PDCC75 inspired by US Monopoly

Julie's taken this week's colour inspiration from this gorgeous Monopoly photograph.  These seem to be such nice pastel colours compared to the bright, strong colours of the UK version.  And how cute is that thimble?  I was usually the dog, although I also liked the hat and the iron!!!

This week at The Play Date Cafe we're sponsored by WPlus9Designs who gave each designer their choice of stamps; and this week's prize is the winner's choice of stamps from WPlus9Designs :)

I chose these really funky flowers which stamp beautifully I have to say!

Whilst having a bit of a mooch around in Selfridges this afternoon I saw a lovely little A6 notebook in the Muji concession for only 60p!  They only used to have them in 'kraft' so I was really pleased :

I've gone for the 'less is more' approach again this week with my design:

Don't forget to check out this week's DT members pieces for inspiration, then get crafting (and remember, anything goes as long as it's created in turquoise, rose pink and silver) and enter your piece over at The Play Date Cafe ~ have fun!

Jaclyn Miller

Jinny Newlin

Libby Hickson

Michele Gross

TRacey Kuzniak

Colleen Dietrich 

Julie Ranae 

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Ruby2Shoes 

Andrea Ewen

Fiona Schultz

and this week's guest designer

Dawn, owner of WPlus9 Designs

finally, my exciting news!!!

I have a new job!!!  And a full time one at that :)

I am going to be the Art and Craft Supervisor at our new family art cafe, 'Bean & Brush' :)  Although it's not opening until the beginning of May '11 I've got lots to do...starting with some ceramic training yesterday and Monday as we'll be offering 'paint a pot' as well as other craft classes/parties.

This is my new boss, Michelle, she's lovely.  I forgot to take pictures on day 1 but got a few yesterday.  Here Michelle is removing the glaze from the inside of the vase very cleanly...

...mine, on the otherhand, went everywhere lol!  Apparently though, the thing with biscuitware/bisque is to let any mistakes dry first before fixing them-and this wiped off beautifully once it had dried!!!

The training was very much along the lines of producing a piece exactly the same as the tutor's, something I struggled with!  This was only supposed to have one flower on it ;)  

No, this isn't one of mine, but I can't wait to play with glazes to get this kind of effect :)  And how cool and Alice-like are these coffeepots?

And guess what?  You can even stamp on bisque - how cool is that!!! :)

a secret garden

At the Cubby Hole, Carol challenged us to make something this month on the theme 'in a secret garden'.  I shared some of the content last week but managed to finish it last night and today.

I changed my mind about the tin and went for a really simple collage, so the garden was secretly contained within it...

My local library are selling off some books [a bagful for £1] and I was very happy to see a number of large print books in the sale.  Romantic novels are always good for over the top descriptions which work brilliantly in journals of this type.

For the front cover of the book I christened my new Stampendous Hydrangea Stamp and added some stitching to the image.

Now to get my thinking cap on for April's challenge theme :)  Yes, I have inside information and know what it is!!!  Doesn't mean I'll get it done any quicker though lol.

a blissful day spent cutting and sticking and printing

I did a Collagraph printing workshop at The Cubby Hole for my birthday treat.

I've been wanting to take a printing workshop forever but never quite managed it.  We made our printing plates from a variety of tapes so that we didn't need to wait for them to dry before putting them through the printing press.

The image at the top of the post was made from this plate, made entirely from masking tape on card, and using my favourite punches in the whole world [my Martha Stewart Hydrangeas].

We also worked on card shaped the same as our first initial.  I decided to make a few and print a collection.  We did LoaDS of printing :)

I'm going to add some stitching to some of my pieces I think.  It was great to see Carol having the time to join us on this workshop.  I love the pieces she did with textured wallpaper.

We had great fun with the string - it could be 'deconstructed' into very fine threads which printed brilliantly.

little Sue made this fabulously textured flower

whilst Nigel added roots and leaves to his 'N' with it

Wendy made a fantastic print from the leftover card from her 'W' being cut with the Cricut.  

A fabulous, fabulous day :)

PDCC 74

After a chat with Sarah C at Paddy's last week I thought I'd give 'clean and simple' or 'less is more' journalling a go ...

... although I am beginning to wonder if that's a contradiction in terms!

This week's wonderful colour combo was chosen by Ruby (aren't those pots fabulous on that wall!), and we're sponsored this week by Lizzie Ann designs who sent the DT some gorgeous rubberstamps each:

I decided to start with a textured white page in my journal - a successful 'less is more' start - to which I then added flowers stamped in blue and lilac/purple - at which point I got carried away lol

Ah well, I'll persevere!  These are gorgeous stamps to use, and come brilliantly packaged in a cd case.  Lizzie Ann designs have supplied an equally brilliant prize this week valued at approx £25

So why not check out this week's DT members pieces for inspiration, then get crafting (and remember, anything goes as long as it's created in blue, purple and white) and enter your piece over at The Play Date Cafe ~ have fun!

Fiona Schultz

Jaclyn Miller

Jinny Newlin

Libby Hickson

Michele Gross

TRacey Kuzniak

Colleen Dietrich 

Julie Ranae 

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Ruby2Shoes 

Andrea Ewen

and this week's guest designer

Taylor Usry

Oh no! Pedestrians!!!

I love that some things in my life are a bit bonkers!  Yesterday my Mum bought me ten 64l really useful boxes to help sort out my craft room.  We managed to fit nine in the car eventually but just couldn't fit that last one in - until we took the lid off it and put it over my head!  Didn't get a photo, but did get one of this:

My sister bought me a silver birch tree for my birthday and we were determined to get it home, even if I did have to lie back flat on the seat with the tree sticking out of the window over me!

Makes for fun birthday memories - thanks for the facebook birthday wishes, I had a fun, family filled day with gorgeous pressies and cards - a very definite cupcake and owl theme, some craft goodies and loaaaaaaaaads of books :)

time to play

Did you know it's really good for you to take time to play?  To do something just because you enjoy doing it, rather than 'for' someone.  That's what I love about journalling - playing with paint and paper; cutting and sticking, ...

It takes me into a world of my own where I'm focused on colour, texture and shape, but also expands my creativity in the sense that I start using colour combos etc through 'happy accidents' that I never would have tried otherwise.

This envelope became a page in my accordion book - one end is for tucking tags, or maybe a little book inside, the other has been opened out and additional pages added.  I LoVe working with envelopes :) :) :)

Yesterday was going to be a 'lettering in journalling' workshop at Paddy's Stamping Place, but became a more general journalling workshop as most people hadn't done much, if any journalling before.  I love teaching like this, starting with where people are and taking them to or towards where they want to go.  For me, that's real teaching, and one of the reason's I won't be going back into teaching in schools yet, if ever, but let's not get me onto politics lol.  Apologies for not getting photos from people's work yesterday; and I really should have done, there was some great stuff produced!

I took some time working alongside everyone working in my own journal.  This is a small accordion one for Carol's challenge 'The Secret Garden'  

I do so love that Martha Stewart hydrangea punch (well, both of them lol, I have two!).

And there's a bit of Paper Artsy in there too from one of their Hot Picks plates.

If you take time out to just play today or over the next couple of days, let me know, I'd love to hear about it.  Get some paper, put some colour on it with paints, distress inks, spray inks, then stencil over it, stamp over it repeatedly to create pattern, then put a main image over the top - see, it's easy!

Did you wear your red nose today?

Who remembers the first red noses?   These are so comfortable compared to the originals, and I can' get over how they seem to suite everyone!!  You still can't breathe through your nose whilst wearing them though.

For those non UKers reading this blog post, today is Red Nose Day 2011 for Comic Relief which raises money for the poor and disadvantaged both here in the UK, and in Africa, and this year will include Japan.  I wore my red nose and beeley boppers whilst out driving today and didn't spot any smiles..I would have smiled if I'd seen me!!!  

Things have been a bit busy in my life at the minute, which I'll be able to share with you soon, so my apologies for not keeping up with my DT commitments, and not blogging so often.   

I've been having a brave play in my journal this week, encouraged by the lovely Chris Bedford from Pear Shaped Crafting.  I'm pleased I'm having a go, but one of the things I really don't enjoy is the glare from the shiny paper.  I will be sticking with my usual style but am enjoying the challenge :)

I do, however, love this card I made using this week's play date cafe colours.  It's based on a piece of wallpaper I found on an exposed wall in Ancoats, Manchester.  It had a leaf image on which I've outlined and extended with my sewing machine, adding additional colour with scraps of fabric.

I can't promise that normal service will resume in the next few days, but I will let you know some very exciting news soon!