This card was sent in be Kate. She's used one of my favourite sets, 'Setting a Good Example'. I like the way stripes on the background paper enhance the design of the card and helps harmonise the layout. Kate's husband also caste the deciding vote on her name, So ladies and gentleman meet Marsha, a woman very much after my own heart! To see more of Kate's work visit her blog  at www.cuilliesocks.blogspot.co.uk 

Please keep sending your samples in and I'll get them up onto the blog. I love to see different interpretations of our stamp images it's great to see such a variety of styles. 

I've just rummaged around the archive and came up with this little beauty. It was taken on the set of a TV show from the late 80's called Hanney which starred Robert Powell. Yes, he was as gorgeous as he looked on screen, although I may have been a little punch drunk as I had just come off a 12 hour night shoot of Jack the ripper where I spent hours getting Killed. Oh the Glamour! It was taken at Hoxton Hall in the east end of London one of the few remaining original music halls remaining, I once had the pleasure of singing music hall there and my grandfather was a gallery boy there back in the day. It's funny How history repeats itself. Under the lovely line of the coat hides 3 different corsets, an Edwardian 's' bend, another that goes over the bust and then something that strapped on over the backside to give the weird 'S' bend shape. At least they held be upright while I was gently sliding into sleep halfway through the shoot!

Projects for class 30.1.12

Well it didn't take long for me to get behind again, what with the snow and the on again off again scheduling of my bit on the television. After a snowy delay it finally went ahead on Tuesday in pretty Barnes, in South West London. It was great fun, quite like old times. I met a group of lovely ladies and spent the afternoon discussing books, I quite forgot that there were a couple of cameras on me, Although doing a solo interview was a bit strange.

But back to teacher mode! Here are the details for the next class. In this class you will make 3 cards all featuring acetate as the main design element. Its hard to see all the details of the designs in the photograph as the way the light hits it and the bounce back effect of the acetate but here goes. The first card is a concertina card, and covers how to hinge acetate sheets in a way that can be incorporated into the design. Each panel is decorated with tiny holographic butterflies and dragon so that when the card is displayed they appear to be flying right off into the distance.

The second card deals with using acetate in frames and features a very pretty flower fairy gold etched peel off over acetate, and deals with utilising different coloured frames layered to create an elegant seamless design.  Finally, as we are heading towards Valentine's day, this card is for the love of you life. The idea behind this card, is again using layers but on both sides of the acetate to give you a card that looks as good inside as it does out. I've used made full use off the versatility of double sided card stock and what goes on behind the acetate is as important as what goes on in front of it, especially when it comes to the order in which you assemble it. The techniques that you learn in this class will be very useful when designing your own cards at home.

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. I'll also bring along a range of embellishments, ribbons, brads etc and continue the 25% discount on them for this class.

Hope to see you all soon

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!