What a hectic few weeks this has been. I have been rushed of my feet with all your orders. Now I know how Santa feels! Apologies to those of you who follow my diary.....it has been rather erratic to say the least......that is my first new year resolution......I estimate that it will last 2/3 weeks....any takers?

I hope that all your cards are now made and your friends appreciate all the hard work that you have put in to make them! Hopefully we won't be too busy here over the next few days and I will get a chance to do all mine..........

Happy crafting
Sheonagh x

My Friend

Last year I was introduced to a fellow crafter, Lorraine, through a mutal friend and together we worked on Telfords exhibit for the Hobby show at the NEC. Lorraine helped me enormously by making up sample cards to put into the card stands and I am not sure that I thanked her enough but the look of pride on both our faces that night in Birmingham last year when we saw the model coming down the catwalk with the card stands filled with the beautiful cards was memorable.

Anyway, Lorraine has not been well and has gone through some unpleasant surgery - she is now home and I went to visit her today armed with some crafting magazines. We spent the afternoon chatting away and having a laugh - well that is me and not her as she had already burst some stitches earlier on in the week!

Do you know something, we all moan and complain about little things that get on our nerves but to have spent an afternoon with Lorraine is a real tonic. Go to her blog www.craftycoo.blogspot.com to see what she is up to.

Lorraine you are a true friend!

Happy crafting to you all
Sheonagh

Hi folks, thank goodness that is the half term over with. It has been a bit of a struggle over the last week with Struan at home and trying to get the orders out. Thank you for understanding and not getting on at me when your order wasn't there within a day!

My class have been getting to grips with embossing powders and to say that they could all have auditioned for position of the twinkle fairy would be an understatement. We had embossing powder all over the place. If anyone can tell me why we had a problem with the red embossing powder I would be very grateful. The gold, silver, black and clear all worked fine but the red just didn't seem to want to work at all.

I found it quite hard to do examples that weren't Christmas themed as I always think that embossing and Christmas go hand to hand. I ended up using the dragon from the 'Woodware clear stamp collection' http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=131&pID=832.

If you have any other ideas then please share it with us.

Hope you have a lovely week.

Happy Crafting

Sheonagh

Stamping

Last weeks class was all about stamping.





It was a really good class and my ladies all enjoyed it but I think I was expecting too much of them for the 2 hours as we ran over by quite a lot - but they had fun and that was the main thing!





This card took the longest as we were experimenting with the watermark inks and acetate.


The stamp http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=131&products_id=768 is supposed to be a sunflower however I think that the colours we have used here are rather nice.

Give it a try and see what happens.

Have a good week - we have half term this week so apologies if you call and you here Scooby Doo in the background!

Sheonagh

Cardmaking Classes

Our fist class went really well, if I don't say so myself!

My class were complete beginners so we started by exploring the opportunities given by peel offs. We did some colouring in of the peel off and like the above gave the ladies some stunning cards. In the example above I have used the Christmas Accent peel off in gold http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=134&pID=837 by peeling off the image and placing it on the card and then colouring in the remaining image on the peel off and 'filling in' the gaps you can create a well made card. Here I have added some Christmas tree brads http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=60&pID=841 and used a scrap of handmade paper.

Have a go - why not send one in for our Christmas Competition - see the web site for details.

Happy crafting

Sheonagh

Cardmaking Classes

Our first beginners card makers class starts this Wednesday. Okay so I am a bit unsure as to how it will go but as they say nothing vetured nothing gained.

My 'class' seems eager and that is half the battle.

Each session we are going to look at different techniques rather than specific cards and the first week it is peel offs and stickers. So watch this space and I will report back with the results.

Have a nice week
Sheonagh

Wedding Fever

I am going to a wedding next week so hopefully it will have stopped raining by then! Wedding cards can be so over the top but this one strikes a happy balance. The Glasgow Rose peel off http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=134&products_id=839 lends itself so well to classic cards. Gently ease the peel off from the backing paper and place it onto a piece of cream card. Trim down to size. Using marker pens colour in sections of the rose and carefully with a sharp tool lift them from the backing paper and onto your piece of work. Layer this onto a piece of gold card. Using a sharp knife make a slit in the spine of the card half way down and then thread a piece of gold ribbon through, joining it at the front of the card. Put some foam pads of the back of your topper and place over the joined ribbon.