The best laid plans..

Hello, and welcome!

You may recall that, in my last post, I was super-excited about attending OnStage local in Solihull.  I had my bagful of swaps and was looking forward to showing you all what I'd got in exchange.

Well - it didn't quite go as planned.

I never got there.

What follows  is the whole sad story - you might want to skip ahead to the YouTube video.

To be absolutely honest, something had been telling me "not this time" for a while.  The event sold out really quickly and I only just booked about 15 minutes before it reached capacity.  If I'd arrived home from work half an hour later, I would have missed it.

Never mind, I had my spot and started making my swaps in good time.

Then I hurt my back.  I have no idea how - I just sat down and pain shot up my spine and down my right leg.  It was the first day of my two weeks holiday, as well, and I spent most of the time trying to find a position to sit/stand/lie down that didn't cause sheer agony when my back went into spasm.  

It got better - I was well enough to return to work at the end of my leave - but I couldn't drive without pain until about a week ago and was seriously considering cancelling until about a fortnight ago as I wasn't confident that I'd be able to drive the 2 1/2 hours it would take.

There were other things that were going to make it difficult to go away - the cat needing a operation on her eye, for example - but nevertheless I was determined to go and looking forward to it.  So on Friday afternoon, I set out.

I got as far as Cardiff - about 45 minutes from home - when my 3-month-old car, with fewer than 1,300 miles on the clock, began showing a Tyre Pressure warning light - which wouldn't go out even after I'd put more air in the tyres.  By now it was dark and my nerves were in shreds.   I thought that the problem was probably the monitor system, but couldn't be sure - and really didn't want to be stuck at the wrong end of the motorway (and yes, I do have roadside assistance/recovery cover but if there really was a problem if I wanted to be at home!)

So - I went home.  And the following day, in daylight, it turned out that the monitoring system needed to be reset and all was well.  Except that I was in Swansea, not Solihull.  I thought about going anyway but would have got there at lunchtime and wasn't sure they'd let me in.


I did some colouring instead.  I'm not the greatest colourer-innerer but decided to experiment with the three kinds of colouring media that SU carries - the Stampin' Write markers, the Watercolour Pencils and the new Stampin' Blends.

So anyway - no swaps to share ( I have about 40 mini fans to dispose of - anybody want one? Email me if you do!) 

 So today's video wasn't what I'd planned!  

As a thank you for putting up with my one-woman pity party, I've posted a bonus video, which shows you the out-of-the frame technique I used on the sample above.  

This is just for you, my blog/Facebook friends.  I'm planning on including a few (exclusive) extras from time to time (out-takes, bits of technique I've covered before or don't really go into on the main YouTube video) - let me know if you think you'd like it.  

Thanks for staying with me up to now!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

PS - There was quite a nasty accident on the motorway at about the time I would have been passing on my way back home and I might well have been caught in it - so perhaps my guardian spirit was looking after me!  xxx
Product List

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141925]

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

Shimmery White A4 Card Stock

[121717]

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Stampin' Blends Markers Collection

[147475]

Many Marvelous Markers

[131264]

Watercolor Pencils

[141709]

Simply Sketched 23

Thank you for joining us for another Simply Sketched Saturday 
Challenge! 

We’re so excited to be sharing this hop with you.  The products used are all available in the current Annual, or seasonal, Stampin’ Up!® Catalogues*. 

This time the challenge has been set by Dee Copus-Reed.

As well as the sketch, Dee gave us a couple of extra conditions – we had to make a gift card holder with a masculine theme. Here’s my attempt. 

I rotated the sketch so that it was in portrait orientation, and used the guitar from “Country Livin’” I haven’t played with my watercolour pencils for a while so I made the most of the chance to use them.

To make it a gift card holder, I fell back on one of my favourite ways of presenting a card – the “slide-up”.  (If you want to know how I made it, keep an eye on my YouTube channel – I’ll be posting a tutorial there soon)

via GIPHY

OK, so that’s my contribution and I do hope you liked it.  Now, if I could just encourage you to go and check out what Keila  has created by clicking the button below

I know you’re going to love what the rest of the team has done, so keep hopping!

Crafty Hugs

Keren

Product List

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141925]

Card Stock A4 Soft Sky

[131292]

Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry

[131288]

Color Theory Designer Series Paper Stack

[144193]

Whole Lot Of Lovely Designer Series Paper

[144110]

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

Watercolor Paper

[122959]

Watercolor Pencils

[141709]

Country Livin'

Hello bloggists, and welcome to my blog.

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get round to playing with the Country Livin’ stamps.  I’m so happy that this set isn’t retiring so will be around until June 2018 at least and that I’ll be able to use them in my demos for a while longer.  The images are handy to use on items for men or boys but could work equally well for more feminine greetings, depending on how you embellish it.

I'm also happy that the Hardwood stamp is going to be carrying over as well.  I love this stamp for backgrounds.

This was a nice, simple card to make.  Here's how I did it- 

Thanks for visiting - hope I'll see you again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren