I know, I know {stop telling me}

Yes I have been a bad blogger, I know I know. Be quiet already. I decided that people getting their orders had to be placed a bit higher up the list of priorities than blogging. When I figure out how to morph into an octopus with three heads, life will be so much easier!

As I keep saying, if you miss me that much, get on your iphone (if you haven't got one yet you *need* one from Santa!) and follow me on twitter @paperartsy for daily updates from the mad life of PA world HQ, plus you can laugh at all the goings on of family, work and the latest TV excitement on Saturday evenings. For example, you may have found it interesting to know that Miss Millie (12 yr old baker and chef extraordinaire) 

 threw the whole house into crisis when she broke the rules by wearing her roller blades indoors, fell over and almost broke her arm! Due to a very bad sprain, we have suffered deeply without freshly baked cookies, brownies or red-wine casseroles! What a nightmare! So if you followed me on twitter you would know a lot more of our behind the scenes life, and boy did we get up to some stuff when Mark went off to the rugby recently...it's not often he goes away leaving me at home, so while the cat's away.....


Anyway, even if I am a bad blogger, I am a very competent twit. Nuff said.

So in the last couple of months I have only been home about 2 weekends (the last 2 actually)


....it all started back in October.....The Artisan  Show:

Love that show. We were flat out. Missy Jo Firth-Young had a lovely make and take going down with constant queues of people waiting to play with her lovely self. We had fun with flowers (above) and mini books (below)

I demoed on the stand, and found time to fit in a workshop which was full of lovely ladies who made fabulous double icon frames decorated with Hot Picks stamps and copper metal. They were brilliant. Like I said, love that show. Mark Sept 30 and Oct 1st in your 2011 calendar now!


Next up we had ArtsyCrafts: 
2 weekends of utterly fabulous creativity at Newport Pagnell and Warrington. I have to say, for me this was my favourite AC so far. I was really looking forward to it because I really, really loved each of the projects so much. And we seemed to get the timing spot on this time for every single class - the majority of people went home with 3 totally finished projects. The pace was nice, we oozed through comfortably.  And the ladies were so lovely who we got to spend the weekends with! Perfick!

There were lots of beginners who totally coped magnificently well with all our weirdo terminology, and many, many repeat customers who consistently call our events 'second to none' which gives us the uber warm fuzzies, because we really do put hours and hours (and hours and hours....) of work into these events. Not just Lin and me, all the team has a special part to play in bringing these special weekend retreats to you all...

so in October 2010 this was what we all had great enjoyment making....

  

 The owl from HP1011 proved very popular sitting inside his niche which was covered with the new PaperArtsy 12x12 Thordon Hall scrapbooking papers. The paper is from Italy (swoon now), and is printed locally to us. I had a big looong list of how I needed the papers to be...I think the printers thought I was asking a bit much, but they searched high and low, and found the most high quality , gorgeous paper, we are so totally over the moon. And they work out at just 62p ea for a double sided 12x12, so didn't we do well!!! You can get packs of 24 sheets (4 of each design) for £14.99 Did I mention they are so smooth that they stamp up beautifully, and we love to alter the colour with a wash of gesso, then ink or paint. So much fun to do! Go ask Santa for some! You know you've been good!

This metal frame decorating the front of one of the projects is made from a grid pattern from a kabuka mould. We run it through the big shot to be embossed, then flatten the metal between the acrylic plates. Its a great technique for all kinds of cool embellishments, and used to great effect to frame this lovely collage stamp HP1006 (above)

I adore this stunning frame project. It was a whole day class. We created the background from heavy duty corrugated card, then painted, embossed with metallic powders, and embellished with the PaperArtsy flower stamps - we needed those PaperArtsy dies quite a bit for this... and the odd hint of metal was fabulous. How lucky were we that the border from the kabuka mould fit perfectly across the bottom of the frame!

 Nice texture from the ribbed paper under the metal-flower top layer.

 And this little frame of layers was so much fun to make too. It uses the new door stamp from HP1011, the frame was covered with canvas and painted.


If you want to come to ArtsyCrafts next year, the dates will be announced very soon, we are looking at late May - mid June 2011, and mid to late October 2011, and as usual, there will be a weekend of the same curriculum on offer at Newport Pagnell (nr Milton Keynes), or Warrington (nr Manchester). The classes are developed by me, Leandra from PaperArtsy, and the fabulously talented Lin from LB Crafts. We are 2 separate companies, and ArtsyCrafts is our joint venture where we share all our ideas of how to use paints, stamps, metal, papers and all kinds of other goodness in a hole weekend of creative joy. You really should come along, 2011 is our 4th year of AC events!

Timmy update:

Oh and we have the uber-talented, product-designer extraordinaire, the one and only Tim Holtz coming over to teach a very special in-depth mixed media mega super duper class with us for a special event in Feb 2011....If you booked a place, watch your email for a 'despatched' notification soon.... because tickets will be landing early December, just in time for those Xmas stockings!!!  (squealing with excitement!!!)

OK, so that is October updated, watch this space for what happened next to Leandra in November!!!

Another fabulous month of excitement!!! 

Ally Pally sans moi

I keep getting lots of emails or tweets saying 'see you at Ally Pally' ..well I hate to break it to ya...but I'm not gonna be there.....much as I would LOVE to, there is way too much going on at PA HQ to leave the fort.....but do not fear

Because Lin will be there with her beautiful stand of beautiful products. She always has all the newest stuff from Tim Holtz, B Line, Julie van Ousten in Aussie, gorgeous magazines, and of course she will have all the newest PaperArtsy stuff too.

 And you don't want to miss her demo!! She is working with our gorgeous collaged flower set of stamps that we released a month or so back...this one

 and of course this style of flowers PaperArtsy first brought to you back in April as HotPick 1004, when we released the matching die at the same time! And they are so much fun we just had to make more, so there are other gorgeous flower stamps on plates HP1008 and HP1009...and yes Lin will have those too! Of course! 

So do go and check out what Lin is making on the LB Crafts stand with the dies, stamps, metal and more! I'm sure she will amaze you with how she puts all the element together to make a gorgeous embellishment.

As if that isn't enough... she will also have the 2 new Hot Pick Christmas stamps, 

Hot Pick1009 (September) which i adore, that spray of flowers is gorgeous! And the collaged flower in the centre matched our scallop flower dies..die cut you paper/ card/ metal and stamp the image on top! Simples!

 and more newness HotPick Xtra04 which is a beautifully arranged plate of useful quotes.

And the new October HotPick...yes October..she got it early!

So i am sure you will have lots of fun shopping there over the weekend. Make sure you report back and let me know what you have bought!

And shhhh...she doesn't know this, but when she opens the box arriving from us today I also put in a bag of goodies she can give away to the most loveliest PaperArtsy fans who drop by the booth!  I'm not sure what you have to do to get one? No doubt Lin will let you know.

But if you are lucky, you might get one of these...for the dedicated fan!

Have a great time at the show in London at Alexandra Palace this weekend!

Leandra

WOYWW- what isn't?? {Shhhhh}

I am so excited about what's on my desk...but I have to act like I'm not because I tried to scupper Mark's plans to get it on more than one occasion.... much to his disgust...but now that it's here I quite like it...but I haven;t actually told Mark that yet.....and when I said to Mark that's my WOYWW post his face lit up and he said 'WHAT???' and I think he was not only quite chuffed that i actually like the little thing, but really surprised and pleased that he won me over. He's quietly grinning over there while pressing rubber....shhhh don;t tell him....You don't know what I'm on about do you???

Nope it's not all the paperwork, after 2 days of spreadsheets I am ready to leave all that Essex Lynne to get her teeth stuck into, totally her bag.

No, it's a new toy at PA world HQ. Mark does love his gizmos and gadgets, and we now have a paper tape machine, one wot licks the tape for you. See, I know what you're thinking...exactly what I said.......why do you need that when you can use the regular packing tape....that's exactly what i said...for ages....anyway, now it's here I can honestly say it's really cool. Not only is the tape stronger but you dial up how much you want, do a cha ching action with the arm lever (like you would on a casino pokey machine thingy...hence the cha ching sound effect), and it literally licks, spits and then cuts the piece of tape!! How cool is that!!
No noise, no tape getting stuck to the rest of the tape, no super strength required to man-handle the tape off the rest of the roll, just smooth quiet, pre licked cha ching.

Should I be worried that I find something like this quite cool???

Oops...almost forgot...To cover up my surreptitious photo-taking-activity of the tape thing, I had to also take one of Mark's desk......he has 2 new stamps that he is putting into packs for a Craft Stamper subs offer at the Artisan show...so if you are thinking of subscribing at the show you will get this as a free gift when you subscribe. They are both new, and the only way to get them is on the Traplet Subs stand at the show. I think they also have other shows they will have them at but not sure exactly when and where.

Don't forget to swing by Julia's and get your weekly snoopy-treats. If you have made it thru to me after the 3000 other names on the list, then well done!
Catch you next week!

Leandra

A {Big} Thankyou

Well to say we were surprised just doesn't quite cover it really! Amazed, blown away, gob-smacked...the list of adjectives still doesn't even come close!

 On Monday, Lin decided late in the afternoon to come down to PA World HQ to watch and be an extra pair of hands as the bookings came in for the ArtsyCrafts event with Tim Holtz.    but not to be left out, and with eyes sparkling....Queen Linda E asked to come, and so did our MVK (most valuable kitter-upperer) Karen ask too...YES COME ON DOWN, we said....Let's have a party!!! And so Jo Firth-Young was informed of the evening's plans and so she joined in (Essex Lynn was ...again...on holiday, so she missed out - sure she's having fun in Cuba, or Bangkok or wherever she is - we can't keep up).

Watching the clock, we counted down a bit like New Year's eve and the madness kicked off, well its like a mad house here 99% of the time anyway, but by the end of the night Linda E was yelling at Mr PA (Mark) to pull finger and sort the printer out.... and various other quips ...just to keep him in line of course......actually...I should probably have recorded them as audio boos then I could play them to Mark every time he gets out of line!!

So I need to say thankyou. Thankyou to all the PA HQ helpers - our ArtsyCrafts team is fantastic, we all enjoy each other's company soooo much, they are a delight to be with - and ever so slightly mad.

Thank you to all the people trying to book the event, for playing by the rules and not putting more than 2 tickets in the basket, thankyou for recognising that the website was under pressure and was groaning along like some old fashioned steamp-punked antiquity, but being patient anyway, thank you for ringing up all excited about your tickets, thankyou for not yelling at us while waiting for confirmation, and thankyou for supporting this event, and of course thank you to Tim Holtz for agreeing to come to teach a totally fab, looooong master-class like no other he has done here before. We are chuffed to bits. We are amazed to say we have people not only people coming from England, but also from France, Holland, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia and the USA. How utterly fantastic is that!

We feel honoured, excited and thrilled to be able to bring you such as wonderful event. I saw a totally on the button comment on Kaz's blog this morning from another Linda:

I'm excited for you - I just met and took classes from Lord Tim in Ohio this summer. Even as AWESOME as you think he and the class is gonna be ............it's BETTER than that! TOTALLY COOL, if I had the $ I'd fly to UK to take the class - you are one lucky princess. And Mario is just as cute, sweet and kind as he can be!!!!!!!!!

...and boy is she right. A Tim class is special, You will have your expectations totally exceeded. A whole lot of loveliness happens in Tim's classes that you just are never quite prepared for. Plus there is the small matter of a totally hilarious class with Lin and I and all our weird and wonderful terminology .... that is a bonus that we will enjoy, and I know you will too!

I'd just like to finish by saying our website cart providers are very sorry for the problems you experienced at checkout. We spoke to the boss at length, and he said they should have set us up on our own server for the booking period. I am also sorry to the other 200 shops hosted on the same server who also experienced really bad access to their shops for the 40 odd minutes it took for you guys to snaffle up those spaces in class. Lucky we weren't hosted on one of the many other servers that has 600 shops sharing space.

Now I am off to offer a few places that have become available to peeps on the wait list. Next week, when I have all the spreadsheets tickety-boo, and the lists 'final' I will email everyone. I have another surprise for you ALL that you will LOVE. not sayin now. But it's a bonus that you should be pleased to get. That is all I am saying.

Come join me on twitter @paperartsy for evenings of slightly looney chatter - my way to wind down...

Leandra (and Lin and the team)

{TONIGHT} Booking opens

How excited are we all today?? Did you sleep??? 8.00pm tonight booking commences for your opportunity to spend a fabulous 4 hours of creative time with the master himself, Tim Holtz and a unique 2 hour class with Lin and Leandra - altogether you are in for a 6 hour altered arts blast!

Never before has he taught such a loooooong class in the UK, and usually when he comes over here, his schedule only allows for demos, or if you are a retailer you might get the chance to do a product-promo class or watch a demo at a trade event. 

We want more than this! We want you guys to have the real deal! We wanted a chance to do the amazing 'Tim' classes we see him teach at those wonderful USA events. For the UK crafter, we wanted you to experience a unique, hands on experience with Tim to guide, encourage and entertain you in his inimitable style in a superb master-class using his products, ideas and techniques to make a gob-smacking project. This isn't just about showing you what is new, this is showing you what you can do with your own hands!

Over the last 7 years, I have attended or exhibited at many of the same international events that Ranger does. I have often watched, helped and participated in many of Tim's classes here in the UK, even as far away as Australia, Holland, France and the USA. There is no doubt, Tim is a fantastic teacher: no request is too much bother, every question is important, he willingly shares loads of ideas, tips and tricks with all his products, and you ooze through class enjoying every single second of the experience. 

I hope you can join us all for one of the ArtsyCrafts sessions next February. It will be utterly fantastic. Fact.

Click here at 8pm tonight to book you place. (squeals)

Leandra

FAQ Tim Holtz at {ArtsyCrafts} Feb 2011

FAQ = Frequently asked Questions

After all the excitement of announcing Tim will be here to teach in Feb 2011, both Lin and I have been getting some regular questions coming through on our blogs, so let's answer those shall we?

Can I phone up to book, or come in person?
No, you cannot book over the phone, or in person at LB Crafts or PaperArtsy HQ. The tickets will only be available here on the PaperArtsy website 8pm, Monday Sept 13 (that is just 2 sleeps away!) The only way to get tickets is via the PaperArtsy website. 

Will anyone get preferential or advance booking?
No this is strictly first come first served. This event is for crafters. Particularly those scrapbooking, card making and altered art crafters who have not had a chance to experience Tim Holtz before, and it is going to be a total doozy of a class. Tim has not ever taught a 4 hour master-class in the UK before, and he is very excited about it too, just like you are! We anticipate crafters from wider Europe will want to attend too. We have tried to ensure the booking system is fair for whoever wants to attend.

Does booking commence Monday 8pm BST (British Summer Time) or GMT (Greenwich Meantime)?
We will reveal the tickets on the PaperArtsy website at 8pm London time. And yes we are on BST at the moment, so technically that is GMT+1, just go on-line and check your world clocks if you are anywhere else in the world.

How is the classroom set up?
If you have been to ArtsyCrafts before you know the rooms are large, with good natural light, air-conditioning, and large round tables which means plenty of wing space for those of you with pointy elbows! (Sheila, Karen, Sally and Jennie were the pointiest elbowed peeps I could find -see piccie left) 

We have always comfortably fit 10 large round tables in each of the 2 rooms we regularly use, and that is how it will be for this ArtsyCrafts event too. We all like to walk around the entire room as we teach, and be able to easily help on a one to one basis every participant. There is no front, back or middle, you all get to face each other, and can all reach tools supplies in the centre of the table easily! Please note we do ask you not to bring large bags because they get in our way as we teach and besides, you don't need anything except a pair of scissors.

What other ArtsyCrafts events are you planning for 2011?
As Lin is very excited that she will become a Nana again in March (the Gorgeous Sarah and Chris are expecting!), we are planning for May and October ArtsyCrafts events for 2011. So the Tim event is a very special 'extra' event in our calendar.


How can I ensure my booking is a success?
Make sure you are familiar with the terms and conditions before Monday 8pm
Your order will not get a green light unless you do the following:
1. Purchase a ticket and a lunch option
2. Enter the name of each ticket holder in the 'Order Notes'
3. Leave accurate payment information in our secure cart.
4. Leave an accurate email address at the checkout, an error here and our cart cannot communicate with you at all. 
5. Follow the rules of the terms and conditions eg. only book a maximum of 2 places!

How do I get on the waiting list?

email Leandra at sales@paperartsy.co.uk giving you name, phone number(s), and the day you prefer.

Why do people outside the EU pay VAT?
Our shopping cart will automatically NOT charge people who live outside of the EU the VAT (sales tax of 17.5%) on this purchase. However we will need to make a manual adjustment to your bill so that you are charged the VAT because you will consume this purchase in the UK. 
To make this process easier for us we suggest you pay via Credit Card rather than Paypal so we can make a manual adjustment to your total due at the time of processing. If you pay via paypal, and live outside the EU, we will send a request for payment of the VAT due to you when we get to your order, this hold-up will delay final confirmation of your place in class.


Can I be an in-class helper, pleeease?
Thanks for the offer, but we have a well-trained and efficient ArtsyCrafts team of Staff: The 2 Mark's, Karen, Lynne, Jo and Linda E. So we've got that covered! Tim of course has the amazing Mario and Alain (Ranger owner), and there are 4 mini-PaperArtsy-me's who are experienced at cleaning brushes, cut and dry foam and making tea. In other words, No, we're good thanks.

When will I know if my booking is successful?
The cart will send you a series of automated emails as we work through the bookings. 

• First you will get an automated order confirmation that the cart has received your order. 

• As we work through the orders, you will receive a 'processing' notification to say we have started on your request. 

• Once we have successfully confirmed we have received your full payment and added you to the class list you will get a 'complete' notification. This means you are in the class. This may take a few days or up to a week depending on the method of payment you use.

• Lastly you will get a 'despatched' notification on the day we send out your ticket with the lunch badge. Expect these to arrive within a few weeks.

We hope this is a smooth process, and that our shopping cart stock control works efficiently as classes fill up. Please be patient, and take your time. We have a good system in place. Once you get your first order confirmation it's all good!

Lin, Leandra, Tim and our support teams are just as excited as you are! It's going to be AWESOME!! 

An ArtsyCrafts Class with ........who?????

Once upon a time Lin Brown (LB Crafts) and Leandra Franich (PaperArtsy) taught a class together, and had so much fun they decided they should do it more often, and regularly! Shortly after they gave birth to their joint altered art event and called it ArtsyCrafts. Over the last 3 years, they have organised more than 14  weekend or day-retreat events of the highest calibre with the focus on stamping, metal working, and mixed media classes. Their passion is to teach you awesome techniques with the products they love best.

But this week is special. You have seen all the hints on twitter, facebook and the blogs....it's true.... Lin and Leandra have some really big news breaking tonight. As they enter their 4th year of ArtsyCrafts events....they are thrilled to bring you Tim Holtz as a guest tutor in February 2011.

Tim has kindly accepted the challenge to come and teach a totally awesome doozy of a class, the sort of class that we have not before had the opportunity to participate in here in England.....so this is it ladies and gentlemen, the opportunity for you to take part in learning directly from Tim himself in a masterclass using Tim Holtz products from his signature ranges which you know and love to use: Ideology, Tim Holtz stamps, Ranger inks and paints, Sizzix dies and oh so much more. It is going to be the class of the year.

In Tim's own words, just for you:
Imagine a place where your creative visions can be displayed for the world to see...discover configurations!  These dimensional and completely customizable shadow boxes can be configured to share your creative thoughts and artful treasures just the way you want. Learn techniques on collaging, distressing with inks, paints, and more using a variety of Ranger products as you assemble this one of a kind creation.  You'll be supplied with ephemera, trinkets, and found objects to feed your altered desires.  The time has come to create the configuration of your imagination that's as unique as you...

Not only will you have 4 wonderful hours of creative opportunity with Tim, but also you will have a 2 hour class with Lin and Leandra who will share their unique techniques with Ten Seconds Studio metal, PaperArtsy Stamps, Ranger products and embellished with our most favourite of Tim's products.

On site we will have a shop stocked with all the items used in class so you have the chance to get your hands on the latest and greatest products used in class, and some of those hard-to-get-in-the-UK items.  We will be pulling all the strings we can to make sure it's all there for your shopping enjoyment!

WHEN:
The same session ( 4hrs with Tim, and 2hrs with Lin and Leandra) will be available 4 times:

Thursday 24 Feb 2011 8.00am - 4.30pm
Thursday 24 Feb 2011 10.30am -7.00pm

Friday 25 Feb 8.00am - 4.30pm
Friday 25 Feb 10.30am - 7.00pm

WHERE:
DeVere Harben House, Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes, just off Junction 14 of the M1, and 25 mins from Luton Airport.

PRICE:
£150 +VAT . Please note if you live outside the EU you will be charged the VAT (17.5% until Jan 4th 2011, 20% on/after Jan 4th 2011) at time of booking as this product will be consumed in the UK, not that we will let you 'consume' Tim! But you will consume the class here in the UK!

HOW TO BOOK:
Tickets are available to purchase from the retail shop at www.paperartsy.co.uk after 8.00pm GMT on Monday 13 September, 2010.http://shop.paperartsy.co.uk/
Limited to a maximum of 2 tickets per household. You can only book to attend one of the 4 sessions.

LUNCH:
When you book your ticket, you will also need to let us know your lunch preferences, by selecting one of the 3 options for each ticket you buy. You will be sent a lunch badge to wear on the day, so please make sure you add one of the following options to your order - and wear your badge on the day!
option 1:Buy a packed lunch from DeVere (sandwich, crisps, chocolate, fruit, bottle of water) £5.00
option 2: Buffet lunch at deVere (served in the coffee lounge area, selection of sandwiches, wraps, bruschetta, hot & cold fork-food, salad and fresh fruit) £7.00
option 3: 3 course restaurant sit-down lunch (soup, selection of a variety of hot food dishes, salads, desserts, cheeseboard) £10.00

BRING WITH YOU:
Your event ticket and wear your lunch badge
A pair of Tim Holtz non-stick scissors. No other craft tools are required. We provide everything!
Oh and don't forget your handbag - but make sure its a small one (see T&C's)


Please make sure you read the terms and conditions on-line before you purchase your ticket!

A bigger nudge nudhe wink wink!!!

So yesterday you heard the breaking news that we have a huge secret...when i say 'WE' I mean the ArtsyCrafts 'we' which is Lin (Mrs LB Crafts) and me, Leandra ( Mrs PaperArtsy)

So today's clue: This is an opportunity not to be missed with the Artsycrafts team and a very special guest tutor in 2011. This will be a creative opportunity of a lifetime....keep checking back for more details......

 What do you think hmm eh??? hmmm???? Bet that's got your brain ticking.....

To get breaking news on this event, follow Leandra on twitter @paperartsy or follow this blog......all will be revealed VERY VERY soon.......

Nudge nudge wink wink

We got a bit of an ArtsyCrafts secret....actually, it's a great big whopping surprise that will blow your socks off..it's going to be a creative extravaganza not to be missed.......more details coming soon....

follow this blog to find out more on this intriguing story or follow Leandra on twitter @paperartsy

WOYWW - rubber rubber rubber

I know I have been AWOL, but if you look at the previous post you will see why. I refuse to feel guilty about it, because the truth is everything I have done in the last several weeks has been so totally TOP SECRET that I could not show you a thing! Or the post would have had to self destruct in 15 seconds or something.....!

Anyway, today I have mega work to do, and here it is...3 big piles of rubber to be put on foam, trimmed and sent to their final destination.....if you are nearby and fancy a quick lesson in machine trimming rubber, then pop over and I'll put my feet up and leave you to it.

And before you ask.....yes rubber can be grey...we don't normally use grey...but as our supplier has run out of red (again), we have to use grey until the red shipment arrives in the UK...we are told in days.....hopefully it will arrive cos I am nearly out of grey now too....

And NO the sodding white shed is not cleaned up and sorted out, so don't go asking about that either...bit of a sore point.... not entirely my fault....Miss Jo F-Y shot thru to the big apple for a vacation...and she was chief, self-appointed, shed-elf... 3 summers later and now I'm not sure I can even get the camera in the door to take a pic, but I will have to think up a subversive tactic to get her over here...maybe if i set a date that might help???

So as you can tell, very excited about the day ahead..... now where did i put that ipod....

Don't forget to see what the team are up to by going to Julia's place and practise your 'nosey' skills. Bet you're a natural, just like me.


Leandra

A very {PaperArtsy} summer

What a whirlwind this summer has been. In a nutshell so you don't feel you have missed out on the behind the scenes here at PaperArtsy here's the summary....

We had an early harvest, this was taken from the house looking out at the fields right in front of us...THis is also the view from our World HQ workshop next door...we love it here!

After which they flicked poo over all the fields and we gagged ...for days! uggg

We planted a vege garden...very late but we did it....and now have  lots of lettuce, carrots, courgettes, beans, peas and caterpillers

Then we had lots of parties...Hugo (10th), 

a week after that my 40-something...I forget which one it was...must be an odd cos everyone else is even, I'm thinking I must be 43 this year...then a week after that Courtney's 16th

and we were very brave parents and let her have about 40 kids over for a party one night in the garden...it went very well, much better than I ever thought possible...maybe we were just worse when we were that age....hmmmm

Then Miss 16 went off to V festival just up the road in Chelmsford....I want to go next year!!! (L-R: Annabel, Courtney, Nicole, Megan) Despite bad forecasts, it never rained till the evening of the last night, and then not as bad as predicted, but enough for them to come home muddy and with the muddy wellies (we call the gumboots in NZ BTW!)


Meanwhile....I got to spend a few days with my partner in crime Lin from LB Crafts fine tuning our October ArtsyCrafts projects....shhh can I show some sneaks???? She's away for a few days and might not notice...shhhh. Oh she's such a good blogger maybe she already showed you and I never noticed....??
Oh well, from my camera....here are a few snippety bits...

This class will be called book book of wisdom....and the papers will likely be a bit different to what you see there...because Lin and I cooked up a set of papers...so the royal WE (Lin et moi) will have some of our very own papers coming out later in the year and we will use those at AC...they will be soooo goooood...Lin and I had lots of fun dreaming them up together, we wrote them down, drew piccies.... chose the colours...now my Mark has to just read our minds and scribblings and it will be job done...no problem...no problem at all.....he can do that...course he can....anyway you heard it here first...that was a world exclusive.....so now he just has to do it! And they will be totally stunning!

Ohhh now this class is lovely, very elegant and scrummy with lots of layers...as you can sort of see....it looks stunning in cream, but of course at ArtsyCrafts we have 8-10 different tables of colour for you to work with...so it could look amazing in any one of those combos....

Now this doesn't exactly show you a whole lot, but you can see that we will be having some flower fun, and this was just a bunch of stuff chucked in a pile...waiting for....the right place to be put....but you will LOVE what we do with it all...maybe this will whet your appetite, its a bit more...ummm...finished....but there's lots you can't see.....*squeals*

So how do you get to make these???? well, you are too late for ArtsyCrafts at Newport Pagnell - it's sold out, but I believe there are still some places left at Warrington October 30/31. It's a lovely venue DeVere Daresbury Park, and great public transport access, and 2 airports nearby, John Lennon or Manchester...so check out this link and come join us for the creative fun...broomsticks are allowed BTW!


What else..OMG we have done so much...we are up to Hot Pick 1009 (the September release)

Fresh in from the printers less than a week ago all the Hot Picks are on New Index sheets...and I'm sure we have already gone thru a few boxes of them!This is what to look for now in the shops.


And we have Hot Pick Xtras....if you haven't seem HPXT02 where have you been??? (don't tell me on holiday....I'm not listening...no excuses in this day and age of technology)

Go see it here HPXT02...and we have 01 and 03 available in November...unless you go to the Artisan show on October 1&2 where Traplet will be selling them as a PaperArtsy show only Craft Stamper subscription offer...yup that is TRUE, and the Lovely Katy Fox and Helen Chilton are already playing with them and cooking up great demos for you...and no I'm not showing you them NOW..I'm not sure I'm allowed....but they are wicked! And yes, PaperArtsy will have a stand at the show, and we also have a Make and Take booth where you can do a gorgeous thing or 2 with the very talented Jo Firth-Young....so of course you want to go to the show! It's going to be even better than last year!


And today...now this is super shhhh...I snuck some pics from 2 of the new Xmas plates Mark will be making next week.....I am such a rebel...he may be a bit cross that i'm showing you...but I love what he did...he's calling it an Authentic PaperArtsy Christmas...

So watch out for these next week too.


Yesterday was Ella's Birthday (Miss 14), so we went and watched the A-Team...brought back memories of the old TV series, and we all loved it, and today, Miss Millie came home and made brownies for us all, and then helped out peeling and sticking Hot Picks...here she is....

everybody needs a Millie. She is multi-talented, and saving up for a laptop!!


I know it's hard to believe...but I still haven't told you all the good news of the week...we still have some more stamps to show you...but I think that is enough for one day!

Oh and lots of you have been asking how my Dad and his wife are doing in Christchurch, New Zealand after the earthquake. They are absolutely fine. The house suffered substantial damage to the chimneys and roof, which my 72 yr old father has been trying to fix himself...up on the roof....thankfully he has got it to a waterproof state without falling off, or getting bumped off in an aftershock...until more permanent repairs can be made....They were miffed at the timing as they just had new carpet put down in the lounge the day before the quake, and they had a new couch delivered the day of the quake, and due to the rubble and soot coming down the chimney, everything is black, not white...so they were pretty disappointed about that, but in the scheme of things, they are very lucky that the house structure is intact and habitable. There are many many people who have had to walk away from their homes. We are lucky that in New Zealand the earthquake commission was set up with the financial resources in place to help communities in events such as this. 

Christchurch has a lot of work to do to get the infrastructure back to normal, but the kiwi spirit is well suited to situations like this, everyone pulls together and gets stuck in. Go check out piccies here and you soon see how bad it actually was from http://tvnz.co.nz/ No one can understand how it is that no lives were lost when nearly every home in a city of 300 000 people has suffered damage. They are very very lucky. And i hope they can get back to normal as soon as possible.


Sweet PaperArtsy dreams


Leandra

Coming Soon

I must confess. I have been keeping my head down and bum up!

In the last 3 weeks we have had 3 birthdays in this house: Hugo, me and Courtney. All the retail shopping required to get pressies, have celebratory meals out and parties and BBQ's  has filled my catering and entertaining obligations for the rest of the year! I am shattered from socialising and entertaining so many kids. 

The most scarey was Courtney turning 16 - we very bravely decided to do one of those evening parties in the back garden where 16 year olds think they are 20 somethings. To be fair the 30 kids that turned up were wonderful, polite, and we breathed a sigh of relief when they all left at midnight! No dramas. Yay. Think she thinks that she can now have one every fortnight! oh no she won't!!!

Ella turns 14 in a couple of weeks, and the kids will be back at school soon. Whew. I need a holiday!

So what's new in the shop? Hot Pick 1009 ships out to retailers next week. We are madly pressing them today so Lin has some for Stevenage this weekend.

Here's how it looks, HP1009:

  

And I've been cooking this for a while. It's a Hot Pick Xtra, and all the flowers fit the Dies 1, 2&3. Lin will have this at Stevenage in limited numbers too. I LOVE it!!! HPXT02

Both will be going online in the PaperArtsy shop at the end of this month. 

Look out for our stunning advert in the next Craft Stamper magazine to get free shipping on these stamps (hint: you won't miss it) LOL

Happy Weekend

....Leandra

Hot Pick 1008

The new Hot Pick for August has been steadily heading out of PaperArtsy World HQ to shops in the last 2 weeks. Many have quickly nabbed the new Hot Pick which we officially release on August 1st on www.paperartsy.co.uk

You're going to love this one I think, because it has 2 new dies to match it. The flower dies are really popular, and so here we created 2 more, GrungerFlowers 2 and 3 to match the stamps on the new August Hot Pick plate: small script, and Clock collage.

These flower bellies are made from tissue sprayed with Dy's Altered originals sprays (I was lucky enough to receive a gift the other week with those in...mmmmm. Nice vibrant shades) So I sprayed some white tissue with Lime, Sky Blue and Jade, die cut about 8 layers in one go, then over-stamped each layer with the stamp from HP1008. Then I lightly crumpled them and secured with a small dot of glossy accents onto a tag. I sent Dy a thankyou gift back and this was how it looked.

The tag on the present features some of the other images from HP1008 (above)

It's also good to know that the larger of these 2 flower dies is the same size as the small flower stamp from HP1004, remember this one from April!

Oh I guess I should show you the new stamp set too here is HP1008!

So get your Local Stamp store to make sure they order these if they haven't already!

Have a great weekend, it's nearly here and more warm weather ahead!!

Leandra