Wednesday 27 February 2013


Secret Garden     


What a fantastic weekend I had with my fellow JoLLiStaMpeRs in Rochdale, kindly hosted as usual by Joan. Most of the 'gang' were there plus a couple of new ladies which was lovely: Joan, her daughter Rachel, Lou (whose birthday was on Sunday), Sue, Lisa, Siobhan and her sister Roisin, Lisa W, Debbie and me.


Our weekend workshop was led by the one and only, truly inimitable and delightful Hels Sheridan. We started off with a Configurations Box each and various colours of acrylic paint with which to put on a base coat using Cut'n'Dry foam; most of us chose a light sandy colour and that took nearly all morning (those boxes have a lot of surface area!). This is my initial configuration which changed a lot along the way:



During the afternoon we made lots of textured pieces of card and coated them with the wondrous invention Treasure Gold from PaperArtsy. I have never used this wax before but am now completely addicted ...

On Sunday we started to put the whole thing together, and an atmosphere of festivity abounded since it was Lou's birthday. Hels had made her a wonderful gooey and delicious chocolate cake which we all tucked into with gay abandon!

It was while we were stamping our boxes and card pieces that the Secret Garden idea came to me: Hels had brought a PA Hot Pick stamp which I have had for a few years but which has been sadly neglected of late, so I decided to base the box around the sentiment. We were shown loads of Melt Pot techniques during the day, and the 'goodie bag' of embellishments which Hels provided was definitely on the generous side; I hardly used any of mine and have lots to dip into at a later date.

This is how my box looked when I brought it home:



I have since spent several hours on it and here is the finished result. The top left box opens to reveal the 'Secret Garden'.




Although nothing like what I had first envisaged, I like it! The Treasure Gold is fabulous stuff and gives a sheen to the whole project. Here are a few close-ups of some of the boxes:






I do hope you enjoy looking at it almost as much as I enjoyed making it, and huge thanks to Hels for another fabulous day.

Thanks for looking, Sarah x






35 comments:

  1. just fabulous Sarah. love all the shimmering textures going on x Lavinia

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  2. Wow, it is so beautiful. Gorgeous colours & the TG looks amazing.

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  3. Sarah this is amazing I luv it

    Jackie x

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  4. This is gorgeous Sarah.....I love it.
    Love Shirley xxx

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  5. glad you enjoyed the class Sarah... Thanks for joining in with the Sunday Stamper x

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  6. It looks like you had an amazing time - how did you avoid Lou's camera I wonder??
    I love your idea of the Secret Garden & the way that little box opens - I've never done anything remotely like this before so your post is a real eye-opener, never mind eye candy.
    Glad you had a super time & that Lou enjoyed her birthday too.
    Paula (PEP)

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  7. Gorgeous Sarah, love the secret garden idea. To think all 10 of us started with the same basic supplies and all our projects are so different. See you soon Joan x

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  8. OH wow!! This is truly amazing. Well worth the time you put into it. I love it. Phyllis xx

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  9. Wow! This is beautiful, it must have taken ages.

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  10. fabulous creation - well done
    Linda x

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  11. Such a great and intricate project. Heike xx

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  12. Wow, this is amazing. So detailed and intricate. Love the sheen to the project too.

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  13. wow what a lovely creation x

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  14. Stunning work...its so beautiful....jx

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  15. just hopping by
    stunning work x

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  16. Wow! Stunning altered configuration box x

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  17. Stunning project and looks and sounds as though you had a fantastic day
    carol x

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  18. Looks fabulous Sarah.

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  19. love it Sarah, looks great. Bet you had a lot of fun doing this project!

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  20. Stunning work Sarah, the colours and details are just gorgeous...Blog hopping from docrafts.
    Wendy xx

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  21. This is stunning,love your theme and embellishments x

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  22. Fab creation, just hopped over from docrafts

    Lorna x

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  23. Fabulous box, not seen anything like this before, you have done a great job. Hopping from Docrafts x

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  24. What an amazing project - bet it was so much fun doing all the separate boxes x

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  25. A stunning project.
    Heike xx

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  26. wowee heike! thats fab! such a lot of work gone into ti! just hopping in memory of sandra on docrafts x

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  27. This is fantastic, so much detail! X

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  28. beautiful creation x

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  29. Oh you lucky thing having a weekend workshop with the fabulous Hels!! Love your configuration box, the garden is a great idea. I've been meaning to try hat treasure gold stuff, I wonder how different it is to other metallic waxes. Maddy x

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  30. Hopping by again in honour of Dec O Cards. These still amaze me, such a lot of work gone into their creation.

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  31. Ooh just stunning! Its an honour to remember a member of our docrafts family. Elaine-xxx-

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  32. Hi - just hopping from docrafts - sorry im a bit late! wowee!!! from plain cardboard to something really beautiful! x

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  33. I love seeing these made up they hold so many wonderful things to look at, it's absolutely beautiful Sarah. Hugs Teresa x

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  34. Ohhh Sarah this is stunning I'm well jel x im going to one of hels workshops down south whilst visiting a friend xx so sorry to hear about your fur baby :( we lost Dennis a bit ago :( big hugs xxx

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