Christmas is coming....

.... and I have been getting ready for it by teaching Christmas themed workshops - ho ho ho!  and in all future christmas classes anyone who is a 'bah humbug' in class gets to wear the elf hat I bought - complete with bell!!! it'll bring out the festive cheer in anyone!!
(a photo? you want to see a photo of the hat???  hhhhmmm nearer christmas maybe - don't want to peak too soon!)

I'm off to the Stamp Attic on the weekend of 22/23 November where we will be fully embracing christmas - a card class on Saturday and then on Sunday we're making a lovely hanging decoration...

I'm really looking forward to the weekend, there are a few spaces available so contact Wendy at the shop - all details are HERE...

Mince piece are optional - but Christmas spirit (of the hohoho variety, not brandy!) is mandatory - feel free to wear your christmas sweaters!!!

Hope to see you there!

A little bit of DIY....

... in the form or card 'washi tape'.  

My last blog post featured cards and work from a recent class at The Stamp Attic where, as part of the cards' design, we created strips of patterned card to coordinate with chosen colour schemes - a sort of bespoke washi tape... (but don't get me wrong - I love a bit of (a lot of) washi tape but sometimes you just need 

something 'bespoke'.

Here are the two samples I made for the class featuring a strip of 'tape'...

To create strips of patterned 'tape' you could cut up a previously created masterboard, but for the strips I made/taught I wanted the pattern to be more specific so started with strips...

The stamps I mainly used were the stitched lines from JOFY26...

.... I'd been playing around with ways to use the corner stitches other than as a corner motif.... I created (nearly)all my sample on kraft card and with similar colours so that the patterns are obvious and we're not distracted by colours... :o)  these strips can be created in whatever colour scheme matches the projects in hand - really useful .... (and fun... and possibly a bit addictive  - so many variations/options!)

*  stamped the corner image centralised along the length of the strip of card, and another strip with alternating colours...

*  stamped contrast colours facing different directions - love the 'tweedy' look this creates:

*  used the border stamp of stitching to created simple vertical stripes:

*  2 lines of contrasting diagonal stitching:

*  mix of vertical and horizontal stitching, and another with contrast colour:

*  teamed it with the corner motif of the borders from JOFY27

I looked at the new plates to see what else I could use on a tape and the fuzzbuds (named by Leandra!) jumped out....

*  black stamping..

*  'mermaid' painted spots..

*  'snowflake' painted fuzzbuds..

*  the strip had lots of 'open/bare' patches so I added dots with a black pen... I might add Stickles/glitter glue on top of these for a bit of sparkle....

I hope this has inspired you to create your own 'tape'... great way to use up strips of coloured card left over from other projects or to alter strips of masterboard... so many options!

xx

ALBOTAT... inspiration works both ways....

... when I teach workshops, & I hope to inspire people and this weekend at The Stamp Attic it was my turn to be inspired- by some colour choices that were made by people in the class:

Here are Alison's chosen colours and one of cards she made with them:

 and here are Joanna's

(and now I'm wondering what Turquoise, Tikka and Chalk would be like??)

Not colours I would normally reach for but I really like them!

We're building a house...

... a Green House, full of lovely gardening bits and pieces.  I love this project!

I'll be running this assemblage/niche-frame workshop at The Stamp Attic on the 27/28 September... During this weekend I'll be teaching a day of card making (using NEW JOFY stamp releases) and the 'Green House' project workshop (die cutting, stamping, assemblage)..

Go to the Stamp Attic site to book your place.

Hope you can come along - look forward to seeing you there..

x

Bunting, bunting & ....

...  lots of cards were created at the Stamp Attic this weekend by 2 groups of lovely ladies... here are the bunting ladies (without Fiona who left before the photo call) (so busy creating on saturday I didn't get a chance to round them all up and take any photos! lol)

Lovely to see the different colour variations that were created...  I love that aspect of teaching classes.

I couldn't resist this pack of MyMindsEye paper - love the grey/blue/mustard colour scheme

Came home, and had a quick wander around the garden to find that the honeysuckle had, at last, started to flower - how lovely are these delicate blooms:

It was fun weekend - lots of laughs and creativity - looking forward to returning in September..

x

What nicer way to spend a day...

... than to make a line of bunting...

which is what we'll be doing in the class I'm teaching at The Stamp Attic on Sunday ... stamping, painting, & stenciling to create a line of mdf bunting...  there's still time to book your place - contact the shop and come and join the fun.

x

BUNTING (& Cards)!!

I think I've said before how much I love bunting! and whats not to love - its a happy, pretty & decorative feature to have in the house or garden...

I thought it was about time that I taught a class creating bunting....

So that's what I'm doing at The Stamp Attic on the 27th July, as part of my weekend of workshops at this lovely shop... this makes me happy - bunting and being back at The Stamp Attic with Wendy and her lovely customers...  The bunting can be hung inside or out in the garden... 

That's what we'll be creating on the Sunday - while on Saturday 26th we'll be creating cards with a nod to the men......

I'm looking forward to the weekend - hope you can join me.  Go to the Stamp Attic website for details and to book your place.

Bunting and card making - what's not to look forward to! lol

x

A little bit of this'n'that....

.... literally - a teeny tiny plant pot and and watering can to go with my teeny tiny shed! (otherwise known as a 'beach hut')

.. and so the shed looked a little bit more equipped for its job I doodled a plant pot and fork...

The images are coloured with the Caran d'Ache Fabrilo pens - great for creating a water colour effect.

There will be more beach hut transformations during my workshops at The Stamp Attic in a few weeks.. that and BUNTING!!! and I think I've said before how much I like bunting! lol  its going to a lot of fun running a class creating it!
More about that tomorrow...

:o)

x

Catch up post 2

I spent a lovely weekend at The Stamp Attic in late November running a card workshop on the first day and on the second day we made this box frame...

it was a lovely weekend of christmas crafting, cracker pulling & general 'ho ho ho'ness.

Here´s the group embracing the festive theme of the class:

(& the lovely Wendy was fully embracing Christmas by wearing the stickers that came inside the crackers lol)(the crackers that had surprisingly funny jokes - ´how do monkeys make toast?... they put it under the gorilla´!... lol -  aaw come on - its a cracker joke - its supposed to make you groan! lol)

If you´d like to see another version on the box frame there is a photo in this blog post.

xx

Before we wind down to Christmas...

... (or are we ramping up for christmas??!)...I have a couple of very christmassy classes booked to teach which still have a few places left - the first of these are at The Stamp Attic on the 23/24 November - the 23rd is sold out but there are still a couple of places left on the sunday.. I'm really looking forward to this class - its to create a lovely wood box frame project using gorgeous dies, paints (there will be crackle!), and JOFY stamps (of course).. it will look lovely as part of your christmas mantelpiece decorations (thats where mine is going...)

I hope you can join me in the class - I'll be the one wearing a christmas sweater!
To book your place visit this page at The Stamp Attic

Look forward to seeing you for a bit of festive crafting

The first noel.......

..... I've used this christmas is on a box frame created for a workshop I'm running at The Stamp Attic on 24 November - there are still a couple of places left so please come and join in the festive fun - there will be stamping, painting, crackle glazing, die cutting and because it's christmas (and christmas expects it..) there will be glitter glue! (please use responsibly! lol)

Contact the shop to book your place...

xx

A lovely inky painty time.....

.... pretty much sums up last weekend where I spent the weekend running 2 workshops...

I think I walked through the door twice before I noticed the writing on the door (after it had been pointed out to me)! lol   oops - sorry & thanks!

I completely forgot to take photos on Saturday's card making workshop! sorry everyone! here's a detail photo (mine) of one of the cards they made.. lovely cards were created in all sorts of colour options - love it when that happens!

In Sunday's workshop we decorated a triptych... and here are the inky painty participants with their lovely creations:... those smiles are ones you get from saying 'tinned peas and guacamole' instead of 'cheese' for a photo.. lol

The photo shows the inside of the triptych's - my sample had minimal decoration but time allowed for additional painting and decoration:

Helen painted her outside flowers in lovely green with orange 'berries':

 I love Elaine's doors with additional bud heads:

... and Judy painted the flowers inside in  lovely shades of blue and green and so used the same colour scheme outside.  Love it:

:
Everyone created very lovely projects!  Gold stars all round!
Thanks to everyone for coming - hope to see you at the 'Christmas' classes - 23/24 November - cards and a project.

xx

PS - on the way to The Stamp Attic I was driving on the M25 - the MAJOR London FOUR LANE, VERY BUSY motorway... when I watched the most muppetry piece of driving, only ever normally seen on the TV:  a 4x4  realised it had taken the wrong exit and so had REVERSED BACK DOWN THE SLIP ROAD, DRIVEN OVER THE GRASS AT THE END WHERE THE CHEVRONS RUN INTO GRASS & REJOINED the M25 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh. my. word!! what goes through peoples heads! lol where in the highway code does it says thats a good idea! numpty! lol

Next weekend...

... I'm looking forward to returning to The Stamp Attic, Wantage to teach a couple of workshops... Wendy has a lovely shop full of fantastic arty crafty stock...
There are still a couple of places on Sunday's project class - its a lovely wooden triptych decorated with flowers from my latest flower stamp plates - I'm hanging onto Summer as long as possible!

If you would like to join us for a day of inky, painty, distressed (the project, not you or I) fun then please contact the shop to book a place.

Look forward to seeing you!

Reschedule of workshops at The Stamp Attic....

.... that I had to cancel in June due to very unforeseen circumstances (!)

The new dates are Saturday 14 September for Card Making workshop.....

Sunday 15 September for a Triptych workshop....

I would love to see you there-  I hope you can join me... its going to involve stamps, paints, inks - crackle glaze- but no sanding (honest - no sanding! lol) - its going to be fun!

Pop over to The Stamp Attic website for more details and to book a place.

Busy, busy, busy.....

.... in a very enjoyable way!

Its the reason my blog has been a little neglected recently - because a lot of what I have been creating has been 'secret'.... fun for me but not great blog reading for you!  Oops, but all will become clear later in this post - those of you who read the PaperArtsy blog will already know what the 'secret' is because its not so secret anymore... :o)
Apologies in advance for this 'catch-up' posting - just wanted to get it written down and all caught up.. then start afresh...

I recently visited The Stamp Attic for a weekend of classes - it was great weekend! The ladies who came and stamped, inked, painted and sanded (there was a lot of sanding at one point! lol) were very lovely and I hope they had as nice a time as I did.

I took other photo's during the weekend but they're not very good  :o(
This was the first time I'd been to The Stamp Attic and I'm really looking foward to going back in July (6&7th).

Last weekend I taught a couple of classes at Birds in the Barn - better photos taken during this weekend - the grounds of the garden centre where the shop is located provided the perfect setting for the projects..

But the main reason for the lack of blogging is...

I've been busy designing 3 new A5 plates of JOFY stamps - flowers and some feathered friends......

... and 6 minis...

I love these new designs and I'll be demo'ing them this coming weekend at the Craft Barn -  hope to see some of you there  :o)