Gawthorpe Coal Race plus Sunday Stampers

I live in Gawthorpe, Ossett, West Yorkshire where, on Easter Mondays, they have a Coal Carrying Championship.  This year was the 48th and the first I'd watched.  My daughter's children took part in the 8-10 year olds races.  Lewis came 5th or 6th in his race while Robyn came 2nd in the girls.  The children carry a small plastic bag with sand in.   Both women and men run 1,108 yards, mostly uphill, the women carrying a 20kg sack of coal while the men carry 50kg.  (Apparantly there were approx 2,000 people watching the race).  Gawthorpe also still celebrates May Day with a procession and May Queen, this year is the 139th celebration.
Lewis is wearing the brightly coloured shorts

Robyn is on the left of the photo here; you can see how far ahead the girl is who won. The Maypole can be seen in this picture.

The theme for this week's Sunday Stampers is 'Wings'.  I've made what I call a puffy tag ;-) It's a canvas tag which has been stuffed.

This and That

I'm finally going to show the swaps I got in for the PIF I took part in a few months ago.  I got 3 wonderful items; from Ann I received a large hanging, which had foamboard as the base, from Kayc I received a little book, and from Kay another piece of hanging art.  I'm absolutely delighted with them all.  The 2 hanging pieces are just hanging from cupboards in the kitchen till I find a home for them.  I've finally finished a configuration box that several of us did some months ago - mine just needed one more thing but I was stuck as to what till Pat gave me a fairy template.  So I cut one out of shrink plastic and she fits the bill just fine :-) 

 

I've been using some airdrying clay with some face molds I have but thought I'd have a go at doing my own face - well not MY OWN face but you know what I mean LOL.  It's 11/2"x11/4"

If you'd like to see some of the things we do at the doll group I'm a member of, click this link craftydollybirds.  The papier mache doll I was making is on there (she doesn't have any hands and who knows, she may never get any!!!)

Sunday Stampers -_Love

Finished my Sunday Stampers quite early for me - I did do last weeks but didn't get round to photographing it till the Saturday and then had spent long enough on the PC that day so didn't post it.  The theme this week is 'Love' and as it's Hels' 1000th blog post she's offering some candy for one lucky person.  For this special edition of Sunday Stampers Hels wants us to use our favourite technique and our favourite designer.  Well I really don't have a favourite designer, but as I do love Tim's stuff I've included a couple of his stamps.  ONe of my favourite techniques just now is using texture paste or gel medium with stencils to add texture which I've done at the bottom of the canvas.    I printed off a dictionary definition of 'love' and transferred it using gel medium.  The heart is made from Fimo airdry clay and stamped into, then coloured with Viva Gold Silver (I know! I didn't name it!) and some mica powder.

Sunday Stampers

To check out the Sunday Stampers weekly challenge, pop over to Hels' blog.  The theme for this week is 'Gold'.  I've triple embossed a die-cut house from Crafty Individuals and stamped into it using a text stamp.  Spot the deliberate mistake?  Well if you don't, I stamped the text the wrong way on the house - actually I had the stamp the right way up, it was the house that wasn't; but as I'd put everything away before I noticed, I've left it.  I've copied the TH rosette but mine's done by hand - you see you don't need to buy a die specially for this job ;-)  I know the dies make life easier but sometimes funds don't allow :-(

Making My Own Lino Print Block, Plus 365 Journal Pages for April

I've had the lino block tools and a piece of lino block for years!!  I got mine from Fred Aldous which is based in Manchester, but they used to have a little shop in Chorley, Lancs.  They have a fantastic range of products but some products you may be able to get cheaper elsewhere.  I did cut something a long time ago but have since discarded it.  What got me thinking about making a print block was seeing the beautiful Indian Print Blocks from Colouricious at the NEC.  I've used mine in two ways.  The green design was made by rubbing a Markal Paintstik over the top of the block, these are oil paints in a stick.  The gold design I did by painting gold fabric paint over the block, putting the fabric over the top then rolling over with a brayer.  I've made a negative design though it does look here as though the design is raised it isn't - taken from 'Pattern Motifs: A Sourcebook', by Graham Leslie McCallum.

 

Now for my completed 365 Journal March pages - I wet the back of the righthand page too much while preparing April's pages which made the ink run on my little birds, but think I've managed to rescue it reasonably well.  I've used a mix of Brusho and Koh-i-Noor waterbased dye for April.  I do like using both these products but you have to be very careful 'cos they do bleed extremely easily.  I've also used my new white matte Craftynotions spray with a couple of stencils.  For more info about the 365 Journal pop over to Kate's :-)