No more sleepies

we're on our way - woohoo
just got to make up a couple of sandwiches and then I'm away to the station


edited to add - before I run out the door (grinning like an idiot lol)
if any of you are going to be at the SECC, come see me at Angel Crafts stand on Sunday at 10am :)

Woohoooo 1 more sleepie!

Well, already I'm bouncing off the walls - had a pretty giggly phonecall with Anne last night and it would seem we are both totally gleckit lol I very much doubt if either of us are going to sleep tonight, this is more exciting than Xmas Eve haha
Can't wait to catch up with Kath and Lorraine on the Fiskars stand, Angela at Angel Crafts and everyone else who is going. Just hope everyone who hasn't met me yet doesn't think I'm a headcase cos I'll be so hyper.
In case you were wondering....No, I don't get out much :)


Last night was bedlam here, I thought that the school halloween discos were tonight, but luckily I was chatting to another mum when I went to pick the kids up yesterday and she happened to mention that the disco was actually last night. So it was a mad dash to Asda to pick up a costume, then home for tea and all organised for 6.15pm. Now I was never a fan of buying halloween outfits, when I was a kid we made our outfits - I remember my mum sticking lentils to my face to make "warts" then smothering me in green foundation. But I realise it's not the done thing nowadays.... when Scott was in primary one I made the mistake of sending him off to the school halloween disco in a home-made outfit. Well the teacher at the door said "oh, what are you supposed to be" - so that wasn't a great start. Scott and I had actually spent hours making his costume - covered his black top and trousers with glitter glue webs, filled 3 pairs of black tights to make legs, and strung them with glittery elastic to the sleeves of his top so that 6 of his arms would move when he waved his arms around. We made a mask and everything - there was a "best outfit" competition and I honestly thought that he would get some kind of credit for being home-made. Well no, some kid in a shop-bought power rangers outfit won. So now I don't waste my time, I just nip to asda - buy an outfit for 6 quid - well lets face it, I could never make it for that.


So this is what Willow looked like, all dressed up for her disco last night... she's such a little poser.

 And this is Faith, who is away to nursery this morning dressed the same...

 Right, better go and get organised, lots to do

2 more sleepies

you have no idea how excited I am - just 2 more sleeps and Anne and I will be high as kites on the train to Glasgow. I've managed to work myself up into a complete frenzy, I keep going onto the Crowne Plaza's website and looking at all the pictures and facilities. Then I printed off a list of exhibitors for Anne and I to study on the train. Anne, if you're reading this, be warned - I am totally bouncing off the walls already, I'm going to be a nightmare on the train, I'll be bouncing around like a jumping bean.
My case is on the bed and I've had things in and out of it a dozen times. I'm also packing a wee holdall so that I can take my jammies and toiletries home and leave the entire case empty for stash - mwahahahaha.

Graham of course isn't so thrilled, as it means he has the entire weekend himself with the kids. But I've no doubt that I'll come home to an immaculate house - not sure if he'll miss me, or if the kids will lol, but at least I know Pepsi will miss me.


Thankyou to everyone who sent good wishes for Willow, we've taken the executive decision to try the new consultants treatment for a week - I'll be keeping Willow off school next week because I'm not prepared to risk her having any accidents at school if I can avoid it. The head teacher has been brilliant. So we'll see how it goes next week and then decide whether or not to continue or to revert back to the washouts.


I'm going to be avidly blog-hopping tonight, see if anyone has pics of the first day of the show

3 Sleepies

woohoo, it's getting serious now - Kath is on her way to Glasgow now, and a lot of others will be making their way to the SECC tomorrow, and Anne and I have to wait til Saturday. Bet we'll be all gleckit and bouncing off the walls of the train haha


So here's the last of the samples from Saturday that I have to share with you - and this is my favourite. I absolutely love these Bo Bunny Winter Joy papers.

Image: Foxy Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers 
papers are all Bo Bunny - Winter Joy, matted onto Bazzill. white organza ribbon is Anitas, MS snowflake punches, star charm from stash. Greeting is Hero Arts and I covered it with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.

Can't get a whole lot done today because I'm waiting in for phonecalls from the Health Visitor and the Head Teacher about Willow. We had a hospital appointment with her new consultant yesterday and I'm less than happy with his decision to change her treatment, not sure if I'm just being picky because he's not Prof or if I'm justified in being unhappy with his advice.
I need to pop out to Asda to get halloween outfits for the girls - Faith gets to go to nursery on Friday dressed up and Willow has her halloween disco at school on Friday night. Scott doesn't do discos - they're too loud for him. 
I really need to get my bag packed for the weekend, so that I can see if I need anything washed.
No rest for the wicked....


I'd also like to enter my easel card into the following challenges...
ABC Challenge - G is for Glitter
Simon Says - Punch Em
Creative Card Crew - Lets Punch It
Passion for Promarkers - Best Friends
A Spoonful of Sugar - Lets Get Punchy
The Crazy Challenge - Tons of Shapes
Fussy & Fancy - Winter Wonderland
Colour Create - Purple, Aqua & White

4 Sleepies

4 sleepies to go - have booked my taxi to take me to the station on Saturday morning, but I haven't packed yet. Might get round to it later this afternoon. Willow has an appt at the hospital this afternoon with her new consultant and I have to pick her up AFTER her school lunch - she got so upset when I last took her out of school for an appt and she missed her school dinner!


I'm back again with another sample from Saturday...

 Image: Sitting Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers 
Papers are Imaginisce, glitter film from Hobbycraft and Adhesive gems are Kars

I did my usual with this card - coloured the image then though "argh, I have nothing to go with it" so in these situations I have 2 options and here's your tip for today....
1. Use black and white papers and this makes your image stand out as the focus or...
2. Colour your own embellishments to match - with promarkers


I'm entering this card into the following challenges..
Papertake Weekly - Sparkly & Bright
Totally Gorjuss - Sparkle
Crafty Catz - Colour challenge

5 Sleepies

oh it's getting exciting now - think I might start packing tonight :)
So if you're going to the SECC, do you have a shopping list? What are you hoping to get at the SECC?


Before I got too excited about the SECC again, I'm going to share another of the samples I made for last Saturday's demo...
I pinched the idea from the uber-talented Judy who uses Prisma pencils on Kraft card to make the most gorgeous cards and tags. You can use Promarkers on Kraft card, but as they are alcohol based the colour is translucent and not opaque like the pencils. So I've cheated a bit because I've used a snowman and therefore needed him to be white. I have stamped the image onto white notepad from The Papeterie, coloured it with promarkers then cut it out and stuck it to the Kraft card blank.

Image: Snow Cozy from Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers
Kraft from SU, greeting from Hero Arts, grey pearls are Prima E line


will be back tomorrow with another sample

6 Sleepies

Oh my goodness - only 6 sleepies to go, am so excited!! Need to finish off some samples tonight, get them parcelled up and posted tomorrow, then I have the rest of the week to organise my luggage situation. Do you think I can get away with taking a huge case with just knickers and a toothbrush? lol


Had a fabulous day at The Papeterie - I had a captive audience the whole day and it was so nice to meet so many new faces. Here's a couple of pics I lifted from Kath's blog. Kath came with chocolate and moral support, so thankyou Kath - very much appreciated. I spent the whole day colouring - gosh it's hard work (not) and thought "fab, will have all these coloured images ready to make cards with" but no, lots of my audience wanted to take them home for inspiration, so I had very few to take home.

I want to say Hi to all the ladies and the couple of gentlemen who came to see me and I hope I've inspired you all - if you leave me a comment I'd love to come and visit your blogs to see how you're getting on.
I'll be sharing a couple of the samples I made over the next few days as I can't share any of the things I'm working on at the moment yet :S
So here's the first one...

Image is Little Miss Attitude from Sugar Nellie

Papers are all Doodlebug, martha stewart edge punch, Tim Holtz ticket die, Penny Black greeting, flowers from stash.

I'd like to enter my Little Miss Attitude into the following challenges...
Allsorts Challenge - spots and stripes
ABC Challenge - F is for flowers 

How to..... Red Hair

Hi again,
2 tutorials in 2 days eh? well I'll just get right down to business and not stand around chatting :)


I have started off by stamping the image ( Bear Hug Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie ) with Memento Tuxedo Black onto smooth notebook from The Papeterie. 

The first (and darkest colour) I'll be using is Chestnut. Using light strokes I colour the areas that will be darkest, eg at the roots and behind her head.

I then take Terracotta and lightly stroke the nib over the darkest areas and further into the white areas, I have also coloured dips in her waves which I imagine to be darker.

I have taken the Spice (again in light strokes) over all the previously coloured areas and feathering out slightly into the white areas. By colouring over the areas that have already been coloured you are blending the shades together)

 I then repeated the above process with Ginger, but forgot to take a photograph. Then I coloured over all the hair (including ALL the white) with Oatmeal. 

As the pale colours bleach out a little of the darkest shades I have touched up the very darkest areas at the roots and behind her head with tiny strokes of chestnut to give the hair a little more depth. So here's the finished image...

Thanks again for looking and I hope I've helped.

How to..... Black Hair

Hi there,
I've been extreme multi-tasking lately and have managed to do a couple of new tutorials while simultaneously making up some samples for a demonstration, so without further ado, here's how I colour black hair...


As usual I have stamped the image ( Sitting Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie ) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and this time I've used smooth notebook card from The Papeterie.

The first colour I use is black, using light feathery strokes, I've coloured quite a large area of the hair (more than I would usually colour for any other hair colour. I've left enough white areas, where I imagine the light would be hitting, for blending.

Next up, I again use feathery strokes over the black areas and slightly into the white areas, this blends the 2 colours a little - don't worry about the blending being seamless yet.

 I repeat this process with IG3, moving a little further into the white areas - but leaving a little white visible as a highlight.

By colouring over the Black and IG5 areas with the IG3 you will notice that there is a bit of bleaching - to counteract this and also to give the hair a glossier looking finish I use Indigo Blue over the darkest areas, using very light feathery strokes.

I then used Powder Blue over the whole hair area using very light feathery strokes, this blends all the colouring without bleaching out too much of the depth of colour. 

If necessary you can touch up the black a little...

And this is the finished image...

thanks for looking and hope this was helpful.