Tuesday 3 April 2012

Back from Paris

We're all back from Paris, a tad tired but very happy. VersionScrap is an amazing show, held once a year in the Parc De Floral, Paris. It's the only show that I know of that hosts amazing classes for the duration of the show with international guest tutors as well as numerous make'n'takes on the stands. This show is busy,busy,busy and jam packed with all sorts of fabulous goodies to tempt you.

As usual, I was an idiot and really didn't take many photographs at all. If I wasn't working on the stand, I was busy shopping.....well it would have been very silly not to take advantage of all those pretty things on display, wouldn't it?

Leandra's stand looked amazing....you'll have to take my word for it as I don't have a piccie but it was busting at the seems with all the amazing new Hot Picks, Dies, Fresco Finish Paint, Pan Pastels, Crafters Workshop Stencils, Metal Embossing tools and packs of metal,  their new papers Crunchy & Smoothy papers......love these....take my word for it, you need these!!!! They also had a wonderful selection of wooden substrates and embellishments galore!!! Leandra and I demoed our little socks off for three and a half days and during that time, Leandra also taught two classes.....phew, no wonder we're a bit pooped. Now the upside of the hard work is that Mark and Leandra are fabulous at looking after their team of helpers and here we are sharing a laughter filled evening before heading home.

So from L to R we have Christian, Mark, Sally, me, Leandra, Madeleine and Dounia. I apologise now if I have spelt anyone's name incorrectly and I also have to add that Paul from GoCreate is missing from this picture.....he's behind the camera.


The food in this restaurant was truly amazing and it was one of the funniest evenings, we laughed so much, it reduced many of us to tears.

Here's my lovely friend and roomie, Sally making a purchase at Scrap buttons before the show opened. These guys had an amazing booth.....fabulous displays and unique products.......loved it and bought just one or two....ahem!!


So what else did I buy??????

Just one or two rolls of tape! I'm quite addicted to this stuff. Some of it is fabric but the rest is washi tape.

I needed to stock up on my flower stash....most of these are Prima.

More Prima goodness.

Some fabric and a few other bits'n'bobs.
Some printed felt....this stuff is to die for!!! A couple of fabric albums too.

Nice selection of buttons and charms. There is more but I'm sure I'm boring you now!!

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of a couple of things that I demoed at the show. The first is a mixture of techniques using Paperartsy Fresco Finish paint which is what I used to achieve that beautiful crackle effect, Pan Pastels as the background and a stamped metal butterfly on the top.

This one is just a background using Pan Pastels, Versamark with Paperartsy stamps, Crafters Workshop stencils and sealed with Fresco Finish Satin Glaze. Sorry it's only a background but I thought I'd show you as I love these colours.

Many people at the show were asking me about my blog and my techniques and I have promised that I will do another Pan Pastels tutorial soon, so if you missed the last one, hopefully it will be on here in a day or two.

OK, that's me for today, I'm off to cook tea.
Lin

17 comments:

kjjc said...

Bet you had a lovely time. I WILL make it one year I WILL. Bet it felt strange but good being on the buying side after so many years behind the counter.

Carol said...

There are some really fabulous bits there Lin - and we would NEVER get bored of your blog!! Totally jealous now though! Those buttons are amazing! What make are those little birdie stamps - saw them at NEC but couldnt find them again!! x

Rebecca said...

Looks super
Happy craftin
Rebecca

Trish said...

Oooo, love your purchases, and could never get bored seeing them! Sounds like you had a great time, and as always your demos look FAB! Welcome home.

Anonymous said...

Sounds (and looks!) like you had the best time Lin ! Love seeing all your yummy purchases too. Look forward to your next tutorial soon ! Sue C x

Ann B said...

Now there's a lady who knows how to shop. Great pile of stash there and beautiful demo pieces.
Ann B
x

Gabrielle said...

What a fab round up and more photos of your delicious looking goodies! Those makes are pretty delicious too! Welcome back to Blighty!

Helen said...

Lovely to see all those purchases in more detail than on twitter! Sounds like you all had a fantastic fun-filled time even if it was hard work. See you at Ally Pally - you should have just about recovered by then!

Kirsten Alicia said...

I'm glad you had such a great time, your demo pieces are fab. As are your new goodies, I love the buttons & the washi tape.

Lin said...

oooh i am so jealous would love to go to that show:)you look like you had loads of fun!!

you got yourself some lovely goodies...hope Leandra has plenty of goodies left for Saturday. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to recharge your batteries....

Kyla said...

ooh, it looks lovely. We could never get bored of looking at stash!!

Love your demo pieces also, sounds like you had a great time.

Kyla

Anonymous said...

thanks for all, Lin, it was so nice to be here during these days.
Domitille

Diane Kelsey said...

Great purchases! Looking forward to seeing what you do with it all.

TAM said...

Looks and sounds likes a fabulous time was had by all. Your new stash looks great and those demo pieces are brilliant.
Look forward to your pan pastels tutorial - nice to have you back in blogland.

Daniele said...

wow it looks like you had a great time, I was hoping to go ths year but we don't get time off before Easter......drat,those charms and buttons look amazing.
hugs

Rachel said...

Hi, I have arrived at the party really late, I have just discovered your blog spot and it is absolutely brilliant it is great to have guides to how you did certain things, to let me do my interpretation of them. Am so looking forward to ArtsyCrafts though think I better get practicing!!! Lots of stash envy and love your two pieces of work here, so looking forward to Ally Pally, and wish I'd found this while your shop was open though my bank managers glad I didn't I think!!!! Thank you you are truly inspirational and love pictures of your grandchildren.
Rachel

Siobhan Brignull said...

serious envy going on here, love your butterly piece, great colours, hope to see you soon at AP, desperate for a pan pastels demo (LOL) x