sea breezes

Artist Trading Cards rediscovered

Today was the first of a monthly event at Pickleberry, an ATC coffee morning, crafting and cakes for a few hours to get the week off to a good start.

I had forgotten how addictive ATCs can be, I found a box full of old bits and pieces from about four years ago when I made them regularly to trade. I dug out some more supplies and Kate opened a few new stamps to play with. We had quite a few ladies who had never even heard of ATCs but after a quick explanation and showing them how to construct a card they were off.  After making a card each from the same components we stopped for cake and a cuppa then went on to play with the box of bits.

I made a few myself and covered a little album that I bought in the shop for £2.99 to keep my new collection safe. I used mostly some collage collections bought quite a few years ago from Teesha Moore, her work always amazes me. For my backgrounds I used a sheet of card, painted and inked by Dyan when she was showing me how fab her Dylusions range is. I ran them through various embossing folders and then swiped black ink over the raised areas.

 

 

Treasure Box Workshop

I decorated a wooden box to keep some of my special bits and bobs safe, I haven't finished the inside yet but I will make some compartments to keep everything tidy. I am going to use it for bits of costume jewellery that I have pulled apart, at the moment they are all thrown into a basket which I have to tip out each time I look for something. I was really happy with the finished project and decided to teach it as a workshop. It's quite heavily influenced (I copied the dressform with just a few tweaks) by some canvases I made at a retailer day last month when we were taught by Tim Holtz and Dyan Reavely using their new products. I did go a bit mad with product, Kate got a shock when she added up the cost of everything I used but she soon got over it with the help of a chocolate biscuit!

I'm teaching it on Saturday but I think that class is fully booked, Kate has scheduled another date in May and there are a couple of places left.

a crafty weekend away

I went away last week with some friends, calling at a couple of shops on the way up to Newcastle and treating myself to some new paints and inks to go with some new stash bought at Pickleberry before we left.

As usual I wasn't very productive, I made a couple of layouts that still don't look finished, I think I need to look at them again when I unpack them. I did play with my paints last night and used some of the new Tilda cut outs from Pickleberry

Not very deep and meaningful - it's about wanting a greenhouse and growing tomatoes!

I saw some of my journal pages published in the latest Somerset Studio digital magazine last week, after only seeing them on screen I was delighted with the colours when they were printed. I'm waiting for my copy to arrive but they are in stock at Pickleberry. Here I am on page 6 - the first article in the book! I was a little concerned when they asked me to write a technique based article, I had to explain that I am a total beginner and have no idea how to use Photoshop other than copy, paste and layer using kits. So I wrote from a beginner's point of view, with digital kits and a little bit of knowledge, journal pages are possible. I do prefer the real thing though, getting messy with inks and paints is much more fun.

Helen, Julie, Gill and I went to visit Lindisfarne then down through Bamburgh, Seahouses and a stop at Barter Books in Alnwick.

The weather was very foggy, we could hardly see the castle from the village in Bamburgh but the girls enjoyed their visit and we still took quite a few photographs.

So, I'm back home and full of cold, in fact I think it's Man Flu and I feel like the fog came home with me stored in my head. I'm being well looked after and hope it's all gone by the weekend.