Oooh, only one more day to go

The Stampin' Up! blog hop challenge is getting closer and closer by the second, and I am getting more and more excited (translate nervous). I am a notoriously slow crafter, so to try and ease my nerves while I await the arrival of my box tomorrow, I have been sketching. As I have no idea what stamp set I will be getting I am covering all bases. Sketches for big stamps, small stamps and in between stamps ... and then just some nervous sketches to fill in the blanks.

That is the only way I work - I sketch. The plonk pfaff and stick method is not good for my compartmetalised brain, and I simply need to get a pencil in my hand before I can think. I usually start off with the stamps, mull them over in my head for a bit and then get down with my bits of scrap paper.

I guess sketching to pass the time beats eating slabs of Green & Black chocolate ... almond ... drool. I would not be the same if Green & Black ever decided to stop making chocolate. Thankfully, so far today I have shown considerable restraint. But the day is still young and a trip to the shops way to easy!

Okay, yes ... I am just toying with you, talking about random stuff. I know why you are here.

Could this be it?

YES, I thought so. I can now reveal that Stampin' Up! have been so kind as to offer blog candy for some very lucky blog reader. I cannot divulge exact details just yet, but I am going to burst if I don't let this out. Suffice it to say that it will be worth your while to drop by for the big reveal tomorrow night. YOU could be the one walking away with a lovely prize.

More details to follow some time before tomorrow night.

Woo Hoo!

And on other fronts... guess where I will be going this weekend. The Artisan show in Leamington Spa. Craft Stamper magazine and their sister title Beads and Beyond are sponsors at this event. As a contributor to Craft Stamper I have been invited to go... very nice indeed. I so love the opportunity to part with my husband's money and aquire new stash. It is only a two and a half hour drive, but I have managed to convince my family to come along for the ride and stay for the whole weekend. The lure of staying at a B&B on a working farm was just too much temptation for my girls, and my husband loves driving ... anywhere, it doesn't matter. He is such a boy. Put him behind the steering wheel of a car and he is blissfully happy (men are so nice and uncomplicated).

Where am I going with this you wonder. Well, I am working my way up to a picture. I shall be taking an ATC or two or three with me to trade with readers of the magazine. Slight problem though, I have never made an ATC before. I know, don't judge me, I just have not.

I thus set to work on the smallest canvas I have ever worked on. I am not sure it is particularly good, but I made this.

And a few more too. So if you are going to be at the artisan show on Sunday, stop by the Craft Stamper stall and if you see a woman with grey hair that would be me.

I have also gone digging through some older cards to see what else I could put up on here and came across this.

It is a card I made, quite a while back I might add, for a class I taught at the now closed Creative Pastimes shop. It seemed fitting as Christmas is coming closer and many of us are starting on those Christmas cards. This is a Bella stamp - those Bella's are adorable aren't they.