Monday 29 November 2010

Vamos Rafa!

Yes, he didn't win last night. I know, I was there at the O2. To be honest, when Omar got us tickets to the final a month or so ago I did not expect at all to see Rafa in the final. Nadal had never made the final at ATV World Tour Finals, as it is a indoor hard court, the worst surface for him. So I was not expecting him to win at all.


Federer was almost always the better player throughout out the match, so many effortless shots, you could see Nadal exhausted from Saturday's semifinal against Murray. At least Rafa manage to win the second set, which all in all was a good result for him. And although I am a bit sad that he didn't win, the truth is that for a tennis fan like myself to be able to have witness on court a Nadal-Federer match on a final is something that is truly unforgettable. Not many sports have such a good role models like this two guys, I am glad I am a tennis fan.


Watching him loose yesterday is even more inspiring to me than when he wins. I often have said that what I most admire in Rafa is not his formidable tennis -which I also do admire- but his amazing attitude, in victory or in defeat. We often celebrate excellency and natural talent, and forget that the effort to overcome our own flaws should be even more appreciated. The desire to improve, to do things better and to not let small or big failures in the way of becoming a better player and person is something that we should all practice. 


So, thank you Rafa.


Vamos Rafa!

Saturday 27 November 2010

More stamping Christmas cards


This one was also part of the article I did recently (las month's issue I believe) for Crafts Beautiful. I used just the Large Christmas set and two ink pads, for the light blue i used memento Summer Sky and for the darker one Versafine Deep Lagoon. 
The circle in the middle was punched out using a 2" circle punch. 
I finished it off with 3mm self adhesive pearls.

Friday 26 November 2010

More Oh La La


A simpler card, but still, I like it a lot!
All products from Craftwork Cards.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Modern Christmas


This card was on the cover of crafts Beautiful last month. Is one of my favorites. I love the colours which was an inspiration from my admired Jennifer Mcguire. The background was stamped repeatedly with one of the border from Dotty Borders, the message is from Essential Christmas and the flowers from Filled with flowers.


All materials available from Sir Stampalot.


I am not doing much creative these days, but I am hoping that inspiration will struck soon as I need to do all my Christmas cards yet.
Have you done yours?

Tuesday 23 November 2010

An evening to remember



Anyone who knows me, even a little bit, will know my admiration for Rafael Nadal. I have followed his matches since he was part of the Cup davis final in 2004. Well, truth is I have never seen him in person in real life.
But yesterday, Omar got tickets to go and see him play at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2. When I got there Omar greeted me with a "I am sorry, there has been a mistake and we don't have tickets!" To say that I was upset is an understatement, so I decided to walk towards the Fan area thinking there must be pictures and stuff like that. What I did not expect was the practice courts to be in plain sight for anyone to see. When I saw a multitude on one of the courts, I asked who was practicing and they said Rafa. I thought to myself, well If Rafa is about 10 metres from me there is simply no way that I am not going to see him from the first line. So, since I am very short I navigated to front row. There were about 5 meters between Rafa and myself. 



I understood there and then how people feel about certain singers or bands, when they faint just at the sight of them. Rafa oozes charisma in an earthy kind of way. His uncle Toni (his coach) was there as was the rest of the team as well as Spain Davis Cup team captain Albert Costa.
At that point, I could not have care less about getting the tickets to see the match. I Had seen my beloved Rafa quite close and hitting some balls, what else could top that? But Omar and his friends manage to get some at the last minute and, after a lovely dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, we got to watch the match between Rafa and Roddick from almost the rooftop. The match is played on a indoor hard court which is famously the most difficult type for Rafa, last year he didn't manage to even win a set in three matches, so my expectations were low.




The first set didn't go too well for Rafa, neither did the first few games of the second. But soon enough Rafa picked up and went on to win the second and third set and of course the match. 




I shout quite a lot of Vamos Rafa! among other things, clapped a lot and got off my feet in several occassions.



It was, by all accounts, a fantastic evening.


Vamos Rafa!

Monday 22 November 2010

Back to normal

I will be honest as I always try to be. When it comes to the life of a completely freelance craft demonstrator standards regarding hospitality are neither high nor low. Usually we demonstrators are very well treated and we are always looked after in terms of drinks and lunch breaks. Thing is that after five years of being a freelance demonstrator I have never been better looked after than at SirStampalot by Janice and Andy last Saturday. Equally good yes, once or twice, but never better. All the ladies who came to the demo were truly lovely, very kind.


When I got there, I was really impressed that they had a wall with all my stamps on the wall with little labels on the top with the information about punches sizes and coordinating stamp sets. Bellow the stamps, there were displayed all the coordinating punches. I mean, wow! It is very easy to be a good demonstrator when a shop makes so much effort for you and the products you are using.


Besides, it is one of the few shops that stock everything I like to use. Sizzix dies, check. EkSuccess punches, check. Martha Stewart punches, check. Nestabilities, check. Glue Gel, check. Hero Arts stamps, check. Fine tip PVA bottle, check. Versafine and memento pads, check. Trust me, at the end of the day I was thinking to myself there is no way that they have all my essentials, there must be something they don't stock. But thing is, Janice and Andy do stock all the products that I like to use.


It was my last demonstration for the year, and it was such a lovely day that has given me a new lease of creativity and feel really inspired.




By the way, I got in the post today the latest issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft. And voila, my two Christmas cards are on the cover. It is always a thrill when it happens. 


After almost two weeks, yesterday I felt 98% human again. That flu! It really was bad. Now, I am still coughing and sneezing but not as bad as last week.

Saturday 20 November 2010

Julie's cards

Just wanted to share a few cards that my super talented friend Julie has made using my stamps.
Click here for some Christmas cards, here for some simple flowers ones, and here for the filled with flowers cards that Julie Hickey has made. they are really beautiful.

Friday 19 November 2010

Another Oh La La



A lot of layers in this card which is unusual for me. But I like it.


By the way, tomorrow, saturday I will be demonstrating at Sir Stampalot.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Oh La La


Finally I am out of bed. I thought it was a cold then it developed into the flu. Nasty.
Anyway, i=I am hoping to resume normal activity on the blog from today, but no promises.

This card I made for Craftwork Cards a few months ago using their lovely Oh La La range.

Now, I need to do a million jobs today, so I better do them.

Friday 12 November 2010

Still in bed

Well, so it is. I am still in bed sick. I have reach the conclusion that I must have some mild form of flu. All the symptoms are there. So I cancel tomorrows demo which is extremely unfortunate, I was really looking forward to that. Why, oh why I always get I'll when I have loads of things planned out?
My sincere apologies to the people at grafton projects and also anyone who was planning on coming to see the demo.




Just as small sample of the simple and quick cards you can make using my Christmas stamps and a couple of punches, I made this card for a workshop. I used Large Christmas set, Martha Stewart snowflake punch plus a Fiskars border punch.

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Thursday 11 November 2010

Resting

It seems that after I have been exposed to the public for longer than a couple of days the inevitable conclusion is for me to get sick. Not seriously, but still with sore throat, congested chest, aching bones and massive headache. As I work from home during the week is easy for me to rest a bit, so that was my plan, but by Tuesday evening I started to feel really bad, so I decided that Wednesday and today I should be in bed. My mum always said that rest is the best cure for colds and flu. So that is my excuse for this week lack of posting.
Now, for the weekend. Well, I am off to the Grafton projects, check the link on the left hand side, to demonstrate my latest stamps. Always exciting to do that.
And, of course I haven't forgotten about last week hobby crafts show. As I mentioned I had a really good time.
One of things I really enjoyed -among others- was to actually see in the flesh one of tim Holtz alterations machines manufactured by sizzix.



I had seen it on the Internet, but honestly it looks so much better and it feels even better in real life. It is definitely going on my wish list.
Other stands that I enjoyed were the wow embossing powders, where Marion Emberson -fellow stamp designer for personal impressions- and the lovely Amanda Fletcher were teaching and demonstrating. I have mentioned their embossing powders before, truth is I am much more in love than I was already. They make so many different ones, all lovely colours and finishes. And the make a proper white bright one which is perfect as the ones that I used to have always were a bit too off white for my liking. The tinsel ones are to die for too.
Anyway, I better rest a bit more. You know posting in the blog is exhausting! (just joking!)

Monday 8 November 2010


I am beyond tired but really, really happy on how everything went at the Fiskars workshops that I taught at Hobbycrafts show (NEC, Birmingham). As I was teaching workshops all day long for four days my voice is a little husky, something I don't has ever happened to me before.
Traffic was good last night so I got home in good time, there are plenty of things to do so I don't have much time to spare. I will post the card that I taught in the forthcoming days. For the moment I leave you with this simple card i made for one of my classes at the Glitter Pot. It was all about making the most of a single (actually half) patterned sheet of paper. The message is from Large christmas and the flower is from Filled with flowers.

Saturday 6 November 2010

So, I hoped I could have posted every night. But truth be told when I got to my hotel room each night I was beyond exhausted so, shower and sleep was necessary. But anyway I am having a fabulous time, really! Everyone is been so nice at my workshops for fiskars that it has made me to fall again in love with teaching. People have been so kind and thoughtful that have made my days to pass flying by.

Wednesday 3 November 2010


Another version of the card I posted last 19th of October, simple but ideal for bacth christmas card making.
Today I am off to the NEC to teach workshops for Fiskars at the Hobbycrafts show. That means that I won't be able to post cards until Sunday evening. But I may post some photos of the show. We will see!


The gold edge I did using a gold Krylon pen. It is actually one of the first card making techniques I learnt in this country. It was at workshop with Katie at The Craft Barn, Lingfield.


Stamp: Joyful Bubbles
Die: Styled labels, Tim Holtz for Sizzix
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