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!

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.

More Oh La La

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

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?

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.