Attitude!!!

Well, just like buses, no posts for over a week and then three in one day!!! Today was a fiesta and so I wasn't allowed to open the shop. The sun was out, the sky was blue and it was 22 degrees in the naya ( Spanish conservatory) so out came one of my new A4 moleskine journals - but don't tell my daughter who has bought me these two for Christmas! so shhhh! not a word!.....

and I sketched and painted another doll portrait...but this one has attitude. All the others have been butter wouldn't melt if you know what I mean but this one - well see for yourself. Right I really am going so this will be the last

Bye for now for today

Sue xx

A bit of recycling

Becky's Mum displayed a poster for Javea Rugby Club annual ball in the shop and as I was taking it down I thought what beautiful card it was and decided to recycle it into tags so yesterday invited Becky to join me. ..
left -my tags and centre - Becky's tags and Becky hard at work. She is an avid crafter, excellent at school and a thoroughly lovely girl.
Bye for now

Sue

Merry Chirstmas

Yes, this is the blackboard at the pub where the Clifford family had their annual Christmas meal this year. As we are all scattered over three countries, England, Scotland and Spain and cannot all celebrate together we have a Christmas in November or December instead. It is a movable feast so we all gathered at daughter Victoria's house in Birmingham this year.

This is the scene that greeted us when we opened the curtains on Saturday morning - SNOW - Yuk!!! However, granddaughter Abigail and I braved this and went shopping. I may not like the big city that Birmingham is - in fact it is where Colin and I grew up and went to school - but the shopping cannot be faulted. The men tried to go golfing - what!!! - but settled for an indoor golf driving range instead.

Loads of shopping later the family regrouped and went for our annual meal.

l-r Our youngest son, Jon, daughter Victoria, her husband John and oldest son Lee.

We then went to the German market that stretches through the centre of Birmingham - it was packed with happy people all muffled up from the cold -brrr, was it chilly??? it was!!! but the hot chocolate laced with amaretto was gorgeous. Joshua and Abigail enjoyed the carousel.

Well, that was last weekend. I will try to catch up with the goings on here later - today is a fiesta so no work today. After doing the HUGE mountain of ironing - I aim to get my journals out and play and will be back later so

Bye for now

Sue xx

Techniques on tags

This is the tag that we made yesterday morning in class when 10 ladies turned up to play. Loads of lovely Ranger techniques - a mini Ranger U. I started off by showing them quite a few techniques on three tags and then when they were familiar with wrinkling, ironing (nuff said there!!!)...batik-ing, spritzing and flicking and distressing edges I showed them how to put them altogether in one tag. Jean proudly showing her finished tag... Jean, Karen, Bea, Jane, Lorraine, Christine and Pat... Jane, Karen, Lin, Bea and Jean using the Big Shot to die cut their flowers... Lin, Mu, Margaret and Pat hard at work...Right I am off to bed now - lie in tomorrow Yay!!!

Bye for now

Sue

What a "Friendly" weekend we all had!!

Friday morning started off what was to be a manic but excellent weekend.

Margaret showing her finished black and white album

I had invited the lovely and talented Queen of Friendly Plastic Liz Welch to come and teach some classes at the shop so once the normal Friday morning class was over and lunch was done I headed off to Alicante airport to collect Liz. There were two days of work/fun with four separate classes - oooze and aaahs, beads, button bonanza and patchwork play.

Interspersed with photos of people and their work are Liz's wonderful and inspiring pieces of work - as usual Blogger is not allowing me to load in the places I want or to move them!!! so mixed up or not here are...

...Jane's pieces and Liz's gorgeous mask

On Saturday it was class as usual for the youngsters and I let them join in the "Friendly" fun.

Blaithin's pieces (she is 11 years old) and Jonas with his necklaces for his Mum

Becky modelling her necklace...
Liz's fabulous bag

...listening to Liz explain... not sure whose hands these are...

and then on Monday morning Liz and I had a play date with some grungeboard, Distress inks and a Big Shot machine.

This is Colin with Liz just before I took her to the airport for her flight home. Mutual appreciation going on here - Colin, Liz and both dogs. Liz also fell in love with Colin's massage chair.

The high winds on the airport run made me later than expected getting back to the Monday class and so in my absence Inga very kindly stepped in and helped the littlies make their albums .... after which I drove home and promptly fell asleep watching Masterchef Australia - huge joke that as everybody know I don't do cooking!!! but I do love watching this programme.

Liz e-mailed me to say she had arrived home safely and so thanks Liz for a fantastic few days. Please come back again - everyone loved you.

Bye for now

Sue

busy, busy, busy....

This is the weekend that Liz Welch is coming and getting everything ready has made my life very hectic this last week or two. Liz is doing four different classes using Friendly Plastic and I am really looking forward to them as she is such a master (or should it be mistress!!!) of it. To see her work go to Rarelizzie's blog. You will be amazed at the gorgeous things she can make with a 7 inch piece of plastic.
Well gotta go, lots still to do plus my usual Friday morning class to teach so
Bye for now
Sue

get ready for Christmas...

Been playing around with mica powders lately and today being the 25th of the month was a get ready for Christmas class...

This was stamped and heat embossed and then painted with mica powders - very elegant...
and these two cards were spritzed with mica powders and with die cut and embossed baubles...same elements but one mounted onto black and one onto white card.

Trudie, Jean and Angie after this afternoon's 25th class... three very happy ladies - Trudie's a complete newbie...

Seven children tonight between age 6 and 9 - lots of noise, some singing and lots of work done on their black and white albums.

So that's me - completely shattered but very happy.

Bye for now

Sue

the text read " she said yes"

Just wanted to share my happy news with you all.

Just had a text from my youngest son who took his girlfriend on a surprise holiday to Paris and they climbed all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower tonight where he said isn't this romantic and she said yes so he pulled out a diamond engagement ring and she said yes again. Woohoo!! I am soooo happy - they are such a lovely couple. They have been together three and a half years and are so much in love.

Bye for now

Sue

at last - some me work done

Don't you just love the cover of my new Moleskine. I bought it in Holland in February and thought I would never use it but well you know - it has been stroked and admired loads so off came the cellophane and this is what I have been working on in spare moments...did I say that??? I never have spare moments!!! oh well!

here is the inside front cover complete with doodling and a little watercolouring to try to disguise the marks left by those Dylusion inks on the next page. The little campervan was already there with some words which I have incorporated. I am quite pleased with this but I like the next two pages even more ....

- more Dylusions sprays - you would think I loved these wouldn't you!! well I do! and some heat embossing and stamping (isn't she great) a bit of writing and doodling and da!da! its done.
I also love my watercolours - they are made by Lyra and are like wax crayons. They have the most intense colour and are so creamy to use. I have had these for years and they never seem to get any smaller although the blue one melted with the heat here...

My other new best friends are these little beauties - a foam spreader thingy which applies gesso just beautifully and two gelly roll pens from Sakura that seem to write perfectly on any painty or inky surface.

This afternoon we drove to Benidorm to buy some bags for the shop and stopped for a coffee on the way home at Albir. There were people in the sea and lying on the beach.

Today's date, time and weather and yes it was 36 degrees at 15.49 Phew!

Bye for now

Sue

adding onto last post...

I would forget my head if it was loose - can't blame this one on Blogger!!!

Here are September's pages finished...

and this is October's page as it stands at the moment - I will add to it as the month goes on...The writing in the top left corner says...

The Jacaranda is a tropical beauty with its soft graceful fern-like foliage and clusters of fragrant, purple trumpet shaped blooms

and in the bottom right

It is said that if you are walking underneath the Jacaranda tree and one of the trumpet blossoms fall on your head you will be favoured by fortune

and in the bottom left it says

The fruit is technically a berry ranging from 2 to 4 inches in diameter.

Leaves are dark green, pointed with a round base and from 3 to 5 inches. Leaves can live for as long as 3 to 5 years.

so that's my Life as an Edwardian lady done then!!

Bye for now

Sue