Hello – its worrying times right now on all levels. So I have been silent for a little while, but not AWOL I have been keeping up on what is going on with all my Crafty Friends but just not got into many conversations, simply because I have had a lot on my plate personally and Manually!!! Plus I have two teenage Kids and a Husband who works away A LOT!

So I had already started to write this “VLOG” so I will continue. But I will also bombard you with a group of blogs to show my latest DT samples for Claritystamp, my Workshops etc. I am sure I will have plenty of time to hide from the rest of the family in my Room of Craft in the next few weeks/months. So lots of time to Blog/Vlog. So I will post this one first as it was already written last week and see you again very soon. How about a few videos too????

Hi there. I am finally back in my craft room! Well, I have been back in for a few days but I had to try and find a place to put everything away after ditching 3 very tall sets of drawers?? Anyway If I look towards the window my craft room looks all finished off, if I look towards the doorway it looks like the wardrobe door came open and everything fell out onto the floor! Nothing I can do about that now, I just needed a lot more desk space to stop me doing “Lazy Crafting” you know, when you would have to clear a space just to fit an extra pencil on your desk and you can’t be bothered!!!!! Or you would have to get up and search for a specific Mixed Media Item amongst the stash crammed in the wardrobe? So you end up not really playing, you get lazy and make do with what is on your desk. Sound familiar?

Well, now I have a 200 cm long workspace right across the front of my window and there is room for a Pencil, a gel plate, some paint, some ink, a cuppa!!!! So I have been making some new Samples ready for my next TV show with HOCHANDA. I already had some samples made but I wanted to try something else. Actually, I have just been catching up with Maria Moorhouse’s show from last Wednesday and she inspired me with her great Demoes. I really enjoyed watching what she was doing.

When I watch Demoes now I look at them with two eyes. First I enjoy the demo, second I work out how long they are taking, at what point they move on to the next stage, and how complicated or un-complicated they get. Of course by they, I mean Maria, Barbara and Paul. They obviously are more experienced than me so I can learn from them and how they work and demo on TV. Three people who I really look up to, professional, funny and Loyal mates. (Yes Linda and Tina and Dee, I love you too. Xx)

To be honest, my Debut on HOCHANDA went so well on all counts that it is making me slightly nervous to go on again. Hope I haven’t “Peaked” to early??? Of course I will have my comfort blanket with me, my Gel Plate, all of them actually! My first, or at least one of my Demoes (it might not be my first) could work well and look really Arty or it could easily be slipped under the desk with a “previous” version replacing it. This is why demonstrators put so much work in you see, you need every stage of every sample several times, one in case your demo goes wrong! One in case you run out of time and need to quickly show all the stages, One in case you forget the first one! One in case you can’t find the first two. See on TV you don’t really have time to think. I remember at one point on my 12 O’clock show I was looking for a water brush right at the end, I felt like I was looking for it for ages, but when I watched it back it was literally seconds!! But you are conscious that Looking for that Water brush is the main focus of what is on Air right at that moment! Know what I mean?

Still, I will turn up with a good few Replacement Demoes too! Some quick, some not so quick. But one thing I know is that counter is even longer than my 200cm desk so I will be able to fit all my kit on it!!!! So hopefully you will watch me on my next show on HOCHANDA on 27th March 8am (thanks Barbs!!) and 12 pm.

I have hardly been on the World Wide Web lately. You know when your list of things to do is so long that you don’t have time to write it on a list, well thats me lately? I am not even sure why. It doesn’t help that I fall to sleep the minute I eat food or sit down? It doesn’t help that almost every time I eat I feel mmm, not unwell exactly, but not great either – its OK I have been tested for everything and apparently there is no reason that I get the feelings I do?? So thats OK eh!

And it doesn’t help that I hibernate in Winter. I do, I am de-motivated and struggle some days to even do the simplest tasks like say???? Cleaning the whole house!!!! With its Bathroom, En-Suite and Downstairs Loo!!!! Never ending dishwasher loading/unloading, cleaning up dog sick (she has a reflex thing when she drinks water)! And cleaning floors, I have a real struggle with cleaning floors. Why didn’t we buy a house with just one loo to clean and a small footprint of space downstairs and a resident cleaning lady???

I will let you into a little secret. I have been looking to see what it would cost for a cleaning lady, from one of the big companies, but, I know I would end up cleaning up for the Cleaning Lady to come and when I saw how much it would cost me I thought about maybe becoming a cleaning lady myself?? I know I work from home and people think I have all the time in the world. But its the opposite, because I work from home I have a constant guilt thing going on, do I keep up with all my Crafting jobs, or do I keep the house spotless??? – define spotless! I can’t relax and get into my crafting until the housework is at a reasonable stage, but by then the kids are home, they want feeding, they can’t seem to grasp the Loading the dishwasher thing, or the put it in the bin thing!! So by the time I get in my room of craft all I do is sit in the chair and fall to sleep!!!

Which is probably what you have done while reading this very long Blog/Vlog??? So if you stopped up til the end, thank you. If you didn’t manage to stay awake, welcome to my World.

Bye for now and thank you for dropping in. See you very very soon.

Sam Crowe