So on Saturday I held my last Claritystamp Mixed Media Workshop of the year. It was a lovely workshop, thank you Ladies for making me feel like I do my job right. Its so lovely to see you all get excited and throw yourselves into every project I put your way. Don’t forget to fill those little Xmas Gifts with those Lovely Latte’s on offer from the @AycliffeCraftersCompanion Coffee Shop in your special Mugs, I can Definately recommend the Irish Cream Flavour!

Sheila Proom – sorry Sheila I will try to find a better picture of you next time.

You may have noticed in the background of this photo with Sheila and Emma is a young girl. Well, let me tell you a funny story!!! I am in the middle of my workshop cracking the whip when a Lady comes in and sits her Neice down and says “can she just sit here for five minutes”? My Immediate thoughts, She is a Claritystamp fan, knows who I am and wants her Neice to watch for a few minutes. OK I thought, I am all up for educating the young and showing them how much fun crafting is whilst recruiting future Clarity Fans? So then she walks away? As she walks away she says over her shoulder “she likes to draw and colour in”!

Its at this point that I realise my above assumption is probably wrong! So what do I do? I could embarrass the Lady, and /or the girl and say, sorry this is a workshop you can’t just leave her here!! Not in my nature to do that. So I think, well she said 5 minutes, so whats the harm.

I immediately tell the girl we don’t just colour in here, we Stamp and Colour in. I set her off on her stamping journey with a stamping platform and she is loving it.

After about 15 minutes!!!! The young girl asks me if she can go and find her Grandad and show him her “Twas the Night” picture she had just stamped and coloured. Well I couldn’t just let her wonder off on her own now could I? What if she left the shop. So I excuse myself from my WORKSHOP! And take her to look for her Grandad. There he is she says. Oh Ok, been nice crafting with you I say. Thank you shouts her Aunty as I wander back to my Workshop Crew. I go to sit down, and just behind me is the girl! On her own!

Oh well I think, her Aunty will come and tell her she must let me GET ON WITH MY JOB NOW! But alas no, half an hour later she shows up to pick up her Neice who by this time knows how to make inky backgrounds, and how to watercolour with distress markers. At one point I had to put Carolyn on Baby Sitting Duty so I could get my Crew sorted out with front and back covers for their Mini Twas the Night flip chart books.

Your Neice is so sweet says Carolyn. I tell her, I have never met the girl, and her Aunty has never met me? Why would you leave her with a stranger. Ah I say she must think that I am staff in the Shop? Although it was pretty obvious I was very busy teaching.

So after 40 Minutes the Aunty comes back and thanks me. She then stands there for a while discussing what the girl has achieved and saying how clever she is etc. I just didn’t have the heart to say anything. Someone suggested I should have asked her for the Tutor fee that they had paid!!

Anyway when I told the Ladies “who DO work in the shop”. They brought up a valid point, “well we are not babysitters either”! So, the moral of the story is, stop being so polite and let people know what the situation is. I am pretty sure if this Aunty read this (I hope she doesn’t) she will be pretty embarrassed! Or maybe not? Anyway what I would say to her is that her Niece is a very polite and “chatty”. And I have recruited her for my next Workshop as a paying guest. It was a pleasure to take care of her for 5 mins but 40 was pushing it a little.

So I just need to say.

Thank you to Crafters Companion Aycliffe Staff for being so helpful and friendly all year round, it has been a please holding my workshops in your Store. And Thank you to everyone who has attended my Workshops this year, I really appreciate your support. I will be holding my workshops again next year and will let you know when I have booked in my dates.

I have also really enjoyed making my @Claritystampyoutube videos this year too, I hope you enjoyed them. And of course I have loved demonstrating at the Clarity Open Days, one of my favourite things to do. I feel like I have had a good year of spreading my Mixed Media Mess around.

I even got my new Blog off the ground too (of course you know that) because you are reading it! If you don’t already follow my Blog I would really appreciate it if you would. All comments are appreciated too. Its OK I can filter them!!!

So thank you for visiting – and please watch this space for all my future workshop dates, and information about what else I will be getting up to next year!!! HOCHANDA here I come!!!! Well, unless Barb changes her mind when she sees my Demoes??????

Carry On Crafting

Sam Crowe