I'm home!!!

Well that was a fun few days. I've been staying with Mr & Mrs Paperartsy since Thursday as I was demonstrating for them on their stand at the new show in Bluewater water. I'm really liking the venue.....a craft show......shops.....restaurants.......shops...... free parking......shops...... all under one roof. oh, did I mention that there a few shops there? Shopping aside, the show has a lot of potential to become one of the biggest craft shows on the crafting calender due to it's location. The majority of customers we spoke to came from the Kent area and they are absolutely delighted to have a show of this size virtually on their doorstep. Of course the only problem really was the weather but that is out of everyones control, the weather could interfere with any event at any time and at any location and this is what we woke up to on Sunday morning.

Mark and Leandra have the most amazing view from their kitchen window and this was taken early on Sunday morning. They live on a farm with a drive that is a mile long and this usually causes them their biggest headache. Having said that, luck was on our side on Sunday morning as just 10 minutes before we were due to leave, we heard the tractor clearing the snow from the drive.....how lucky was that? So although it was a slow and steady journey to get to the M25, it really was a good journey and the staff at Bluewater had also made a great job of making sure that access to the shopping centre was clear too.

I was a bit concerned about my journey home to Milton Keynes which is about a two hour drive, so having spoken to my Mark to see what conditions were like at this end of the journey, I left the show early in order to get home in daylight. I am really glad I did as although the motorways was clear of snow, visibility was not great in places due to the amount of spray and fog!! Then J14 on the M1 was closed with the traffic tailing back to past J13........guess which junction is mine? J14 !!!! So I left the motorway at J9 and drove up through Dunstable which although slow, was moving all the way.

So enough about the weather, let's chat about the fun stuff. Leandra and Mark had some very nice new goodies on their stand. They have a new range of stamps which will be known as their Vintage range. They are not completely new images, they are selecting their favourites from previous Ink & The Dog plates, re-sizing them and collating them together on Hot Pick size plates and I have to say, the first six are more than pretty good!!!! There are more on the way and I will share the new ones with you tomorrow when I have taken better pictures of them.

Of course there was the new colours of paint which were recently released and I have firmly established that Hey Pesto, Claret and Beach Hut and my three firm favourites....I think I may have used them on just about every sample I made!!!

Brand new stencils from Crafters Workshop, loads and loads of new wooden goodies to work and the cutest of cute little wooden buttons....everyone needs a pack of these. So if you missed out on this show because of the weather, get yourself to the Stevenage show next Sunday because Leandra has my old stand space there, right inside the door!!!! The show is at the Leisure Centre, Lytton Way in Stevenage and I believe doors open at 10am. The show is organised by the girls at Stamp Addicts so if you need any ticket information, I'm sure they will be able to answer all your questions. I am going to be at the show too, I will not be on Leandra's stand all day but I will be demoing for a while. Once I have confirmed the times with Leandra, I'll let you know but just so you know, Stevenage is a great little show.....one of my favourites and I feel very lucky to be able to still catch up with you all, courtesy of Mark and Leandra,.

Now that I have waffled on way longer than I had intended, I think I should share some of the samples I made over the weekend!!!

This one was really quite tricky to photograph as it has a sheet of acetate over the front and the lights were reflecting quite badly.

This next one is very pink for me but I do really like it, there's a little piece of stamped fabric stapled on the the tag which was painted with Fresco paints.......am really loving this technique!

The next one is like a book cover and as well as paint has Portfolio Pastels on it too. (Did you know that you need these....everyone needs a set of these!)

And last but not least, paint and stencil techniques:

So as you can see, I had a fun time playing, oops should really say working, for four days. Thank you, thank you, thank you to my dear friends Mark and Leandra for the opportunity to work with your amazing line of products and for looking after me so well, you guys are the best!

I'm off to unpack my sewing machine.....it's finally arrived!!!!!

Stay safe and warm,
Lin