Weekend spent at Coleman's Craft Warehouse...

.... was a weekend well spent... 

Saturday was the shop's monthly demo day, nice to see familiar faces and new ones... lots of questions  asked & answered... I demo'd with stamps, stencil and paints until they ran out!..  all projects in this blog post were created on the day and will be on display in the shop very soon.

Thanks to everyone who came and watched, and asked questions (no, sorry, I haven't written a book - but maybe I'll think about that in the future...), and the fun ladies who came to the workshops on Sunday.

An enjoyable way to spend a weekend... lets do it again soon!

I was trying NOT to find out who won the Wimbledon Men's Tennis Final (on communication lockdown!) lol  but decided I couldn't wait so I listened to the match on the drive home - very strange listening to tennis on the radio!
Disappointed at the result but it sounded like a fantastic match... sounded so good I watched the final set this morning - and it was brilliant!.....

really MUST try and get tickets for next year (we say that EVERY year! lol)

x

Busy, busy, busy...

... fun, fun, fun! The next few weekends (well this whole month really) are full of creative workshops - here's where I'll be during the first 2 weekends in the month - by the way I don't normally blog several events at once but on this occasion/just this once - here we go - in calendar order:

5-6 July 2014
I'm pleased to visit Colemans Warehouse in Northampton.
Saturday is their monthly demonstration day & I'll be demo'ing the latest JOFY stamps, paints & stencils...

On Sunday I'm running 2 workshops - a card class in the morning and a project class in the afternoon.
There are a couple of places left - contact the shop to book your place.


11 July 2014
The Birds in the Barn SummerFest, held at The Marks Tey Hotel, near Colchester. This is a 4 day event (10-13 July) and I'm teaching a tick-tock of a project.. its an oversized pocket watch style clock decorated with all sorts of JOFY/PaperArtsy products.
I'm really looking forward to this event- its going to a lot of fun, creativity & inspiration - 6 great teachers running workshops over the 4 days.
Contact the shop to book a place, or for more information click here to go to the shop's blog.

13 July 2014
My latest workshop at The Craft Barn   a little 'house/shed' with a garden theme - containing the bits & pieces you'd need for a garden - but all in paper and miniature.  We'll use paints, stamps, diecuts and little miniature elements to create a decorative 'greenhouse'..
(adorable - even if I do say so myself! lol)

I'd love to show you how to create all these projects so please follow the links and contact the shops to book your place.

x

This is a Christmas free blogpost....

... well almost.... its a 'round-up' post so there may be a slight/ brief mention...

Last weekend I demo'd and taught a class at Colemans Craft Warehouse in Northampton.. a shop packed full of all kinds of crafting loviness. On Saturday I demo'd using JOFY16 - the Beach Hut plate (or affectionately known as 'sheds...' lol)
I created a small wooden box frame (what's not to love about those!) - great opportunity to use the Fresco Finish Crackle Glaze! (again what's to love about that product).

 ...the starfish is a small die cut embellishment.... painted in Haystack Fresco Finish...

The Warehouse stock small wooden panels.. a really nice smooth surface to paint onto:

 The little row of beach huts is one of my favourite images on the plate - such dinky, detailed little images..

I have another sample from the day - a shabby chic canvas that I need to add some detail/embellishments to before I can show you - its more shabby chic than seaside nautical like the projects above... quite a lot of paper piecing involved.... I'll blog it and then send that and the panel above to Colemans to put on display with the stamps.

Sunday was a day of classes.. spring summer in the morning....

... and {brace yourselves} Christmas in the afternoon..

I'm sorry to use the C word but people are actually starting to make the Christmas cards already - don't moan at me - I'm just responding to the requests! :o)

Then there was a brief visit to hospital, resulting in several days of rest....

... and then yesterday I taught a class at The Artistic Stamper.  A lovely group of ladies came and stamped, painted and inked their way through the day to create these:

Love how they are all so different!..

... and today I am mainly resting, getting ready for the next week - Christmas doesn't make itself you know - ooop sorry - there's that word again! lol
Is now a bad time to tell you that I bought 3 decorations on Thursday... for purely crafting purposes!  lol

Enjoy!

All season in one day....

....well, two of them at least - I'll be at Colemans Warehouse this weekend - Saturday I'll be demo'ing my latest stamps - the Beach Huts...

... and on Sunday I'll be teaching a summery floral class in the morning and in the afternoon its all about a wintery Christmas!  Yes.  I said it.  CHRISTMAS! which according the cheery little ap on my phone is only 116 days away! DON'T PANIC!!
We've got the rest of the summer to get through yet.

Hope to see you there!

A Crafty Day at Colemans....

... is what I had on Saturday... Its called Colemans Warehouse but I'm not sure that does it justice! Soooo many great craft items under one roof ....

It was a really enjoyable day.... & a busy, creative day (judging by the amount of paint and ink that was on my hands!)  Thank you to all the lovely people who came and watched my demos - with JOFY Stamps- thanks for the lovely comments, & the PaperArtsy Grunge Paste (whats not to love about that product!) and the general 'oooh'ing and 'aaaaah'ing at the reliability of the Crackle Glaze!  it works I tell you... every time!

Speaking of Crackle Glaze & JOFY stamps:

The crackle on this wooden block (liked these blocks a lot) has been painted on in areas rather than all over to demonstrate that its possible to do that - you don't have to crackle an entire surface...
The flowers are painted with Fresco Finish, stamps are from JOFY12

This smaller wooden block is a perfect size to use with a Mini stamp - Mini10

Towards the end of  demo days I seem to create what I'm going to start calling 'scoop up' creations - items that I make from all the bits that are left on the desk:

Gotta love a tag!  especially a corrugated cardboard tag, with flowers and a button - the second button of the day!  I only used two buttons all day - very restrained for me! lol

Look at the size of my demo desk!!! I laughed when I saw it - now that's what I call a demo desk! lol - lots of space to spread out and get messy on.. ahem not messy - no, creative on...

Its lucky the desk was this big as I took lots of samples with me and I'm always happy to do that- items that have previously been posted here on the blog.  But, I hope that the people who watch demos, look at and photograph the samples understand that as a demonstrator I make and show samples not to have them copied but to provide inspiration that hopefully acts as a springboard for their imagination, so that they can go home and create their own projects.

* * * * *

I'll be returning to Colemans on the 30 August for the demo day, and on the following day (01 September)(duh, sorry to state the obvious! lol) I'll be running 2 card making classes - JOFY Florals in the morning and Christmas Cards, yes Christmas Cards(!) in the afternoon.


aaaanyhoo - back to the studio - things don't design themselves do they! ...

Enjoy your day