MY CHUNKY BOOK PHOTOS

Well, the video just would not load so I have had to revert to photos. Please enjoy as much as me.

Once more, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Heather for organising this swap. the fun had by both myself and I know, the others, was just marvelous.

What's the next one then?????

CHUNKY BOOK

My little video of my chunky book will not load no matter how many times I try.

So, it's plan 'K' today. I'll pop back later with that plan's result. In the meantime have a look at these lovely ATCs received from She.

YESTERDAY

No not the song, the day. I waited so long for yesterday to arrive and 'poof', in a flash, it went.  However, not before I'd had a brilliant time.

I actually managed some sleep the  night before and as 'peg leg' wanted to come to see the girls, we went in the motorhome so he could be comfortable for the day and watch a DVD or 2 and have a little sleep!! We arrived just after 9am and almost at the same time as Lindsay and David. Amy came out to welcome them and invited us in aswell. How sweet of her. Anyway, we had a brew and David and Lindsay got really busy with the set up of the workshop allowing me to help a little. That first hour flew and before we knew it, the others had arrived and we were ready for the off.

A great big welcome was given to Sioux (ArtyJen) who had driven up from Brixham, Devon. For those of you who don't know her, have a look at her blog and the SCD blog of whom she is a DT member. Some fabulous stuff there.

The 1st workshop was to alter a picture frame using melt pot techniques together with my favourite, Tim Holtz techniques. Where the time went was no bodies guess so none of us actually finished. Work in progress for me here. A few photos then of what I did manage to do.

Basically, we made little frames using UTEE and pictures, embellishments using moulds and cookie cutters, shapes by pouring UTEE onto the craft sheet, alcohol inked foil, alcohol inked tile with negative stamping - I like this one the best, sticky backed canvas transfer, gesso relief and more.

We seemed to keep our area tidy looking at the photos, but I know mine wasn't and I ended up with both inks and gesso all over the place. Good fun.

We finally stopped for lunch and some of us took off into the motorhome for ours as the shop had become really busy and there wasn't much room left. We also had been given our chunky grunge books by Heather, and just couldn 't wait to open them. You can see mine at the end of this post.

So back to the 2nd workshop - mystical shrines. This time we used patterned paper to cover a base card and a large matchbox. We used, paint dabbers - even some may have used mushroom dabbers eh Gez??!! A little joke between us. Also, alcohol inks, beads, wire, multi-medium, guilding sheets, but  most of all, beeswax. This was new for me, not anymore though. I liked this a lot. I had been collecting 'little' treasures for weeks and even made some faux porcelain flowers and a beaded dragonfly I was lucky enough to use them too.

Sorry, didn't get the chance to turn this photo round. Again, it's not finished. I still need to add an embellishment to the top part of the drawer plus a few little tweeks here and there AND my faux porcelain flowers have just dropped off!!!

The second challenge was to make a smaller version this time with opening doors. Time ran out completely so we all just took the parts away with us to complete at home. However, I managed to take a photo of Lindsay's which is just gorgeous.

The session ended with lots of hugs and smiles and Lindsay did the honour of taking group photos with everyone's cameras. Get ready for the line up then.

Left to right:  Me, Sioux, She, Gez and Heather.

Roll on the next time girls and a great big thank you for the lovely ATCs.

The first one is from She, cava queen is from Sioux, the torso is from Heather and the last one is from Gez.

Well, I know this is a marathon post but so was the day. I was so tired last night I fell asleep on the settee and didn't wake up 'til gone 1am. 'Peg leg' had gone to bed hours before!! Goodness knows how Lindsay felt being on her feet all day. But I got my book and here it is. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.
For some reason Blogger won't upload my chunky book, so I'll try later on a separate post. Sozz..

GHOSTLY ATC

I don't really know why I love making Halloween ATCs. I think it's the colours - or lack of colour - and the intriguing images and effects.

Of course it's really an American thing that is catching on here as everything else from over there does (not complaining about the craft side of that though - quite the opposite) so they do it better. I've just seen an amazing ornament made using a combination of Tim's GB, stamps and embellishments. Quite delish..

My little card, on the other hand, is simple but effective - just like me LOL!!!!

I used mount board for the base and gave it a covering of gesso before distressing over it with black soot and dried marigold inks. I then sprayed the skull stamp with water and stamped the background. this gave an eery looking image which I dried quickly with a heat gun. After masking that I stamped the cobwebs using black archival, removed the mask and over stamped with Tim's barbed wire stamp, again using black archival. The little ghost word is from a mini collage of words by Studio G - I think I got this off Ebay last year. I then stuck a couple of 'spiders' - ok, I know they are really ants - which are luminous to the webs and added a bit of orange peel stickles.

The photo doesn't really do it justice because, although a simple card, it's quite effective.

I'm starting to get my things together for Lindsay's workshops on Saturday. They are going to be a hoot. Meeting up with 'the girls' (Gez, She and Sioux) and the 'sister act' (Lindsay and Heather) is a recipe for fun, fun, fun, Oh! and a lot of great crafting techniques. Check out everyone's blog from the links in my right hand side bar.

Hopefully I shall get the chance to take photos of what we make and what we get up to. See ya.

ANOTHER WOYWW - 15/9

The days between these Wednesdays are definitely being swallowed up by an alien invader. Where did they all go then? It seems the time to show off your workdesk is every day not just each Wednesday. I have a feeling that these awful gales have blown them away this week. If you pop over to Julia's blog, maybe they are all there.

This is the tip on my desk this morning. I thought I might make some Halloween ATCs to swap on Saturday at the long awaited workshop with Lindsay.

I managed to make a couple but not sure whether I will get any more done. I had to finish reading a book that Heather had lent me, so I could return it on Saturday. It's called Cats in the Belfrey by Doreen Tovey and is about a family of Siamese cats and their antics. I have never laughed so much. It is written just like the cats were 'human', which all cat owners, both past and present, know is true. Wonderful, wonderful book.

Just to finish off, here is one of the ATCs. Can you see the ghostly figure?

I won't tell you about 'peg leg's' trip to the hospital yesterday. You will think that I am making it all up about the catalogue of complete incompetence within the NHS in our area. Suffice to say, he has another appointment in another month because someone did not link the last one to yesterday's!!!!!!! and therefore they had no record of it.............. we give up.