craft fairs

The Three Stitches-that is me, Tracey & Caroline are attending two craft fairs before Christmas, Samlesbury Hall, near Preston on Sunday 30th November & Chipping near Preston on Sunday 7th December. (please look on their websites for further info)

We have been busy marbling polystyrene bells & balls, to make Christmas hangings- please see post named marbling- I have embellished the baubles with 3D paint & beads, added plain sticky labels to the numerous small gift tags(over 30) & large tags which have then been bagged & priced. The wooden baubles, have also been enhanced with 3D paint & the backs coloured with metallic pens, with hanging ribbons added. All now ready to go!!!

Tracey came round & we embossed, die cut & prepared 28 cards- these have now been embellished, priced & bagged. Some are Christmas cards & some general ones.

Tracey & I are available to do the Samlesbury Hall fair- so good to go!

Caroline arrives back from her travels just before Chipping, so Chipping will have to put up with all three of us- they don't know what they are getting yet!

Lets hope we do well & both events are fully advertised.

Pictures to follow--------

Encaustically Rich workshop 4th October

The workshop was very successful & all the students appeared to enjoy themselves- they said it was very relaxing, which is good.

They produced some lovely items of jewellery, very different & unique. Most went home wearing all their finery.

The encaustic waxing on fabric was also greatly enjoyed & again the students excelled & created some very interesting effects.

The pictures below show some of their work.

encaustically stamped fabric on heat plate

busy bees!

more busy bees!

encaustic wax on calico which is being given spot enhancement with stylus.

poppy brooch

bookmarks

acrylic waxed pendants drying!

caged earrings

picture on cotton

starting a waxed fabric piece

printing onto cotton on hot plate

marbling session

Today I had a marbling session with Tracey & Caroline (The Three Stitches)- we had  a frustrating fight to insert wire into polystyrene balls, bells & eggs to make a device to hang the Christmas decorations up to dry-Nightmare!!! why is it that even if you make a hole through polystyrene anything inserted into the hole finds a different passage???? Must be an answer somewhere???

We did manage to marble all the baubles in a fashion- however we went slightly manic with the labels as you can see from the photograph!

The beautiful wooden trees & hearts that Tracey sourced from somewhere! look stunning & have worked very well, as do the pieces of card that we intend to cut up & use to decorate cards for sale.

Tracey & I will have to arrange a further session to decorate & assemble the decorations, and in some cases rescue them from disaster.

However even though stressful, mainly me!!! I must get a good nights sleep tonight! we really enjoyed the day & have been very productive.

We keep trying to sell our wares at Craft Fairs so hopefully we will do well tomorrow at Dalton- GO CAROLINE!!!

plenty of labels!

collection of cards 

collection of wooden items

wooden tree with gold beads added

original type marbling

strange flowers

further collection

as it comes

swirls

all at sea

pop art

Iris collection

stippling

Forthcoming workshop 'The Mystery of the Embellisher-Solved!'

I have arranged to hold a new workshop on Sat 1st November 10.00am to 4.00pm, the details are below;

'The Mystery of the Embellisher-Solved' with Sue Chisnall-Sumner.  

£35.00 for the day, which includes full instruction on how to use your embellisher. If you do not own an embellisher you can  have a go on one of my two embellishing machines. You will learn how to make beautiful fabrics, using wool tops, silk tops, & all kinds of light weight fabrics. You will also be able to add textured threads & wools. At a later stage you will be able to develop the fabrics into wall hangings, bags etc.

You can also learn how to needle felt using hand tools, which can be made into small items eg. bracelets, boxes etc.

Also included is a light lunch & refreshments during the day.

Please contact Avant Garden Centre, Wigan Road, Leyland, Lancs PR25 5XW (a few minutes from J28 on M6) Tel 01772 433777 to book & obtain a requirement list.

needle felted bracelet

Sunset Strip

enchanted wood

Forthcoming Workshops

Here are details of my forthcoming workshops;

Sat 4th October 'Encaustically Rich' 10.00-4.00 at Avant Garden Centre, Wigan Road, Leyland PR25 5XW (just off M6 J28) T 01772 433777 to book & obtain a requirement list. £35.00 for the day which includes tuition, use of encaustic equipment, light lunch & refreshments during the day. A small charge will be made on the day for any additional materials used.

You will learn how to make unique jewellery to take home, and how to apply encaustic wax to create beautiful fabrics.

encaustic earrings

'Needle felting' on Tuesday 7th October at Brabins Shop, 22 Talbot Street, Chipping, Preston PR3 2QE 10.00 to 4.00 T 01995 61221 to book & obtain details. £30.00 which includes use of equipment, a light lunch and refreshments during the day. A small charge will also be made for any additional materials used.

You will learn how to make a unique hand needle felted bracelet, box or book cover- which will be beaded & stitched-

needle felted bracelet

Forthcoming workshops will include- details to follow- WATCH THIS SPACE!

Use of the embellishing machine- beginners & intermediaries- how to start & develope
Embellish & Enhance- learn how to further enhance using hand & machine embellishing techniques with beads & embroidery.
Free Machine Embroidery for beginners & intermediaries- learn to make beautiful textiles
Experimental work- learn how to make textiles using mixed media.
Wet Felting- easy way to make lovely textured landscapes.
Design to Stitch- how do I begin? discover how to research a source, play with design techniques & translate into stitch,

craft fair - The Three Stitches

I spent all Friday preparing items for our first proper vintage & craft fair in Bolton. which will be held on Sat 20th Sept. Having labelled everything & then added them to lists I then realised that Caroline suggested that each item be given a number on the list, which is then written on the label. This will make it easier to locate on the list when making a sale.

 It makes sense but also  makes hard work. Mind you I won't say that when it comes to the craft fair.

I am hoping to add some photos of the day, to make this post more interesting, thats if I find time to take photos whilst looking down our numerous lists for the said sold item!!!

Caroline at work

We had a great day- sold a few things & learnt quite a bit- stall looked really good & we had some very nice comments- can't wait for the next one.

Forthcoming craft fairs.

4th October- Dalton Church Hall
30th November - Samlesbury Hall Christmas Fair
7th December - Chipping Village Christmas Fair

Brabins Exhibition 'Spirit of Place'

We have now set up a further exhibition at Brabin's Shop & Gallery, 22 Talbot Street, Chipping, Preston, PR3 2QE T01772 61221 4th September to 5th November(extended) .

The exhibition looks really great, some how it has taken on a new look. There are a few new items to replace the one's sold at Alston Hall, but I think its the setting which suits the theme.

The preview on Sunday 7th went very well, a beautiful sunny day, plenty of visitors & a good feel.

Hopefully we will do well, as everyone that visited had lovely comments & praise for the work.

We have been asked to extend the exhibition through to 5th November, so this will hopefully benefit the Christmas Shoppers & us of course.

Here are some photos of the work in situ.