A QVC outing!

This week blog post over at Sizzix Uk blog.

If you fancy...

... a bit of this

(Look! I stand up!)

or a bit of this...

Tune in tomorrow, Monday the 29th of March, at 13:00 on QVC. This are only two samples of one kit that I will be showing you.

By the way, it looks like my issues with blogger have been resolved. So from now on this will be my blog. The address is www.blog.paulapascual.com. Thank you for your patience!

And it was a 23rd of February

Tsv

Because of me being sick and all, I won't be able to help dawn at Qvc
today for her tsv. Typical of ke to get sick when I should be working
and earning some money! The worts thing is that as it is Dawn's own
tsv, I am feeling that I am letting her down by not being there. I am
sure though that she will manage as she always does!

Off to sleep right now!

QVC

Last Friday I passed my Guest Audition, so today at 9 am I will be on air -at some point- with the TSV, yes right I will be demonstrating on air one of my all time favorite tools, the Cuttlebug!

A few thoughts

Some may think that I am pushing the Letterpress tool because it benefits in some way. Well, it does not. I do not work for Quickutz -the manufacturer-, nor DOcrafts -the UK distributor- nor QVC -the retailer.

I do, however, work for Dawn Bibby on a freelance basis, assisting her behind the scenes at QVC and teaching and demonstrating at her shop. Since she knew of my love for all thing Die cutting related and Letterpress effect, she suggested for me to have a go with the tool and check it out. I did, loved it so much, and raved so much about it to dawn that she suggested I go on air with it. And I did, for the first time ever I demonstrated on live TV. It may seem easy to do, well let me tell you, it is not, no matter how much prep work you have done, how many successful demonstrations you have done before, live TV is a completely different thing.

I am not saying I did not enjoy it, because I did. It is fun, it is exciting, its many things and certainly, easy is not. My respect for what Dawn does week in week out, craft days and TSV days has grown immeasurably since I started to work alongside her on QVC, even more so after I did those demos.

I am not sure if it is because I am a bit of a perfectionist, I am always left that I could have done so much better, that i could have done this and that, basically improved my demo. However, I do realized I could have explained things better, had gone into more detail on how the Letterpress tool from Quickutz works on air. Well, I can only say I will try to improve with time.

However, there are certain critiques of the tool that are objective -cracking plates- and some others that are not, but overall, even with some faults, is a great addition to the crafting world.

The cleaning issue is still a big one for most crafters. Personally I have settled for cleaning the printing plates and roller with UNDU or Herma's Label off -remove liquid with a regular baby wipe-, and the inking block and my hands with olive oil, top tip from Sharon Betts.

Like any elaborate craft product, it does require certain level of commitment, i.e. is not like a paper punch that just works effortlessly from day one. Niche product? Maybe, but not more so than the Bind it all, or the Melt pot -all machines I adore, but I do understand they are not for every single crafter out there.

Sorry, but more portaits talk

One of this years resolutions is to take more portraits. I just love them. So, I was thrilled when I saw this today at the QVC UK website.

The same happens every time I see this photo of Jane Gill I took in 2008, specially when it was in the front cover of Cardmaking and Papercraft and saw it at a bookshop in Canada.



Soon, Omar and I will be going for a few days to an exotic destination because his brother is getting married. And they have kindly asked me to take photos of the wedding, which has made me very happy as they are both gorgeous, very photogenic and more importantly, not camera shy unlike some of my friends (yes, Julie, I am talking to you!).

More stars and QVC

I think you must be tired by now of this card and versions of it, but I am not. I did this one for last weekend for my demo at The Glitter pot. I used all Sizzix dies, the large Scallop Rectangle album for the main card and the of course the Stars 2 and messages inCircles.



Yesterday I helped Dawn Bibby at QVC. A few months back there was a competition in Paprecraft Essentials -UK based cardmaking magazine- to make Dawn a birthday card with her favorite things. the winners prize was for them to come with a friend and spent a day at QVC with Dawn. Sam and Andrea, the winners, enjoy a two hour masterclass with Dawn in which I gave them a hand playing around with some of the kits that would be later featured in the two hour live show.



The lucky ladies enjoyed also a manicure by Nails Inc, we then had lunch and head for the bright lights of the studio. As always the two hours passed so quickly.



Simon Biaggi was the presenter so after show we took some photos with Dawn and him. Above you can see Andrea and Gill, Dawn and Simon.



And here Sue and Sam -mother and daughter.
Then we went to Regent street as there were some things that Dawn and JJ needed. Then we went for dinner to a really nice restaurant, one of our favorite ones actually, but an unfortunate event happened. No one was hurt or anything like that, but it meant that we got a free meal and Dawn got a slight shock. I hope she is ok today!