Stamp Man Closing Down Sale ...

I suppose all good things must come to an end at some point ... I just didn't expect my favourite shop to close so soon after I first found it! At least they will still be trading online ...

Again, as soon as I entered the shop the owner was so welcoming, offering coffee and a chat. Where else could you sup coffee as you browsed! The sale room was full to bursting with stamps, paper, magazines, peel-offs, etc... where to start!? My aim was to buy a few stamps for myself, a few for my not-so-little girl, and a few for the children I mind (I won't let them use "my" stuff lol!) I succeeded on all counts and bought lots of extras too ... how did that happen!! Well, most of the stamps were only 50p or £1, chalks were reduced to £3, ink pads from 50p ... the photo shows a very small selection of the stamps purchased! Not shown are the stamps/pens/etc my daughter had, and the four childrens stamp sets (all came with stamps, ink pads, two sets came with pencils too!). I've kept three of the stamp sets to put in the present cupboard to use as gifts, and one set to use with the minded children, along with a small selection of dye inks. I find dye inks are better to use with some of the children as they dry quickly and therefore have less chance of smudging ...

Anyway, I recommend going to The Stamp Man in Skipton soon as they won't be open for long ... This was probably my last visit as its a bit of a distance .... ah well!

Bottles in production ... for those who don't know the story: Juliet took a sleeping draught in order to appear dead, Romeo thought she was really dead and killed himself, then Juliet awoke and seeing Romeo was dead then killed herself ... what a nice story! These bottles are the sleeping draught.

A closer view ...

The convention doll 2011 ... Juliet! Isn't she just gorgeous? She was created by a few very talented creative people ...

And I won 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' from the prize table. She is the convo doll from Liverpool 2008! I didn't go to this convention as it happened just before I discovered the Pippa Club, but have always thought she was a beautiful doll ... I am sooo very lucky! There is still so much to go through and photograph ... It was a wonderful day and I can't wait for the next one!!

Pippa convo 2011!

This years Pippa convention was held in Stratford-Upon-Avon which is rather famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Its a gorgeous town and I love shopping there ... ! Anyway back to Pippa lol! I travelled down to Stratford on Friday evening with a lovely Pippa friend who doesn't live too far from me! There was time for a bit of shopping first thing on Saturday (and Fat Face had a sale on heehee!) as the convo wasn't until 10:30. People came from across the world (America and Holland) to celebrate Pippa, the small plastic doll from the '70s! The theme for this years convention was 'All the World's a Stage'. As usual I forgot to take my camera so I have borrowed a couple of photos that have been publicly shared elsewhere ...

The second photo shows a little bit of the bulging prize table! My goodness!

As usual there were some beautiful prizes on offer! There were dolls that had been customised especially for the prize table, someone had donated previous convention dolls, there were outfits (both original and handmade), pippa-size accessories, storage, Dawn dolls (Pippa size doll from across the pond), other collectable dolls, loads of prizes! You can see one of the prizes I had - the plastic container with the purple lid - it was full of tiny trimmings (ribbon, bows, fabric flowers, etc) and fabric to be used to make Pippa clothes! Gorgeous!! You can also see a chair I won - its in the little red box! I also won a previous convention doll from 2008 - 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' from Liverpool! The lady who donated her was very generous and donated lots of beautiful things. I love Lucy to bits and shall take a photo later ... and one of this years convention doll! This year Pippa starred as 'Juliet' and the box was her balcony ... aahh so lovely!

Everyone who attends the convention makes or buys a gift for 33 goody boxes, so everyone comes away with a box full of goodies! Party bags for grown ups! Fab!! I shall have to go through this in detail later too, as this post is getting incredibly long!

Then there were three ...

The rabbit man came  today and took away four of the baby bunnies.... we ended up keeping a lovely black and white one we have named Smudge! Here are a couple of photos ...

The top one is a rare photo of all the babies together, and the bottom photo is Smudge!

Guess who's been reading this months Craft Stamper lol! I love this effect ... I might do some more ...!

All quiet on the western front ...

I've been really busy getting goodies ready for the Pippa Convention being held in a couple of weeks! I can't post any photos until after the convo - mustn't spoilt the surprise! Unfortunately this means no updated photos of anything crafty darn it!! There is however some news regarding the second batch of baby bunnies ... the chap who adopted two of the previous batch is coming back sometime over the coming weekend to adopt a few more. He did mention three when he came last time, so he might end up adopting all of them! The kiddies really really want to keep one but I'm still unsure if any are girls. I shall have to try and find out pretty soon!

Last week I invited a few friends around for drinkies and a Stampin Up workshop/party, held by a lovely lady called Sara, who demonstrated a couple of items then let us all loose on making a card. It was only a simple card but I found it quite challanging to stay to the format - I like to just throw the ink on and see what happens! I have ordered a few items and was delighted to be given a free set of stamps on the night of the workshop as well as being able to order another set of free stamps and some products from the brochure! (More details when they arrive!) I must say the hostess package is most generous! A friend who attended the workshop has booked another workshop for in a couple of weeks and I've been invited to that too - which is great as I've already compiled a list ... ! I want some SU ink pads to play with my new SU stamps ... In the meantime lets hope my first order arrives soon as I want to get playing!