have a fabulous time in Almaty Sue!

Sue's leaving for her new life abroad tomorrow and I'm just so grateful that with the internet etc that it's so easy to stay in touch.  I'm going to miss our playdates like crazy, although I reckon we can point the webcam at our hands and have virtual ones via Skype!  So today and tomorrow are sad days for me (and Sue...and Wendy ...and...) but I had a fabulously relaxing day today making this

What a relaxing day, making a metal rose, embossing metal in a variety of ways and colouring it.  It was a workshop at Paddy's with Kay Halliwell-Sutton  and I just love my finished piece.  I will apologise for the photo though, it wasn't great light to take it in.

 

I so love that Ten Seconds studio mould, it's been on my list of wants for ages!!! [it still is lol]

And the decoration is just as yummy inside the box!  I can't wait to fill it with treasures :)

Kay had already filled her box with some fabulous ATCs. 

 

 

There are two places left on this workshop at Paddy's Stamping Place tomorrow [Saturday 15th May] if you can make it - I'd highly recommend it ;)  Phone 0161 798 5115

port sunny samples in order

I've put together some of my sample pieces from the Port Sunny show - finally some order to that gorgeous pile of yumminess ;)  Unfortunately, it's cost me money - I've definitely fallen in love with the dragonfly die, as well as the bird cage and the ticket.

I just love how that bird cage makes an instant tag!

And that dragonfly cut out of metal, or sheer fabric, is just so, so yummy!

 

I have to say though, that moth is rather tempting too, it makes such a great foam stamp - great for stamping then adding the detailed stamp on top!  Gonna have to have a go at that with the dragonfly!!

The ticket die sounds a strange one I know, but I think it's just one of those things, a bit like needing a square punch.  Got an idea for it which I'll share at the weekend (Sunday most likely).

Here's a treat for those of you who know me, and my friend Helen.  This is Helen's sample piece using the dies

I love her contrast of the hard metal and the soft fabric.  And how cool does the moth look with those cogs!!!

And finally, Paddy's yummy sample board - she's been playing with tomato puree tubes again, and fabric, along with the cuttlebug of course (and a heat gun to zap those flowers, and I mean zap!!)

PDCC29 i NeeD to art journal

It's been a very busy week for me, with lots of issues to sort through, so I really needed my art journal yesterday so I could relax and shut my mind from too many thoughts.  I decided to use my colour choice for this week's play date cafe colour challenge, despite having gone through a number of ideas of what to do for my piece this week, none of which was a journal page lol!!

I love, love, love this photo!  It's from a website where you can freely use the photos for art purposes :)  How cool does that peeled paint look :)

I love how the blue is just a hint above white!  

The saying is from a set of stamps that I won from Savannah [by accident lol, I didn't realise I'd entered for a giveaway!!] - I copied the writing so it would be large enough on my journal page [except for the word 'should' which I stamped and cut out!]  And if you look really closely you can see my new favourite background stamp in the world - the artistic stamper's sequin waste stamp :)

a busy time at Port Sunny

...but such fun!  I was demoing the new Hot Picks stamps and co-ordinating dies from Paper Artsy on Paddy's stand.  Apparently Leandra will be bringing out a new set of Hot Picks each month - oh dear, I need to start saving up :)  I gave away quite a few sample pieces, especially as I met a lot of people who had distress inks at home and hadn't ever used them.

I used the top of my plastic box to dab some ink on from the pad, sprayed this with water, then swiped a piece of white card across it.  Once this was dry, I cut the shape using a die, then stamped the co-ordinating image, again using my distress inks.

I did start the day with a pink phase, but I must have given those samples away lol.  I also used a combination of stencils to colour the paper, dabbing the ink through after picking it up on cut n dry foam.  I fell in love with the dragonfly, but this was my very favourite one :

 I just love the mustard and blue colours together.  The text stamp is from the Hot Picks set.  By just inking up part of the stamp, and holding it with the edges curled up, you can add texture without the words being too clear.  The following is the only photo I took on the day (so no embarrassing photos of Wendy and Sue to get my own back with!).  Paddy sent me off for an hour over lunch, and demoed some fabulous pieces using sticky back paper, gold flakes, embossing powders, the cuttlebug and Stazon Ink.  But guess what?  I don't have any pics of those sample pieces ...sorry!

If you head over to Sue's blog, you can see an 'altered' sample of mine though.  I discovered that the leaf die makes a fabulous bird shape, so Sue took one away to give it a hat and boots at my request, but I LoVe the knobbly knees he now has too lol