Wow what a day ! Another one to add to my book of moments to remember ! :)
I was a bit nervous to attempt the journey again as the last time I was a bit shaken (but not stirred) by the tube ride. This time I thought it would have been easier to travel over(it wasn't) because my mother in law gracefully invited us to sleep over at her place. So we had a lovely afternoon and I've finally tasted the lovely bacon and liver with dumplings (puddings in the corner), that was always so famous in the family. So thank you Joyce, the dinner was delicious.
Come 7pm we started to get prepared to go to the Church of the Redeemer, we also asked my sister in law, Heidi, to come over so she can have some fun making cards with us.
The first person to greet us was
Carley she was at the entrance and it was so nice to finally meet her. She seems so happy and full of positive energy by her photographs and I was right ....she's even more so ! So
Carley if you're reading this, I'm making you a special ATC tomorrow so I can send it on Monday.
It was almost surreal to see Leonie chatting away with a lady in the middle of the room so I thought I wouldn't be a pest and waited until she was free so I could say hi to her so we carried on chit chatting between
Carley...Vince, Heidi and myself. I turned around to check if
Leonie was finished but she was actually next to me smiling and said 'You've made it' ! LOL
Leonie was amazing, and she's as lovely, loveable and as much fun as she seems on the telly. We had a few minutes chatting then
Leonie started a workshop on one of the two areas (she would start with one group and then move to our table later on). I was really impressed how she gives equal attention to everyone, and she seems to be everywhere at once making sure we're ok and checking on our card making progress.
Another highlight (and they were many) of the night was that I was able to try first hand the Slice. We had two make-and-takes: one from the papermania Forever Friends range and a very cute snowman from Personal Impressions. You can see our output above. It was fun using the slice and I think Vince kinda got the hint I want one for Xmas now! LOL
We also met a lovely couple
Tracy and Paul ! You gotta check
Tracy's blog, especially her singing (she's got a fabulous voice). Paul actually crafted with us to Tracy's amazement. I really believe paper crafting is for everyone so it's really nice to see more men card making.
Heidi (my sister in law) had a wonderful time and her cards were beautiful, she kept saying she's a total beginner but was really a natural. So Heidi you need to craft more ! ;)
There was so much to do during the night: a lady giving massages, cakes and tea (wine too), clothes and jewellery being sold too and finally the raffle. I was really lucky and won so much; stamps, papers, adhesive...it kept coming ! Thank you Carley it was so much fun and hearing people 'that's me' while we were crafting when they won something.
I also forgotten Leonie's book and I was gutted because I wanted her to sign it for me...well she had brought some books from Search Press to purchase and spotted
her book so I bought it again. I said to
Leonie, that's proper dedication...we both started laughing. I also got
Paula's latest book '
Celtic Cards' ! I've got to have
Paula sign her books too.
I had a wonderful time, well worth going through panic attacks. The biggest thank you, I want to give to Vince as he's always there for me, so without him I couldn't have enjoyed the night the way I did. So thank you Vince !
Another big thank you is for
Carley and
Leonie as they made us feel so welcome and all the organisation for creating those workshop and making that night possible. Also thank you to Heidi for coming over and having fun with us and finally thank you to the lovely Paul and Tracy as they were so friendly, we really enjoyed your company.
Me and Leonie
Me and Carley
Me and Vince (took the picture myself to be very Web 2.0)
Carley tallying the raffle tickets (they made 200 pounds for MacMillan which is great)
Carley let me have one of her ATC and I really liked this one, gorgeous !
Leonie posing for the camera while the flash 'shocked' some crafters.
Another one for luck, with suspicious looks !
Lovely cakes and tea where all lovingly prepared by those ladies (sorry guys I can't remember your names)
Full view of the room it was a full house yet comfortable and not overcrowded
Vince chatting away with Heidi
Leonie kept on going all night (She's got rechargeable batteries - that's her secret LOL)
'Now you use this ickle bottle of glue...'
Despite Leonie's best effort ....no comment ! wink
Leonie caught whilst she was shimmering around the room and Tracy getting her camera ready
My lovely SIL, Heidi, making her snowman card, she also 'discovered' Stickles so used them to great effect on her card, gorgeous work Heidi !
Best for last, Paul and Tracy ! Lovely to meet you guys !
This is a birthday card I made a few weeks ago, I had this idea of using an almost opaque plastic material and stamp on it with stazon, using the same stamp for the card (in the middle) and the petals using a different ink. Finally I made some holes in the plastic sheet and threaded a ribbon through it.
I thought it would tickle you to see the cards we've made for each other for our 10th anniversary ! I just burst out crying when I saw Vince's as the drawing is so cute with the heart balloon. I just love Vince's card. For mine I went very modern with a criss-cross heart.
Just a quick post to let you know that Eileen Hull has started a blog hop on her very own blog about the new Sizzix Scoreboard Dies she designed. So have a look as it's going to be fun !
Brenda on blog talk radio show : Inspired at Home ! Just a quick note that brenda is going to be on this internet radio show more info on my Brenda Pinnick fanatics blog.
This week's challenge on Dare U 2 Digistamp blog is Orange, purple, yellow, black or white ! So it was a no brainer used Sandra's digistamp named 'Hazel', a printed sheet from Sharon Duncan's Embossibilities Everyday CD and Fine Art Lightly Textured paper sheets from Ran's Photopaperdirect.com (notice how it picked up the purple versafine ink giving it texture).
Jak from La Pashe...generous Blog Candy ! You need to be quick though, it ends on 29th of October !
I've been crafting in the middle of the night last Wednesday as I had this idea of using Brenda Pinnick Initially Yours Chipboard die-cuts to spell 'Simples' and plonk the Meerkat as the 'i' ! It seemst to have worked. I like the miriad of colours on this card and I coloured the digistamp with shimmery chalks (you can see it better in the close-up image).
.jpg)
