Stevenage and this coming weekend

Let's start with Stevenage....wow, that was busy but also a lot of fun. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and lots of new people too. We were demoing right up to ten minutes before the end of the show......that's a sign of a good show!!!!! Anyways, I thought I would share a few of the samples that I made on the day.

The background on this one uses Tangerine Twist and Bougainvillea Fresco Finish paint from my new Limited Edition set, blended over some Honey Dew which had been stencilled through some of my stencils and Emma Godfrey's (PS002, PS016 & PS020). More stencilling through PS014 before over stamping with the dandelion from ELB15. The owl and funky bird are from ELB17 & 18 and are coloured with Caribbean Sea, also from my latest Limited Edition set. Now see that trio of leaves at the bottom, that is from one of Jo Firth-Young's new set of stamps (JOFY33).....I'm loving it...it looks fantastic stamped over half a dandelion head.....it creates a cute little shrub.

This next one was a challenge for me. I asked the crowd what colour I should use and they said purple....my worst nightmare....I really don't do purple. I'm OK with blending it into background colours but as for the focal image.....yeah, not so good!!! Anyhooo, I accepted the challenge and this is the result. With hindsight, I should have blended two shades of purple together so that it wasn't solid purple or as Leandra suggested afterwards, shading a little of a lighter colour on his cheeks. I'll remember that for next time....of course if there is a next time!!!

Similar background colours on this one to the sample above but with the addition of some Banana splodges. These were not intended to be there at all. I kind of dipped my hand in a puddle of paint and spread it on the tag on the right hand side. As it had dried, it wasn't coming off, so I added some more over other areas of the tag to balance it out. Another of those happy accidents, I would not have chosen to do it but actually quite liked the result!!!

This was another sample that involved purple.....well Wisteria actually. I used it with Guacamole for the background and although I was reasonably OK with the colours it wasn't really bright enough so I added some Tango with a baby wipe followed by some accents of Tango at full strength.

So that's just a few of the samples I made on the day. Demo samples are never really my favourites as they are always hurried and when I look at them at home, I always think they look rough and ready but hey, that's part of the fun of demoing....making it up as you go along. If you came to the show, it was lovely to see you, if you purchased items from PaperArtsy, thank you very much but we love you all equally.

Now, what will I be up to this weekend. On Saturday, I will be at Colemans Craft Warehouse in Rushden for their March demo day. It is completely free to come along, the doors open at 8.30am and demos commence at 10am. I'll be sharing ideas with all my new PaperArtsy lines and there's free tea, coffee and cake as well as discounts on your purchases. It would be lovely to see you, pop along and say hi.

On Sunday, I am teaching my "Put a bird on it" class at Crafting Time in Shepreth, Hertforshire. A little bird tells me there are still some spaces, so if you fancy a fun, painty day out, click here to book your place. It's always a great day, lots of laughs as well as spending the day with a bunch of great people who share the same interests.

Well that's all my news for today. I'm off to take Missie Meg the dog for a walk while the sun is shining, unlike yesterday when we experienced a freak five minute snow storm!!!!