Hi everyone,   I hope that you have really enjoyed this glorious weather these past few weeks, but have still had a bit of time to craft and play too!  I spoke with my daughter earlier and she said that the weather in California was damp and overcast with a few showers too.  Imagine that, England's weather is better than California's!  Could this be global warming turning the tides, making all the cold places warm and the warm places cold?  Who knows?!  Even though we have had this amazing weather, I did still spend a bit of time in my craft room making some samples for an upcoming POTW, but alas, I cannot show them yet.  So I have been combing through some previous samples I've made for past shows that haven't made it onto the blog for some reason.  This Native American sample is one of the cards that I made when I was "winging" it last month.  The POTW had sold out in record time so C & C brought back their exclusive dies to finish the shows for the week.  I put this card together for a demo in between shows.  I rather like the way it came out, all things considered.  It is showing several really great techniques, the out of the box, faux stitching  and the faux leather masking tape technique.  I hope you like it!  All for now, Sue x

What's Next?

Hello everyone,  I have been given a new assignment to work on, but it is for shows that are not until mid June.  That does sound like a lot of time but I do have a holiday between now and then so I do need to get cracking with it.  Unfortunately, I can't show any of these samples for a while, so I have been going through some of my sample pics and found some that haven't made it onto blogland yet.  This one is one of my favourites.  It was done using some of Sam Poole's bew wedding stamps.  I am supposed to do a wedding show sometime in the near future, but the date has not been set as of yet.  So I guess that means that I can show a few sneaking peeks in the meantime.  I scored the card at the top every half inch and then brought it down to a diagonal line where I added my handmade roses (using the stamps from the Button Florals).  It is difficult to see but they are covered in Diamond Stickles to give them a lovely shimmer.  I added some ribbon and pearls and finished it with a text tag stamped with a sentiment from the set.  I hope you like it!  All for now, Sue x

And The Winner is...

Hi everyone!  I know that I have been a bit quiet this past week and just wanted to let you know that I have been out of comission with a terrible throat infection since Wednesday.  Unfortunately, no new card today since I have spent the past four days in bed, but we do have the winners of the Big Blog Candy Contest so I hope that will be enough for now.  I promise to get back to work now that I am feeling much, much better.
As always, I will draw the third place, then second place and then the grand prize winners.  Without anymore waiting, here we go.

The third prize winner is..............................................................
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FurryPig!!!!

The second place winner is.........................................................
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Sam Healey!!!!!!

And finally, the Grand Prize Winner is.....................................
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.Buttons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for playing along!  If your name was drawn, please email me at sales@particraft.co.uk to verify your shipping address.  If you didn't win, you are still entered in for the next contest which will draw at 1600 followers!  All for now, Sue x

Back From Ally Pally!

Hi everyone, Back from Ally Pally this past weekend (and what a wonderful and crazily busy weekend it was!)  Here are a couple of pics that I took of the queue just moments before they came bursting through the doors!  You can see the anxious and excited looks on their faces, can't you?          Even though the weather was A-mazing!, we still had record numbers of crafters to the show.  If you weren't able to be there, at least you had beautiful weather for whatever you were doing!  It was a great weekend all the way around!  I really enjoyed meeting some of my blog followers so I can happily put a face with the name.  Hopefully we will see you all back in September for the fall Ally Pally show.

I demoed all weekend, but never actually finished a full card, just bits and pieces.  So I've included another Tatty sample from the last show for you.  I am just loving the felt flowers lately.  Who would have thought that felt could look so good?  I always think of it as something that kids play with, but not any longer.  And, how 'bout that crinkly edged ribbon?  I sold out of that very quickly on Saturday, but I was able to cut more for Sundays shoppers.  It does make a lovely bow, I think and it is not at all fussy to tie. We are getting very close to the magical number for our blog candy contest draw.  This may be the last chance to leave a comment to get extra chances to win that great big prize (I'm just saying!), you never know!  All for now, Sue x

Ally Pally Show

 It's that time of year again, yes, I mean Ally Pally time!  Twice a year, April and September, Creative Expressions hosts the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at the Alexandra Palace in London.  If you have never been, it is quite amazing.  There is so much fun and exciting crafting goodies there all under one roof for your delight and pleasure!  If you are able to attend, you will find me just as you enter the door to your right.  I am demoing at the Rubbernecker booth, but I will also have a Particraft stand with loads of demonstrators and fun demos to inspire your creativity.  A couple of quick notes, first, I had an email on the show last week that asked about the spellbinder die used on the toadstool card shown here.  I erroneously identified it as the lotus border.  I am so sorry about that, but it is actually the In Spades border.  It is a really lovely die that I believe Jo has on a show next week (the 13th) as you can run your ribbon through it quite nicely.

 Thank you for all your support for the Tatty Button launch as it was really well received.  I've posted a few more of the cards for you to get a closer look at if you like.  Although it is difficult to see from the picture of the card below, there is a lovely lavender rose seated in the centre of the bow.  These roses are now in stock in five colours plus an assorted pack and I will have them on the Rubbernecker, Particraft and Creative Expressions  stands at Ally Pally.  If you would like to see a better picture, scroll down to the post made on March 18th and look at the first card with pale pink roses on the white and gray card.  They are ever so lovely and very inexpensive too!  My photography skills (or rather, lack thereof) do not do it justice.  Better for you to pop by the booth and see them in real life this weekend.  I almost forgot to mention that I will have the vintage ribbon in the neutrals and in all the lovely colours at a bargain price for you too!  Please stop by and say hi if you are coming to Ally Pally.  Let me know who you are as I love to put faces to the names and comments left on the blog.  We are getting close to the blog candy contest draw so don't forget to leave comments for more chances to win.  All for now, Sue x