So More retreat news

First I'm going to swiftly show you Emmas but not linger too much as she will be hosting a blog hop on Saturday and may well be showing you much more details here

Next we have the gorgeousness that is Glynis. Glynis comes to many of our classes and crafty sessions and is one of lifes treasures - always smiling and very generous of her time and thoughts. Glynis will be moving to Glastenbury some time soon and she will be sadly missed we have however promised to find a retreat venue down there so we can meet up as much as possible.

Here is Glynis array of embelishments - not yet stuck down just displayed on the box. Can you see the BM pearl powders in the shot - we loved playing with them!

Next up is Meggy May or rather Yvonne. A fabulously talented lady with a lovely eye for details here is her box. I love that bow on the dummy!

and the contents

Next up is Linda - oh boy I bet she wonders what happened when she met up with us. Linda was staying in a B&B near Michelle early last year and the owner suggested she visit Michelle to see her stuff. The next day was a crafty outing day which we do every now and again this time to Art From The Heart in Harrogate. Poor Linda came along was dragged to a bacon butty van despite having had a large breakfast then whisked along to Dys and dropped into crafting heaven LOL - the mad Yorkshire women won her over and she has been coming to retreats since then.

Linda has real talent and an eye for details but like most crafters does not believe in herself - believe it Gal you are very talented!

And below is Siobhans box - my pic was blurred of Siobhan but trust me she is lovely and what talent. Siobhan used to own her own shop and run classes so no pressure there then!

Gorgeous! I love the lush blue dummy!I think we are coming to do an event in Perth, Scotland so watch this space!

Next up is Beryl - Now I did wonder if we really were too much for Beryl - if we really had tipped over into sheer madness and pout her off but she is coming again in September so maybe madness is addictive LOL

Inside beryls box is some of her experimenting - fab colours dont you think?

and finally we have Val - she embraced our madness and played along here is her gorgeous box.

I have not shown you Neils, Belles, Angelas or Averils and Leonies - i dont have pics of Averils and Leonies and will let Neil, Angela and Belle show you their own - links are on my sidebar under my Fav blogs xx

Looking forward to seeing everyone again in September for the "do your own thing" retreat - more madness from Michelle and I -shape shifting shoes, double decker busses, 3 wise monkeys to name just a few of the odd things we laughed so much about, more gorgeous grub from our fabulous Chef Andy with different pudds he wants to make for us but mostly more fun and friendship we can squeeze into a whole weekend with a whole heap of creativity on the side - Absolutely Brilliant!

Huge thanks to everyone who came - My Partner Michelle and to Andy and Emma without whom we could not have such a wonderful time - you all rock.

Gifts from the retreat

I just love hand made things - knowing how much thought and care not to mention time that goes into them I am always really touched that someone has bothered to make something for me. The card above was made by my fabulous team mate Yvonne Really beautiful with soft and gentle colours - really beautiful.

This gorgeous corsage is from Linda who has a serious under estimation of her talents here is a closer look.

Tattered floral die fabric flowers layered and finished of with a gorgeous gem and some beads.

Linda also made this - a fabulous personalised notebook in stunning colours.

This was from Siobhan and contained some choccies - devoured greedily after I got back on Sunday. Beautiful stamping and a lovely piece she is a very talented lady.

This beauty is from Neil and Susan - such an original image I later learned Susan has designed the stamp herself! Gorgeous colours and I really like the embossing at the back of the main image giving that extra detail something i am bound to be using shortly on my own cards!

and finally this piece is also from Neil and Susan and is a lovely altered wooden box. I just love that crafty individuals stamp which I have been neglecting in my own stash so thanks for the prompting and the beautiful box.

Exchanging gifts at the retreat is entirely un prompted and both Michelle and I are touched that folks have done so. they really are all beautiful and will be treasured. All are currently on display in my dining room - I have to be able to see the bits of art and am always sad when i have to have a reshuffle and put somethings away. I bought myself a Christmas card hanger that fits over the dining room door and displays my atcs and tags over recent months - they are always greatly admired by visitors too.

Back tomorrow with more retreat projects - thanks for stopping by today x Janet

Try it on Tuesday- alter a frame

Our challenge this week is sponsored by our friends at The Craft Barn - click on the pic to be transported to a fabulous shop! This weeks project was so much fun to make. My lovely pal Georgina gave me a frame back in January to alter so after a bit of playing this is what I came up with. We did this at Stamping club a few weeks ago and the ladies came up with some truly stunning frames of all shapes and sizes. I gessoed then used adirondack paint dabbers to the frame - once dry I have over stamped with archival sepia using a Tim holtz swirl stamp. The verse is a clarity stamp which I bought from someone in blogland a month or so ago - fabulous saying and I did something similar last year for my brother. The flower is an elusive images flower stamped 3 times and made into a rose with a pearl added to the centre. A little lace and a TH ticket and pin and its done. It was fun to make and I would certainly do it again.

Do stop by the Try it on Tuesday blog where we have 2 new designers on our team - Gorgeous projects from everyone!

Making friends, memories and art

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Just giving you a flavour of the fun, friends and play we all experienced.

Sharing techniques and ideas

concentrating hard

admiring and recording samples

Making a mess!

and learning lots.

Michelle and I would like to thank each person who came to the retreat and made it such a special time for us all. I will share some project pictures later in the week but here are two folks who have already posted their weekend so I will let them do the talking!

Angela and Neil

do stop by to view their beautiful and unique artwork and leave them a comment - wonderful people it was a joy to meet.

Janet x

Back home again after a wonderful weekend.

Wow! What a fabulous weekend we had on the Lovin' Ink craft retreat. met some wonderful people and played with fabulous techniques and made some stunning art! Im going to save the pictures till later in the week to allow our retreat buddies to post their work but I promise you its worth the wait. Huge thanks to everyone who came for being such fun people and sharing our laughter and slight (okay more than slight but they were funny!)mad moments - Some gorgeous pictures were taken and special friendships made - precious moments in time Michelle and I will treasure.

The Stamp Man challenge - Anything by Tim

But first here is a snapshot of the yummies our retreat friends will be sampling this weekend.

MMMMM Yum!

Its been a busy old week so here is my sample for The Stamp Man challenge which is also combined with part of workshop 1 of the retreat - making buttons.

Inspired by last years Button tin project in Craft stamper Michelle and I have added our own twist and had lots of fun with it.

Shrink plastic buttons are such fun! We used nesties to die cut then brilliance inks to stamp and edge before shrinking - dont forget to punch the holes before shrinking!

These are chipboard buttons die cut from Tims sewing room die - the first one is stamped in brushed corderoy then glazed with 2 coats of clear embossing powder - the second has 3 coats of blue embossing powder then is stamped into with a stamp from the TH Haberdashery plate of stamps by Tim - These are going to be so well used this weekend! Finished off by sewing the buttons onto the freebie download from craft stampers website, printed in grey scale and adjusted slightly to fit the embelishment box which I will show you fully on Monday after the retreat.

The Stamp Man has a fabulous range of Tims Goodies if you have a few pennies to spare and with free p&p over £10 you can't go wrong! Do stop by the challenge and see what fabulous projects the DT have come up with.

See you after the weekend!

Yesterdays play

Stop by here to find out more

Sneaky peaks (will stay at the top until 24th)

Of what we will be doing next weekend - Lots of different media

Lots of Mr Holtz stuff

(sorry my camera does not like close ups!)

and lots of handmade stuff!

Still 2 places left if you want to join us - details at Lovin Ink

Up -cycle

Do you remember last week I said one of our youngsters was leaving and wanted me to make him a teabox? Well here is my upcycled version!

Mum found this out of date natural sponge on sale and thought it was a perfect texture "stamp" for my crafting - she was sooo right but the box has also come in handy too!

Here it is transformed into a tea box perfect size for individually wrapped tea bags! Papers are My Minds Eye - asparagus i think but I cant be sure and some retired SU papers. Ribbon from stash and the huge button is from Lovin' ink altered perfectly to match with a promarker!

Of course the tea cup stamp is a craft stamper freebie - i do love these little stamps and they are perfect for paper piecing. Now it just needs filling! Hope he likes it - I have tried to stay a little masculine!

Now I know for most of you its whats on your work desk Wednesday - truly I could not even give you a glance of the tip that is my craft room! I have a Christmas card class tonight and have also begun packing for the retreat - as well as all the kit prep so the desk is buried under a sea of stash. Cant tell you how excited Michelle and I are to meet new folks and share our mad ideas! Hope you (and me)squeeze in some crafting today :0)

Janet

Favourite colours

Over at Just magnolia the challenge is to use your favourite colours. Well being fickle in the world of colour does not help as this can change at any given moment - however as we played with chocolate over on Try it on Tuesday this week chocolate brown has been at the fore front of my crafting time - here is a gorgeous combo of Chocolate, pink and lime mmmmm sounds good enough to eat! teamed with my fav little Tilda image I think this is sooo cute x
Thanks for stopping by x Janet

New stamps for the show !

Just a quickie before i whizz off to the show - here are some samples i have made with the new stamps from the Stamp Man launching today. Gorgeous frames which work beautifully with nestabilities - Ive teamed them with prima papers - madeleine which are beautiful in their own right but I love tem teamed with this cranberry adirondack ink!

Rocking my world Friday

So here I am with a little free time on a Friday - almost unheard of these days so I thought I would play along with Virginias positive posts to start the weekend.

Its been a mixed week - work has been hectic and stressful inbetween the moments of calm when I can craft. Meg has had the music festival this week and got herself in such a state about one of the classes we pulled her out. She was convinced she could not manage the whole piece then last night played it through beautifully - she was a little frustrated about that I can tell you. She's also had one or two blip days at school - why do teenagers have to be so horrible to each other? Bless her its just not in her nature to be horrid to folks and she finds it very upsetting when her so called friends are like it to her and others. Frustrating being the Mum listening to all her woes too - feel like I have little constructive advice to impart. So to focus on the positives
1) My family - as always the most important people in my life give me so much too - without them I would be so empty x
2) Friends - have had a visit from special friends today Kerry and Mary always lovely to see them and as fellow crafters they also have so much crafty advice to give too. I have also been out for tea with someone very dear to me - Jae and I share a very special connection and I am always grateful that we work with the truth at all times - she tells me how it is and if I need my butt kicking she has such a great aim - thats very special too.
3) Work - a very special young man asked me to make him a tea box as a leaving present when I showed him the one I had made for Michelle - what a sweet heart! He is 12 and appreciates the work that goes into crafting - wheelchair bound with only his voice to direct and make his feelings and choices known. He is moving on to another service provider and we are really going to miss him, his sense of humour, sense of fun and explosions of frustration have taught us all a lot about what it is like to be disabled - that is something I will always remember.
4) Days off - today and tomorrow feel so precious - I am counting down to the Lovin ink craft retreat now with great excitement Lots to do and lots of fun to be had x
5) The weather - who can fail to feel great when the sky is bright blue sending positive feelings that spring is here and summer is on its way - no matter what the rest of the day brings its always ok when the sky is blue :0)
Hope your Friday is rocking too! Stop by at The Celtic house for more positives to brighten the week!