Stampin'Up atelier

This morning I was invited to do a Stampin'Up demonstration to a 'chit-chat' group in Clermont. There were about 13 women there (different nationalities), they meet every Thursday in each other's houses to learn more about the French language and share their experiences on living in France. Dominique is the French lady who runs this association and we had a great time creating cards and experimenting with colours and stamps. So much so that 2 or 3 of the women want to hold demonstrations soon in their homes. I get a lot of pleasure seeing others get hooked into this relaxing hobby and sharing ideas. I wish I'd remembered my camera to take a picture of us all at work cross legged on Rathna's floor!



Tonight it was bad news about the 'craft room to be' as the painter phoned to say we need to pay an extra 400 euros to line the walls with a special 'toile' otherwise the paint and plaster would likely end up cracking a year or so down the line. As you can see it already looks much better and I've decided on the shocking colour scheme of pure white so that I can have as much light as possible in the room. We'll see what next week brings.

Friday 13th-
This afternoon I had Anne my 'downline' SU! demonstrator at the house to 'patouiller' (my favourite French verb which isn't translated in my dictionnary but which describes what we do when faced with a table full of Stampin'Up! craft supplies). We used a scrap booking plastic page protector, cut another 2 sides open and dropped in some recharge inks before spritzing with water. We then slid in some glossy white photo paper and some normal cardstock to see what effects we'd get. I can't wait to 'patouiller' a bit more with some different colours and use the results in some card making. We also tried out using the SU! markers with a Versamark ink pad. We stamped a flower image in clear versamark then 'stamped it off' on a piece of scrap paper. This left the rubber stamp with a slightly sticky coating of Versamark. Then we coloured in the stamp with a teal marker and stamped this on our cardstock. We added clear embossing powder and heated it until we had the glossy flower we were after. It isn't too evident from the photo but any crafters will be able to imagine the possibilities of easily embossing all 48 of the Stampin'Up! coloured markers.

I think that's it for now, football for both boys tomorrow and the rugby game against Stade Francais at 3pm. Sunday. Have a good weekend and get in touch if you need any more explanations of the techniques described above.