Artful Flight

It started with a gift. A friend who knew I would move heaven and earth and scrimp and save to be able to go to this workshop simply gifted me the money to go. I wanted him to buy bears, or have me make an album for his new nephew or something but he insisted and I was told I was not allowed to argue.

Then in the mail a couple of weeks ago I find compendium of Curiosities (my sister and I had gotten the second one which arrived the same day) a gift from another friend.

To say these gestures are ones I am grateful for is an understatement. Somewhere I really must have a stash of amazing Karma and a team of Angels and Fairies helping me along.

Then my Mother floors me by insisting on helping me pay for accommodation because I had concerns about doing the whole thing as a day trip though figured it wouldn’t kill me so I could at least try. So the only real money I had to spend this trip was food. Everything else was covered

I know I am one of the luckiest Women in the world who at times this past month or so has been so full of love and gratitude for the help I have received to get to artful flight it has moved me to tears.

So amongst the 3 days spent making 2 little distress clowns, the night of making the suitcase boxes and packaging up the bears, the packing, the hair colouring and all the stuff us women do when we are going somewhere special the time arrived for the trip to Sydney.

After tossing and turning for 3hrs I got up a bit earlier than intended and got myself ready to catch the train at 7.30am the taxi was here to pick me up and the Journey began (mind you the train did not leave till 8.20am but I always believe in being early just in case you get held up somewhere)

3-4hrs and 2 trains and a bus later I was at Coogee with time to spare. So I took myself to lunch and this is the view as I was eating (yes I know spoilt much)

Then it was off to the Workshop, lots of standing around excitedly talking to Alain (for anyone who has not watched Mr Extreme Stickler on youtube DO IT DO IT NOW!) and then My Sister arrived and we had a bit more waiting and then we were let into the workshop room!
Here’s me at the workshop desk

here is the Maestro at work

The time flew by and before we knew it it was time to let our Artful Flight Projects Dry
Here is mine with a few Amanda Twists (anyone who knows me knows me changing things around a bit was inevitable after all I always have to be different and yes I can see some of you who know me rolling your eyes at me)

Then it was Meet and greet and Photo Time

The first Photo is of Me with Mr Extreme Stickler (I know his name is Alain but seriously that is what I call him) He got us so good on the way out of the workshop as well. We told him he needs to bring Tim back at least once a year if not once every two years and he said “We will be back in September” of course our faces lit up like Christmas Trees and we were all “are you serious” and he laughed and was like “no” sniff how cruel was that, funny to them but you just can’t mess with the heart of us Tim Holtz Scrapbooker’s that way soo mean lol

Next with Mario the man who allows us all the behind the scenes glimpses into Tims world who quietly and efficently cleans up as we get our craft on and who brings such sunshine and joy into our lives.

and Next Tim signing my books and tote bag (sniff which I found out when I got home has a hole in it but its signed by Tim thats the important bit)

and Lastly a photo of Tim with Myself and my very talented sister aka the Crafty Crafter

then it was off to my Hotel and home again late monday with a stop at Lincraft and such

What an amazing and unforgetable adventure and that’s all there is there isn’t anymore 🙂

Suitcases, Clowns, Mario and Tim

It has been an Amazing week (or so). With lots of creativity and things I just could not share until they had been given to who they were intended for.

So I have been trying to work out how to do these blogs.

Lets start at the Gifts and work our way through the Packaging then to the recipients. I think in order is probably less confusing for everyone including Me.

It started with the Distress Clowns. I was very lucky to get to go to the T!m Holtz Artful flight workshop in Sydney. Now if you look back to my last 12 Tag’s of Christmas Post you will see a wee bear on my Tag who is Named Tim. I did consider giving him to Tim however I just could not bear to part with him. The Pattern he is made from is now called ‘Tim’ as I always name my patterns after the first bear made from them.

So I decided to Make a wee (they are 3” tall) bear for both Tim and Mario (after all Mario brings us so much sunshine with behind the scenes and brings us all into Tim’s world I thought a small token of thanks was in order). These little bears Insisted they wanted to be Clowns, I was set to just give them a Mini Bear and leave it at that. In distress colours of course (wonder when we will get Colour Washes and Paint Dabbers in the Distress colour palette). However as my bears sometimes do they told me they wanted to be clowns.

So a grungeboard circle for a hat (painted in snow cap, with Baby Blue stickles and inked in squeezed lemonade), hand Misted Fabric in Squeezed Lemonade  and Broken China. With Seam Binding in Festive Berries and Peacock Feathers. I then went a little Nuts, I hand dyed the Nose thread to co ordinate but was not quite happy with the results soooo I then Created a glaze with a very very small amount of re-inker and some glossy accents. Which I then used on the clowns noses and also dipped the rhinestones in (told you I went a bit nuts). There is a product called Nose shine however it can be a little sticky. I really love how the glossy accents looked and how hard it sets so will be doing this again in the future (for some reason my brain has gone to the I want to do a distress clown for every colour of distress ink however I think I might get bored with that will see how I feel about it as I am bear making). I should also add these bears are made from recycled curtain fabric that would otherwise end up as landfill. Just in case the Distress did not make them cool enough already!

And here are the Clowns (after all Mario and Tim always look like they have fun and ‘Clown around’)

Next came the how do I package the bears. Yes I could have just wrapped them up and handed them over but where is the fun in that. So I have been working on a suitcase box tutorial for a friend. Using my Score board. (If you do not have one I highly recommend one) I will be posting up a step by step tutorial for this soon. The best thing about the box is its very economical just one sheet of Cardstock, a 5” x12” strip of patterned paper (that is optional), 10 small brads, some crackle paint, adhesive and Ribbon or faux upholstery suede(from a reverse cycle garbage place and saved from ending up as landfill), and a couple of buckles, as well as some small Sizzix Tags using Kraft core.I will also be adding a small piece of grungepaper to help make the back sturdier (Lesson learnt from the fact they got a smidge squished on the way to Sydney)

Sooo here are the Suitcase Boxes

Now Let’s start with Mario’s Reaction even though he opened his second. There are less photos. I love how delighted He was with the bear and you will see a fantastic reaction as he opens his present.

And Now for Tim opening his Bear 🙂 The whole moment is some what surreal I remember hearing words like wow and cool but honestly not much else. But I think the facial expressions as its being opened say a lot more than I can remember right now.

What I learned Both Tim and Mario exude gratitude and Joy, so never be afraid to give them something you have made. They take as much delight in it as you do. Next post will be all about the workshop.

And that’s all there is there isn’t any more for now 🙂