weekend catch up

Yesterday I went to Port Sunlight for the very first time - my reasons were not to buy crafty stuff (as I am going to GNPE next weekend) but to catch up with gorgeous people for a natter and hugs.

It was an amazing day - and Edna if you tune in - you made my day - I was utterly thrilled to meet you xxx

Big thanks to Linda, Siobhan, Liz and Anna for a fab day- my whole reson for going was to get hugs from these very special gals.

Jill and Ian for hugs and catch up with the Woodware projects.

and everyone else for helping the day be such a fab one.

It was also a personal first - I am not a hugely confident driver and my motorway experience is very limited but I managed to get there and back with no great problem so I was very pleased with myself !

 Today was another show - this time on the doorstep.  I live in a sleepy market town called Skipton where a number of festivals have been taking place over the last few years. Skipton is known for its woolly sheep (we have a pub with the same name and a day dedicated to sheep - imaginatively called sheep day!) in fact in days gone by it was known as sheep town.  The utterly perfect place for a massive festival of woollen goodness - This was Yarndale.  Look it up on facebook - so many pictures of gorgeous colours and fabulous projects - this was THE place to be for some woolly inspiration.  This was the knit and natter lounge area - what amazing creations!

I had a super time with the lovely Pam - where we were in awe of the talents surrounding us.

Then tonight - a birthday celebration with long standing friends at our favourite restaurant - the Bella Napoli.  Here is my pal Sarah celebrating Bella style with full music and silly hats.  We have laughed till we cried today - how amazing.  I am totally blessed to have such brilliant friends who have filled my weekend with love, laughter and so much joy - thanks folks xxx

Hope yours was filled with joy too x

Thanks for stopping by x

Janet

so very excited...............

After a six month break - yes it really has been that long - I am back teaching again. In reality I have not stopped as I have been running my stamping club and teaching there which is amongst friends - this is different, or so it feels,its teaching in a shop - Samuel Taylors in Harrogate and at Embsay store.

 When asked to come up with some samples and the shop is full of delicious goodies - where to start?

For me it just had to be Christmas.

These delightful vintage papers from Authentique were perfect to create a special vintage card to give to someone special or maybe keep at home as a decoration.

 This is my second version of the card using different images from the papers.  I love how they all come together.

 I can also see old styles and newer styles within the work of this - I very much enjoyed re-visiting pricking and stitching the papers which is a technique I learned at the beginning of my papercrafting journey. It makes the papers feel fabric like too.

This last sentiment has to sum up what Christmas means to me - and maybe why I love to Christmas plan all year - that bit of magic that appears in us all at Christmas.

This workshop is running at Harrogate on Saturday October 18th and at Embsay Sunday 19th at the Samuel Taylors stores. Tel Harrogate on 01423 522230 and Embsay 01756 700946 to book a place.

This is a project you will want to create again and again - not just for Christmas.

Hope to see you there x

Janet x

Creative moments - Frame it

Yep - Over at Creative moments we have been framing our projects - this just so happened to co-incide with a little play from the Molly Blooms summer Mag. I have followed instructions from the mag and just changed a little to suit my supplies.

I like how this "frame" card folds perfectly flat for postage but still looks great on a mantle piece! 

Made this for fellow DT member - Caroline - I am thrilled she likes it.

So are you going to join us in our frame it challenge this week - i do hope so.

Stop by the challenge blog for all the details and lots of inspiration from the DT.

Thanks for stopping by today - I really appreciate you taking the time to do that xx

Janet x

Exciting times...........

This has been a top secret crafty project with my lovely Niece Rebecca.  She wanted to make her Mummy something special for her 40th birthday so between us we decided she could learn a new skill and make Mummy something totally un expected.

 So she knuckled down and learned to knit ! She has worked tirelessly at each visit to do a few more rows each time and was rewarded by the growing piece. 

 Grandma found the perfect mug - Mummy likes a big cup of tea- and Rebecca then learned a second new skill of finger knitting to make the button loops.

Lastly Rebecca learned to sew on the buttons before finally finishing her project 3 days before Mummies birthday - what an absolute star!

Today Mummy will be opening this for the very first time and will see all the hard work Rebecca has put in just for her - such love and devotion from a 7 year old girl.  Well done Rebecca I am soooo proud of you and know Mummy and Daddy are too.

Oh and as this was not a pattern we followed this is an original mug hug or mug cosy - perfect for the wintery nights to come.

If you would like to leave Rebecca a message (it would be cool if you did) she will be stopping by to read it soon - as will her class mates and Teachers as she is including my blog in a presentation she is doing about someone who inspires her.  Bless her thinking of me xx 

She sure is a crafter now and I am sure will be all her life.

I didnt take pictures of her card but she made for Mummy used lots of stamping techniques - stamping and blending, colouring the stamp the huffing before stamping as well as adding her own artwork to the mix.

Watch out craft world !

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a little love for her

Janet

where did the week go.....

Back to work after a lovely 2 weeks off and my MoJo is still on hiatus. I think it happens around the same time every year mainly as I remember doing Halloween projects to get me moving again.

My craft stamper popped through the door last week - wow - some fab inspiration in there which I hoped would get me fired up but alas it hasnt happened..

So how am I filling my days ? been sorting a bit - sort of Autumn clear out I guess - I have a pile of craft goodies to sell (which may go on a certain auction site ) but also some other bits and pieces.  The main reason for the sort out is my boys are coming home for the weekend - and bringing mates too! Fab to have everyone together but like sardines in a tin LOL.

I have also been helping Megs focus on her studies. She was very disappointed in her AS results so i have been trying to help her make plans for better use of her time over the coming months.  The great thing is that when she had a meeting at school about said results all were a few points off the next level - so well within the scope of doing better next time.  This has boosted her no end.

Stamping club started back with a nice easy session - for me - colouring.  I remember so well getting frustrated with my own results which is where most of my ladies were at.  So we covered quite a few techniques - from promarkers, watercolour pencils, dye markers, distress markers, aqua markers and the like.  a common factor is we are all sucked into buying the latest product when we often have things at home that do the same job as well.  After some practise and lots of questions I was happy to see how many folks felt more confident by the end of the session.

The scrapbook has been completed - I have been doing a scrapbook, well 2 actually of my SILs life to 40.  I have to say its been hard work - and possibly one of the most expensive gifts I have ever given.  Scrapbooking is so much simpler if you are part of the memories the photographs evoke.  It has however made me want to restart the ones i have neglected of my own - so thats the plan! It has been well received and I hope the journalling has been fun for her too !

So whats the plan for the coming week? I need to do some workshop samples - I have been asked to teach at a new shop which is very exciting - especially as Mid October is great for Christmas projects too - I have an idea in the planning so watch this space.............

so hope you are all crafting far more than I and having creative fun too - thanks for stopping by and I hope I can bring more creativity to my blog soon xx

Janet

Creative Moments - Birthdays

 Over at Creative Moments this week the theme is birthdays - it so happens coming up this weekend is one of my Sons friends birthday - she is 21 (bet you couldn't guess that!)

Here is my first attempt at zentangling - encouraged by the lovely Rosemary Merry, this is a Woodware stamp - perfect for the job and great paper pieced too!

A simple but effective technique which I have used lots of times since then - usually in the fab Woodware stamps too!

Do stop by Creative Moments - where the variety of birthday inspiration is amazing !

Hope you are all fine and dandy this morning.  I am off to a workshop with Katy today - looking forward to playing with yet more Woodware stamps !

Thanks for stopping by x

Janet

The practice tea party.............

As I told you before - I hosted a practice tea party over the bank holiday weekend - to celebrate my birthday but also to raise money for Breast Cancer Care.

here are some pics taken by the official photographer - Pam Miller !

The spread

 the table

and us all together.

these ladies are just amazing - fabulous company and oozing talent.

Thanks for being part of the weekend gals - here's to March 2014 !

Today I finally finished a scrapbook marathon for my SIL. 60 pages of her life up to 40. It has been a labour of love - as its very hard to scrapbook someone elses memories and know what they may want to high light as a main feature.  It has also taken up lots of my time - hence the lack of projects - and I have not felt able to share the pages as they are not my photos to share - privacy and all that.  Hopefully I can now get on with my own crafting again and I am beginning by heading to Embsay on Wednesday for a class with the fabulous Katy Harrison. - I will share my makes later this week.

Thanks for stopping by x

I notice some folks are able to follow now but the main blog follower link is still missing - any advice greatly appreciated !

Happy Crafting x

Janet

Bucket trip.........

I could bore you to tears with photos to be honest so I think I will cherry pick my fav bits of my recent London trip.

As the name suggests it formed part of my bucket list. I have just turned 47 - the age Dad was when he died - so I felt the need to do something I had always wanted to do - namely have tea at The Ritz!

My Sister in Law Linda and I planned a mini break for the end of the holidays to include our Meghan - and also meet up with my Son James whilst down there.

We stayed in a travellers hotel in Paddington - rough, ready but clean, with comfy beds and a fab shower !

Our focus on day 1 was to see this show

 It was brilliant! Loved it all !

Next day we met up with my son James and headed for Trafalgar square

 To visit the National Gallery - helping our Megs along with her art studies. James has been a number of times so was able to give her a whistle stop tour!

 Next was my fav bit (aside being with my family)

 Yes we got there with time to spare for a little photo pose !

 Inside - we were speachless - such awesome surroundings........

 The tea room !

 Where our table was waiting

 and our menu ready to be chosen.

 dainty little sandwiches

 fresh scones and pastries - we couldnt manage all the other sugar laden things offered such as cakes and trifles !

 Time for a little photo of my youngest two - it felt odd not having our Tom there too.

 Our last day we did the tourist thing and boarded an open top bus for a live commentary tour - which we all loved. Look at that amazing blue sky - not a cloud to be seen!

 This was one of the many spendid views of the London eye.

 Couldnt resist this pic - extreme window cleaners !

 as we left the bus we saw this fab Sushi bar - megs loves Sushi so we need to go back so she can sample it - but the crafter in me loved all the lit up fish swimming in the window!

At the train station - Megs had noticed the pianos there for anyone to play and fancied a go herself.

Here she is playing Bellas Lullaby from Twilight - its was lovely watching her sit there and play so confidently. The lady watching in the left of the picture was mesmerised and came over to speak to Linda and I - she was overcome with emotion at Megs playing. She was from Brazil and was meeting her daughter at st Pancras.

There was another piano deeper in the station - this was also being played this time by a beat boxing pianist - it was wonderful seeing young people with so much talent just entertaining because they love it.

I had an amazing few days with amazing family - we met fabulous people, friendly, chatty people and had a wonderful time together - I am going to do it all again !!

Hope I have not bored you with pictures x

Thanks for stopping by x

Happy Sunday x

Janet x