And it was all going so well...

Then kaput...  heat gun decided blasted its last bit of heat and gave up the ghost!   Very inconvenient as I was in the middle of heat embossing a piece of work.   I thought that maybe it had overheated so let it cool down and tried again, but nope it was as dead as a dodo.    So it will be a trip to craft shop to get new heat gun.   Was trying to remember when I got the other heat gun and it must be over ten years ago, so it hasn't done badly.  It was included in my first ever papercrafting kit which was a Christmas present from my mum.   We were sitting outside a craft shop in Southport and mum asked me what I wanted for Christmas, so I pointed at the kit and so she went to buy it.  In fact she was a bit naughty and bought the next kit which had the heat gun.  But that is what started off my crafting journey and I still have the first card I ever made to remind me of how far I've come.

Which is why I also chose to post this apt picture as we all forget that we were all a beginner in something once.  It might amuse you to hear of my first experience with embossing powder.   I had made my card, stamped it, but wasn't sure about what to do with the powder, so I sprinkled it on the card -but the ink had dried, and then tried to heat it up, the result:  a carpet full of embossing powder!   I hadn't realised that the ink had to be wet to take the powder.

I wasn't very good at stamping, in fact it took me quite some time to get the hang of it.  I either overstamped or understamped.   But I persevered and began to get better,  I was glad when the cling on stamps came out,  they made life easier for me as I had more success with them than with the wooden backed stamps.  Nor would I have thought of inking and stamping a background, let alone use masks!   My first venture away from card making was an exploding box,  next came a few attempts at ATCs, then tags.  I've learned so much from Barbara Gray about composition,   and picked up a wealth of knowledge from friends and others along the way. 


So not a good days crafting, but I do have a very clean and tidy craft space!    Well after the heat gun packed up I set about tidying up my crafty space.  Found a box to store my 'in use' stamps,   cleaned quite a few stamps, including my TH collection so they stay stuck to their acetate. All the mats were cleaned and stored neatly,  so it is all ready for me to make a mess tomorrow. 

Sad to learn that the Stamp man are not continuing with their challenges,  so will have to root around for more.

Stay safe out there, and warm.   And please if you are driving in dull, wet or snowy weather, please put your headlights on!