A Wonderful Weekend

Phew !  it's another hot day today down here in Cornwall, how's the weather where you are ?  If it's hot hot hot, hope you're managing to stay cool.  As I write this post, there's a gentle humming of the sewing machine drifting through from the sewing room/dining room as my Dad is busy finishing off his latest project.  I'll share pix of his makes in a later post - he's such a star I tell ya !

Warning !  this is a long and picture heavy post !

Apologies for the 'radio silence' over the weekend, I've been away for a wonderful crafting playtime with my lovely pal Kathy.  I travelled on the train up to her's on Friday afternoon and we hit the ground running as I was seated at her table of craftiness - mug of coffee in hand - within 5 minutes of arriving !  Kathy suggested that I not bring any of my own stash with me and I have to say it was very liberating having to use her stash and made me approach my projects differently than if I'd been able to reach for my own things.

She had a couple of projects in mind for us to work on over the weekend, a wooden mirror frame to alter/decorate and a small art journal (mine to start brand new and hers to add to as she'd started it previously).  We also squeezed in some extras, which was great fun.

Here's a pic of stage one of my mirror frame - unfinished wood which I painted with acrylic paints, adding gel medium to some of the colours.

Using Kathy's stamps, inks and paints etc, here's my finished mirror

We had a play with alcohol inks and glossy cardstock, first trying the 'blow' technique with a can of compressed air, then with a straw

 

Straw

 

A selection of the finished pieces, upper left is AI applied using a Tim Holtz applicator and 'pouncing technique.  Upper right I overstamped a design using black Archival Ink.

 



 

 

We then moved on to working on our journals, I started to decorate the front cover, first using a mask and Distress Paints, then overstamped with a chicken wire stamp and Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

 

I decorated a double page spread using spray inks and metallic acrylic paint - I'm not sure of the manufacturers of all the stamps I used as they were Kathy's and I failed to write down any details - doh !

 



 

then it was back to alcohol inks used with glass slides and cases, to create pendants

Kathy and I modelling our new 'jewellery'

 



Saturday evening finished off with a yummy curry at Kathy and Steve's fav local curry house - The Raj Mahal - and we were all so worn out that it was an early night for us, especially as there was an early start in prospect for sunday morning.

On sunday we were joined by another crafting pal and the three of us headed to the Art Stamps Show at Newbury Racecourse where we met up with two more crafting pals.  It was sooooooo hot there and was quite poorly attended, but I dread to think how hot it could have been had there been crowds !  It was nice to be able to wander around and see all the goodies on display without having to elbow your way in, but not good for the exhibitors as they have to cover their costs at the very least and hopefully make some profit.   My train journey home sunday evening was very hot and the train crowded, but it was on time and I was home just after 10pm.

In my keenness to play with my new goodies, I forgot to take pix before unwrapping and removing them from their packaging - sorry !  I picked up a few embossing folders, three Christmas-themed and a lovely one with feathers.  Memory Box dies, some of which were on sale and the cute turtles were just £2 each.

I couldn't resist acquiring a few more stamps and these two from Visible Image (who are about to appear on Create and Craft TV) just 'called' to me.  I love the Little Claire Designs Christmas sentiments set and just couldn't resist the Christmas Beach Huts and all the mini stamps.  I've wanted a 'chicken wire' stamp for a while, so picked this one up from the IndigoBlu stand and finally there was no way I could have left the show without the really cute birdhouse and birds from Hobby Art.

Well, I think that's quite enough for today's post, I'll be back soon with more projects to share (hopefully).  Thanks for visiting today.

Edited:
Thanks for the stamp details Kathy x