Magic Weekend!

Last weekend I made one of my biannual visits back down south for the Stamp Magic show at Doncaster, staying overnight with Sally. The June one is always a flying visit, as it's not during the school hols, unlike the October one, but it's amazing how much we can pack into the weekend.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to the journey down, as thunderstorms and torrential rain had been forecast, but apart from some good downpours along the A66, the rest of the way wasn't too bad and by the time I got to Sally's it had brightened up enough for us to sit out in her garden with a cuppa. The next day dawned warm and sunny, and we were soon on our way to Doncaster. Stamp Magic is definitely our favourite show, just the right size, great selection of exhibitors including many of our favourite companies, and everyone is so friendly and helpful.

Our first port of call was the Inkylicious stand, which usually accounts for the greater part of my show spending. True to form, Deby had some gorgeous new stamps, which soon found their way into my basket. I also stocked up on her silk art card, which is perfect for using with ink dusters, and a few other bits and pieces. For a long time I have debated whether to get a stand for my ink dusters, thinking I would use them a lot more if I had them to hand all the time, instead of put away in a drawer. This time I really wanted one, but having decided on my budget, and being determined to stick to it, it was either the stamps or the stand, and the stamps won. I reasoned that I couldn't make the stamps, but if I put my mind to it, I should be able to make myself a stand. Another factor was that the commercial stands hold eight dusters, and I have nine!

By the time I got home, an idea was beginning to take shape. I scouted around in my craft room for some raw materials. Some offcuts of thick cardboard and a good strong cardboard tube, both which had been in my stash for about a million years. (Well, at least 30, which just goes to prove the value of never throwing away anything which might one day come in handy.)

I also found a sheet of paper (K & Company) with a lovely butterfly design all over it, rolls of self adhesive tin foil, clear self adhesive film and green baize, an old cotton reel and a button.

I cut five circles from the thick card, stuck three together to make a firm base, and the other two for the top. The trickiest part was cutting the slots for the ink dusters to hang in. Once I had all the elements cut to size and shape, I neatened all the edges with the tin foil and then covered the pieces first with the butterfly paper, followed by the clear film for durability. The base was covered with the green baize. I painted the cotton reel and stuck a button on top to hide the hole. Finally, everything was ready to assemble. Some glue seeped out at the bottom when I was joining the base to the cardboard tube, so I stuck a diecut (Spellbinders) round to cover it up. It looks quite pretty, so if anyone asks I'll just say it was part of the original design.

And here's the result.

And here it is with its cargo.

I must admit to being quite pleased with it, not least that it cost only pennies to make, with the added bonus that I've freed up a bit of drawer space and used some old stash too!

It so happens that it fits with the theme for the Butterfly Challenge No. 8, which is "Butterfly Bingo", so I am entering it there. My stand has used the line Die Cut - Butterflies - Designer Paper.

Now to go and put those ink dusters to use ........

A great weekend

I went down to Nottingham last weekend to stay with Sally so we could go to Stamp Magic at the Doncaster Dome on Sunday. In other words, so I could get one of my twice yearly doses of crafty retail therapy! It began on Saturday with a little trip to Ik*a. Whilst there I noticed they were selling some lint rollers. Very cheap! On Pinterest I had seen a suggestion to use a lint roller to pick up all the fiddly little bits left in a die after you've been diecutting, so Sally & I both bought one, along with a pack of 4 refills. Suffice it to say, it didn't work! However, we now have enough roller tape each to keep our clothes free of bits until kingdom come!

Anyway, the serious shopping was on Sunday at Stamp Magic. Great show, as usual. Top of my list were some of the gorgeous new stamps from Inkylicious. I then left Sally doing a bit of demoing on the Inkylicious stand while I went for a wander round. I bought some stencils to use with my Gelli Plate, plus a few other bits and pieces, and watched Barbara Gray doing a great demo on the Gelli Plate. Haven't had chance to try what she was doing yet, but I have had a play with some of my new stamps.

One of my favourites from the new Inkylicious ones is called Poppy Lea. I like the way all the flowers except the poppies are solid, and just the poppies are open so that they can be coloured in. I happened to have some small pieces of watercolour paper already cut, so I stamped different sections of Poppy Lea on to each one and made a set of three cards.

 The backgrounds were coloured with Distress Stains, then Poppy Lea was overstamped with Versafine ink. The poppies were then coloured with Promarkers.  I stamped the first base card down one side with Delicate Vines, the second all over with Worn Paint, and the third with French Style Script across the centre. The Poppy Leas were then attached with foam pads, and each card finished with a simple sentiment. All stamps by Inkylicious.

On the way from the car park to the Dome, we came across this mother coot feeding her babies on the grass next to the lake, right by the path! They weren't a bit bothered by all the people walking past. Cute coots!

A spot of retail therapy!

Much as I love the area in which we now live, I have to say it is somewhat lacking in good sources of papercrafting supplies. Of course, nowadays it's possible to get just about anything by mail order via the 'net, but it isn't the same as being able to see the goods before buying. Sometimes one just doesn't know what one really needs until one sees it!

So you can imagine how much I had been looking forward to going to the Stamp Magic Show in Doncaster at the weekend. I travelled down to Notts on Saturday to stay overnight at Sally's, and then on Sunday she, Megan and I went to the show. It didn't disappoint!

At the top of my shopping list were some Pan Pastels and the new Inkylicious Hydrangea set, which is stunning. They were soon in my basket, along with a few more Inkylicious stamps, some IndigoBlu Mega Flakes for foiling, and a couple of Sweet Poppy stencils with some stencil paste, which I haven't tried before.

I came home on Sunday evening but didn't get a chance to play until this evening. I thought I'd try out the Pan Pastels and the Inkylicious Hydrangea. This was the result.

I coloured the background of the hydrangea panel and the sentiment with the PPs, then stamped the hydrangea and coloured it with watercolour pencils. The hydrangea is gorgeous, and huge! I've mounted it on an 8" x 8" card. The leaves are separate from the main image, so that you can arrange them as you please on the stem, which can be bent to suit. The script and the tiny butterfly are also by Inkylicious. The sentiment is part of the hydrangea set, which I can see becoming well used!

I'm reserving judgement on the Pan Pastels until I've tried them a bit more. They've been much hyped. A lot of people seem to think they're the best thing since, oh, Distress Markers. let's say, but I'm not convinced yet. I found them a bit messy. Think I prefer the effect I can get with Ink Dusters. Anyway, got more new stuff still to play with, so watch this space!