Bodacious Bows

While I was out in San Diego, Liz (owner of Scrapbook Your Life) showed me how to make bows. She made this one.





Of course, it's now been over a month and it took me several attempts to remember what I saw her do.....and yes, I did my first one with THREE layers! Now why do I do stuff like that? LOLOL!!!





I really like my second bow below. I used some silk ribbon that has wire on the edges. I think it's perfect!



This is another playshop at the Starving Artists Playground this fall. The "kids" will just get to sit and play with Liz and ribbons! Won't that be fun? And now that I know how to make these gorgeous ribbons there's no telling what will happen next? I think our puppies had better run and hide! LOLOL!!!

Liz takes a class!

So, I hate to say it, but I am still totally new to videos and I'm sad to report that my camera wasn't on during the funniest part. I just wanted to cry when I found out part of the video is missing. Liz did one clip where her hair was so messed up and she was groaning and moaning.....but I think you get the idea! We really do know how to play when I go out to Scrapbook Your Life!!!

Now, don't fret....Liz did finish her doll before I left. And she did a fantastic job!

Her coloring (airbrush and alcohol inks), sanding, embossing with TenSeconds tools as well as cuttlebug embossing folders....

Swarovsky crystals on the joints, metal charms for the crown, 

Airbrushed charms on top of the metal....is this just too clever?  Plus, she dual-embossed the wings - half each with a different embossing folder.

And she used numerous plates throughout the body.

I do think Liz gets and A+ for her hard work!  Now, if you need a source for the tools and metal, just give the store a call!  They have a whole wall - I had so much fun shopping while I was teaching this class!

Thanks to all the gals who came to class and let me video them - such good sports!!!

We did this class twice and literally ran out of the TenSeconds Studio doll templates.  So I made a smaller template and added wings.  These students had to pick between a big doll without wings, or a small doll with wings.  Each one takes a full sheet of metal.  So I'm going to post my smaller template here - feel free to print it out, it should be sized a full 8.5 x 11".   OK, I will post it when I find it! LOL! I'm still not done unpacking and putting stuff away, so the hunt is on. Hopefully I'll find it in the next day or 2....I know it's here, I know I've seen it, I know I can find it......and I'm sure you never have a day like that, huh? :o)

Fun with Fern

Fern has been taking classes from me for some time now at Scrapbook Your Life. And I just wanted to share this photo of Fern with her altered Melissa Frances box.

What makes this amazing is that Fern blended paint to come up with a shade that matched the paper she picked and she came up with a perfect match.

I honestly think that in the past year or two, Fern has grown so much as an artist.....and I am so proud that she continues to come to my classes. I can hardly wait to see her progress in the weeks and months to come!

Fern.....not only do I love having you in my classes - you just make our classes so much fun!!! Just remember....there's a little girl inside you and she's just having a fit to come out and play!!!

The real joy of teaching!

Got back home last night - totally exhausted! Trying to catch up on mail and emails and have some incredibly exciting news to report!! Liz Welch is coming from England to share her knowledge of Friendly Plastic at our retreat this fall! I'm so excited I probalby won't sleep for another week!!! This thing is just growing and growing! But for now, I still have so much to share from the last 2 weeks.........


My last day, my last class at Scrapbook Your Life, and little Miss Sophia brought me to tears when she presented me with this bouquet....

We made Melissa Frances altered art boxes.....these are what she and her Grandma Carol made:

But the best gift is the hugs she gave me.....over and over and over!  She ended up taking 4 classes with me and I'd have her as a student any day!  What a delight!

So, Miss Sophia, I do hope you get a skype camera soon so you and I can chat any time!!!  I need to see what you are doing!  And I hope you have fun on your summer trip to North Carolina with your grandma!  

Oh!  the real joy of teaching....meeting people, making new friends that will last a lifetime, laughing, giggling, but most of all.....hugging!!!

Mostek & Moore

So if you take Susan's married name and my maiden name......I think it sounds like a couple of lawyers!!! What if we shortened it to just our first initials???? We'd be the M&M girls???? LOLOL!!!

I cannot than Susan and her mom and dad enough. They let me stay with them for a night and treated me to a completely and totally pampered day in San Diego.   I got to lay by her parent's pool and watch birds all day long.  OK, I do not know that I have ever watched birds OR sat by a pool that long!


Of course, that was after Susan taught at Scrapbook Your Life on National Scrapbook Day.  

Have you ever heard of an EMERGENCY class????  or how about an EMERGENCY demo?  Well, at Scrapbook Your Life, we are ever so accomodating.  Susan had students who wanted to learn how to do her second class, but already had commitments during the afternoon, so she did an "emergency" class.  We simply walked around the store and got enough new students to throw in a 3rd class for the day.  What a trooper!!!

And, of course, while Susan was doing an emergency class, I was on the other side of the room doing "emergency" demos.  I had posted a schedule of what demos I would be doing and when during the day....but we threw in a few "emergency" ones for those who couldn't get back to the store at the right time.

What a totally fun day!!!

My youngest student

Miss Sophia took my "mini me" doll class and I think she did just fabulous!!!




I wish we could all be 5 again. She had absolutely no inhibitions.....followed directions perfect, and absolutely had the time of her life playing!!! She picked out the embossing boards to use, the colors that I airbrushed on and the buttons. She arranged the "hair" and gave her doll "Rainbow" a Shamu necklace and a mermaid belt.

I do believe the rest of us had better watch out.....Sophia is likely to storm the creative world in a few years if she keeps this up!

Love you Miss Sophia!!!

Miss Jen

Inspired Creativity

They all took the very same class. They all had the very same paper/tools. They all did such an amazing job. Yes, there were more students.....but this is what I remembered to photograph!!!

Kristal is one of the store owners.....and look!  She made it to match what she is wearing!  Can you see the pliars in the kids hands?  LOL!

Angela.....great job!!!

 Angela, too..... (yes, it's really hard when you have 2 students with the same first name!) - absolutely love this!
And Lauren's first class ever!  WOW!!!

I am already exhausted and as I write this, National Scrapbook Day (weekend) is just about to start.  I am excited about the students and about our classes and about the endless, endless creative fun we are having here in the store.  I truly wish you could all be here!

A new class

Yep, if you are like me.....I just want to do it ALL!!! So we're adding a new class on Sunday and this is going to be so much fun!!!


You get your choice of this box....(Melissa Frances)


Or this journal (Melissa Frances)



And you get your choice between this package of embellishments....



or you can pick any 3 sheets of paper and 1 embellishment in the store.

Then come play with me!!! I'm not going to make up a prototype.....I'm going to design with you and let you learn just how I design. It is bound to be a whole lot of fun!!!

Sunday, May 3, 2 - 6 pm. Can't wait to see what I do.....I've pulled the papers in the top photo and will be working with them!!!

advanced airbrushing

Isn't it just amazing the versatility of my crafting knowledge? I even surprise myself. But I just pull from my past and bring it forward to the present. Ah! The benefits of age and experience!!!

This piece is made from white paper. So this class will teach you how to use a variety of masks to create airbrushed backgrounds.



Plus...look at this. I've turned an acrylic journal into deocrative clear stamp storage....and even colored the clear stamps to match!!! How fun is that???



Now, go back and look at that first photo. Did you not even notice the miniature starfish (3D) have been airbrushed?

I'll show how to use a variety of items as masks, including nestabilities dies, frisket, masking paper......



diecuts, negative space, torn paper - and show you a clever way to store your paper masks! And as a bonus, there's a segment on using undu - oh, I do love that stuff! Hmmm...looks like someone undid one of my sandals! LOL!!!



If you like airbrushing with copics and live in the San Diego area, contact Scrapbook Your Life! for more details. This is going to be a fun class....and it's limited to just 12 students. And I'll only teach it once!

San Diego bound...again!!!

I'm going to be in San Diego from 4/22 - 5/7...teaching again at Scrapbook Your Life! But this trip, I'm going to teach a very very limited 2 classes at Stamping Details in Poway as well. I'll be at SBL! on National Scrapbook day with Susan Mostek - world famous stamper extraordinaire!!!

(OK, I can hear Susan laughing as she reads that to her husband!!!)

So today, she and I had a pre-planning day. I counted. We came up with 19 classes to work up for both stores. WOW!!! And I know at least one of my classes will be showing you 5 different techniques that I've not taught yet....so get those ATCs ready!!!

I'll be doing some layout classes this trip, cards, altered items, paper dolls, lots of technique loaded classes, and we're going to learn how to use copic markers! Here's a great new technique that I totally love...I'm calling it blended airbrush swipe. OK, not the cricut diecuts in the foreground....but look at the background:



It came out simply wonderful....but then I do love this color combination. As in all my classes, you can pick the colors you want to experiment with!

I'm going to do my very best to have all my class samples and the class schedule posted by March 15. But mark your calendars now!!! We're going to have a blast!!!

Vote for the A*List for my favorite store!!!

Just takes a couple of seconds and it can really help Liz grow her store in San Diego! Just click here:

Scrapbook Your Life!

And be sure to click on all 5 stars to give her the highest rating. Honestly - one of the biggest and best scrapbook stores I've ever been in!!!

Her daughter is the teenager with epilepsy that we supported in the 2 Crop for the Walks held here at my house earlier this year. A single mom - doing her best to keep all of us supplied with scrapbook products!!!

Thanks!

Girls night out!

Life is too short to not have fun. So whenever I come out to San Diego, we have a night where we put on our tiaras and boas, take our pictures, make a project, order pizza and then go to the movies together. It is just so much fun. This time...we did a layout. But with very special photos:



and then I did a little "photoshop magic" to alter the photos:

Now you can only imagine what I must have done with all the other photos! But the 2 above are my favorites!







even Liz, the store owner, got in on the fun!




I hear Robert Downing Jr is her beau.....I just need to find a really good pic of him that I can merge with her!!

Life is just too short.....we need a whole lot more girls night outs....time to kick back and do the things you can't do in front of your hubby, your kids.... 

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!  It's Sunday in San Diego and we've been to the swap meet, had breakfast, have chocolate in stock and classes start again in just 15 minutes!  It's going to be a great day!!!

More scrap the crap!

What a totally fun class this is....but how brave you must be if you are the instructor as you never know what someone will bring to see what you can turn it into! Sally brought this sheet of paper....and we had to agree...it's pretty crappy as it is!



I cut out the inside and outside borders, inked it up, and then started layering product and colors and mediums on top. But what we found most amazing is what you can do with the final product. Here it is on coral....



And here it is on green.....what a difference!

One pair of scissors is in the original piece of paper, the others were cut from another piece of coordinating paper by the same company.  We used matte, sepia and glossy accents, Ranger's white pen, stickles....and simply took the graphics that were already in the paper and "popped" them with product.

For the tag in the lower right hand corner, we outlined the already existing leaf in white pen, then covered the tag with glossy accents.  Who would know this isn't and embellishment we stuck on top?

Just so many fun things you can do with all the fun product available.  I've come to the conclusion....you can take any piece of old paper that you don't like....and turn it into something you love!  After I took the photos, I decided to go back and add micro brads for the joint on the scissors.  That's the toughest thing for me...when are we done with our play?  LOL!

Hey Sally.....better start the hunt for an even crappier piece of paper for my next trip to San Diego!!!  And I think I'm going to offer this same challenge to my Colorado pals.....bring me your crap....we'll turn it into something you love!!!

And life is good again!

Found the camera. I had put it in it's little black bag and set it on the top of my black suitcase.....and it just so happened to look like the handle to the suitcase! Sigh. With my "old" eyes....I didn't find it until I knocked it off! But alas, all's well that ends well.

But dang! Here I thought I'd have an excuse to go buy a new camera! LOL!

And my brain clicked into gear and I realized I can just come sit in a Barnes and Noble, sip a fruity drink at the Starbucks cafe and log into the intenet from a comfy, overstuffed chair! Oh yeah! Life is good again!!!

Classes are in full swing and the store looks like it!



We used the airbrush on the palm tree die and added glossy accents:




Amazing how they all come out a little different!

More beautiful seashell epoxy stickers from white cardstock:










And the quickutz palm tree embossed - I think everyone loved this technique!

And then we tried the copic markers on a Crafter's workshop stencil....worked like a charm!

A 5 hour class over in a snap!

And yes, some of us actually really truly work our jammies into the store!  This is Bet - she even wore her leis!  Hmm....wonder if she sleeps in them!

Colleen continued to work on her art clay silver pieces all night long.  Her side of our in-store studio is almost as cluttered as mine!  But how fun to come to San Diego and set up a working studio inside a store!

And here's Sally again - so much fun - wearing her jammies as well!

So, I've been to the beach twice now, we've had 8 classes already and today - my day off!  Camera is found, photos are downloaded, I have a full tummy, what more could I ask for?  Life is good!