Birthday card

Yesterday Peter and I went to Linköping to celebrate his big sister's 70th birthday. Heidi had made a plant arrangement with a Christmas Rose and so I made a card to go with it...

Can you see the little felted "stone" which Heidi had made in the same colours? I brought home a felting needle from the Knitting and Stitching show in Stockholm last week and we've all been having a go at making felt stones... /Jacqui

minus six celsius and a beautiful effect

After Syfestivalen, I've been watching my DVDs and reading my books and now I'm seeing inspiration everywhere!!! Got up early and watched one of the DVDs - then I noticed as it was getting light outside how incredibly beautiful the trees were in the frost! So had to take some pictures - now I want to paint!!! /Jacqui

syfestivalen

I'd completely forgotten that it was Syfestivalen (Knitting and Stitching Show) this weekend up in Stockholm, until I met my neighbouring shop owner across the street as we were locking up on Friday evening. She reminded me and encouraged me to go. So on Saturday morning I persuaded Peter to take a day out and off we belted to Älvsjö. There's an indescribable feeling of excitement and joy flowing through your veins when you are faced with colour in all its forms. I met a wonderful lady called Ingrid who owns a shop called Canvas in Göteborg, and whose stand I could have easily emptied if my credit card had allowed it! Wonderful books on every subject of textiles, dying, painting, embroidering, you name it. I ended up bying dyes, books, dvds and a very interesting papery fabric called Lutradur which I'm going to paint on and shrink with heat from a heat gun - can't wait!! Here are some of the fabulous colours I spotted there.... / Jacqui

weddings....

All last week I worked on projects for the Wedding Fair where Gredelin was going to be exhibiting this past Sunday in Bankkyrkan on Drottninggatan here in Norrköping. I'd already decided to have a colour scheme of white, off-white, oyster and dark burghundy, and the style was going to be vintage. We started on Monday when Heidi (my daughter, who is a florist) and I sat and produced invitations and little gift boxes, the kind you use beside every place setting at the reception table. Heidi is so brilliant at design - so I made the boxes and she decorated them. They looked like little cakes so I displayed them on this cake stand.

Then I worked on two scrapbooking layouts, using photos from my parents' wedding in northern England, during the war, and from my big sister's wedding in southern England in 1965 when I was a bridesmaid (aged 8). I used our Sizzix Big Shot machine which cuts out leaves and flowers, and dies from Tim Holtz and Magnolia (who have beautiful old fashioned dies, laces, doilies, flowers, leaves and so on) - distressed the edges of everything with Distress inks in colours: Old Paper and Pumice Stone. The large and medium sized roses I made using the Tim Holtz die Tattered Florals and then painted them with Gesso and sprayed them with inks diluted with water in a spray Mini Mister. Haven't had so much fun for ages - took the whole of Friday to do them both but it was heaven! My youngest daughter Gabbie was a model for a hairdressing salon who were also exhibiting and she was made up as an Ice Princess with white make-up and amazing curls and chandelier hair decor and necklace/Jacqui