my peacock lady corset

The corset exhibition is looming and my poor corset was still looking a little sorry for itself.  Everyone who's worked on it has produced stunning results, and I love all the bits, but a few people haven't had it yet so when it appeared in the vicinity I grabbed it to do a bit of 'pulling together'!  I'd already got out my sari ribbon from Crafty Notions to put on it before I saw that Glo had had the same idea.  I love how she's put it on the suspender hooks.

Sorry the light's not great on this second pic.  I added sari fabric, shiny bits, and quilted the beautiful peacock feathers added by Carol.  This photo really doesn't do it justice but it shows why I didn't get the Sunday Postcard made.  I will, because the subject is 'fish' and I discovered that a seahorse is a fish.  When I told my husband he said "well, what did you think it was?"  I don't know, but I love seahorses, have the new Elusive Images stamp and am determined to make the postcard :) 

day out in Wales

                                   

Living just south of Manchester, UK means we are fairly close to Wales and can go there for a day out.  Tom wanted to visit Conway Castle.  He loves going to castles and doesn't consider a holiday complete without going to one (although I have to say this is his third one this hols!!!).  He was very specific about going to Conway, for this reason...

He's now the proud owner of a replica dagger!  My three children were then very keen to show Oscar the smallest house in Britain!  This was followed by fish and chips - yummy!  [Note that George is still allergic to the camera ;)] 

I've got three sleeps now until I start Julie Prichard's Super Nova Journaling Class.  It's so exciting.  It's a really friendly online group and about half a dozen or so of us are here in the UK.  That's been extremely helpful for sourcing supplies. 

I thought I'd share a book with you that I made earlier this year.  I've wanted to make a rug ragged spine on a book for a few years now and finally had the time to do it.  I love the feel of it in my hands. 

The pages are all different sizes, with some different colours and textured edges, but what I should have done is collaged the papers before I bound it - I've not been brave enough yet to put anything in it!!  The binding isn't the neatest I've ever done, but then, it is effectively a prototype as I made it up myself!

Ready-Steady-STAMP! Challenge Four

Ok, so it's taken me 'til the fourth challenge to get round to entering, but I LOVE this concept!  You get a list of 'ingredients' and have to include these, plus some stamping, into your piece.

This time the challenge was set by Sue Roddis and I had all the ingredients so didn't have to go out shopping for anything additional.  I used my favourite base, a brown envelope.  :)

If you're struggling to find the canvas, it's the little scrap of dark brown under the velvet brad on the top right!  The scalloped circles have become flowers.  I usually put my gems or raindrops in lines of three but was challenged this time to include them as part of the A collage.  And if you'd like to try this challenge, visit the Ready-Steady-STAMP blog.

EDIT:  Apologies to the RSS team, Sue was guest designer but didn't set the challenge.  Thanks Isa for letting me know!

just like Christmas!

Look at all these parcels that were waiting for me when I got home!  The big ones are bits of exhaust, I think, for our new campervan and there's a little packet of hemp for my eldest son Tom.  He's making a neck protector and shoulder pads that soldiers would have worn.  He's always loved weaponry and can make amazingly lifelike guns from A4 paper (he rolls it into cylinders) and sellotape.  If they weren't guns I'm sure he could take them on Blue Peter!!!  A couple of years ago he made a gauntlet all by himself and he's decided to go back to his 'leatherworking'.  Bless him!

But the rest of the packets were all for me :)

There are some advantages to living in Manchester, England....the weather's too naff to be outside so I can curl up with my yummy magazines and cuddle my guinea pigs.  I knew Sue Roddis had a piece in this month's Somerset Studio, but Sue, you didn't tell me they were owls!  What a wonderful surprise!  I love them :)  I've decided to put ten second studio metal tools etc on my Christmas list.  I've wanted them for a few years now :)  Julie, you may notice your owl ef is tucked in there so I'll get your parcel off to you asap.

my day

Well I'm certainly having a better day than my good friend Julie! Read her blog here to hear what is happening at the end of her garden - it's shockingly unbelievable! Sorry Julie, I'd share these with you if I could!!!

A guy came into the shop today and wanted help undoing a leather thong necklace in order to swap a couple of beads over. He'd bought it in Jamaica and had to have it re-threaded this time when he went over there. It wasn't til he got home he noticed a couple of beads were incorrect and he couldn't work out the knots. I did it for him and refused any payment; it was my good deed of the day! Anyway, a couple of minutes later he reappeared with this box of chocs for me! Isn't that kind :)

Now to make you smile Julie! I tried taking a picture of 'Scrap', Tom's guinea pig (remember I told you he wanted to buy one? He had the biggest smile on his face the whole of that day; he's waited sooooo long for his very own pet!) Anyway, Scrap is a little reluctant to have his picture taken...

No, I don't have a furry growth, it's Scrap crawling up my arm inside my cardigan!! He was a bit braver when he had Brillo to crawl under!

And even braver when I lined them all up. Here are Fudge, Boris, Brillo and Scrap. Fudge and Boris belong to school but they live with me most holidays and some weekends! Fudge and Boris are 1 year olds, Brillo and Scrap are just 8 weeks old - bless!

Now onto cards! I've tried taking a picture of one of the moving cards I taught on my workshop today. It's made out of a single piece of A5 card but by cutting and scoring you can create a moving central circle.

closed

open

card standing up (sorry it's not a great photo!)

Not only did I meet new people on today's class, I learnt two new things! A folded flower, and a new fold for a card. I'll get pics up soon, when I've had a play with the ideas :)

cute alert!!

I received a text this morning from a very good friend which said, and I quote,
"CUTE ALERT!! Do not go in Ashton on Mersey pet shop" (that's our local village).
So of course, Sophie (my 12 year old daughter) and I had to go and see this cuteness. And look who we came home with :)

He looks like a little squirrel but he is the most chilled out, beautiful looking guinea pig I've seen. His fur is kindof wiry, hence the name 'brillo' :) We already have two guinea pigs that belong to school, but live in my classroom. They often come home for the weekend. Now we have our own guinea pig, and a second one is coming tomorrow. Tom (13) has decided to buy one with his birthday money. He's wanted his own pet for ages.

But now to arty stuff. I belong to a small group of people who send out one ATC to everyone once a month. Any theme. Not very demanding time-wise(there's only 5 of us), but I still find it so hard some months to do it, time just catches up. I owe them all July and August at the minute so I decided to use my new tree stamps and do a mini-series of trees. The Hero Arts tree is one I already had.

stunning atc

This ATC came in the post yesterday whilst I was out and I just opened it. Isn't it stunning? It's from Michele Readitt. I just love it.



Last night I signed up for Julie Prichard's art journalling class starting very, very soon! I discovered Julie's blog after she finished doing 'Layer Love' which looked like my kind of class so I was soooooooo pleased when I saw she was doing another art journaling workshop. I can't wait! We're making journals first, then painting, collaging etc. If you've never done an online workshop they are great. You get to work with tutors you'd never normally be able to take a class from, you get instruction that you can watch over and over if you need to, and you meet people and see great work from others and receive feedback on your own.

what fun!

I was teaching a card making work shop today at Paddy's Stamping Place. All the cards had some kind of movement eg slide, twist, turn. This is a slide card.



I met some new people who hadn't been on my workshops before and we had a great time. Workshops are great aren't they? Spending time doing what you love, catching up with old friends, meeting new ones :)
Paddy was away as she has had a bereavement in the family which meant I got to be 'shop girl' this afternoon. I love doing the till. It's like playing shop again :) But locking up isn't quite the same as being locked in an unfamiliar stamp shop!!!!!!!

Next workshop is on Wednesday :) although I may 'play shop' again before then; I've been meaning to do a window display for ages!! Have an idea, will let you know if it works out!

holiday journalling

This is the first time I've been away and packed fairly succinctly craft wise! I usually take loads of stuff and never use it all. I took my A5 moleskine notebook I received as a birthday pressie last year, paints, selection of stamps, couple of masks and stencils and a bottle of autumn gold spray ink. The acrylic paint goes onto the paper in the moleskine book very differently to on watercolour paper. For some reason, maybe the hot sun didn't help, the paint doesn't move around much on the paper. This page has blues and reds and yellows on, then I decided to be brave and experiment and sprayed the autumn gold over, using the mask. I like the result, which was a bit of a relief!!

wow! what a stash!!

My very good friend Julie is celebrating 100 followers on her blog by giving away this stash! My holiday stash looks tiny next to this - isn't it amazing. Julie works really hard on her blog, sharing card designs, fabulous blogs that she finds, and of course her designs for AI. She'd love to hear from you so please bob over and say hi, and you never know, you may win! Just click here and follow her instructions. Good luck :)

locked in a stamp shop...

... the best way to end a holiday :)

Actually, it was only for a couple of minutes whilst Wendy locked up at the front but it was exciting none the less. I'd never made it to Wendy's Stamp Attic before although we'd met at shows and I buy online from her so when I discovered it was only a 7 mile detour on the way home from our hols I just had to visit! And what a wonderful shop :) You know that 'down' feeling you get when you have to come home from a great holiday? Well, I've found the answer! Visit The Stamp Attic on the way home, purchase lots of goodies and you feel great from being in the shop and you also have wonderul things to play with/read when you get home!

Wendy stocks a fabulous selection of wooden stamps. I do so love the feel and look of wooden stamps and you should see how many papers she's got, and loads of wonderful little bits n pieces that you just have to have. It was a truly blissful experience and I'll definitely be visiting again.

off on my hols

Off camping in the Isle of Wight, see you in 2 weeks!!

inspired by Paulette

I love blog hopping, and keeping up with what other people are working on, and often do this when my creative juices aren't flowing. And it's paid off! I was the third person to work on this corset and I added the lines of lace and pearls and painted the boning blue but it needed some 'pizazz'! What better than to have a go at 'picot beading' along the bottom edge. So thanks Paulette, it wouldn't have happened without you!! Or Julie, who 'met' Paulette before me on an internet forum!


I find beading very relaxing, as long as it doesn't get too repetitive, hence the variation in beads along the base of the corset. I also added beads randomly spaced along the lace. Above is a piece I made a few years back when I had glandular fever - beading is something you can pick up and put down whenever the mood/energy strikes!