May | YLA2014

10 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, Yearlong Album

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Classes, Dina Wakley Media, Ranger, Studio Calico Wanderlust, Yearlong Album, YLA2014

I just realized that I never shared the May LO’s for the Yearlong Album class and I soon have the June ones to show – oops! 🙂

We had fun, and a bit of mess, last month playing with Dina Wakley Media paints and one of her techniques, reduction stencilling:

For added interest and texture we spattered paint, added enamel dots, and made use of some die cut negatives:

Finally, we added our title, some Studio Calico vellum alpha stickers, and a bit of flair for extra dimension:

I’m pretty sure all of us in the class were in love with the SC vellum alphas – I think they need to make them in every colour!

For the rest of the summer we’re moving the class to Tuesday nights so no one has to miss out on weekends away – we get so little warm weather that we need to take ever moment possible to enjoy it!

Summer Fun

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mini Album

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Classes, kidart, Mini Album

This coming Sunday I’m teaching an awesome kids class at The Paperie – a summer mini album!

It’s going to be bright and full of fun techniques like dry embossing, heat embossing, and making our own stencils.

At the end of the class, everyone will have an album ready to fill up with summer pics – no other work needed! It’s a great size to bring along on vacation too, which means they’ll have something to work on in the car, or on the plane, or when it rains.

Plus, everyone goes home with alpha and word stickers, washi tape, and enamel dots so they can embellish and play if they want to.

So if you have kids who need something fun to do on Sunday, or want to have some crafty fun, give the Paperie a call and sign up!

April | YLA2014

13 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

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Distress Stain, Yearlong Album, YLA2014

For the April Yearlong Album class I took things a little more mixed media:

I love how the resist and texture turned out with the Distress Stains we used for colour:

I have to admit, resist techniques are my favourite! Give me a new resist medium, or a new way of combining resist ideas and I’m a happy little camper! 🙂

I also stick to some basics for me and one of those is this trick:

A few taps of mist or paint perpendicular to the photos to draw your eye across. If you go back through my LO’s you’ll see this trick quite a bit. I also love how it adds a bit of colour without overwhelming your nice open white space.

Things are crazy here, as always, and amping up as the weather turns (slightly) warmer. More outdoors time and less computer time so as usual, summer will be slower on the blog than usual. Of course, it’s been slow here lately anyway so you probably won’t notice a difference – oops!

One reason for the craziness is some classes I’m prepping for – and I’m excited about this one:

A kid’s summer mini album, open to ages 10+. We’ll be playing with heat embossing, dry embossing, alcohol inks, making our own stencils, and more! Details will be added here when available but the date will be July 6. Hopefully, I’ll see some of your kiddies there!

P.S. Happy Friday the thirteenth! And its a full moon to boot – let’s bring on the crazy!

Let’s Hear it for the Boys!

12 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Sara in Cards, Classes, ScrapBook

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boys, cards, Scrapbook Layout

I taught a super fun class a week or so ago, one that I loved designing as it was a little out of my wheelhouse – it was all about boys!

If you’re a scrapper or cardmaker I know that you know what I’m talking about – boy stuff is hard! We love our embellishments and flowers and hearts and glitter and… Yeah, not so masculine!

So I decided to have a class that centered all around boy LO’s and cards. Here’s what we made!

A bunch of arrows and a bright and colourful grounding line made of banners:

The arrows are attached to the photo which is mounted on an envelope to add more space for extra pictures or journaling:

The second LO has a fun line of squares:

And we kept the embellies simple with mist, enamel dots, and skinny striped washi tape:

The cards had a big focus on the alpha stickers:

and arrows:

I’m starting to think towards to second class in this mini series: Let’s Hear it for the Girls! I have some awesome paper pulled and can’t wait to start getting glittery! 🙂

Totally Dylusional….

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Sara in Cards, Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Techniques

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Classes, Dylusions Ink Spray, Mixed Media Layout, The Paperie

A while back I blogged about a new class series I was teaching called Distress Renewed. This is going to be bimonthly and a few weeks ago we had our second class. This one was all about Dylusions Ink Spray – one of my most fave products!

Our first LO was all about using Dylusions to make a watercolour background with resist, complete with misted ghosting and bleach out clouds:

The second layout was showing the blendability and fun properties of the sprays:

Love how water ghosting works on these!

I also had fun with my new-to-me vintage typewriter and the alpha stickers included in the class for the title work on this one:

Finally, we made card fronts using a bunch of techniques:

water ghosting

bleachout and colouring

gel medium and crayon resist

watercolour painting and scribble

white gesso pastel

black gesso magic

And that’s it – fun times getting messy and inky! Next class will be all about Distress Paints and I can’t wait to play!

What a Hoopla!

26 Monday May 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, This & That

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Classes, Home Decor, The Paperie, Tim Holtz fabric

First, I’m sorry for the long absence – I was away visiting my brother and his wife and their brand new baby!!! When I got home it struck me that I had 7 classes, three sets of design team projects, and a guest blog post due by the end of June – eek! Happily, I enjoy it but I had to hunker down and get a chunk of that done before I could post here.

But now I’m back and today it’s all about the Home Decor Hoopla at The Paperie this past weekend. It was their 10th anniversary and so we had a Hoopla class, some great sales, cake, and lots of fun! We’ve done a Holiday Hoopla the past couple of years at Christmas where you get to make gifts, one from each of the Design Team Members. This year we expanded to a Home Decor idea and it was by far the best one yet! Five items, completed, for $50 – you can’t beat that, my friends!

Cathie had a quick and super simple item but it really looks amazing – coasters with the new Dina Wakley stamps!

I think these would be awesome as a wall or office hanging for your favourite girl – or woman! And I’m looking around for the right stamps to make them for Gabe too – perfect sentiments for boys as well as girls!

Lori helped us make this fabulous burlap table runner:

I love the texture, it was fun and easy, and you can personalize it by adding any extras you want. I, of course, added dots:

Mary Ann, our resident Silhouette guru, came up with this etched vase:

Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it but Tina stood in and did a great job teaching us how to get it all perfect! And sorry for the dirty glass – I guess I should have cleaned that before the picture!

Rae Lynn tweaked a Pinterest idea and we made a framed family tree:

Isn’t it gorgeous? What an awesome idea and so easy for gifts!

I added grass and popped up my clouds for some extra dimension and love how it turned out:

And my project was this wreath using the Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements fabric:

I love wreaths and have several that I change put over the year so it was fun for me to teach a project that I love to use in my own home.

The fabric was perfect for the roses on the wreath – great patterns and pinked edges:

We all had an excellent day with tons of fun. If you’re around these parts in December you should definitely look into taking the Holiday Hoopla!

I’ll be back soon with the LO’s from my last Distress Renewed Class – Dylusions Ink Sprays. Lots of inky fun in that one!

Seasonal Canvas | Spring

12 Monday May 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes, Mixed Media

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Class, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, mixed media canvas, Silks by Luminarte, The Crafter's Workshop

This week I’m teaching the second of my Seasonal Canvas Classes. I’ve already gotten Winter behind me (in canvas anyway, the weather here is another story!) and we’ll be making the Spring one Thursday night.

Isn’t is fun? I love the fun colours in the kite and, although I am definitely no sketch artist, I’m happy with my little girl silhouette. That being said, she does have what Molly called, “Crazy, wild hair!

And look at that texture! The stencils I used both happened to be by Balzer Designs for The Crafter’s Workshop and the dimension they add to a canvas is awesome!

We’re using our regular deep-edge 6×6 canvas – love these!

I think one of my favourite things about this class is that you can do all four classes and have a full set or just do one and still have a great decor piece for your home! There’s still a spot or two left so if you’re local and want to forget about all that ice we have here today, call The Paperie to sign up and join us.

P.S. I also know that you wouldn’t fly a kite by holding the tail but it’s my canvas and I can do what I want! Artistic licence, right? 😉

March | YLA2014

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

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Layouts, YLA2014

Another month, another Yearlong Album class. Another sketch. Another day of fun teaching times with friends.

Here’s what we made last weekend:

I had lots of fun layering bits and bobs and stars and stuff:

And we all had a great time making an inky, misty background using the awesome Quatrefoil stencil from Ronda Palazzari for The Crafter’s Workshop:

I’m heading off this evening to a 4 day scrapbook retreat with all my friends – it’s going to be epic! And most awesome too! 🙂

P.S. I know I’m missing an “H” from my title – I’m waiting on a new pack of alpha stickers and then I’ll add it in!

Layouts by sarathings designs; sketches by Mary Ann Hounsell

This and that…

25 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, This & That

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Dylusions Ink Spray, mixed media layouts, Simple Scrapper, The Paperie

Sorry I’ve been AWOL this week – it’s Easter break for the school kids this week and it’s thrown off my usual schedule.

On top of that it’s my baby’s birthday and his party tomorrow:

he’s the cutest…. 🙂

As well, I’m teaching a class I needed to prep for, Simple Scrapper LO’s had to be completed, and the Paperie Retreat is next Wednesday – there’s been lots to do around here!

Here’s some eye candy bits and bobs for you to make up for the absence!

Some Simple Scrapper sneaks:

my girl

My story starter was fun – I made a beautiful mixed media background on that one as I was trying things out for an upcoming Dylusions class at The Paperie in May.

you – right now

And more fun on my template LO for May – a fave technique for the background on this one!

For you Yearlong Album peeps, here’s a sneak of tomorrow’s class:

And finally, a LO from a mixed media class I took with Cathie – I love how this one turned out!

Some awesome layers with silver paint, gold embossing paste, tissue paper, and wood veneer with Wink of Stella pen:

And that’s it! Expect next week to be much the same as this, maybe worse since I’m leaving Wednesday for a scrappy retreat – fun times ahead!

I’m a Superstar!

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Sara in Canvas, Classes

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Canvas, Classes, Mixed media, The Paperie

I love making canvases. Love. It.

And, not surprisingly, my kids love to paint canvases too. The combination of both lead me to design a new kids class for The Paperie – a junior edition of my canvas classes!

This is a beginner one, we won’t be using molding paste for example, but it still has lots of texture and interest. Truth be told, I will probably add molding paste if we do another one but I left it out this time to challenge myself and because it takes a long time to dry, especially in a class setting.

See the textures of the paper collaging and canvas? I love how the base layers turned out!

I used gold and silver mist and gold paint for shimmer:

And I added a phrase with alpha stickers:

The fun part? You get a sheet of alphas so you can make any phrase! This would be awesome as a Girl Power canvas, or Boys Rule. Why not even a teacher gift – I’m sure they’d like it more than another mug! 🙂 And it would make an awesome gift for mom or dad, a real keepsake for sure!

Call The Paperie for details and to sign up. This class is for kids of all ages so don’t be left out if you’re a more “mature” one!