Well after months of waiting, finally the day dawned for me to head off for my workshop in Derbyshire with the talented Anna - aka Finnabair or Finn.
I have admired her style on her blog & in articles from afar - so it was wonderful to have the chance to find out how she goes about creating her lovely highly dimensional designs !
The weekend was ably organised by Jamie & Sharon of the Artist's Trading Post and the venue an Eco Centre in the Peak District - we enjoyed good facilities & the room was just the right temperature all day which is always a blessing at a workshop !
The only small feedback would be that the space we had to work in was very cramped given how much glue, paint & embellishments were involved - but when so many people want to attend I suppose it is inevitable !
Our main project for the day was to create covers for a journal - we were given great big kits of goodies to play with - loads of dimensional embellishments from Prima & were free to choose our own colour schemes - just encouraged to make sure we had a bold colour & a contrasting a highlight colour.
As you can see I chose deep blues, greens with a hint of purple and gold as a background. I was very happy with how my designs came out considering it was my first attempt !!
I always much prefer this as it is rather dreary to work a whole project up in a colour scheme that doesn't appeal just because you have been allocated it !
Finn was a charming tutor & clearly explained each step before we set off to complete it .. we had a completely free hand to create our design exactly as we desired - and we were kept seriously busy all day !
It is always great to see how everyone in the room, whilst ostensibly creating the same project turns out a complete different creation - each composition was unique and every colour scheme completely & utterly different !
After we had created our covers we went on to create a couple of Finn style journal pages - it was good to have some inspiration on new ways to compose a page as it is so easy just to keep trundling round in a loop & getting stale - this is what I love about classes & workshops - as well as the fun of the day, you get the inspiration & spark of new ideas to take home !
So when Journal Your Christmas started this week & it came to creating a cover - are you surprised it is looking Finn style !!
Feeling a bit sorry for myself today as took a fall in the dark carpark at work last night !
So apart from going to an emergency appointment at the dentist to have the big cut inside my mouth checked out, I have been huddled in the house nursing black & blue knees, aching hands & arms & a swollen face that looks like the result of a bad botox session !!
I'm hoping the swelling will go down by tomorrow so I can get back to work - and eat something solid !
Hope you all have a great crafty week !
Ali xx
Not much time for crafting with our Christmas preparations in full swing !
Now here too is Herr Penguin - taken from the pattern I bought in Germany - resplendent in his Christmas hat !
And I never bind the pages to the end when the journal is finished - you just never know how dimensional & bulging the book will turn out !
