VCB's ('Various Crafty Bits!') ...Ecoline Inks, Copics, Hama Bead Minions etc!

It's been a bit of an odd few days, with all sorts going on, and I thought I'd share a couple of pictures...

I've been holding a card making class at my house each month, for some of the women from school and church. I'd been asked if I could introduce them to Copics, so I gave them a choice of a few simple stamps which just needed a limited number of colours, to practice with. I kept the card design simple, so they could concentrate on the colouring. 

Here were my sample cards. I think some of the women were crestfallen because they enjoyed it so much that they are now tempted to buy some Copics!!

(The stamps are from The Stamps of Life, and Papertrey Ink.)

I've been enjoying my experimentation with calligraphy, and it's led me to buy some Ecoline Watercolour Inks, which some calligraphers use. 

First off I just wanted to mess around with the inks, and see how they acted... here is my first 'play' page - the inks are wonderfully vivid and fabulous to use.

I will do a post later, summarising what I've learnt so far about calligraphy, and what products I recommend etc.

I had three kids off school on Thursday and Friday with headaches and sick bugs, but when they weren't feeling too rough, they played with clear wax candles, using them as a resist for the Ecoline inks. 

And this must be the simplest card I've ever made, but I love it!

I did a wash with Ecoline ink on beautiful thick cardstock, then when it was completely dry used a dip pen and white ink for the sentiment.

And lastly, we had a family get-together yesterday, for my nephew's baptism. It's also about half the family's birthdays around now, so we exchanged lots of presents, including this Hama Bead Minion keyring which the kids and I made for one of my sister's birthday presents! (My 'Kids' board on Pinterest coming in handy again!)

Just as we were all about to head back to our various homes last night, we thought to take a quick snap of us all  - Mum, Dad, four siblings and spouses, and a tonne of kids (though we realised afterwards that my eldest son was missing - he was being sick but we didn't know - poor thing!) Oh, and I'm not exceptionally short - I'd just set the self-timer on my camera and rushed down to the front!