sugar and spice

When it's a dress, of course !!!! Here I've created a little bit of art using the fabulous JOFY stamps from PaperArtsy. There's nothing not to like about these stamps, then again that goes for all of Jo's designs, simple yet effective and versatile.... See, they're not just for Christmas ... Makes you want to look at all your stamps and 'see' other ways of using them. Happy December everyone Marion xxx

Today was a day of play..... Had a thoroughly relaxing afternoon in the studio with Paula and Suzanne  making Christmas cards..this is the earliest I've ever started !!! Just have to remember to post them now LOL !! Here's a little sneak... This was a well deserved rest after 5 days teaching at the HobbyCrafts show in Birmingham, but oh the fun we had... One of the things we got the customers excited about was all the Fab Foils including 3 brand new colours. Sweet Stevie (as he's known locally) never fails to entertain us all through the show and in the evenings, here he's getting in character at the chinese restaurant we often go to up there. Our last night saw us go back to the pub in Allersley (we always try and visit this place when we're up there) the food is fabulous, meats served on hot stones, and this time they had a DJ and the music was excellent, 70's and 80's tracks...brilliant. The show was fabulous, lots of love for WOW and so many

To rest..... As I've mentioned before it's been a whirlwind of events since closing the shop, teaching in the States, doing our 3rd Annual Retreat and now getting ready and prepping for the NEC. I'll be there teaching for WOW Embossing Powders next week, I love this event it's so much fun, in fact I love every event I do, after all life is about having fun and I feel very blessed. Here's a couple of samples I've made for WOW, the first was sooooo very relaxing, I just took a canvas board 8" X 8" and sketched out a flower, then filled in with embossing power, it gives a gorgeous sparkly textured look and let's face it, you can do whatever you sketch, so think of new home, wedding day etc....would make a gorgeous gift. I used Long Island Teal, Atlantic Seaspray, Opaque Bright White and Silent Night Then I got really excited as I 'had' to open these dies and use with the powders and the Pick and Mix Stamp Set. The powders I've

So the third Annual Sugar and Spice Retreat is over for another year....and oh what fun we had... Here's a few of my favs from the weekend... Apart from having fun and posing for pictures we also made 4 gorgeous projects, ate amazing food and learnt new things... No sooner am I back from that and I'm working on some samples for WOW Embossing Powder ready for the show at the NEC this November.  Here's a couple I've knocked up, I really want to try and do a couple of video tutorials on these....I  just need some time...I've still got to unpack from it all LOL !!!  Watch this space !!! Hugs xxxx 

I can't believe it's been two weeks already since I left to come out to the states to teach, it's flown by. I started off working the Collins Show in Orlando, teaching the retailers the benefits of WOW! Embossing Powder and working with some great retailers, here's a little snap of the make and take necklaces we did. We added foil for that little bit of opulence. The show was great, it always is, we're constantly learning from it. Once the show was finished, I had to get ready to travel up to the Carolina's to start my stour tour. 2 States, 4 Stores, 4 Days, 8 Classes, 107 fabulous women The first day was an 8 hour car journey, I wasn't looking forward to this, I mean, who would ??? But it actually went quite quick. First stop was Scrapbooks by the Sea in Myrtle Beach, fabulous store, fabulous ladies, did an impromptu demo on the same evening as getting there, then did set up ready for the next day of teaching. Doing a little demoing A li

Having just returned (yesterday) from 4 days away in Portugal teaching at a fabulous event held by Patricia Villas-Boas (yes she is the sister of football manager Andre) but I don't think she plays football :) !!! I got to spend a little time with the lovely Michelle Johnson who works her magic for Stix 2 and she showed me some tricks with their glue gun... So what did I do ??? I made a necklace, of course !!! It was so quick and simple, it looks gorgeous and it's now packed in my case... Tell you about that in a mo. I have to say Patricia's hosting skills were amazing she took us to some fab restaurants, and fed us till we could eat no more, but I'm not complaining... Here's just a few snippets of the food sampled.  What can I say...strawberry purée, ice cream and chocolate !!!  Manoli and Michelle eyeing up each other's desserts  The lovely Monica with Portugese cookies on our arrival !! We did do some work whilst we were there...