Easter in Paris

Good Friday fell on Gordons Birthday this year so we decided to have a well deserved break in Paris and promised each other to just chill out and not do too much ha ha famous last words.
We stayed 20 minutes away from the city as hotel rooms are much bigger and i just cant cope with small spaces.

Below is the foyer of the Novotel Wellbeing where we stayed. It was really convenient as it had a free shuttle service to the airport and the train station into Paris which ran every ten to fifteen minutes so it saved on taxi fares.

And here is a picture of our room which was lovely and big with space to move around and not feel that you were staying in a shoebox.

We arrived about 8.00 pm so we settled in and then i took Gordon for a Birthday meal and a few drinkypoos and then a lovely sleep in a really really comfy bed.

Easter Saturday was rain rain rain so we went to the Louvre and spent a good seven hours looking at all the fabulous artifacts it had to offer and of course i just had to go and see the Mona Lisa first and i wasnt dissapointed i thought she was magnificent.If you do go yourselves dont forget to look up as you walk around as most of the ceilings are works of art in their own right as this picture shows.

We both really enjoyed the museum and we are sure we didnt do half of it as it really is a masive place.
By the time we came out of the louvre it had stopped raining so we went up to the Montmatre area of Paris which is my favorite place as it has still got that vintage Parissian feel to it and you see artists painting and accordianists playing Edith Piaf songs and the little cafes are always full of people, and the views from the steps of the sacre couer are amazing as you can see in the pictures below.

Above is Sacre Couer

Easter Sunday was a lot better weather wise so we went to an Antique and Flea Market in the South part of the city and it was a great morning out seeing lots of lovely things and a lot of rubbish too.

I bought some lovely vintage cabinet cards of Parisienne men and women that will be used in my artwork at some stage.
After lunch we decided that instead of walking around the main sights of Paris we would take the open top bus and just get off where we fancied and it was great. We saw all the things we wanted to see in around three and a half hours and it really did save our legs.

Monday saw us going to another Antique and Flea Market this time in a beautiful squre in the East of the city where i bought a book of old Art Nouveau Lithographs for 15 euro,s which i thought was really good value.

While we were at the market i noticed we were very close to Pere Lachaise Cemetary where Edith Piaf lies at rest and as the weather was nice we decided to pay a visit. Now i must tell you that if you want to see beautiful Art nouveau architecture, statues and stained glass you will find it all in Parisienne cemetaries. Below is an example of a wonderful Art Nouveau Tomb.

Tuesday took us to Montparnesse as i had heard there were some fantastic art shops there and we found some fab ones. I found some wonderful watercolour journals in all shapes and sizes and i just had to have a couple and a few more things to find space for in my craft room at home.

After the most wonderful crepes i have tasted at a little cafe we went to the war museum as Gordon wanted to see the tomb of Napoleon 1st which i must admit was an amazing thing to see as his casket is hugh (considering he was such a little man ) heres a pic of it.


As this was our last day we decided to go and look at some of our favorite places before leaving so we went to view the eiffel tower from the Trocadero Gardens as it is such a stunning sight from there. I also found another little old cemetary just around the corner with some beautiful stained glass windows and sculptures and i had to take a photo of the Eiffel Tower from in here as i coulnt beleive how quiet it was and yet just around the corner it was just a mass of people.

We had a great time walking by the seine and taking in all the wonderful sights along the way and after a real full day (the temperature got up to 70 0/0 today too ) we got back to the hotel at 8.30 and then went and had a last night slap up meal which was also great.

Oh i just had to take one little extra thing home with me hope you dont mind Paris.

We really did have a great time and packed loads into four days, Harry also had a great time as he was staying with little Bob the cockapoo puppy at his aunty Michelles.

So now its back to work now and back to reality

Smiles from Rob Gordon and harry xxx

Happy Birthday Harry

Today was Harrys second Birthday and i really dont know where those two years have gone, it only feels like five minutes ago when we were all excited about going to get him.
I must admit he has been a dream since the day we had him, hes never chewed anything up ( unless its his to chew ) he doesnt bark and loves people and other animals too and can walk me forever then wants to go again after a ten minute nap, so he keeps us fit too.
I know some people may think us crazy but we have always sent our fur babies birthday cards so heres the one for this year from us.


I have used papers from Graphic 45 from the babies to bride collection as i liked the colour tones for the idea ihad in mind.
I then made my card using the metric Scor-pal which i can recommend to anyone who has ever had trouble getting exact folds, this is fool proof and i couldnt live without it now.
I used the valentine puppy die from Cottagecutz as he is just a dead ringer for Harry and look at how the detail shows up even on Black card.
I placed him on top of Big scalloped rectangle and Deckled rectangle Nestabilities dies.
The Tag is again a pop out tag from the baby to bride collection.



Inside i have used a Just-rite number two for the centre from the Medium and Large letter set and a 1 5/8" border from the Justrite Seeds of kindness borders and centres set and built them up using various Nesties.

So Happy second Birthday harry and we love you loads xxx

Smiles from Rob Gordon and Harry the birthday boy xxx

Whats the time Ten To Nine

And its been ten to nine on my watch since the trade show at the N E C in Birmingham.
Why so i hear you ask .......
The answer is because we have been so busy busy busy busy and i just hav'nt had time (excuse the pun ) to get a battery as yet

Its brilliant though and we are not complaining its just that time of year with all the shows and sample making and the day to day running of the shop and trying to keep the house running too (haha im sure you all know the feeling )
Tomorrow morning we are in the shop stock taking and catching up with the orders that have come in over the past two days and then we are going shopping yipeeeeeee.
Its also Harrys Second Birthday tomorrow and we want to get him something special and take him for a good old walk in his favorite part of Sherwood Forest.
Now heres the big news.
We are taking on two new members of staff on the first of April and they will be working alternate days from Monday to Saturday .
They are our great friends Di and Jean and our regular customers will know them well as they are always coming in to give us a hand if we need it so now they will be here a lot more and theres bound to be lots of fun.
This will now let us do the orders answer the phone straight away look after our customers needs even more efficiently and someone will always be able to show you how to use a product you may not understand and even let you have a go yourself as we cant do this sometimes when we have a shop full of people and there is only one of us available so i hope that is good news to you all.
The last TV appearances and the shows have been fantastic for us and we just want to thank everyone for your support and telling all your friends about us.
Im sorry for not blogging for ages but i have been so tired when ive been getting home i just fall asleep (must be my age).
I will try and get a piccy up of the birthday boy tomorrow as i know he has quite a fan club out there.
Im going off to make a few more samples now with my scor-pal,justrites and cottage cutz as they are all going to be on tv in the next few weeks.
Smiles from Rob Gordon and Harry xxx

Introducing Cottage Cutz UNiversal Dies.

TOO-WITT TOO-WOO IM NEW IM NEW I CAN BE USED IN MOST DIE CUT MACHINES TOO

OK everyone.

I have teased you and made you wait long enough so here are some photos of the new wonderful range of dies we will be bringing you in the UK.

If you are a retailer please come and see us at the NEC Trade Show and place an order.

The detail in these dies has to be seen to be believed and i have just fallen in love with them.

Please please leave a message to let me know your thoughts on them as its nice to get our customers input .

Put your feet up grab a cuppa and look at these beauties.

These are some of the Christmas dies.

Just look at the Halloween ones.

Here are sume cute critters.

And look at these oooooohhhhhhhhh

Im thinking Mens cards and Holiday scrapbook pages for these

Some more gorgeous Christmas dies.

These would be great for Rural cards and farmyard scrapbooks etc.

Heres some Fabulous Sea critters

And look at all the delightful dies here

And heres a few close ups to let you see the beauty of these wonderful dies.

Yummy cakes

Just look at the detail

A close up of the bicycle die which i love

Well folks what do you think. I just love them.

They will be arriving at the shop some time next week and i will be starting to put them up on the web shop tomorrow so that you can pre order if you wish.

Can i just say a very big thankyou to Joanne and her husband who let us bring all these sample boards home with us to use at the NEC Trade Show.

They are being very much admired in the shop and we will take great care of them while they are with us.

Smiles Rob, Gordon and Harry

Play Day at home

Hi there

Last night i never got to sleep until 1.30.am and was hoping that the jet-lag wouldnt make me wake up at 4.00am or earlier.

Hooray i got a great nights sleep and surfaced at 11.00 am feeling FABULOUS.

After walking Harry and doing some at home shop work it was time to PLAY with the new items i had been given at the CHA and will be arriving at the shop shortly.

First thing i just had to use was the Scor-Pal and i am in love with it. For the first time in all the years i have been crafting ( and thats a long while folks ) i have found a scoring board that actually does what it says.

This is the new metric board that has been especially designed by Diana Crick for the European market and is made to use with A4, A5 and A6 card and it really does fold accurately so there is no need to cut extra bits off that i have had to do in the past with other scoring boards.

Anyway after folding card after card ( as i just couldnt beleive i could make them so quick using this fantastic board ) i thought i had better try and do something else with it and came up with this little beauty.

Now i know it may look a little wierd ( well thats me all over ) but ive called it an Art Deco Card and the Photo below shows what it looks like after i used the Graphic 45 papers i was given by Aimee at the CHA Trade show as i think she could see i just needed to have some of these before they arrive in our shop shortly.

The papers go so well with the card design dont you think ? please let me know.
This card design would be wonderful as a mans birthday card or for Fathers day and i love the

little pockets on each side for holding tags and things.

Then i remembered Diana showing me how to make signatures for inserting pages into when you are making home made books using the Scor-Pal.
So i srumbled through my collection of papers and found a pile of sheets of gorgeous Italian watercolour papers that i had had since my Embroidery city and guild days and was too scared to use in case i ruined them ( i had never heard of art journalling or altered art back then )

And now thanks to Scor-Pal i have made my very own hand sewn posh watercolour book which i will use for journalling and stuff.
It took a few hours to make but that was because i decided to sew the pages and not glue them,the making of the signature valley and mountain folds were so quick as i only needed to flip my paper over once to make the valley folds using my Scor-Pal.

Here are some pics of the finished book which is very plain at the moment.

This is a pic of the hand sewn signatures that hold the book in place a bit scewhif but i havnt done this for ages.

And this is the finished book, i just dont know when i will find the time to fill it but i will.

I feel great that i have had such a productive day and great fun doing it.

COMING SHORTLY

The complete SCOR-PAL system which will be available mid February and you are going to LOVE IT i promise.

A great new range of Universal Dies ( which can be used with the Wizard, Cuttlebug, Sizzix Big Shot, Epic, Revolution and Quickcutz ) from a brand new company and we are so proud and honoured to announce that we have been appointed their European distributor.

These wonderful dies will be available from Mid February and i will give you a preview of some of them tomorrow so please come and see and tell your friends too.

E.Craft Electronic Die Cutting System plus all the extras.

This is a fantastic new electronic die cutting machine which has six versions so there will be one for everybodys needs.

I think you are going to love this system even though you may have beena little scared of electronic die cutters in the past this really is as easy as pie to operate.

The other nice thing is wait and see our prices you will love those too.

These machines will be available from March.

Graphic 45 paper pads which are all delicious and i cant wait for them to arrive late February.

Phew well thats done me in for tonight so i am going to have a cofee then take Harry for his little walk please leave a reply if you can as i love reading them.

Smiles Rob, Gordon and Harry xxx

Jetlag and Exciting New Things

Hello Everyone.
We arrived home safely on Friday evening and are slowly recovering from Jetlag.
I have gone to bed at 11.00pm on both nights (very good for me) and have been wide awake at 5.00am (very very good for me haha).
Gordon seems to have swung back into things much easier than me as he can go back to sleep if he wakes up but me when i wake up i have to stay up.
We took some of the new things we are going to be selling soon to the shop yesterday ( and today) and have had a great response from every customer who has been in to visit us.
I will tell and show you more when my jetlag has stopped my head from aching but i just know you are going to love them too.
I have put all the other brand new spellbinders dies up on the web shop today for you to look at and you will find them under Nestabilities, Shapeabilities and Scrapabilities.
The Elusive Labels 10 is now up as it was being saved along with around 19 more new dies for the CHA show.
Harry is back home with us too and we got a fantastic welcome back from him. He hasnt left my side since yesterday and i want to say thank you to Michelle and her family for giving him such a great time. Also thanks for the Doggy Grooming set including clippers i am going to give him a real good haircut on Tuesday.
No pics today peeps as my heads all woozy but i will put some up on the next post.
Smiles Rob Gordon and Harry xxx

Days 3 & 4 of CHA ,Antique Valentines and more Books

Hello folks.

Didnt post yesterday as we got home from having dinner around 8.30 and what was supposed to be a half hour nap before blogging turned into a full nights sleep as my eyes never opened until 8.00 am this morning. I think the missing hours have caught up with us both or we are just geting old haha.

Anyway yesterday was a wet day but still not cold like at home and after we had finished our business meetings around 2.30 pm we went to Gordons favorite place in Anaheim the Antique district. It is the only place in Los Angeles that has a roundabout (as in cars and roads) and all the buildings are very old time american there is even a real diner and drugstore that is 110 years old and we always have something to eat there every time we go, its a really pretty place. Here are some pics.

Heres Gordon with Los Angeles only roundabout in the background.

Here are a few vintage valentine bits and bobs that caught my eye in the antique shops.


I love the colours and the faded distressed edges and the extravagance all so scrummy


I would love this suitcase full of valentine ephemera.

And then i turned a corner and found these and i wish i could have bought just one home.I just love things like this and there were lots and lots of them but even with 30% off the smallest one was $400 woweeeee and they wouldnt fit in my suitcase.


I also loved this



And this too


After a few hours of travelling the antique stores we went and had something to eat and then came back to the hotel where we fell asleep for all those hours.

Today was the last day of the show and we went and finished our business and said our goodbyes to friends old and new.

Oh and look what i won in the Graphic 45 raffle.

A gorgeous scrapbook and journal created by Diane Schultz made with some of the beautiful papers we have ordered from them.

It was a perfect end to the show and i will put these up in the shop for you all to see and inspire you.

We really do have some wonderful new products to entice you with and i am sure you will all be very very happy with our finds.

After the show finished we had to go and get another suitcase to bring some rather delicate and special samples we have borrowed back with us to the UK to display on our stand at the NEC Threads Trade Show and you will be amazed by these when you see them.

Im going to tease you all until we get back home and then i will tell you some of the products we have bought back with us.

Over the last couple of days i have managed to accumulate even more books and the latest Cloth Paper Scissors magazine of course, heres a quick pic of them.

If im not too jet lagged i will post on Friday evening when i get home, but in all honesty it will probably be Saturday when we are back in the shop.
We are both really missing Harry and cant wait to give him his pressies but i bet hes had such a fabulous time with Michelle and her family he probably wont want to come home.
Cant wait to see you all when we get back.
Smiles Rob and Gordon xxx.

Day Two of CHA

Hi Everyone

We have had a great day again today ,the highlight being our breakfast meeting with JustRite Stamps. It was our first meeting and i really enjoyed it (even though i was a little late and i appologise again for that). We shared ideas and showed off samples and i know that you are all going to love the NEW things that will be coming out later on this year.

We both feel really privilaged and proud to be part of this fantastic Stamp Company and are looking forward to a successful year with them.

NOTICE TO RETAILERS

As UK Distributors of the JustRite Stamping system we will be launching this Fantastic product at the upcoming N.E.C. Craft Trade Show ( STITCHES) next month. Please drop by and see us.

I took the picture below on the way to Breakfast this morning as it felt so lovely walking in the sunshine after all the cold weather at home. What you cant see however are the snow covered peaks of the Adirondack mountains in the distance reminding me of what i have to look forward to on Friday when we get back.

After our meeting we went into the CHA and looked around for the more unusual things and we found some that i think you will like.

Also i promised you a little gallery of inspiration today so grab yourselves a cuppa and have a look at some of the photo's i took today which gave me ideas.

Love this by Suzy Weinburg.

Heres a few more pics from the rangers stand.

And heres some wonderful eye candy using the most gorgeous papers i have seen in a long time and they will be available from us very soon.







Well i hope you like that little selection as much as i do and i was given some of these papers to play with too so guess what i will be doing as soon as i get time.

Also can i just say a big thank you to Roy and his wife for giving me one of their Scor-Pals and holders and cutting mat and an extra scorer. That was really lovely of you both and i promise i will use it all the time Thank you so much again.

Im going to close now until tomorrow when i will be putting the other New Spellbinders dies up for you to see and anything else that i think you may like.

Smiles Rob and Gordon xxx