How's your weekend going...

...are you having fun?

If you have a spare moment or two...grab a cuppa and have a browse as this post is quite photo heavy.

At the moment on this bright Sunday morning the sun is shining, the sky is a fabulous blue (bit hazy) but boy is it cold - - still; at the moment it is dry.

Yesterday the weather wasn't too great - blooming cold first thing, bit of sun shine then rain and hail (in places) - but did I care? Nope!

I was sitting getting a 'numb-bum' watching Andy (Pinnacle Crafts) demoing PanPastels.

Andy showed how you could create the basis for scene background just by giving some thought to where you are placing the colour...

...and then you can start adding your stamped images to build-up your scene.

If you want, you can go for a more 'all over' colour...

...because PanPastels are eraseable (is that a word?) - just by using a pencil eraser you can take the colour back which is great if you have been a little heavy-handed in places or you can use this technique to add highlights...

...you can also add more colour to areas after stamping if you think there is an imbalance or something just doesn't look right.
Andy had prepared a lot of samples...

...this scene looks so soft and peaceful.
He showed everyone just how easy...

..it is to gradually build up the scene...

...and how effective keeping to a monotone can be...

...everything stamped on this piece was done in the Olive shade og Memento but most of it was done with the 'second stamping' to give a paler result - just the two pines and the figures were stamped straight from the inking.

This piece was done using a single colour of PanPastel and mainly the grape shade of Memento.

Andy showed how even when things don't quite look right...

...he intended the church to be a little higher. You can use colour or 'filler' stamps to adjust things. In this case he used a blue Memento so you could see where he had added some 'water' to create a lake effect...

...which when done in the same shade as the rest of the stamping would blend more seamlessly.
This finished sample shows how the use of clouds...

...and sedge...

...help to pull everything together without 'white bits'.

PanPastels can also be used to just create a colour base for images.





A random use of colour over the background can create the perfect colour base for the images and of course you can even create background 'papers' to match in with your projects. Andy said that the tiger sample had used a tiger-print paper but there was nothing in the shop to match in with the cheetah...

...well after a quick play with the pastels - there was!
Some of the samples showed just how effective different colours could look...

...when you see 'orange shede' in the pot it is not a colour that you would think that you would get a lot of use from - however...

...as you can see - looks can be deceiving. Doesn't it look effective.
PanPastels need to be sealed as they attract moisture and the last thing you would want to do after all your hard work is to ruin the effect with a very noticable finger-print. Cheap hairspray works fine but if you want a slight sheen there are sprays that will do the job (Spray & shine or Spray & sparkle) - just don't be too heavy-handed otherwise you can obscure your work.

The pastels are very forgiving and for those of you who love the effect created by brayering (but can never quite get it to look like the pieces produced by Barbara Grey) here is a medium that you could try.

They are quite expensive (around £6 per pot although colour stacks do work out a cheaper option) and there are currently 80 shades in the range (mega OUCH to the wallet) but you don't need to have all 80 - you can build up the intensity of the colour you have applied to give you extra tones & tints. You also use very little so unless you are using the same colour, day-in-day-out, it is unlikely that you will ever have to buy a second pot of any colour...oh, unless you drop it on the floor without the lid on - remember they are compressed powder (I've seen the mess that this makes - one was dropped at a show).

Thank you Andy for another super Demo-day and for those of you who haven't tried this product yet - go on, have a play.............................................................................................

We had it first...

...the Underground Railway; that is.

This year London Underground celebrates 150 years of underground rail service in London and at Stratford (East London) station there is a display feature to mark this achievement...

 The stand is located at the concourse end of the Jubilee line platform...

 ...which is actually one of the 'younger' tube lines servicing London.

The stand contains a lot of 'blurb' about the tube system...

 ...(sorry, not the best of photos because of the direction of the Sun - but I couldn't really ask them to move it for me; now could I?)
The "150" is covered in a collage of photos and facts...

 









...which highlights some significant milestones during the history of our underground system.

It is quite fitting having the display where it is because if you 'snap' at just the right time you will catch a DLR (Docklands Light Railway) and Jubilee Line train in the background - both of which are two of the newer services (yeh, I know they have been going for ages but nowhere near 150 years LOL).

There are new underground trains appearing on many of the lines and I have even spotted a few 'decorated' trains celebrating the 150 years (haven't managed to snap one of those yet)

So if you are paying a visit to London this year you might want to look out for some of the celebrations and information about this great achievement.

Forget your 'subways' and 'metros' - we did it first with the TUBE.................................................

Are there colours...

...that seem to creep into your life?

It sort of 'hit home' yesterday whilst I was crafting that I have a lot of lime & Teal/aqua shades around the house. When did this enlightenment happen? Well, I just stopped to go and make a cuppa...

There in front of me was my lovely new zesty kettle standing infront of my lime mug-tree...

...which just happens to hold a collection of mugs with lime/teal stripes.

On the windowsill...

 ...there are my two lime tea-cups whilst on the drainer...

 ...there seemed to be a fair bit of 'lime' making a showing.
Even my recently painted door from the kitchen to the back porch...

 ...is sporting the same colour scheme and the only picture hanging in the kitchen...

...just happens to be LIME!!!

 

So it shouldn't come as any surprise when I show you what I was making.

 

Starting off with these...









 ...lime, white and teal/aqua double knit cotton yarn...

 ...a Kumihimo disk...

...or two...

 

...and just look how different the results can be.

 

Both started with the same combination of 16 strands - 8 white, 4 lime and 4 teal - but by arranging them in a different order around the disk you can create totally different results.

 

I think I'll add some white stones to this to make some Spring/Summer jewellery - agate, obsidian, moonstone - I'll have to see what takes my fancy. In the meantime I'm just realising how far this colour scheme has spread...the bathroom, clothing, utility room...even my camera case is teal/aqua and white....................................................................... 

See what a bit of Sunshine does...

...it makes me want to get things organised.

Last night I was sorting out my PanPastels so that I could check them off on my colour chart...I hadn't realised just how many I had managed to collect (and there could be more as I think there is another bag tucked away somewhere **rollseyes**).

The latest newsletter from Pinnacle Crafts announced that they had the storage trays in stock so I decided to go and grab one.

Within a few moments of arriving home I was able to unpack this...

...a palette tray that will hold 20 pots.
I then gathered together these...

...gosh how tatty they had become in just a few weeks.
Bye, bye tatty paper bags and hello...

...one neat and tidy storage tray containing 17 pastels (I actually have 19 in this photo but the black & white currently share a lid so they won't fit into the tray). The pots can be stored in the trays without their individual lids so that you can work from the tray very much like a palette - I think I am safer keeping the pot lids on because I really don't want to send them flying and end up with heaps of pastel on the carpet.

So what have you been up to this weekend - were you lucky enough to have sunshine ? - has it given you the urge to do a bit of tidying/spring cleaning ? Kim Dellow mentions over on her blog about the 'time fairy' stealing the time you had set aside to get things done in. I know I haven't managed to get a fraction of what I had hoped done...but never mind...at least my pastels are organised (well, apart from that bag that is hiding somewhere). Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone..........................................................................

Have you heard about...

...the UK Scrappers Spring Blog Hop?

Pop on to UKS on the 15th April for a blog hop! Primarily members, with a few sponsors mixed in, each blog on the hop will have a post worth reading - there may be a project, a tutorial, some How-To info, a real mixed bag but all interesting. Some of the stations may offer a small prize from among their commenters and there will be details in the blog post. UKS will offer a £25 gift Certificate to the sponsor of your choice, to ONE member who has commented on every blog and in the UKS thread for the blog hop. DO NOT comment in the thread till you have completed the hop!

We have asked that Word Verification be turned off but I know that there are often problems with commenting for everyone. IF you only miss out one or two blogs, you will still be entered in the draw, so long as you list the blogs you were unable to comment on in your forum post.

The hop run from 00:01 (just after midnight) to 11:59 (just before the following midnight) 15th April. After the 15th, we will update with a list of the links to the actual post rather than the general Blog link so you will be able to hop after the hop closes.

What a great bit of fun to look forward to.................................................................

A bit of excitement...

...but all for the wrong reason.

Anyone who works or lives in a busy city will be familiar with hearing the sound of emergency vehicles dashing about on a regular basis.

Working very close to an international rail link/underground services/a bus station/a busy main road and a large shopping centre (Westfield - Stratford), I have become used to the noise and the flashing blue lights...however, yesterday late afternoon, there were far more than usual and when a helicopter started circling very low overhead it became obvious that this was something a little out of the ordinary.

Everything seemed to be heading towards the station/shopping centre so we all got up to go and have a look out of the window.

There were emergency staff clearing the buses out of the bus station and the helicopter was coming in to land - it was an air ambulance. I wasn't quite quick enough grabbing my camera because as you can see...

..it had landed...

...boy those pilots are good - that isn't exactly the largest of spaces when you consider those rotors whizzing round.
Emergency vehicles were arriving every few moments...

...and gathering along the approach to the station...

...and up by the main entrance.
All sorts of emergency vehicles...

...police, paramedics, ambulances and even a few fire-engines.
At this point it still wasn't know what the problem was...

...but the engine on the air-ambulance started up...

,,,and up it rose.
This was probably the best photo that I managed...

...the helecoter showing up clearly against the office block over the Westfield centre.
It rose higher...

...hovered for a moment or two...

...and then it was off.

We subsequently discovered that someone had been hit by a tube train but was sadly pronounced dead at the scene so the air-ambulance left.

I also discovered today that this was the second death at Stratford station within the space of a week.

Stratford is an extremely busy station - especially during the 'rush-hour' - and there are times when some of the platforms get very, very crowded. It can be quite frightening at times when people push their way forward and stand so close to the edge of the platform. A bit of pushing & shoving and the unthinkable can so easily happen...

If you commute or travel on a fairly regular basis it can become very easy to get wrapped up in the 'need' to get wherever you are going...but please...do take care....................................................