I'm on catch up

Sorry it's bee a while since my last blog post. Mark has been on holiday for the last two weeks so we have been out and about quite a bit. We spent a couple of days in Oxford and stayed in my all time favourite hotel which used to be a prison.

It's owned by the Mal Maison chain and I have stayed in quite a few of their hotels but this is by far the best one. Just look at my room!!!

Who wouldn't want to stay in a nice cosy cell????

I just love the decor in this place.....it's amazing!!!

We also paid a flying visit to the lovely Linda Elbourne in her new pub. We didn't stay long as they are busy bees, working their little socks off to redecorate and refurbish the bar area.....it's going to be a fabulous pub when they're done and Linda will be a wonderful Landlady.....I can't wait for the official opening night which, with fingers crossed they are hoping will be at the end of the month.

Mark also celebrated his birthday and as I didn't have time to make him a cake, Waitrose came up trumps with this little guy...... Bob the dog!!! And very delicious he was too!!!

At the weekend, I taught my two day Altered Book class. I only had one local lady attend the class, everyone else travelled from far and wide....even Paris!!! What a lovely group of ladies.....all ready to try out new techniques and they all worked so hard and produced some amazing art.

Look at the table......what fun!!!

Since then, I have been in sample making mode for Leandra. In case you didn't know, it's the Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Ally Pally this coming weekend. I will be there on Saturday doing a spot of demonstrating with Leandra and I don't think she will mind if I tell you she has new goodies. She has some fabulous new embellishments and I heard today that her order of Treasure Gold has arrived....I'm doing the happy dance cos I love this stuff A LOT!!!!! I put it on nearly everything I make these days.

So would you like a little looksee at what I've been making?????

This one uses Fresco Finish paint, fabric, TH Facets, metal, Treasure Gold, Crafters Workshop stencil and Paperartsy stamps.

This one uses Fresco Finish paint, CW stencils, Paperartsy Grunge Flower dies, some of the new embellishments mentioned above, TH Ideaology and Lynne Perrella stamps.

Fresco Finish paint again....can you tell there's a bit of a theme going on? Stencils Lynne Perrella stamps, Grunge Flower die cut flowers, some new embellies, Treasure Gold and a whole lot more!!!

This one uses pretty much the same stuff as the previous sample.

For this one, I painted one of those wooden triple icon frame thingies. Embossed some script and a flourish in gold, then painted over it with paint to dull it down....am really quite pleased with the effect. Sorry that the photo is not up to scratch, I had to put it on some black card but as it is dark brown, it's not a good contrast. I used lots of Treasure Gold, embellies and a Lynne Perrella stamp as the focal point.

And last but not least......more of the same !!!!

I'm hoping to make a few more samples before the show but if you would like to see these in real life, just pop along the the Paperartsy stand, I will only be there on Saturday but the samples will be there both days.