Saturday Gathering, Craft Stamper & Apples

Now, first things first (and second things second): tomorrow we have a crafty gathering, so if you want to carry on with a craft project, have tea and biscuits, and chat, come and gather with us :) Cardmaking, scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting, stamping, altered art...whatever you like.

We now finally stock Craft Stamper, in addition to the usual Creative Cardmaking and Creativity!Life we normally stock. There's some really creativ projects in the current Craft Stamper issue - as ever, I flick through it and think 'ooh, I want to have a go making that! ooh and that!'...you know what I mean?! The same goes with scrapbooking and sewing mags, so many post-it notes get placed throughout the mag to indicate things you want to try. One day I actually want to do allthe things I put post-it notes on, in a mag!

We just made samples with the papers for issue 15 of Creative Cardmaking, and then the next issue (16) arrived today. But anyway, here are the samples we made withissue 15 free papers:

Jennifer's card

My (Leanne) samples:






















The papers are vintage-y, like they've been sanded. I sanded them even more around the edges. I like the vintage postage stamps and postcards, and the quirky newspaper-esque letters. Totally different to what we normally make.

















We've also begun making samples this week for Father's Day and teacher/graduation cards. Working ahead of yourself all the time, always one festival ahead, means we kinda forget what month we're in, what day it is, etc!
Here are two cards I made for 'thank you teacher' theme. The stamps and papers we have in-store - it is a Stampendous! stamp set, with pencil, pen, ruler, and book as well as the stamped image used. The paper is from My Mind's Eye's Quite Contrary collection, it's nice and bright, and weather-orientated (raindrops, umbrellas, flowers, butterflies, gingham).



















As ever, I tend to do quite simplistic designs, I just can't seem to get myself to mat and layer in excess or embellish like crazy. Although, don't get me wrong, the list of embellishments in the shop that I really want is not short...Papermania diamantes, i could stretch to a few o them, K &Co Handmade embellies, ribbons...I just like to use them carefully, not all at once. Save them and admire them!
Have a good weekend everybody, back soon x

Newsletters and Colour classes

What a sunny day it has been today - in our neck of the woods, at least. Thank you to the ladies who attended the men's cards class today, it was a shame we couldn't have taken the class outside! But due to lack of green space around the shop, perhaps crafting is better indoors than on the pavement :)

I have neglected this little blog these last two weeks, due to being quite poorly, but I'm much brighter (like the weather), so blogging has recommenced, hooray.

Below is a sneak peek of the first newsletter for May...

And the following three photos are of the samples for the C is for Colour card-making class. 6 cards, 10.30 am-3pm, £20 and it includes all the materials and tea/coffee/biscuits. The first date, Saturday 29th May, is full, but the second date still has places:
Saturday 5th June.

Comment, or better still, email, if you'd like to book a place. It's centred around colour, and how to incorporate it when stamping. Lots of ladies say they don't stamp because they're really bad at colouring in, but we want to show how you don't need to be a renowned watercolour artist to liven a stamped image, be it using coloured pens (Memento in our case), ink, watercolour pencils plus water, paper, as well as other pattern stamps...the ideas are endless.

Have a good week everybody x

Backgrounds class, lacy daisy and lush green trees

Thursday was our first of two Backgrounds classes - the 'B' in our Alphabet classes. Thank you to all the ladies who attended, t'was fab,and I even taught a bit myself, was quite proud if i do confess so myself! Teaching is not something I'm at ease with, I prefer to let my mum teach, she is so patient and explains everything so well. I usually assist - I prefer to help people. But I taught a bit more, as a few cards were mine and t'was easier to explain them if I was doing the explaining. And I really enjoyed it! This will not be the end, of this teaching lark, I think I will don the gauntlet again soon.
























The two cards above are some of the cards that were made on the Backgrounds class, but the following are some that were inspired by the class. We had a week where we made the cards for the class and were just totally background obsessed. One such test sample exploring all things background-stamping-related was this experiment with a Hero Arts Lace Background stamp. The left card I think was stamped with Versacolor Turquoise ink - but I may be wrong, as we've been using 4 different turquoise shades of ink at the mo! The one on the right uses Adirondack Brights Ink Pad in Watermelon flavour. Such an unusual shade, truly watermelon as it's a mixture of pink, orange and red.

Some paper ruffling with the flower, and some paper ribbon weaving too.

We are currently playing around with Bo Bunny die-cuts - this being one of them. You stick a quarter of the 12x12 Persuasion Forever die-cut onto a square card, and cut around the edge, leaving some of the inside of the card exposed. Some Wild Berry Red Dot paper can then be stuck on the inside, so it shows on the outside. Punch a circle out of the same Red Dot paper, and using your fingers, turn and flattern the edge. And Craftwork Cards oval messages and card candy add nicely too. All available instore, and Bo Bunny and Hero Arts are on the website :)

And finally, as we left the shop on Thursday after the class, I couldn't resist taking this photo. It's just past our shop and the other line of shops, down one of the side streets. The avenue trees are just so lush and lovely.

Happy weekend everybody x

P.S Scrapbooking tomorrow, have started scrapbooking again! Only done one page so far, very minimalistic (less is more philosophy). But planning more. Want to do some scrapbooking on the Gatherings on 14th and 22nd May, instead of just watching everybody else make cards or scrap!