sea breezes

library drawers

I've been busy this week teaching at Pickleberry, running Georgina around and had a great day out with Helen on Friday, mooching around Whitstabubble.

I am off on a road trip soon, ending with a weekend of scrapping with a few friends near Newcastle. Helen and Julie have never been before so we are going a couple of days early so that we can fit in some sightseeing. We are leaving on Wednesday and calling at Art from the Heart in Harrogate to see Dyan then on to The Scrapbook Shop in Durham to see my sister, Gill. We will spend the afternoon in Durham. Thursday we are heading up to Lindisfarne then down to Bamburgh, Seahouses and Alnwick. Friday we are heading off to Hexham and Corbridge then onto the retreat until Sunday. Alex has got me and him a ticket each for the Newcastle match on Saturday afternoon, I am really looking forward to seeing him again and hoping we will win the match.

So, the last couple of days have been spent sorting out what to take to the retreat, new stock is coming into Pickleberry so I am sure I will be adding to my stash before we leave! I loved the idea of filling a 7 Gypsies library drawer and was going to buy one until I found two drawers on the firewood pile. I rescued them and have cleaned them up ready to fill. They are 8" wide and 14' long so quite a lot bigger but they were free!

I had a poke around the barn this morning when I took the dogs out and found a rotten old wooden index card filing cabinet, such a shame that the carcass of it had fallen apart but luckily the drawers have survived so I rescued them.

They are 4 1/2" wide and 8" long, easier to fill up! Gill has bagged one already. Hopefully after the weekend I will have some photographs of them with something inside.

studio update

I tidied around my studio yesterday and today, including clearing my storage cupboard. I found some of my art journals that I thought I had lost so it was well worth it. I still have the Expedit units underneath my worktop to sort out but they can wait for another day.

In October I had a good sort out and a change round when I moved out my red bookshelf into the shop to hold workshop supplies and moved in my old bureau, I have been organising my stash into boxes instead of having it all hanging underneath the Hensvik shelves.

I borrowed Kate's camera to take a few snaps, just to prove that it is sometimes tidy, it is nearly two years since I moved in and I think I have everything just about where I want it. There is nearly a home for everything which makes tidying away so much easier.

So, here is my tidy studio

I bought this lovely little trunk from TKMaxx, I keep finished projects inside

My chair is comfy, with a cushion cover from Nancy and a crochet throw for £1 at a boot fair

My Hensvik shelves have an assortment of tins, cases and boxes, all labelled. I moved the ribbon jars to sit on top of the shelves

I love my mad teapot on the windowsill

This old spice cabinet has old bobbins and hand made wooden pegs inside

The dodgy looking 'specimen' bottle has salt for snacks, I can't believe I didn't notice it when I took the picture!

an upcoming workshop

I'm teaching a class at Pickleberry soon called 'Style File', a little book of allsorts, inspired by a Christmas gift. I bought myself a bag while gift shopping, I couldn't resist the black and white stripes and the scrapbooky picture and it was in the pre-Christmas sale

Then I opened this gift on Christmas day, an organiser type notebook with wallets and dividers. I wanted to stick everyday stuff into it, tickets and such that would never make it to a scrapbook through lack of photographs to go with them, cards I wanted to keep and quotes and ideas I had. As usual with new notebooks (I have an ahem, well, a bit of an addiction with them) I didn't want to spoil it other than write my name in the front page (the same as the others, kept safe in a basket waiting for the right time to use them)

so I made something similar. I used huge book rings instead of a wire bindings that I can add pages, cards and postcards as I go along.

Oh, I had to buy these too, they were half price in Fenwick's sale and it would have been rude not to, especially as she is wearing Newcastle United FC stockings

So, if you would like to come along to the class (and stroke my Gorjuss bag and books) you can see the details here 

Another Printers Tray

We had a great weekend at Pickleberry before Christmas, using the printers trays I bought at the flea market in Lille. Kate, Julie and I taught some mini classes over two days, making embellishments to display. I painted my tray vintage white to fit in with the decor of my little sewing room.

I taught how to make faux wooden typepress letters, the real things are quite expensive and of course, back to front. One of my other mini classes showed how to alter dominoes (shown on the top right)

I used some of my old lotto counters, we shared some of them in the kits

My tray isn't finished yet, I left a few compartments empty so that I could add to it in time.

 

back online!

When we moved to our new home we were promised a telephone line in 7-10 days. It took 7 weeks and a very determined telephone engineer to get us connected. It took another three weeks for 'broadband' which, in reality, is marginally faster than dial up. Still, we are back into the land of the living. The snow kept us cut off for 18 days but spring is on the way, with buds on the trees and flowers pushing their way up in unexpected places.

The snow and ice were difficult but allowed some great chances for photographs