Novembers Crop

This month's crop is Saturday 15th November, there will be 2 workshops (1) Using circles and sewing on your layouts

(2) An exploding box.

Pictures will follow ( when my husband gets back from Portsmouth with the camera!)

I have some new papers and stock in the shop, watch this space!!!

If you wish to take part in the classes please let me know so I can book your place!

Another busy day at the Cutting Crew Crop

Just wanted to say thank you for having me at the Cutting Crew Crop again this saturday, it was lovely to see everybody again. I did a class on making and binding a mini book ( the one I did at my crop!) which everyone enjoyed. It was great to see Alison again whom I met at the Indigo Mill retreat, lot's of people were very interested in booking for retreats with Indigo Mill in 2009, so they will all be contacted bt Steph at Indigo Mill very shortly. I'm back in Brierley Hill in January where I will be teaching a class on an acetate covered book with pocketed pages and bound with wires using the bind it all machine!

All day craft day with Indigo Mill Sat 1st November

Just to let you know I will be teaching a few different crafts at an all day 'craft' day in Derby on Sat 1st November, have a look at the Indigo Mill Blog for more details, and if you can't wait for my shop until NOv 15th I will be at the Cutting Crew Crop in Brierly Hill this saturday 25th.

Next Crop Date

Just a reminder that the next Let's Talk Crop is on Saturday 15th November. There will be 2 classes.
(1) A layout incorporating circles & sewing ( inspired by my good friend Steph at Indigo Mill)
(2) An exploding Box workshop, and this is very explosive, trust me.

I will post the pictures on here in the next few days so you can see what I will be demonstrating in detail.

If you want to sign up for the classes email me please!

And the winner is.........................

Pat!!

Well done for winning the raffle on Sunday, it was great to see both Pat & Julie again after meeting them at the Indigo Mill retreat.

The double page Layout

This is a picture of Judy's first double page LO made at the crop on Sunday, I did a demo on making a double page and she then went off and made this wonderful page, in fact I think she made 3 LO's altogether on Sunday - GO GIRL!!

Mini Books at the Crop

So here are a few of the mini books that we made at the crop on Sunday, aren't they great! Diane used hers to display photos of a day at the zoo, Emma covered hers in black and pink fairies and is going to put pictures of her baby daughter in it and Sue used some gorgeous 'Jolie Chocolat' papers in browns and pinks which made the book look really classy. My book was a showcase of the Mitchell family's year of 2007, I didn't realise we had done so much last year! All so different but all using the same basic materials. Just peachy!!

Let's Talk Crop- Sunday 19th October

Wow!! What a wonderful day we had on sunday, A hive of activity at the Fellowship Hall! It was lovely to see some of my friends from other parts of the midlands, ie; Sadie, Diane, Sue, Chris Pat & Julie, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

We had a very productive day, making mini books from scratch and teaching die cutting and stamping techniques to the newcomers to the group.

Some of us were very naughty and had Macdonalds for lunch and we all generally had a real chill out day creating wonderful keepsakes.

Penkridge Crop Saturday 18th October

It was lovely to see all my friends at the Penkridge Crop on Saturday, I took the Art Of Life shop along with me which everyone really loved, Donna did a demo on a mini book in an altered tin which was really sweet, have a look at Donnas blog she is doing a gorgeous book on babies in the family. I won't be able to make the November Penkridge crop but will be there with the shop on Saturday 6th December.

Guides Workshop in Lichfield

What a great evening I had with the girl guides in Lichfield, I taught them all how to make a mini scrapbook out of nothing less than paper, ribbon and chipboard embellishments! They all did really well and made some beautiful books, the books all had pockets in the pages which were made by folding the paper in a special way, really good fun!!

Here is the book I showed them as the example. It's a scrummy little book all about a wonderful weekend in Paris with my beautiful daughter Frankie.

The Indigo Mill Retreat - Granary Mill, Derbyshire

Well what a wonderfull chilled out 'girlie' wekend this was! Thankyou to everyone who made this weekend so great, well done to Steph for organising everything, and the stash heaven of a shop, thankyou to Marie for cooking all our wonderful food, I don't think I've eaten so well in ages! It was a real shame I was feeling so ill all weekend, but maybe it was a good thing I wasn't my usual self because there might be pictures of my bottom on other peoples blogs!!!! Have a look at Rosie's blog! I apologise to everyone for not being very well and doing a really quick class on the altered photo storage, but I felt like my head was going to explode at the time. I have posted piccies of the photo storage box along with some snapshots of our wonderful weekend. Roll on the next one....................

It was fantastic to spend time with my scrappin' friends; Steph, Sue, Tessa, Rosie,Hayley, Carla, Emma,Hannah & Marie, and it was so lovely to make new friends in Julie, Pat, Alison, Claire(check out her blog at silvercustard.blogspot.com), Christina, and lots lots more. I continued to be ill for the rest of the week with what must have been a virus, that just knocked me for six!! Aaaaghhh.....................

Art Of Life On the road!!!! The Cutting Crew Crop

Just wanted to let you know what a fantastic day I had over at the Cutting Crew Crop in Brierley Hill last Saturday. Anita invited the Art Of Life Crop Shop to attend her crop for the day, and I was very warmly welcomed by all. The Cutting Crew Croppers are a lovely, friendly(and very talented) bunch of ladies headed up by Anita who does a magnificent job organising everything. Every one enjoyed having a shop on site and they have asked me to attend future crops.



Next month I will also be demonstrating the mini book I am doing at Let's Talk Crop on the 19th !



If you would like the details of the Cutting Crew Crop contact Anita on 01384 837532 or email her on cuttingcrewcrop@yahoo.co.uk

Future crop dates for them are: 25th Oct; 22nd Nov; 20th Dec; 17th Jan; 14th Feb etc

Workshop for Sun 19th Oct - Binding a mini book

For those of you who love to make mini books ( I love to!) and those of you who have never tried, this class is for you. I will show you a fantastic way to bind a book and which materials to use for your base.The first part of this class will start at 10-30 sharp because we have to paint the edges and need plenty of drying time during the morning in order for us to carry on with the class in the afternoon.

The cost of the class is £4-00 which includes the book base (6 sheets of 5" square boards) the binding materials, and the paint.

The book I am demonstrating is 'A year in my life' , a collection of photos and memories from 2007, hence the 6 pages which offer up 12 sides: one for each month! You will be free to either buy some papers from the crop shop to use for this project or use your own stash (check your glossaries!)

Mini books are fantastic for all sorts of uses: *Baby brag book, baby's first year

* A book about a special occassion, birthday,

christmas, wedding etc

* They are also fantastic gifts for your family and

friends ( sorry to mention this but christmas is

the month after next!)

If you would like to sign up for this workshop please email me on 'artoflife@hotmail.co.uk'

Sketch for the October workshop

This is the sketch that we will be working from for the Die Cut Diva workshop.

Yes I know it looks like a 6 yr old has drawn it, but I have been playing with my new graphics tablet on my pc and drew this on my paint program, so that's why it looks quite childlike.

But, hopefully, you get the idea for the layout!

Booking your place at the October Crop

If you are interested in attending the October all day crop then please email me on 'artoflife@hotmail.co.uk' so I can book your place. The cost of the whole day is £8-00 which includes the Die cutting Diva workshop (pinched this title from my good friend Steph!) all the demonstrations and of course your supply of hot drinks and naughties- cakes & biscuits!

October Crop Sunday 19th October 9-45 - 4-45

The next 'Let's Talk Crop' is on a sunday, I have chosen to do a few sundays for a couple of reasons (1) Quite of lot of my ladies work on a Saturday (2) Sunday's don't clash with the Villa home matches which my hubby has to attend!! ( he has to look after our 3yr old when I'm at the crop. )

This month I will be teaching the Die Cutting Diva workshop which will be covering in detail the following:

* Die Cutting titles and shapes

* Stamping techniques

*Using paper punches

* Making a double page spread

* Using buttons and brads

* Using co-ordinating papers

This class is aimed at the beginner but I do have lots of hints and tips for the more experienced scrappers as well.

The workshop will be free to all, for those of you who are just starting out you will need to purchase papers, cardstock etc to match the photo/s you wish to use from my crop shop before the class starts at 11-30.

This is the LO (layout) - see your glossary girls! You can choose any colour combination or theme for yours, it doesn't have to be the same as mine!

Transparent Overlays Free Demonstration

I did a demonstration on 20th September about using transparent overlays on your pages. This LO has been created using a pre-printed & glittered overlay, which has given a fantastic effect. If you missed the demo in September I can repeat it at another crop if there is enough interest.

New Beginnings, Septembers beginners class

These are examples of my LO's for the beginners class for the 20th September. Fancy turning your photos into pages like this?

Look what we made!!!

Here are a few photos of some of the September ladies completed layouts. Please note that all of these were complete scrapbook virgins who had never completed a page before - pretty impressive!!

Free gifts!!

When you sign in at Let's Talk Crop, you are greeted with a welcome pack (newbies) which includes a beginners guide to scrapbooking, a glossary of craft and a free journalling book(for you to decorate yourself).

During the day there is also a raffle with some yummy scrapbooking stash prizes.

We are there to have fun, be creative and be inspired!

Classes & demonstrations

At the crop there is designated workshop area for all those interested in learning new techniques and, of course, complete beginners. The workshops that took place in Sept were (1) A beginners guide to scrapbooking, making your first layout- New Beginnings- Baby Layout. (2) The wonder of transparencies, using transparencies to cheat!!(3) Making your own journalling book.

Every lady completed the most fantastic layout, you would never have known they were complete beginners!!

Tools provided at the crop

If you are brand new to this wonderful pastime or a seasoned scrapper, Let's Talk Crop has a wide range of tools for you to use on the day! These include:

Paper trimmers & guillotines, Sizzix die cutting machines with a choice of 4 alphabet dies and numerous shapes and flowers etc, large alphabet stamps in 4 different fonts, paper punches galore, stamps galore, ( there is an extensive library of stamps both acrylic and wood mounted) heat embossing tool, glue gun, templates, shape cutters, dymo machine, dreamcuts machine(for cutting paper) Zutter Bind It All machine and wires, Making Memories tagmaker and various shaped tags.