New Beading Classes Starting in July Book Now to Guarantee Your Place

Starting on Sunday 19th of July we will be holding weekly beading classes tutored by beading expert Linda Schoffam. These classes will run from 10.30 am - 1.30 pm and will cost £15 ( payable in advance and non refundable )which includes everything you will need to make your peice of jewellry and tea coffee and biscuits ( yummy chocolate ones of course ).

Linda works 6 months of the year on cruise ships going to exotic places teaching beading techniques to passengers and believe me you have to be good at what you do to get a fantastic job like that.

Jean Di and myself have been going to Lindas classes now for 3 weeks and we have all made jewelry that is absolutely stunning, so i am so pleased Linda is coming to our shop to teach you all her secrets.

There is enough room on the class for 10 students and 3 of the places were booked after last weeks floribunda class so please book early to make sure you get a place.

Linda will also bring lots of beads and findings for you to buy and if you come shopping on Sundays while Linda is here you can also buy her wares.

As a taster here are some of the fantastic things you will be making on the classes.

Catch Up on the last two weeks.

Right heres a quick photo catchup on the last 2 weeks so here goes.

Friday 5th June was ATC Club and the theme this month was Things with wings.

Heres some of the trades we had going on.

ATC club is taking a break for Summer and will start again in October, Theme to be announced.

Sat and Sunday 6th and 7th June saw our open weekend which was a great success and thanks to everyone who came along and watched the demonstrations. Unfortunately i forgot my camera so no pics sorry.

Saturday 13th June was Di's Alcohol inks class and as you can see from the pics below everyone had a great time learning new techniques.

The girls on the class really enjoyed it and the colours of their samples dont do them justice taken with a camera they are much more sumptuous in real life.

Sunday 14th June was my Floribunda class which consisted of using the Dahlia,Blossom, and Peony nestabilities with rubber stamps, grunge paper,distress inks and re-inkers,Pearlescent watercolours and gemstones to make some stunning embellishments for cards and scrapbooks etc.

Here are the pics.

We all had a great time and made some fabulous things and the class went on for four hours cos we all were enjoying it so much.Thanks girls for a great time and for leaving me a few chocky biscuits toget my strengh bac

At the end of the day Gordon and i took Harry to his favorite place. Pleasley Nature reserve which is just a two minute walk from the shop and it was such a gorgeous afternoon
heres a few pics of our little piece of heaven.

This place is so so beautiful and the amazing thing is that not too long ago it used to be a huge coal mine.

The wild life is unbeleivable and we have seen green woodpeckers and a barn owl in the last couple of weeks. It also looks fab in all seasons.

So thats it a quick two weeks in 40 seconds haha (its taken me 2 hours to do this but its worth it).

Look out tomorrow for some very special workshops starting from Sunday 19th July i cant wait to tell you about these and 3 people have booked already and we can only take 10 people.

Saturdays Friendly Plastic Class (class 3)

Sorry i havnt put this up until today but the weather has been so gorgeous here that i have been putting the garden back to rights and i must admit it was hard work but so worth it.

Saturday was the third and final part of the friendly plastic course and we had a great time making molds, playing with shrink plastic and playing with alcohol inks to change the colours of the friendly plastics.

There was so much wonderful art being made that i am putting every single pic up that i took today so that you can see how much the girls have progressed from the first part of the course.

So here we go.

As you can see we have lots of smiles and lots of all sorts of things on the table too.

Everyone is in a creative mood with heatguns at the ready.

Kath half way through making her friendly plastic mask.

Now here are some pics of the fantastic things the girls made today and a few things that they have been making at home.

What a lovely lot of eye candy and such stunning work.

Thank you so much girls for being so emphusiastic and not being scared to try new things.

Its been a great three months and i hope you keep using your friendly plastic noe you know how to use it.

Another three part class starts at the end of this month and i am only doing one class each month this time so please book early if you want to learn all the things you can do with this fantastic product.

Workshop Dates and Events for June.

Here are the dates for events and workshops in June.

Saturday and Sunday 6th and 7th June ...10.00am - 4.00pm . . . . . . OPEN WEEKEND
We are having an open weekend to celebrate the new opening hours of the shop and there will be demonstrations all day as well as speciaql offers and spot prizes, so come along either or both days for some fun and to learn new techniques.

SAT 13th June ... 10.30 am - 1.00pm . . . ALCHOHOL INK TECHNIQUES.

Come along to this very imformative workshop and learn all you need to know and how to use Alcohol inks on lots of different surfaces including, Stampbord,Acetate and Glossy card. You will leave with lots of tips and some beautiful cards that Di will show you how to make step by step.
Class costs £15 and must be paid on booking.

SUN 14th June . . . FLORIBUNDA

For this workshop you will use Spellbinders dies and rubber stamps to make fabulous exotic bloom embellishments for cards scrapbooks or even as jewelry.
You will be working with grunge paper inks, paints and other fab things and will leave looking at your spellbinders dies in a completely different way.
This class will certainly have you working outside the box and Robert will share some fab tricks of the trade with you.
If you have a Wizard or Cuttlebug machine,please bring these along as it will save you having to share machines.
Class costs £15 pounds and must be paid on booking.

SAT 20th June ... Teabags and Toppers.

This class is a must and you will leave with some amazing cards that you can make in around 25 minutes but will look as if you have spent a day making them.
Jean is one of the countries top teabag folding experts and has designed papers to go with the toppers you wil be using for your cards.
She will take you on a fantastic journey where you will start off by learning simple folds and then learning more inticate ones.
A must for all skill levels and great fun too.
Class costs £15 and must be paid for on booking.

Sunday 28th June ... Friendly Plastics Beginners Course Part one

The first of three classes where you will learn all you need to know about Friendly Plastic.
Robert is one of the leading experts in this medium in the UK and these classes always get full very quickly so please book early to avoid missing out as the next three classes wont start until
September.
You will leave with lots of embellishments and knowledge as well as having lots of fun and making new friends.
Class costs £15 and must be paid for on booking.

So there is Junes offerings and we all look forward to meeting you .
Smiles from
Di Jean and Robert

Angelina Fibres and Films now in Stock

Hi everyone this is just to let you know that i have put Angelina fibres up on the web shop.

We dont sell individual colours, just multi packs of either 6,15,19 and even 20 colours.

These save you money and also let you try out all the colours at a good and fare price.

They come in straight cut,crimped and the new Metallic hot fix colours so there is something for everyone here.

Below are a few samples that i have made using different colours of the fibres and films as well as using rubber stamps from one of the peacock sheets from Elusive Images and Invoke Art Stamps which you can also purchase from our web shop.

The photo just doesnt do these beautiful fibres and films justice but they still look yummy.
Hope you like them.
Smiles.
Robert.

New Items just put up on shop website.

Hi all i have just put up some of the new items we have in the shop.
They are Tim Holtz idea-ology products and rubber stamp sheets from Glenda at Elusive Images.
Remember postage and package is free on all our items and have fun shopping.
Smiles
Robert.

New Opening Days and Times for Summer

From June the first we will be changing the days of opening for the Summer period.
The shop will open as follows.

Monday - Closed
Tuesday - Closed
Wednesday - 10.00am - 4.00pm
Thursday - 10.00am - 4.00pm
Friday - 10.00am - 4.00pm
Saturday - 10.00am - 4.00pm
Sunday - 10.00am - 4.00pm

This time table will remain until the first of October when we will go back to our usual six day opening hour.
Have a Great Summer everyone.

A Lovely Afternoon

People who have known us for a long time from our shop in Chesterfield and the craft shows will all remember Eileen from New Zealand who used to help us.

Well she moved to Manchester a few years ago and sadly we dont see her very much now.

But today she came and saw us and spent the whole afternoon with us and we did have fun catching up with each others gossip and swapping paper craft ideas.

She loved the new shop and fell in love with Harry (he loves her too).

Heres a pic of Eileen Harry and i just foolin around in the shop.

Eileen thanks for a fabulous afternoon it was great to see you and please dont leave it so long till next time.

xxxxx Rob Gordon and Harry

Yesterdays Nestabilities Frames Workshop.

This workshop evolved from a sample board i made up for the NEC craft show a few months ago. When i put it up in the shop a lot of customers asked if i would do a workshop on them and within two days the classes were full, and that is why they werent put up on the blog.

I will however do another class in July for those people who wold like to do it.

These pictures are of the girls on the workshop having fun and concentrating making their fantastic creations.

There were wizard and cuttlebug machines cutting away at gorgeous basic grey papers as well as chocky biscuits,tea and coffee to keep our energy levels up.

One of the girls had come all the way from Wales for the day and said it had been worth every minute and was one of the best workshops she had done so that put me at ease.

Here are some of the frames that were made at the workshops yesterday.

These were the first two designs of three that were made at the workshops and as you can see they are really beautiful and will look even better when they are decorated and embellished.

The girls all said that this class really teaches you to look at your nestabilities in new and exciting ways.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves and i even showed the girls who bought their cuttlebugs a way to use their machines so that they dont have to keep changing their plates for cutting and embossing (they were very impressed).

And finally here is a picture of the sample board that turned into a workshop.

If you would like to pre order a seat on the next classes before i put the dates up on line please phone the shop Mon - Sat 10.00am - 4.00pm.

Smiles Robert.

ATC Club Trades.

We had another great afternoon at ATC club on Friday and here are some of the trades that people made.

The theme was Metallic and all of the ATCs have got either metallic paints,metallic inks or real metal peices somewhere in their artwork.

The theme for next months ATC club is THINGS WITH WINGS so that leaves it wide open really from airoplanes to butterflys.

ATC club is on the first friday of the month and starts at 12.00 and goes on till 4.00 ish.

Just bring along your own supplies and come and learn new ideas and help from likewise crafters.

It costs £5 and tea coffee and biscuits are provided as well as a few goodies from Roberts stash of transparancies, images and paper.

So come along and join in the fun. The more the merrier.

Friendly Plastic Workshop Part Two,

On Saturday we had part two of the Friendly plastic workshop and wowee how the girls have all progressed. This month they learnt the triangle technique and made some lovely embellishments using bottlecaps, then we went on to make pendents using the new jewellry findings that arrived at the shop just two days before the workshop.
We also made some friendly plastic buttons and two types of beads so im expecting everybody to be wearing their own jewellry creations at next months workshop.

Above are some pics of the morning and afternoon workshops in full swing and just look at the concentration on all the girls faces, you can see they are really into it and that gives me a fabulous feeling.

Below are some pics of the peices that the girls made at this months workshop and just look at how they have progressed since last month. The pictures dont do the peices any justice as they are much shinier and rich looking in real life.
Thank you girls for a wonderful day and i am so proud of you all and cant wait to see your faces when you see what you will be making on your final Friendly Plastic Workshop next month.

ATC CLUB Theme for next month

Just to let you all know that we hold an ATC club at the shop on the first friday of the month .

The next one will be on Friday the first of MAY and it costs £5 a person and you bring your own things to work with like stamps,images,papers,paints,inks etc. It starts at 12.00 noon and finishes at around 4.00 ish.

The idea for this club is that you share ideas and techniques with others and make new friends at the same time and of course trade ATCs.

We will supply you with tea,coffee and biscuits and Robert will always leave some goodies on the table for you to use as well, like papers, transparancies and images.

At this months ATC Club we decided that we would choose a theme for the next meeting so that we could trade our ATCs with others in the group.

Karen chose this time and the theme is Metalic so this leaves the imagination wide open as you could use metalic paints and inks , metalic mica powders, metalic gel pens, metal brads and eyelets and of course real metals of all types.

So if you come along to the next club meeting please join in and bring along a couple of metalic ATCs to trade (but you dont have to).

I cant wait to see what everyone comes up with and look forward to seeing old and new members on the First of May.

A Few Places Left For Saturdays Workshop

Di has 3 places left on her workshop this Saturday.
You will be using the new speciality papers from Kay & Co, buttons, ribbons, rubber stamps and distress inks and even making your very own real silk papers which Di will guide you through step by step.
These cards are very exotic and once you have made one you wont be able to stop.
Please e.mail, phone us or come into the shop to book your place.
The workshop starts at 10.30 am and finishes at 1.00 pm and costs £15 which includes tea coffee and biscuits.
All you bring is yourself as we supply all tools papers embellishments etc,and you will be taking home some beautiful cards.



Above is a collage photo showing snippets of things you will be doing in the class and just look at those scrummy colours.

My Nestabilities Triptych on show at Hardwick Hall

My Bestest friend Clare who is a textile artist and jewelry maker has some of her work on display for the next two weeks at Hardwick hall, which is a stately home on the borders of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in the UK.

She asked me if i would help her make the mood boards to go with her Jewelry and this is the outcome.I made a Triptych arrangement using Nestabilities for the frames and the spellbinders Lace Grande Borderabilities to edge the work. As Hardwick is an Elizabethan house i wanted to get that across in my work and i think i have done that. In every frame there is a peice of Clare's jewelery. She was over the moon when she saw the finished results and i just hope people enjoy looking at it.

The exhibition is at Hardwick hall visitors centre which is next to the Hardwick Inn and is on from tomorrow for two weeks and its FREE. The Triptych will then go to a gallery in Lincoln for six weeks and then will come to our shop for permenant residence.

All tags,frames and borders are made using spellbinders dies including nestabilities ,grande borderabilities and nested tags.