Sunday 11 October 2015

Review of the past week

Wow, it's been a whirlwind of a week. It all started early last Saturday morning when I headed down to The Craft Barn in Surrey for their demo day. A fun day was had as is turned out to be an interactive demo too. I shared a few of the techniques I use to create backgrounds, then a group of lovely ladies sat down and made a background for themselves using Fresco Finish paint along with PaperArtsy stamps.

Here are a few of my finished samples




And a couple of my background demo pieces.




Following the busy demo day, I had two full classes on both Sunday and Monday where my fabulous ladies made one of my meandering journals. We made the book from scratch using fabric as the hinges and grey board for the covers. We used my demo techniques to create lining pages for the journal which was decorated with stencilled burlap. Everyone worked their little socks off, it was a lot to achieve in a one day class. Here are some photos of work in progress as well as a couple of finished journals.






It's not at all easy to stencil on burlap but I think you'll agree, they did an amazing job.

I look after my youngest Grandson every Wednesday and this week, I'm pretty sure he called out Nanna for the first time. I know I'm a softy where my babies are concerned but those moments do make my heart melt.


On Thursday, I drove down to Ally Pally with Karen to visit the Knitting & Stitching show. This has always been one of my favourite shows but I can honestly say, I was very disappointed this time. My only purchases were two pieces of black fabric from Art Van Go. One muslin and one organza for bleaching or using with discharge paste. There were lots of people there, in fact the show was heaving with people but there just didn't seem to be anything new and exciting to tempt us :(  Never mind, it's always nice to have a day out with Karen.

On Friday, my lovely, lovely friend Julie Hickey came for a play day in my studio. We have been trying to organise this for more years than I care to mention.


It was such a fun day, catching up on each others lives whilst creating something with all my favourite things.....paints, fabric, stamps and stencils. I showed Julie how to make a small journal, which was absolutely beautiful. Sadly, I didn't take a photo of it and we won't mention mine......it will now be a wall hanging, not a journal.....but that's another story!!!

And now it's the weekend. We went for a walk in the woods today with my daughters and four of our grandchildren. It's always nice to go for a stroll in the woods, the children love it. They made a camp, which is always a favourite thing to do but oh my goodness, it was chilly today!!!!


Phew, it really has been a full on week but I loved every minute of it!!

4 comments:

Helen said...

hmm and I thought you were meant to be retired.. what a fabulous week you've had! Playing in the woods looks lots of fun, it's been very sunny here today but I didn't go out so not sure how chilly or otherwise it's been!

Artmadnana said...

Time with the grandchildren is always precious isn't it? And when they first call you Nanna it's a heart stopping moment of: 'Did he??? Do you think he just said...' Ha ha! Fabulous. Love your samples Lin. Did you brayer the backgrounds? Love the colour choices and the white stamping over. Those ladies certainly had a treat!

yoursartfully said...

You are so right Chris, time with those important little people sure is precious.
I didn't use a brayer for my backgrounds Chris, I scraped the paint on with an old credit card.

Kirsten said...

Sounds like that was a very enjoyable week. Your samples & projects are beautiful.