Swapsies!

Hello, and welcome!

When this blog goes live, I shall be (I hope!) away from home, attending the OnStage Local event in Birmingham.  This one-day event for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators is being held today at locations throughout South Pacific and Europe, with the main event taking place in Florida.  I am super excited, because this time we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Stampin' Up! and it is going to be AMAZING!

Usually there's a Spoiler policy in force - those demonstrators who attend the event aren't allowed to share pictures or information about what's coming up.  This time, though, there is NO Spoiler policy, so we can take pictures and video and put them on our social media pages - so keep an eye on my Facebook page (although I'll probably be too busy ooh-ing and aah-ing to take many photos - I get carried away and forget to turn my phone on!)

I wasn't going to make swaps this time.  Swapping is a big part of OnStage.  We make multiples of something - usually a card or a 3D item  - and swap with others who have done the same.  It's not compulsory but it is encouraged and it's a great way of getting ideas for future projects.

However, on Monday, I decided that I'd be sorry if I didn't take some swaps with me, so I made some bookmarks.  (Yes, I made bookmarks last time, but these are DIFFERENT bookmarks, OK?)

Here's what I did - 

Check back next week to see what I get in exchange!

Meanwhile,

Keep crafting!

Keren


Product List

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

Cookie Cutter Builder Punch

[140396]

Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set

[142043]

Bronze Stampin' Blends Marker

[144607]

Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker

[144606]

Crumb Cake Light Stampin' Blends Marker

[144582]

Soft Suede Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

[147273]

Cajun Craze Dark Stampin' Blends

[147908]

Bermuda Bay Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

[144579]

Dark Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Marker

[146871]

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]