Dawn Bibby answers your questions

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your great questions. I have tried to answer these as best as I can and I hope my answers are helpful.

I have a problem most crafters would love.  I have too much stuff and I now find it hard to focus and design cards. How would you organise to help to get the flair and focus back?

Colour co-ordination is the simplest way to go about it. Collate everything in colour themes and I'm sure you will find that easier. You could also invest in some good magazines, like Crafts Beautiful or Papercraft Inspirations, for a little inspiration. Find a few components that you really like and then pull out paper and card in co-ordinating colours to start and that should help.

I have the Dawn Bibby sets of word peel offs.  Is there a set of alphabet peel offs in the same design as some words I have used far more than others?

There is a set of alphabet peel-offs in that same design but unfortunately QVC don't currently stock them. Be sure to keep a look out for them.

I have tried most if not all of the techniques that you have brought us on QVC. However one technique I cannot get to grips with is shrink plastic. I have heard you say colour on the rough side yet my shrink plastic feels the same. When I colour it in its awful and really shabby looking. What mediums can I colour with and am I using a poor quality of shrink plastic if its not rough on one side......so far this has defeated me but I would love to be able to grasp it at last.

Some shrink plastics have to be sanded yourself. So you need a fine grade of sand paper to rough the surface before you start stamping. Then it should absorb the colour medium better. The mediums that are best to use are Marvy Le Plume pens, chalks and permanent ink pads. It's a good idea to experiment on scraps of shrink plastic first before you begin.

I recently bought the Xyron Wishblade from QVC. Have tried several times to cut the simplest of lettering and pictures, however does not seem to be working, have not managed to cut anything at all. I am at the end of my tether.

The best thing that you can do is phone the Xyron Customer Service number - 01896 664 222 - that you should have received with your Wishblade. This is a helpline and you can call them and explain it to them as every system is different.

I've been crafting for about 4 years now but still haven't quite mastered the technique of stamping. I'm not too bad when the image is an outline but when the stamp has solid areas (example I have a Christmas Stamp which is a night sky silhouette) the solid area is always patchy and never completely printed as the image should be.  I have a cupboard full of stamps and inkpads which I don't use as I get so frustrated when it doesn't work properly. Any advice would be much appreciated.

If you are using solid image stamps, you need a flat surface and a well-inked stamp. Make sure that your stamp is clean from dust or glitter particles. It will need additional pressure - use the palm of your hand and add more pressure. You may find it easier with a pigment ink pad for better coverage and a glitter embossing powder which will disguise it if it still doesn't come out well. Hopefully this way you will get better results.

Can you tell me more about Pergamano and Paper Pricking techniques, and what/where would they be useful? Any chance you will be incorporating both of these techniques in depth on your presentations in the near future?

Pergamo is a style of its own. Trace onto parchment with white ink and use pricking and colouring techniques. There will be lengthier presentations on this coming up over the next few months so keep a look out. Otherwise there are registered tutors up and down the country who host classes which you may find useful. Paper pricking techniques are a way of creating a lacy effect on card or paper and are a nice way to enhance your craft projects and to add embellishment to them. Some techniques are featured in my DVDs and they include hints and tips.

The last time you were on QVC you mentioned a magazine offer - £1 an issue for three months. I've looked on the web-site you mentioned and can't find the offer - I can have a motor cycling mag at £1 an issue for three months but I don't think it's really me!

You can get your first three issues of Papercraft Inspirations or Scrapbook Inspirations for just £1. Click here for more information.

I wonder if you could show me the trick of putting something behind each other. i.e. a fence or trees or a crowd! I've seen you show us and I still can't remember what to cover up to get the required result. I do hope you can help, just so everything's not standing in rows.

Stamp your image on a post-it note and cut it out. Make sure that the adhesive part of it is on the cut-out. Then place this over your stamped image on your card. You can now over-stamp without damaging your original image. Add more post-it note masks and continue if you want to create a crowd scene. I will be including this technique in more shows so keep a look out.

I was diagnosed with advanced rheumatoid arthritis 18mths ago at the unusually young age of 35. I was very depressed after diagnosis but Dawn got me through a very hard time by inspiring me to make cards. I would like to visit Dawns shop + new design studio some time in the future but as I live in the south west of England it is not 'on the doorstep'. I know that Dawn visits craft fairs from time to time but it seems to be a little too far afield most of the time. Does she plan to visit any fairs in the southwest at any time? If not I may have to arrange a trip 'up north' for a rest and spending spree!

I'm afraid that it's hard for me to get about so much. I am, however, at the Stitch & Craft 2008 show at Olympia from the 27th March - 30th March. You can buy tickets here and hopefully that might be easier for you to get to. If you buy tickets in advance, you can get a £1 discount with QVC. I will be doing live craft demonstrations as well as an advice clinic.

Love Dawn x

Comments

[karen]

Hi dawn i just wanted to say thankyou seeing you on qvc has made me more interested in making my own cards for family and friends. And i really enjoy it im not that good at mo but hope if i keep watching you i can get ideas and hopefully maybe one day might be almost as good as you. But it has become a great hobbie of mine now and love it all thaks to you.. ALL THE BEST LOVE KAREN

[Carol]

I have been trying to find out where your design studio so I can visit, but can find the address and more importantly, the postcode, anywhere! Google directs to QVC or topaz.
Pleae tell us where it is.
Carol

[QGossip Insider]

Whoops! Thanks for spotting that, Click-Clack. Dawn will have our web writing badges taken away from us if we keep making mistakes like that! We've checked and she did indeed say 'Marvy Le Plume'.

[Click-Clack]

One of the questions to Dawn concerns colouring shrink plastic. In the reply is says that "Marvella plain pens" can be used. I've never heard of these - should it say "Marvy Le Plume"?