Diary of a Weekend of Workshops....

Hi all... what a Fabulous weekend I had last weekend!  I was very privileged to be at The Parchment Festival, and had a blast!  Here is a quick (!) run down of what happened....  please excuse the use of Fabulous and Wonderful etc so many times, but I cannot think of any other words that fit!!!

Friday....

We had two workshops on the Friday...  One with the Wonderful Dorothy Holness, whose work is sooo exquisite it is untrue...  we were working on a beautiful flower spray using poly cromos and blending techniques... I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop as you may have noticed I love my pencils, and it was fabulous to have such a brilliant teacher to guide me....   Although not finished yet,... here is my piece so far...

Our other workshop on Friday was with Kanni... and all I can say it that it was Mind Blowing!!!!  I was a little nervous about this workshop having attempted Kanni's patterns before... The Kimono!! LOL  But I was totally amazed by it... it was.. well.. Mind Blowing!!!  Her work is amazing... We were using black parchment and then building up colours to create the most beautiful and vivid artwork... I just loved it to bits and bits... and bought loads of black parchment so I can do lots more!  Unfortunately, I didn't have my colour soft pencils with me... although I was tempted to drive the 21/2 hours home to get them!! LOL  The top flower was my first try, the middle my second, and the bottom one I did that night back at my friend Carols house using her Colour softs which saved me a long long drive! LOL  It was much easier with the CS for blending etc... and I now have justification in buying the complete set that I purchased a little while ago!

On the Saturday we had the Festival.. which was Great!!!  Met sooo many wonderful people and also spent a bit!   But it was all needed!!

On Sunday it was back to the classroom... We had a workshop with the Oh so wonderful and luvverly Tina Cox, which involved painting with felt tips.... she knows this is wayyyy out of my comfort zone, but she is such a fabulous teacher (and friend) that I was soon totally engrossed and having a ball!  I still have the back to do, but most of the work on the front is done except the tree and some fine detail....  in the picture it is still attached to the pattern as it looks better that way at the moment!  I am very pleased with what I produced, especially as I Don't Do Painting! LOL  There is a lot of grid work to do too around the picture.....

The final workshop was with Dorothy again, who I have to say did the most fantastic job as she was standing in for another tutor who sadly couldn't make it..... The thought of being given a project like this and a week to prepare a workshop leaves me in a cold sweat!!!  The workshop was originally designed by Linda Williams and it is truly stunning... although it was using my favourites.. pencils again.. I was terrified when I saw the finished piece.....  But... I was a big brave girl and I had a go... and Loved it!  The detail is incredible and I totally enjoyed myself, it was brilliant ..... still needs a lot of work, very fine work, but I am looking forward to finishing this too....  again in the photo, it is still on the pattern so you can see more of the detail etc....

Well.. that was my fabulous, brilliant and wonderful weekend..... and it was THE BEST!!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy Happy Day!!!

Big huge smiles here today.... Very long story.. but very happy girlie!! 
Back in work mode.. and just finished a new CD for the Parchment Festival this coming weekend.. will be launching it there, then putting it on the website for Monday.
The theme is birds... lots and lots of Beautiful Birds....  29 folders, each with two different topper sheets, a waterfall, shaker card/quick card, 4 papers, 2 tiles and an insert... so that is 11 times 29.. which equals loads and loads of pages for six quid! LOL

Will be doing loads of demos with it at the festival (hopefully.. bet I spend too much time chatting and shopping!!!) as I think the toppers on it are great for people who want to do the beautiful parchment work, but like me, cannot draw a straight line...  print it out... gridwork border and a beautiful card...  simples! ;-)

Here is a sneaky peekie or two....

xxxxxxx

Blatent Plug... New CD out

and on my site..... The Ugly Bugly Bunch.   Have taken a bit of a gamble with this one as it is totally different.... 12 folders of fairies and fairy friends, but they are not cutsie cute at all... they are... well  Ugly! (but quite adorable too) LOL  They have wrinkles, droopy bits, pot bellies... most human flaws to be exact...  think you will either love it or hate it.. I love it! xxx

You can buy it here! xxxx

Well, that was a stroke of luck!!

Last Sunday, I was all prepared to enter the CD Sunday colour challenge.. blue, yellow and brown.. printed my papers.. and then as it always seems to.. other "stuff" took over.. so here we are a full week later, and the sheets were still sitting in my printer tray! LOL
Anyway... never mind.. I think, and go off to check this weeks challenge.. and Oh Wow...  It is entitled Wild Thing....  Couldn't have been more perfect!  So I grabbed my papers from last week... cleared the decks and sat and made a card!!!  Yayyyy Me... first card for ages...

I am sure it fits the Wild part of the challenge, I haven't seen many tame ones! LOL  And it fits the CD part as I used Birds, Bees, Bugs and Me  to make it.. lets see if I can make one next week and make it two in a row!  :-)
xxxx

Very Important.....

especially if you are a Parchment Fanatic like me! LOL

Going to be Absolutely Amazing!  Last years was brilliant.. had sooo much fun (and spent sooo much money! LOL)  If you have a chance of making it.. be there!

All the top names will be there, the talented, beautiful and Oh So Luvverly Tina Cox.... (I hope she reads this! LOL)  the very very talented (and patient with newbies) Dorothy Holness...  the wonderful and funny Judith Maslen (and I am gutted I am missing her workshop this month!)  the very lovely Linda Williams... and the extremely talented Kanny.. who I have not had the pleasure of meeting, but I am half way through the second of her Kimonos....  and I want to meet her to tell her how clever she is.. they are beating me! LOL

Also hoping to catch up with Alison Yeates and Pauline Loweth... and very probably give them both lots of money throughout the day

I will have my own stall there with my CDs.. and I will be demonstrating how easy it is to cross between CD crafting and parchment..... using the images from my CDs and (probably Pauline's Gridwork book) grid patterns, I am hoping to make something to tempt the customers! LOL

Oh.. and the wonderful Marilyn who is organising it all... says I can dress as a Bee! ROFL


Hopefully see you there!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yes.. Managed it!

LOL

Decided I wanted to enter cd sunday swirls and pearls So made a card.. followed the rules.. took a picture.. Broke my camera!  ROFL  Ho Hum!
Anyway.. Camera fixed (I hope) and here is the card!  Phew!

To keep within the rules for CD Sunday.. the main rule being in the title of the blog (ROFL), I used backing papers and toppers from one of my CD.. Autumn Butterflies and lace...  the big swirls were using a much loved Mariannes cutting die.
x

CD Sunday

Really pleased to be typing this!!  I am very proud to have been asked to be the February sponsor for CD Sunday this month, and the blog challenge started today!  The theme is Friendship, and I just love the cards the design team have made using my CDs... check it out.. there is a great prize.. even if I do say so myself!!! :-)
xxxx