Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy.!!!

 And breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeath...!!!!

Yes it's here.

The day has finally come when I can reveal this.....

Many of you already know I have been appointed as a Signature Designer for Ranger, a lifetime ambition for me and I am so excited to reveal the products I will be launching at CHA.

First up is my new range of spray inks. They have been especially made to my requirements and are simply frikkin fabuloso. They are in my trade mark bright colours as you can see from the following chart.

And here's what the bottle looks like, with my label on it....Cool or what.??

AND to complement them we have teamed up with the fabulous Crafters Workshop. I just love their stencils and have used them for a long, long time. I feel they are the best in the industry and I am over the moon to work alongside them. As is totally me, they are all hand drawn, for the eclectic look that I love.

Each stencil comes in two sizes...9 x 12 in and 5 x 8 in

As well as stencils for my backgrounds etc I wanted to have some some of my trade mark border designs.

love love love dots and checks

distressed harlequins

random dots and flower border

of course my favourite leaves

This one I haven't stopped using

And have you ever seen all sizes of alphabet in one jumble.?

Here's some backgrounds in progress. You will notice that the stencils are not only fabulous for spraying through, but are perfect for doodling as well.

And my final reveal are my stamps. Six sets that all work in conjunction with my previous sets, manufactured, of course, by the wonderful Stampers Anonymous.

Bordering on the edge... can't get enough of borders. The solid one on the end is for stamping in one colour ink or paint and doodling over the top. The alphabet makes a wonderful frame. Everyone needs a swirly swirl. and the doodle borders will fit in almost anywhere.

Bits of this - love this one. The little insects are such fun for stamping in unexpected places. The plants make fabulous borders and hair. And the heads...oh my.!! They are bigger than previous heads but will still mix and match with the others, just imagine skull head on Curious Corrin's body, lol. The 2 at the bottom are perfect for adding other stamps as hair, especially stamps from the next set.

Doodle parts - more solid leaves to doodle over. The swirls feature a lot in my journaling and are ready doodled for you. Larger toadstools are always a must. The arrows make perfect frames and page corners and the part flower, well what can I say.

Inbetweenies - are exactly what they say they are. bits to go in between your journaling and your borders.

                                             

Background Love - you can never have enough backgrounds, fabulous for edging as well.

Word Love - words, you just got to have words haven't you. Large and small,  some solid, some not so solid. Use them singly, group them together, make a background, love them...

A few journal pages

They are all up on our website so you can see and read about them in their entirety.

 So there we have it. I hope you are all as excited about it as I am. I am positively giddy and still keep pinching myself at what I have achieved. From my kitchen table and dreams of teaching to being a part of THE best company ever - RANGER. Obviously the bestest ever news so far is that my products will now be available worldwide, from every Ranger retailer, so you too will be able to get your grubby little mitts on the delightful goodness.

 I want to thank you all for your support and well wishes, it is so nice to know that you are all behind me, showing me encouragement throughout my journey.

To all of you I salute you... 

I am going to leave you with my favourite ever quote, from Louisa May Alcott.

."You are an extraordinary woman. 

How can you expect anything ordinary to happen to you" 

Enjoy xx

I'm here.....

So there we were, 3am going, hauling our ass's out of bed. Considering I only finished packing at 12.30 am, I wasn't that impressed I can tell you. Anyway off to the airport ready for my 6am flight. Said my sad goodbyes to Mr Babe of Deliciousness and off I trotted through the airport. Looking impossibly glamorous, of course, with my Beehive, Bobbly, boucle coat and my trusty Dr Martens. Tip no 537....don't wear hi top dr Martens to airports, who now insist that you remove them at every opportunity.!!

Cue, the first glitch in the well laid plans...!!

Flight from Leeds to Amsterdam delayed by nearly an hour.  On arrival in Amsterdam I had to pick up my coat tails and hi-tail it across the length of the airport. I arrived breathless and panting at security. Boots off, hairpins out, and still I set off alarms and had to be patted down, lol. Anyhow I made it onto the plane by the skin of my teeth, the last remaining passenger!

As many of you know, I am always unfortunate with my seating. I always, always get sat next to the crying baby, the whiny child, the annoyingly nosy person, the male chauvinistic obese man or the escaped loony on day release..!! So I know you are all waiting with baited breath for todays tale of joy. And I am so sorry to disappoint you but....... I had the whole row to myself. Yee hah, Glory be to God.....all those Hail Mary's and Novenas to St Martha paid off. I quickly parked myself in the middle seat so that no one would be tempted to join me, hee hee and settled down with my journal for the 11 hr flight.

I landed in Portland, Oregan to the quickest immigration time ever, but was deemed a suspicious character and marked down to have my bags checked. Unfortunately there was a  small problem as my bags, apparently were still in Amsterdam..!!! Still they inspected the contents of my handbag and my carry on, which created a bit of a stir as it was full of my journals. Mind you I think they took one look and thought it will be safer to just let me through, than try to work out was going on in my head, lmao.

So after a 3 hr layover in Portland it was time for my last flight, and guess what it was delayed..... I eventually after a 23 hr journey landed in Sacramento. Yayy...!! and guess what one of my suitcases was there waiting for me. Hallelujah.!!!!

 The gorgeous Richelle picked me up as she had offered to be my lovely host whilst I was here. We went out for a Mexican with her family, and then it was back to hers and to fall into bed. It was only 8.30pm here but I had been up 27 hrs, so I was out like a light.

This morning it was a shock to see that most of the stuff I needed was in the missing suitcase, of course...So I am having a make up free day...shock horror. Mind you I figured they didn't really know what I looked like yet, so would think it was normal, hee hee. We are spending the day at Carol's store... Stampers Corner....as Richelle is teaching two classes here. They are a lovely bunch of students and I am looking forward to my day of teaching. If you are anywhere in the area come join us. Ring Carol on 916 686 0651 to book a place or look on her website stamperscorner.nethttp://stamperscorner.net/ for more details. I am teaching 3 classes, an accordion book with gesso resist and colorwash, a mini Distress stain book with Kraft resist and a canvas with paint effects and pearl finishes. Hopefully I will have reclaimed my luggage, so not only will I actually have the samples to show you, but I should have my face on and be looking impeccably glamorous.!!! Ha ha well as glamorous as I could ever be.

Today however is NOT that day and I have developed a large hole in my cardi....maybe it's extra ventilation, not sure. So here is Scruffy Outfit of the Day. With the holes and no make up it is more like a before photo don't you think..?? Must try harder...except I haven't any clothes to try harder with !!

Here's some of the ladies in Richelles class.

Just look at these gorgeous Melt Art flowers.

And this is frikkin gorgeous. Richelle very kindly offered ( oh ok I made her ), to make me one to wear at CHA.Yee hah.

Here's Carol the store owner

Can you guess what these are.?

Yup they are crunchy dill pickles...could soon get addicted, lol

and chocolate, of course...

I made a bit of a mess in the corner, as usual. Here's some of the backgrounds I was playing with.

And I ended up just a little mucky, lol, sign of a good time.

Tomorrow Richelle and I are holing up in her studio making samples for the show, and what a studio. Just wait till tomorrow and I will give you a little tour.

Okay time for sleep and to dream about my luggage turning up intact..he he !!

Enjoy xx

It's not what you know, its who you know.!!!

And boy has that saying been true just lately. 

As you all know I am a Vintage freak, with my choice of dress being the fifties. I find it quite hard to find authentic clothes in my size, so end up wearing a lot of repro or altering originals to fit. Now I can sew, but coats are a problem for me, too hard to alter. I do have my "pretend" furs, as you all know. The infamous Beaver, Mink and Leopard.!!! But what I have been searching for, for an age, is a coat like my Mum used to have. It was typical of the era, a sort of bobbly boucle fabric, with a huge fur collar. I think she had a two piece in it as well. I always thought she looked so glamorous in it. I have looked high and low and every one knows what I mean but nobody knew where to put there hands on one!!

Then one evening, not so long ago, I was on ebay, hunting for outfits for CHA, when I got a text in the middle of the night from the gorgeously barmy Kirsty, threatening my life.!!! Eeeeek what had I done now>??? Apparently it was a bit of a misunderstanding on the QVC face book page. People had got the impression I was leaving QVC, to venture over to the dark side.  So I hopped onto the thread, telling them it was a load of bull and would they kindly stop interrupting my Vintage buying, lol. 

One lovely lady joked I would probably love to see inside her Mother's wardrobes. Yes, wardrobes!!!!!.....all six of them.!!! Her Mother, at 94 indeed, isn't well and it is time for a clear out. One thing led to another and she sent me some photos.

This is the lovely Di, with her Mum in 1949. Such a cutie.! And how stylish was her Mum, look at those brows and the streak. Fabulous.

Well today, the lovely Di paid a visit to my studio. Here we are.

She brought her daughter and adorable grand son. It was so lovely to meet her in person, and guess what..!!!

Oh yes, I am now the proud owner of one bobbly boucle coat. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
Ha ha Di couldn't get over my excitement, as she thinks it is disgusting, but I am in lurve with it, and it will probably never leave my back, lol

And how about this for a touch of glamour.? Might take this with me to wear whilst demoing, lol. If you take a closer look at one of the pictures further up , you will see tons of items hanging from the studio door. Oh yes, fabulous goodies, especially for me. Such a lucky, lucky lady, don't you agree.? Big, big thank you to Di, firstly for thinking of me and secondly for making the journey and making my week.
And a big thank you to her Mum for having such wonderful taste. She has obviously cherished these items and it is now my job to carry that on. How wonderful, and how privileged, to actually know the history behind what I am wearing.

Here she is in 1962, with her husband looking ever such the distinguished couple. Di's Mammy...I salute you xx