Pretty PaperArtsy Canvas and Crafty Goings On.

It's been far too long since my last blog post, so I have lots to catch up on.

Now might be a good time to grab a cuppa :)

Yesterday I was teaching at the Craft Box in Barnsley, it's in the Heritage centre at Elsecar, its lovely there and the shop is a joy to walk around, full of amazing crafty stash and fabric. I'm gonna buy me a jelly roll next time I'm down there.

I was teaching this lovely canvas using the new JOFY stamps from PaperAtsy, and the new limited edition paints and stencils.

There's lots of lovely layers of interest from the background papers, stencilling, texture paste, stamping and treasure gold

Here are some of the lovely ladies in the class, everyone finished their canvases and they were all stunning too :)

I had a fabulous time and I can't wait to go back and taste Vicky's gorgeous cakes, and see Julie's mad as a hatter personality again :) xx

Thank you ladies it was a lovely day.

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The She Art Class went super well at Art from the Heart in mid-May. And Sandra came up from Hull to join in too. Me and Sandra started this crafty journey together way back in March 2012 when we first visited Art from the Heart and had a life changing experience. So much has happened since then, and boy have we changed our crafty tastes. No more peel-offs!

        

 I love a messy studio!

Here is everyone's canvases, don't they look amazing?!

I love she art canvases, they just make me feel happy :)

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Look what Ellen Vargo has sent me!!! Can't wait to use them on my canvas backgrounds, they are going to be well used thats for sure. They'll be perfect for making texture layers. You can get them from PaperAtsy here. :)

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On another note I'm busy not only working full time as a geologist but also trying to make lots of paintings for a new Mexican restaurant opening in Stockton on the 7th July. 

So far I've only been able to get this far with a Mexican tree of life! It stands 3 foot high and 2 feet wide.

I've painted the flowers in gesso first before I'm painting the colour on, so the colour stands out better.

I've been mostly using Dina Wakley's new paints on this too. They are wonderful and bright!

Hopefully I'll finish it this week. I want to do an ornate day of the dead Mexican skull next. Maybe a Frida Kahlo one.

Here's one I made earlier for the restaurant a while back.

Its based on Huichol Yarn Folk Paintings They are so colourful, I love them.

Well no rest for the wicked. I'm off to Welsh Wales tomorrow to Llandudno for a little jolly with Helen..

Hope the weather stays sunny for us :)

Have a great week

Michelle xxxxx

Latest Classes, Sneaky Peeks and new Paints

Went to visit my Grandmother in Burnley yesterday which means I have to drive through Harrogate to get to Skipton. Which means I had to drive past Art from the Heart! Sacrilegious I hear you cry! So I popped in on the way home instead, Ha Ha! It would've been rude not to really. :) I had to go stroke some of the new Dina Paints anyway! Of course they just jumped into my basket, those lively little buggers. I bought 5 to play with.

I'll be back into Art from the Heart on Thursday next week on the 15th of May as I'm teaching my She Art canvases class (pics below). Lots of gorgeous layers in the background I love it. I'll be providing templates of 6 girls all hand drawn by me with interchangeable heads!

I've discovered a new product that I love too, I don't know why I've only come across them now, but I LOVE them! It's the Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens. Now I thought these were just big felt tip pens last year and I didn't really give them a chance. But after playing with them this week, they are much more than that, and a mixed-media artist's best friend. You can move the ink around with your finger and get amazing results. So we're going to be using these too to have a play with them on Thursday, so if you want to come and join in there are a few places left HERE

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It's sneaky peaky time. 

Below is a sneaky peak of a canvas I'm teaching at Barnsley on the 31st of May at The Craft Box, playing with all the latest PaperArtsy paints and JOFY stamps. Looking forward to finally meeting Lynn who runs the shop too :)

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Here's another very close sneaky peak of the canvas I'm teaching on the first day of my Mixed-Media weekend at Wynyard Teesside on the 26th and 27th of July. This one makes me very happy. It's a place I always like to be at! Any guesses where it is?

You can book your place on the Art Workshops page on Facebook (just send them a message), or email Sue Tucker on  sue.tucker1@btopenworld.com to secure your spot.

I'll have another sneaky peak for the Sunday's project when I've finished it :) xx

I have lots to be getting on with these next few weeks as its Preview Day at Art from the Heart on the 14th of June and I need to get the new class projects finished (time is running out and I'm back at work on Monday! eeek!) then prep the preview day taster class too. It's a corker!

Oh and fill a restaurant full of paintings too.

I like to be busy! Or crazy maybe 

Have a great week

Michelle xxxxxx

Secret Garden folding photo book

When Leandra over at PaperArtsy asked the Alumni guest designers if they wanted to join in one more time to making something for the blog, I jumped at the chance. 

I wanted to make something little and pink! And here it is, its a Secret Garden photo book. 

I have a walkthrough of how I made this over on the PaperArtsy blog.

Tiny arty things make me smile :)

Michelle x

What did I do Last Year?

Happy New Year!

Hope you had a marvellous Christmas?

This is me making the 3 bird roast of turkey, goose and chicken. It was very tasty indeed!

2013 was an incredible year for me, I started the year off on the PaperArtsy design team.

What an honour, love Leandra and Mark. 

Then had the chance to do a spot of demoing at Alexander Palace for PaperArtsy too. It was heaving and met a lot of people from Twitter. :)

As if 2013 couldn't get any better Dyan Reaveley gave me an amazing opportunity to teach at Art from the Heart. I was a nervous wreck, but I enjoyed it immensely because the ladies and occasionally a gentlemen were really lovely and supportive :)

Then I was made redundant from work, so I had more time on my hands to make bread and to craft!

I had a dabble in other art too and tried oil painting. 

Which resulted in a painting being put in an exhibition in the Infinity Cafe in Stockton-on-Tees.

My little painting xx

I had a bumper crop in the garden this year, the sunshine made everything ripen quickly..a bit too quickly!

Then I went back into work in September, back to my first love geology.

I wonder where 2014 will take me?

Looking forward to the adventure.

I have heaps more crafty classes lined up too, can't wait. xx

Have a fantastic 2014

Michelle xxxx

Great discoveries can happen for PaperArtsy

Over at PaperArtsy they're celebrating their 10 years Anniversary since they started the company.

There are lots of things happening over there at Creasey Farm.

Every Monday in August is Monster Monday where you can grab massive bargains. There are new stamps released every week in the shop and projects made from them will be on the blog the same night.

PaperArtsy has a huge presence on Twitter, where many a new idea is hatched. Leandra is getting her Twitter followers (PATWITs) in on the act too, by sending them surprise stash and asking them to make something for the blog. There is a definite buzz in the air around 7pm on Twitter when the blog posts are about to go live too, so if you want to be a fly on the wall and watch what we're all chatting about then come and see what we're up to, and you might even get in on some more PATWIT events in the future.

I was delighted to be asked to come back to make something for their 10 year celebrations.

I've made this hanging canvas board with the fab Jo Firth-Young stamps. 

I love these stamps sooo much.

To see how I made this pop over to the PaperArtsy blog.

Have a great week, and hope you can join in on the fun on Twitter.

Michelle xx

Hels comes up north weekend!

What a terrific weekend we've just had with Hels Sheridan. We made two outstanding projects, I love them both. There was 17 of us and we all did our own individual take on Hels instructions. The results were amazing, so many wonderful FINISHED projects. Yes we all finished our projects, which is very satisfying when you arrive home with something finished to look at. 

We really were very productive considering all the belly laughs and the off-crafty-topic conversations we had! A huge thank you to Sue Tucker who organised the whole thing like clockwork. :)

Here we're all are engrossed in painting our canvases.

Here's Gemma, Tracy (me), and Helen.

There's Lou in the middle, probably looking for the Bora Bora PaperArtsy Fresco Paint! We kept stealing it sharing it with each other all day.

 Naughty Sam holding up her probably someone elses canvas background! You gotta keep your eye on this one or she'll be licking, sniffing and stroking your make if she likes it better than hers!  

Tracy working on her gorgeous canvas.

Helen rubbing treasure gold on the edges of her lovely bright canvas.

From front to back: Sue, Jane and Joan all with goldfinger's!

From front to back: Debbie, Jane, Gemma, Helen and Lou (still on the cadge!).

From front to back: Donna, Susie, Janet, Sam, Joan and Jane. They were a noisy lot on that side, sheesh!

Can't take em anywhere! Joanne was on the end, but she's not in the shot. 

Sue Tucker got all adventurous with my camera and did lots of tilted pics. This is one of them, but I straightened it in Photoshop. Love the way some people are leaning over to the right, as if that would make a difference! I just love everyone's expression on this pic, it summed the weekend up really.

Full of fun.

Hels looks ashamed though :), we were all like naughty kids!

Hels made each of us a little bag with a name badge in and some die cuts. It was such a nice touch, I loved it.

I'll use the name badge forever now, Thank you x

Here are the two projects I made :)

I've used PaperArtsy Grunge Paste, paints and JOFY stamps. 

The edge got in on the action too!

This project uses TH burlap panels. Love these panels.

It's very Tim tastic with lots of die cut elements, Distress paints and Idea-ology.

Well if you've got this far then you deserve a well earned cup of tea and a biscuit to keep your sugar levels up! Thank you for popping along and reading my blog post.We had such a great time on the workshop, and I think we're all pushing for a repeat performance very soon.

Poor Hels!

Have fun in your crafty space, Michelle  xxx