Coffee post!

It's a coffee post because it's a quickie while I have my coffee while waiting for some paints to dry before I can progress with today's work. I usually like to get into the garden on Sunday afternoons, weather permitting, but today I'm up against another deadline, so I'm trying to ignore the tempting sunshine outside! Thomas and Tara are both enjoying the balmy afternoon, so I'm a little fed up that I can't join them...

 .....there's Tara, trotting over to one of her shady hidey holes. My poor lawn has been really neglected - still no lawnmower and the grass got really long. The gardener, who visits one of my neighbours, gave it a haircut this week but he cut it very short so it's gone into shock! It looks very pale and patchy but I'm assured it will come back to green loveliness quite quickly, especially after I've fed it with some lawn food.
Thomas is just sprawling about, having a bit of a warm up.

 He's not too well at the moment and he's going to be going to the vet's next week. He's been mopey and off his food and I've decided that he's got a toothache or an abcess or something. I need my little soldier back to his full, fighting self! I'll keep you posted as to how he gets on.

This morning I was sworn in as a sidesperson at church. This is separate to the deputy Verger duties, and is a general meet and greet, help with the collection, gather up service sheets after the service etc. There are nineteen of us at the moment and I'm number thirteen (for the rota sheets) which I'm hoping is not significant! I'm really grateful to have been welcomed so wholeheartedly at the church and when I walk into the village to do my shopping I can guarantee that I'll see somebody I know and there'll be a few friendly smiles and waves....so different from living in Manchester!

Yesterday I was at Samuel Taylor's in Brighouse again. I was teaching a Steampunk themed workshop in the morning which was great fun. Some of the ladies said they were not sure about the whole Steampunk thing and whether it was really their "thing", but, by the end of the morning everyone said how much they'd enjoyed it and I think we had some conversions! I won't show the cards we made just yet, as I'm doing a repeat of the class in the Leeds store in a few weeks. 

In the afternoon I was demonstrating alcohol inks, Steampunk stamps etc and I was asked by Dawn and her mum (I hope I've got your name right Dawn!) if I can please mention where I'm going to be in my blog posts and not just in my sidebar. I'd never thought about the fact that some people subscribe to my posts rather than visiting the blog, so they don't see the diary dates....duh! So, I shall endeavour to make more mention of demos etc in the posts.

Next Saturday I'll be at Brigg garden centre which is in the Scunthorpe, Barnetby area. I haven't visited this store before but I'm told that the craft area is excellent, so I'm looking forward to my visit. I'll be using my Doo Lally Pip stamps as well as some general Crafty Impressions (the new name for Personal Impressions clear stamp range) sets. I'll be using the full gamut of Distressy things....paints, inks, Dylusions sprays etc - of course! Maybe one day I'll be travelling home on the train without my hands being every shade of blue, green, purple....but I doubt it!

 Well, I'm sure that paint must be dry by now, so I'd better press on. Before I go, here's a sneaky peep at something else that I'm working on.....

 ......it's a canvas that I'm creating for my Etsy shop. It began with gesso, and I scratched the heart into the top left once it was just tacky. Once dry I did my "cloud watching" technique and contemplated what I could "see" in the surface textures. The face just started to emerge and now I pretty much know where this piece is going. A lot of work to do on it yet and it will look quite different by the time it's finished! I added a few more items to my shop last week, so I'm getting there, slowly but surely!

Right, coffee drunk, paint dry, so I'm off back to the Doo Lally room.