An Asian Touch ...

What a great day I had yesterday!  I had my class "An Asian Touch" yesterday, where I show different techniques with Ranger's Distress Ink ... and had a wonderful time with 5 really nice ladies.  Hopefully, I'll get to see them again.  The best thing about classes for me is meeting new people and sharing ideas and experiences.  It's nice to know I'm not the only nut out there :)  BTW, I also got to do a bit of shopping after my class ... yay, more toys ;)

Not only did the class get the creative juices flowing, but it eliminated the stress from my job ... you know the one that pays for all these toys.  This is really the best therapy for me :)

We made 4 cards ... the idea was for each person to make 2 cards with the bamboo stamp and 2 cards with the cherry blossom stamp.  The price of the course included one stamp ... however, most of them bought the other stamp ... I can understand ... I love these 2 stamps ... and of course, I have both of them!

Chinese Screen Card

Supplies:

One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Black)

Two 3 1/2"x4" pieces of cardstock (Brown/Olive Green)

One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of glossy paper
One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of cardstock (Blue/Light yellow used here - inside card)
Versamark Ink
Distress Inks (Broken China & Brushed Corduroy/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
Adhesive



Traditional Resist Card



Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Grey/Olive Green)
One 1 1/2"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Versamark Ink
Clear Embossing Powder & Heating Gun
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Aged Mahogany/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
AdhesiveCorner Chomper

Box Card

Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Purple/Brown)
- Score at 3 1/4", 4", 7 1/4, and 8". 
One 3 1/8"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Beige)
Distress Inks (Dusty Concord/Walnut Stain)
Blending Tool
Adhesive
Stickles (Star Dust)



Blending Distress Inks Card




Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Sky Blue/Brown)
One 2 3/8"x4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 2 1/8"x4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Brushed Cordunroy/Aged Mahogany & Vintage Photo)
Momento Dye Ink (Tuxedo Black)
Craftsheet
Mini Mister
Adhesive



Oh and before I forget ... I had a lovely assistant during this class.  At one point, we needed bone folders (a tool used to crease materials in crafts) since not everyone had one ... and in comes hubbie with 2 bone folders.  Yup, he was at the store waiting for me ... don't worry, he wasn't bored ... he was doing his own crafting ... WarCraft!

Can you tell what this is?

A friend of mine asked me to make a birthday card for her sister-in-law's 50th birthday.  Here's what I came up with ...

If your guess is a suitcase, then you're absolutely right.  Her sister-in-law loves to travel!  Here's the inside of the card ...

 

I love those Hero Art butterflies ... I stamped a whole bunch of them and colored them ... probably over 100 of them.  I've made dozens of cards with them ... I still have quite a bit left to make more cards :)



Birthday Wishes ...

Just a quick post today to wish a good friend happy birthday.  Here's the card I made him.

Happy Birthday CHG!  

Wishing you lots of everything wonderful!!

BTW ... "Happy Birthday!!" from Stagaire.

Here's a close up of the birds, I put "Fun Flock" on the white area of the chickadees ... not sure if you can see it.  I'll talk more about "Fun Flock" on another post.

Embossing Folders ...

Embossing has certainly come a long way ... my 1st embossing experience was with a metal template, stylus tool and the window ... during the day of course.  The sunlight would shine through, so I could see where to trace the image ... let me tell you it was a challenge holding up the paper for so long!  I'm sure neighbours and passerbys wondered what the heck I was doing ... what can I say I'm dedicated to my crafts ;)

A co-worker had asked me to make an octagon box for her niece's 1st wedding anniversary; I embossed the sides of the box with the metal template, stylus and window method!  Unfortunately, I did not have a camera back then, but here's another one I made ...

I later graduate to using an embossing light table ... much easier on the arms :)  And now some brilliant person invented embossing folders!  It gives your card the "wow" factor without much effort.  All you need is the embossing folder, which is inexpensive ... and of course the machine ... which is not inexpensive.  However, depending on the machine you get, you can also cut dies ... this of course leads you to more stuff!  I have a few die cutting machines ... out of all of them, I find the Sizzix Big Shot to be the most for your buck.  It accepts most dies made by different companies as well as embossing folders.

Ok, back to the embossing folders.  Here are a few cards I prepared ... all waiting for me to just add something to complete them ...yeah, I know I can get a bit crazy at times.  One of my favorite embossing folders is the cherry blossoms (pic on right).

   

Here's a few cards I made with embossing folders.  The picture in the middle is the mini cards I did for a "make 'n take" to demonstrate embossing folders.

Here's one I made for my friend's brother's wedding ... boy, that was a mouth full!  The wedding colors were pink and brown ... I knew about the pink; however, I found out after about the brown ... I guess things do have a way of working out :)

   

There's a technique I saw on YouTube where you roll ink on the embossing folder and when you emboss your paper, the image stands out ... I tried it out and got the result below ... what do you think?  BTW, I used Ranger's Distress Ink ... love those inks ... very versatile.

My Quilling Journey ...

Apologies for going MIA ... I was in Australia last week and just returned Saturday night.  The week before when I was scrambling to get myself organized for the trip ... btw, I found out 10 days before ... everyone was saying how lucky I was ... I wasn't sure since this was not a vacation and all I was feeling was the stress of sorting everything out.  However, I did enjoy meeting and connecting with my team, so the 23 hours of being on an airplane was worth it ... besides it gave me the opportunity to catch up on movies :)  Unfortunately, I did not have any time or energy to do any sightseeing.  However, I did see 2 kangaroos!!  I know I'm such a tourist ... it was really cool they were just outside our office building.  The building is on a university campus; it's very green ... apparently lots of kangaroos (except for the lunch time we went out looking for them) and other wildlife ... but no koala bears around :(  The week went by pretty quick even though I was working ... before I knew it, it was time to leave.  Sorry, my journey to Australia was not a very facinating one ... perhaps you'll enjoy my journey with quilling.

Many years ago ... can't even remember when ... that's how long it's been.  Anyway, hubbie and I were at Chapters, and I picked up a book on Quilling.  When I showed the book to hubbie, he asked "You want to start QUILTING!?"  No silly ... QUILLING!

Quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs.  Once hubbie realized it had to do with paper, he understood why I was interested ;)

At first I didn't get any of the quilling tools or materials, I wanted to try things out to see if I like it before investing in the tools.  So, initially, I would cut strips of paper from sheets and fringe the strips using scissors.  It's not difficult, but your eyes do get tired from staring at that strip of paper.  Eventually, I did get the tools and many strips of precut paper.  I got hooked on doing a whole bunch of these mini flower pots and tried my hand on decorating an Origami box I made.



Quilling can be time consuming ... but I don't do anything too complicated.  I like to add them on cards, scrapbooks ... gives a nice touch ... don't you think?

 

Can you tell I like putting roses on my cards!? 

  

Stampscapes ... my first card class!

On January 30, 2010, I had my first card making class ... we used Stampscapes stamps, chalk inks, cotton balls and cotton swabs to create 3 cards.  This time around ... the class was full ... there were 12 people registered!

As preparation for this class, I worked on creating a card for my friend's birthday.  I had so much fun trying out techniques and things to get the effect I was looking for.  The Stampscapes website gives you great tutorials and inspiration ... I just used different inks and tools ... cotton balls and swabs :)  This is the 1st one I created ... nope, this is not my friend's card ... I can't seem to give away my 1st ones ... lol.

Here's my friend's birthday card ... I made the scene brighter and mounted it on brown cardstock.  BTW, I almost kept this one too!

Once I got started, I couldn't stop ... even after I created my class samples.  Some would say I went a little crazy ... but I wanted people to see the possibilities with these stamps ... it's endless!  I wonder what these people would say if I told them that I'm still not finished ;)

Well, everyone seem to enjoy the class; I received good feedback.  I even got some unexpected feedback a couple of months later from 2 sisters that came to my make & take's ... the eldest one said to me "Oh, that's the class everyone is talking about ... I heard it was great."  Now, how cool is that!

I had a great time giving the class!  At the end of the class, I could not shut up ... surprising, huh?  But it's true ... just ask hubbie, he had the pleasure of hearing me go on and on.  Good thing hubbie is so supportive of my hobby ... however, I think he did give me that "you are crazy" look that night :)

My first class ...

Over the years, I've done workshops/funshops at work.  My first workshop was an Origami workshop in 1995 ... I was quite nervous ... I still remember my hands shaking as I held the paper. 

Last year, I restarted the funshops when we were going through stressful times at work in hopes this would allow us to have some fun!  This also help me make the decision to give classes at one of my local scrapbooking store.  In preparation, I did make & takes twice a month at the store to familiarize myself with the customers and for them to get familiar with me and my style. 

My first class at the store last December was to make a set of 3 Origami boxes.  This was something very familiar, so I was not that nervous ... I guess having only 3 people helped the nerves as well :)   The store owner was not sure many people would register for the class since it was a bit short notice; however, I did not mind ... I just wanted to make a go of it.  It was a lot of fun, and I realize that my funshops have help prepare me for this.  Here's the class sample:

Ketto stamps ...

Let me introduce Ginger, Sake and Wasabi ... they're my favorite Ketto stamps.  These stamps are designed by a Quebec artist (http://www.kettodesign.com/).  I had seen some plates a few years back with some of the characters on them; I thought they were cute.  However, when I saw the stamps, I just could not resist ... I liked them so much I pretty much got all of them ;)

Aren't they cute!  You know what the worst thing is ... these are not all the members of the Ketto family ... I still have quite a few that I have not used on a card or something yet :)

Papercrafts to share ...

Thought I'd share with you some things that I've made over the years.  Here's a birthday card I made ... it's a big matchbook ... I "borrowed" one from my dad (BTW, I still have it) ... took it apart to see how it's done and replicated it ... I had so much fun making it!  My friend said something to the effect of it being unique ... not getting anything like that ... I think that's a good thing.

Here's an emergency coping kit I made for the same friend for his birthday ... I made the box and card ... he loves coffee, so when I saw the paper, I thought it was perfect ... it's brown and the pattern reminded me of cups.  His birthday card was a list of items in the kit :)

Last step, fill it up with goodies ... chocolate and coffee ... and of course a box of coffee filter ... after all it is an emergency kit.  I got the idea since he was the only guy in his team ... working with a bunch of women who seem to enjoy bugging him ... so I thought it would be a good way to help him cope :)

As for the items below ... nope, I did not make them ... I'm not that creative!  I just covered it with paper and ribbon, etc.  The mailbox was for a birthday; and I filled it with a postcard, small package, flyer, registered package notice ... you know, things you would usually find in your mailbox.  The paint can and flower pot were for Christmas.  We picked names at work and made a Christmas container for the person, and we all put little gifts in each other's container.  What!?  It was a way to have some fun ... guess, it doesn't take much to amuse us ... ok, I confess ... it was my silly idea to do this.  I think everyone had fun ... either that or they were humoring me ... everyone was quite creative with their containers and the gifts!