Version Scrap - Paris

I arrived home last night following a fabulous few days in Paris with the amazing PaperArtsy dream team. Yes, it's incredibly hard work, yes, we were all pretty much exhausted but we wouldn't have it any other way as it is truly a privilege to be part of this fantastic show with some of the nicest and hard working people that I know. Mark, Leandra and Lauren have been working pretty much non stop for the last few weeks in preparation for this show. There is always so much to do, pressing rubber, bottling Fresco Finish paint as well as Infusions, ordering extra stock, preparing the make'n'takes, booking hotel rooms and the list goes on!!!!! On top of all this the very lovely (also very funny) Lauren was feeling decidedly under the weather but carried on regardless....what a trooper. Then of course there's the gorgeous Florence who helped out with translating, helping customers choose the right products and making sure the stand stayed well stocked......a never ending job!!!! Dounia, who's official new title is "Queen of Make'n'takes" because she is totally awesome at keeping everyone on track with their projects. The amazing Audrey is fantastic at getting everyone's purchases through the till at the speed of light alongside Mark who not only mans till No.2 but keeps an eye on everything. Leandra and I demoed our socks off and the lovely Lauren and Florence also did some demoing too when we were at lunch. And last but not least, my good pal and room mate Sally who is like my right arm as she translate for me A LOT!!!!

Having said all of this, we do however has some wonderful evenings.....good food......a few drinks and lots of laughs. We found a fantastic little restaurant and I'd like to share their details with you in case you are ever in Paris, I would highly recommend you eat there as not only was the food amazing, the staff were beyond lovely and the atmosphere was everything we had hoped for. The only downside is that you need to book in advance as it is a very popular restaurant.

L'Aubergeade

17 rue de Chaligny

75012 Paris

Tel: 01 43 44 33 36

From L to R - Florence, Lauren falling over, me, Sally, Mark, Leandra and Dounia. If you look in the mirror, that's Nadir taking our photograph.......he was just so funny and looked after us incredibly well.

We enjoyed his company so much, Sally invited him to be part of our next photo!!!!

Last but not least, here are some of the samples I made during my demos.

Also some made by Lauren and Leandra.

Well that's it for my little round up of Version Scrap 2017, I'm off to cook tea.

Resin projects

It's my turn as guest designer over on the PaperArtsy blog this evening where the current theme is Resin. Click here to check out my little project and comparison of Ice Resin and UTEE.

Through the Arched Window

I'm delighted to say that it's my turn to share a project on the PaperArtsy blog this evening under the banner of "Doors, Windows and Architecture". Click here to hop over there to see where this arched window takes you!

My New PaperArtsy products!

I'm not very good at keeping secrets but I've been sitting on this one for months now, so you can imagine how thrilled I am to finally be able to share this with you. I have four new sets of stamps and three new stencils. The stencils are larger than my previous
ones (6.25" x 9.5"), so not only will they be great for Scrapbooking and card making, they will be ideal for those of you who like to work in large format journals.

First of all let's take a quick looksee at the new products.

We're going to  take a sneaky peek at the work of my super talented wingmen, who very kindly agreed to make some samples to help showcase how versatile these new products are, but before I share their beautiful artwork with you, I just wanted to take a moment to personally thank both of these amazing ladies, you were both an absolute pleasure to work with and your artwork is fantastic, so thank you both so much, I hope you enjoyed the experience as much as I have.

Now the fun part. first up, Ruth Mescall. Ruth created four stunning samples for me and all the details can be seen on her own blog, so please take a moment to hop over there and enjoy all the details of how Ruth made these gorgeous samples.

ELB31

ELB32

ELB33

ELB34

My next fabulous guest is the wonderful and very witty Kath Stewart. Kath also has all the nitty gritty on her on blog for you to enjoy.

Here's a couple of close up shots of two of my projects, the full details of how I made these, plus a few others can be seen on the PaperArtsy blog  

And last but not least, Leandra filmed this video showcasing the new PaperArtsy releases, I think you'll agree that is is choc-a-block with inspiration, well worth grabbing yourself a cuppa, sitting back and enjoying everyone's hard work.

Winter Project

Over the winter months, I like to have a larger project to work on. Something that I can pick up during an evening to add stitch and embellishment to. I am very  lucky to have a fabulous studio in my garden, complete with good heating but during the dark winter evenings, I actually prefer to park myself on the sofa and do a spot of sewing. With this in mind, around October time, I started to prepare some fabric pages for what I thought would be a new fabric book. I gathered bits of lace, ribbon and buttons along with fabrics that I had stencilled designs on, along with a pile of rusty fabric. Apart from the rusting of fabric, many of the other techniques are techniques taught to me by some very talented artists....Hilary Beattie, Lynda Monk and Beryl Taylor so out of respect for those very lovely ladies, I'm not going to share how I made each page, I'd simply like to share the photos with you.

This next page could be my favourite page.

As I mentioned earlier, I started this project with the intention of making it into a book but Mark planted the seed of another idea in my brain by saying "if it's a book, not many people will see it!" Now I'm trying to decide whether to:

a. stitch them all together to make an art quilt.

b. Stitch them on to a larger piece of calico, leaving a border between each piece.

c. Frame them all individually and hang them as a series of nine small artworks.

What do you guys think???

L x