Fairies and Friends

What a lovely weekend that was! I was teaching the Fairy Doors workshop at Dawn's shop on Saturday and I had made fours different examples of them to inspire the ladies. For those of you who have not come across them before, they began in a small American town called Ann Arbor where little doors began to mysteriously "appear" on the skirtings boards, cupboards and walls in homes and stores to the delight of local children and adults alike. If you google the town you can read more about them. The ones in Ann Arbor are beautifully constructed from wood just like full sized doors, but, as the whimsical idea caught on, people have been making them from all sorts of materials, including those readily available to paper crafters. They can be attached to skirting boards or hidden inside a child's cupboard for them to discover, but are equally enchanting for adults who, like me, refuse to grow up! This first example was inspired by Tolkien's Hobbit homes with its round door set into a stone framework. The window has an orange glow behind it hinting at the cosy fireside within. This next one was a more "prettified" version, though the photo doesn't show the pinky lilac tones very well. I used inked tissue to make the foliage around the door, but the ladies on the workshop had Flower Soft to create shrubbery and flowers. The third one was, I have to admit, my favourite one to create as it was a more Gothic style and I had great fun adding the torn posters and graffiti! This last one utilised a Martha Stewart punched owl and cat and the crackling on this one shows up really well. The cauldron looks rather odd in the picture as the Glossy Accents hadn't fully dried when I took it!

All of them began by drawing around a simple shape onto Grungeboard before cutting it into sections to represent boards. These were coloured with Tim Holtz Crackle paints which, once dry, I inked to emphasise the cracks. The doors were re-assembled and stuck into place on cardstock. This could be cut larger than the door to allow for a framework of stones or foliage, or, as in the Gothic door, it can be the same size if no surround is needed. Embellishments such as hinges, door knobs, windows etc are all then added using punches, scraps of Grungeboard, charms and brads. I use Glossy Accents to attach everything for a very strong bond.

Here are the ladies all working hard on their doors. David was helping me and dishing out brads and charms to everyone as well as taking snaps of us all. Some finished doors.......
A closer look......
And even more......note how different they all look!
And this picture shows them more clearly.......
It was a really lovely workshop which everyone seemed to have lots of fun with. It's nice to concentrate on the child within all of us every so often so I hope the pictures might inspire you to have a go and make your very own doorway to fantasy land!
As we were packing things away we spied Joanne's husband, Terry, who was at it again - this time trying to sneak off with my new Neatnix bag filled with my pens and tools! Lol! We had a real giggle and I had to take another picture!


I stayed over at Rena (Dawn's sister) and Stephen's home that night where we had a lovely three course meal prepared by Stephen himself. It was delicious too! Then, after a good catch upand a restful night's sleep, we were back to the shop on Sunday morning where I was giving a demonstration - quite an eclectic one showing various techniques. It was a lovely day, meeting keen and eager crafters.
Rena and I also sorted out which workshops I am doing on what dates, so, as promised, here are the dates and descriptions of what I'll be doing:
Saturday 17th April - "Ranger Framed Mirror" - you can see an example of this on my last but one post. We'll be colour washing the frame and then using different techniques to create the decorative items to embellish it.
Sunday 18th April - this will be an all day demonstration.
Saturday 15th May - "Fairy cards & a fairy in a jar" - a selection of magical cards and a jar with your very own caught fairy.
Sunday 16th May - this will be an all day demonstration.
Saturday 19th June - "A secret canvas" - we will be decorating the front of a canvas and then turning it over and creating a collection of secrets in the recess....this is one for those with a romantic imagination!
Sunday 2oth June - this will be an all day demonstration.
Saturday 17th July - "Ranger techniques & ATC's" - a great way to learn lots of techniques with Ranger products and then use them to create a collection of ATC's - swap them or keep them as an aide memoire when you need inspiration.
Sunday 18th July - This will be an all day demonstration.
There will be more workshops to come so I'll post details nearer the time. All the above workshops cost £20 and are from 1pm - 4pm. To book, call the Dawn Bibby Design Studio on 01254 356501.

For anyone has seen my boxes at demonstrations and wanted to make one, I have a box project in this month's (April) issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine which gives full instructions and diagrams.

So, it's Monday again now and that's my morning off finished for another week! Back to work now with a long list of things to catch up on - just for a change! Many thanks for all of the lovely cards, emails and comments which have winged their way to me in the last few days. I said to David yesterday that we have met so many genuinely kind and lovely people in this last year or two, it has been really special to have such great support. Lindsay