A Crafty Day Out at the NEC 2019

I hadn't planned on going to the autumn Craft Show at the NEC this year.  For tickets and transport you are looking at a spend of £30-£40 before you even get through the doors.  However, as I won a pair of free tickets through HixxySoft, I decided to go for a day after all.  It gave me an opportunity to catch up with friends, drop off some samples for Claritystamp and get hold of some stamps that I was after.

What a Great Afternoon: Create It Hanger 42.

I got home from work on Friday to find that I had won a pair of tickets to the Create It event the following day at Hanger 42 in Lutterworth.  As yesterday was also my wedding anniversary, I took my husband of 28 years with me.  I don't think it would have been his first choice of ways to spend the afternoon, but he made the 150 mile round trip with me and we had a great time, thanks to the generosity of Kay and Alfie of IndigoBlu.  I got up early and made a small token of my appreciation to take with us.

Different Gouache Effects

This was the final card that I made for the Royal Talens shows on Hochanda last week.  It was shown briefly in the second hour (if upside down lol).  I used one brush to create all the effects and very little water to mix the top layers.

WOYWW 449: A day behind the scenes at Hochanda

First of all, sorry that I didn't get round to everyone's desks last week; between a full day on Wednesday (more later) and being back at work Thursday, Friday and Monday, most of the weekend was spent catching up on sleep, doing the washing and sorting stuff out.  Thanks again to Shaz for linking me up with everyone via our hostess Julia last week. You can also go and check out other desks via her page.

 My side of the desk shows all the pieces which I took down with me to Hochanda for the Royal Talens shows last Wednesday.  I mainly used the Ecoline pens together with the van Gogh oil pastels, but the Amsterdam gessos (black, white, clear) and the matte gel medium also came in useful.  If you are interested in a closer look at them, just check out the previous eight posts on my blog lol.

WOYWW 420: Too Darned Hot

Reports are written for another year (170 final total) so I should have time to visit a few desks this week.  Thanks to everyone who called across without me returning the visit, this week I shall try to get to everyone by the weekend.  It's far too hot for me at the moment.  I'm sitting here in shorts with the window and door of my shed open (nets up and blinds down) to keep out the sun and allow a through breeze and it's still nearly 30 degrees Celsius /nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit).  Lots of excitements this week.  I had a fabulous day out at the Create-It show in Telford with my crafty friend; met some Facebook friends (but no WOYWWers); came third in the competition (only four entries lol) but most amazingly of all ended up with 15 minutes of fame on live crafting TV (Hochanda), crafting alongside the amazing Sheena Douglass.  For a full description of the day and pictures see HERE. Until Saturday you can watch the show on rewind on www.hochanda.com; it was the 11am show on Saturday 17th June.
Anyway, back to the reason for our Wednesday blogging (for a full explanation, please go to the Stamping Ground where Julia can give you the low down).  Here is my desk with all the lovely stash I bought on Saturday.  I bought the Clean Colour Kuretake pens with my prize money; the items on the far right were from the goodie bag for VIP ticket holders and I also visited the IndigoBlu stall, Chloe, HobbyArt and Bee Crafty stands as you can see.  I also bought some MDF cats from the Inkylicious stand.

On the other side of the desk, my friend is playing with some of her purchases; six of the distress oxides and some Phill Martin stencils, creating backgrounds.













 

I have been reorganising my inks.  I bought a new storage rack and finally have all my inks in one place easily accessible.

A Crafty Day Out in Telford

I had the most amazing day out at Create-It Telford yesterday and although I am not going back today, I'd like to share the events of the day; little did I know when I set out with my best crafty friend, that I would be appearing on live TV before the day was out.

A Fabulous Day at Hochanda!

I had the most amazing day yesterday at the Hochanda investors day with my good crafting friend Eva.  Although I didn't have a lot of money to invest, I really believe in the ideas behind this channel and got in early with the CrowdCube fund raising.  Yesterday, I finally had a chance to see how my (tiny) investment was being put to good use; a company which really has the interests of crafters at heart.

I preferred the blue throne.

Eva preferred the pink one!

 As we had to be in Peterborough by 10am, it meant an early start (setting off at 7am).  However once we arrived, we were treated like royalty - starting with the amazing thrones in reception which are there for any suppliers which visit Hochanda.