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L.B Crafts became a stockist of our Darkroom Door stamps soon after they were first released a couple of years ago. I then met Lin, the owner, at CHA last year and she is so lovely!!! Last week I finally had the opportunity to teach a workshop in her store at Olney in the UK. Here's a pic of the store:
To get there, you go through the cutest little alley way with the most gorgeous stores. This next photo is looking back up into the alley from LB Crafts.
Here's some of the other stores in the alleyway:
At LB Crafts, I taught a Crayon Resist workshop with Adirondack and Distress inkpads along with our Darkroom Door stamps (of course!!) The class was loads of fun and the ladies really got into the technique and made some amazing cards!!! Here's some photos from the day:
It was great catching up with Lin (the owner) and Karen who works in the shop. Also had the pleasure of meeting Linda Elbourne who also teaches in the store. Here's a pic of Lin and me:
And as for the actual store.... ohhhhh yummy! You should see all of the stuff that's in there! They have tons of stamps, especially those cool ones in the tins ;) And lots of books, inks, paints, embellishments, and LOADS of great samples displayed around the store.
See how fabulous it is! If you're ever in the UK, it's definitely worth checking out!
A big thanks to everyone to who took the class and to Lin and Karen for organising it. I had such a great day with you all!!
Last week I had the opportunity to teach at the Art Journey retreat in Sleen, Holland... and what a FUN time we had!!! I taught 15 classes over three days, to 180 students in total. It was a great experience - here's some photos from the weekend:
This is Louise who owns Art Journey - she is so warm and wonderful! Always ready to have a laugh and joke together. Love her!!
Here's some of her store... notice the cool rack of Darkroom Door stamps?
The store is packed with so much stuff!!! Cool stamps, embellishments, paints, papers, you name it.
Here's what the store looks like from the back with free icicles...
There were too many students to fit into the classroom inside the store, so the classes were held in the 'bib' (the library) which is next door. There were four classes being taught at the same time and the students would rotate around the classes during the day so everyone ended up completing all of the projects by the end of the day.
Here's a photo of the project I taught:
We used the Darkroom Door Country Cottage & Plaid Background stamps, Alcohol Inks, paint and embossing powder to create a grungy shabby background and lots of jute and hessian!
During the day, we were entertained by Truus and Annie who did a VERY funny comedy routine... in dutch of course, but I could understand enough to know what was going on! They had everyone dancing and laughing... and even doing a 'Tim Holtz meditation' to try and absorb some of Tim's creativity... I tell you, it was too funny....
I also met some stamping buddies: Godelieve Tijskens (Darkroom Door Creative Team member) and Terry Alblas:
Here's some pics with some of the other teachers... first Liesbeth:
And Corine (who was so wonderful and drove me to Utrecht after the weekend had finished)
And Jeanette and Louise:
Had dinner in this wonderful restaurant with the Art Journey gang... at the end of the meal the staff gave each of us a bunch of tulips for Valentine's Day!
And you know you're in Holland when you see one of these:
The streets looked like this:
And lastly, a photo of the Art Journey gang:
Thank you to everyone who attended the Art Journey days... and especially to everyone at Art Journey for making me feel so welcome! Thanks to Louise and Jos for your warm hospitality and for the great food! I had a fabulous weekend... thank you so much! I hope to return again someday :)
Rach xx
Have just spent a couple of snowy (and cold) days in Amsterdam.... LOVED every minute of it!
Such a beautiful city, especially with the snow falling. I really enjoyed walking down & across the canals and through the little street checking out all the cute little shops. I was here 12 years ago, but it seems different this time around... the snow makes it just magical (for this Aussie anyway!!!)
I don't have much time on here to upload photos and share more stories, but will catch up when I can!!
I arrived in The Netherlands last Thursday and have been busy teaching stamping workshops at the Art Journey retreat. It's been loads of fun so far, trying to learn as much of the dutch language as I could (and failing miserably but doing my best!), catching up with the Art Journey team and meeting lots of new friends!
The weather is gorgeous. They had a big snowfall again just a few days before I arrived, so the snow was fresh and powdery, but the sun was still out. Gorgeous. Here's a look at the streets of Sleen:
The temperature is around -2C degrees each day, sometimes a little warmer. The first day I froze (still in semi-thin clothes from the plane trip!) but now dressed in the appropriate attire - I'm loving the change from the humid Aussie summer.
This was the sunset from the day I arrived:
I have one more day of teaching, then I head into Amsterdam for a few days. Hope to update the blog when I'm there.
Happy Valentines Day to you all!!
Rachel x
