Look what you've done to my desk Tim!

Well, the workshop with Tim Holtz was everything I expected it to be - and some!!!!

I took this picture from round the door while waiting in the queue and look who's right there!!

The next thing I'm in the door and right in front of me is the new slimline Lindsay Mason

Pretending to be a shop assistant(which she sort of was at the time!)

 Then…the journey begins

I was listening but couldn't resist taking a quick piccie!

We soon set to making our tag books - all concentrating hard

My friend Joanne  waiting for a different colour I think
Joanne won a huge goodie bag in the raffle!! 

We all had a lovely pile of goodies in front of us but the colours were different in each pack so we were encouraged to share - even though we got to take them home at the end - in fact most of what you see came home with us plus apron, bag, Tim's Compendium of Curiosities II and a scrubby! A very generous gesture!

Lindsay did the rounds as personal shopper

A brilliant idea, several of us had started a bag of shopping before the workshop started - we checked it in and then if we saw something that caught our eye we could add it to our bag via the personal shopper - I added a lettering stencil!

I sat next to Heather (Lindsay's sister but also a brilliant artist and journaller with a blog here)

 The morning ended far too quickly but there was still time for a photo with Tim

Tim even gets his own halo!

The tag book - still to be finished

Joanne had had to dash off and rescue hubbie but I headed down to meet up with blog friends(some of us had already spent an evening laughing till we cried with Jennie Boxall(Artistic Stamper) - couldn't possibly divulge details)
  

Back - Alison(Butterfly - Words and Pictures), me, Brenda Brown - (Bumblebees and Butterflies), Sue(Stamping Sue Style), Annie(Curious and Crafty treasures) Front-Rita(RMG creations) and Jenny(Buttons - Pushing the right buttons)

It really was great to meet up with these ladies and put faces to names and have a natter!

So - what happened when I got home - 

I finished this - started in my hotel room on Wednesday…...

…and up early this morning - I started this in my new big Dylusions journal (bought yesterday)

Thanks for the lovely day Tim and team but my goodness, look at the messy desk you've made me make!!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 221

Whoo! It's Wednesday - not just Wednesday but 'What's on your workshop Wednesday?' - hosted by Julia. Mind you, today isn't any old Wednesday - it's the day before Thursday - THE Thursday! Well, for some WOYWWers, because we're off to a Tim Holtz workshop (some are even having a whole day with him today!)

So, what is on my worktop? Nothing - I've tidied, because hopefully tomorrow I'm picking Mr Mojo up and bringing him back to mine for a play! I've left a nice big space and a few goodies out, inks close to hand so he'd jolly well better come with me!

Things have been a bit hectic around these parts of late and I've not had much of a chance to play so he upped and left!

If you are looking Mr M - just see what you are missing!

I'm looking forward to meeting up with some friends, some new faces and of course Tim Holtz - himself!! I'm sure whatever we do I'm going to enjoy it! 

See you soon (with piccies I hope)

Thanks for looking, Chris

ps If you want some inspiration from some young artists try to get to the the 'Paper' exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London before November - see my previous post for piccies and links if you're interested

Saatchi Gallery Paper Heaven!

I must say I was unsure about this gallery - I had been to the Tate Modern the day before and been disappointed, mainly because the large hall was out of commission and I felt that the building lacked character. However, I was blown away by the atmosphere here and the amazing artwork!
Hubby refused to come in but I so wish he had! He has a very 'anti' attitude to modern art(he's not that into art generally but modern - aaaggh!)but when I rang him halfway round and suggested that he came in he still wasn't keen.
This is what he missed -

We started on the top floor where there are lots of electronic displays, I took videos but not sure how to put them on my blog so may come back with them another day.My granddaughter and I spent some time in here along with some West Indian students who asked her to twirl around and then we spent some time laughing at our hands and teeth flashing!!!
Eventually we moved down a floor - Wow! I'll just show you the photos and recommend that you actually try to go and take a look yourself as there were far too many wonderful thing to see!This 'Paper' exhibition is on till the 3rd of November

I loved Daniel Kelly's architectural themed pieces (see below too)

Jodie Carey had several huge paper flower displays

This Jessica  Jackson Hutchins sofa was brilliant

Dominic McGill's work fascinated me - mainly for the variety of writing styles used - I did spend quite some time here

Em loved this one

Paul Westcombe's coffee cups were fascinating if a little risqué (didn't spend much time with Em here!)

Ry Fyan's zentangle drawings were amazing

Yuken Teruya had done the most amazing thing with paper carrier bags

A fabulous piece by Silke Schatz

Marcelo Jacome's paper installation had Em's attention for a while

We had told my patient hubby that we would probably be out in an hour - Oops! Just over two hours later we emerged to find him sitting on a bench doing a crossword from the freebie paper!

I do hope the links are useful but I really hope that you get a chance to visit this amazing exhibition!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Birthday canvas..and a card

Last week was my ex-husband's 70th Birthday and I thought the occasion deserved marking! Ages ago when with one of my sons we saw an ordnance survey map of the area where he was brought up - straight away we saw it's potential! Hubby and I were invited to the party! It's ok - we often have family gatherings with his new family and our shared children - very civilised! 
Anyway, I tried to incorporate his hobbies(Field archery, swimming, cycling) along with a history of where he had lived to date! 

 A bit of stencilling(Andy Skinner's Tyre tracks to represent Landrover tyres - his first owned vehicle)and plenty of woodland stamps and stencils, some ribbon and some arrows and feather from Primark! I'm pretty sure he liked it!
I made him a card too!

It was a great party and great to see old faces for a catch up!

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 220

First, a big Thank you to all of you who left a London comment two weeks ago! We had a wonderful time, although despite having a travel pass seemed to do an awful lot of walking which unfortunately set my gout off on the day we came home!! I'm fine now, took the tablets and had a few days rest at the caravan!

Ok, so I'm not showing the wide shot because I think this is scary enough! We came back home and I had a rush to finish a birthday canvas off and the mess around the outside of this picture is …well, frankly, I don't think you could distinguish anything even if I showed you! I can't even show you the canvas until after tomorrow night! Anyway, you wouldn't see my new stamps so well, another Paper Artsy Lynn Perella set that go so well with my other set! Looking forward to using them soon!

Lots of 'stuff' just pushed to the back, one of my 'nearly full' journals and ta da..the stamps!

So time to go and have a nosy look at some of your desks, if by chance you haven't a clue what this post is about check out Julia's blog here. 

I hope to report on the London visit tomorrow if you'd care to come back! 
 Thanks for looking, Chris

A yellowy journal page!

Only because I deleted the original by mistake but wanted to post this - it's been awhile in the making!

As you can see it isn't a good photo under artificial light but I'm happy to have completed it. The background started as a mop up - no surprises there! The little bird was an image transfer that I did ages ago onto a piece of Claudine Helmuth sticky back canvas. A little bit of sticking scraps including the definition that I spotted amongst them! The quote came from a book of quotes that I was given as a present ages ago!
Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 218

Nothing much I'm afraid! Grandchildren went home yesterday and  we flopped in front of the tv! Well, not quite, we did a bit of garden tidying before we came to halt!
So, before I show you what I'm doing I'll just tell you that head honcho Julia can be found here and she will explain all about WOYWW! I'm sorry if you left a comment and I didn't get back to you last week, I did try but fear there may have a been a couple that I missed!

I've started to look through some papers that I brought up a while ago, got distracted(not hard for me)and ended up doodling in a little sketchbook then decided to copy the doodle into my Art Doodle Love book! Can you see my lovely Buddleia through the window? Want a better look?

See! I got up and went to the door for a clearer view, it's been covered with bees and butterflies! My hydrangeas however seem to be having a year off and haven't produced many flowers at all - maybe their record amount last year was too much for them!
We had intended going home today, packed up, cleaned, sat after lunch with a coffee and changed our mind - the sun is shining but it's cooler - tomorrow will do!

We need a few days at home before heading to London with son and two grandchildren next week but I'm sure we'll cope!
Now, some questions, is there a craft shop I should visit in London? Can you recommend any where I should visit with my grandchildren apart from the obvious museums and sights? Do you know anywhere reasonable to eat with children? We are staying four nights so hopefully will fit in quite a lot! 

I'll just leave you with a picture of my silly doodle plant and then I hope to try and visit you.

Back with my desk in a couple of weeks.
Thanks for looking,Chris

Doodling!

While here I'm not getting much more than doodling done in my Art Doodle Love - the fantastic book by Dawn deVries Sokol.
This is one I started ages ago but never managed to show you

Doodle every day for a month were the instructions for this page(about something for which you are grateful) 
I am hopping around the book so have several unfinished pages that I hope I can show you soon!
This afternoon we went for a walk around Beetham - just off the A6 near Milnthorpe. We found a nice tearoom that has only been open for 8 weeks and best of all the Saxon church was open. I love finding carved faces and these were beauties! Don't know who the two grand figures above the door were but I like to think that the other figures were locals who helped in the building of the church!

Thanks for looking, Chris

August already and a brilliant day out!

I actually had this ready in plenty of time to blog(really, last week!) but then - no time to blog! 
Not that I'm complaining, I'm having a great time with my grandchildren! Yesterday we went to the Lakeland Motor Museum with my two grandsons - really good value for money - lots to see, an excellent kids activity book that really kept them focused(and gave us a chance to look at the exhibits)and to top it all a lovely cafe!
So to what I popped on here for

hoping for a warm August I used a freebie Craft Stamper stamp from ages ago! Distress inks - Ripe Persimmon and Barn Door with a touch of Paint Dabber - Copper.
Here's my completed July pages

A busy month, a hot month, a lovely month!
Thanks for looking, Chris
Oops! Forgot to link to Kate Crane's Kathryn Wheel blog - take a look at the rest of her blog while you're there - you won't be disappointed