Harrogate Show Harrys Birthday and New Nesties are arriving this week

Hi all and what a week it has been for us here at Once Upon A Stamp.

The Papercraft Extravaganza over the weekend at Harrogate showground was just amazing and poor Gordon couldnt even get onto his wizard and demonstrate at times for the amount of people on our stand buying up our products it was wonderful.

The picture below gives you some idea of just how busy we were and we would just like to thank all our customers old and new for their support and custom you are all brilliant.

I was busy at the shop too but had to close at 2.30 on Saturday afternoon to rush more stock up to Gordon in Harrogate and the show was still buzzing when i arrived and it was lovely when people said how much they missed me not being there, thanks for that it made my day.

Can i say a big thank you to Pauline and Clare who helped Gordon at the show, we are both so lucky to have you both working with us and love ya loads.

Monday was a very fun day for us as it was little Harrys first birthday and did he get a big fuss made of him all day. Heres a Pic of Harry and i after a fabby day of walks,chewies presents and lots of kisses. I dont know who was the most worn out.

Now onto the interesting stuff and im glad to be able to tell everyone who has pre-ordered their new nestabilitie dies that they will arrive either tomorrow or Thursday so watch this space.

Thanks everyone for being so patient and just think this time next week you will have been playing and creating with them and looking forward to what will be coming next.

As you know all of your orders for these cuties will be sent out to you on the day they arrive so get ready for a fun time and enjoy them.

Its Gordons birthday on Thursday so i had better go and get a card made up for him while i have some time to do it.

Smiles.

Robert

Look What Arived Today

This is a pic to whet the appetites of our shop and papercraft show customers.

They are the new paper pads embellishments and scrapbooks from K and Co and they are Beautifully rich and the papers are double sided.

We dont put things like this on our website shop as we dont like posting paper items out because theres always a chance of damage.

Jean, Di and myself will be playing with these all day in the shop tomorrow so i will put some samples up and show you what we came up with.

The items range from around £2.99 up to £16.99 and when you see them in real life i am sure you will fall in love with EVERYTHING just like us.

Fantastic Freindly Plastic Class Day

What a great day we all had at the two workshops i held at our shop today.

Everyone was a little apprehensive at what they would acheive but in two and a half hours they had all learnt the basic skills of using friendly plastic.

Once they had learnt how to time and test their peices and the correct pressure to comb and roll there was no stopping them.

We used cookie cutters,rubber stamps a cropodile and Crystal clear deep image embossing crystals to create some stunning peices and we all had fun while doing it too.

Here are a couple of photo's of the fun we had in this class.

Here we are all absorbed in our friendly plastic crafting.

Me showing the girls another technique.

Once they got the hang of it there was no stopping them

And sometimes the excitement was just too much


And of course there was also time for tea coffee and biscuits yummy.

Below are some of the peices the girls made today.

It really was a fabulous day and thank you all so much for coming and showing so much enthusiasm.

I know you all really enjoyed it as you have all booked for the part two class at the end of next month,and i promise you another great class and i cant wait to see what you create .

Love and smiles.

Robert

New Nestabilities Latest Update for Pre Order Dies

We are advised by Spellbinders to let you know that these items will now be with us within the next ten days.
I know these dies have taken a lot longer than expected but can we thank all our customers for their patience.
For everyone who have pre ordered these dies this is to let you know that they will be posted out to you on the day they arrive as usual and i will announce it on the blog.
I am so excited and cant wait to get my hands on them myself.
Once again thanks for your patience.
Regards
Robert Gordon and Harry

CATCH UP Glasgow, NEC and shop happening.and a card from Fiona

Well hello everyone and so sorry for not blogging for a while but we are so busy at the moment and i am really tired when i get home as its very rare we do get home before 9.00 pm most nights after processing orders and answering questions etc, But we love it.

Here is a photo of what the weather was like at the Hobby and Craft show in Glasgow, but the people didnt let it put them off coming and it was a good four days of crafting heaven.

Anyway Glasgow show was a great success for us and a great big thank you to all our loyal and new customers up there for making it the best show in Glasgow we have had.

Gordon was able to see all his family too while he was up there and said his Mom spoiled him rotten ahhhhhh.

Below is a photo of Gordons Nephew demonstrating the Wizard.He is brilliant with friendly plastic and loves paper crafts. I think i had better watch it or i may lose my job.

Below is a picture of the Waverley paddle steamer.This has a special place in Gordons heart as he used to travel on it up and down the coast with his family when he was a wee young laddy.He always has a new tale to tell me whenever we pass by it.

While Gordon was in Scotland, Harry and i were at the shop looking after our customers and processing internet orders. A big thank you to Di and Jean for coming in and helping me you are stars. Heres a pic of us that one of the customers took. I feel like a rose between two thorns haha.

Gordon had to spend an extra night in Scotland so i got everything ready to restock the van for the NEC hobby craft show. Unfortunately i have no photos of this event as the two ladies who were going to help us couldnt due to illness (get well soon Sandra) and a house sale in France (hope it went ok Pauline) so there was just me and Gordon and we were busy all the time it was fantastic.

This was the first time at a show that i had demonstrated the wizard and i loved it.I demonstrated how to use patterned papers,distress inks and pearl paints with nestabilities to make gorgeous little frames for cards scrapbooks and altered books.

We sold out of all the pearl paints and a lot of the nestibilities but dont worry there are orders for both on the way. On sunday there were big gaps everywhere where we had sold out of goods and we had been back to the shop twice to re-stock.

Thank you to everyone who came and purchased goods from us and we hope you are having fun with your new toys.

This week we have got a sort of jet lag as we are both pretty exhausted but its a great feeling to know that people like what you are doing and love the service we give.

Here is a card from Fiona who is one of our customers and comes into the shop at least once a week. She makes all these cards from scraps and leftovers using her nestabilities (of course).

She has used the curved rectangle die,Labels one and large classic square to make this card.

I just love the way she has hand drawn all the stitches to make it look like a real patchwork quilt.

Thank you Fiona for allowing us to use your work on our blog and this will be going up on our wall of fame tomorrow

Later on today (i have just noticed the time aaaaaaagggggggh) i have my first two workshops running and i am really looking forward to them. They will be the first worksops i have done at the new shop and Gordon and i have been busy tonight setting up the tables and getting it all just right.

I am taking the camera and will put some photos up tomorrow or Sunday.

Right im going to get some sleep now that i have given you all the gossip of the last few weeks.

Smiles Rob Gordon and Harry

Sneak Preview

I will be with Gordon for the whole four days of the NEC craft show and i am sooooo looking forward to it as i have to stay at the shop for most of the shows these days.

I love the NEC because its in my home town of Birmingham and i also get to meet so many of our customers from around the UK and beyond.

I am not going to be doing my usual things this time however.

I am going to be concentrating on the different mediums you can use with the spellbinder dies, especially using mixed media with them.

Here are a couple of frames i will be showing you how to make using all sorts of inks and substances

Of course i will be bringing along some of the new dies so you can see what to look forward to.

And i will try to answer any questions you have about your dies and wizard machines.

I am so looking forward to meeting you all and showing you what fun you can have with your wizard and dies.

Nephews Birthday Card.

Heres the card ive made for my Nephew who is football mad.

Ive used the New dies from spellbinders just to give you a sneak at what you can do with themFirst i used the Grand Heirloom Scroll Border for the sides using Black Magic Color Core Cardstock and went over the embossed areas lightly to distress it. I then used the Large Octogons Nestabilities to make a three dimentional frame and used distress inks to give it a weathered look. Decoupaged one of the magnolia lad stamps and coloured with the new pearlescent mica paints and dont they look good.Finished off by using a couple of football theme card toppers and some peel offs. The background paper is from the Basic Grey Boxer 6x6 book.

Everything i have used can be purchased from our shop.

I hope he likes it.

Get Published

If your artwork using Grunge Gallery Art Stamps is published in a magazine or book and image credit is given to Once Upon A Stamp, let us know and we'll send you an unmounted quarter sheet of rubber stamps of your choice.

Nestabilities order part one arrived today.

What a brilliant start to the week it was when a huge lorry pulled up and delivered 34 boxes of spellbinders goodies.

The delivery today is of all the older nestabilities including labels one and two, so if you are waiting for these they should be with you within a few days .

The new nestabilities should be here within the next two weeks .

Here is a photo of just one of our workshop tables filled with spellbinder dies

This is a photo of half way through our orders with all of the parcels ready to go to the post office and Harry is guarding them to make sure nobody gets their mits on your dies haha.

And now we are just about to start on the second half of your orders so hopefully we will get them to the post office either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning.
So now you can see that we work really hard to make sure your orders are sent out as quickly as possible and can we say a big thank you to our on-line customers for your support kind words and custom we really appreciate it.

A Fantastic Twinkling H20 Substitute

Now that Twinkling H20s have closed their doors and have stopped trading we needed to find a substitute......and we did it.

I admit when i first saw them at the CHA trade show i turned my nose up because i thought at that price they cant possibly be up to much but how wrong i was.

They are in every way just as sparkly and gorgeous as H20's.

The price is just amazing too.

They work in exactly the same way as twinklers.. Just spritz with water and leave them for a minute so that the mica and watercolour pigments blend together then paint away.

If you use our H20 Solution (which is being renamed to watercolour solution you will be able to use them on glass,glossy card, plastic, acetate and other shiny surfaces,

I have been using them all week in the shop and our customers just loved them and the price too.

For more information go to our shop at http://www.onceuponastamp.co.uk/

Two Cards from Di's Workshop

On Di's workshop on the 18th of April you will be making cards similar to these using the beautiful double sided papers from the Que Sera Sera range by Kay and Company, along with buttons and ribbons.

For times and payments look two posts down.

One of the cards you will be making in Jeans class

Just look at this multi-paged gate fold card and you could be making one with Jean in her class on the 11th of April. You will be using the new double sided papers from Kay and Company.

For times and how to pay for the workshop please see the post below.

Ruby Weddings,Farnborough Craft Show and Workshop Dates

Well what a busy week we have had here at Once Upon A Stamp.
The day after the trade show we had a Ruby Wedding to attend and then it was a rush back to the shop to get Gordon packed and ready for the Farnborough Craft show.

Harry and i stayed at the shop and had Di and Jean come and help us on Thursday, and i was so glad they did as it was a really busy day here, Thanks girls.

Here are some photo's of Farnborough sh0w

The stand all ready for action

Busy busy as the show begins on Friday morning

Pauline one of our demonstrator/cashiers doing a demo.

Thank you for your help Pauline xxx

And heres Sandra our other demonstrator/cashier Wizarding away.

Thanks for helping us Sandra xxx

Finally heres one of Gordon doing his Wizard magic on Friday afternoon.

The show was a great success bringing us new customers as well as our regular ones thank you all so much for your purchases and continuing support we really do appreciate it.

The shop was also busy all the time Gordon was away and Harry and i had a great time with our customers, sharing ideas and oooohing and ahhhing over the new wizard dies that Stacey had let me have to show off and also the new paints which had just arrived.

Thanks everyone who came including Ali from Dimension Fourth it was really lovely to see you but you must come earlier next time and have a whole day with us.

WORKSHOP DATES

Here are the dates of workshops for March and April.

March is our busiest month for shows so there is only one workshop at the moment and the morning class is already full but there are still some spaces left for the afternoon class at this time.

Saturday 21st March 10.30am - 1.00 Friendly Plastic Beginners Course part one with Robert........ FULL.

Saturday 21st March 2.00pm - 4.30 friendly Plastic Beginners Course part one with Robert.....FULL

COST PER PERSON £15

This is the first in a three part course taken by Robert who is one of the top friendly plastic experts in the UK. You Will learn every aspect of this amazing product from the basic beginnings in the first part of the course right up to making multi media embellishments and jewellery including a mask in the third and final part of the course.

You cannot do the second or third part of this course without doing a part one as this is going to show you how to time and manipulate your friendly plastic and is very important

All tools and equipment will be provided as well as tea and coffee.

Saturday 11th April 10.30 am - 1.30 Gate fold cards with a variation with Jean ...........3 spaces left

PRICE PER PERSON .........£15

Jean is a fantastic card maker and paper craft artist and teacher and this class will save you pounds as you will not need to buy a single template that you usually need to make this type of card. You will be using the new gorgeously lavish double sided papers from Kay & Company as well as card toppers and other fantastic embellishments you will make yourself.

IF this class gets full we will hold an afternoon class as well to avoid disappointment

Everything you need is included in the price as well as tea and coffee.

Saturday 18th April 10.30 am - 1.00 ....... Buttons and Bows with Di .......... 3 spaces left

PRICE PER PERSON.........£15

Come on a colourful and luxuriant journey into card making with the equally colourful Di who is a wonderful card maker and paper craft artist as well as an excellent teacher.

In this class you will be using the fantastic new double sided que sera sera papers from Kay & Company as well as rubber stamps,buttons and ribbons.You will learn some fantastic techniques and have lots of fun too.

If this class gets full we will hold another one in the afternoon to avoid disappointment.

Everything you need is included in the price as well as tea and coffee.

COST PER PERSON £15

Saturday 25th April 10.30am - 1.00 Friendly Plastic Beginners Course Part Two with Robert

Now you have mastered the basics of this brilliant product lets go a step further and make beads, buttons,impressions and moulded three dimensional images.

You will be amazed at the wonderful things you will be creating today and will go home with new skills as well as new embellishments.

YOU CAN ONLY COME ONTO THIS CLASS IF YOU DID PART ONE

IF this class gets full we will hold another one in the afternoon to avoid disappointment

Everything you need will be provided including tea and coffee.

I hope all this information helps you decide which workshops you would like to do and please give us a tinkle on the phone, come into the shop or e.mail us to book your places.

You must pay in advance to save your place on a workshop and the payment is not refundable if you do not turn up for your class.

The Craft Trade Show

Gordon at the entrance to the Trade Show

Yesterday we went to the Craft Hobby and Stitch trade show,to have a look round and see if we could find some more new products for our shop, mind you Gordon says i only come to see old friends and catch up on the latest gossip (and maybe he,s right haha).

We went and said hello to the lovely people at Elusive Images and have decided to take some of their gorgeous rubber stamps for the shop, and i cant wait to use them.

Heres a pic of Lynn and i on their stand.The carousel behind is all made using their rubber stamps and actually lights up and goes round isnt it fab. Lynn and i on the Elusive Images stand

The show wasnt as big this year and it wasnt so busy either but there was some quite interesting things around, including our friend Karen (she is really interesting and always has something to talk about) We have ordered some nice card toppers from the stand she was working for and they will be great to use if you only have minutes to spare to make a card.

Karen and i standing in front of the card toppers

Finally we got to see Stacey who owns Spellbinders working her magic on the Wizard and using the New dies that we are all so looking forward to. She showed me a great way of using the paisley nestabilities which i will share with you later,and also i had a wonderful surprise too which i will tell you at the end.I must say Gordon and i are so proud to have been associated with Spellbinders since they started 5 years ago and it is fantastic how things have just grown and grown for them. This is also Jeffs ( Staceys Husband) first time in the UK and hes looking forward to trying some of our Beers and traditional pubs,as well as seeing London.

Stacey Jeff and I with all the new dies behind us

Kim who is also part of the Spellbinders team was working on another stand at the show so we said our goodbyes to Stacey and Jeff and went to find her and what a sorry story she had to tell.

When she arrived in the UK on Saturday she was informed that her luggage had been lost and it still hasnt been found. So she has had to borrow some of Staceys clothes until it arrives. I said it could have been a lot worse if Stacey hadnt come as she would have only had Jeff to loan clothes off haha. Kim i hope it was found yesterday and you have your things back if not you have to have a shopping day Kim and I (has anyone seen this ladies luggage)

No neither has she since shes been in the UK

Just before we left i went and said hello to Kath from the Glitter girls and she looked a million dollars with her new hair colour and amazing Necklace.Her and Babs had been nice and busy all day and were looking forward to a good ol Brummie meal of Faggots and chips.

Kath and I having a giggle and is that water or gin on her table (hic) ???

AND FINALLY

Stacey and Jeff gave us a lovely surprise today by giving us some of the new sets of dies so that the girls at the shop and i can get some samples done for all our customers to see.They also gave us a Spellbinders Wizard carry case and a Spellbinders die carrying case that fits inside and there are only eight of these sets in existance at the moment.

The wonderful surprise we were given by Stacey and Jeff. Thank You both so very much.

Thank you so much guys you really are too good to us and we cant wait to see you again in August or September for a very special occasion to be held by Once Upon A Stamp starring Stacey and Kim.

Watch this space for details