An Altered Trip to Paris

Phew! Glad it's finished. This has been a monumental task for me - but let's step back.
Way back in January/February when I was at CHA I took a workshop with Jenn Mason using a Creative Imaginations Parts and Parcels Album and Christine Adolphi papers (the papers were too nice to cut up - you know the sort - the ones you look at and put back LOL). In the two hours allocated there was no way I was going to complete the task so it came home and sat waiting to be finished. I wonder if Glenda, Leandra, Linda and Carol ever completed theirs?

To begin with we glued two pink Eiffel Tower papers to the inside covers of the album to act as backdrops. Next we stuck two greenish papers, showing those lovely lamps they have in Paris, to two frames and cut out the inners (what a shame we could no longer see those beautiful papers in full, but I still have the bits and they will come in useful for making cards with) and made holes in the frames for our ribbons. The ribbons were coloured by dragging them against an inkpad and then they were threaded through the holes in the frames - which took forever.

Once the main part of the Album was complete we set about making our little books. These were covered with another paper and then a spine, from yet another paper, was glued on around the fold. Next we put the books together using a pamphlet stitch (easy peasy) and very waxed thread - well, I did one to remind me how to do it. The front of the booklets were to be decorated with small squares of cardstock and Christine Adolphi stickers - this is as far as I got.
In an attempt to bring back my mojo I started to complete it the other day. Did it work? That remains to be seen but was an arduous task as I decided to decorate each page of the booklets.
During the workshop in America I did complete the Album and one of the booklets but decided they would look better if each page was decorated rather than left plain. This was the task I set myself the other day (two days to be exact) and I decorated them using my favourite Adirondack inks, wanting each pair of pages to be a different colour.

The colours and stamps I used were:
Terra Cotta - with an owl and a bare branch - Tapestry stamps
Pool - a branch and a hummingbird - Tapestry
Lettuce - a fern - Tapestry
Lemonade - using an unknown stamp of a corner decoration
Cloudy Blue - a swirl - Elusive Images
Butterscotch - A Field of Sky - A Stamp in the Hand
Shell Pink - raindrops - All Night Media
Cranberry - butterfly - Tapestry
Purple Twilight - pansy - Tapestry
I used a lot of Tapestry stamps as they are small and seemed to be better suited to the tiny pages of the booklets.

Now it is complete! What will I use it for? That is the question! I had thought of using it as a journal for a complete year but that means I have to write in it each month (there are 12 booklets) and also means I have to do something worth journaling each month. I have even been looking at fonts on the computer as I thought it would be nice to put a month on each one of the booklets - janvier, fevrier, mars, etc. carrying on the French theme. Any ideas out there?

If any of you are thinking of getting one of these kits, or making your own using foam core (think that is what it is called) and an existing album here are a few tips:

Tie one pair of ribbons first to ascertain the length you want - ours were way too long and I had to cut a lot off them.
Cut the waxed thread to 14 inches rather than the recommended 18 inches.
Leave 3.5 inches instead of the five inches it states at the centre of your booklet when doing the stitching.
Wipe your needle every time you have done one booklet as the wax rather 'bungs' the eye up.
Mark each page lightly with a pencil so you know what colour it is (I got out of sync a few times and had to recut pages).

Good Luck - and hope you like mine.

Don't Know What I Did

Yesterday I edited my post and somehow ended up with a load of stuff that refused to be published. This is my third attempt again this morning - something to do with HTML and a Tag! Fingers crossed this works.
Day three saw us beginning with a session with Dani. His session was called "scrap clay" and he produced the most wonderful beads from just that - scrap clay. Clay of all colours lay on his table and he sorted this out into colour families. By simply twisting and pulling he produced the most wonderful beads - very "art nouveau" in appearance. Because he showed us so much we did not have a great deal of time for making our own beads. As a "newbie" I did not have very much scrap clay but Irene did give me some of hers and I made the two square piece above.
One of the amazing things Dani did was to make a square block of clay and then by precision (very mathematical) slicing he produced a beautiful pyramid bead. He also showed us how to make "Natasha" beads and "Natalia" beads - the latter named after his wife. I could spend a whole day with Dani just watching and trying his wonderful methods.
Our next and final session we had been eagerly awaiting - it was with Donna (Kato). We were to make a bracelet, something we had watched others do, but realised there was no way we were going to complete it. I don't need to say here that Donna is a wonderful tutor but she is. She first of all showed us how to make the form of our bracelet and we got those cured as quickly as we could. Then she showed us how to apply a zip cane on the top and bottom edges. That is as far as we got.
My favourite of her samples had triangular pieces and curves on and she showed us how to make the canes for that one. Whoo hoo! When I get my replacement roller (yes, I have lost it) I need to try one of those. I have the photographs of her finished work but don't feel I can publish them to this blog without her permission. Sorry folks!
All too soon it was time to pack up - this was an earlier finish than previous days as the room had to be cleared on time and made ready for The Party.
We said our goodbyes to Helen who had to head back home as she had work the following day, and headed back to our hotel for a quick shower and change.
On our return we all swapped beads (we had to make 60 beads prior to attending) and the bottom picture shows my collection. Note the birds nest and the ice cream cone in the top left corner. There were some fantastic beads made by participants and they will be treasured and serve as a reminder of the wonderful weekend I spent in Nottingham.
Afterwards we had a fish and chip supper, cooked by our resident guys who had done a splendid job of feeding us each lunchtime - thanks guys! Then it was time for the lucky draw. At the start of the weekend we had been each given a lucky number (mine was 7) and these went into a draw which Dani supervised - I got a lovely Hansa keyring made by Iris which now proudly sits on my handbag with her signature on the back to show it is an original. Helen and Jacqueline got barettes, also made by Iris and Ciska got the most gorgeous ear-rings courtesy of Sylvie whilst Irene got a Donna brooch.
A wonderful weekend which ended all too soon, goodbyes and thanks were made before we headed back, some to their hotels and some to face the journey home. Helen had done a marvellous job of organising the weekend and thanks to her everything had run like clockwork. She really is Wonderwoman.

Day 2 in Nottingham

These are some of my flower canes. Remember I have never done these before. The two in the top left hand corner are what were given to me to fill in on my finished sheet (below) by my friend Irene. The four at the bottom are mine. I was quite pleased with them as a first attempt.
This was a session with Irish Mishley who had the most beautiful flower canes you could imagine.
I made a mess of my centre cane but lucky for me my friend Valerie came to the rescue and gave me one of hers to use - it is the one in the centre of the pink flower. For the blue flower I just used a solid colour - purple - as I had no time to do another one.
I am going to spend some time and try to do one of the heart pillow beads that Iris showed us. I will post my finished result later.
Below are my flower canes on a sheet of clay (it was the remains of my Skinner Blend from Alison's class) which will be used to make the pillow bead.
The other session that day was "backfilling" with Sylvie Peraud. I made a complete mess of mine so there are no pictures to show but I am determined that I will attempt another one but this time will not be so ambitious and have less cut out sections than in my original.
Sylvie had some really beautiful pieces for us to look at but without permission I do not feel I can upload the photographs of her work.
Several people on the weekend had taken work in to sell and Sylvie had some absolutely gorgeous pieces with translucent backfilling - they were awesome!

All too soon another day was over and it was time to head back to our accommodation. We were too late for a meal as they stop serving at 6 pm on a Sunday so we had to head off in the village to find something to eat. One recommendation was an Indian Restaurant - wish I had taken my camera. The Restaurant was very minimal in decor but not so the food. When it arrived we all had our rice in different shapes (from moulds), mine being a cone shape, and the tomato had been peeled with the skin forming petals around the fruit. The spring onions had curly tops to them and the plate, as it arrived, was a delight to look at. The food itself was superb and it is somewhere I will definitely visit again.

A couple of glasses of vino and then back to the hotel for a much needed sleep. We were all excited as the next day was our session with Donna Kato - surprising we slept.

Day 1 in Nottingham

The first day in Nottingham began with registration. Luckily (for me) Helen, Irene and Jacqueline were all in Group A so with the addition of Ciska we had a ready made table.

First session was with Alison (UK) and she showed us how to do Mica Shift. I had some of my old cake icing cutters with me so I used those to cut out some shapes. The ones above show some of the shapes in closeup so that you can see the shifting pattern of the Mica.
These are the total number of shapes I cut. Despite looking as if they have raised areas the shapes are actually very flat. It is a shame that the photographs do not show up the actual Mica as it is lovely.
Alison had a lovely necklace on with different beads using the blue and green clay we were working with. Below are the "beehive" beads which I think look as if they have twisted rope around them. In the foreground are some small plain round beads but these look quite good when you see them because of the mica shift. The long looking fingernail is another bead which we were shown but there were lots of others which I did not get around to making but hopefully will do before too long.
After Alison's session we had lunch. I expected some sandwiches but no - we had lots of choices - salad, grated cheese, jacket potatoes (real - not microwaved), baked beans and chilli to choose from. Great ... but not if you were planning a meal at the Railway and Nelson later.

Then it was time for Natalia's session. Natalia works with nature and so she showed us how to make organic beads. Unfortunately I have no photographs of her finished work as I tried to make them too small and it did not work out - but watch this blog - I have one half completed and am determined to come to grips with at least one of the beads. I do have some other beads which I made in her class but until I get the others completed and made into a necklace I am not going to show them.

All too soon it was over. Time to pack up and make our way back to our various hotels. Ciska came back to ours and we all ate together, had a few drinks and a chat before wandering off to our respective bedrooms. A great day was had by all.

Fab Weekend! New Friends.

This is my "old" (as in known her for quite a while now) friend, Valerie and her husband Craig. It was through Valerie that I got to know about this event as she attended last year. I wasn't sure they were going to be there (emails got lost in cyberspace) so it was lovely to see them once more.
Well, I spent the weekend in Nottingham. Went on a weekend of learning all about Polymer Clay and had a fantastic time. The photograph above shows me with three of my new friends - Helen is missing as this photograph was taken on the last night at the Party and she had to miss it because of work the next day.
This is Ciska, from Holland - a talented young lady who makes and sells her jewellery in Rotterdam and also runs workshops teaching others. She was so chuffed with the "backfilling" technique taught by Sylvie that she had to hold it up on this photograph (and every other one LOL)
This is Jacqueline, also from Holland - Amsterdam this time. Jacqueline was staying at the same hotel as I was and so we got to know one another before we actually got to the course.
Helen, above, is from the UK - again she was staying in the same hotel so we met up at breakfast on the day the course started.
Last, but certainly not least, this is Irene. She was the first person I got to know at the hotel and she was our driver - taking us in each morning and back to our hotel each evening.

Each day we would leave our hotel, The Nelson and Railway, at around 8.30 am returning before 7.00 pm to have our evening meal. I can recommend this hotel (but not when I want to stay as I would hate to be disappointed and find it booked up) as the rooms were nice, the ambience was great and the food was delicious. Can heartily recommend the steak and ale pie with creamed potatoes. Makes my mouth water to think of it now.
You remember how pubs used to be? Well this fulfills the criteria - an excellent host, good bar staff, a good mix of people (very busy all the time), and the restaurant staff certainly know how to cook. Loved my bacon "sarnies" each morning Sally and your idea of a Continental breakfast was brilliant! To walk in and see the raspberries, strawberries, grapes, melon, apples, bananas, pears all set out with the yoghurts and cereals on one side was a treat to the eye. Didn't bother with the other side as the bacon was so good and I could not fit the croissants, meats and cheeses in as well.
The whole weekend was organised by Helen (not the one above) and boy oh boy can she organise an event. It was superb. There was so much care and so much detail put into it and with almost 60 participants, plus 6 tutors, it must have been hard work.
I'll write more about it another day but for now I will leave it there with just an introduction to the lovely friends I spent my time with.

Sunshine on a Cooler Day

Well, Bank Holiday is over and the weather has reverted to how it was prior to the weekend - it is cold and a bit on the dull side.  Thought I would brighten my blog with a picture of my favourite rhododendron.  We have two bushes which herald these gorgeous flower heads and my photograph does not do them justice.  They are the most beautiful ones I have seen.  Totally white with deep purple centres, each floret looked almost like an orchid.

This is a closeup of one of the heads.  Can you see why I think each floret is like an orchid?

Not being a day for sitting out in the garden, much as I like to look at the rhododendrons, I went to the podiatrist (he prefers the term chiropodist) so life is much better today.  

I finally finished off my other card with the alcohol ink image and here it is.
As it was a 'pinky' background that I had created with the inks, over stamped in black Archival ink and clear embossed I first mounted it on some silver cardstock which I had embossed with one of my Cuttlebug folders.  Then I mounted on some pink cardstock and finally on a brown background (which look dusky pink in the photograph).  I am hopeless at getting things centred and so for this one I decided to mount in one corner - this left a fairly wide gap and I used one of my Grungeboard flourishes, coloured with a black Dabber to tie in with the image).  

Hope you like it.

Messing About

The weather has been kinder over the Bank Holiday weekend and so Chas decided to do some much needed weeding in the front garden.  Because my feet were playing up (Podiatry tomorrow - yipee) I decided to attack the Utility Room.  This was really in order for me to hopefully make some more room in the cupboard (overspill from my stamp room) for the clay work materials I seem to be accumulating.

The weeding carried over to today and so, once again in order not to feel too guilty, I began cleaning out the two tall glass cupboards in the kitchen.  Because most of the glasses in those two cupboards are either 'delicate' or 'crystal' I had to do handwashing.  It took ages.

By mid afternoon we had both had enough, Chas relaxing with the football and me disappearing into my stamp room.

In an attempt to find my mojo I began with a simple card using a Magnolia image and came up with this.  Not finished as it has to have some flowers on to create a bit of interest in the top left hand corner (forgot - should have done this before I began my blog).

The other day I had been playing with Alcohol Inks in an attempt to make a birthday card for a friend on one of the card making groups.  This was what I came up with.  It uses a stamp from Crafty Individuals for the main image.  There is a pale blue ribbon down the right hand side (hardly shows) and I used one of the bird charms my friend, Jo, gave me which I have coloured blue with Alcohol Inks.  As per usual it did not get posted so I have had to apologise and it is now in the post for her.

This is a card I made for another friend, using the images which I bought at the Harrogate show.  This one is for overseas so it must go in the post tomorrow.

My final card is using a Lost Coast image which I have had for simply ages and hardly used (must get these out more as I do like them) of the Oracle of the Seven Enigmas.  I then used a piece of torn cardstock and used a Paper Artsy stamp for down the side.  The colour does not show up that well as it is quite a bright card - if anyone gets it they are going to gasp at the bright colour of the final mount card.
My back and neck are aching like crazy so I will leave it there - would have loved to get my final Alcohol Ink card uploaded but I could not sit any longer to complete it.  Maybe I can sit and think what to do with the image and come up with something great - don't hold your breath.