Leprechaun Leapabouts November Meeting 2019

This month our workshop was led by one of our own members, Joanna, who showed us how to make shoes for a leprechaun.
We were shown a whole variety of shoes made in different materials,  sewn with varying threads and a variety of embellishments. [See below]

We were all given a pattern for the shoes which we then pinned to our material cutting out a pair of shoes ready to be embellished and sewn together.

 Joanna suggested it was easier to do some of the embellishments on the shoes while they were flat and then some more could be added while stitching the seams.

 Some of the members stitched the edging first to decorate it.

 By the end of the afternoon some members were stitching the shoes together and were nearly ready to do the final decoration.

By our Christmas meeting they will be completed and embellished ready for our  competition. If you were not at the meeting and would like to make a pair please contact Joanna for the pattern.
A big thank you to Joanna for inspiring and leading us to create our own versions of shoes for a Leprechaun.

Tan/Purple November Raffle Colours

The raffle colour for the November Meeting is Tan and Purple.

Craft Fair, Victoria Hall, Grange over Sands Saturday 19th October

Some of our members arrived bright and early to set up our stall at the Craft fair in the hope that we would attract lots of customers.
We had a lovely range of handmade items ranging from £1 to £5 and an interesting bargain box full of items for just 50p.

The fair was a bit slow first thing but by midday the hall had become quite busy and we sold about half our items with the bargain box being very popular.
The profit from the sale goes towards our funds and the benefit of our members.
A big thank you to everyone who made items to sell, helped run the stall and bought items.

Items for Sales Table, Craft Fair, Saturday October 19th 10:00 to 16:00

We have booked a sales table to sell handmade items, at the Craft Fair, on Saturday October 19th in the Victoria Hall, Grange over Sands. We have all been busy at home making things to sell and you can see the wide range of beautifully made items below.

 A big thank you to all our members who have worked so hard to make items. We also hope that Saturday, 19th October will be a good selling and buying day.

Colourcraft Mixed Media Playday October Meeting 2019

This month we were pleased to welcome Claire, from Colourcraft, Sheffield, who brought with her a whole range of products to explore and experiment with. She also brought the shop for us to stock up on items we needed.

Claire demonstrated the first techniques of sprinkling brusho and spritzing onto dry paper and sprinkling brusho onto damp paper.

Puff paint was next  and we were to block print  onto a piece of Lutradur and then make a pattern using a paintbrush.

After it was dry we distressed it with a heat gun.

We then sprinkled, sprayed and spritzed onto textured kozo paper  which could be gilded later.

 One very fun thing we did was to put shaving foam onto a plate, sprinkle brusho, swirl and then scrape through a stencil producing a multi coloured pattern.

Our last technique was using angelina over a block, applying heat with an iron, and then trimming the shape to neaten the edges.

It was a most enjoyable day and our members took home a pile of samples to play with at home. A big thank you goes to Claire for being organized and answering our questions so readily.
We are having a follow up session in January when we will be applying the techniques to the making of a bag.

Tea Bag Embroidery Sandra Kendall June 2019

This month our workshop was led by one of our own members, Sandra Kendall, who arrived with samples of suggested ideas for how you could embroider onto used tea bags.
Some of the samples were labelled individually and some were put together in a group.[See below]

Sandra started by telling us how to empty the dried tea from the bag by making a slit at the back followed by attaching iron on interfacing  to strengthen it ready for stitching.
Members were reminded of all the skills they had and how these could be used on the tea bags to produce attractive results. Within a very short space of time little embroidered tea bags began to emerge decorated with interesting off cuts, collectables and enhanced with stitch.

Some members produced embroidered individual tea bags while others produced linked tea bags that could be displayed together. Everyone was different showing a large range of skills.

In the afternoon Sandra showed us how to make an antique looking paper by applying tea bags to a glued hand made paper surface. Once this had been done printing could be applied to the surface to enhance it readyfor stitching. [See samples below]

Most members continued to finish their individual tea bags but a few had a go at a larger piece.

Most members embroidered a few tea bags and they took them home to finish and I don't think any of us will look at a tea bag in quite the same way again. 
It was a good day and thank you to Sandra for leading the workshop.