Fun In The Sun - with Echo Park

This was my 2nd class that I taught at the recent retreat with Cardinal Colours
I used the beautiful, bright and zingy papers from the 'Summer Days' range

The class was quickfire class, held in an hour and was aimed at using lots of layers and stickers.

Thanks for looking:)

What a wicked weekend!!

I have just spent this weekend with a wonderful group of ladies and friends at this year's fabulous Seaside Retreat held by our lovely friend Jill, of Cardinal Colours
The weekend was cram packed full, with some fabulous classes and super Make and Takes, some fun challenges ( which saw some brilliant entries!) and a few games of bingo which caused many a giggle and some groans at the same time ;).
We had some cracking layouts taught by S-J, Lynn and Linda, Angie and I taught one too,
Angie also taught some amazing mini albums, which were a real labour of love and were very technical, but soooo worth the effort and time put in, she is a fantastically clever teacher!
We were also lucky enough to have Zoe ( Sprout Worshipper) join us again this year and she taught some beautiful card classes using gorgeous Stampin Up products....as did Lynn and Linda with their Craftworkcards products and Promarker and stamp sets( please check out their blogs over the next few days to see their beautiful classes)
Zoe, Perdita,Lynn, Linda and myself also held some Make and Take classes which included Owl keyrings, felt brooches, stockings and purses, christmas baubles, paint fusion Poppies and decorative beaded pins.

Whilst there I taught a couple of classes....one of which was this large canvas.

The canvas itself is 40cms x 40cms, so nice and big! We worked with the beautiful 'Timepiece' papers from BoBunny , they really are a gorgeous collection and perfectly suit heritage photos or, as you can see, you can also use them for more modern ones ( although our daughters think of these as heritage ones LOL)

The canvas itself was painted with an antique gold acrylic paint and then we ripped, inked, scrunched, cut, sprayed and threaded until it was finished.

Here are a few close ups :)
The flowers were made using 7 layers of paper that were taken from an old book and cut with a scalloped edge circle Spellbinder die.


The watch chain was made using copper coloured wire and lots of little bronze/copper coloured bugle beads.
It was really lovely meeting all the ladies over the weekend.....some of them I have met before and know really well and others were new to scrapping or retreats and it was a pleasure to meet them too.
If any of you readers out there were at the retreat and took part in my class, i hope you enjoyed it :) Thank you for joining us all at the Retreat, we hoped you all enjoyed it.
Thank you Jill for another brilliant weekend, I REALLY hope you get chance for a little *you* time at some point in the next few days..xx
Warmest wishes Anita...xxxx

What a Weekend!

Woweeee, I have just had THE most brilliant but tiring weekend that I can remember. My lovely friend Jill of Cardinal Colours has just held her very first retreat.....and it was a total corker!
The Chatsworth hotel was such a lovely venue to host her first retreat( first of many I hope!), it sits smack bang on the seafront at Eastbourne and we all had a lovely view and wonderful weather....we really were spoilt all round!

The following picture was stolen....er I mean *borrowed* from the ever so lovely Zoe's blog ( she is one SERIOUSLY talented lady....such a shame...she doesn't like sprouts mwahahahaaa!)

I stupidly forgot to take along my camera ( and I call myself a scrapper....pah!!) so I guess I shall be trawling the other ladies blog and borrowing pics from them too he!he!he! ;)

There were lots of classes going on over the weekend, including both scrapping AND cardmaking, Jill's daughter Angie taught 2 absolutely stunning classes designed by Karen Burniston, this was no easy job let me tell you, one of the classes was 4 hrs long and the other was 3 hrs, both were very detailed and Angie was amazing....I think the ladies who were in her classes were very lucky.

Zoe Pierson taught some absolutely scrumptious cardmaking classes, check out her blog for some total inspiration! And on top of that she made me laugh ALL weekend....I thought I was going to have to buy shares in Tena lady!!! Thank you Zoe if you read this.xx

Jane Gill also taught some beautiful card classes, with stamping and also exquisite punch art flowers, she is one talented lady.

I was lucky enough to join in on a couple of classes, this one entitled Truly Madly Deeply was one of S-J's . I have known Sarah Jane for a few years now but have not been lucky enough to take one of her classes....until now. And let me tell you, it was a real pleasure, she is such a lovely, gentle soul and a great teacher....I thoroughly enjoyed myself and i really LOVE my layout, which has pride of place in the lounge on a stand at the moment :)

We had a fab kit to work with that was filled with lush products, I just added a few bits of bling and some stitching.



I also sat in a class with Laura
She too is an absolute Sweetheart and is brimming over with enthusiasm and encouragement and she just made me want to get into my stash later on at home and just let loose with lots and lots of things and not try to be frugal but really let go and 'use it or lose it'. Unfortuantely I cannot show you my layout from Laura's class as its a LOT of miles away from me at the mo lol, but I will def blog it when I get it back :)

There were a few challenges over the weekend....one of them being to create a name badge....using the theme of the seaside. So here is my badge lol, its actually quite large....and heavy, so I only wore it on the friday( when it then left 2 rather large holes in my t-shirt!!)and from then on it sat either on a desk or back in my bag lol. there really were some wonderful creations made, i wish I had my camera to have taken some shots.





Over the weekend I hosted some make and takes and thankfully they seemed quite popular :) ( thank you to all the ladies who made me feel wanted lol)
these were some of the earrings i made for make and takes using Basic Grey brads, this seemed to be a popular M&T and I had some lovely feedback from it ( thank you ladies)

dont'cha just luuuuurve the pink zebra/bark looking ones!

I also held some M & T's to make bag charms and the ladies made some beautiful ones which i think they were pleased with( they were certainly beavering away around the tables)

My lovely and talented friends Linda and Lynn were both hosting make and takes too and made some delicious cards and cup cake gift boxes using the Cricut and Cuttlebug

Thank you Jill for a fabulous weekend, I am chuffed to bits to have been there to have shared in its huge success....and I look forward to doing it all again.....sometime....when we have recovered from this one lol..xxxxxxx

Don't Miss out on this Wonderful Opportunity!

How exciting is this? What a wonderful opportunity for all you other papercrafters out there to treat yourself to some well deserved *you time*, good food, good fun and good company and all at wonderful venue and most of all at a fabulous price.....go on, you deserve it :)











COME AND RELAX AT OUR SEASIDE RETREAT!

Cardinal Colours is absolutely delighted to invite you to our very first retreat on the south coast. We are having a crafty weekend with something for both scrapbookers and cardmakers alike. In fact anyone fancying a relaxing time away with like minded, crafty individuals will have a great, fun break.

We will have the run of The Chatsworth Hotel, right on the seafront at Eastbourne, from 2.00 pm Friday, 17th September through to 4.00 pm Sunday 19th September.

What an ideal time to recharge your batteries if you’ve exhausted yourself looking after children in the school holidays. All meals and refreshments are included - full English breakfasts, buffet lunch on Saturday and roast lunch on Sunday, two 3 course dinners and teas/coffees mid-morning and mid-afternoon. There will be a vegetarian option available too.

We have a full timetable of classes, with separate ones for scrapbooking and cardmaking, demonstrations and make & takes running from the Friday afternoon right through to Sunday.

The fabulous Karen Burniston will be designing a class especially for us and you can get a feel for her work on her blog here

You will have the choice of 3 classes with kits being provided and there will be raffles and games throughout the weekend too, with the Grand Raffle Prize being a Cricut Die Cutting Machine. It’s a free draw so any guest will have the chance to win this

The cost for all this is just £259 per person for a twin shared room and £289 for a single occupancy double room. We do have a limited number of small single rooms at £239 per person . We also have 3 twin rooms with an extra bed so 3 people could share at £245 per person You can reserve your place on payment of a £39 non-refundable deposit and payment terms are available. Some places have already been taken so to express an interest and find out more about the classes and teachers, please contact Jill at jill@cardinalcolours.co.uk We are really looking forward to seeing you.

Teachers will be confirmed soon but we are proud to say that Zoe Pierson and Shimelle Laine will be amongst our talented teachers