February | YLA2014

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

Tags

October Afternoon, Ranger, Studio Calico Wanderlust, The Crafter's Workshop, YLA2014

This past weekend I taught the second Yearlong Album class for 2014. More fun times with sketches and I broke out the new Tim Holtz Distress Marker Spritzer too!

Everyone was given a pack of new October Afternoon chipboard stars and hearts for this month’s class and I’m totally in love with them:

Aren’t they great?

We layered up some of the fabulous Wanderlust papers, along with some Simple Stories diecuts (stamped with my fave roller stamp):

And had fun playing with the aforementioned marker spritzer and my favourite The Crafter’s Workshop stencils to ground our photos. It all came together in a great double LO:

As always, people went their own way – used different papers, added extra photos, changed up the LO to suit them. I think that’s my favourite part of this class, everyone takes what I do and then bends it do it works for them – awesome!

I’m a busy bee again at the moment, trying to get some LO’s and canvases done for May classes so keep and eye on my Instagram and Twitter feeds for peeks of all that!

I’m planning to post some Art Journal pages tomorrow that I started in Cathie’s class last week – it was another excellent one and I love what I did! Check back tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have that ready for you.

come on – let’s do this! | YLA2014

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, Yearlong Album

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Classes, Sketches, Studio Calico, Wanderlust, YLA2014

A couple of weeks ago the new session of my Yearlong Class started up again and so far it seems like we’re going to have a ton of fun!

All the classes are sketch based this year and we’re lucky enough to have had Mary Ann design all the exclusive sketches for us – you can only get them in this class! If you like sketches or want to learn more about how to use them to suit you, this is the last chance to sign up and get in on the good times.

Our paper this year is from the Studio Calico Wanderlust collection and I wanted to show a bunch of colours and patterns to start off the year, which led to this cover page LO:

That big black and white block was meant for a 4×6 photo but I liked how it looked on its own so much that I think I’m going to leave it as is – designer’s perogative! 🙂

The initial kit includes some amazing resist alphas stickers and cork hearts:

And some fabulous gold alphas and flair:

The January LO is fairly simple but I taught how to stretch a sketch and alter it to suit your photo needs:

We used more of those resist alphas with some enamel dots:

and gold letters with October Afternoon labels:

and finished it off with great Project Life arrow stickers:

I think there may be one kit left so if you want to get the amazing core kit and initial instructions and then join us for the rest of the year, now is the time to go for it!

As always, I’ll be posting to twitter, instagram, and Facebook with #YLA2014 so keep an eye out for sneak peeks close to the end of each month.

YLA2013 | Wrapup

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, Yearlong Album, YLA2013

So this past Sunday I taught the final class of the 2013 Yearlong Album. It was bittersweet: I loved the class peeps and we had a blast getting messy and playing with mixed media this year but by this point in the process I’m a little tired of looking at the same paper and am excited and ready for the new year to start! We have some amazing new product ordered for 2014 and a new concept – exclusive sketches! If you want more details, or to sign up, contact The Paperie.

Onto the final LO’s….

This a was a jam packed class because we made 5, yes FIVE, LO’s! I was so impressed with everyone when we actually got them all done!

November was all about Primary Elements, medium transfer, Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), and Wendy Vecchi Translucent Embossing Paste:

I love the rugged, distressed look of the transferred frame.

And the paste over a stencil is fabulous. My favourite part though, is the shine and texture:

So cool!

The December LO’s had the fun element of used paper towel collage. It looks great as a background photo mat:

And even better cut into shapes and used as embellishments:

Seriously, isn’t that colour and texture awesome?

Finally, we did the last page of the album.

I wanted to keep it simple and picture free but many people in the class added a pic and they looked great!

Most of the LO’s from past year are at my Flickr gallery under the Yearlong Album 2013 set. The ones that are missing are the couple of months where I didn’t finish adding pictures to the LO’s. I’m hoping to get those done in the next couple of weeks and then I’ll update the set with the completed album. In the meantime, enjoy the rest!

Yearlong Album Class | 2013

19 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, Yearlong Album

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Scrapbook Layout, YLA2013

I promised the students in my YLA2013 class that I would post all the LO’s we’ve done so far. Except for the most recent class (October LO – UTEE resist) they are all now posted on my Flickr account, in the Yearlong Album 2013 set.

July – happy boy

And class peeps, just drop me a line if you have any questions!

YLA2013 | September 2013

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, Yearlong Album

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, YLA2013

A couple of weeks ago we had another Yearlong Album class and made the September LO’s – and had some fun with Ranger Distress paint!

The first LO uses warm colours of paint and Distress Ink that matched perfectly with one of Molly’s dresses:

Layers and layers of colour and different mediums, plus some shimmery wood veneer and stickers for dimension:

The second LO has the same techniques, done in a slightly different way, and uses some cooler colours:

Love the look of water flicked over Distress Ink; it gives such great texture and interest:

And of course, I needed some fun embellies!

Once again, it was incredible to see what the class came up with as they used the techniques and made them fit with their own style. There were some amazing pages being turned out for sure!

Some ideas are starting to come together for next year’s class and I’m getting excited at the new direction. That being said, I’m also excited to bring back some of the older things from past classes that worked as well. The new Yearlong Album is going to be a fun mix!

YLA2013 | Album Cover (sarathings.com)
YLA2013 | August (sarathings.com)

YLA2013 | August

07 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, YLA2013

I taught another session of the Year Long Album a week or so ago and we made our August LO’s. These might be among my favourites ever!

We broke out the Twinkling H2O’s, everyone got new stencils and some fun wood veneer, and we played with crayons – it was a good day!

The first LO used a gel medium resist under the photo:

After spraying our confetti with a bunch of mist colours, we added those for a little extra dimension:

A few flicks of contrasting Twinks and the base was done:

The second one used crayons for a more subtle (or more vibrant, depending on the brand of crayon used) resist:

The crayon I used above gave more of a colour difference while the one I demoed in class was a true resist:

Again, we misted and added confetti, this time in a less random pattern:

And, with the extra flicks of Twinks, it was finished:

They’re pretty simple but the techniques can be used for super cool backgrounds and the shimmer of the Twinks just adds to the awesomeness – have I mentioned my love for Twinks? 😉

It’s already October which means I’m thinking about next year’s class and sign ups will be coming sooner than later. We always have the best bunch of people, a ton of fun, and great products so if you’re interested in knowing more or signing up, call the Paperie and get put on the list!

YLA 2013 | June class

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Project Life, ScrapBook, Simple Scrapper, Techniques, Tutorials, Yearlong Album

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Gel Medium Resist, Ranger Distress Paint, Simple Scrapper

A few days ago I showed you how I had an idea for these pages, went through an epic failure, and then found redemption on better and bigger paper.

Today, you get the final product!

The rainbow page is my favourite – I love the colours and the pictures so much:

I first sponged glossy gel medium through a stencil, then added puddles of Distress Paint to the edge. I misted until I ran out of water (that’s only a slight exaggeration!) and let the colours run down the page. The texture is from rolling paper towels over to blot up the excess water. How cool is that?!?!

This second page is based on a Simple Scrapper template from the July 2013 Premium Member templates:

Once again you start with glossy gel medium through a stencil, then add puddles of paint to the middle of the page. Mist with water and tip the paper to allow the paint to blend and then run in different directions.

The resist is fabulous and has a great shine in real life:

I used some Heidi Swapp fabric that I died with the paint and some new Studio Calico wood veneer to add dimension and layers to the top:

So there you have it – a class LO all the way from idea to final product, with a mini tutorial to boot! Hope you enjoyed, I’ll be back later this week with more ICAD’s and the final LO’s from the June/July Paperie Card Kit.

YLA2013 | May class, part 1

28 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook, Techniques, Yearlong Album

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, Yearlong Album, YLA2013

This past Sunday was another Yearlong Album class and we played with gesso, Dylusions Ink Spray, and modeling paste.

It was fun to see how much the gesso could change not only the look of the background page but also how it reacted to and played with inks.

I also showed how fun certain mists are when they interact with molding paste:

Mine was very subtle but I love how the paste picks up the mist colour as it dries! And look at the shimmery spots – Luminarte Radiant Rain mist is *so* shiny!

Of course, to finish it all off I used lots of layers of tissue, book print, stickers, stamping, and buttons – love the dimension!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the second page – I started it in the class as a demo of sorts so even the class peeps haven’t seen this one completed yet!

Love You, You Rock, You are the Best

19 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Techniques, Yearlong Album

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Mixed media, YearLong Album class

This is – inadvertently – my second post today. I had scheduled my Art Journal post for yesterday but it didn’t go live. Apparently, it wasn’t scheduled after all! Oh well, it just means you get two lots of eye candy today!

For the first time, I finished the LO’s I made for the YearLong Album class. I always leave these blank so people can add their own spin – organize the pictures, add embellishments, etc. – whatever way they want. The difference this year is that the class participants are doing their own thing anyway and I love it! It’s amazing to look around and see how different everyone’s interpretations of the same instructions are.

Anyway, I made my mixed media layered backgrounds and finished them off with pics of Molly and Gabe from March. My finishing touched for Molly’s were extra paper from the starter kit, wood veneer, a doily, hidden journaling, and stickers:

I wanted Gabe’s to flow with hers, make them look like they belongs together in the album, so he has many of the same elements:

I love the technique to make this background so I will definitely be using it again. Crossing my fingers that everyone is going to love doing them on Sunday and think they’re worth the inky fingers!

One in a Million but only 7 Layers

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, ScrapBook, Yearlong Album

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Mixed Media Layout, ScrapBook

On Saturday I took an awesome class with Cathie. I normally only use mixed media on my canvases (though I’m working on bringing it to my LO’s too) but Cathie’s a genius at the mixed media LO’s. This particular class was all about layers – 7 to be exact!

I only have one completed, due to flicking white mist all over the picture for the second LO, but I managed not to destroy the picture for this one and love the colour and movement in it.

I really love all the layers, especially the doily to pull your eye through all the layers around the picture:

And this really is One in a Million:

My Gabe, the day he was born. He came super fast so was pretty bruised and beat up in this picture, hence the darkness to his normally very pale complexion!

Cathie has blogged both LO’s from the class here, and Krista, our very clean and simple friend, also blogged her experience with the class here. I love it when we can bring another one to the dark side of messy hands!

I’ll post the other LO as soon as I get it finished, but I do have lots of other work to do this week for upcoming classes and for Simple Scrapper.

One of the things I’m finishing off is my LO for the Yearlong Class this weekend. After Cathie’s class I came home, looked at what I had done and started counting layers – 6! Think I can get another on there before Sunday? 🙂 The funny thing? They’re completely different layers than hers – isn’t mixed media fun?!?