Craft Swap in Bacup! Every second Saturday of the month at the ABD Centre in Bacup, Lancashire. Drop in any time between 11:00 - 12:30 h. Come along with any unused, underused, or unwanted craft materials or craft tools, home deco items, or stationery to add to the pool, and take away items donated by others. Half-used stuff is totally fine, because someone else will be able to use your used paints or fabric scraps, etc.
This is a FREE event. I will keep some of what is left at the end of the event to offer again at a next Craft Swap. I may also sell a few of the donated items to cover the costs of keeping this a free events. And anything that I can't keep due to limited storage space will be donated to a local charity.
Please do not bring any duvets, pillows, cushions, stuffed animals, or other items that can't be properly cleaned. Fabrics, yarns, new stuffing etc. are all fine, of course.
Please do not bring house paint or other kinds of materials you would not use or store in your own craft room. Note that art paints like oil paints, acrylic paints, craft glues etc. are fine to donate.
CANCELLED due to lack of interest. Please contact me if you are interested so I can put you down on a list. When I have enough interested people, we can arrange dates that work for everyone. Sewing workshop in Bacup to create your own textile bag. On Saturday March 14 and March 21, I will teach a workshop where you will create your own textile which you will use to create one of two different bag designs. The workshops run from 13-16 h and you will need to join both dates. This is for ages 16 and up and suitable for beginners. The total costs are £40 per person and this covers use of equipment and tools, materials, and refreshments. This is at the ABD Centre in Bacup, Lancashire. Please e-mail me to book your place: almalauha AT gmail DOT com .
10 January 2026: FREE crafts workshop in Bacup! The Bacup Zine workshop will take place on Saturday 10 Jan. 2026 at the ABD Centre in Bacup, Lancashire. Drop-in any time between 10-16 h. For adults, and kids aged 10+ (under 16s must be accompanied). We will be making contributions to a magazine about/for Bacup, which will be available for free in print and online. Find more info on the Bacup Zine website.
Date TBC. Collage workshop in Bacup (Lancashire). Come join me for my craft workshop at The ABD Centre. I will guide you to make a handstitched booklet and decorate and fill it using collage techniques, for instance to do something special with holiday photos or to create a vision for one of your ambitions. Alternatively, you can do collage on a canvas board to hang up in your home. All tools and materials will be provided, but please have a think about the theme/topic you want to focus on and bring any specific materials for that with you (such as photos, travel tickets, travel maps, themed stickers, and other keepsakes).
This workshop is for ages 14 years and older but teenagers who are 14 or 15 years old must come with an adult (18+) guardian who will also be taking this workshop. The costs are £15 per person, which includes beverages and treats during the break and throughout the afternoon.
We will start at 13:15 h in the Fern room at The ABD Centre on Burnley Road, Bacup. We have the room until 17:00 h so there's enough time to craft at leisure, but feel free to leave from 16:00 h on if you do not need the extra time. Note that there is no partial refund if you decide to leave early.
Please contact me to sign up for this workshop so I know how many people want to join. Please send an email to info (@) almalauha.com (remove the spaces and brackets) stating the names of the people signing up. Alternatively, you can purchase your ticket(s) ahead of time on Eventbrite.
What we will be doing: During the workshop, I will provide oral and written instructions as well as showcase examples of some of the possibilities of the collage techniques. Of course I can advise and assist you if you ever feel stuck. Please think about the topic or theme for your booklet or canvas board before the day, so that you have time to gather any specific pictures or keepsakes you want to incorporate. Some examples of what you could make:
* Holiday booklet/board using photos, travel maps, public transport stubs, events tickets, and low-value paper money on backgrounds of relevant images taken from books and magazines, such as images of landscapes or activities.
* Vision booklet/board for an ambition or plans you have for (higher) education or travel or your own business or your wedding. Collect and cut out magazine and book pictures of scenes, objects, and people relevant to your vision. Cut out individual letters to create keywords. (Please note that I probably won't have any magazines specifically for weddings/bridal themes but feel free to bring your own!)
* Create a booklet/board revolving around your favourite artist(s) or hobbies, or other things you love. Please do bring your own images if you want images of a specific artist as it's unlikely there will be any let alone many photos of your artist in the books and magazines I supply for you to use.
* Memory booklet/board using photos of (a) loved one(s) or beloved pet(s). Put your loved one in settings or landscapes they loved or surround them with objects they had a special interest in or that refer to inside jokes.
* Colour-focused booklet/board gathering pictures and letters etc. in a specific colour or even all colours and arranging them in the order of the rainbow (or any other order).
* Study of a specific object or event or other interest you want to explore. Creating a booklet or board is a great way to push yourself to dive deeper into something. Maybe you want to learn more about how a specific kind of garment might be made or can be designed. Maybe you want to spend the afternoon thinking about chair design or portrait photography.
As you can imagine, the options really are endless. There is no right or wrong way to do this, the most important thing is that you are having fun.
I will bring various kinds and colours of (thick) paper, adult colouring pages, and loose pages of magazines and books, to use in your project. I will bring various kinds of papercraft tools, pens and pencils, and watercolour paints.
At the end of the workshop you will hopefully go home with a booklet with several pages of artwork focused on your topic/theme or with an art board to put up in your home.
Here you can see what we did in April 2025 at the ABD Centre in Bacup:
Here are a few examples of collage I made myself: a canvas board about the tensions between consumerism and trying to be frugal; a canvas board with marbled paper and handmade paper sky showing a bug-lobster hybrid attacking earth with dumplings; the red booklet is a study on plants and on people who are living in a pre-modern society; the orange booklet is a study of evil vs good; in the wide rectangluar booklet I focused on red and green colours (not all pages are shown here); and a tiny square booklet in which I gathered natural patterns and paper with structure/marbling.
This is a FREE event. I will keep some of what is left at the end of the event to offer again at a next Craft Swap. I may also sell a few of the donated items to cover the costs of keeping this a free events. And anything that I can't keep due to limited storage space will be donated to a local charity.
Please do not bring any duvets, pillows, cushions, stuffed animals, or other items that can't be properly cleaned. Fabrics, yarns, new stuffing etc. are all fine, of course.
Please do not bring house paint or other kinds of materials you would not use or store in your own craft room. Note that art paints like oil paints, acrylic paints, craft glues etc. are fine to donate.
Date TBC. Collage workshop in Bacup (Lancashire). Come join me for my craft workshop at The ABD Centre. I will guide you to make a handstitched booklet and decorate and fill it using collage techniques, for instance to do something special with holiday photos or to create a vision for one of your ambitions. Alternatively, you can do collage on a canvas board to hang up in your home. All tools and materials will be provided, but please have a think about the theme/topic you want to focus on and bring any specific materials for that with you (such as photos, travel tickets, travel maps, themed stickers, and other keepsakes).
This workshop is for ages 14 years and older but teenagers who are 14 or 15 years old must come with an adult (18+) guardian who will also be taking this workshop. The costs are £15 per person, which includes beverages and treats during the break and throughout the afternoon.
We will start at 13:15 h in the Fern room at The ABD Centre on Burnley Road, Bacup. We have the room until 17:00 h so there's enough time to craft at leisure, but feel free to leave from 16:00 h on if you do not need the extra time. Note that there is no partial refund if you decide to leave early.
Please contact me to sign up for this workshop so I know how many people want to join. Please send an email to info (@) almalauha.com (remove the spaces and brackets) stating the names of the people signing up. Alternatively, you can purchase your ticket(s) ahead of time on Eventbrite.
What we will be doing: During the workshop, I will provide oral and written instructions as well as showcase examples of some of the possibilities of the collage techniques. Of course I can advise and assist you if you ever feel stuck. Please think about the topic or theme for your booklet or canvas board before the day, so that you have time to gather any specific pictures or keepsakes you want to incorporate. Some examples of what you could make:
* Holiday booklet/board using photos, travel maps, public transport stubs, events tickets, and low-value paper money on backgrounds of relevant images taken from books and magazines, such as images of landscapes or activities.
* Vision booklet/board for an ambition or plans you have for (higher) education or travel or your own business or your wedding. Collect and cut out magazine and book pictures of scenes, objects, and people relevant to your vision. Cut out individual letters to create keywords. (Please note that I probably won't have any magazines specifically for weddings/bridal themes but feel free to bring your own!)
* Create a booklet/board revolving around your favourite artist(s) or hobbies, or other things you love. Please do bring your own images if you want images of a specific artist as it's unlikely there will be any let alone many photos of your artist in the books and magazines I supply for you to use.
* Memory booklet/board using photos of (a) loved one(s) or beloved pet(s). Put your loved one in settings or landscapes they loved or surround them with objects they had a special interest in or that refer to inside jokes.
* Colour-focused booklet/board gathering pictures and letters etc. in a specific colour or even all colours and arranging them in the order of the rainbow (or any other order).
* Study of a specific object or event or other interest you want to explore. Creating a booklet or board is a great way to push yourself to dive deeper into something. Maybe you want to learn more about how a specific kind of garment might be made or can be designed. Maybe you want to spend the afternoon thinking about chair design or portrait photography.
As you can imagine, the options really are endless. There is no right or wrong way to do this, the most important thing is that you are having fun.
I will bring various kinds and colours of (thick) paper, adult colouring pages, and loose pages of magazines and books, to use in your project. I will bring various kinds of papercraft tools, pens and pencils, and watercolour paints.
At the end of the workshop you will hopefully go home with a booklet with several pages of artwork focused on your topic/theme or with an art board to put up in your home.
Here you can see what we did in April 2025 at the ABD Centre in Bacup:
Here are a few examples of collage I made myself: a canvas board about the tensions between consumerism and trying to be frugal; a canvas board with marbled paper and handmade paper sky showing a bug-lobster hybrid attacking earth with dumplings; the red booklet is a study on plants and on people who are living in a pre-modern society; the orange booklet is a study of evil vs good; in the wide rectangluar booklet I focused on red and green colours (not all pages are shown here); and a tiny square booklet in which I gathered natural patterns and paper with structure/marbling.