Embossing Dried Leaves with the No More Shims Embossing Mat and the Cutt...

Using Lace Mesh Hessian etc with No More Shims Cuttlebug & Big Shot

Flattening 6 Bottlecaps using Sizzix Big Shot and No More Shims

Flattening 6 Bottlecaps With No More Shims And The Cuttlebug

No More Shims Mat With Big Shot Impressabilities And Plastic Stencils

Hope You Like The Videos

Hi everyone.

I havnt blogged for ages so Gordon and i thought it would be a nice idea to do some No More Shims videos on the Cuttlebug and the Big Shot so that you can see how well it works on both machines.

The first three are an introduction to the mat and then basic embossing with a nestabilities die on both machines.

Tell all your American friends that they will soon be able to buy it too as Diana and Roy Crick who own Scor-Pal are going to launch it over there in the next few weeks and we are all really excited about it.

Tomorrow i will put a couple more videos up one showing how to use your impressabilies with the No More Shims and another using the plastic stencils.

Gordon and Jean would like to say a big hello and thank you to all the people who came and said hi and bought things from our stand at Port Sunlight just over a week ago.

Thanks for popping by

Love and smiles Rob Gordon and Harry xxx

Using The No More Shims Mat with Nestabilities and the Sizzix Big Shot

Using The No More Shims Mat With Nestabilities And The Cuttlebug

Once Upon A Stamp Present The No More Shims Embossing Mat

Catching Up

Hello Everyone.

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks here and i am so sorry for not getting here sooner but life has been keeping us really busy what with one thing and another.

Before i go any further though i must tell you that Gordon has been given the complete thumbs up by his surgeon and he has not been stopped from driving or flying as he is one of the very lucky 10 % of people who go through what he did and come out perfectly fine with no cause found and no long term damage and for that we are sooooo extremely greatful.

The N E C was fantastic and it was so lovely to meet friends and customers both old and new and have a little natter.

My reunion with my old pals was wonderful and we had such a fabulous evening together reminiscing and catching up with each others lives. I felt on cloud nine for days after and just kept smiling to myself because i was so happy to have my old friends back (Thank You Facebook) and heres a pic of us all below. Thats my sister on the far right and her two children on the far left.

Another good thing to come out of the reunion was that i have quit the weed (3 weeks and a few days now and not missing the cigs too much ). I was the only one of us left who smoked and it didnt bother me until the day after and i started feeling like an old dinosaur still plodding on with a smokestick in my hand while everyone else has stopped, If you cant beat em join em.

I have stopped loads of times before and thats the easy part but the hard part is staying stopped so i hope i do it this time forever.

The week after the NEC was manic at the shop what with back orders and deliveries and we werent getting home until gone 9.00 pm for the first four days .

We both were starting to feel done in so decided to go to Norfolk the next week with Harry and it did us the world of good aand Harry loved it.

The highlights were sitting in the garden of the little cottage we hired just before dusk and seeing a Barn Owl fly right past us and Harrys face when he came head to head with a pack of seals on a remote patch of golden sand near Stiffkey. Im sure he thought they were mer-dogs and i dont know what they thought of him haha.

Heres a pic of one of the seals having a little swim.

Have not had such a fab break for ages and we feel great for it too.

At the moment we are all getting ready for the next ideal world tv show and we will have some fabulous samples and demonstrations featuring some of the new dies from Marianne as well as some of our own products to tempt you with.

Tomorrow is Good Friday and we will be open from 11.00 am until 3.00 pm and some of my pals from the Monday Class i go to incuding Clare and Diane from America are coming too to have a play day so it should be fun.

Well thats about it for this post and i will try and get back sometime next week for a natter.

I will post our holiday snaps on flickr to sometime next week so you can see what a great time we all had.

Thanks for dropping by.

Love and Smiles Rob, Gordon and Harry xxx

From Harrogate to the NEC

Hi All

Had a fantastic time at the Great Northern Paper Show last weekend and it was great to say hello and have a natter with everybody who came to our stall.

The show was a great success for us and we are really glad that you loved our demos and liked our prices.

Gordon had so many people wishing him well and nobody could believe the progress he has made in the last couple of months and we really do cherish your good wishes so much.

Well on Sunday i took part in the Ready Steady Craft Challenge and am so amazed that i actually won.

It was so much fun and honestly the maddest thing i have taken part in for a long time.

If anyone has any photos or movies they took of it i would love you to send them and then i can put some up on the blog for people who werent there to see.

I am writing this from our hotel room in Birmingham as tomorrow is the opening day of the Hobbycrafts and Stitch show at the N E C and we are really looking forward to meeting all our customers old and new.

Karen will be showing you new ideas with the Scor-pal, Scor Buddy and Scor Bug and i will be demoing some amazing dies that allow you to make big cards with your cuttlebug and big shot without having to upgrade to A4 machines and dies. I will also be showing you how you can make beautiful cards that are cut and embossed in 8 seconds using some new dies by Marianne and i think you will be very impressed.

Tomorrow night i am having a reunion with some fantastic friends that i lost contact with over ten years ago and cant wait to see them and share our stories and also talk about old times i am sure its going to be a hoot and this time i have made sure my camera battery is charged up.

If i dont get back to the hotel too late tomorrow i will put up some pics for you to see and tell you how the show and reunion went.

Going to get some sleep now so i am ready for tomorrow ( Gordon snoring already haha )

Love and smiles Rob and Gordon xxxxx and a big one for Harry X

See You At Harrogate This Weekend

Hello Everyone

Just to let you all know that Di, Karen, Gordon and myself will all be at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza show in Harrogate this weekend.

If you are going please come and say hello and have a natter with us as we really love meeting you all.

We have some fab demonstrations for you and loads of good price deals too and im sure we will all have lots of fun.

I have been signed up for the Ready Steady Craft challenge on Sunday afternoon and i really havnt a clue what its all about but im sure i will end up in a mess and laughing as i love a bit of fun.

Harry is staying with his best friend Bob and Aunty Michelle and we are missing him already.

Better get some sleep now as we have an early set off tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping bye and hope to see some of you over the weekend.

Love and Smiles Rob Gordon and Harry xxx

Gordon On Create and Craft today and a pic of Harry Too.

Hi everyone.

I know i havnt posted for a while and i am so sorry.

You know how it is one thing leads to another and another and there just isnt enough time in the day.

It has been a very busy few weeks for us as we are ordering things for the big paper craft shows which are getting nearer every day, making samples for T V , the shows,and the shop with all the new products coming out

(all very exciting ) and getting all the classes at the shop sorted so they are ready to start again inApril.

Gordon has really improved dramatically over the last few weeks and today i was so proud of him watching him back to himself on Create and Craft and him and Karen did an excellent job and done us all proud.

We have been inundated with calls to the shop and e.mails saying how fab it was to see Gordon looking so well and back to normal.

Heres a picture of Harry to finish with and as you can see he has had a good hair cut.

I wanted to put this pic up because this is how he goes to sleep sometimes while watching the TV. He sort of stays in the position he is in and just nods off and it is so funny to see.

Yes he does like television especially anything with dogs and cats.

His favorite programme is In The Night Garden and he has watched it all the way through since he was a puppy, he even has an Iggle Piggle that sings and it is his favorite toy and is always near him at home.

Anyway

I will close now and speak to you all again soon.

Thanks for dropping by.

Love and Smiles Rob Gordon and Harry xxx

Gordon the Van Stevenage and Haircuts

Hi everyone.

Sorry i havnt posted for over a week but its been busy busy busy here.

Gordon continues to improve daily and is behaving himself by just coming to the shop and doing light jobs like processing orders and checking the mail and at the moment we are coming in later than the girls and leave at 3.00pm, so we are only spending four hours there at the moment.

His taste is slowly starting to come back so i make a lot of salads as its cooked veg that seems to taste horrible ( especially Brocolli which he loved before ).

The girls and i packed everything and filled the van up with all the goodies for the Stamparama show at Stevenage on Friday evening so that we could get an early start on Saturday morning.

Well as soon as we got in it on Saturday and jean started it up we got about 20 yards and then it just conked out.

Luckily we got it back to the garage next door to the shop and the guys worked like crazy to get it mended which eventually they achieved ( thanks guys ).

We arrived at Stevenage an hour before set up closing time and believe it or not Jean and i got the stand set up and nearly everything hooked onto it before it closed so we felt really proud of ourselves.

.

The show was fabulous and i really enjoyed meeting old friends and new .

Jean and i demonstrated while Sandra served the customers and Gordon sat and packed bags for people and was made a fuss of all day so he really enjoyed it too.

Above is a pic of Gordon myself Sandra and Jean just before the show finished.

Thank you to store holders and customers who came and wished Gordon a speedy recovery too.

On Monday i started back to a new term with the lovely Claire and for the next three months will be doing canvas art in the mornings and a round robin journal in the afternoons based on colour choices of the other students ( i will post pics on my other blog as things get made )

Dont worry i didnt leave Gordon on his own he was at the shop with Harry and the girls.

And to finish with Harry has had a big haircut and looks really lovely how the lady has done it this time.When you look at him head on he looks like a little sphinx the way she has trimmed his ears and i will put a photo of him on next post.

Right im going to make myself a cup of coffee now as i forgot about this one and its gone cold.

Thanks for dropping by and i will post again in a couple of days.

Love and smiles Rob Gordon and Harry xxx