Monday 13 April 2015

Alexandra Palace - behind the table!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. Sunday April 12th was not the first time I had been to Alexandra Palace - known affectionately as Ally Pally. I think I've been about three or four times now to meet up with friends who love to craft and to take a look at all the latest stamps, paints and crafty goodies available for us to play with. Usually the first port of  call for most of us is the PaperArtsy stand! It has been a love of the quirky stamps and fabulous paints that brought us together. This time, though, Leandra and Mark, founders of PaperArtsy were off to Version Scrap in Paris: Leandra wouldn't be able to make the show herself, so she asked some of us who contribute to the PA blog to have a 'go' at demo-ing the products - we were to be behind that PA desk rather than gazing admiringly on! Nina Greco of Crafting Time in Shepreth allowed us to use her stand to demonstrate the magic of Fresco Paints and PaperArtsy stamps and the wonderful Darcy Wilkinson and Emma Godfrey ran fun 'Make and Takes' using the stamps and paints too.



On Saturday, Alison Hall, Jo Myhill and Gabrielle were in the spotlight! Then the following day it was the turn of Deborah Wainwright, Alison Bomber and myself! It was just magical to hear the 'Oohs' and 'Ahhs' as visitors to the show admired the beautiful colour palette on offer: you can see the lovely selection just in front of me in the tray here! It was a real privilege to work beside an accomplished crafter like Alison Bomber who was so relaxed and who experimented Crackle, Grunge Paste and stained glass effects with such panache and enthusiasm it was as if the visitors had just popped into her craft room to see her at work. As you can imagine, I didn't have much time to take photos - it might be interesting to have some taken from behind the desk, actually! But Petra Berendson took this photo of me in action!



Some friends and visitors took photos of the tags I was creating during the show and I was able to hand out one or two and to give a couple to Nina to display in her shop. The rest I took home to add finishing touches to. The tags are made using Lin Brown's Eclectica stencils and Lin Brown birds and Lynne Perrella ladies. There's also some sequin waste used there.

It's so much fun mixing faces and bodies from the different stamp sets and seeing what you come up with! You can even create your own little hats by cutting up a stamped image like this!



I had some faces and bodies left over so I tried an experiment when I was home: could I introduce a bird on the wing? Her heart is made from cutting a heart shape out of the tail of another bird! The possibilities with these stamps are endless! Could this bird-lady and her tiny companion be having a singing competition?



There was even one of those 'happy accidents' - the stencil ripped some of the tag when I removed it, creating a distressed look, which Nina thought was intentional! Thank You so much to all those friends who stopped by to take a look and to support me on my first try at demo-ing: Lucy Edmondson, Petra Berendson, Lin Shields and  Kirsten Sheridan. Thank You so much for making this such a happy day!

13 comments:

  1. Oh Julie Ann! How I wish I could have been there! I love your Lady Birds so much - I really will give this a try sometime….err…when I've bought the bird stamps that is!!!! Your tags look brilliant and the smile on your face tells me you had a really great time! Hugs, Chrisx

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  2. You did great - I wish I could have been there yesterday as well as on Saturday.. but I was busy playing with my new stuff! - it would have been great to catch up again and watch you in action. Maybe they'll do it again...

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  3. you did do great Julie Ann your tags are great!! xx

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  4. You made it a wonderful day lovely Julie Ann! So glad to see you spreading your wings on the PaperArtsy stand. I love your bird ladies, the scale you have achieved with them and the bright colour palettes is perfect. Petra has captured your personality perfectly in this shot!

    Lucy x

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  5. Well done Julie Ann, bet everyone was very impressed with all you made. Lovely to learn of your happy escapades. Your tags look fantastic. Nicola x

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  6. It was wonderful to watch you work yesterday Julie Ann, you were a natural. And you know already how much I love your bird ladies, these are gorgeous.

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  7. Thank you for wonderful pics and you did great demonstration with fabulous smile. Your birds are happy too! xx

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  8. OMGosh!! How fun! for you and for us to see you demoing at a show!! Wonderful line up of creatives and wonderful tags you shared Julie Ann!!
    xoxo

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    1. ps...Wonderful ,beautiful smile from a beautiful lady-you!! xo

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  9. You've created such wonderful, magical creatures Julie Ann, I wish I could have been there to watch! xxx

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  10. Oh, sounds like FUN! I wish I could have been there to see you demoing.
    Love your tags!!

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  11. Wish i could have been there too Julie Ann, such a fabulous picture of your beautiful beaming smile, you can see how much you enjoyed your demoing!

    Love all the tags you made, they are so much fun! :-) xxx

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  12. You look like you are having a blast, Julie Ann!!! Your projects are fabulous!!!!

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