Tuesday 22 April 2014

WOYWW - Sunny Easter Memories !

Hi !
We have had a lovely weekend of mostly sunny days for the Easter weekend.
My Sister, Brother In Law and 2 nephews came down to stay with us & we had a hectic fun weekend !

Good Friday was Much Beloved's birthday and we headed to Picton Castle - the grounds there are lovely and we had a brilliant picnic in glorious sunshine !


On Saturday we headed to Heatherton the activity park over in Pembrokeshire - the boys had great fun & we all joined in with the Pirate adventure golf !


Sunday it rained but the menfolk had decreed we were having an at home day as there was essential football to watch on the telly ! So we took the opportunity to introduce my sister to the joys of the Gelli-plate !


Sadly the family had to head back to England yesterday as my sister & the boys are back at school today.
The sun came back out & I was able to spend the day working in the garden.

I tried to squeeze in a little crafting and try out my new Sweet Poppy steel stencils - but I am definitely not doing it right as I am getting the stencil dimension medium seeping under the edges of the design & getting a splodgey effect !

Anyone got any tips of what I am doing wrong - too much paste ?

Pressing too hard, not hard enough ?
Wrong method of dragging the spatula over the stencil ?

So on my desk this week - a bit of a mess !
Photos from the Easter weekend, my steel stencils, the Clarity stencils we used for the Gelli Plate play date - some photos I am still looking to scrap from our holiday - and sadly neglected at the back my Documented Life Journal which I am failing miserably to keep up with !


I found this advert in a catalogue and loved the effect but my first attempt to mimic this on a little set of drawers has a rather lurid minty green colour - back to the drawer-ing board !!













And I wanted to try a colour scheme out of my comfort zone - red !
Here's a project about to start !
Here's just one more "happy picture" from the weekend - I love spring blossom !!

Have a great week !
Ali x

18 comments:

  1. You have been very busy over the weekend and it looks like you all had such fun. Love the gelli print results.
    Sandra @20

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  2. I have not tried the stencil paste through a metal stencil before. My brand of paste is much thicker too by tho looks of things. I will do some testing this end.

    Love those blossoms. I see they are your blog background now too!

    What a fun week-end you have had with the family and lucky with the weather too. Good thing that the boys like footie or you would never get any crafting in!

    I got my "garden back" on Saturday past so to speak, as the trampoline broke after 7 years outside getting rusted and was sent to recycling and the jungle gym got taken apart and put behind the shed. Now I have a lovely view of my garden and no interruptions. The cricket and soccer matches with the boys have commenced already!

    #23

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  3. No wonder you made the blossom your blog background - just gorgeous! Wonderful family photos and I love those stencils :)
    Happy WOYWW!
    no. 2

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  4. Looks like you've had a great fun filled happy Easter - loved the photos. Your desk looks good too - I've not used my Sweet Poppy stencil yet (ahem!) but I think it may be too much paste... hope you crack it!! Helen 5

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  5. Lovely photos Ali. More scrapbook pages waiting in the wings. You both made some lovely gelli plate backgrounds Lynda B 30

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  6. Glad your Easter went so well. Have fun playing with the stencils - I hope you manage to master them. Chris # 19

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  7. What a wonderful time you had. That's the 2nd time in two days I've seen those amazing foxy sculpture things :-) they were on another blog I follow .Can't help re the stencil problem sorry. I have one but ashamed to say it is unused as yet. Anne x #37

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  8. Oh lucky you going into spring we are going into Autumn here in Australia. Love the pictures on the castle grounds it looks like a wonderful place. Oh and you got to play with the Gelli Plate one of my favourite things to do. It is a fine line with mastering the stencils. I always make sure to not use to much medium and build it up and have a very firm pressing on it. Hope it helps. Thanks for sharing.

    Hugs Eliza & Yoda 28
    Happy WOYWW

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  9. G'day Ali
    and happy WOYWW. Lovely photos and picnics in the sunshine are divine! Oh I wish I had a gelli plate...one day...love the bgs you made with yrs. The wetter the medium you are using on the stencils is when they are more likely to bleed but really its all trial and error!
    hugs
    Annette In Oz #8

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  10. Lots of stuff to look at on your busy desk! Looks like a lot of fun! Happy WOYWW! ~ Sandy in Texas #84

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  11. I love the way you've made the cherry blossom pic into your background for the blog - it's so pretty! It's good that you had such a great time with your family too, we haven't been to Heatherton for a while! A little bird told me you may be coming to the Crop - woohoo, fab news, it'll be great to see you again :-)
    Hugs, LLJ 14 xx

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  12. wow you have had a busy weekend and last few days..looks like you had a lovely time with family though as well as some crafty time. sorry not tried stencilling so no tips to help with your problem .I love your gelli plate prints glad your sis took part I to had sis visiting she went home today not into crafting though so not been near my desk since last Thursday ..will be back next week hopefully . great project son teh go love the red and sure you will master the painting technique have a great week a head Andrea x

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  13. Love, love your Spring flowered trees! :) As to the paste and stencil tips. I have none! Last week on my Blog I showed results of my Gesso. Ha! I need tips on that! So no tips from me. Have a wonderful WOYWW!. Thanks for your earlier visit and for sharing your wonderful Easter photos. #92

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  14. Loving the Gelli Plate projects.
    When you use the stencils you need to tape it down so it cannot move and only add a thin amount of paste, you need much less than you might think.
    Happy crafting, Angela x48

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  15. Hi Ali and thanks for stopping by my desk, yours is looking busy and oh you and the sister sure had fun with the Geli plates..your steel stencil prints look great and getting out of your comfort zone sure be fun...Cheers and have a great week Robyn#18

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  16. Hi Ali, Love that brass stencil and the gelli plate creations are great too! I find that plastic stencils are much more forgiving than brass ones. You do seem to have to use a rather thick medium through them, anything watery will inevitably seep underneath. And unfortunately, I don't have any magic solution :)
    Thanks for dropping by earlier,
    RosA # 36

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  17. Oh Your Gelli plate prints are amazing. Don't you love that thing? :)
    Thanks for stopping by my blog, too.
    Cathy #73 WOYWW

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  18. love those prints! lovely spring photos too.

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