Thankyou

Hello hello,
just a quick post cos I'm not staying at the laptop long tonight. Just wanted to pop on and say thankyou to everyone who wished me a happy birthday on Friday and to everyone who sent me beautiful hand made cards. Oh, and just to clear up a bit of confusion from the opening paragraph on my birthday blog candy - it was my 30-something birthday, not my 3rd birthday, or blogaversary lol. Remember my blog candy is still open until the 10th Feb.

Also a great big bosie to my super crafting buddy Kath who treated me to a trip to the pictures today. Kath and I snuffled our way through 2 and a half hours of the beautifully shot and very emotive War Horse. Now I am an animal lover, although I wouldn't say I was a horsey person at all - I'm highly allergic to them - but wow, what a fab film. And I spotted so many British actors in it too.


I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, but I'm still up to my eyes with Uni stuff, hopefully I'll have another assignment done and dusted by the end of the week though.
But I did manage to get samples made for my next class at The Papeterie - I think there are 1 or 2 places left (call 01224 802337 for more info or to book a place). We'll be decorating a box using various techniques with Letraset alcohol inks, so it's going to be lots of messy fun :)


Another of my bloggy buddies, and fellow Promarker nut Lou has started a special group on Facebook for all of us Letraset marker fans - a place to share inspiration, tips and techniques. So if you fancy joining in, pop over here to Promarker Paradise.

And lastly for today - seeing as it's payday, I thought I'd just mention that there are still places left for the GJWTHF craft day in Aberdeen,  - if you are a bit further north and would prefer Banff, or a bit further south and fancy either Perth or Newcastle then give me a shout by email, and I'll pop you on the list so you'll be the first to know about upcoming GJWTHF dates closer to you. Perth and Newcastle especially are proving to be quite popular :)
You'll find more detail on this post or on the GJWTHF Facebook page.


Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any comments Debz x

Limited Edition Spring Promarkers

yup, that's right, just in case you haven't seen the posts on the Letraset blog, or the tweets, or the Letraset Facebook page lately, Letraset are releasing 6 limited edition brand spanking new colours.
And because they are only going to be available during Spring 2012 they have fabulous spring names. This new pack of 6 promarkers will be released in Feb 2012 and when the stock runs out they will be gone forever - so if you have promarkers already or were thinking of trying them, then this set is an absolute must. In fact, why not get 2 :)

This set includes some lovely fresh, subtle tones that will blend perfectly with the existing promarker and flexmarker collection. 


The question I'm most often asked when Letraset release new colours is... "where do they fit into the existing promarker collection?" So to take a little of the guesswork out of it for you I have tried to show this for you...

This is my take on where the new colours fit in and also gives you an idea of colours that may blend well. You'll find more info on the Letraset blog.


Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any comments Debz x

I'm finally back with the belated "embarrassing photo cos it's yer birthday" post - and I'm doing this very warily because it's my birthday soon lol
So here is my beautiful little elf from The Papeterie... Rachel...

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any comments Debz x

Oops

Oops, nearly forgot the silly pic of Rachel for her birthday...
I'm having technical difficulties at the moment - please check back later :)


Thanks for visiting, I appreciate any comments Debz x

Happy Birthday Rachel

I can safely post this card now as I've given it to the lovely Rachel from The Papeterie who is 19 tomorrow. Oh to be that age again!!
It was a great excuse to get colouring one of Krista's Saturated Canary images. I've bought loads of her gorgeous digi stamps but don't seem to have the time to do much crafting.

Image : Becki from Saturated Canary, coloured with promarkers (fine nibs for the details)
gingham paper was a present from the lovely Tina, grey cardstock is stampin' up, white cardstock and diamond white stamping card from The Papeterie, greeting is Inkadinkado, spellbinders oval and lacy oval dies, Hero Arts envelope pattern stamp with Angel Pink memento inkpad and seam binding from Angel Crafts.


I'd like to enter her into :
Saturated Canary - Dies or punches (dies, plus I used a corner rounder punch on the sentiment)
Sentimental Sundays - die cuts
Cute Card Thursday - Music & Dance (sentiment)


Thanks for looking
Debz
xx


p.s. I haven't forgotten to post the embarrassing birthday pic - wait til tomorrow :)

Blue Snow?

No, there's no blue snow - just me doing some crafting lol, I know, it seems like ages doesn't it?
I'm determined to try and enter some of my favourite challenges more often this year - although I don't want to make any promises or resolution as we all know how that goes :S
Anyway, here is one of my favourite stamps from Sugar Nellie: Journey...

 Image: Journey by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie, coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers, greeting is from a great new greetings set from Woodware, papers are all Kaisercraft - Black & White Timeless which I have coloured with watered down Distress Ink (Faded Jeans) and Distress Stains (Peeled Paint and Picket Fence). I coloured the card candi (craftwork cards) with flexmarker and the eggshell seam binding is from Angel Crafts.

I'd like to enter her into:
Sugar Nellie FB group - blue green and white
The Sugar Bowl - sketch plus birthday
Stampin' for the Weekend - out with the old (papers, distress inks/stains, candi, image)
I Love Promarkers - anything goes


thanks for looking
I appreciate all your comments, so don't be shy
Debbi
x
p.s. am so chuffed that I won a challenge woohooo

Hmmm

It was going so well at the start of the year, blogging regularly and then it all went pear-shaped.
Unfortunately life got in the way of my crafting and blogging, but I make no apologies for it. January is always a bit of a nightmare, with finalising accounts, doing tax returns, and of course I have 2 assignments due in in January, the first one is in and marked and I'm pretty chuffed with my marks, and the 2nd one is due in on the 31st so I've still a load of studying to do for that. But I'm getting there. The accounting stuff is all done and dusted as of this afternoon. And to make life a bit easier for myself I've made a start on pulling together all the 2011/12 stuff so far. 
But never mind all that, have you seen the exciting news from Letraset? Have you seen all the new limited edition colours they've been revealing on the Letraset Facebook page? 

I know some of you were concerned when you heard there were going to be more promarker colours, but there's no need to panic, there's only 6 new colours this time.

I've also been busy with the admin side of the Girls Just Want To Have Fun crafty days - we announced the first date for Aberdeen (see this post for details) and we also announced that we'll be holding more crafty days in Banff, Perth and Newcastle. So if you live within travelling distance of any of those places and want to know more then email me here and I'll add you to our mailing list, so when we finalise the details you'll be the first to hear about it. I've already got quite a lot of names already for Banff, Perth and Newcastle. And a third of our places for the Aberdeen crafty day are now reserved.
And if you have no idea what I'm waffling about.... well the incredibly talented Kath and Anne get together with myself to put together 3 workshops featuring all the latest products and techniques. We provide all the materials and tools (we only ask you to bring a pair of scissors if you want to) and we also provide a buffet lunch and refreshments. The Aberdeen crafty days are held at The Papeterie so there is also the opportunity to shop afterwards too.
Here are some of the workshops we've done at previous GJWTHF days....

 The projects for 2012 are all brand new, and you won't see them anywhere else.
So if you fancy joining us please don't hang about as spaces are limited 
Have a great day
Debz
x

GJWTHF3 - news

Well, we can finally give you some news about our Girls Just Want To Have Fun plans for 2012, are you ready?

And if you're not within easy travelling distance of Aberdeen never fear, we'll soon be revealing details of more GJWTHF crafty days in Perth, Banff and Newcastle, numbers permitting.

So I'm now accepting bookings for Aberdeen - just email me as per the poster above or click on this link.

I'm also taking names and email addresses for the other venues, so if you are interested in attending either Perth, Banff or Newcastle (in the UK) please email me and I'll contact you before we publicly announce.

We're so excited to be doing GJWTHF again this year, we have some great projects to share with you and we're so looking forward to GJWTHF on tour!!

So remember, if you're interested in any of our venues, get in touch soon as places are limited and they fill up incredibly quickly

see you soon

Debz

x

I might have some news...

I may or may not have some news to tell you tomorrow, here's a clue...

If you want to keep up to date with GJWTHF news you can join our facebook page here or you can email me and I'll add you to any info that gets emailed out.
Back at 7am :)
Debz
x

Day Off

Well I had a day off yesterday, from blogging to get going with my Uni assignment, so I made a good start on it - just need to try to finish it by the end of the week, just not sure where I'm going to get the time, as it's a busy one this week.
Tomorrow I'm off out to The Sew Room to meet up with Anne and Kath to discuss this years Girls Just Want To Have Fun crafty days, then Graham's home Thursday. 
It's my dad's birthday today - he's 69 :) 


I have loads of exciting things coming up over the next few weeks, my first class of the year at The Papeterie next month is going to be loads of fun - using the new Letraset alcohol inks to make a pretty keepsake box. 
I'm also planning to add to my video tutorials - so if there are any special requests just let me know and I'll see what I can do. 
Plus I'll be doing my review of "bleedproof" card for using with alcohol markers soon too.
have a good evening
Debz
x

1st Boy Card of 2012

I've seen a couple of challenges this year so far that I wanted to enter and so I coloured this Whimsy Stamp from Angel Crafts up especially for them.

I'm told that I'm not bad at boys cards, and I must admit I quite like doing them - if you know me, you'll know that I'm really not a girly girl, I was always more of a tomboy when I was a kid - I certainly find them easier than the whole pink flowery thing.

Anyway, I'm sure you're not interested in me waffling on here, so here's the card....

 Image: Teen Idol, greeting is from Film Strip Sentiments and I also used the matching Film Strip die , coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers
black and white card from The Papeterie, Tim Holtz filmstrip ribbon. And of course the distressed edges were done with the Distrezz It All.

I'd like to enter him into the following challenges:

Enfys' Going Buggy Challenge - grey white and red

PfP - Thankyou

Fabulous Friday - no patterned paper

C.R.A.F.T.http://www.trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com// - Thankyou

Cute Card Thursday - something new (stamps)

Sisterhood of Crafters - black white and 1 other colour

Deep Ocean Challenge - lots of white

Finally some crafting

I decided that I really needed to do some colouring, so I stamped up some of my new Whimsy stamps from Angel Crafts. 

As you can see from the pics I've been playing with my new Distrezz It All too :) so much quicker and easier than a distressing tool or a pair of scissors. 
I've had to stop to make tea for the kids, but the girls want to do some crafting too, so I'll hopefully get it finished off this evening.


Well tomorrow is the last day of the christmas holidays, and back to school on Monday for the kids - and not a minute too soon. They're getting bored now, and with my kids bored = destructive and messy. And I can finally get some serious studying done while they're at school - get this assignment out of the way and on to the next topic of this module - one that I'm a bit more comfortable with (accounting).
See you tomorrow :)
Debz
x

Even More Stuff

Well I've still never got round to getting any crafting done and it's not looking good over the next week or so either, with tax return deadlines looming and an assignment due in too.
But I had a wee crafty sale splurge at Angel Crafts - Angela always has a fantastic sale and I could've gone completely nuts. But I've decided that I'm not going to buy any more papers this year until I've made a big dent in the ones I have..... I have 3 RUB 12x12 suspension boxes FULL of 12x12 papers that haven't been touched. In fact if anyone is interested I might just invest in some 12x12 pizza boxes and sell some of them. 


Anyway, here's what I did splash out on - loads and loads of eggshell seam binding, bling and some Whimsy stamps and dies.

And just a wee heads up - the Glamour Dust is in the sale, and I don't know about you, but I can never have enough Glamour Dust, so well worth stocking up.


Short and sweet today - way too much to do, off to collect my Tesco clothing order from my local mini Tesco. Bought the girls new school jackets in the sale and a new robe for Scott cos his one is barely skimming his bum.... he grows far too quickly!


Thanks for looking
Debz
x

More stuff

Hiya,
back again with more stuff, a bit craftier than yesterday but still nothing that I've made...
I thought I'd share some more of the crafty goodies I got at xmas with you. So firstly I got a fantastic selection of crafty goodness from the wonderful Kath including the pearls, Memory Box dies and charms below, Graham got me the beautiful layered 3 stage butterfly punch and the Distressed Doily Tim Holtz die, and the gorgeous "crafty things" journal was made for me by none other than Charlotte from The Papeterie

Here's another shot of the crafty journal - isn't it just stunning? 

believe me, the pics really don't do it justice - I just can't help stroking it.
Talking of The Papeterie, have you popped in to see the sale yet? definitely worth a trip. 
Thanks for looking
Debz
x

Stuff

Hiya,
just want to say thankyou for the lovely comments I've had so far on my review of the Daylight lamps, and can I just say - for all those who commented on my nice tidy craft room..... sorry but looks can be very deceiving, I purposely took photos of the bit of my desk that I had tidied, the rest of my craft space looks like an explosion in a paper factory.
I'm afraid I don't have any crafty stuff to share today, so I thought I'd share some gems from the kids. My favourite Faith quote of the day today was "mummy, when we have kids of our own, you'll be close to dead won't you?" which I thought was particularly charming.
Scott has been hard at work with all the lego and Megabloks Halo stuff he got for xmas, so here he is showing off his very first Lego Technic model...

and my little rubber-faced girl wanted her picture taken - never one to miss a photo opportunity, that one! So here she is demonstrating her grumpy face, I didn't realise that I was mirroring her expression (you can see me reflected in the microwave).

Better go get the tea started, catch ya tomorrow for more stuff
Thanks for looking
Debz
x

The Daylight Company

I'm sure you've seen on some other blogs, reviews of craft lamps. I've also been asked to review a lamp from The Daylight Company, so I hope you find it interesting.


I was asked to chose a lamp to review on my blog and unfortunately the one I chose had been spectacularly popular and had sold out, so instead they offered to send me the LED MicroMax Light and the Twist portable lamp

So I'm going to tell you about the LED MicroMax Light first because it's a very portable, handy addition for any crafter. I took this wee light with me when I stayed in Glasgow to demo at the SECC in October and I can honestly say it was just perfect. It has a couple of nifty features that I really liked, you can either place it on the desk or worksurface using the detachable cradle which has 4 wee feet that swivel out for stability, or you can take the black cradle off and clip the unit to your worksurface or to whatever is handy - this is terrific for when space is at a premium, or if I was drawing or colouring at an easel for example. The light itself consists of 4 Daylight LEDs on one of it's bendy poseable arms and a magnifier on the other bendy arm - so you can position the light and magnifier exactly where you need them. It also has 2 power settings so that you can extend the battery life, full power gives you 12 hours of light and half power gives you 24 hours of light. This is an ideal light if you travel, or for taking to crops and craft classes, it's small enough to slip into an overnight bag or craft tote and only needs 3xAAA batteries.

Here are some pics of me using it to colour some images while I was at the hotel the night before the SECC demos...

So next up, is the Twist Portable Lamp. I wanted this type of lamp for a reason - being that I wanted a decent sized lamp that I could take on holiday when we go on caravan holidays. Unfortunately we haven't been on holiday since I got the lamp, but I decided to use it to replace my existing lamp...

So here's the science bit....

It has an Easy-Twist 320° head-joint, you can rotate the shade and direct the light exactly where you want. It is mains operated and has a detachable base.

No switch, just flip it to turn it on, it has a 13w Daylight energy saving tube, it only weighs 3lbs so great for taking on holiday.

I get very little natural light in my craft area so this lamp is ideal - I get a sharp clean light which is a must for colouring.

 These 2 shots show the tilt of the lamp - so I can point it wherever I need it....

  

This shot shows how neat it all is when it's closed.

I'll definitely be packing it when we next go on a caravan holiday :)


You can buy the LED MicroMax Light and the Twist portable lamp from The Daylight Company along with any of their huge range of specialist lighting. 

New Year Offshore

As you know, Graham was home for xmas in 2011, but he had to go offshore a few days later and had the task of organising and preparing the New Year meals for the rig he's on - because it's not much fun being in the middle of the North Sea over the festive period, and they're not allowed alcohol for obvious reasons, the festive menus are quite a big deal. Graham is a Chef Manager which means he's in charge of all the catering and domestic staff on the rig and he likes to pull out all the stops when it comes to the festive meals. Although I have to stay Graham's standards are incredibly high all year round.
Now, normally Graham prints off menus to display for the days meals, but at xmas and new year he like to make them a bit special and tarts them up a bit in Powerpoint. And this is the 2nd year he's asked me to add a bit of craftiness to them. 
So I was a bit short on time (he's promised to give me more notice next year) so this is what I came up with..

I kept it simple with the Spellbinders Poinsettia dies and some Craftwork Cards candi.
So I did 15 table menus and 2 display menus for the New Years Day meal and 15 table menus and 2 display menus for the 2nd Jan Buffet.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all - I wish you all a healthy, happy, prosperous and of course crafty 2012.

I'm not making any resolutions this year - are any of you? Did any of you have any wild Hogmanay parties? I just curled up on the settee and watched the last Harry Potter film then trotted off to bed - forgot to even have a wee glass of alcohol.

Willow is itching to get to The Papeterie, and I'm pretty much the same, Graham got me some vouchers for there and they're burning a hole in my pocket - but it doesn't open til the 3rd lol.

Santa was exceptionally good to me at christmas, I must've been an angel in 2011 lol It's a little embarrassing though... as an Aquarian, I'm not much of a conformist, if everyone else has something then I want to have something else just to be different. Well, Graham is a bit of an Apple nerd and anything that Apple release is held in the highest regard and has to be purchased as soon as possible. Just about everyone I know has an iphone now and I was determined that I wasn't going to get "sucked in", it took me ages to work out how to use my Blackberry and I was determined to stick with it.

Well, Graham bought me an iphone for my xmas and I was a bit gutted to be honest when I opened the parcel - and I know how selfish and ungrateful that sounds but it made me think that he just doesn't listen to me at all. BUT he set it all up for me - we had a bit of trouble getting all my numbers from my Blackberry, but that's more to do with Blackberry making life difficult for moving to a different manufacturer - and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I LOVE IT!! I've been faffing around with facetime, Instagram, Whatsapp etc and I just love it to bits. And believe me when I say that I really didn't want to like it at all lol

Well I'd have been more than happy with just that from Santa, but I also got the few thingies that I'd asked for...

a Distrezz-It-All....

Now this is something that I've ummed and aahed over for a long time, so when Graham asked what crafty stuff I wanted for xmas this was the first thing that sprung to mind. So there's a good chance that everything I make this year will be distressed :)

I also got an Alterations die and a layering punch - so look out for those being used soon :)

And a couple of very good friends of mine got together and bought me another Tim Holtz bag - the one I've been eyeing up...

So I now have a Timmy bag to go with everything :)

The kids were thoroughly ruined and I thought I'd share this wee snippet of xmas morning with you - wait til very near the end, to see Willow's reaction to getting some stamps, an inkpad and the Little Mix single in her stocking...