Workshop update

UPDATE..........UPDATE.........UPDATE!!

Wendy at The Stamp Attic tells me that the workshop I am doing for her on Sat 16th Jan is full (yeh!! thanks to those that have booked it!) so we have agreed to add in Sunday 17th Jan as an extra day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I just want to take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has visited my blog and left such lovely comments throughout the year. I never thought I needed or wanted a blog but it has been such a fun thing thanks to the many people I have met through it.

I seem to have disappeared under a pile of Christmas presents and wrapping paper the last few days shortly to be followed by a huge turkey (well bigg-ish!), a mountain of veg and stuffing and 8 family members tomorrow so that making anything for the blog has taken a back seat! I am sure it is the same for most of you too!

So MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!

Workshop sneak peek

Above is a small sneak peek of my next workshop at THE STAMP ATTIC to be held on January 16th 2010.
We will be playing with a really fun FAUX METAL technique.
Call Wendy on 01235 760821 or email wendy@thestampattic.co.uk to book a place!
Looking forward to seeing you if you decide to come along!!

LET IT SNOW

First off let me tell you that I was the PLAY DATE CAFE winner last week!! I am so chuffed to have been picked especially as my entry was so wacky!! So, thanks to those that voted for me.

Can't believe it's a week since I last blogged, where does the time go. Have been busy with the usual stuff that this time of year brings.

Anyway, here is my entry for this weeks challenge where the colours are dark blue, gold and cream and how more appropriate could it be as a big part of the country (not here yet) has woken to the first covering of snow of the winter! Not planned that way I assure you!
My snowflakes look a little white on the scanned pic but they are more cream in real life.

IS IT A BOOK.........

or is it a TRIBBLE?!! Does anyone remember tribbles? from Star Trek? the little hairy creatures?, well this reminds me of them somehow!! All sort of hairy and out of control!



It is in fact a book and it is my entry for PLAY DATE CAFE this week where the colours are pink, orange and lime green..........sooooo NOT my colours but then that is what a colour challenge is all about.....stretching your boundaries.........well for me it is!! In fact these are so not my colours that I was VERY surprised to find I had buttons in orange and lime green, even more so that I had so many of them!



The cover for this book was made using needle felting tools, new toys I bought recently and have been playing around with. I discovered while playing around to see what would felt and what wouldn't that this wool stuff that has fluffy bits interspersed with tags of a more solid material (you can tell I don't know what it's called can't you!) felts in an interesting way..........the fluffy bits attach to the felt leaving the tag bits standing out giving this sort of shaggy finish that I quite like.

Have to apologise here............I got one of the colours wrong!! What I took to be orange should have been red..........sorry!!!

!

HOLLY AND THE IVY

WEDNESDAY STAMPER theme this week is WINTER and so this is my entry!
I saw that a few other people had used Daniel Torrente STAMPOTIQUE images for their entries and although I love those stamps dearly I also like these more "friendly" images as well so decided to use this HOLLY girl.
STAMPOTIQUE stamps and TIM HOLTZ masks (I used these for the lettering) are available in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC.

QUIRKY BIRDS

Been playing a bit more with the BIRDS AND BRANCHES set of stamps from HERO ARTS available from THE STAMP ATTIC the birds are just so quirky and I like all the strange pod things and odd trees in the set as well.

WHEN THE RED RED ROBIN

goes bob bob bobbing along, along!! This bird just makes me smile, it has such "attitude" somehow. I made him into a Christmas robin sitting under a Christmas tree! This is my entry for this weeks PLAY DATE CAFE challenge where the colours are burgundy red, olive green and white.

SANTA CLAUS, SAINT NICK, FATHER CHRISTMAS

The theme on WEDNESDAY STAMPER today is SANTA CLAUS.
I haven't been joining many challenges lately, no time, stuff going on at home, working, real life getting in the way etc etc but when I saw this challenge I thought I'd play along!
The Santa figure on this page is cut from a brochure that came through the door, I like folk art stuff and he really appealed so I used him on a journal page. Page is quite simple for me but I liked the way it came out.

A WINTER DAY

I was chuffed to have been asked to be the guest designer for December on ARTIST TRADING CLUB blog! I chose the theme of A WINTER DAY and these are the ATCs I made, four of them are up for trade over on the Trading Club blog!

BY THE LIGHT OF A WINTER MOON

is where pumpkins take a walk when Autumn is done with!!
I know just when you thought I'd got over the whole pumpkin thing up pops another one! I have been wanting this CHARACTER CONSTRUCTIONS stamp set for ages but every time I have been down at THE STAMP ATTIC it has been out of stock, except this last weekend, so I just had to buy it and then of course I wanted to use it!
So, today the colour challenge on PLAY DATE CAFE is green, orange (see where the pumpkin comes in?) and two shades of blue; blue is a hard colour for me, don't know why I just hardly ever use it. Having said that I am pleased with the way the blue worked on this!

OLD TROUT............next installment!

Have not blogged in over a week, where does the time go?? Well, some of it went teaching down at THE CRAFT BARN over the weekend, I had a fun time and thanks to any of you reading this that came along! :)

Not got a lot to show at the min but I did manage to do some more to the trout journal page that I showed just started a while ago! He now has a top hat, glasses and weird looking eyes!! Added some word bits and some swirls as well...........still feel like it needs something more just to pull it together.........need to think on it some more!! However I like the way it is going so far!!

O CHRISTMAS TREE

I noticed yesterday that the theme over on SUNDAY STAMPER is "O Christmas Tree". I have been making trees recently for a workshop so I thought I'd join in and so here is my entry. Well, two entries sort of, I got carried away and made two trees so it seemed a shame not to use them both!
The top one is my official entry, the other one is an extra!

Yet again worked on old book covers! One day I will put all these together into an altered book journal I think.

CAN YOU FLY IN YOUR DREAMS?

PLAY DATE CAFE challenge colours this week are blue/green, cream, tan and brown, a great combination. Here is my entry. The tree is embossed though that is hard to see on this pic, I used an embossing folder from Crafts Too, available from THE CRAFT BARN.

TICK TOCK

A while ago I saw a fab journal on INGRID DIJKERS blog where she had wired washers etc along the edge of a journal page and I just loved the way it looked. There is a lot of STEAMPUNK stuff around at the moment and the washers etc reminded me of that too.
So, here is my version! This a big acetate tag that I coloured with alcohol inks, stamped the numbers..PAPERARTSY CLOCKS PLATES 7 & 8.... onto coloured card, cut out and glued to the tag.
Next punch holes in the acetate with Cropadile and then use wire to attach the various washers and nuts etc.
I think I am going to attach this onto a book cover with the scews at the top.

OLD TROUT.......a work in progress!

I am a bit bogged down with workshop samples at the min so have not really got much I can blog but thought I'd show these journal pages as "works in progress"!

I recently watched several YouTube clips on TEESHA MOORES blog about the way she works in her journal and these pages are sort of inspired by her!

She uses lots of magazine images for both the borders around her pages and for the main images.........now the only mags I had to hand the other day were the Radio Times and Trout Fisherman.........you can see where this is going!
So, I used scrap book papers for the borders and then decided to see what I could do with a trout! Nowhere near finished yet but I think he may end up with glasses and a pointy hat.



No idea what will end up on this page but I like it so far!!

THE BROKEN HEART

This weeks colours on THE PLAY DATE CAFE are black, white and red. The first thing that came to my mind was "oriental" but then I didn't really feel like working with that theme so had another think, a rummage through my stamp drawers and came across The Broken Heart, A Tragedy stamp and it sort of developed from there!


The large heart in the back is a grungeboard heart, painted, cut in half and stitched back together with black wire. The glass heart is dangling from the birds beak with a fishing lure type thing!

WORKSHOP SNEAK PEEK

I have two workshops at PADDYS STAMPING PLACE in Prestwich nr Manchester coming up in the next couple of weeks.........November 14th and 18th............and so I thought I'd show a couple of sneak peeks to whet the appetities of those already booked and maybe to tempt more to come along!
The workshop is called "TREES AND ANGELS" which suggests Christmas but it certainly doesn't have to be!


If you would like to come along then give Paddy a ring on 0161 798 5115.

It would be helpful if you are coming for you to bring along a few cotton reels, old wood ones look fab but are hard to get hold of (if you have any you don't want I accept donations!!) so modern plastic ones (with or without cotton still on) are fine, we can doctor them!

HANDMADE BOOKS AUTOGRAPH SESSION

A couple of weeks ago Julie over on JULIES OPEN WINDOW asked me if I would like to do a question and answer piece for her blog. She had received a copy of my book from Sarah.....ART OF MOODLING......as a gift and thought it would be a fun thing to do based around that.
The piece is now up on Julies blog! go on over and see what I had to say!



The two books here are from my book, the top one is a very simple fold over and tuck in book with the pages sewn into the fold. The other is a more complicated book that has a Japanese Stab binding.

KISSING CALAVERAS

Continuing with my skull obsession (for a little while longer at least!!) I just had to enter ART ON THE DARKSIDE challenge today which is DAY OF THE DEAD or DIA DE LOS MUERTOS.

The KISSING CALAVERAS (calaveras are skulls!) part of this journal page is a paper cut piece I made using a pattern taken from MEXICAN PAPERCUTTING by Kathleen Trenchard. Papercutting was one of the first paper crafts I got into and I like to re-visit it every now and then so this was fun to make.

Had to add the staple barbed wire across the top, I think that is such a cool idea!The lettering is some paper letters I have had for EVER but they suited this very well.

TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT........

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!
A journal page to set the scene! I saw the quote on another blog somewhere this week, sorry can't remember where :(

Have been working on this for few days now ready for the actual day! The skull is a ceramic money box, I bought one for my nephew for Christmas last year and he thought it was fab!! I bought another one for me to play with! I added the bats down the side of his face using Diamond Glaze and tissue paper, I like the way it sort of looks like a tattoo.

Another of those leaves I have been playing with painting and stamping on, this one has been embossed to make it shiny, the texture is quite leathery! The pumpkin is plaster of paris in a chocolate mould and then coloured!

Another coloured/stamped leaf and more pumpkins decorate the saucer he is sitting on.

PS. Spot the peel-off?

Who has seen the wind?

The second Play Date Cafe colour challenge was issued today, the colours are orange, yellow and dark brown or black. SARAH is the host this week and she took as her inspiration the colours of the Autumn leaves that are all around us at the moment. You have to go check out her piece, it is LOVELY.

This journal page is my entry.
While I was away over the weekend I picked up a bunch of these quite big leaves that had glorious colours on them at the time but as I didn't get to press them straight away the colours faded. So, I decided to add them back in again! I first painted the leaf with gesso and then sprayed with orange and brown ink. After that I used a yellow pigment ink and added clear embossing powder over that and stamped the text into it.

The quote is by Christina Rossetti.

ANGELS AND SKULLS

A while ago I watched a documentary about BEOWULF the Old English epic poem considered one of the gems of Anglo Saxon literature and in the programme they mentioned Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, Suffolk. What particularly took my eye was the ceiling of the church decorated with angels so while we were in Suffolk this past weekend we took a trip to see the church.

Oh my!! If you get chance and have an angel fetish like me (or even if you don't!) then it is well worth the trip. It is FANTASTIC, the carved wooden angels (there are several pairs of them) are BEAUTIFUL.

On Monday we went into London to the BRITISH MUSEUM to see the MOCTEZUMA exhibition. This fed another of my fetishes as there were some wonderful turquoise SKULLS on display!
The museum also has a DAY OF THE DEAD celebration going on on Nov 1st and so they had some FAB postcard books on sale with great Day of the Dead art in them. Had to get one of those!!

I was a happy bunny this weekend!!

WORKSHOP SNEAK PEEKS

A couple of teaser pics of my workshop project!



Wendy down at THE STAMP ATTIC has just acquired premises that are going to become her studio/workshop venue! It is very exciting and Wendy has big plans for it so be sure to watch her blog for updates and in the not too distant future a workshop list. I am going to be teaching my first workshop in her new premises on December 5th, so if you fancy a trip to Wantage for a day of inks, stamps and chat then come along, it would be great to see you! I am heading off to Suffolk for a few days break, be back on Tuesday!

BIRD ON A WIRE?

Today sees the first PLAY DATE CAFE CHALLENGE, it is a challenge with a bit of a difference, the only thing stippulated is colours. The choice of what you do with them is yours entirely!!

This is my entry. I seem to be a little obsessed with working onto old book covers just lately and that's what this is, I used a couple of new stamps I got at Port Sunlight show a couple of weeks ago, the couple and the bird skeleton, always nice to use new images! They are both from LOST COAST DESIGNS.

WEDNESDAY HALLOWEEN

Not done Wednesday Stamper challenge for some time but really wanted to today as the theme is HALLOWEEN!!
This journal page is my entry.

ART SPECIALLY

I just received my copy of issue 8 of ART SPECIALLY magazine. I have two articles this time and I have to say I LOVE the way they are presented. I can't show you the pieces (publishing rules) but I can tell you that you will very shortly be able to get a copy of this issue from THE STAMP ATTIC
In case you don't know this mag, it is a Dutch publication and the text is therefore in Dutch but the artwork (not that I'm bragging here of course!!) and the photography are such that you hardly need the words!

The artwork on the front cover of the mag is stunning and is done by HERMINE KOSTER who was the featured artist a couple of issues back in Craft Stamper. If you don't know her work check out her blog , you won't be sorry!

AUTUMN

This is my entry for the latest READY STEADY STAMP challenge........pretty late as the next one is issued on Wednesday but at least I got it done!! This time we had to use the theme of Autumn, the colours brown, cream and ochre, staples, hessian and a Distress ink background. The staples and twisted wire to make your own barbed wire idea is not mine (wish it was, as it works fabulously!), I saw it on TIM HOLTZ blog on one of his Halloween tags.....credit where it is due!!

The chair stamp is Character Constructions and the pumpkin is Inkadinkado.

HOME AND HEART

It has been a few days since I had chance to blog, a couple of reasons for this.........busy week, firstly getting samples finished for the SAMUEL TAYLORS BIRTHDAY celebration weekend which is this weekend in Embsay near Skipton, if you come alomg come and say hello, secondly a broken computer........how you miss it when it's not there! All fixed now apart from the scanner, which I discovered as I went to scan what I was going to blog tonight and it says I need to re-install the software! So that will have to wait till next week.


I also had a bit of a sort out (well quite a big sort out!) in my work room this week and came across this CD book. This was featured in Craft Stamper quite some time ago so I thought I'd show it here as I can't blog what I wanted to!

The reason for the sort out (apart from the fact it really needed it) was that I had friends coming round and you just could not get in there.............Sarah actually took pics of my work room and one of them is over on her blog.......THE ART OF MOODLING


The stamps used are PAPERBAG STUDIOS AND INVOKE ARTS, both available from THE STAMP ATTIC

WINTER BIRDS

A couple of cards made with INKADINKADO WINTER BIRDS set of stamps. I just love that owl and for me these would be great as Winter birthday cards or as Christmas cards.
Stamps are available from THE STAMP ATTIC.