Kasia's coming to Wirksworth

We have (finally) released the Autumn Winter workshop schedule, and have the fabulous Kasia Krzyminska  booked to come to see us in early November.

Kasia will be doing four workshops in Wirksworth.

Check them out by clicking here

We have set up a brand new business called Creative Wirks, which will offer a wide range of Art and Craft workshops here in Wirksworth (Derbyshire), we will be hosting local, national and international artists over the next twelve months.

The dedicated workshop is next door to the Artist Trading Post shop and offers a comfortable space for up to twenty four attendees.

Later on in November Finnabair is due back here too!! Spaces are filling up really quickly on these workshops so book in before its to late :)

Catch up and a Happy New Year

Hello everybody and Happy New Year to you all.

Now that Christmas is over I am trying to get back into the swing of things, and I am sure it's the same for most of you.

Because I have not blogged since November I am going to try and do a short recap, we have had some fantastic workshops and also special guests Sue Carrington and Finnabair to show us how to create some super projects.

Here is the box we made with Sue;

This is Ruth's box the colours were very rich brown's and greens, my photo does not bring out the colours.

This is the sample made by Sue.

Here is Sue and you can just see Pam and Marilyn busy at work.

Sheila and Ruth.

The inside of the box, lined and stamped. Sue did a brilliant job of cutting and scoring the liners for the box's before the workshop and they all fit really well.

Here is my box, I really enjoyed being able to take part in the workshop, thank you again Sue and I am looking forward to the next one...

After that came the biggest workshop we have ever organised but not the last, this year we hope to host a few big ones so keep checking our website for more news.

Anna trying to say goodbye to Jack, but he wanted to play more football.

The start of the weekend was made even more exciting with Leandra from Paper Artsy kindly demonstrating at our shop, here is Ann and Helena watching the process of building up layers with chalk acrylics, stamps and stencils.

Onto the Finnabair workshops and this is the start of my picture before any gesso, paint or sprays. you may wonder why my picture is of Finnabair, well my pictures did not turn out so Anna came to the rescue and let me have one of her photo's, Thank you Anna.

Here's Anna going round the class showing her sample of how it should start to progress.

Here is the start of mine, we had to decide what colours we wanted to use and I choose the same colours as Penny because our base colours were very similar. But the end result was completely different. We used Luminarte Primary Element Pigments and the effect it creates will always be different. 

Here are my completed pictures.

Then we had a Paper Artsy workshop, using as much PA products as possible. So there was 

Electica Chipboard Shapes ES06

Lynne Perrella Stamps no 22

Lin Brown Stamps no 1 and 3

Paper Artsy Paints and Treasure Gold

we also used 

Sizzix Vintage Valise and Sized Arches to make the inner frame.

Route 52 Half Tree Trunks to make the outer Frame along with Kraft Cardboard (greybeard)

The Crafters Workshop Stencils 

TCW280 Blazonry and TCW363 Diamonds.

And here is Jamie enjoying his trifle at Chatsworth House where we had our works christmas meal.

New workshops are being added to the section now, with Sue Carrington coming up first on Saturday 22nd February with a wonderful altered Pink Pig Landscape Sketchbook class called Sketchbook Magic

Thanks all for your patience and hope to see you soon x

Victorian Carolers

Hello everybody, I am finally back online. For some reason my computer was very full, thankfully Jamie understands it all and has sorted it out for me.

I have been having a great time doing the Creative Chemistry 102 with Tom Holtz, I have not quite finished it all and some technique's need a little more practice.

I am also doing the Lifebook 2013, and when I can take some better photo's I will give you a glimpse of my pages it's going to be a awesome big book. I am already looking forward to next year as the very talented Dyan Reaveley and Anna Dabrowska (Finnabair) are going to be just two of the amazing artists that are contributing. If you need weekly inspiration then it is well worth doing.

Finnibair is coming to Artist Trading Post on 31st November and 1st December there are a few places left on the Sunday afternoon so if fancy doing a stunning project called Everyday Treasures mixed media shadowbox check out the website.

We are very pleased as Sue Carrington is doing a Workshop for us on Saturday 16th November. Sue is going to show us how to create an Altered Keepsake Box. You can find Sue on Paper Artsy's blog where she was a guest designer or have a look at the stunning project's she does on her blog here.

 Here are some pictures of cards I have made using a New Tim Holtz Die called the Victorian Carolers. The two little figures are so cute I want to use them on everything.

The figures have been cut out of card and painted black and then sanded for that distressed look, it doesn't show up on the photo.

Here I have used an old piece of music sheet, tinted the paper and frame with Vintage Photo Distress ink, and also blended through a stencil.

After stamping the snowflakes with Evergreen bough Distress ink, I then sprinkled sticky embossing powder over the card, heated and then covered with Dry Distress Stickles, for the figures I applied Glossy accents and Dry Distress Stickles and then let dry naturally.

Here I have embossed a piece of pearlescent card using the Sizzix Christmas border and background folder and swiped evergreen bough over the raised arear with blending foam.

The silver Tinsel Twine has been coloured with Alcohol Ink and then heated with a heat tool to give it a distressed look.

Thanks for reading,  Sharon x