Catch up post

This week has definitely been a whirlwind week and part way through the week I realised that I had not posted any pics of the Artsycrafts projects as I had previously promised so here's a little lookey at what our lovely, lovely Artsycrafters made at Warrington and Newport Pagnell.

First up the birdhouse. These turned out absolutely beautiful which feels like a bit of a miracle really as the wooden substrate that we had specially made for this event was a bit problematic to say the least. Basically, my Mark, who can turn his hand to most things, drew up some plans and made a prototype birdhouse for us from MDF using his router gadgety thingy- me-bobby. It was fabulous and Leandra and I were very excited. Off I trotted to find a man that could make these in bulk for us. Having found the man, we were on a tight deadline but had no choice but to go with it. They arrived four days before Artsycrafts and nothing fitted together....panic set in......phoned my Mark, he checked the drawings and of course they were correct. Phoned the MDF man who couldn't understand what had happened and promised I would have replacements in two days. Sure enough, two days later they arrived...perfect they were.....only one little snag....we were 50 pieces missing!!!! More panic set in!! Phoned MDF man again and although I was nearing a nervous breakdown at this point, I kind of felt very sorry for him. Anyways, we decided to use the Newport Pagnell quota to top up for the Warrington event and that gave MDF man time to send the missing items for Newport Pagnell. It all ended well as you can see by the fabulous terrace of birdhouses below.

 Bit of a close up of the roof complete with dragonfly.

 These were all MDF covered with Ten Seconds Studio metal and painted with Paperartsy Fresco Finish paints.

Project number two. Industrial Chic. We wanted to use the little inner boxes from Tim Holtz Configurations boxes and make it very Industrial and grungy looking which would be very in keeping with Paperartsy's latest Steampunk themed stamps

 They were filled with all sorts of Tim Holtz Ideaology, nuts & bolts and some fabulous goodies that Mr Paperartsy found on ebay.

 Every little compartment had an industrial looking floor made from metal and TSS Kabuka 13, they looked amazing!

All our students worked really hard and we loved how both projects turned out.

Leandra and I have been asked quite a bit about our plans for Artsycrafts following my announcement to semi-retire. Well, we can tell you that Artsycrafts will continue but it will be just one event a year as I really do need to slow down. We have provisionally booked Daresbury Park which is the De Vere venue at  Warrington that we have previously used. It will be a three day event, Friday 8th, Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June 2012 and it will be available as single days so you can book as many days as you wish. One, two or all three. The following year, it will be held at Harben House, the Newport Pagnell venue.

Now on to last week....I taught 4 classes in 3 days, it was a lot work but such a lot of fun and some fabulous projects were made. On Thursday I taught my Street Life class and guess who forgot to take pictures in this class!!!! My apologies to the girls in this class. I made a mental note to myself to do better.....which I miraculously remembered to do! Next two classes were Pan Pastels taster days.....these were very relaxed classes......

 Pan Pastels and stamps everywhere.......and some fabulous artwork.

Finally on Saturday I taught my Books 123 class. Three different style mini books all in one class. The front cover is made with tin foil, Paperartsy Fresco Finish paint, Ranger alcohol inks and Stazon.

 Inside the pages are a mix of Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas and paper, decorated with Fresco Finish paint and Tim Holtz Distress stains.

 Loved the results.

 Book No. 2........a little house book made from greyboard, paper and sticky back canvas.

 With a touch of Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper.

 

Book No.3 Fab little book, full of all sorts of paper and Dark Room Door stamped images.

 And the star pupil of the day......11year old Freya...she was an absolute star. Ready to try anything and everything. She even dared to make her book black.....it was simply stunning.....way to go Freya!

So that was my week......stop by again soon to find out what the next round of bargains will be on my website.

Lin