Experimenting with Screenprinting

So last Saturday I ventured into screenprinting for the first time, and if nothing else I learnt how to cover myself in paint as did claireabellemakes who came on the course with me.

The course was run by Clive Riggs who was probably the most patient teacher in the world (having to put up with my thousands of questions) and extremely talented. We started the morning by being introduced to the kit needed to print, and then we got straight in to it. So to start with Clive got us to print without template to get use to using the screen. So as you would of guessed I grab the brightest pink paint available and got stuck in and luckily it worked (I loved the pink but it did like to dye everything around it no matter how much I washed it).

We then went on to do our first template print and I decided to make a cupcake (yes 1 hour in and all I could think about was when could I eat - I did sneak a kit kat in though), which printed up lovely. Then we use the cut outs of the template to create another image and I turned my cupcake into a cup of tea - I really liked this exercise as it made me think about transitioning one image into another and  I am thinking about this a lot at the moment.

Then came to the final picture of the day where I started to get ever so slightly carried away and decided to print a sperm whale (I then obsessed with sperm whales for quiet a while). With this I decided to do a multi layered whale using different techniques (it did look slightly like a child had done it but I loved it (I don't have a picture of it as i gave it to Mr CG - but here is my dodgy whale I did first time around).

If you haven't tried screenprinting you definitely should its fun, bring the child out in you and is a brilliant technique to use. Next week is lino printing - get me!

My weight loss journey....

So this isn't a crafty post (I'm finishing lots of projects a the moment - so expect lots soon), but it is something that is important to me. About 6 months ago I reached a point where I decided that I needed to lose weight for two reasons, one I could barely fit into my clothes (so had to lose weight as I couldn't afford new ones), and secondly because I took part in a genetics study and found out I had the gene for coronary artery disease (and after lots of tests my only major worrying factor was my weight). After weeks of convincing myself that I could lose weight if I just thought about it, I decided drastic action needed to be taken and I joined weight watchers. I'm not normally a fan of these things but after lots of research, I decided weight watchers was for me as it was about re-education and lifestyle change which I knew would help me in the future for maintaining my weight loss.

So off I trotted to my first meeting, and it all went from there the ladies who ran the group were lovely and friends and family joined with me for support (without them I could never have done this). Every week I soldiered on, but still felt like I was eating normally except having a slightly smaller portion size and being more considered when I was ordering out in restaurants. I was convinced that this was making no difference at all but every week I weighed I kept losing weight.

However two weeks ago I finally reached my goal weight having lost just shy of 3st, and it felt amazing ( however I still have a little bit to lose to be where I want to). But I still went home to continue down the path of sensible eating (I think it is engrained on my brain now).

I'm not saying its changed my life or anything like that (i'm still me), but it has given me my confidence back and more importantly I feel healthier, so much so that I have started running again after several years of not - which is very exciting indeed!

I just want to thank all of my friends and family who have helped me through this without you I could never have done this (you know who you are).

Crafternoon in June!

Lovely Crafters. Both myself and claireabellemakes will be hosting a crafternoon in Cambridge on Thursday 20th June, and we would love to see some of your lovely faces there.

It starts at 4pm in The Mill (details in below link), but don't despair we'll be crafting till late and I wont get there till 6pm (just in time for cocktail hour - hahaha).

So come along for craft, fun and new faces (and make sure to sign up below).

I Look forward to lots of eager sign ups

http://etsycraftparty-cambridge.eventbrite.com/