Bailey In A Box

Oooh this box is empty, what can I put in it? I know I might fit in here. If I can just turn around and sit down, pull in the flaps - there we go, perfect fit. Oh, how do I get out? Just roll over, that should do it.

CHA Party Photos

More TV Artwork

This is the 3rd artboard for the new show from the design team, and the jewellery that I made using the mosaic tape, shrink plastic and some Roxs and beads.

New TV Show

Here is a sneaky peak of some of the artwork from our new TV show Flower Power, which we filmed this morning.
Vicky picked me up at 8am this morning and we were finished and home by 1pm.
All of our design team got their artwork back to us in time so we had lots of wonderful cards for the show.

Flower Power should be airing on Saturday 8th March, we hope you like it.

P.S. Look out for the jewellery that Dennice and I are wearing during the show.

Home at last

We are now finally back home. Today was the first day I have been in the office for 2 weeks and there was so much paperwork to catch up on. We landed back in the UK on Friday but on Saturday we had to go to the NEC to set up for the UK trade show which finished yesterday.

Before we left for CHA we sent out stamps to our cardmaking DT for our new TV show 'Flower Power', we have received most of the artwork back and I must say it is all fabulous and we know you will love it. We will now be spending the next few days locked in the classroom finalising details before we film on Sunday - at 9am! And hopefully I will have time to make some co-ordinating jewellery pieces for us to wear.

Whilst at CHA we did place a few orders and if I remember correctly some products were already in stock so we should start receiving them over the next couple of weeks - fingers crossed! We love all the new Ideaology accessories and can't wait for those to arrive, I'm sure we haven't ordered enough.

We still have a huge pile of catalogs to go through from CHA and now from Stitches as well to see what else we can't live without at Stamp Addicts. I will keep you updated as the products arrive.

CHA Slideshow

CHA Party!

Just got back from the CHA party. It was in the California Disneyland Backlot - it was so much fun. We danced the night away to a live band with all the stars from CraftTvWeekly like Michael Strong, Tricia Morris and Judi Watanabe. The evening started when Disneyland closed at 6pm so we had the park to ourselves. Dinner was buffet style inside and when that was over we moved outside to the party area where we had desert and the live band. We also had unlimited access to the Soarin Over California ride which was amazing. It is a simulated ride where you feel like you are flying over California, I would definitely recommend this ride to anybody. Claudia was sitting next to me on the ride and she is afraid of heights but she went on it twice!

We spent most of today placing orders at the show and taking part in Make & Takes. A lot of the products we have ordered are available now so we should be receiving them all very soon.

Wednesday is the last day of the show and it closes at 2pm so we should then have time to sort through all our catalogues and photos and maybe even a bit of last minute shopping.

But now it is 11pm so I am off to bed so I can get up bright and early for the last day of the show.

Day 2 of CHA

Sorry, no photos today. I have hundreds to sort through and because we were out late with Printworks, JudiKins, Inspired Crafts and our friends from Germany and Switzerland I haven't had time to sort them all out. And tonight is the big CHA party in Disneyland.

We saw the most amazing craft event yesterday. It was called Art Unscripted and hosted by Carol Duvall. I have never seen Carol Duvall in action as a host before and I must say I was most impressed. The event included 12 celebrities from the crafting world including Judi Watanabe, MaryJo McGraw, Crafty Chica, Michael Strong, Sarah Hodsdon, Cherryl Greene (TV Weekly) and several other people who's names escape me right now. They were split into 4 teams of 3 and the first member of each team went up on stage and was given a bag of materials and a wooden mannequin with 10 minutes to decorate it. At the end of the 10 minutes the next team member took over for their 10 minutes and a new back of materials, followed by the third and final member of the team.

All team were picked at random and they had no idea of the materials they would get to use until they got up on the stage. Things started very calmly until it got to the 2nd team member, then competition hotted up and things got very chaotic. It was hilariously funny as some teams try to sabotage the others supplies or even assist each other. I took lots of photos of the event and the finished articles and will post them as soon as I can.

Did I mention that JudiKins have brought out a new product for use with the Patera, DG3. This is a liquid like Diamond Glaze but it remains completely clear and very hard so is ideal for jewellery.

We also saw the Big Cropodile that is a big long reach version of the original. We will let you know as soon as stock arrives. We love the new 7Gypsies carousels. The original for ATCs and now there is one for photos and another one for unmounted stamps. Becky Nunn has some great new jewellery pieces for photos. Bind It All has some new acrylic covers and canvas board covers as well as a corner rounder that works on chipboard and acrylic.

Time to go. I'll be back tomorrow.

Day 1 of CHA

Some of the new things we saw on Sunday, including the new Tim Holtz Ideaology embellishments. Can you spot Tim in the Grungeboard Pirate layout?

First Day in Anaheim

This is Annette of Printworks hard at work playing with her favourite stamps.


This is Jamie of Printworks, you might have seen him recently on CraftTvWeekly.


Nicole is Annette's daughter and is married to Jamie - so it is a real family business.


This is some of the artwork on display by Joyce of A Stamp In The Hand.

Well we made it here, when we finally got to our hotel it was about 11pm on Thursday. But we were still up very early in the morning. We were up too early to go see anyone or go shopping so we walked to the convention centre and collected our bagdes ready for Sunday.
We started our day with a visit to Printworks and got to see their new designs.

We then made our way to the JudiKins warehouse for a workshop on Patera with Cherryl from CraftTVWeekly. We made a paper cord mosaic to go inside the patera and then sealed it with a new product called DG 3, very similar to Diamond Glaze but better for jewellery making as it stays completely clear and has a harder finish.
After we had finished the class we stayed at the JudiKins warehouse for dinner and gossip.

Have you met Rafe?

This is my dog Rafe. The first photo I took during his first week with us last summer, he was 4 months old. The second photo I took about two weeks ago, tomorrow will be his 1st birthday.
Looking at these photos he has lost so much of his colouring, which is normal in this breed. But he definitely has not lost his fun-loving and energetic nature. He still goes hurtling around the house for no apparent reason, or round and round in circles chasing his tail.
Annabel is still slightly wary of him (but she is a bit of a drama queen over everything) but for Bailey he is part of the furniture, literally! He lays on him, tries to sit on him and fights over toys with him.

Whenever I take Rafe out for walks (which I admit I don't do very often, Martin usually has this responsibility) there are always people who point and talk about him and I often get stopped so they can find out what breed he is. Rafe is a Coton De Tulear, originally from Madagascar the breed made its way to France before crossing the water to Britain.

Although Coton's have long hair they are hypoallergenic. Martin has always been allergic to most animals and when entering someones house can instantly tell if they have a cat or dog by the tingling in his nose followed by the violent sneezing. Martin's brother and best friend also suffer from the same complaint but not one of them has a reaction to Rafe.

A friend of ours is having puppies in the next few weeks. We've been told we can go and visit when they are 4 weeks old, so if I can I will get photos - everybody loves puppies, don't they?

Design Team Products

On Friday we at last finalised the stamps being used in our next TV show, so we were able to despatch packages to all our Cardmaking Design Team members. Again we have given them a fairly tight deadline as we are filming at the end of this month (remember it is February so not a very long month).

We are waiting on quite a few new stamps arriving from JudiKins, they have been several months in the design stage, which is why it takes so long to get a new show off the ground, that and waiting for a filming date at a Create & Craft.

Yesterday I started packing my suitcase, we don't fly until Thursday but I like to give myself time to make sure I can wash anything I need that has been languishing at the bottom of the laundry basket. The weather forecast for Anaheim is a cloudy 21 degrees, but I tend to get cold inside the buildings because of the air conditioning which is always on!

I'm going weighed down with gadgets this time: my camera, my camcorder and my laptop. If I can't film it I will photograph it - hopefully new products and demonstrations that I can then post up here so you will be able to see what new products we will be receiving in the next few months. It might be quite frustrating though as quite often we have to wait 2-3 months for these new products to arrive.

So I best make the most of today with my children as it will be the last full day I spend with them for nearly 4 weeks. After our week in Anaheim we go straight to the trade show at the NEC and when we return from there we spend the following Sunday filming. So if I am really lucky I will get to spend the last Saturday of Feb at home, but probably not.

Oh no, make that 5 weeks. The weekend after filming is Stamperama! I will be at home evenings for 3 out of the 5 weeks just not the weekends.

One last thing to mention - this Wednesday is WACKY WEDNESDAY. The first Wednesday of every month is now Wacky Wednesday as we will be offering a selection of products at seriously wacky prices. Check back here or Top50Crafters on Tuesday and Wednesday to find out what is on special and the offer codes.

Valentines ATCs

Valentines ATCs created by Julie Knott and Lesley Crawford.