WOYWW Sunny Birthday & JOFY Good Day !

Well it was a busy & very enjoyable weekend !

On Saturday Lynda & I made an early start and headed up to Wantage to The Stamp Attic - a lovely craft shop & workshop room opposite.
Wendy the owner made us very welcome - and even got to do some crafting herself as her Much Beloved manfully manned the shop !





Jo Firth Young took us through the making of five different cards - using her lovely sketchy style stamps and different techniques with the Paperartsy Fresco Chalk paints - even though I have used these paints for several years on lots of projects, I learnt lots of new things - using them to stamp with, to create chalkboard effects and making a master-board to use in other designs.

We had a really fun day, Jo was a great teacher & very generous in sharing her knowledge & creativity, and I am looking forward to playing with the new techniques at home now.

Here's the full haul from Saturday !

Sunday dawned with clear blue skies and sun-shine. Perfect for my birthday !
As we drove to our weekly swimming session a huge Dragon decorated Hot Air balloon hovered over the Towy Valley - just a perfect moment as it drifted over the stunning scenery in the still air & strange luminosity of the Autumn morning.

Later in the morning we headed down to The Mumbles for a stroll along the prom as the tide receded to its almost impossible nadir and treated ourself to a delicious lunch In Patrick's - followed by a very naughty ice-cream from Verdi's as we strolled down the pier to see the new Tamar class lifeboat in the brand new Lifeboat House they have built for it.
I have never had such a hot sunny day on my birthday in the UK - just proving what an Indian Summer we have enjoyed !

So on my desk tonight are a couple of pages for Journal 52 - one is "My Favourite Foods" - I have been looking for a use of this scrapbook paper for ages !

And the other is "Texture" - this was just me playing about with the textures of the grunge board & the mulberry paper and it made me think of how our lives run through so many textures of experience ..

And also here are some goodies I bought at The Stamp Attic - well who could resist !

I love these stencils - JOFY showed us how to work with the flower stencils and well I can never resist a seedhead - hence the teasel stamp too !  

Lynda bought me the new JOFY stamps for my birthday - looking forward to playing with these !!
Lots here to enjoy !

Hope you enjoy crafty your week too !
Ali xx