Weekend at The Craft Barn

Last weekend (13/14 Sept) I was at the Craft Barn along with 15 other demonstrators for their demo weekend. It was so busy, that i didn;t get a chance to look around at what everyone else was demoing, but it was heaps fof un to see so many familiar faces, and to meet many news ones too!

I was asked to demo our new Egg and Nog stamps from the Squiggly Ink Collection which we just released at the start of this month. There are 10 stamps in the collection, and like the rest of the squiggly family, the more you use them the more you get addicted to them!

First I want to show you a layout I did...yes that's right...I did a L/O!!! We often get asked for photos of Mr & Mrs PA for magazines, so mark put a sign up on the outside of PA World HQ, set up the camera and then we stood there and mostly made dumb faces at each other. This was about the only normal pic...and so I said I'd scrapbook it!

I used My Minds Eye Christmas Papers in blues/ browns. The gorgeous large scroll-style tree is from SIEN8, and is actually stamped onto cream metal which had been sprayed with glimmer mists. Then some xmas bling had to adorn the trees. All the flowers are from the new Egg and Nog stamps (Plates 2,4,7 & 10). I stamped onto the papers in black pigment ink (Ranger) and then embossed with clear EP, cut out and layered up. I adore these flowers, they work so well on grunge, metal, acetate, shrink plastic and also you should try them on Claudine Hellmuths sticky backed canvas, a new product from Ranger Industries. In fact, if you put metal on the back of the flowers you can form the shape really effectively like this sample.

So now to some of the samples I made while demoing this weekend.

In this one featuring flower stamps from Egg and Nog, and the Dragonfly from SITT2, you can see the flowers stamped onto acetate or shrink. I find with the shrink, you can spray it first with an ink diluted in a mini mister, or with a glimmer mist spray. These pale sprays will certainly intensify quite a lot as they shrink and dry, and while hot they can be moulded into nice shapes. I also find you can nestle 2 different sizes inside each other, then let them cool. Bling looks nice in the centres too. Glossy accents will secure bling, and shrink to the card.

While we're on the topic of Dragonflies for a minute, this one turned out quit nice and bright too. The background was brayered Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and then overstamped with SM08 in the same colour. The flower from SIEN4 was stamped in Aged Mahogany. This was also stamped onto a scrap, applied as a mask, and Aged Mahogany was softly smooched around the edges to make the flower pop gently. Next the dragonfly from SITT3 was stamped in Pitch Black pigment ink, and embossed in clear EP to make it pop. The small dots on the wings were random;ly highlighted by the Inkssentials White Gel Pen (Ranger Industries). Paper Flowers and buttons from Making Memories embellish the edges of the card.

The Birds on a wire is a delightful stamps from SITT2. On this sample the background was Distress Inks smooched DTP onto the card (Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade). Then glimmer mists were sprayed over the top and dried. A tree mask (Tattered Angels), was positioned to the right, then Glimmer Mists darker than the background were sprayed over the mask. Blot, then lift the mask and dry. Now stamp the birds in black, dry, and colour with Distress Inks and a paintbrush dipped into water. The door is a bit like a Narnia door into another world (I stamped small trees behind it) and the door in the lower part of the house from SILK1. It was stamped onto copper metal. Again, you can see the flowers have been stamped onto shrink plastic. Too cute!








Now for some Christmas samples. A few of these have elements as accents that have been stamped onto copper metal and added to the cards. This is a great way to introduce a contrasting texture into a card , layout etc.

Thanks for dropping by, This coming weekend I'll be demoing at Ally Pally on the LB Crafts Booth, so come by and say Hi if you're going to be able to make it to the show in London. It's on both Saturday and Sunday, and is one of my favourite shows on the UK calendar.