The amazing Ministry of Mixology

Box kit, tags, and elements all designed by me! Available from Tando Creative

Edit: Tando kits are now available *here*

I have just returned home from a whirlwind weekend of fabulousness that is The Ministry of Mixology retreat, Coventry, UK. This was the fourth one of its kind, and the second time I have taught there, and is the brainchild of the amazing Andy Skinner of DecoArt, and the wonderful Di Oliver of Tando Creative. This retreat is seriously going from strength to strength, and is a most friendly, well organised, creative and inspiring occasion. You can check out future events *here*

I designed a Tando kit for this event which included a box, several tags to go inside, and whimsical elements to decorate the tags with. I sent Di a scribbled drawing of what I wanted it to look like and Di added the magic to make it happen :-)

The whole thing is decorated with paints and mediums by DecoArt: 

Mediums: Gesso, Tinting Base, Sand Texture Paste, Matte Medium, Weathered Wood.

Fluid Acrylic Paints: Cobalt Teal Hue, Green Gold, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Vermilion, Quinacridone Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Carbon black, Metallic Gold.

Here are some pictures of the decorated inner tags:

And I was lucky enough to work alongside the hugely talented France Papillon all weekend!

Andy Skinner, France Papillon, and me!

The retreat runs over two days with 35 students in each class. We are lucky enough to be supported by helpers and runners in each class, who are all talented artists in their own right, and seem to instinctively know what is needed. They are fabulous! And it all takes place in a hotel so everyone gets to stay together and socialise, and eat and drink lots and have huge amounts of fun along the way. Saturday evening consists of some great make and takes, demos, and all sorts of other shenanigans (I'll leave that up to your imagination!)

So, just to prove it all happened, here are a few photos of art in action:

(Er .... just who is this photo bomber?!!)

And just look at this! I was absolutely blown away by just how much everyone achieved in the time they had. I tried to design a project that didn't have to be finished on the day, but an awful lot of art did get finished! Pictures like this make me feel incredibly proud :-) Just get a load of all this colour!

So now I am back home, and taking it easy for a few days, and chilling. Thanks to all the mixologists who came along to play and made it such a truly amazing weekend. At the end of the day, it's all about the people who turn up to play at these events, and what can I say? You rock!