Make It - Farnborough 2016

Spent the morning with friends at Make it in Farnborough - thanks to Sandra, Ruth, Sue and Niki for showing me your purchases ( almost as nice as buying them myself - shopping by proxy ! ) and encouraging 'enabling' me to splurge.

And splurge I did, on these little beauties...

Couldn't resist adding some new colours to my Starlights - they do white now ! 

And who wouldn't want these foils in all those gorgeous colours. I have a few from Heidi Swapp's range but couldn't find a decent pink that wasn't too cutesy so the shade called Watermelon from Deco Foil is perfect and there's lovely chocolately brown and a rather luscious black too - so why buy six ? Because they were cheaper in threes of course and who doesn't love a bargain.

I found them a Craft Obsessions stand - also lovely to meet Brenda and David finally. Good to see them at the show - hope they make it a regular booking as they had some wonderful stock including this delightful watercolour stamp from Rubbernecker . I noticed they aren't up on their website yet but that's maybe because they've only just come in to stock so grab them when they do as I'm sure they'll sell out fast.

Isn't it funny observing how trends come and go in scrapbooking? The crafting world has suddenly gone bonkers for water colouring as if it's only just been invented. I'm happy though, as I've always loved the hazy look of water colouring and it was high time for a revival so bring it on I say. These are a cheat's dream. No skill required - my kinda product ! You simply ink up the splodgy background stamp , you could spritz it with water if you like then stamp. Then ink up the outline stamp with black ink and overstamp the lovely smudgy watercolour image - et voila . Can't wait to try this out and I know I'll be back for more as there were so many to choose from and I limited myself to just one.

Talking of watercolour techniques, I'm in love with Brushos. Have you tried them yet ? They are such fun ( as Miranda's mum would say ) . Again, no skill required , although the expert artists would probably beg to differ. I just prick the caps of mine with a pokey tool, sprinkle them onto some watercolour paper as if I were dusting the top of my cappuccino and Bob's your uncle whoever he was. I wonder how that translates into French - might just go check Google translate to see if they struggle with our weirdo Brit sayings. 

I've just bought Basic Grey's Urban Luxe collection and I'm going to experiment on my layouts with Brushos which I think would be the perfect accompaniment. Incidentally, I'm still in shock over Basic Grey's decision to pull out of the scrapbooking market. I grew up with their papers, in fact I think they may have been my very first purchase when I discovered scrapbooking so they're part of my heritage. It would be a bit like Beatrix potter saying she'd decided to give up on her little books after Mrs Tiggywinkle. My top three favourite collections would have to be Romany ( which I think may have been called Gypsy in the UK ) , Periphery and Highline - what's yours ? Leave a comment below with a link to your contact details and I shall donate a BG prize to whoever mentions one of my next 3 faves after those I've just mentioned. 

Those who know me will know that I'm a neat-freak so no surprises that I had to buy Lawn Fawn's turquoise chamois with that cute little deer lurking in the corner. Can't abide a messy stamp. 

I also managed to find a few stands stocking the Altenew brand. I'm intrigued by their layering stamps - another fad ? Well who doesn't love a fad ? I'd found the 'To The Moon' stamps online and fallen in love with them only to discover that they were sold out everywhere which of course made me want them all the more . Shallow ? yep ! So imagine my delight when I saw them hanging on a rail at the show. They are every bit as gorgeous as I thought they'd be and I've been experimenting with using embossing on the top layer . I'll be using these on my next blog post along with the gorgeous midnight blue colours in the Urban Luxe collection - a match made in heaven - literally.

All in all , I thought it was a very good show - predominantly for card makers as always seems to be the case so not a lot of new papers but it was lovely looking at all the stamps, paints, crayons, stencils and dies. Making a note in my diary for 2017 that is if the world of scrapbooking hasn't imploded by then.