Any excuse to play

Here it is ... bus number three!

Wanted to give everyone who attended my workshops a little thank you and a piece to offer further inspiration so, needing no excuse to play, I made everyone one of these (around 65!)

Because Sazz, Kimmie & Margaret did two workshops I made them a different one second time around.

They took ages to make but TOTALLY represent the crafting I love to do most of all.

Oh and the raffle prizes!  

I demo'd using white gesso but wanted to show what could be done with black so made three wooden hearts to offer as raffle prizes at each of the three groups.

These were them:

Tales of a demonstrating virgin

That refers to someone who has never demo'd a workshop before and not a nubile young maiden waiting for love to find her as she holds aloft a plaquard emblazoned with whichever cause she is fighting.

Oh, the visions I now have in my head!

Anyway, the title refers to me ... 

little old Debbie

 tatteredrocks

 Great-Aunt Grubby-Bee 

... who was invited to teach her version of Finnabair's wonderful mixed media pieces at three of Claritystamp's regular workshops hosted by the amazing Sally-Ann Moore (aided and abetted by the equally amazing Kim Shaw) and Maria Simms.

After much hesitation, dithering and contemplation and a huge amount of encouragement by Margaret Craner (Silvercrafter) I decided to bite the bullet and go for it ... worse that could happen would be I totally stuff up and make a fool of myself.

I am given to totally stuffing up and making a fool of myself so what did I have to lose?

Apart from public humiliation.

And pelting with rotten tomatoes.

And scurrying back into the comforts of my craft room never to be seen again.

So after tweaking a sample design to make it cost effective for the workshop and something that would not take too long to dry I got them OK'd by Sally-Ann & Maria and got all the kits put together.

Totally underestimated what a task that would be but will admit to enjoying it ... gave the OCD in me chance to come into play!

Although Sally-Ann was the first to ask me to demo, the dates worked out that I headed to Maria in Shrewsbury first.

I go as often as I can to Maria's workshops and travel with the aforementioned Margaret so off we went in April ... me quaking in my boots and not knowing what to expect.

All I had to do was sit there and do what I do with my eyes closed at home ... how hard can that be?

Er, how hard can it be to THINK about what you do with your eyes closed at home and explain it at the same time to a lot of ladies for whom this was a totally new experience?

Made a few mistakes, I have to admit but also have to admit I have not made those mistakes a second time !!!

Encountered a little negativity at that first demo which threw me totally off kilter - kinda, sorta held it together on the day but lost it completely once home and had serious doubts about myself but then along came a tidal wave of support and before I knew it the second demo, this time for Sally-Ann in Nottingham was upon us.  Again travelling with Margaret and to my regular group so demo'ing to faces I knew well - that actually made me more nervous than to ladies I knew less well as I didn't want to let any of them down.
Was blown away by two of the Peterborough group travelling to do my workshop in Nottingham!

My final demo was yesterday, again for Sally-Ann and this time in Peterborough and as Margaret does not attend that group it fell to hubby-dearest to take me on a roadtrip.  Oh and to a completely new group to me - never having met any of them before. 

Need not have worried.

The welcome, kindness, hugs, love and support totally blew me away. 

One lady even came all the way from Manchester - travelling over three hours to attend ... still can't get my head around that and have even messaged her asking if she was an apparition and I had been dreaming!

Am rambling.

But this is my blog so I can ramble all I like.

And I need to record all this so I never forget my first time demo'ing.

Can never forget the belief my friends had in me.

Can never forget the new friendships forged and just the overwhelming feeling of hoping to inspire even one person to have another go ... even managed to convert a couple of "I don't do messy" & "I don't do mixed media" ladies to my corner of the craft room and so many have, indeed, gone away to have another go!  

I count that as success and that is a word I never, ever apply to anything I do.

But today I am.

Those that know me well know how hard it is for me to say that.

These are my samples and the piece I did on the day for the three groups.

SHREWSBURY

Sample

The one I demo'd on the day

Was never happy with it so mounted it on a larger canvas once home

Still not happy with it so might try and prise off the bottom right corner composition and move it in a bit

Or I might leave it as it is and consign it to my ever expanding Box of Failures

NOTTINGHAM

Sample

The one I demo'd on the day

Will redo the sentiment at some point

Would prefer it to be narrower and longer

Too much space underneath it

PETERBOROUGH

Sample (same as Nottingham)

The one I demo'd on the day

This one ain't too bad!

Did I make mistakes?

Sure did!

Did I cope?

Yup!

Did I shake so much my stencils wobbled?

Oh yes!

Did I enjoy my experiences?

Did I heck!  'Twas amazeballs!!!!

So that's it then

Debbie the Demonstrating Virgin standing down

but

Watch This Space

because you never know!!!!!

Claritystamp Challenge #39 : Anything Goes

Well, as soon as I saw the theme for this month's challenge at Claritystamp my little creative cells went Psssst to me and I had a vision of what I wanted to do.  

Started off with a plank of wood ...

Gesso'd it ... stencilled it ... crackled it ... 

I used Clarity's CLOCKWORK stencil - one of my all time favourites

And the stamp has always been a favourite verse of mine and I am happy to have any excuse to use it again - again, it is available from Claritystamp

WOYWW 364 : The Anniversary Edition

Rolling back the years ...

Should we even think about rolling them back or just go with the flow, pottering along our little journey's through life, changing and adapting as we go ...

Birthdays and anniversaries do this to me ... reflecting of the past and how quickly time is passing - well, that passing of time has brought me here - celebrating the 7th Anniversary of our What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday's blog posts ... the brainchild of our wonderful and very much loved host, Julia who came up with the idea in what must have been 2009 (had to Do Maths there so I could well be wrong!)  I only joined up for the ride in February 2011 after many aborted attempts at getting my dear little blog up and running and I remain eternally grateful to my dear friend, Margaret Craner (Silvercrafter) for her patience and advice and support in helping me battle through the technical stuff ... still no idea what I am doing much of the time but know enough to be part of blogland!

So, what IS on my workdesk today?  

Easier to say what is NOT on my desk as it is utter and complete chaos ... well, ok, it looks that way only because I prefer neat and tidy but that is never going to happen when I am crafting so I just go with the flow ...

seems I do a lot of that - suits me just fine

This was taken yesterday as I was taking a few minutes in my recliner chair  ... I looked up and was torn between Shock Horror at the mess and Ooooh Creativity - safe in the knowledge that by bedtime it would all be cleared away and my desk would  be clear to start all over again - except I hadn't cut enough trees so that plan went out of the window.

However, that desk WILL be clear before breakfast this morning as I left the trees glittered and drying last night all ready for a few minutes of assembly this morning.  

Well, it almost sounds like a plan!

The two boxes with the blue handles contain 150 Christmas cards all made and ready for storing away until the jolly festive season and on my desk are the ones for family and close friends which will join them in the boxes and then, come Christmas I will not be the mad, frenzied Christmas Crafter that I normally am.

Well, it almost sounds like another plan!

We are all linking up over at LLJ's as Jan holds the fort whilst Julia is off on her pre-surgery holibobs - can't wait for her op., to be well and truly behind her and to see her fighting fit once more.  

Am off to link up now and to see to whom I will be sending my ATC ... I have a few names on my list of swappers so have ATC's allocated for them and if anyone else would like one then I also have a few spare so just leave me a message in the comments box-thingy and I will get back to you!

SO time left to simply say

HAPPY 7TH ANNIVERSARY fellow WOYWW'ers !!!

WOYWW 362

Another Wednesday and one I am determined not to let pass until I have joined in the wonderful weekly blog-hop that is WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday for those not in the know).  Brainchild of the beautiful lady that is Julia over at The Stamping Ground

So, what IS on my workdesk this wonderfully drizzly Wednesday morning (had enough of summer thank you very much ... drizzle will do me just nicely!) ???  Easier to say what is NOT on my workdesk as I am trying to gather the stuff I need for Saturday when I am teaching the second of my three mixed-media workshops ... exciting, eh?!?!?!?!

So this is as far as I have got ... yeah, I know, chaos ... BUT it is organised chaos and I pretty much know what is what and where it is all going ... honest I do.

Note to self: remember to unplug heat gun and take it with me!

The birdhouse is waiting for himself to actually put it in the garden for me.  

It's not for the birdies though.

After losing mommy I found it incredibly helpful to post little messages to her in the "ornamental" birdhouse we already had ... then that got full so I got another tiny one ... the messages do rot away, of course, but the whole point is the sending of the little messages and I shall continue to do this for as along as I feel I need to.

Mommy would have been 80 this past April and it will be 10 years since I lost her in September so Phil treated me to this quite beautiful birdhouse and I can't wait to see it in the garden.  

I guess this is my real workdesk at the moment - stuff on a tray for the Christmas cards ... have already got 110  made (in the box in the picture above ... the one with the papers piled on top and behind the spray inks)  110 cards in that box I hear you ask?  Well, they are my much favoured tag style cards you see ... yeah, yeah, heard it all before ... they are not "proper" cards so some on my list will consider them not cards at all ... but tough, I like tag cards so am sending tag cards (AGAIN!)

So am aiming to get 40 more done and then the family & close friends ones and then put them in the loft until the jolly festive season is upon us.

Did aim to have them all done and dusted by the end of March but was just too busy but can live with them being done by the middle of May ... thinking way ahead to the start of advent when I am normally stressed and battling the clock to get all my Christmas preparations done ... not this year!  I shall be an ocean of calm and serenity.

Yeah, right. 

7th Anniversary ATC Swap 

I will be taking part in the Anniversary ATC swap again this year.

Er, actually, ah-hem, already have them made and all ready for posting on 25th May!

I shall send card number 1 to the next person to me on Julia's linky-thing  but that will leave 21 more for anyone wanting to join in.  

Just email me your snail-mail address and I will pop one in the post to you.

Right, must get on ... got bags to pack!

Happy WOYWW'ing!

Happy Crafting!

WOYWW ATC 7th Anniversary

Just to let all my fellow bloggers know that I aim to join in the ATC swap for the forthcoming 7th Anniversary of us WOYWW'ers on 25th May.

I shall, of course, send ATC #1 to the person next to me on the list with an asterisk by their name but will also make extras for anyone who would like one ... just please email or FB message me your postal address and I will be delighted to pop one in the post to you on, or as soon as I can after 25th May.

Happy Crafting fellow WOYWW'ers !!!

Control Alt Delete

Now that's odd ... was quite sure I'd blogged this already but whilst scrolling back through my posts looking for something else I realised this journal cover was missing.  Goodness knows where I did put it then!

Had been aching to do "something" with the huge ... HUGE ... box of computer parts hubby sent my way (he was not a computer engineer for nearly 40 years for nothing!) ... I am desperate to get them onto a canvas but just don't have the time at the moment to tackle that so decided to do a journal cover instead.

 I get to this stage and wonder what on earth I am doing ... before you paint it all back to one solid colour again ...

Then all the detail kinda disappears and it looks very solid and plain ...

But when you start to add colour all the details start to pop out again ...

And after endless spritzing and squirting with mica sprays it starts to come together ...

Got to admit I got a little carried away with splattering but it is such fun to do ... the wall behind me was equally splattered I'm afraid, er, as was much of the area around me !!!

I wanted the splatters to represent the electrical activity that would have taken place when the computer was, well, a computer, but I didn't manage to achieve the effect I wanted but can live with this as a first effort.

Just need to get into Art Journalling now!

Triptych Frame

Since putting this on Facebook I've had a few people messaging me asking how it was done so thought the easiest way was to blog it.  

No step by step photo's I'm afraid but it was fairly simple so this should give you some idea.

The triptych frame was supplied by Candy Box Crafts and what Roy Pakeman (the genius behind Candy Box Crafts) did with his frame was nothing short of AMAZING!!!!  

First stage was to decide on colours.

This is where it started to fall apart.

Determined to move away from my favourite and much used colour schemes I opted for black, red and ivory.

Base coat of black acrylic paint was applied and let to dry. 

Next came the crackle ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE crackle!  Use it whenever I can but this was a new product to me ... Cosmic Shimmer Clear Crackle.

You paint it on in the opposite direction to how you will apply your topcoat and then you let it dry completely.

Once dry you paint with your second colour choice using long strokes trying not to stop and start again.  

No chance!

Stopped and started many times but felt in the end it didn't really matter ... the crackle starts to appear almost immediately. The thicker the top coat of paint the larger the crackles ... so you can see I got a right old mixture by my very uneven topcoat.

I found that once you thought it was dry you could make it crackle further by using a heatgun.

This is where my colour scheme fell apart ... I applied RED gilding wax around the edges of my frame and the apertures but, to me, I see only pink.

Everyone assures me it is red but, nope, can only see pink.

I hate pink.

At this point I knew I would not finish my project during Pauline's Inky Workshop (that's Pauline Butcher by the way!!) as I had half an idea how I might tweak it to make it more acceptable.

One of the workshop techniques was to stamp and emboss onto acetate and colour in your design on the reverse using Promarkers and then to make the colour more intense you paint with white - also on the back.

Don't do colouring.

Hate colouring.

But was keen to learn the technique so went with the flow.

Still hate colouring and the only thing I love to do with acetate is to emboss it - but that's for another time!

My umbrella man is a Tim Holtz die and I embossed his umbrella and then squished just the brolly with Versamark and clear embossed it so it looks wet.

At least that was the plan!

Kinda worked.

Backgrounds were just the Tim Holtz brick wall stencil dabbed with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink using just a felt pad ... couldn't be bothered with the wooden handle thingy.

The red LOVE and LIVE and the Dancing in the Rain wording was Barn Door Distress Ink which I clear embossed.

Splodges were Black Soot Distress Ink applied in the same way as the brick wall - two different stencils but I can no longer recall the brand I'm afraid.

Last two photo's are upside down for some reason ... but you will get the idea.

To tweak the should-be-red-but-looks-pink-to-me edges I used one of my favourite techniques ... now THIS does make me tingle!

Painted on 3D Gloss Gel (but you can use any medium - I just happened to have that pot closest to me at the time) using a paintbrush.

You don't need much at all.

Heap your embossing powder (gold in this instance) onto a sheet of paper and, doing one edge at a time, paint with medium and then dip into the powder.

Tap off HARD as much as you can and then heat it ... almost overheat it so the gel starts to bubble and go crazy.

I love doing this ... er, did I say?

If you want a smoother finish then paint on the medium and dab in the powder and then let it dry before embossing.

I much prefer the lumpy, bumpy texture though so embossed it whilst the medium was still wet.

Cosmic shimmer glue was used to hold both the backgrounds in place as well as sticking the fronts and backs of the frame together ... held with pegs for a while just to be sure.

Oh yes, for a more distressed look (the frame, silly, not me!!!) as the topcoat of paint was drying I rubbed some off with my fingertips.  Thought I had overcooked it until Pauline wandered past and said it looked great.

If it is good enough for Pauline then it is good enough for me!!!

Panels are held together with crinkle ribbon that was splodged and splooshed through some Black Soot & Hickory Smoke Distress Ink that was dabbed on my craft mat and then spritzed with water.  

Squeezed out hard in kitchen paper and voila!

Hope this answers the questions you were asking but if not then give me a shout and I will explain further.

Happy Crafting!

WOYWW # 353

So what is on my workdesk this Wednesday ... nothing! Nuffin'! Nowt!

OK ... there is my Big Shot and as many scraps of white card needing using up that I could find as I need to cut out around 3,000 little cogs.

Cutting them out isn't the problem ... can cut 18 at a time as I have two sets of dies but then sitting with the pokey tool extracting them from the dies is a whole new ball game.

Takes bloomin' ages and the edges of the dies, being crinkly, make my fingers sore!

So, I do as many as I can until my fingertips lose all feeling and then take a break. 

Time is on my side with this little project so am not in a panic or rush to get them done ... rather stupidly thought Monday would be cogs day ... yeah, right.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday look like being cogs days too.

So, you don't want to see a photo' of a Big Shot and a pile of card so, instead, will share a couple of cards I made over the weekend.

Not my normal or preferred style but am planning on having a little fundraising coffee morning later in the year, all in aid of Rethink and in memory of our nephew, and I need to make cards that will appeal to a wide range of all the lovely folk whom I hope will pop along.

These first two were my take on cards done a Clarity East Midlands workshop and which I didn't get round to doing in class.  Thanks to the wonderful Sally-Ann Moore and Kim Shaw for the designs for these.

Then, of course, once the shaving foam was out I got a bit carried away Making Backgrounds so did a few more cards for the coffee morning.

I shall attempt to get back to any visitors ... I have been having trouble with any comments I leave on many blogs "bouncing back" to me in an email as "undeliverable" and I have absolutely no idea how to sort that out so please do not think I am ignoring you ... I really will attempt to reciprocate your visit.

For those of you whom do not know about WOYWW then head over to our wonderful host, Julia at The Stamping Ground where all will become clear.

Happy WOYWW'ing!

All things Finnabair!

Had an amazing weekend taking all four of Finnabair's classes when she came to Coventry last weekend ... did two of her classes last year up in Harrogate and was desperate to do more so when I found out she was coming more local to me I had to bat the big brown eyes and persuade hubby to let me go!  So, Saturday 27th was my Christmas present and Sunday 28th was my birthday present and the shopping bill afterwards was my divorce settlement!!!

First project on the Saturday morning was "Frozen in Time" ... a gorgeous journal cover and I enjoyed doing it so much I have done two more this past week.  

I had a mini-meltdown when colouring this one ... chose my colours and thought I picked up the blue bottle, did my first squirt and OH NO!!!! I grabbed the pink bottle by mistake.

I do not do pink.

I hate pink.

But pink it had to be as there was no turning back!

Deep breath and continue.

Can kinda, sorta live with the end product ... it is growing on me.

But I still hate pink!

Some ladies left after the first workshop and new ones came for the afternoon session but I was well and truly settled for the weekend so I actually had it all together for once!

Next workshop was "Beauty and the Beads" ... I did this in Harrogate last June and was very pleased to get a second chance at it.  

Went into meltdown the moment I started and regretted my choice of stencil from the moment I put the paste on the canvas.  Sat with my palette knife in hand about a gnat's whisker from scraping it all off ... it had already started to dry so am sure I would have ended up with one heck of a mess so decided to just go with it.

The piece Finn worked on for her demo had two corner designs and as most of my work seems to follow that design I wanted to do something different.  My piece last year was a diagonal so I didn't want to do that so thinking cap on!  I had messed up the one edge of the canvas where I didn't take the stencil far enough so that became the bottom and I envisaged a sort of "WHOOSH" up the centre of the canvas.

This did not go AT ALL to plan and I faffed round for ages moving bits here and there and getting more and more disheartened.  Shouted HELP! to Finn who came to my rescue, made a suggestion which I very readily took on board and ended up with this.

Was not really pleased with it at all until I shared it on Facebook and words like "magic potions" and "spells" began to appear ... hadn't thought of that at all and I think it is now my favourite of all four pieces.

Back the next day to start all over again ... loving every minute and wanting it to never end!

First project Sunday morning was "Time Capsule" ... again a repeat of the one I did in Harrogate ... loved making it but my least favourite of all I think.  I am undecided whether to gesso over the roses and make them less intense ... am not being impulsive though and will decide at some point!

The three workshops so far had all been amazing ... I had really, really lovely ladies at my table and the group as a whole worked brilliantly with everyone patiently waiting their turn at the spritzing/inky tables that had been set up.  

Sunday afternoon it all changed and we were back to the grabbers and impatient ladies who simply have to go first.  I had my three carefully chosen colours lined up and was merrily spritzing away when one of the bottles disappeared and was now in the hands of a group of three.  Some colours look so similar in their bottles so I had no chance of finding those I was using again and messed this one up big time.  

Felt myself getting quite cross but just laughed inside and let them carry on ... and now blame them for the horrible colour choice on this one!

The numbers refer to my wedding anniversary and the word "journey" sure does sum up the past 37 years!

  The final piece was "Overemotional" (all Finn's workshops have names) and it is one I have wanted to do ever since discovering Finnabair ... this piece sums up her work for me and sure did call out to me.  

Hardest part of this (and one which stressed me out since I booked my place on the workshops last June) was using a photo' of myself.

Decided at the very last moment to go ahead and stick myself on there but was delighted I then got the opportunity to hide most of myself away ... see, I am not daft as I look!

This piece would have been individual to everyone there and mean different things to everyone ... I feel this one truly represents ME at this moment in time.

Overemotional.

Stupid little smirk.

A waterfall of tears

A little broken heart.

Torn and tatty to the extreme.

Engulfed by sadness.

BUT

Holding on and getting by and sometimes the stupid little smirk becomes a real smile of joy and happiness.

Totally LOVED making my tatty dress (got the Miss Haversham vibe going big time!) and made it as ragged as I could.

My heart and soul is in this canvas.

Was enjoying doing this piece so much and then Finn had to go and spoil it by saying the "P" word ..

PENCIL!!!!!

I don't do pencils.

I LOVE pencils to stroke and admire but not to use.

I HATE colouring-in.

I don't do pencils (did I say that already?)

I REALLY don't do pencils!

Sat there for ages with it in my hand.  Went to make the first mark and pulled back ... time and time and time again.

Put the pencil down figuring it did not need it.

Knew that if Finn said we needed a to use a pencil then we REALLY needed to use a pencil.

SO ... I just took a deep breath and went for it.

Finn was standing two feet away and heard that deep breath.

"Well done. I am proud of you"

ABSOLUTELY MADE MY WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to do more classes ... will have to negotiate the Christmas/Birthday present deal again but can't think of better presents to get.  

Finn is the most amazing teacher ... funny and generous and so willing to share her talent and her encouragement makes you believe you can do anything.

Her motto is SPREAD YOUR WINGS ... and mine were spread open wide immersed in the wonderful world of Finnabair.

(just realised I have them in the wrong order!  Not to worry ... you will get the drift!)
xXx