Chinese Windmills, Peacocks, chips and burgers!

This was a lovely workshop I went to at Paddy's Stamping Place a little while ago, the tutor was Sarah Anderson. It's a lovely idea, Sarah had researched it and gave us a lot of info about the history of these books, which predate bound books. Ours were made with different types of paper, including silk paper which we made on the day from silk coccoon and coloured with spray lustre paints. We also used Glitterati and hand made papers, which were coloured and stamped and glittered and embellished! We added coloured text pages, sparkly chips of plastic and I used Elusive Images Peacock stamps, from at least two of the unmounted plates. Then all the pages were put together, cut or torn to different lengths, and bound with the aid of sticks and ribbons. The finished item was rolled for storage and transportation, as it would have been in ancient times. Then ribbons are added to hold it in its roll and make it look even more glam. Mine is shown in the pictures pinned to the beam in my attic bedroom, where it catches the light and breeze, and spins colourfully and soothingly above my bed. I love it. If anything the back is as pretty as the front! We all enjoyed the workshop, Sarah is very cheerful and knowledgable and we all had lots of laughs as well as learning lots. It was a lovely day, even down to a burger from the sandwich shop and chips from the chippy! And of course, Paddy's shop to browse and buy stuff we NEED at the end of the day.

If we frame Nature, can we call it Art?

This is a thing I've been working on for ages on and off, and have now finally decided that it's finished! Or at least as finished as it ever will be. The idea was to look at images and artwork that reflected nature - who is the artist, us or nature? It's about 50 x 35 cm. The background was made with spray lustre paints, and each of the four larger panels were stamped, embossed, coloured and embellished over Basic Grey papers, using various stamps with a natural theme, then they were mounted on cream card and glimmer paper. The Stampbord pieces down the middle were mounted onto a pre-coloured strip that was printed with a leafy Rollagraph stamp and mounted onto glimmer paper. The Stampbord pieces themselves were pre-coloured, stamped amd triple embossed. Various small items were used to embellish the larger panels, such as ornate brads, die-cut corners, and a small epoxy frame and matching corner stickers. Crystal laquer was applied over various images for emphasis. I'm quite pleased with it, for a first attempt at "Wall art". My Dad is a brilliant artist, so I have a lot to live up to, which has always been a bit daunting, though this is nothing like his work. I shall definitely have another go though! I have just won a Unicorn stamp set from Elusive Images, so maybe I shall use it to make a picture for my little cousin's sixth birthday in December! (Sue, don't read this to Em, it will spoil the surprise!). Anyway, here it is! I'd be delighted to get any feedback.

On another subject, I have a commission to make 3 pieces if Stampbord or shrink plastic jewellery for Christmas presents, so will be putting in some thought about those over the next few days (between working of course) - it's nice to be able to earn a little cash from this expensive hobby of mine!

Manchester Central

I went to the Stitch and Creative Crafts exhibition last Friday, along with lots of other people. I went with Freda and we bumped into several people we knew, and got talking to quite a few others that we didn't know! Crafters are always friendly, especially over a cup of tea! Most people seemed to be enjoying themselves. I'm not at all into needle crafts - neither my eyesight nor my patience are good enough, so there was too much of that and not enough stamping for me, but it was still good fun, and great for embellishments and equipment. I did get some stamps from one of my favourite companies, Invoke Arts. Also picked up a kit to try to make a "paverpol" picture. If it turns out any good, I'll put the result on here! Also picked up some molds for friendly plastic faces, never had much success with that stuff, so I hope the molds will improve my technique. Neet, the demonstrator, was very helpful & encouraging. I'd love to know what other people thought of the show anyway. My biggest bugbear is the cost of parking, travelling there by public transport is just not an option from the out-of-the way place where I live! There's the Happy Stampers show to look forward to soon as well.