A Grand Day Out - Sue

Good morning and happy Sunday. Last week I was lucky enough to attend the Stitches show in Birmingham, which is a retail craft show. This was very exciting as I was going to spend the day taking PaperArsty classes, sat next to my teamie Miriam. It was a very early start, but as I was being chauffeur driven by my ever suffering husband that was OK.

We'd both seen who was attending the show, and it was a real treat for knitting, crocheting, and sewing enthusiasts, but not so much for papercrafters. Well what else could we do but spend the day with Leandra and all the PaperArtsy designers (yay!!)

There was a mini class to start with, and then it was the turn of Tracy Scott who is one of my favourite designers. This is what we made.

So Tracy showed us the project and said that we had about an 1hr 45mins to make it. This did scare me 'cos I'm a very slow crafter, but in fact it was a very relaxed class and we finished with time to spare. 

 I didn't take step by step photo's, and I'm not going to share the techniques as this is a class that Tracy teaches.

 These are the new stamps and stencil that I was given. There was a selection of her new releases on the table that we all shared. My set is TS24 and the stencil is PS124. 

The beautiful mandala stamp is ETS 23 and it's gone straight to the top of my wish list. Don't you love the texture that we made with the Gold Fresco paint. This was a new technique to me and is one I shall definitely be using again (and again, and again).

We then had a class with the wonderful Raquel (Scrapcosy) which Miriam will tell you more about. This was her last show before she goes on maternity leave and it was such fun and I learned loads.

Next was a class with Kay Carley. I've never taken a class with Kay before, so I was really looking forward to it.

 Again we had about 1hr 45 to make this, and this technique was definitely new to me. I stuck my dragonfly in the wrong place, and of course it refuses to move without taking the backing with it, so here it stays lol.

Again we used lots of new goodies, and some old favourite frescos. I'm not saying that I have a favourite, but if I did it would be bougainvillea  This was my stamp set and it has a matching stencil which I think is a brilliant idea.

This was a really intense class, packed with techniques that were all new to me so I really enjoyed it. Just pretend that the dragonfly has his tail pointing down, and that he's not covering up his stencilled younger brother doh!

So after a 3minute rest it was time for the final class of the day which was with JOFY. It's been a few years since I've taken a class with Jo so I was looking forward to it immensely.

 Now I must admit that this isn't quite what Jo's sample looked like, but we only had 45 mins so I did what I could and the rest went home in a paper bag to be finished off later lol.

 Again lovely new stamps and stencils. 

It's years since I've stamped in Gloss Glaze and I'd forgotten all about it, so it was great to re-visit this technique.

And now we were all done. In fact the show had closed ages ago, stalls had been packed up, and security were there to escort us out! I'd had a brilliant day and I'd love to do the same again next year hint hint.

Before I forget, Tracy Scott has a workshop at CVC Towers (Potton) on Thursday 6th June. If you can possibly make it you must you will have a brilliant time!

Please look out for Miriams post where she will tell you all about the other classes. Have a brilliant weekend, and thanks very much for looking x