A long, long, long post from me today....

Well, I have got a whole month to cover as you'll see my last post was 1st March. I could have done with cloning myself or at the very least borrowing some time from someone with some to spare as I seemed to be running just to stand still all month...

I have doodled all my life and just lately felt in the mood to make a doodled card and the one above is the one that started it again. I had been at the Dr's to sort out a mistake with my thyroid prescription and found myself at the shop with an hour to spare before we opened and so I took out my pen and four and a half hours and a few customers later I had my finished card...
I then doodled a Happy Birthday card for the lovely Yaa my Saturday girl... and made an Easter card... and this is another one I did...and another one for my Mum... and so I decided to share my love with the girls who embraced it wholeheartedly...

Elsa from Madrid was the only one of the Saturday girls whose photo I managed to remember to take...
the Monday girls hard at work doodling...
and the Wednesday ones...
I ran a weekend for four ladies from the UK. They came last September for a similar weekend and asked me to do another one as they enjoyed it so much...
The projects this time were an album for men, a decorated frame, a hanging and shrink plastic jewellery...
I had a lovely surprise - Barbara brought me a sock monkey she had made for me... Barbara and Jen enjoying a moment! well there were more than one I can tell you - the whole weekend was chock a block full of such moments... Barbara with her finished frame... and Joy and Mary with theirs... The ladies treated me to a meal at a local restaurant on Saturday night - the food was superb - it always is there - and the other diners were quiet - and our table was noisy...just like the whole weekend really... March has English Mother's Day and Spanish Father's day and whatever nationality the girls are - and I have told you before the list of girls reads like a League of Nations - these days are both celebrated here.
This card was made with die cut butterflies from a beautiful Teresa Collins scrapbooking paper... as was the scrapbook page and Fathers day card made with loads of heat embossing and die cutting and a tidgy bit of stamping and Stickles thrown in... Alice and Celine, two of the older girls... here's Eva putting her all into turning the handle on the big Shot Pro... and succeeding - can you see that smile... here's the younger girls with their scrapbook pages... and their cards...
My oldest son Lee visited for a few days to play golf and it was so lovely to be able to have and give hugs - so different from Skype... The girls were asked to design and make four outfits for a model. We discussed things like fabric and looked at photos in magazines to illustrate drape and suitability for use and then when they had designed their outfits they made the model from heavy card and her clothes using watercolour pencils and heavy Bockingford watercolour paper - here are my designs - very basic - the girls really went to town with some of their designs... here's my model in one of her outfits - notice no face is drawn on - I preferred the girls to spend their energy on the clothes... and here are the girls with the first of their outfits... and a quick change later and they are in the second outfit...
and the third...and the fourth...

Aren't they all fabulous and at such young ages 7 to 11...
Meanwhile the older girls had asked if they could make this canvas of mine that hangs on a pillar in the studio... and here's Alice... and Celine and Arlette with theirs... and in the middle of the month we had two days solid rain as you can see from the ceiling over the till!!!!!that's all the news from me and the shop so I hope you enjoyed our month - I certainly did...

Bye for now
Sue

Not the Royal Wedding...

Well today, on the day of the Royal Wedding in the UK, the excitement wasn't much in evidence here in Spain. No bunting, street parties,etc and life seemed to go on as usual on the street outside and the shop was as busy as ever - except for my ladies at class. Barbara , however, said nothing was going to stop her coming to class - she comes for a week or two every month and times her flights to maximise attendance! How's that for making one feel good - did you like that "one"!!! slight royalty effect rubbing orf methinks!!!

Anyway, as there was just Barbara and me I got out the airdry clay and the new Karantha moulds and we played. We were having so much fun that I got out my meltpots and we did some Utee-ing too.
The face above is airdryclay with mica powder, the crown is Utee poured into a mold and pour mould and the free shape is Utee poured over a stamp and rubbed over with mica.

Add some copier paper spritzed with mica, some heat embossing, some crackle paint and to make it look really ancient I rubbed it over with my fingertip dipped into a Frayed Burlap Distress ink pad - stick all that to a canvas and you have a piece to be proud of.

This is Barbara's canvas and airdry clay pieces. She certainly didn't rush away to her TV after 2 hours either!!! I can safely say we both had a fantastic morning - no pressure, no stress, just pure enjoyment.

I have been making lots of projects for future classes and so haven't been blogging of late but I can show you the window display with the letters covered with Teresa Collins new range. It has caused a lot of comments, all of them positive I am pleased to say and I really enjoyed "creating" them.

The cards on the lower shelf are ....gasps in horror....the "decoupage" range from Nitwit designs and at Stitches I thought it was just the thing to attract the ladies who don't as yet frequent my shop as they are bright and colourful. Well, time will tell but again they have had very positive feedback. Myself, I prefer distressed and vintage but not all crafters think that way.
I will be back later in the week with photos of some of the projects.

Right I am off for an early night so

Bye for now

Sue

even more unfinished projects...

As usual so many projects started and unfinished over the last couple of weeks but here are two I have finished.
One is a brag album of baby Louie for my good friend Lorraine's first grandchild and a canvas for Jaz, Louie's mum and Lorraine's daughter.

Saturday morning was ...well wow! Ten children turned up to class and we started a summer holiday album which will be finished next week so mine will be finished then too!!Yesterday afternoon after the class Colin, Tanya and I drove to Valencia, a lovely city - below is the basilica and cathedral - well worth a visit if you are in the area. It took us an hour to do the audio tour of the cathedral.

Colin and Tanya get on really well - they share the same sense of humour

this morning we relaxed in the pool again and again

Bob, a holistic masseur has just arrived to give Tanya a massage so

Bye for now

Sue

I thought I had lost the plot...

Now, as anyone who knows me knows, I don't do commissions - people ask the most impossible things of you -so when I found myself agreeing to do this canvas for the lady front left of this photograph I wondered if I had lost the plot. However, the man with her mentioned that it was a present for a friend who was moving permanently back to Switzerland and as I knew an-ex very near neighbour of ours was doing just that I looked again at the photo and there was Heidi - lady in black 2nd right. So that's OK then. I have also made a card in matching colours for them all to sign.
By the way, the wording says a memory.

So that was my morning - what was yours like?

Bye for now

Sue

A bit of scrapbooking

In amongst all the lists of things I have to do are

samples of scrapbooking

display boards of cards showing different techniques

decide upon and make samples for the next few months workshops

ditto Christmas card classes and workshops

finish!!! previously started projects (I am hoping Tanya might help give me the kick I need when she comes at the end of this month!)

get a pedicure and manicure - omg the state of my fingernails!!!

make up the bed for my son and his girlfriend who are coming tomorrow for 2 weeks

and to top all of this my car wouldn't start this morning so I had to call a taxi to get me to the shop...and to top even that Colin has been trying to get my car working and.....trying to do this without our battery charger - now who did he lend that to??? your guess is a good as his or mine??? he tows my car up the drive without properly closing the door , it swings back, hits a tree and the door has been broken!!!! aaaggghhh!!!

so now Sue BREATHE!!! ohm ... let all be peaceful and calm.

Anyway, I am trying to get my scrap crop established and to that end I have been making loads of different scrapbook pages to display. These are a few of the ones I made using die cuts.

Nadia wanted to make a canvas for her and her husband's anniversary so she came to the shop on Thursday - traditionally a very quiet day. Huh! did I say quiet - poor girl was left on her own so much but she did a wonderful job and left very happy....

so happy in fact that she came along to class the following day.we coloured glossy card from a technique with Distress inks and re-inkers that I found on Annaliese's blog and using Tim's dies and stamps we made it into a box.

I am off to a new restaurant that a friend is opening tonight so

Bye for now

Sue