WOYWW #461

Well I hope everyone had a good Easter, and at least here in the Midlands we didn't get the forecast snow! Back again at The Stamping Ground, where our illustrious leader, Julia, attempts to keep us in order. For anyone new here, there is a page at the top of Julias blog with all the details about this years crop in September, at Llandudno again.  If you've never been, do see if you can make it, it's a fab day of meeting bloggers, eating cake, a bit of crafting, eating cake, lots of chatting, and did I mention the cake? There's a pic in my banner from one of the crops- surprisingly, we all look like normal folk. 😎😎
 Anyway, the workdesk.

Bit of a mess, so nothing new there. Black box at the front holds my Card-io/Majestix stamps. Next to that my stamp scrubber- cost a whole £1 from one of the pound stores, just a paint pad. Works a treat. Scissors, post-its being used for those Retiform pieces I did last week. I've actually stamped them up, and started layering-go me!
The spray bottle with the orange stuff in is homemade stamp cleaner. All that is, is some baby bath, water, and a few drops of glycerine.  Again, dirt cheap and works like a charm.

This is as far as I'd got, not entirely sure about the brown one, maybe I've used too many colours? It looks a bit busy at the moment, but I'll see what it looks like when I've matted it. I think I may try this again, using less 'boxes' next time. I'll blog them when I've finished them off.

The two I've matted up so far.

This is definitely a good way to use those small 'filler' stamps that most sets seem to have.



There are some Christmas cards again in the post below, but something I discovered while doing them may be of use to anyone else with Cosmic Shimmer Gilding wax pots.

When I embossed the back tag, I decided I'd try and help the embossing pop by rubbing on some Gilding wax. I have a whole load of colours in them, gifted to me by the friend giving up cardmaking, and I'm pretty sure none of them have been opened yet! So I found out a pale blue one, only to discover on opening it that it was totally solid. Checking a couple of others, they all seem to be the same. So, I did a bit of Googling to see if there was any way of salvaging them. It appears this problem of them drying out in the pots became apparent a while after they'd been launched, and Creative Expressions, who make them, introduced a product called Gilding Wax Blending solution. Googled that, and it's not available anywhere that I could find.
 EDIT: Just done another search, as I wanted to find out how they tell you to use it, as my bottle has no instructions- and actually discovered now a whole list of places came up that have it in stock, so it's not unavailable at all, my mistake. On the CE site, it says to mix a little wax with the blending solution to create a paint, which isn't what I wanted at all, so I will try a few drops in a pot and report next week!

So, I had a think, and wondered if the Low Odour Thinners I have ( Daler-Rowney) would be any help,as it's intended for blending wax pencils amongst other things. So, I decided I had nothing to lose, and added a couple of ml- I have some small syringes for glue- to the pale blue. Put the lid on and left it overnight. Went back to it the next day, and it had indeed started to soften it up, so I gave it a good mixing with a plastic palette knife, and I think it's as good as new. If you can't tolerate chemical smells- although I really can't smell this one- there is another brand available from Amazon called Zest-it, which as the name suggests, has a citrus smell to it. I'm also guessing Gamsol, which is just a brand name, would do the same thing.
 Funniest part of all this, I was looking for my bottle of stamp cleaner- I'm not exactly much of a cleaner of stamps,- and what did I find but a bottle of that Blending solution for the waxes, so she must have bought it with the waxes, and gifted me that too. I'll try it on a pot and see if it's any different to the thinners.

 
And look who we have here!   LLJ and her lovely Hubby Gordon were up in Worcester at the weekend, so we drove over- it's only about half an hour from us- and we had a lovely Carvery lunch. Was lovely to see them both, it's been ages, especially as we didn't make it to the September crop last year. My hair is a bit redder than that picture makes it look, lol, I don't do pink! And just a few hundred yards away was a Garden Centre, so yes, plants were bought!


And finally....................

 Next weeks desk will no doubt feature craft stash, as this weekend we are off down to London to go to Ally Pally on Saturday. First time visit for this show, we're trying to go to some different ones around the country, as we can't get to Happy Stampers in May,  it clashes with a friends wedding, and definitely not doing the NEC anymore, as it's just ridiculously expensive, and for me, doesn't have enough paper crafting. I shall be meeting up with Helen, (Stamping by H), Erika Philpot, and a lady from the Christmas Card Club, called Sylvie, who flies over with a friend from Gibralter! Anyone else going, drop me a message, and we'll meet!

WOYWW #440

Hello folks, and here we are at another Wednesday, over at The Stamping Ground, Julia is attempting to keep us all organised. I actually blogged a couple of times over the last week, Dies from Aliexpress Here, and the NEC Hobbycrafts Show, Here.
 Be warned, if you like dies, the Aliexpress one may cause you to visit, & spend money! But they are ridiculously cheap, as you'll see.
 So, back to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC.
 Here's a long shot- yes, some stash was bought. I blame the stallholders, they just have so many fab inspiration pieces on show, and far too many goodies.









 Talking of inspiration, I bought some pots of gilding wax, due to these samples.
 I also bought 3 embossing folders(!) but they were 3 for 2, and it gave me great ideas to use with my existing ones too. There are some more gorgeous examples in my post.
These came from Pink Frog Crafts, as did another purchase, some glitter card. Now, for those who like glitter, but not the shedding, this glitter card is totally non shed, and super smooth. And you can do this with it:Yes, colour it with markers and even stamp on it. Cool, huh?
 He gave me a small sample to play with when I got home, to try it out before committing to a bigger piece, and I coloured mine with Promarkers,(right) and even Distress Oxides- Lucky Clover, another buy on Saturday. And it still has a glitter look to it.

 I bought a couple of dies- couldn't resist the Polar Bear & cub, and a lovely Snowflake Border.
 Heather Marshall   made a comment on how to store dies on the Aliexpress post, so I thought I'd quickly share my method here.

   
Mine are all stored in an A4 Really Useful Box, with homemade dividers, labelled with the contents of that section.The 3 Bigz dies at the front just keep them upright. I used chipboard type card- the sort on the backs of notepads etc.
 I buy A4 magnetic sheets off Amazon or E-Bay- whoever has them cheapest, and cut them down to fit the Large Avery Elle pockets.
 How many dies to a pocket depends entirely on die size. Some have half a dozen, some only one.



I did start out putting them on A5 magnetic sheets stored in A5 binders, but those quickly got heavy and unwieldy.
 I'm liking this system, it's easy to flick through and find what I want, and I don't have dies dropping off sheets in folders! The box stays on the table I use for die cutting, so I don't have to lift it either.
 Right, I think I'm done, just finish off with this- you can tell how much better I feel, my endpost funny is back!

NEC Hobbycrafts Show, November 2017

As I said to Doug, I don't know if the show really was better this year, or if it was simply that I walked around it without struggling at all just made it seem that way. He thinks it was not really any different to the last time we went, so it must have been my not struggling meant I enjoyed it more. As usual, my main complaint is the way the stalls are mixed in together- I get irritated by walking half an aisle, past crafts/ Hobby Associations that I have no interest in. But that's just me, lol. My second complaint is of course the prices! £12 to park your car is disgraceful.
So, first off, an overview of all my purchases after I unpacked my bag onto my desk.
 We'll start of with the shiny stuff, shall we?

Some glitter, a few new colours and a couple, the gold & silver, that I use a lot. Some ultra fine in the bottle, some bead mixes, and lots of acrylic stones, which I liked the look of for flower centres and such.

Those bead mixes- Again I use this sort of thing for flower centres, and I thought a couple of them will work well with Poinsettias.

Hot foils- I really got into this with Stencil paste & a Laminator, and of course glues. Got a nice selection of colours here, especially that coppery one in the middle.

Glitter card, and the really great thing about this stuff is that it's totally non shed, and absolutely super smooth.
I got a couple of packs of the silver, because this sample on Pink Frog Crafts stand, totally sold me.

All the different colours it comes in? No, all the colours you can achieve with Markers!
 Yes, it's so smooth, you can colour the silver with your markers, and as you can see in the bottom right sample, you can even stamp on it.


He gave me a sample to try out the colouring on before I committed to using it on a big piece. On the right, Promarkers, on the left, I've inked it with a Distress Oxide Lucky Clover, also a purchase yesterday.

3 pads of assorted glitter paper, which at a £1 a pad, was great value.

I admit to going a bit mad at the WOW! embossing powder stall, all lovely glitery powders, apart from one which is a Puffy Powder. Some of them were reduced, as the colours are being discontinued. But you get the little storage case with each 6 pots, so I'm going to sort out these, and ones I already have into cases by colour.

 The last of the shiny stuff is this gilding wax.








I got sold on this, by some samples of embossing folders, again at Pink Frog Crafts.

Just take a look at these, aren't they stunning?

 


The Embossing folders were buy 2 get one free, so obviously I bought three folders as well! I got the floral one, the Flourish Edges, and a Christmassy frame. It's also given me ideas to use some of my other folders.

So we move on to the basic stuff- DST,A couple of pots of Collall glue,the Oxides pad, some really fine glue nozzles,A Perfect Medium refill that was reduced, and a couple of odd Pixie Powders, also reduced. Oh, and a pot of Translucent Stencil Paste.

The paste was from a visit to the lovely Lucy Ellis, of Sweet Poppy stencils, where I also bought 3 stencils, and as I'd bought 3, got the NOEL one free.I think it's being discontinued.

Two Indigo Blu stamps, also reduced.

Next was a visit to Inkylicious, and I was really pleased to see the two Buddha stamps. I've been looking for a really nice Buddha stamp for ages, the nicest one I had seen was an old PSX design, which sells for stupid money, when they ever appear for sale. Two cuddling kittens, and I thought the cat with butterfly holds many possibilities- he could be ginger & white, grey and white, maybe even a tortoiseshell.

And just look at those bats! How could I not?

Honey Doo and their gorgeous florals- although they do make others besides-and I was particularly taken by the sentiment one, bottom right. Bee Yourself, Bee Happy etc. The small stamp was a freebie for buying 5 packs.

Now I do have a few stamps from this company, Circa Design,but I rarely pay them much attention at the show. This time, I wanted some verse stamps, not just to stamp inside the card, but also to be able to make a feature of on the front.

On to Lavinia stamps, and I wanted the Sacred Tree we used at the workshop a few weeks ago, and the hares are a smaller version of the ones already available. The squiggly vine one is a new one to the line, as is the fairy.

I should have put this one further up, but forgot! The kit is from Inkylicious, and contains all you need to make the project.

Stamp, card, Inkpad, Stickles & a White Gel pen, along with the bauble outline stencil.


 I also have a couple of Bauble die sets, of different shapes to the kit, so I can cut out some of my own stencils and make some more.

Last item is from Cardio, and this pack has four sets in it. 3 definitely Christmas ones, (Bells, snowflakes & fir branches) but the fourth could be used all year round.


So thats my lot, and will be my last Craft show attendance until Happy Stampers next year.It's a chance to meet up with fellow crafters, and chat to the people who own the companies. It's a great show if you've never been.  Dedicated to papercrafts, all the stalls are to do with the card making/canvases/mixed media/journaling side of crafting, so you don't feel half the show is not your thing. Also, the parking is free- they have a small car park, but there is plenty of on street parking, and it doesn't cost you £12 like the NEC! Also, and this is another big plus, the tickets are £2.50. You have to buy them beforehand, as you cannot purchase on the door on the day.