An inky weekend...

This sums up the weekend I have just had. Inky fingers = joy at crafting and pure pleasure atthe wonderful company. One of my ladies Barbara, brought three of her friends from the UK to Spain for a weekend of crafting. She left the choice of projects to me but stressed they must be small and light as they were only bringing hand luggage. I chose to teach them a mini Ranger U - lots of techniques which they then made into a tag book, four Christmas tags - see blog post of last Tuesday - a sprayed and spritzed album for their weekend's photos and also a sprayed one page book. Whew! I work them hard but they must have enjoyed it as they are all talking of returning for another weekend next March.

They blended and diecut....and sprayed and rolled.....

and laughed..... Let's have a group photo before you go...

The lovely Liverpudlian, Barbara has had extensive dental work and is unable to smile at the moment - its a great shame as she is such a laugh.....Joy showing all the projects she made......Jen looking oh so pleased with herself.....

and last but certainly not least young Gina.....a relatively newbie to crafting but who shone with her inspired ideas... Right, my feet are screaming so I am off to soak them and then slouch in front of X-factor
so Bye for now

Sue

Otoño

Autumn or Otono in Spanish is a lovely time of year when all the colours are so beautiful.
I decided it was time to refresh the window display - the Barbie pink cupcakes have ceased to be Barbie and are more baby pink with the sun fading them yet I didn't feel it was quite time to delve straight into Christmas with it being 33 degrees outside and so the last two mornings between customers I put together these autumnal pieces..... A rustic photo album made from corrugated card... A tag and a photo frame also made from corrugated card - the other side has two panels complete with staples to display photos...I attached some birds and butterflies to my lantern... I thought this looked OK but now I see the photo I will add some more bits and pieces to it tomorrow...

A chunky tag with a sprig of berries... a very simple card with some die cut leaves and a few left over berries... and another simple card with a bit of stamping and a Tim Holtz flower...Not too bad for a bit of a rushed project...

Bye for now

Sue

Four more tags of Christmas.....

Here are four more of my twelve tags of Christmas.....this one has a touch of batik and a tissue tape flower...
this one - well, I can't remember how I did it because it was the first one I made! but its a pretty tag nevertheless...

this one is bright and jolly - just how Christmas should be - with lots of Dabbers and grungeboard...

and last but certainly not least is this pretty blue and white lacy textured tag...

last four tomorrow - or maybe something a little different - who knows - so you'll just have to keep watching.....

Bye for now

Sue

12 tags of Christmas - a little early...

With my Christmas themed open day in mind I made my twelve tags of Christmas a little early this year...so here are four to start off with - more later in the week.....
This tag has been spritzed and flicked, stamped and the flower altered..... and this tag has been textured and the lovely rosette added.....this has Dabber, Distress Ink and a bit of die-cutting...

and this one has the flower and book plate made with Alcohol ink and acetate - from where is a secret!!! along with masking.....

so that's it for today...

Bye for now

Sue

Christmas in September

These are my first four Christmas cards for 2011. I shall be posting more of my Christmas projects throughout the week so keep watching... Bye for now

Sue

Quick preview of yesterday's Christmas Open Day

Yesterday, to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the opening of the shop we held a Christmas Open Day. We substituted mince pies and mulled wine with Sangria and turron and had Christmas music playing in the background hopefully adding to the atmosphere considering it was 30 odd degrees outside. We didn't count the people who attended but the shop and classroom - converted into a market - for the first three hours were packed solid. From 1 till 4 there was a pleasant stream of customers and we even managed to grab bacon butties from the nearby English bakery for a late lunch. We had such good feedback from people who attended and there were ladies there from Alicante (an hour away), Valencia (an hour and a quarter) and even Madrid ( over 4 hours). It was so busy - and in the middle of all this chaos the credit card machine decided to stop working!!! - that I forgot to take any photos. Here are the friends still smiling after six gruelling hours who helped make the magic...
Yaa, Inga, Molly, Norah - my first ever student who lived above my old shop and who has come to stay for ten days, Dayana and Becky - both vying for Yaa's job! Dayana and Becky did a fabulous job at the make 'n' take table - we were raising money for the APASA local Dog shelter and feral cats rescue...The whole team...This is my lovely friend Inga who looks after the shop in my absence with her beautiful daughter Dayana... This was the main display table showcasing my Ranger tags, my Tim Holtz man cards, my Baroque cards, my Crafty Individual cards made from their new stamp and their drool, drool Christmas books and the beautiful Advent box collaboration that Tanya and I made in Belgium last week...so pleased with how all these turned out and I now have loads of projects to teach in the coming weeks...and on the easel in the background are my Graphic 45 cards...my Sizzix shrink plastic jewellery - I am so not a jeweller - I have great sausages for fingers and I am so proud of myself for making these tiny pieces...and the oh so gorgeous Sizzix suitcases - I am so in love with these - I have made loads - not forgetting the beautiful Sizzix rosettes that Tanya made on the tree... this display table looked so lovely...The Crafters Companion CD and stamps..."we're walking in the air" - what says Christmas more than that...

I will show these projects in more detail in the next few days....

Bye for now

Sue

ps didn't show all the tables as the photos weren't good - but there was Iris folding make 'n' take and a Sizzix demo table and a table with Molly's frames, Mollypop flowers and flower presses but will take better photos and show these later in the week...

pps sorry if I sound pleased with myself but that's because I am at the way it all came together and the way all my lovely friends rallied round to make it work and for caring so much. Thank you all girls from the bottom of my heart - that sounds soppy but I truly mean it. Love you all xxxxxxx

A birthday party and a few days away...

Just a quick update as Colin and I are off to dinner with friends Molly and Arie so I'll be brief...
This morning was my Birthday and having only arrived home at 1.30 am from Belgium I was quite tired but with a Christmas Open Day on Saturday to prepare for I still went to the shop.
My friends Inga and Molly came to help along with Yaa my lovely Saturday girl and Inga's lovely daughter Dayana and we all got stuck in making yet more cards and pricing up products and unpacking and other stuff.
Inga lured me to the front of the shop while they put up a Happy Birthday banner and balloons and set the table for a party with chocolate cake...I spent a few days away with Tanya in Belgium also visiting Holland for a trade show and we had a really good time even though Tanya got tired after her battle with cancer.
We stayed in a superb hotel in Holland and they spoilt us rotten with the food.
Tanya had mozzarella with tomato tower, consomme and hand made croquettes on top of tomato in jelly for her starter... my goats cheese interspersed with black bread with pink grapefruit.....gorgeous... this was as delicious as it looked.....slice of dried apple on top of cinammon ice cream with crumbled meringue, apple mousse and the apple crumble tart itself.... Tanya and I at the hotel enjoying our apple crumble and cinammon ice cream... This was Friday morning's class before I drove to the airport. That's me up to date so

Bye for now

Sue

Spend,spend,spend!!!

I have just spent two days at kkd, a trade show in Holland - where I met up with friends and acquaintances - Tim, Mario and Alain from Ranger, Marsha and Mariska and Nolly, Anita and Betty and some of the other lovely people who work there.......

and spend was the operative word!

I wandered around the warehouse where I chose loads of lovely goodies for the shop but especially for the Christmas Open Day. I just have to pull out all the stops when I get back to make up the samples.

Back in Belgium at Tanya's watching Come Dine With Me on TV in Belgian so
Bye for now

Sue

signing out for a few days...

At the start of August I taught a class to the ladies showing them how to spray with mica powders and distress re-inkers.
With the sample pages I have made myself a mini journal to take with me tomorrow. I am going to Belgium and then with Tanya to Holland to a trade show so I will be away for a few days - not holiday exactly but visiting with a valued friend and her lovely family and some shopping even if it is buying for my shop! Here's one mini journal...

and here's the other.

This is recycling at its best. The lollipop flowers were made from the kitchen towel used to mop up the ink on the sprayed pages... The inside pages are almost too lovely to journal on but I am sure I can force myself!! Right I'm off to bed - still got to pack but that will have to wait for the morning... so

Bye for now
Sue