sooooo cute!) just add a few dots with a fineliner - v. effective!

There's another card posted over on the shop blog and more info on the ribbon stiffener!! And if you haven't already, don't forget to post a comment on the post before this for your chance to win blog candy!!

Blog Candy To A Muse You

Yep! It's completely true. I have blog candy as shown in the picture and I will send it to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this post. And if that's not enough, pop over to A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA and register there, leaving my name (Beverley Todd) as the referrer, for five extra chances to win! Just don't forget to tell me you've done it when you post LOL.

You better hurry tho', I'm going to announce the winner on Tuesday 29th May. So good luck & don't forget to register!

This Will NOT A Muse You

If you didn't get over to the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Blog yesterday, then you missed out on the first sneak peek of the new Fall (Autumn - we are multi-lingual here LOL) collection. I guess the post was only there for 24 hours, so it's definitely worth bookmarking the blog and visiting every day! There are promises of more sneak peeks to come and you wouldn't want to miss any more LOL. There's still time to enter this week's challenge to make a card using stamps and punches but you will need to register - and put me down as the referrer please as I'm desperate to be the first ever A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Ambassador.
And watch this space for some exciting blog candy coming later today!!

This Will Impress AND A Muse You

The sneak peek has finally appeared - see it here I had already seen this (all the participating stores have had access to the make n take & card class images for a few weeks - but don't ask me - we're all sworn to secrecy ON PAIN OF DEATH LOL) but I still LOVE it and can't wait to get it for my own collection!!
Don't forget to post a comment - I guess if the A Muse Crew get enough requests, they might just give in and post another sneak peek LOL.
And don't forget to register if you haven't already - you could get your hands on some free stash just for doing so - and I need the points, so put me down as the referrer please!

A Mused Again!

The run-up to the 2nd Annual A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA is well underway and yet another winner has been announced. Find the answer to 'how many stamps are there in Jennifer's suitcase?' here . For this competition there was a $100 gift certificate for A Muse Artstamps up for grabs - and all you had to do was guess a number. And while we are talking about prizes, did you realise that there have been SIX prizes given out so far - just for registering! That's three sets of A Muse rubber stamps and Strano Designs ribbon worth $40 each & three T-shirts - no cards to make, just for registering.

So why not do yourself a favour & register now - and do me a favour and put my name as the referrer (Beverley Todd) - 'cos I want to win stuff too LOL!

At the beginning of the week the A Muse team promised a sneak peek at some of the new designs that will be launched internationally at A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA & as yet they haven't posted it. So it must be coming soon & I'm popping over there regularly to have a look. If you're in the UK like me, bear in mind that they are across the pond and 8 hours behind us - so there's no point at all checking first thing in the morning LOL. But if you have a bit of time in the evening (the later the better really) it's well worth checking out the blog. I have seen the yummy designs that we'll be using in our events & I guarantee you're gonna love them!

Paper Punches A Muse Me!

The next challenge is up on the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Blog & this time they are looking for cards that incorporate paper punches in the design. There's a link to Julie Ebersole's gorgeous Dandy-Lion card, which is just sooooo cute! The best thing about this competition is that, because they pick a random winner (using a number generator programme thingy) that a complete beginner has an equal chance of winning as a professional designer! So what are you waiting for, pop over and register (they gave even more free stamps & t-shirts away yesterday - just for registering - no real effort required) & have a go at a hand stamped card, using a paper punch!! The prize this week is a mystery but just have a look on the blog at what they've given away so far & you know it's gonna be good!
And when you register, please, please, please put me down as the referrer 'cos I really, really, really want to win the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Ambassador Competition LOL. Will post my efforts at the end of the week!

This, However, IS A Musing

I think I'm going to run out of witty titles before I run out of posts about the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA run-up events.
If you are quick, there's still time to guess how many stamps (all A Muse, of course) there are in Jennifer's suitcase. There's $100 gift certificate to spend at A Muse up for grabs so it's gotta be worth a guess. There has been a bit of a problem with the survey site but, if you cannot get the link to work, scroll to the bottom of that post and there is all the info you need to e-mail your entry.
They have given away another $80 of stamps & ribbons in the last week, plus TWO A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA T-shirts in addition to the weekly challenge prize - so it's well worth joining in!! You do need to register - and I might have mentioned before, PLEASE put my name (Beverley Todd) as the referrer as I am entered into the separate ambassador's competition and I REALLY WANT TO WIN!!!

The A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA blog is also promising a sneak peek at some of the new designs that will be launched internationally on July 9th - sometime this week - how exciting is that? So it's gotta be well worth popping over there just to see if they've posted it yet! And, of course, the next design challenge should be posted very soon!!

It's Only A Card Post - It Doesn't NEED To Be Amusing!

I've been busy the last couple of days, hiding out at my Mum's where I have access to a large table & a room to call my own (well, for a few hours anyway.)And very productive it has been too! I'm hosting a children's craft party on Sunday for 10 six year old girls so there has been a whole host of pink and girly things to design. I'm not going to post them until after the event as I know her dad has been blog-hopping in the vicinity LOL.

As well as that, I have made four cards for this week's A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge. This one, I think, is my favourite as I am primarily a collage artist (that's cutting and sticking to the uninitiated!). The background is two strips from a 6x6 paper by The English Paper Company & what I like about their papers is they are scaled down on the smaller pads so the images are suitable for cardmaking. I often use scrapbook papers to make cards but the houses on this one are too big on the 12x12 format. Anyway, I trimmed the strips to get the rows of houses closer together in the background, inked the edges and stuck the layers together before sticking to the card. The girl was stamped on to white linen cardstock and coloured with brush pens. I had to hand cut the oval as I don't have a suitable oval punch (the template came from my tagmaker frames - resourceful eh?) Then the phrase was stamped directly on to the card and the little bird stamped in position so that it is perched on top of the proverb.

I had to reverse the sketch for this challenge as the girl was facing the wrong way & would have looked like she was walking straight off the card if she was on the right. I hope that's not cheating LOL. The other cards are all in my A Muse gallery if you'd like to have a browse, they are all just basic stamping - no masking, embossing or other techniques - just stamping on to card with ink. I hope you like them.

This A Muses Me!

Yay! The new challenge (number 3) has now been posted on the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Blog. We've already had use only black ink (which I missed), use NO black ink (which was hard) and now there is a sketch to follow! Looking forward to this one, although I wish I had some of the larger stamps - which would make it soooo much easier LOL. I'm sure I'll think of something though. I've never used a sketch for a card before, only once for a layout when I had a REALLY bad case of Scrapper's Block, so that will make a nice change.
AND it seems that we might all have misread the rules slightly! EACH design challenge post says 'use at least one A Muse stamp if possible' so that seems to imply that if you don't have any that you don't have to use them! So no more excuses - you can ALL register to take part in the challenges and win free goodies - and PLEASE put me down as the referrer because I really, really, REALLY want to win the Ambassador's Competition LOL.
I'm stuck at home with the flu at the moment but out of bed today at least. I've had to lay down a couple of times but really I'm much better. I'm looking forward to getting some of those things done for which the deadlines are looming. I have a children's party to host on Sunday and a design team entry to make for the end of the month - plus all the yummy challenges for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA. So looks like I'm gonna be a creative little bunny over the next couple of weeks. Here, for starters, is the third card I was making for last week's challenges. I didn't finish it in time as I had managed to misplace my glue dots LOL.

I'm Still A Mused!

Just uploaded these photos of the cards I made for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Ambassador Competition. The challenge this week, which closes tonight was to create cards without using black ink. Rather than using brown instead, I opted to use suitable colours for the fish and reeds on 'best fishes' and go with the background red for the 'make a wish' card. The fairy was coloured with shimmer chalks for a little extra sparkle & then matted onto a piece of antique silver paper. The ribbon (stapled to the greeting) is from Strano Designs, who are also sponsors of A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA. The notecards & all of the stamps I used are by A Muse Art Stamps. Look out for A Muse and Strano products coming to Crop 'Til You Drop soon, all new stuff is announced on the shop blog, along with all the DT creations, latest news and events, so it's well worth a visit. Oh! and HUGE thanks to Auntie Jane, who generously gave me a bunch of A Muse notecards, I've never had them before but love them sooo much that I'm definitely getting them for the shop!!

Phew!! There's about 7 links in that paragraph LOL. Keep checking back this week as I'm going to post info about the next
A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA design challenge as soon as I get it & there will be some cool images for the makes we are doing for a child's birthday party on Sunday. There might be one or two more A Muse cards too!

I'm A Mused LOL

So I've still not actually done a challenge for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA but still I've managed to collect a few points for this week LOL. The latest fun thing they've added is a 'frapper map' those taking part can add their details & voila! you appear on the map. Sadly, I seem to be all alone in the UK, the next closest being Heather in Germany (but she's A Muse Crew). Why don't you all pop on & register - there's some great prizes up for grabs & don't forget to put me down in the referral bit - I could do with the points LOL.

I've been busy down at the shop sorting out insurance stuff & all sorts of boring paperwork so there hasn't been any time at all for crafting - but just thinking about the challenges has been great fun & I still have time to get a few in LOL.

Are You A-Mused?

Found this great little event through one of the many newsletters I'm signed up for!
And as I like to sign up for the occasional challenge (!) I couldn't resist. I think I missed the first week or two - but never mind, I could catch up yet LOL. There's loads of stuff going on over there, giveaways, challenges & the chance to be the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Ambassador (with lots more prizes!!). First you have to register and if you do it through the link, please don't forget to put me down as the referral name (Beverley Todd), because I'm in the Competition too!! But even if you don't want to do the challenges, there are other ways to win!! & don't forget to let me know you've registered so I can claim my points!!
The competition is basically to spread the word about A Muse Artstamps over in Seattle - I've always liked their quirky designs but it has been difficult to get all the other stuff that they do over here, Auntie Jane has been raving about them for AGES ... Check out their website here, especially the galleries - particularly brilliant if you love the designs but didn't quite know what you'd do with them, certainly made me want to play more!!

Look out on the shop blog in the next few days for an exciting announcement!!

Sooo much to do right now, I have a DT entry deadline looming, The Best Of British Scrapbooking competition has been announced (deadline mid-june) the Ambassador title to win(!) AND my printer has died (Noooooooooo!). But I will find a way - there has to be a way LOL

I've Made It To New York!

The blog that I spoke about on April 28th has now gone live & I've been blogrolled LOL! Nicole spotted my personal Blog & asked if she could use some of my stuff on their blog - well I didn't take much persuading (modest little thing that I am LOL) & yep! You guessed it, it's that chair again!! You can see the blog entry here (scroll down to may 2nd) & all my other decopatch projects are here if you'd like to take another look. And if you've not heard enough about it yet, the Crop 'Til You Drop members only club are getting full instructions to make the top hat in this month's mailing (including the instructions on how to get it just the right size!! It's a bit of a 'Blue Peter' moment (minus the sticky backed plastic LOL)

Win My Stash!!

This is a copy of the post I've put over on the shop blog but I didn't want visitors to this site to miss out! It's not been altered at all, so it might not make so much sense here as it does over there, where you can read the previous posts to put everything in context. But I'm feeling a bit lazy today (& we've had another break in since the fire - so I've tons of stuff to be doing really) so I thought I'd just copy & paste it here!
This is what it says:
So it looks like I was being seriously over optimistic about when we will be able to open again & realistically it's not going to be this week either. This is causing major interruptions to the Mad May Sale, which ran for all of two days prior to the fire. We have discovered some serious structural problems, which is going to delay our re-opening & we might even be relocated - the fact is we just don't know yet! You can still shop with us online, of course.
Anyway, as I'm at a bit of a loose end, that's given me a bit of time to think (always a dangerous thing LOL) & I have decided to give away a big box of my personal stash to one lucky visitor to our forum!! All the details are here & as it's a FREE draw, all you have to do is talk to me to be in with a chance of winning!! The more you chat, the more chances you get (we don't often get a reward for chatting, do we?) If you don't already visit our forum, this is such a good time to start. I'll announce the winner on June 1st.
Be Lucky!!

This Isn't Funny Anymore!!

Yesterday I received a modem from Talk Talk! You might wonder why that's a problem, well I hope you are sitting comfortably, for I am about to tell you a story...
I switched from BT to Talk Talk back in November '06 & the broadband was due to go on December 3rd (also '06 - they are late, not early!!) So after a few months (3, I think) of the constant calls to the call centre (polite but no help at all) We finally cancelled the lot and switched to NTL (now part of Virgin Media). So now I have a modem! Makes you wonder how pointless one company can be!

So in itself that's not a big deal... tonight was! Within half an hour of my husband leaving for his night shift, I was taken from my home IN A POLICE CAR (that's never happened before!) Now obviously, I've not been incarcerated (I don't think they give you internet access in the cells LOL) just teasing a bit. So the police car bit was true ... but the reason was to take me to my shop to inspect the damage done by the fire on the derelict land next door. Yep! more bad stuff little over a week since the last one.

So I spent my evening with the police. fire brigade, electrician & glazier (for the emergency boarding of the same window as last time - and the door that the fire brigade broke in through!)
My kitchen has gone (I only cleaned it yesterday!) the stock room is both fire & water damaged & I won't know how much I've lost to smoke damage until the morning - it got dark, I have no electrics. So I'll spend tomorrow cleaning up again ...

Actually, I can't even be bothered to rant. I guess I don't even know how bad it is until I speak to the insurance company tomorrow (I've had to borrow a mobile phone as I don't possess one & the phone is down too!) I'll keep you posted.

And Sometimes Nice Things Happen ...

So I've been having an awful time of late & wondering how to/why I should/ Is there any reason to carry on & then there is a break and some nice things happen. First, there are all the messages of support that I've had on this blog, through the forum & in personal e-mails. It means so much when everything is going wrong to know that you have the support of sooo many people, even some that I have never met - or even heard of before! Yep, when things are bad even complete strangers will offer a kind word - & that restores your faith in human nature. For the couple of genuinely bad people that I have had the misfortune to cross paths with of late, there are scores of decent and kind people who hope that their support will do something to make it better - and it does!!

Next, I received an e-mail from the US wholesaler of decopatch over in New York, who had seen my projects on this blog & would like to use them in the decopatch blog they are building on their website! Apparently they think my stuff is (and I quote) 'terriffic' & if I have more they would like to see that too - Oh let me think ... OK then! LOLOL. So it's not quite a place on a DT but it's alot closer than I have been since the demise of the many magazines that I used to write for! For a reminder of what I've done, here's the decopatch handbag I filled with butterly craft goodies for my mum this mother's day, you can see more of my decopatch projects here!

Finally, today one of my customers (who I would now consider to be a friend) arrived at the shop with a bouquet of yellow roses. 'for friendship' she told me - there was chocolate too, but that NEVER needs a reason LOL. I've not seen her for a couple of weeks while she has been settling in to her new job, but she has been following the blog & wanted to do something to cheer me up - and it did!!

Had A Crafty Moment!

The shop was quiet today and after recent events I must say I was relieved! I'm still a bit wobbly from the whole theft thing and had to give my statement to the police today. So I closed up for half an hour this morning and popped down to see my old neighbours in Ripley's Market, where I first opened the shop just over two years ago. On my return I was just in the mood for a bit of cutting and sticking, so it was a great time to finish off a few projects that have looming deadlines. The first was to photograph the 8x8 album I finished yesterday. There's a little taster here and the rest of the pages are over in my gallery. I actually found it more difficult to create these pages than when I start with the photographs. I'm told it looks great but I have to admit I wasn't overly keen!

Next I finished the class layout for Wednesday - you can find it on the brand new shop blog along with some other stuff including a sneak peek of the next Friday/Saturday class. It was a bit of a mistake to make a start on that last layout - much as I love where it's going (I never plan ahead - I just start with a few papers and photos and see where it goes) I probably should have been working on some stuff for next saturday's demo day - again, the info is on the shop blog or working on my own submissions for a DT entry that I'm making soon. I don't really want to share just yet - I'm still half trying to talk myself out of applying as I doubt I'll get it and I REALLY REALLY want it!! So if I don't get in I expect I'll be completely dissappointed and I've had plenty of knock backs of late LOL. But I'll do all the projects & I guess I'll submit it and then worry all over again about how I'll feel if I don't get in. It's a big deal & I expect the competition will be really tough!

Tomorrow I'm expecting to be really busy at work - we have a huge delivery due in and a serious amount of mail order to do, so I don't suppose I'll get to play much. Such is life!!

How much more can I take?

Finally managed to finish the 8x8 album I've been working on for DS1's neice (she'll be one at the weekend) - pictures to follow (hopefully tomorrow) and spent the rest of the morning pottering on a layout for my class on wednesday night (yummy it is too!) before I was the victim of a random act of criminality!! This is how it goes:

A foreign couple come in to the shop & purchase (with a £50) a pack of rub-ons. I carefully consider whether I'm going to take this note - but I need every sale I can get so I take it & hand over £46 something in change. They then realise that these are not temporary tatoos & want a refund (the whole time talking away in a foriegn language & making sure I don't understand.) They even ask if I speak french, I reply (in french) that I do a little. The man then says something else (not in french, possibly italian - but I don't think so) So we swap the notes back except the change is now only £26 & I am £20 short. They don't even leave straight away - but browse some other papers (still speaking impossibly fast, this time I catch a couple of spanish words - but I don't think they were speaking spanish either!) They ask if we sell wallpaper - I do my best to get them out of the shop as fast as I can so that I can call the police. So maybe they think they are terribly clever & I don't know that they've robbed me - or maybe they are relying on the fact that I won't tackle them because I'm on my own - either way they win!!

So I let them (and my money) walk out of the shop. I am not rich & I cannot afford to lose £20. That is a whole month's electricity bill! It is not a victimless crime - my insurance won't cough up for £20 (the excess payment is £300!) and this is twice in as many weeks. I work seven days per week and most evenings, I take no wage AT ALL, every penny goes toward paying my suppliers, covering the shortfall for the six months we spent in a shopping precinct, covering the four months in which we had no premises. I have had just one day off this year & I expect my next one to be Christmas day.

I work hard to stay afloat & for what? For random criminals to come and help themselves? There are all sorts of attributive theories that I could apply: it's because I work in Dartford - well probably not, I suspect it's the same everywhere; it's down to the Eastern Europeans - well they might well have been Eastern European but I have other visitors from that area & they don't feel the need to rip me off! I could go on but there has to be a limit to how long I can vent my anger for (it has been, on & off, three hours so far) so maybe it's time to stop now.

So the burning question now is: how much more can I (or should I) take before packing the whole thing in & walking away?

Any thoughts?

It's Picklelicious!

Oh dear! I suppose I should have made a post about the brilliant Rusty pickle workshop on the day itself but I was just soooo fired up about it that I only managed to post a bit on the forum - as did several of the other participants. It was such a good day LOL. The mini album we made was neither of the ranges I was expecting (or had been promoting!) but I think it is absolutely beautiful. Here's a photo of the front cover! I've not yet put the photos in (or the all-important journaling!) but maybe I'll treat you to a few extra piccies later.




I realised two things in the 24 hours running up to the main event - first, we were a bin short for the tables and second (and a bit more of a problem) the lads had not measured up right and the room was too small (way too small!) for the people we had coming. Well the first was fairly easy to fix - I suppose a carrier bag taped to the end of the table would have done but as I've got a bit obsessed by decopatch recently ... and there were the new & totally yummy Rusty Pickle 1847 chipboard letters begging to be used (a pack split when I got it out of the box - so obviously I had to have it LOL) ... And there was that plastic tub sitting in the stock room ... So check it out!!






There was little I could do about the lack of space! One of our guests called in sick and I moved a small table into the hall for myself but it was definitely cozy in there! But we had a great time & Lance was a scream ... soooo many jokes! There were freebies galore and a fantastic project - what more could we ask for (except to do it again ... and we will, but in a much bigger venue!) I picked up a couple of extra class kits (complete with step by step photos) so if you missed the workshop and want the kit, contact me here & I'll e-mail you the details!! Space for one more photo I think! Here I am with the great man himself, Lance Anderson!

Let's Break A Record!

I was just over on Sara's Blog looking for info about National Scrapbooking Day & I came across a call for help from a little boy in Canada.

Shane is seven years old and has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The Well Wishes Foundation asked him what his special wish would be and he said he wants to get into the Guiness Book of Records for getting the most Birthday Cards. This is a big ask as he will need more than 1 million to break the record!!

I have already pledged my support and hope that I can count on you all to help this little lad's wish come true. Shane's birthday is on May 30th so we need to get as many cards to him as possible. I'll also be calling on all the ladies in store, on the forum, in my e-mail list and everybody they know too! I hope you'll feel able to do the same! The cards don't need to be hand made so we can call on all our non-crafty friends too!

You can send your cards direct to:
CTV Television
Cards for Shane Bernier
1500 Merivale Rd
Ottawa, Ontario
K2E 6Z5
Canada

Or drop them into the store (Crop 'Til You Drop) where we will be posting en masse. If you do send direct, please come back and post a comment as we'd love to know how many we have helped to generate for Shane. This is an illness very close to my own family, so we'd really like to give this little boy his wish.

Thanks for reading
Beverley x

Do You Decopatch?

And now the moment you've all been waiting for . That paint spattered old chair that I found abandoned when we moved into the new premises is now a thing of beauty and takes pride of place in my window display (you can sit on it too LOL). It took SIX hours to decopatch the chair - not because it was difficult but simply because of the huge surface area. Each of those slats on the chair back had to be covered and thats a lot of little corners to get into!

I used just two different patterns - the pastel stripe showing to the left of the picture and a lilac paper with a tiny floral print. It's not necessary to sand the wood first (which is great because I'm basically lazy - that's the bit that puts me off altering with paint) and I didn't remove the paint spatters either (although there were two 1" areas that I covered with a second layer of paper).

I have recently got into decopatch in a big way & it's like scrapbooking in that you start to look at things in a completely different way. With scrapbooking, clothes for my little boy that I'll buy because they have cute buttons or an embroidered image, take on a new light when I'm thinking '& when he grows out of it those buttons/pockets/patches will make a great embellishment'. I have been known to photocopy a t-shirt if I can't wait for him to grow LOL. With decopatch I'm looking at a scruffy door, chipped vase, unusual shaped bottle or whatever & thinking 'I could decopatch that!' It's also like scrapbooking in that I'll go to the £1 store and see all these hideous things that would look great altered as well as all the tinned travel games (pieces for embellishments, tins for mini albums) so now I have to be even more ruthless about what I buy - sure, it's only £1 - but when you buy 10, 20 or more items it can add up to bankruptcy before you blink.

Having said that - check out this lizard. There are two settled at the base of the chair in the window. This one was decorated with a great African inspired collage paper and the other with red roses, which when collaged in small pieces takes on an excellent gothic red/black. I used small faceted black beads for the eyes, which were glued in place with Artsy Collage Ultimate Glue (by HOTP)

It's hard to believe that they started out as the most hideous metallised plastic wall decorations LOL. If you'd like to see more of my recent decopatch creations have a look here!

The Good Life!

OK - so it's taken me three days not the one I was going for to upload the photo of my latest layout - but I have been being creative (and spending far too much time on my forum!) But here it is. I've spent a bit of time on UKS lately and in an attempt to actually get some scrapping done I have taken part in a couple of the challenges. This one was to be about the good life & came about in a completely accidental way. I was working on a layout for a class and as it took shape I realised that it was my idea of the good life ... A whole day scrapping in the company of my favourite crafter (Sara Naumann from HOTP) although one of the photos was from a make n take with Christy from Rusty Pickle at the trade show over that same weekend.

I've also been checking out a couple of the online sites where you can generate all sorts of goodies for your pages: concert tickets; captioned postcards & journalled record cards - & I've put the links in the 'check this out' section to the right - am I good to you or what??? The layout features a Chuck Norris postcard - all guns blazing with the caption 'nobody specified glue gun!' My husband, eldest son & I had great fun thinking of captions before we came up with this one!

I've also put a bit of journaling onto a generated record card & slipped a faux ticket for the training day with sara into the mix - along with one of my other fave forms of text: dictionary pages. This one was my eldest son's school dictionary that I rescued about a year ago on one of those rare occasions that he was tidying his room! I love to ink the edges and highlight the relevant definitions with chalk - although this dictionary is already aged (it's around 10 years old!) and the pages have that comforting yellow to them (not lignin free then!)

So now I have a bit of a puzzle for you: try to imagine what the rather haggard object on the right (the white spots are paint spatters) might look like when I've finished with it! Clue: since we started stocking Decopatch in the shop I've become a little bit obsessed (my family are a bit wary of staying still for too long in case I try to make them over LOL)! Will post the finished result in the next few days (it's finished but I've not photographed it yet!) along with a few other goodies I've been working on.

All The Fun Of The Fair!

The last week or so has NOT been a barrel of laughs! The fair was in town at the end of March & it may be a coincidence that on the Saturday (March 31) we had a break in at the shop. Nothing much was taken (craft stash is of no real value to the average thief anyway!) but the damage and aggravation cannot be measured in £££s alone. And anyway, with the huge excess limit on my insurance policy it's not like I'm going to claim - so it all comes out of my own pocket. Victimless crime? I think not!!

They came in through the kitchen window and as there was a vase on the sill, that left a mass of glass and water over the surfaces and floor - cheers guys!! There were 60 cigarettes also on the sill - gone obviously. And if I was thinking of chucking the towel in, I can't - because they took that too! Ironically, I spent April fools day doing exactly the same as I did on April 1st 2005 - clearing up glass and giving a statement to the police. Oh! didn't I mention that on March 31st 2005 my very first shop was broken into? Same day, same road - freaky heh?

I won't bore you with the details of the rest of my naff week but instead move onto something more reader-friendly. I have scrapped! Not a lot, but scrapping nonetheless. The first was a challenge on a forum I'm registered on. This layout, 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', is so not what I'd usually do but I'm really pleased with the results. The second, 'Holtz, Who Goes There', I designed for our member's only monthly project - and the feedback has been really positive. Both were made with HOTP Masculine Sarapapers & Embellish-abilities

I've also just finished a decopatch hat - it started life as a grocery box and I have to say I'm soooo impressed with the results!
And if you've not seen enough of my stuff here, check out the link here to my brand new photobucket gallery (see - I've been being all technical againLOL)

Today, I've made one more new layout & I'll try to remember to photograph it & post it tomorrow ;o) There will also be a couple of exciting new links, where you can generate all sorts of personalised tickets, seals, postcards etc to add to your webpages & layouts! Until then, thanks for visiting & do come back soon!

Let's Get Technical!

I can't believe how far I've come in the last few months since I started blogging! It all started back in November last year & I was impressed with myself simply for starting a blog in the first place - a short profile & a few words. Over time I got braver & added a few links, hyper links in the text, photos & even a virtual pet.

This week's technological breakthrough is a gallery of my own. I've become a bit of a forum junkie of late & there seems to be a lot of talk of photobucket - so I popped on over & in just a couple of days I have not only a gallery, but sub galleries, plural. Finding the photos has been a task in itself...

Not being the tidiest of people (bet you couldn't have guessed that LOL) I'm afraid that my photographs are in files on the computer labelled only with the date they were uploaded. This, it seems, is a completely unhelpful way of storing info & I have spent countless hours over the last couple of days going through EVERY file of pics stored since December 2005. Some have been deleted, others moved into new sub-folders in my brand new photobucket folder and others are still there with the upload date labels - ready for the next frantic search when I need a particular photo LOL.

Predictably, as I do very little without a specific purpose, there was a very good reason for the sudden urge to start a gallery ... There is an American design team to which I want to apply (and I'm not saying which one as I don't expect I'll get it) who ask for links to online galleries as part of the submission process. I've planned on having one for a while but there are sooooo many things on my 'to do' list that I never get past the ones that need to be acted upon post haste.

So there you have it - a sense of urgency is always just the thing to make me spring into action & I like nothing better then a deadline LOL. Obviously, the gallery is in its infancy & I have so much more to upload - but if you'd like to take a peek, you'll find it here

Update on Design Team: So far, I've had a brilliant response to the DT call. I've had 3 submissions to date & lots of other enquiries. If you've not yet had a chance to find out more, there's plenty of time yet as the deadline is not until April 20. Please don't e-mail me for the details as they are posted here but do feel free to e-mail me for the address to send them too when you are ready to submit.

I can hear my bed calling - must be time to hit the hay then ;o)

Call for a design team

I'm sure I've said it before but I've accepted (for today, at least) that I am not superwoman & can't do it all by myself! The 'it' that I can't do, is supply all the layouts, class projects, member's only club projects, shop samples and gallery images to keep all our visitors entertained. And much as I'd love to keep all the yummy samples for myself (let's face it, who wouldn't) it's time to admit defeat & ask for some help.



So this is it: Crop 'Til You Drop is going to join the ever expanding number of shops that has a design team! Since we announced it first on the forum yesterday, there has been a flurry of activity, e-mails, personal messages & other related contact. It has caused more excitement than I had expected and instead of looking at it as defeat, I have to say, I'm getting quite excited too LOL.



There has been talk of bribes and thinly veiled attempts to get some inside info - all to no avail. I haven't yet decided how many team members there will be - or what exactly I'm looking for - but I want our visitors to have as wide a variety of inspiration that can be found both in store and on both galleries. So I'll be looking at all the submissions to see who will do that for me. I'm not necessarily looking for seasoned crafters, so I hope beginners will submit too & I'm not interested in age, gender, education, formal training or whether or not our team members have been published. So this call really is open to anyone.



All the details are here and I look forward to seeing all the submissions. I hope that the chosen design team members will make themselves visible - post on the forum, submit to our galleries and generally become part of the CTYD experience.



One of the things a design team will do for me, is take the pressure off. There are a couple of international design teams that I'd like to submit for but I know at the moment I just don't have the time. I've also been thinking about going back to writing for the craft press again - and I know I don't have the time. I'm also registered to do some online classes (to be taught, not to teach them) & I know I won't have the time LOL.



On thursday, for the first time in weeks, I designed a layout from scratch. I hadn't adapted one of my favourite designers' layouts, nor had the use of a sketch, but actually designed a layout from scratch ... It's soooo different to anything I have designed before & that is what I liked about designing in the first place. The opportunity to reinvent one's style each and every time - or to find a style and stick with it for a while until one is bored - the complete freedom to be whatever I want to be!

I read a thread on a forum today asking why people do not post comments on work they see & like. I know from conversations that I have, that this blog is read with interest, although I don't think I have ever had a comment posted. Perhaps if you like the layout (and even if you don't), you'd do me the honour of posting a comment - I'd like to see the feedback - but if you'd rather not, that's OK too.

Scrappy's Birthday Bash & Other Important Events

Following Fish's birthday on St Patrick's Day, was Scrappy's Birthday Bash on Mother's Day - I love it when a plan comes together (or, in fact, when all my special dates come rolling in on top of each other). Obviously, I made fish a birthday card & that was a great excuse to use one of the new decoupage sheets that have come in - I had him in mind when I first ordered them - I kept it quite simple (as he's likely to pull it apart within a fortnight) and just matted the completed picture on Gingham cardstock, adding a large 3 (guess how old he is LOL) in the same cardstock and a few alpastickers (which have all gone now & I really, really wanted the last pack!! We got him lots of crafty bits for his birthday - mostly he just likes sticking stuff on other stuff so tons of stickers was an easy choice. He particularly goes for the foam 3D ones and used a whole sheet in 5 minutes.

I received my first official mother's day card from Fish this year - & by

that I mean the one he made at nursery & not the one that daddy buys from him LOL. He is very precise with his sticking, taking care to keep the glue where it ought to be, rather than just slapping it all on. He noticed a little trickle of glue that had run down from the centre and in his attempt to remove it, he has torn a strip up that looks kinda like a curly stem. I guess there's a lesson in there ... sometimes it's better to accept a mistake rather than trying to remedy it & maybe making it worse. Perhaps we should accept more of our crafting mishaps as a quirk of the page/layout or whatever and celebrate it as the thing that makes it handmade.

I made my mother a quick card, having found my BG Undressed Monograms, and then a fabulous bag using the new stuff from decopatch this stuff is just flying out of the shop & we've had to re-order already! I filled it with various butterflies as she has a bit of a passion for them. I have to say that she was most impressed with the butterfly images that I'd cut out from vellum - she hates all the intricate cutting that we do - give her a big shot & a pile of dies though and she'll be happy for hours LOL

Scrappy's birthday was a busy event & it was lovely to see so many of his friends, old & new, who turned up to celebrate with us. The little fella couldn't be there in person but I know he was very pleased to hear how many people had come along to wish him well ;o) Scrappy's birthday coincides with the opening of Crop 'Til You Drop which was also two years old! The time has flown by and has not been without its frustrations but on the whole, we have enjoyed the journey. I thank all of you that have come along for the ride and supported me through thick and thin.

Things To Do With An Engineering Degree & A Kebab Skewer!

So the newly refurbished toilet lasted one day before I broke it! It wasn't manhandled, I didn't do anything unreasonable - merely flushed & that was it - broken again. OK so there were no classes - just me, a couple of ladies who had taken pity on me and given up their Sunday to help get the shop in order - and a newly broken toilet!

My step brother (he who is good at all things handy) was nowhere to be found and I don't DO practical. Number one son called to find out what days he is working next week & I told him my dilemma. 'Phone richard,' he said. I was dubious but he explained that richard (being a blokey bloke) will be good at that kind of thing. 'And anyway,' he continued, 'plumbing is only basic engineering & he's an engineer - so it will be a piece of cake!' I don't like to argue with him when he has faith in his conviction, so I did as instructed. Richard asked if I had a metal coathanger or similar to hand & (a bit confused) I said I had lots of paper! Within 10 minutes, he arrived with a beaming smile & a metal kebab skewer. Within another 10 the problem was fixed (although it will rust in a year or so and we'll need another skewer LOL) - another missed scrapbooking opportunity methinks!

Happily I did manage, with my willing helpers, get most of the remaining stock out and displayed. To date we haven't quite got the rest out, but all the back orders have been dispatched and we are winiing (I think!)

I still haven't got to the serious business of making up some of those new samples that I'm itching to get on to as it's been a busy couple of weeks since the shop opened - full of parcels to open & new stock to stroke LOL. Running a craft shop might seem like a dream job but it can be the most frustrating thing in the world.

There are all these yummy new goodies and I just don't have time to play. I treated myself to a copy of the first Tim Holtz DVD (yes I know it's been out forever) as I finally got around to ordering a small selection of the distress inks and powders at the trade show last week - and now I need alcohol inks (the domino diary is to die for), memory glass, spritzer bottles and LOADS more - and that's before I even start on the other DVDs and books I collected for other new product ranges LOL

We've had our first classes in the new premises & Iwas a little bit nervous - there was some confusion as to where the samples were stored so I wasn't able to prepare materials - so it was another mad rush on the first morning. Sadly, due to time constraints I've not had much time for designing and had to resort to adapting some of my favourite designers' magazine projects instead. But the classes were as jolly as usual and most of all, we had fun.

A local artist approached me offering to do our signage - well it would be rude not to LOL. Check it out!! None of that mass produced sticky plastic - just a freehand painted version of our logo - just yummy. Turns out the guy is a friend of a friend of number 3 son and favours do still exist. I am so grateful to have got it done without any fuss and those that have seen it are impressed (mainly that we have signage at all - never happened in the last place - but let's not go there!)

Made a yummy card for my mum (for mother's day). It so isn't what I expected it to be and the combination of papers are a bit out there. I can post it here without ruining the surprise as mum doesn't have internet access - so long as you all promise not to tell her about it ;o) This photo has done the rounds a bit - it's posted on our NEW gallery, uploaded today but has already had it's first submissions - which really pleased us LOL.

And I've also posted it on the Design Collective's new challenge/classes site that promises to be my scrapper's block saviour ;o)

It is baby fish's 3rd birthday tomorrow - so I'm off to wrap presents now - then it's off to bed. Scrappy's Birthday Bash on Sunday - so it's parties and cake all weekend! Have a great St Patrick's Day - and Mother's day too ;o)

Open At Last!

We finally have made it! An open shop with lots of yummy new treats, champagne (the real stuff, mind) flowing, make n takes, demonstrations, hourly prize draw, free chocolates, balloons and a completely exhausted & frazzled me!! We opened at 10am and it was absolutely manic for the first couple of hours. The sensible me had suggested that the opening should be postponed but the stubborn me, who always gets the final say, wasn't having any of it.

There were some very good reasons why we weren't as organised as I'd have liked. As usual, nothing had gone to plan... Until March 1st we had no water and until March 2nd no flushing toilet (it's still a bit temperamental so I'll have to be nice to my step brother, who did most of the decorating, and ask him to fit a new cystern). Without water, not only could I not drink the copious amounts of tea that are part of my daily routine but cleaning was somewhat difficult. And with no toilet facilities we lost half an hour every time we needed to use the ones at the local shopping centre. A couple of deliveries were late as the drivers spotted the boarded up building (we didn't have windows until Tuesday) and drove off without trying to deliver. Shame that, as if they'd got a bit closer they'd have seen the notice on the door telling them that we were there for deliveries between 10-4!!

So we worked all hours to get everything ready and were almost there in time for the opening - and would you believe it - I didn't take a single photograph! So having learned how to put images in a post - I've none to share with you. The signage hasn't gone up yet and the outside of the building needs a bit more painting.

The day itself wasn't without its challenges - much of the stock was not displayed but piled in the stock room until there's time to sort it out (that's tomorrow's job allocated then), prices were missing & price lists tucked into inaccessible cupboards, the demo tables wouldn't all fit into the designated spaces so we had to drop one (just as well we hadn't advertised the actual content LOL), there were no class timetables and I couldn't remember when any of them were (drew a complete blank on that one!).

But open we did & everyone seemed to have a good time. In between wishing I'd retired when I had the chance and turning down offers of valium, it all became very clear why I do this & how much I've missed it. The make n takes & demonstrations, although late, went off without a hitch & the feedback was entirely positive. So overall, the only thing I can say is I'm soooo glad we are back ;o)

Shop 'Til You Drop

Well it seems I'm closer to achieving the new challenge of posting every day than I was to the weekly one LOL and here is my second post in as many days. I have to tell you about all the yummy stuff I found at the trade show AND my great day with Sara Naumann of HOTP but I don't think I'll get it all into one post - so I'll leave Sara until another day - I'm sure she wouldn't mind LOL

So anyway, shopping!! Many of the companies I eventually chose to do business with were the ones where the service was good! I know I bang on about it a bit but I really, really HATE bad service!! Sometimes I accept it if it is the only way I can get a particular must-have range but the show for me was all about finding something different. Auntie Jane was my designated driver and shopping buddy for the weekend and was completely useless at reigning me in ;o)

which meant I got to buy lots of yummy stuff & AJ took care of the photos.

The new HOTP was already on order - we've known about it since before CHA- so we didn't have to worry about that. It should be coming in tomorrow & will hopefully be on the online shop within a day or two (the paypal buttons were prepared several weeks ago).

I've been wanting some new buttons for a while now and found just the thing at the show - big bags of colour themed buttons in a wonderfully eclectic mix of shapes & sizes. Just begging to be put into little bags like pick n mix sweets. I also found some brill primary coloured big buttons - marketed for children but oooh! the possibilities! AND a bunch of sweet little hearts, squares & flowers in mixed pastel colours. Then there was the gingham ones - small, round and in stacking pots just like a little cosmetic stack - sometimes the packaging does it for me. Which brings me nicely on to the randomness of a 4.5' giraffe!!

OK so this isn't necessarily something we would normally have gone for but there was this giraffe being decorated with decopatch and I HAD to have it. Donna gave me a bit of a look when I told her that we'd have to find space for it in store - but you know how it is when you can't resist - fortunately, she likes the products so I didn't get told off too much ;o)

Tim Holtz has one of those voices that you could just listen to all day. I had planned on finding a supplier for his range but was lucky enough to meet the man in person & watch him work his magic. Terrible photo of me - but then most of them are - there is a reason why I don't scrapbook photos of myself LOL. Anyway, found the supplier & have the first range coming in before opening day sadly, I couldn't run to them all so we are starting off with one range of distress inks and powders plus a few of the essential accessories. Will definitely be more to come though!

Spent a serious amount of time drooling over the new metal stuff demonstrated by Megan Darrow of Ten Second Studio. They had the most gorgeous canvases, covered journals etc all using embossed soft metals. I think I could save a fortune on metal embellishments by making my own. Sean (number one son) is really fired up about this range and can't wait to try it out. He'll be demonstrating it at the opening if it's here in time - but it's more likely to be the week after - something to look forward to ;o). And the packaging on their CD/DVD was sooo yummy that I had to have those too - just so that I can display one. I've made sure I have a spare canvas ready to have a play myself - so now it's just a case of waiting!!

We've also got fab new papers - loose, 12x12 & 6x6 stacks plus border strips in the Garden & Siesta collections coming in, Rock Hard Fairies decoupage & image sheets, ribbon spools (at a brill 99p!!) and soooo much other stuff I can't remember what I've bought now (that's the sign of a v. successful shopping trip LOL). Might have to lay off the shopping for a little while - at least until I've had some fun with this lot.

And after I got back I had a call from Rachael at David & Charles publishing - I won the champagne draw so there's a liquid freebie on it's way. Guess I'll have to go to these events more often then ;o)

New Beginnings

Much excitement in the air at the moment. We are finally in the new shop and are busy finalising everything for our grand opening event on Saturday 3rd March - just one week to go!! It hasn't all been plain sailing (as you might have gathered) and I've not kept to a single one of my resolutions as yet.

I've not been back from the trade show in Birmingham for a week yet and all the new goodies are starting to arrive. This really is going to be a time for new beginnings - a new store, new products from our favourite suppliers (so that will be lots more HOTP then LOL), new suppliers for some exciting new goodies, big clearance offers on all our discontinued lines and it all kicks off on Saturday with a fabulous day full of offers and more freebies than you can shake a glue stick at LOL. Read all about our opening event here

Of course there is tons still to do - lots of make n takes and demo projects to organise, sample projects to make up from all the goodies collected at the show and at some point I suppose it might be a good idea to put out some stock LOL

We had a great day out at the show (well, 2 days at the show & a HOTP Retailer Training Day) but more about that next time. The highlight has to be the HOTP day & finally meeting Sara Naumann - my absolute favourite designer ever, with whom I have shared an e-mail relationship for about 6 months (and if I couldn't call it business that would probably make me a groupie - or worse, a stalker LOL). And although not photogenic I just felt the need to add a photo as proof (that I have met her & that I can add photos to my blog).

There is just too much to tell you all that I couldn't possibly fit it all into one post - so my new challenge, having failed spectacularly on the posting weekly challenge, is to post DAILY - so wish me luck!

Cover Me With Shades Of Disbelief ...

And while we are on the subject of Talk Talk (Geddit?) it seems my broadband is not already live, my new modem will not be delivered within 48 hours, or indeed 7 days, as promised by the very polite but, it seems, not entirely honest people at the call centre. Now I'm told, the new go live date is February 9th - three months from ordering and going by previous experience not a guarantee!

Not surprisingly, I have now had enough. One quick call to NTL & I have a connection date booked for a fortnight's time, confirmation of that appointment in writing within 48 hours and a couple of guys to lay the outside cable 5 days before connection is due. I have but a few short days to see whether NTL can deliver where others (or one other at least) cannot. The only problem is that my telephone number has to change - this is not an NTL problem it seems but rather when one takes a BT number to Talk Talk, they don't let you take it with you should you wish to change supplier. Oh well, you live & learn.

Other than that, a busy couple of weeks again. The new premises were viewed and snapped up the same day. Heads of terms are with the solicitors and we expect to see the paperwork next week. There's a little bit of decorating to do and the timing is not great! I'm away at the NEC, Brimingham for the trade show in a couple of weeks so February 24th is looking good for the grand opening (to be confirmed). Before that, we have to decorate, refit and restock - but then we moved and reopened in 48 hours last time!

I now have the first 4 parts of 'Get knitting' and have completed all the squares so far. I was particularly impressed that I managed to knit the last one! It has a small blue diamond in the middle of a white square, with a garter stitch border. It might not sound much but it means that I knitted in pattern AND added colour without messing the pattern up or having a load of holes around the colour changes, which is what happened last time I attempted colour changes. Granted, that was about 12 years ago - it was one of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtle picture knits (in 4 ply wool) that were popular back in the 80's that I knitted for my eldest son (then about 5). I had to sew up the holes around the colour changes but he loved it & it fitted him for about 3 years - so I guess it was OK really.

Made a gorgeous altered book this week, with a secret drawer. I used the HOTP Earth's Palette Cardmaker's Creative Pack but, predictably, used the mauve & blue shades. I'm a bit obsessed with purple - from the palest lilacs to the deepest, almost black shades - I love them all & probably use them far too often. But it's what I like & I was very pleased with the results. It also gave me a chance to use the HOTP Artsy Collage metal collection (I wanted a lock & key) all I needed to add was a few fibres, blue glass beads and a black ink cube (is there a crafter anywhere that doesn't have a black ink pad of some description).

My only other make this week is a wintry layout for Saturday's class project. The great thing about scrapbooking is that, although it allows me to create something beautiful with all those old photographs, it also reminds me to take the photographs that I might otherwise forget. This is particularly poignant with my youngest (almost three now!) With the older boys, I tend to have only school, holiday, birthday & christmas photos. I take lousy photos anyway and didn't used to bother much.

And now the boys are older I wish I'd taken more pictures of them. So fish (the baby) has his every move recorded for prosperity. Last week we had snow. For one day only. Fish went out to investigate with his dad & together they built a snow cat (there wasn't enough for the whole snowman). Fish beamed while I took pictures of him throwing snow at the neighbours and with the finished snow cat.

So I had to do a snow cat layout & I know alot of my class ladies will have taken snowy snaps too, so it's a 2 birds, 1 stone sort of solution. I picked some yummy pastel pink and powder blue papers, ultra fine glitter (you could hear the cat sigh as he looked for somewhere glitter free to sleep!) and loads of die cuts as we've got some brilliant deals on Sizzix & Ellison dies this month - I've just treated myself to a new die cut alphabet set - which cuts chipboard beautifully. The easiest way to cover chipboard die cuts with papers is to cut a second die cut from the paper and just stick it on. You can then ink, paint or sand the edges - lovely!

I just wish I could load some photos here - and from next time it should be possible!

On the technical front - I've now learned how to resize photographs to put into my newsletters. I can't actually load them (a long and boring story involving some software that I can't download without broadband - trust me, you don't want to know) but I can get them in the body of an e-mail (one at a time) over to Gandalf the Crafty (my webmaster). I must say, I'm rather pleased every time I discover something new that I can do. I don't suppose I'll ever become a technical whizz-kid but it is nice to be a bit less phobic. Gandalf really helps with that I ask how to do something and an idiot proof e-mail with instructions or a useful link usually follows.

Happily, the improvements to the company I use for the HTML newsletters were just that! lots of great new facilities for me to use. I'm much more confident with it all now. So much so that I've decided to use it for the Member's Only Club monthly newsletter and I'm planning to start a regular one for the Personal Shopper subscribers/HOTP fans too! I know the next PS kits are due in v. soon - I can't wait to get mine. And if you've no idea what I'm talking about, pop over to www.ilovehotoffthepress.co.uk & click on the personal shopper link. There's also some brilliant images of the cardmaker's kits in the gallery ;o)

I guess I'd better stop burning the midnight oil (it 2 am so I don't suppose there'd be much oil left anyway LOL) and get some sleep before tomorrow's class. And where can you buy candles that burn at both ends??

And So The Search Continues ...

A bit of a mixed bag, this last couple of weeks. It looks like the new shop has fallen through and so tomorrow I'm back to viewing properties. There's a couple of likely suspects and a possibility that we could be up and running in a few short weeks (so look out for that grand opening I promised months ago). But still, it's been really frustrating getting so close and then having it snatched away.

My broadband is still proving somewhat elusive - so no images for this post either. The provider promised faithfully (as much as a call centre in India can do) that the new modem would be delivered within 48 hours and would be live at the same time. 48 hours later the new promise is for delivery within 7 days and an assurance that the connection is already live - just waiting for the modem then! So maybe next week we'll have lots of images on this very blog - but I'm not holding my breath.

I've not managed to do that bit of crafting every day that I'd resolved for the new year - but I have made a few new cards and a couple of layouts. Largely to justify the few new treats that I HAD to have. Nothing too extravagant - A sizzix paddlepunch kit (plus 22 extra punches) and Die Cuts With A View sticker paper - this is a brilliant invention - 12 x 2" sheets of textured cardstock with a self adhesive backing. Suddenly using die cut letters has become less of a chore and I'm probably saving a fortune (not to mention loads of time) and all the tiniest alphabets, such as the Ellison Extended Cuts alphas really come into their own. I've used the sticker paper on everything I've made in the last week and I'm coming up with all these new ideas that I might have ignored before because they would have been too time consuming.

The inverse of die cut letters are also great for creating a second alphabet. I don't worry too much about getting the squares straight - odd edges give a 'ransom note' effect that can look quite funky. You can either stick them straight on to the background or onto a contrasting paper for a different infill.

As for the paddle punches, they are so great for adding decorative apertures where a traditional paper punch cannot reach. Again, you can back the aperture for a contrasting infill or even create tiny iris folds. Although it might take a bit longer to punch a shape with them, they have a good variety of shapes and look great just punched from textured cardstock (or sticker paper). I'm trying to think of some interesting designs to use the ribbon slots on next.

So far, I've not managed to keep to a single resolution, the cat and sofa are still fairly glitter free but the baby sparkles somewhat on occasions; this blog is more fortnightly than weekly; I'm not crafting daily and my class samples are generally done the day before; I've already bought a few new craft bits so that only leaves making my own cards and gifts - and there's nothing coming up until february so there's still time (to make or break it!!)

The first of the new HTML newsletters went out last week and the feedback was so positive that it seems worth my while spending the time to learn how to use it. Although they are now improving the system so I might have to learn all over again! If you are not already signed up for the newsletter and you'd like to get it, pop over to www.ilovehotoffthepress.co.uk and click on the sign up button on the right.

Talking of learning new things, I've had a look at the new knitting partwork and picked up the first issue. I'm not a complete beginner and have been known to make knitted toys and bits for my babies when they were small but I never really progressed from the basics. So I thought it might be good to start from scratch and learn a new stitch or technique each week. Although these partworks do tend to work out expensive for the cost of the item you make (a remote control car, dolls house or whatever at £400 or something equally mad) I'm looking at it more as a home study class - for which it is a reasonable price (and the knitted throw completed in just 90 weeks I'll look at as coursework LOL) And if I claim it as one of my crafting sessions maybe I'll get a bit closer to fulfilling one of those broken resolutions after all.

Technophobe? Not Me!!

There is soooo much more to owning a craft business than a bit of cutting & sticking or a love of pretty paper. In fact the cutting & sticking is more cut & paste and the pretty papers are more virtual than actual. What, you may wonder, does she mean by that?

Well this last week or two have been a technological revelation as I've discovered the world of ranking sites, ping sites, e-mail management systems and campaigns - and got a bit more involved in the construction of my own websites. Many is the time that I've had to go away & find a comforting bit of paper to stroke!!

But I survived and even managed to add a bit of HTML code to this site (check out the 'crafty blogs' ranking at the bottom of the page - cool huh?). Sadly, grappling with the finer points of a technology that I'll use but have no inclination to understand has left little time for crafting.

However, the last few days have seen me back in the safety of my classes, first scrapbooking on Saturday and today, cardmaking - and not a Christmas theme in site!! Today's cards were so well received that even my brother wants to take some of my designs into work - he says the girls there will love them!! Sadly I'm still on dinosaur dial up and can't get my images here - it just freaks out and cuts me off!!

The broadband connection was due to go live on 9th December but there's still no sign of it - the company (who I won't name & shame just yet) wouldn't give me a new estimated date but are talking about perhaps another three weeks - two months in total! Obviously unacceptable so I'll give them another chance to be reasonable tomorrow and if there is no satisfaction perhaps I'll just cancel altogether and find a company that can deliver what they promise - it's not too much to ask is it? The one thing I've learned above all other since I opened my shop is that customer service is king!

Other than these few minor blips chucked in, I assume, to keep me on my toes , life is good! I'm busy making lots of plans for the new shop: new & exciting classes, brilliant new product ranges (and that's before I spy all the goodies at the Feb trade show LOL) and some exciting new partnerships to keep things fresh and interesting - all I need now are the premises to put it in!

In the meantime it's back to those paypal buttons, writing the new content for the website - and a bit of crafting just to keep me sane ;o)

Come Craft With Me, The Best Is Yet To Be.

Christmas was such a brilliant excuse to take that quality craft time that I've been after for months!! I handmade about 75 cards (cheating and using many class examples once I'd finished the classes); scrapped an altered bag for my 17 year old niece as a gift from my mother - pink and girly with a photo of her at my brother's wedding (the 3rd time she has been a bridesmaid) and a fantastic excuse to crack open the Citrus Embellish-abilities from HOTP; made two small Sarabinders - one for my mother in vintage Sarapapers as a scrapper's journal (she recently caught the scrapping bug and now there's no stopping her!) and the other in retro 8x8 papers - pink, duck egg blue and v. girly as a filofax (does anyone remember them?) for the aforementioned niece; two 12x12 albums, one each for my eldest and youngest sons - big cheating again here as I had many of their layouts displayed in the last shop and I'll be starting in the new premises with a completely new batch. The other two boys will have to wait a little bit longer as I need to make about 10 layouts for each of them to fill their albums!!

So that was it for my handmade christmas and, as always, I've resolved to do more next time.

So a new year is upon us full of new challenges (and lots more new craft products!!) Already I've made a start on cards for the first classes (a great excuse to use my new Sizzix dies and Ellison alphabet!) and there was the Member's only club project to make - a great little gift box mini album to display a typical Todd family christmas - lots of photos of number one son with beer then!!

I've even managed to finish all the projects in the HOTP Cardmaker's kit and half a dozen extra cards from the scraps. But with a couple of Scrapbook kits still waiting in the wings I'm not going to get bored any time soon!!

It's Behind You!!

Panto season is upon us again & I was lucky to score some free tickets to Dick Whittington at the Orchard Theatre (Oh no you didn't - Oh yes I did!!). It was the baby's first panto (at the tender age of two and a half) and we had a great time. He was a bit nervous during the first half, what with the noise and the dark, both of which he hates. But after the interval he was singing and dancing, booing and cheering - and clapping madly.
As with most theatres, photography is not allowed so I just got a couple of shots in the interval of fish (we call the baby fish - but that's another story) sitting in his seat. I think this is going to be a single standard size photograph as I've lots of memorabilia to add to the page: flyer, programme, ticket stubs etc. Now all I need is the time to create!!

I did get a bit of that quality crafting in though. An entire 12x12 album (20 pages) in 48 hours. It did involve a bit of insomniac scrapping at 3 am but I enjoyed every minute. A friend asked me to put some resize some family photos and just stick them into an album for her mother's birthday but the urge to create was too much and so a gorgeous new album was born.
The best bit was just having completely free reign to use any colours, textures and accents that I wanted - no rules and no worrying about whether I have enough for a whole class. That's what I call scrapping heaven.

I've not yet started on my christmas crafting, other than sample cards that I made for the shop displays and for class samples (about 50). I'm planning alot of handmade gifts but as I write I can hear the countdown to Christmas ticking out loud. I've got to wonder whether I'll make it!!