Never come between a woman and her chocolate

I hear on the television that we are due some more snow, what better excuse to snuggle up warm at home and do some crafting. I'm all behind as usual with the cards for next weeks class but I will be hard at it tomorrow. I have it all planned out in my head, I just need it to work on paper, or in the case of the next class, acetate. I've been parcelling up the internet orders this afternoon and good old Nudie Norman has had a bit of a spurt and climbed back up to 2nd place but limping into a decisive lead is poor old Abigail on her faithful crutches. A warning to sweet toothed people everywhere, never come between a woman and her chocolate!

Hello everybody, 
I'm playing truant on Monday and going off to film a piece for Mills & Boon / channel 4. I'm quite excited as it's been 21 years since I appeared on telly and this time I get to wear my own clothes and say my own lines, yaaaa no peasant rags, corsets or other such nasties! If any if you read Mills & Boon or any other romance and fancy coming along, meet Sharon Kendrick a top selling M&B author and discuss why you like romances, it would be great to have some company. Channel 4 will pay your travelling costs and even give you lunch!

So why not start the year off with a new experience and come and join me? You can ring me on 01245 329 070 or 07780 325 004 or even reply to this post. Filming will be in London

The picture above, is very very old and is your's truly when I started out in acting. It was taken around 28 years ago when I started a cabaret group called Bella Donna and we sung old time music hall in pubs etc in the East End of London. That was a terrible wig, but what I think is worse, is that I still have it knocking around somewhere. The costume I made myself, as I did all of our costumes including a pair of big white bloomers with black hand prints on the back. Oh Yes the good old days, knees that worked, and a figure that hadn't headed south. I'll have a look to see if I can find any other pictures of my misspent youth hanging around. There was a really awful clip on you tube of a sketch I did with Hale & Pace, maybe I'll try and find it one day when I'm feeling stronger, a builders smile, tattoo and a dirty vest, the very height of urban chic!

The ladies are finally making a showing.

We finally have a lady in the top 3 selling sets on the website. I was getting worried that the men were going to get it all their own way. This is one of my favourite sets, we share the same well padded rear end for one, well, if I'm honest, I win by a mile on that one, but I think we're both approaching middle age with the same enthusiasm. I've always found that you really can't really let your eccentricities loose until you have a few miles on the clock!

So far I haven't come up with a name for this frisky but not so young filly, any Suggestions?

'Nudie Norman' The Acid Drops Pin Up Boy

Meet Albert, otherwise known as 'Nudie Norman', the current best selling image on the www.aciddropsandwhatnots.co.uk website. Albert is featured in the projects I designed for the Creative Stamping Magazine and he seems to be a very popular boy. So let's hear it for our latest pin up!

Class Details for 16.1.13

I don't know where the time went but It's 5 weeks since the last class and I'm still nowhere near organised! As Promised, the first class of the year will be an easy one, a nice gentle stroll in the park to get you back in practice. The class is titled Simply Elegant and it is exactly what it said say on the packet. 4 cards, easy to make and with a simple streamline elegant look. The 2 cards featuring  the trio of ladies and the elegant model are taken from vintage French fashion plates of the twenties. I have designed the samples in their simplest form but there is lots of scope to add a twist of your own if you're feeling adventurous. The card with the simple ribbon weaving comes with a choice of toppers, larger, smaller, men's and women's. This is a good technique to use if you want a very understated card for example a sympathy card, or if you want to do away with an image and just have wording, it's a good technique to have in your repertoire. Th last card is a very simple tag card, a quick and easy format if you need a card in a hurry. This one has been made using Die cut printed tags but you could easily make your own to co-ordinate with you backing paper.

As it's the first class, I feel a sale coming on, I'll bring a selection of my regular priced stock and give a discount of 25% on everything as well as some items with 40% off.

Thank you to every one who has checked out our website and facebook page, we also now have a twitter account and a blog, so if you haven't checked these out yet I'll add links below, so please check us out, like us on face book, send us a tweet,  and join up for my new super duper coloured email news letter.   

Web, www.aciddropsandwhatnots.co.uk   Facebook, www.facebook.com/aciddropsandwhatnots    Twitter mobile, www.twitter.com/ADandWhatnots  (mobile @ADandWhatnots)   Gosh my instructor would be pleased! 6 out of 11 lessons done and 100% in each but I dropped 2 points on the first test, not happy!

My first 5 projects using Acid Drops & Whatnot stamps has just been published in issue 8 of Creative Stamping Magazine and it's in the shops now.

It will be great getting back in harness and away from the dreaded computer and meeting up with you all again. The class is as usual at The Old Fire Station, Hockley in Essex, it starts at 7pm and goes on 'til 9.30pm. The cost is unchanged at £10 an includes all the products needed to complete the class, use of our tools, full colour printed instructions and of course tea/coffer and biscuits. If I don't already have your name or fancy giving us a try or haven't been for a while but fancy a crafty night out, just drop me an email and I'll add you to the list.

Look forward to seeing you all soon

Yaaaaa, Our first magazine project hits the shelves

Creative Stamping issue 8 hit the news stands today and with it our first project feature. I had great fun working on the designs and even more fun seeing it n print in my own hot sweaty little hands. One day I'll have to grow up, I know, but maybe not just yet.

The projects feature Algenon,  Hennrietta, Herbert, (the ever Hopeful), Albert, (fondly known as Nudie Norman), and the slightly careworn Abbigail.

The projects are quick, simple and graphic and don't need a lot of fancy papers or embellishments to complete them , just simple layering and basic colouring. We are scheduled to do some more projects in the coming months so keep checking back for more details.

Despite what it looks like, I haven't given all of my characters names yet, (I'm pretty sure there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere but it's been a long day),  so in future blogs I'm going to ask you to get your thinking caps on.

Gilbert, the sexy beast and friends

We're only 4 days into the new year and already my resolution is toast. I promised myself that this year I would get back to writing and produce 500 words a day 5, days a week. Although I have probably hit the target word count my novel only saw about 97 of them!

I've been busy beavering away on the website adding the 3 new designs, (available to buy now, online or on our facebook page social store), some editorial pieces,  starting a twitter account, (homework for my course), not to mention the course itself. I'm nearly halfway through it now and still on 100% for the lessons but I dropped a couple of points on the first test. Nuts!

Our first magazine projects featuring the Acid Drops range are out next week, more details later. The picture above is one of the 2 sets of male themed stamps just released, it features Gilbert who's more than happy with the pulling power of his new aftershave and Bob, who's beginning to wear his age around his middle. I found a lovely quote from Bob Hope to go with this image. The images are very graphic, need little in the way of colouring and would suit a wide range of occasions and people, single, married, young and not so young. Perfect in fact for those hard to design for men in your life. And don't forget, we are an angel company so as long as you hand stamp the images you can sell your cards to friends, family, at craft fairs or for fundraising. For full details of our copyright policy visit www.aciddropsandwhatnots.co.uk