JOURNEYS OF THE PAST

Today I thought I would complete my Journeys of the Past tag book from Tims workshop.

I almost finished it on the day but still have just a few embellishments to add plus, I haven't had the chance to take it all in yet. 

I'm set up and ready to go whilst DH has a full day of motorbike racing to keep him happy.

THE DAY AFTER BLISS

What do you do the day after one of the best you've ever had? To start off, sleep through the night! That is so special for me and is just what I did last night. Lovely dreams of the amazing crafty time with the Duke of Distress. 

We lazily drove to Solihull, parked the car in a multi story car park the jumped on a bus to Birmingham centre. Never been to the Bull Ring so it was something to tick off the list - definitely ticked off.

A little walk around

Then back on the #37 bus back. Solihull has 'posh' shops in a 'posh' Mall which was very pleasant - but where the heck was the car????

After much wandering we finally found plus Morrisons - to stock up on liquid refreshments - then home.

Tomorrow will be a day of craft - yay!

A WORKSHOP WITH THE MASTER

This morning I excitedly travelled to near Coventry, about 10 miles from our first holiday stop over, for a class with the Duke of Distress himself, the one and only TIM HOLTZ.

The class room was lovely and to my enormous surprise there was a shop of goodies run by my local craft shop back home, Inspirations. I had to buy a couple of things - well it would have been rude not to.....

The teaching began and as our hands became more and more inky so our projects began to take shape.

I still have to complete my tag book but as I'm away til October I think I may be ok.

Once the workshop had finished we were told of the items we could take home. This is what I got apart from a distress pad, a stain and a paint which I gave to the girls either side of me

On our way in we could buy raffle tickets so being all for a good cause I bought a strip which included this one

The ticket won - WOWEEEE! And I got this

The thing is though ---- this was inside

I don't need to tell you how utterly happy I am even though I blabbed like a baby.

Thank you so much Tim and all your helpers. A truly remarkable morning.

WOYWW #221

I have a confession, I wrote and scheduled this post last Sunday......sorry Julia, but at the moment I am on the dreaded M6 travelling to Solihull for the first stopover of our holiday. So why there you may ask, it's because tomorrow I have a workshop with the Master himself, Mr Holtz. It will be fun I know and I'm meeting some pals there too so a natter is on the cards aswell. No craft desk to show you so I'll leave you with a photo of our final destination towards the end of September - can you guess where it is???

ATCs WITH ATTITUDE # 47 - BEACH FUN

Pop over to our challenge blog HERE and see all the details for this fortnight's challenge - Beach Fun. Just right for the glorious summer weather here in the UK. My sample uses Beccy's Place - Nell in Swimmers - which is actually a free download from her shop.

Sized to fit the ATC background depicting an old photo of Blackpool in it's hayday - sadly a very long time ago (also my home town) - Nell is happy singing the song that IS Blackpool. I leave you with that image of people having fun by the seaside because today I have resigned my co-ownership of this amazing little ATC challenge blog. Time for pastures new. I wish everyone in the Design Team a happy time but most of all wish our Abbie happiness and success with this and all her other challenge blogs. I have had a ball and thank you so very much for that. xxxxxxxxxx

WOYWW #220

Good morning Julia and fellow woyww followers. A quick post today as I have to go out so here is a look at my desk:

I am trying to decide what craft I can take with me on holiday as 4 weeks away is a long time without any. I thought I would take some of my paper shapes and boxes and get them prepared for decorating. That's the theory anyway, so you see my collection ready for that decision. I need more glue and seal so I'm off to see if I can find some locally. I will be on the road this time next week and back to relying on wifi connections throughout the country. Always hit and miss, but we have 4 different suppliers this time and are hopeful at least one will work somewhere along the way. Have a fun woyww day.

A 'CANVAS' MORNING

I managed a bit of 'me' time this morning and made this

Struggled a bit with pinks to spray the flowers but I made a Victorian Velvet re-inker spray and coupled with Bubblegum pink Dylusions and Interference Red Perfect Pearls mist, they turned out ok. I would have preferred a better colour for the embossing paste but the Decoart acrylic I used was the only pink I had because most of my Adirondak dabbers need constant attention.......

I had a good time anyway.

SNEAKY PEEK

If you can make out any craft bits from this photo you may see what I've been up to for weeks. 

Xmas will reveal all

WOYWW # 219

Good morning fellow woywwers, especially to our Julia, leader of all craft desks tidy or messy. I didn't make it last week and nearly didn't make it today. I have had such a busy time of late and another 2 busy weeks are ahead because I will be away after that until October. A lot of crafting has gone on although most of that was for birthdays in September so I can't show you what I've been doing - again!! I took this photo late last night in the pitch dark and am pleased my little camera worked it's magic and produced a view.

I'm using the paints on a couple of Xmas presents, again something I can't show, the apple is a bit of late supper, the white plastic square is a little thoughtful present given to the attendees of the last workshop I went on and can be used for all kinds of crafty techniques. I'm using it to mix paint on which can then be simply washed clean ready for the next use. Nothing much else to see I'm afraid. Today I have an appointment with a metal thing with a bit of wire and a plug attached to it. There also seems to be a pile of crumpled clean clothes nearby. Suppose I'd better get on with it then. Happy Woyww.

HUXLEY IS 10 TODAY

My step daughters doggy Huxley aka office manager to Quentin James Designs, is 10 years old today.

His grandad bought him a squeaky toy, well he had to buy a naughty one didn't he?

Huxley was thrilled to bits

This is his birthday card

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Huxley

X

ATCS WITH ATTITUDE #46 - JUST RELAX

Another 2 weeks have disappeared somewhere since our last challenge over at ATCs with Attitude, so that means today sees the start of another. Our theme this time is Just Relax and with the gorgeous summer we have here in the UK, I have to admit to having done a bit of relaxing myself. However, I decided to use QKR image - Couch Potato and after sizing the whole image to ATC size, apart from his feet, came up with this:

I made him into one of those Red Rooster potatoes for a bit of fun and coloured the whole image with Copics before 'fussy' cutting it out. Please find the time to join us for this challenge. As usual there are some lovely prizes to be had. Our next challenge on 23 August will be my last with the team as I have decided to step down due to many issues with the admin side that I just can't get fixed for a while. Perhaps the future will see that change ...............

TIM'S 12 TAGS OF 2013 - AUGUST

As soon as I saw Tim had used his 'Route 66' stamp, I knew what I wanted to do to make this month's tag. We travel the A66 across the hills from the NW to the NE of England many, many times but more recently to a weekend workshop with Hels Sheridan. I have booked 2 more the next being a melt pot weekend hence the theme to my tag.

Nice and simple this month which I am glad about as I have such a busy few weeks of birthday prep for all the family celebrations in September when I shall be away - down south.

A GARDENING WEEK

This all started with a day out, last Saturday, to the Tatton Flower Show with  our Paula who is in the throes of transforming her now massive rear garden.

I do love gardening although the hard work is more and more difficult these days. My space is more or less unalterable but there is a tiny border, about 7' x 18" and I decided it needed a permanent makeover.

It began like this

Hubby painted the fence while I tried to find the spring bulbs whilst pulling out roots

Next bit was this

Then this

Ending like this

I've added a solar globe light which hangs from a stainless steel crook and it looks amazing.

The bees and butterflies think so too.