Celebrating with Rossella

Celebrating with Rossella

Hi there.
Thanks for popping in.
Exciting day today.
Rossella Cottrell had her debut with Clarity on Hochanda today.
11am 2pm and 5pm
Oh my!
Didn’t she do well??
I KNEW she would nail it. She is such a professional.
Very, very happy to have her on board, joining the Clarity Team.
I took myself off to my artroom for an hour and made a print to celebrate, in between the 11am show and the 2pm show….
A simple print using the Gel press plate 6″ x 6″
and the wonderful Leafy Swirl Stencil,
together with some Fresco acrylic paints.
Was so keen not to miss the second show, 
I messed up with the step by step photos.
Sheesh.
No idea what went wrong.
Never mind.
I enjoyed the process though, and I did do a You Tube video on something very similar a long time ago, which I will download for you at the end of the blog. 
I was far more interested in supporting and cheering Rossella!
Spot the card!
Are we having fun yet??
The girl’s in charge;
she knows what she’s doing,
and she’s doing it brilliantly.

Now I on the other hand only managed to take one photo of the artwork in process,
and one at the end!

But the roast pork is getting crispy crackling,
so I had best go and deal with that, 
before that goes Pete Tong too!

Mmm. Fresh apple sauce on the side…
No wonder my derriere is spreading!!!!

Love & hugs,
Barb
xxx

41 thoughts on “Celebrating with Rossella

  1. Oh now you've made my mouth water talking about roast pork, crackling and apple sauce!! Yummmmmmm. Love this artwork – perfect colours for me. Have recorded Rosella and will watch later – am trying to get my stamped flower entry finished before the challenge ends. Xxx

  2. Hello Barbara,

    Rosella was so prof that I didn't see any nervously mimic at all.. The camera loves her. AND … of course she is clever – Thank you for everything.

    Kind Regards
    Mariane

  3. Hi Barbara, lovely artwork, thank you for sharing. Nae worries about the step by steps, the video will show all of us the principles.

    Well done Rossella. Enjoyed your shows. A wee bit of everything for all us newbies, and strugglers. And the expert parchers samples for inspiration for those who know it all. I picked up a few more very basic things I wasn't doing, or was doing wrong. Sure there'll be more when I watch back in bite sized bits. Very helpful, especially for those of us who don't have the luxury of being able to go out, therefore can't see anything in real life. Thank you. Wish you could do slow mo, over the shoulder filming on Hochanda!!!!

    Unfortunately I got rather distracted during the second show. A few days ago I got a text claiming to be from PayPal, clearly a phishing text. Never had one by text before. I took the time to write down every detail from the text as it was written (mine isn't a smart phone), and emailed it to PayPal. Got an email back this afternoon telling me they'd left a message in my account. When I looked, they're telling me to forward them the suspicious email! I couldn't have been more clear in spelling out it was a text not an email, and that I had written to them every detail of the text! So that's got me all upset and agitated. I emailed them my original email again, and said if they'd actually read my email, and then wrote in capitals, they would have seen it is a text not an email I received, and I wrote down every detail, and I don't have an email nor any more info I can give them. Last time I'll be doing my duty to report such matters when this is how they treat you in response for your effort! Be warned everyone, scam texts going round claiming your PayPal account is suspended and giving a link to reactivate it. Seems the other one doing the rounds is Amazon, saying an item (you didn't order) has been dispatched, and giving you links to your order page etc. These look very authentic. Always, always go to your bookmarked web pages to log in anywhere, for anything and everything. I even do this when I get the emails from, for example, my gas/electricity saying my statement is ready to view. You never know. Better safe than sorry. And only takes a few seconds longer.

    That was on top of me being upset about my picot cutting. My frustration getting to me big time. I've got the exclusive scissors, the cheaper ones, but the holes are too big for my fingers holding them the traditional way. Even supporting them with my thumb and ring finger they slip when I'm cutting, because there is too much space in the finger holes. Wearing a glove is too slippy for my thumb and ring finger to support them. I do think I've got the technique, but I think this slipping is making the cuts go squint, and miss/slip in the parchment holes. Plus it's hard on my CFS, all that constant pressure. I know I wouldn't be able to use the tweezer kind. I've been trying to learn Barbara's way of holding them as this way seems to solve the too big finger holes issue. But I must be doing something wrong, it's very sore and energy sapping on my arm muscles, and very awkward to do the twist and snip bit. I can't work out what I am doing wrong, it's not the hold, it must be something else. Any suggestions? To be honest, today I seriously think I maybe should just give up on Groovi/parchment totally because if I can't work out my scissor problems there's no point as I'm not into lacy fancy stuff, nor going far with whitework, I think picot cutting would have been my main thing.

    I'm off to see if I can find something to do that'll calm me down and brighten me up a bit!!!
    Hope you have a lovely evening
    Love Brenda xx

    1. Hi Brenda,
      Sorry you've been a bit upset today by PayPal. I think you should maybe give the Pergamano snips a try as I think you might find them easier to use. They didn't suit me but they are very light to use so might be good for your CFS. You could've tried mine but I've given them to Chris M. Do you know anyone who could lend you a pair to try? I'm sure you'll manage somehow ( don't give up on Groovi yet) . Love and hugs to you and Daisy, Alison xxx

    2. Brenda sending you a big hug, hope it helps after your stressful day. You are very sensible with your computer accounts, such a shame the people at PayPal let you down by not reading your email properly. I don't know what to suggest about the scissors, don't give up with groovi just yet, hopefully something will click soon. Xxx

    3. Hi Brenda – sorry you've had such disappointment, between PayPal and the snipping scissors. I too have difficulty with them (the scissors). I did a card today and frankly it looks like a dog has been chewing all round the design! 🙂

      I've been listening to Rosella (fab shows – she's great) and trying to copy her by inserting the scissors just a wee bit (I was definitely pushing them in too far), then flattening them out, then tiny twist towards my body, and then snip. The scissors hurt my thumbs a lot, so I've found the best method for me is index and middle finger in the holes, and thumb outside, with the scissors curved down. No idea if this would be any good for you, but I know how frustrating it is when it doesn't work. Keep trying – there's bound to be something. Hope you get it sorted soon! All the best, Kay

    4. Well done for contacting PayPal and letting all of us know about the scam. Hopefully others will have contacted them too so try not to worry – hard I know.
      I am getting on well with Alison's snips but I am finding that changing to scissors if my hand gets tired helps. I am improving enough to try actually making a card and snipping it now. I have just ordered the new Linda Williams guides and the little mat to try xx

    5. Brenda, don't give up on Groovi. My auntie can't do the snipping at all, her hand's shake too much. But she can do the line-art, the whitework, colouring, and that's enough. She can still make beautiful cards without doing any picot cutting, and she's completely happy doing that xx

    6. Thank you so much for the encouragement and advice everyone. Much appreciated xx
      It's not like me to give up on something, ever, everyone says I'm one of life's fighters. Guess I got my thinking wrong, thinking if I give it up, it'll be one less fight in my life, a fight that is not necessary. But craft is mostly all I have in life so that makes it an even more important fight. I'll have another go, bet it's something really simple, like holding my arm or hand in the wrong position!!!!

  4. Hi Barb,
    Brilliant shows and Rosella was excellent. I'm not surprised that you're pleased to have her on board with Clarity. Really like the new nested plates – the scallops are lovely. So pleased that you had sell outs as well I only realised after the first show that I didn't have Jayne's butterflies plate so that fell into my Clarity basket too! I'm going to give one of the Pergamano grids a go to see if I like them or not. Lovely samples as ever – Dee was on fire! Love the celebrate artwork too. Enjoy your roast pork ( my favourite) , we're about to have roast lamb once the rugby has finished. Love and hugs Alison xxx

    1. Hi bloggy friends,
      Hope today has been good for you and that you didn't fall off the wagon too hard. I needed the cushions again!! One more show to watch ( if there's any stock left!) .love and hugs to you all, Alison xxx

    2. Evening Alison, be carful of your knee if you do anymore falling off the wagon! I will add the nested circles and frames to my need list. Glad to hear your knee is slowly improving. XX

  5. I did watch two of the programmes and Rosella is a real pro on tv so all went really smoothly. For those that Groovi my favourites were the butterfly and flourish plates with Jayne's artwork. Hope you enjoyed your pork, and thank you for the gelli plate print, love the colours and really must get mine out again soon. x

  6. Hi zbarbara
    What a brilliant card, love doing the torn gelli prints, must get mine out again and have a play. Loved the shows today, Rossella is certainly an asset to the company. It was great picking up some hints and tips on the colouring front too. Hope you enjoy your roast pork and apple sauce – yummy 😀
    Love Diane xxx

  7. Fantastic to see Rosella is now with Clarity/Groovi – all these great people joining them is good news for parchment crafters. I've only watched one show today so far (the rest are taped) and it was fab. Loads of information for beginners like me. Thanks! Now, if I can just conquer that blooming snipping…

  8. Rossella was brilliant, she was clearly enjoying being able to spend time teaching and explaining and I learned some new tips. You are building a great team which will hopefully give you a bit of "me time".
    I hope to have a go soon with my gelli paint and acrylics so am going to bookmark today's blog. I've watched you so many times but I really need to DO it straight after xx

    1. Hi Chris,
      In reply to your question about my knee, it's still very tender and can be stiff on a morning. It does give way sometimes, but nowhere near as much as e few weeks ago. It's easier to leave the brace on all of the time as if I have to stand or walk I have to put it on anyway and it would be a right carry on trying to put it on if I wanted to get up in the night, if the phone rings or if someone came to the door! Thank you for asking. Hope you are ok and things getting back to normal. Love and hugs Alison xxx

  9. Hi Barbara, I have Rossella's shows recorded, can't wait to catch up with them, sounds like they went really well, Rossella is fabulous and I'm so glad she has joined you.
    A fabulous gelli print, I must refresh my memory by watching your video again, it's an 'age thing' haha.
    I hope your roast dinner is going well.
    Lots of love from Patricia xx

  10. Rossella was fantastic, so calm and explained everything so well. A great addition to your team. You will have the whole country parching before long. I have indulged in Birthday cake today so back to the diet for me tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed your crispy pork. xx

  11. Love that effect of torn paper with the gelli plate. We've had cottage pie today (not very traditional, but I had stuff to use up), and I've saved the bottom of the mince tray to create a texture on my gelli plate! Saw a brilliant youtube with someone printing onto tissue paper and then using it like a patchwork for backgrounds, so I want to have a go at that tomorrow x

  12. Great shows today, managed to catch the 1pm show and have the others recorded. As it was a Clarity Groovi day I decided to get my new posh scissors out and give my cutting a go. Tried holding them different ways to see which worked for me. Think I've got straight lines now and crosses. Cant cut a solid inside area out for toffee! Oh well I'm sure it will come. Next thing to try will be embossing and cutting together! Loved watching the You Tube of the gelli plate. XX

  13. Evening Barbara!!
    Rossella was just the tonic I needed today! So inspirational and so in command of everything!! The highlight was how she got Charlie doing the decorative egg and he said shall I do it all and rossella said yes…carry on! That's confidence and proof that she was very at home in front of the camera!
    And we only have to wait a week til you and Tina will be back on our screens! February always goes quickly!
    Love and hugs! Xxx

  14. Enjoyed Rossella's shows; nice easy and informative manner. Looking forward to you and Tina next weekend and seeing what new goodies you bring. Hope you enjoyed your pork, crackling and apple sauce. Xxx

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