Birmingham / CHSI Stitches 2017

Last year, I was invited to go to Birmingham for just a couple of days - to a class with Tim Holtz that took place before the CHSI Stitches show. We were leaving right after the workshop and didn't even go to the trade show.

This year, we planned it all well ahead, actually almost 6 months ahead. We got our tickets, booked our hotel and waited. Because Ryanair flies to Birmingham only 3 times a week from our part of the world, we had two options - arrive on Saturday evening, right before the show and miss any workshop that might take place on Saturday; or arrive on Thursday and hope there will be a workshop before the show. We took the risk and ... of course, there was no workshop before the show. So we had two free days to roam around Birmingham city centre.

 

Of course, we did some shopping in and around Bullring. I ended up buying some planner post-it notes in various shops.

But we also went to the museum - as a fan of archaeology, I was eager to see the Staffordshire hoard.

We also took a boat ride along the Birmingham canals.

And ... when in Rome... we had to taste the local fish and chips.

Of course, as a stencil fanatic, I was taking note of some stencil-worthy architectural features.

So, after two days of shopping and walking (we did almost 10 km per day), there was finally time for the show. We watched a few demos...

 Andy Skinner

 Dyan Reaveley

Seth Apter

We didn't have much time for the show, though, because we signed up for five 2-hour PaperArtsy workshops - with JoFy, Tracy Scott, Lin Brown, Leandra and Seth Apter.

I'm writing about the projects in this post.

I took home 10 new stamp sets and 15 bottles of paint and some stencils. The paints ended up to be a big problem as they didn't pass through security, so we had to go back and have our luggage checked in. Because we were flying low-cost, we ended up paying a fortune for the suitcase - so it would probably have been cheaper to throw the paints away at the airport and order new (and unused) ones. And we nearly missed our plane... Whatever... I'm pretty proprietary about my art supplies...

 We also had time for one other short workshop with Kate Crane.

We did a quick tag. Kate Crane's art is new to me. I'm quite surprised because her style is just right down my alley.

It was quite an adventure. And a long journey back home. Now a need a holiday to recover ;-) But no, the office work won't go away... even if I ignore it...