PDCC78 - romantic pinks and reds in time for THaT wedding!!!

For those of you who are regulars in the cafe, you will know that these are some of Julie's favourite colours - she's a real pinks and reds girl whereas I lean more towards the teals and blues, but I LoVe, LoVe, LoVe  this colour combo.

These are real Cath Kidston colours :) and bring back great childhood memories for me of blue/pink/red melanine cups with white spots.  They also look fantastic on the Union Jack, which I seem to remember seeing in this colourway in John Lewis but I may be wrong.  Perfect colours I feel for the upcoming Royal Event next week.  Are you celebrating?  I have a tea party and a bbq to go to, and turned down another invite as couldn't fit it in!!!

Apologies for the terrible images today.  I'll change them later when I can get hold of a camera (still no sign of my phone); these are scanned.  I used My Minds Eye papers to decorate a library folder thingamajig ...

...and I decorated the little card inside to match, adding a new Stampotique stamp I got from The Cubby Hole last weekend :)  I'm going to use this piece at the front of a wedding memories book for a friend who has just got engaged.  I'll write in their names and the date of their engagement.

Don't forget to visit the fantastic (and they really are!) projects from our DT and guest designer this week over at The Play Date Cafe, or on their individual blogs ~ have fun creating, and don't forget to let me know what you're doing on the 29th April 2011!

Libby Hickson

Michele Gross

TRacey Kuzniak

Colleen Dietrich 

Julie Ranae 

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Ruby2Shoes 

Andrea Ewen

Fiona Schultz

Jaclyn Miller

Jinny Newlin

and this week's guest designer

Hanna Craner

and huge thanks to this week's sponsor

I have had...

... the most fabulous day down at The Cubby Hole!  I taught a felting workshop for the first time and although the table started off fairly empty and most un-Sarah like, by the afternoon we'd got lots of supplies around and about and we all felt (ha ha, pun not intended but funny so I'm leaving it!!) much more comfortable.

Still no phone, so no pics as yet :(  Hoping Tracy'll blog her pieces so I can nick her pics, although I have caused her a massive amount of money today as she fell in love with my embellisher.  

in the play date cafe this week...

...I went AWOL!  Why?  Because I mislaid my phone on Sunday and still haven't found it.  With the kids off I was already losing track of days, now I'm discovering my brain really doesn't work without my mobile - I forgot it was Wednesday yesterday!!!  And no pics cos I use my mobile phone camera - HeLP!!!

a great British Play Date Cafe Challenge :)

...cos this week I chose the colours :)  and Tracy Evans is our guest designer :) :)  How cool is that!!!

This image reminds me of bubble painting with the kids at school - a great activity :)  I love the splash of bright green mixed amongst the blues.

I was tempted by a peacock theme this week but ended up with my favourite hydrangeas!  Julie was telling me she's just got some of the new Martha Stewart punches so I ended up checking out the new releases - and fell in love with cherry blossom!  They are random flowers just like the hydrangeas - need to get saving!

I felted some bright green curly locks onto some green felt, then free machined some punched painted paper before stitching on the blue ric rac and adding some blue shinies!

Have fun with these colours :)  And don't forget to check out what our DT have been working on this week -

but don't forget to enter your piece over at The Play Date Cafe ~ have fun!

Jinny Newlin

Libby Hickson

Michele Gross

TRacey Kuzniak

Colleen Dietrich 

Julie Ranae 

Savannah O'Gwynn 

Ruby2Shoes 

Andrea Ewen

Fiona Schultz

Jaclyn Miller

and this week's guest designer

Tracy Evans

This week we're kindly sponsored by 

WOYWW 96

I've not managed a WOYWW for ages!  I've spent the day working on canvases for an exhibition on Friday - talk about last minute!!!  But somehow that's how I usually work best!

I've been busy trying to get my craft room into a reasonable shape before I start my new job and of course working on canvases this size also meant it was beneficial to get the room sorted before I started work on my exhibition pieces.

I'm still organising my really useful boxes, and really useful 'hat', but they have already made an enormous difference to the tidiness of the room!

Gluing the shelves in before turning this IKEA bookcase on its side has meant I have much more light in the room :)

I treated myself to a birdcage from Dunhelm this week.  I've wanted one for aaaaaaaaaages :)  Whilst researching weddings for wedding plate designs for the bean and brush I came across a gorgeous picture of a bride and groom with birdcages decorated with flowers and beads above their heads - the inspiration for mine!  Mine still needs more adding to it...

There are loads of other desks, and some rooms, to peruse over at The Stamping Ground :)

Big Day at The Bean & Brush...

...the kiln gets delivered and installed today!!!  How exciting is that :)  Unfortunately the building work is just in its final stages so we can't play with the kiln just yet.  I snuck in at the end of last week and took some pics.

Last time I was in this staircase wasn't there.  The kiln is going on the other side of the staircase, but the exciting bit is that the stairs lead to my new home :)  It's up on the mezzanine that we'll be doing all the creative, crafty things :)

It's really not easy to see from this pic but it's a good size space, with great light from two floor to ceiling windows.

This is next to the staircase and looks out onto the cafe, although this will be glazed for safety purposes very soon.   One of the things I really love about the building is the grey industrial brick.  It's GoRGeouS!

Each time I drive past the building has changed as the builders begin to work on the finishing touches. It's a really long, thin building and the mezzanine is right at the back at the end.  The whole building used to be the sorting office, with the Post Office on the main road at the front, until a larger PO was built across the road in the 1930s.  I'm really enjoying finding out the history of the building, especially as I grew up in Sale, and live only ten minutes walk from the Bean & Brush :)

Happy Mothers' Day!

If you're a UK Mum I hope you've had a lovely day.  Last minute as usual I was making Mothers' Day cards this morning - one for my Mum, one for Malc's Mum.  Fortunately they both like fairies so I kept the gorgeous 'Once Upon a Springtime' Graphic 45 paper out for both of them!  Can't wait to get my hands on some more of this collection :)

I couldn't believe how close that date was on the postmark (except for the year of course!).  I don't remember Mothers' Day being so late before - it usually falls between mine and my Mum's birthdays, the 23rd and the 12th of  March.  What I didn't know was that Mothers' Day is always on the fourth Sunday of Lent (I knew it was related to Easter somehow but didn't know the specifics!!).

Whilst I was in card making mood, I made some little cards for the bookstall at church.  

I do love that hydrangea punch! :)