I've had the time of my life

Yesterday, I handed the keys to the shop back to the landlord, so the whole retirement thingy is starting to feel real now instead of a figment of my imagination. It kinda made me reflect on the amazing career that I have had, so if you want to grab a cuppa, cos this could be a mega post, I'll try and talk you through the last 18 years!!!!

So if you are sitting comfortably, I'll begin. It all started about twenty years ago, in the days when I made soft furnishings and sold them at small local craft fairs. I wanted some original fabric for my cushions and so I decided to buy a few rubber stamps to stamp my plain and boring fabric. I took myself off to Hitchin, to one of the very first dedicated stamps stores in the UK and purchased three or four stamps, a ink pad and some embossing powder along with a the only book available at that time, which was actually not much more than a brochure, published by PSX. It was definitely instant love....I was hooked. My customers at the craft fairs asked me where I got my stamps from as they were really difficult to come by locally. So that's really how it started, I purchased about three dozen stamps from a tiny UK manufacturer and they just flew out the door at the speed of light.

The next door that opened for me was the opportunity to rent a market barrow from Milton Keynes Shopping Centre. To cut a very long story short, I was selected along with one other new small business from hundreds of applicants to rent a barrow, sponsored by the local Business Link, for a trial period of three months. After seven successful years in that location, it was time to move to bigger premises and after a lot of searching, I found the perfect place in Olney, just 20 minutes away from where I live.

I took on the lease of what used to be an antique shop and I swear that when I viewed the shop, I had no idea that the walls were bright pink! There had been so many things hanging on the wall....it was pretty well camouflaged!! We had just seven days to get the shop ready before our grand opening and spent most of that time painting the walls white to try and cover the pink before opting for a calming turquoise colour! So here I am with Kelly, my daughter in the background trying to organise the stock. I can't believe how little stock I had in those days!!!!

So shop open.....the journey begins! Over the years, I have been very lucky to host some amazing demonstrations and classes by some of the industry's most talented artists. In 2003, my very first guest artist was the one and only Suze Weinbrg. Suze had literally just stepped off a plane from America when she arrived at my store to work her magic with UTEE and her melting pot. Everyone was blown away by her enthusiasm and talent.

The next guest artist was  Mr Tim Holtz....I have searched and searched for these photographs and sadly they appear to have vanished from the face of the earth but all I can say is that we were beyond lucky as Tim did not visit my little store just once.....he came the following year too and simply wowed my customers with his talent, wit and amazing products.

Not only have we had wonderful guests visit my store, I have been lucky enough to travel quite a bit too. I have been to some amazing places to attend CHA, the show has been held at quite a variety of places including Annaheim, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas. Whilst on a trip to Las Vegas, I had the amazing opportunity to teach a class for my Friend Audrey Freedman at Stamp Oasis. Back in those days, I had my own line of stamps which focused on Shrink Plastic and I took these out to Las Vegas for this class which was such a lot of fun as the students had never seen my stamps before.

A couple of years ago, I also had the great pleasure of travelling to Ede in Holland to teach a class for my friend Joan. Here's a picture of her friend Lia taking a picture of me......I know, we need to grow up!!!!

I have also had the pleasure of my work being published in quite a few magazines. This was my Metal Masterclass project that was published in Craft Stamper.

The following pictures are not in any particular order, they are snaps of some of my favourite projects from the last ten years. This was one of my first polymer clay projects, using some Ten Seconds Studio tools

I was truly honoured to be invited by the guys at Ranger Industries to create a project for their Designer Challenge. I was sent a box of goodies that included all things related to the Melting Pot and a giant ticket to work on. My piece was called "A Meal Ticket" and I managed to fill my spoons with UTEE.

So now I am back to guest tutors.......my very, very dear friend Beverly Seymour from B Line Designs, came all the way to the UK to demo with me at Ally Pally and to teach a class or two at my store. Her gorgeous grand daughter Shelbie accompanied her on her first trip and here they are during set up at the show.

The Following year, I started to wholesale Ten Seconds Studio products here in the UK and Europe and Cheryl Darrow made a trip over to help us out on our stand at the trade show and whilst she was here, she taught quite a few classes. This is the project that I made during her class. Yes, I know it's pink, it wasn't meant to be pink, it was supposed to be burgundy!!!! I came so close to painting a wash of walnut stain over the top to knock it back a bit but everyone persuaded me to leave it pink. I love the style of the piece but I would love it even more if it were green!!!

Back to CHA, this time Mark and I helped Bob and Beverly from B Line to set up their booth, which looked amazing....just like a Victorian living room!

Are you ready for a second cuppa yet????? I know I am but I am determined to finish this post now.

Artsycrafts.....many people have asked how Artsycrafts came to be. Well, I had invited Leandra Franich from Paperartsy to teach a class at the shop. Leandra cooked up a cute little book, jam packed with lots of techniques. She asked me if I would like to teach a metal page to insert in the book.....which I did and everyone loved the fact that they had the opportunity to learn something from both of us in one go. So I suggested to Leandra that we do it again sometime and she had the genius idea of taking it up to the next level and teaching to a much larger class......as so Artsycrafts was born. The arch below was our very first project.

Our friendship blossomed when we travelled to New Jersey together to attend Ranger U. We had the best time, laughed A LOT and learnt even more. Tim, Suze and Claudine Hellmuth were all amazing. It is hard work but so inspiring. We made some fabulous friends too, here we are with our table buddies Lori and Lisa.

More guest tutors......Suze paid a second visit and actually stayed a couple of days with me....she taught me how to shop....properly!!!!!

Artsycrafts in full swing at Newport Pagnell.

This was one of my favourite Artsycrafts projects, it was all about the paint....Fresco Finish paint.

Here we are.....double trouble!!!

Rachel Greig from Dark Room Door also came to teach at the store. What a lovely lady she is and an amazing photographer too.

Then along came Linda Elbourne.I invited Linda to teach some classes at the store to try and take the pressure off me a little. She also demoed alongside me at Ally Pally a few times. She is probably the funniest person I know so this picture kind of sums up what it's like when we are together.

Last year, I was invited by Tim Holtz to become part of his Design Team....what an honour to be selected by Tim to share my ideas using his products. The project below was chosen by Tim as his favourite project of all the ones I created for him.

Then of course we were delighted to announce that Tim had kindly agreed to join us at our Artsycrafts event earlier this year. Here we are at PaperArtsy World HQ watching the website go into complete meltdown as the bookings came flooding in.

And now the event is over, the Artsycrafts team all together with the exception of Mario, Courtney and the Marks who I think were behind cameras! L to R - Karen, Linda E. (also known as Julia or Sweet Pea), Me, Tim, Millie, Leandra, Lynne (also know as Cheryl) and Jo.

Dina Wakley came to play too. She was just delightful. An uber talented artist.....she really knows her stuff.

And the last event, but not least, Artsycarfts with Lynne Perrella as guest tutor. HOw excited was I to be able to take a class with THE Lynne Perella of Acey Duecy fame.....beyond excited and Lynne turned out to be another fantastic tutor!!!!

I love the project that I made in Lynne's class.

And finally, if you haven't fallen asleep yet, a few of my favourite projects from last year.

It has been a long journey and after all that I guess you can understand why I felt the time was right to slow down a little. I will be teaching again a bit later in the year but for now, I'll be hanging out in my fabulous new studio.

So it just remains for me to say thank you to my wonderful hubby Mark for putting up with me being stressy all these years, my family for being understanding when I wasn't always around for their birthdays, to Karen for being the best member of staff anyone could wish for. To Linda Elbourne for teaching classes and being my webmaster extraordinaire. To Leandra and Mark Franich for being Mr & Mrs PaperArtsy.....you guys rock! To all my wonderful guest tutors who have visited over the years and most importantly to all my fabulous customers, without you guys, I would not have had the successful business that I had.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I hope that 2012 brings you everything that you wish for.

With much love and thanks, Lin x