Great time!

Oh yes! It was colder than we'd have liked but after buying some of Lindsay Mason's "Off the wall" stamps at The Paper Warehouse in Kendal we didn't notice the weather. When I say we I mean my two grandchildren and I, but it also gave Dad and Granpa time to do a bit of gardening and reading! 
The weekend started on Saturday when my grand-daughter and I went to the demonstration day in Kendal. It was great to see lovely Lindsay again and her new stamps - these sets are brilliant and we spent some time deciding which to get (although I can see myself having to get them all!) We also got to see Esther Gundry for a bit of a catch up! There were some fabulous products being demo'd, all I need is a LOTTO win!
Off we went into Kendal town to 'Reticule' -the most fabulous little shop with lots of textiles and haberdashery - bought a few goodies and then met up with 'the boys'!
After tea we got started and my grandson joined in. We stamped then coloured the 'Urban Angel' images using a combination of crayon and gel pens and finally (the next day) came up with this.

The twigs were decorated with glitter glue, some bits of ribbon and some sequins that had been on the front of a comic!
Over the three days we made two similar reels.

finishing off

concentration!

 This is 'Gwendoline' with some more hearts, leaves and flowers from the 'Urban Angel' set. My grand-daughter had a discovery moment which made me so proud of her - she suddenly appeared with a flower that she had turned up from the centre to "make it more real'!
The last one we made was using a set of 'Molly Bloom' stamps and I must thank Clare for the inspiration, as she had a decorated reel on her demo table that took our eye - nothing like this, but when we saw a bag of reels in 'Reticule' we were away!

We didn't spend all our time indoors, we got out for a walk and lunch at Leighton Moss reserve and also to the beach at Morecambe for a bit of kite flying!

Add a bit of bug hunting in the garden and playing with a ball and yes - a great weekend!


Thanks for looking, I will get back soon with my 366/2012 journal pages, Chris    

Watch the birdie!

Yesterday while throwing out some old magazines I found some lovely images in our winter copy of the RSPB magazine - perfect for image transfers so tricked myself into thinking that if I did them straight away I wouldn't have to store the pieces of paper lol! I had something in mind - while at Hels' fabulous workshop on Sunday I found myself promising I would take part in this weeks Sunday Stamper challenge - the theme being "BIRDS" so here is my little tag using one of the transfers which I did using Claudine Helmuth sticky back canvas and matte gel medium.

The stamped images are Paper Artsy and the word is part of an old Elusive Images stamp.I very stooopidly tried to highlight the bird by using a waterbrush - no! no! no!
The rest of the images are made in the same way - I do love this technique although I like image transfers made any way!

As I made these Gwen at Foxglovehill was using her latest copy of her RSPB mag to make her own transfers - if I'd charged my camera batteries up our posts would have appeared at almost the same time - as it is I've been busy today and only just got around to doing this and its late(very late for me)!
I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Thanks for looking, Chris


Just come back to say I've also added this to the Simon Says stamp and show blog challenge - A tag!

Very Clever!

Not me of course - I'm talking about one of my sons(actually they are all far more clever than I LOL!)
He went through a tough time last year when his partner walked out on him and my two lovely grandchildren, now he is at last using his talent and the other week this fabulous canvas went up on his wall.

It is huge!!(a square metre I would think) As you walk past it appears to move! I am just so proud of him as he has done this in the little spare time he gets!

My little tatty flowers are in total contrast with this!

These are similar to some I gave to some crafting buddies at the weekend - they are such fun to make and I can sit and sew them on my knee in the evenings!

Off for a fun filled morning now, Chris

Sorted - almost!

What a great weekend I've had! After my disappointment at not being able to attend Hels' workshop on Saturday it turned out to be all's well that ends well -almost! 


House viewers came ...and went(still on hold with that one)after which hubby and I headed to "Better Bathrooms" in Manchester(we had a VERY bad experience with the Bathstore and I refuse to ever enter one of their doors again! Buuuut! on stepping through the doors of 'BB' hubby's light turned on - up to now he has left most of the choosing to me. The range is fantastic and if we hadn't already bought so much from one our great DIY stores we could have spent all our money there! We did however find fantastic taps and tiles (and the short bath - finally) and hubby surprised me with his choice and we totally agreed on our purchase -YIPPEE!!


Anyway - enough ranting about domestic stuff - Sunday came and saw me charging driving sedately up the motorways to DB Studios for a workshop with the fantastic Hels Sheridan. I set off early with the intention of catching up with some crafting buddies during the lunch break and it really was great to meet up with Joanne and Gez again - I was also able to sit next to my friend Sarah during the workshop! It was especially good to finally meet Hels too as I have followed her blog for a looong time! Her samples were amazing! The only stupid thing is - took my camera, but no photos of the event at all!!
  
I have never known an afternoon fly so quickly and it was all over far too soon! It was great to learn new tricks with distress inks and stains. 

Hels explained techniques so well and I can't wait to try some of them out! 

Gez brought me this fantastic ATC, I love this girly!

It was a really great afternoon.......except for one thing! I had always thought(maybe naively)that crafters looked out for each other but one mean spirited crafter (must have been, or why else would they be in a craft shop) helped themselves to a shed load of Hels' personal craft supplies. It took the edge off totally ruined what should have been a happy experience for all and I hope whoever did this gets their just desserts - YOU ARE A THEIF!!!

I'll be back later with an amazing piece of art work(not mine)!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

So little time!!

The weeks just seem to be running away with me! I have been quite industrious what with one thing and another. Some sewing projects and a little bit of teaching and a little journaling along with being 'project manager'(I like that - bestowed upon me by a friend!)at our flat. Things are coming along nicely both with the work done and with getting on with the downsize. We are also having a steady amount of viewings for our house - as my son said 'you only need the right one one to turn up'!!
Here's some more of my car journal

a prepared page

a page I sat and did while my grandson was looking for Eddie Stobart names and numbers 

another prepared page

the original page
Must go now, need food. Looking forward to a workshop with Hels Sheridan this weekend(and to meet up with some crafty pals too) Thanks for looking, Chris

My Weekend

I enjoyed making little sketches (inspired by a page by Amanda Kavanagh in 1000 Artist Journal Pages) While away at our caravan at the weekend with 2 of our grandchildren I started this

It looks a little different now..

I used my neocolours this afternoon after showing a very nice couple around our house - I hope they buy it - they seemed nice enough to live here!
Not sure whether I should have coloured it but Hey Ho!
Thanks for looking, Chris 

And now for....

...something completely different! The book in my last post has loads of inspiration - as well as being an amazing collection of different styles of journaling! 
This page recently caught my eye

and led me to have a go at this style.

This was a bit of a cheat really as I haven't visited any of these places, the photos were in the weekend supplements and I sat doing this on my knee one night while having one eye on the TV!
The lamp is there because it was one of my light bulb moments(they are few and far between LOL) 

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to journal
We went away to one of my favourite places (our caravan) this weekend with two of our grandchildren and doodled a bit in quite moments(there weren't many) but didn't manage to paint anything in, so will come back to show you my page when it's complete.(No idea why I can't start at the left!!)

Thanks for looking, Chris