OH WHAT A LOVELY TIME WE HAD!

Hi Folks

Thank you to everyone who managed to come to our Summer Craft Fest last weekend, we hope you enjoyed the demos, mini makes and opportunities to craft along with us.  If you weren’t there, why not ;o) lol.  You certainly missed a lot of fun and laughter and the chance to have a go and play with lots of products.  

Here are a few pics of the demonstrators and samples starting with the pictures from Saturday.  When I say quick, I really mean make yourself a cuppa before you start reading!

Here is our lovely staff team without their hard work we'd never be able to pull off our events.  From left to right: Elizabeth, Rachel, Siobhan and Kati.  

We also had Elizabeth's lovely mum helping out with drinks and refreshments for the demonstrators which was a great help

I have added a link if there is a follow up class that you can join in with, associated with any of the demo's.  There are some planned classes that have not yet been released which we are giving people an opportunity to pre-book without obligation.  

To pre-book any as yet unreleased classes ring us on 01737 822961 to secure first refusal on a place.  The classes mentioned for pre-booking are likely to be very popular once the class is actually released and you will have the option to confirm or drop out at that point.  To make it fair, places will be offered in the order people register.

On to the demos and first on the left in the studio was Kay Carley who was using Brushos and JOFY stamps  

Kay was surrounded 3 deep for most of the day but it's amazing how quickly people move when a camera appears! She did leave us  some lovely samples though so you can see what she did! 

Kay has a couple of Brusho classes coming up.  The June class is full but, at the time of writing, there are a two spaces for the July class on Sunday 26th July.  Kay will also be running a Christmas Brusho class in September and you can pre-book this class by phone now to secure a place before it is officially released. 

Carol Cockbain was next to Kay and she was also using Brushos together with Sweet Poppy stencils, pastes and more.  She created some lovely samples, I particularly like the jungle animals but they were all fab.  

 Here are a couple of the samples from the day.  You will make these and several other cards in Carol's Jungle Love class on Saturday June 20th.

Next we had Kathy Byrne and her lovely Stampbord projects, I saw lots of people walking around clutching tightly to their pieces of finished Stampbord.  Kathy managed to get customers almost as mucky as Helen Chilton (see further down)

Kathy’s July Stampbord class is full (I've already put these samples below on Facebook a few days ago) but she will be running another class in October.  I am certain this will be a sell out too when it is officially released in about a month’s time.  If you are interested I would strongly suggest that you ring us to put your name down as we have already started taking pre-bookings for October.

Moving on we had Lina McDermott who had made some lovely samples using the latest Tim Holtz stamps.  She also was demoing dimensional canvases that she created the using Sizzix heart die and Lina was also getting people to create tags with Tim Holtz stamps and watercolour techniques using Distress ink pads.

  

This board was my favourite sample piece.  I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture and for cutting off Lina's head!

Here are a couple of the tags that people were having a go at during the day

Next door we opened up our mail order room as a demo venue and first up was Mrs Mucky Pup herself also known as Helen Chilton.  Helen was wearing working with Brushos and Crafty Individuals stamps.  She corrupted a number of people who went away with inky fingers and no white shirt was safe.  

The other demonstrators in that room all went home and dreamed of Helen saying “blow harder” as she got people making backgrounds with Brushos and a straw.  For me in future whenever anyone says "blow" I will think of Jackie and smile - Jackie you know who you are!

Helen tells me it took 3 days to get her hands completely clean.  She definitely won the award for the filthiest table!

  

Helen runs our Inky Fingers club on the last Wednesday of every month and has a Vintage Display Board class on Saturday 27th June and Watercolour effects class on Sunday 12th July .  

Patiently in that room was Chris Dark who was creating yummy faux finishes, I want to have a go at that myself.  The effects people who did get chance to have a go were really good.

If you want to try what Chris was doing, she has a class on Sunday 16th August in which you will have a go at about 10 different finishes. Here are some of the samples that Chris prepared which includes what looks like old ivory, pewter and brushed aluminium. In the class you'll also do chipped paint, rust and loads more.

Finally on Saturday we had Jane Gill with the lovely Stampendous Stamps and co-ordinating dies.  Jane's interactive bit was teaching people to colour butterflies and she had some lovely samples on her desk.  

Jane also has a class coming up on Saturday 25^th July using these lovely dies and stamps to create 3D and pop out cards.  Here are a couple of samples from the demo, we'll pop the class samples on Facebook and in the newsletter when we get them.

Moving on to Sunday, it was all change.

Starting back in the studio we had Jane Collman who is not only a tutor but also helps out in the shop and is our fabulous blog mistress!  Jane was creating totally stunning cards and flowers with the Sue Wilson dies.  

The samples shown will be made in her Fancy Die Cut Cards class on Sunday 30th August.

Next up was Neil Walker who was using the Viva Decor stamps with the DecoArt fluid acrylics and interference paints  to create wonderful samples.  The interactive part of his demo was decorating tags using the demo products

He has a class using the interference paints on Sunday 9^th August I’ve already popped sneak peaks for that one on Facebook.  Here are some of the sample tags he created that people had a go at replicating on the day.  I love those stamps they are just great value.

Then we had new boy (to us anyway!) John Lockwood, what a hoot.  He was using the MDF blanks with the Craft Consortium decoupage papers.  

He is the one who brought out Kati’s newly found talent for decoupage and led her to become a specially trained decoupage person (very special if you know what I mean!!!)

John had a phenomenal amount of samples and people were able to have a go at using the papers on their own MDF pieces.  Here are some of his lovely samples 

John will be coming to do a class for us later in the year, September or October, if you want to secure your place you can ring and pre-book now.  There are already quite a few people on the list so pre-booking is your best chance of bagging a place.  We haven't finalised the projects yet but it will likely be a Christmas themed class and involve his stamps and Sue Wilson's dies as well.  

Next up was Michelle Johnson who was working with Stix 2 products and she had some lovely ideas for creating embellishments and more.  People got stuck right in!

These are some of the samples from the day made from glue puddles from a hot glue gun, some of the glue puddles were left to cool and then die cut, some stamped into while hot for texture and then foils and glitter added for extra bling and some were made using moulds with hot melted glue poured in instead of clay.  Such cool techniques.

Moving on to the other room, first up was Jo Firth-Young who was creating bunting using the banner punch board decorated with her stamps

Here are a couple of pieces of bunting to give you a flavour of what Jo was up to

 

 Jo has a lovely JOFY Cards class on  Saturday 1st August, I'll pop the samples on Facebook and the online class as soon as I have them

Rachel Snook (you may remember her from the Saturday Staff picture as she multi tasks!)

was using some of the other We R Memory Keepers punch boards to create bags, boxes, flowers pinwheels and more.   My favourites were the pinwheels that she had made from acetate coloured with alcohol inks, very yummy.  She also had loads of bags and boxes all over her table and hanging from a tree!

Above are a couple of the alcohol ink coloured acetate pinwheels and below one of the flower decorated pencils.

Rachel has a Punchboard Delights class coming up on Friday 7^th August.   It’s a chance to make lots of decorative bags and boxes that you can use to “wrap” gifts.  I'll have some pictures for the class to share with you shortly

Finally tucked in the corner was Heidi Green.  Heidi was working with the latest Hobby Art releases.  She also had some really lovely samples.  I always think of Heidi as a real stampers’ stamper.  She is very creative and she was sharing her stamping techniques and giving people the opportunity to try out for themselves.  If you like stamping and haven't tried a class with Heidi yet you are missing a real treat.

That's it for the demos, but Chris Dark did send me some pictures from her mini makes on Sunday so I thought I'd just add them here.  First up Frances and Imogen's books 

and here are two more that I don't have names for, I'm sorry.

  

                    

 

Phew.  Thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end!  That turned into a longer post than even I anticipated ;o).  

Hope to see you at the next Inspiration Day on Saturday 4th July.  We'll be showing you lots of lovely projects with Tando products.  There are still a few spaces left for Di Oliver's Guitar clock class on Sunday 5th July too.

Hope to see you soon

Sandy xx