The Doctor & Ms. Longstocking

28 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by Sara in Mixed Media, ScrapBook

Tags

Balzer Designs, Mixed Media Layout, Prima ColorBloom, Stampendous Embossing Enamel, The Crafter's Workshop, Wink of Stella

Molly asked for almost a year to be Pippi Longstocking for Halloween and Gabe, as usual, just wore what I brought home for him and loved it!

While I was at the Paperie Retreat I just wanted to play a bit with some pastes, powders, and sprays – This was the outcome. It’s not exactly what I wanted but it was still fun to play! I do love the texture of the bubbled paste and embossing enamel, especially when mixed with Prima ColorBloom Sprays and Freckled Fawn silver puffy hearts:

And these gold Thickers are my new faves!

Plus, look at the sparkle on the wood veneer from the Wink of Stella pens – I’m a big fan of the white one, it’s so cool!

Have you had fun just playing lately? What products are you using these days – I’m always on the lookout for new ones!

Cheers!

Sweetness | My Favourite Things 2015 (& Happy Thanksgiving Canada!)

12 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things, ScrapBook

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Balzer Designs, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things, Prima Color Bloom, Stampendous Embossing Enamel, The Crafter's Workshop

Back in June, a local photographer, Stacy Breen-Crane, was offering mini photo shoots with the proceeds going to charity. I jumped right on board and got some amazing pictures of Molly and Gabe at the park on one of the only nice days we had that month! They were perfect to use in our July class with lots of Prima Color Bloom sprays.

We layered mist through a stencil, then modeling paste through a large stencil, then more paste through the same, but smaller, stencil. All of that was heated in between to overdry and bubble up the paste, making lots of gorgeous texture. Then, we sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. And dripped. And tossed on some Stampendous embossing enamel while the spray was still wet. Look at the awesome texture!

As if that wasn’t enough shine, we dusted Perfect Pearls over the spray to take down the stickiness (thanks to Cathie for that fabulous tip!)

You can see there’s also gold thread under the photo, and we finished with some sticker labels and rubons:

Believe it or not, the second LO is almost identical, including the sprays. Just to show how different these colours can look depending on how much you spray and how you layer them, I used the exact same colours but in different order and intensity:

We also sprinkled the embossing enamel on the paste before we dried it, which allows it to cover a completely different area than the first LO.

There’s still tons of shimmer and texture, just done in a slightly different way:

We had a ton of messy fun doing this one, and it was incredible to see how different all the LO’s were, even when people used the same products and colours.

For my fellow Canadians, it’s Thanksgiving – enjoy, eat lots, and have fun doing your thing!

Cheers!

Snuggle Bunny | My Favourite Things 2015

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Sara in Classes, Mixed Media, My Favourite Things, ScrapBook

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Balzer Designs, Color Lab, Marion Smith Designs, Mixed Media Layout, My Favourite Things, The Crafter's Workshop

This month was packed with two Fave Things classes. The second one introduced a fun new product that I’m loving these days – Color Lab by Marion Smith Designs . If you’re new to mixed media, a fan of mists, want something easy and portable for crops or traveling or just want more colour options then this is the product for you! The class peeps loved it and had an awesome time picking out their colour recipes.

First up, we made mist and sprayed the background. Then we made coloured paste and made the layer under the photos. Next we heat embossed gold (or silver on the second LO) over Ranger Texture Paste. Finally, we added some awesome rubons and metallic thread. Layers, layers, layers!!!

Look at that texture and all the fun bits! Love it!

For a bit of a change, I went with green and silver here, with the same base mist colour.

And look at the sparkle on those alphas! I kind of liked them a lot. 🙂

I have some fun ideas for the next class – thinking cheesecloth, drywall tape, and watercolour pencils….. Should be fun!

Cheers!

just be.

23 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by Sara in Art Journal

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Art Journal, Balzer Designs, Blazonry, Chevron Tiles, Dina Wakley, The Crafter's Workshop

While Dina Wakley was in town teaching in all her fabulousness last weekend we all got into a small conversation about Art Journaling – is it really Art *Journaling* if you don’t journal?

And I don’t journal – I play.

So I decided to push myself and start. I have actually added some journaling to almost all my pages and have enjoyed every second.

Then I took some of my unfinished pages and went to work on them. This is one of my faves – I love the background so much that it has taken me this long to cover it up! I always tell classes when I teach, “Don’t get attached,” and I got attached. It was time to bite the bullet and move on.

This is how it turned out:

I love that the background is still peeking through with some subtle colour:

And aren’t all those layers and doodles fun?

I especially like the pop of colour behind the Dina Wakley stamp – it really draws your eye to the figure and the start of the journaling:

I’m totally inspired to keep journaling now, and am more excited than ever to play and make a hot mess – after all, there’s always a way to turn it around!

Clean and Simple Stencils

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by Sara in Classes, ScrapBook

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Balzer Designs, Classes, Layouts, Stencils, The Crafter's Workshop

I love mist. I love the randomness of it and how it’s intense where you spray and then fades out – love it!

I also love molding paste – the dimension, the cool effect, the sharpness of the image yet it’s jagged on the top. Awesome!

But I know people who hate getting their hands dirty.

Yes, it’s true, there are crafters out there with clean hands, my friends! They’ll never understand the Julie Fei-Fan Balzer Dirty Girl apron…. Heck, they’ll never need one! 🙂

And so, for those people, and for those of you like me who can swing either way, I have a new class this Wednesday night!

Clean and Simple Stencils.

You can do it, you can stay clean, and I have two LO’s to prove it! Better yet, I incorporate at least 4 different techniques too!

If you haven’t signed up yet, this class is selling fast – call The Paperie ASAP to come join in the fun. If you can’t make it, we can get you a kit with instructions!

You know I love a big and crazy class so come on – what are you waiting for?

See you Wednesday! 🙂

Layouts, Sneaks, and Randomness…

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Sara in ScrapBook

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Amy Tangerine, Balzer Designs, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Kiddies, October Afternoon, Paperie, Salmon Cove, Studio Calico, The Crafter's Workshop

We have a snow ~~day~~ morning here – about 25cm down overnight and it’s still blowing around a bit. Messy, messy, messy.

While waiting for their friends to show up for the rest of the day, my kiddies are sitting at the table doing stickers, which may be their favourite thing to do. Seriously, I could go broke just buying stickers – and I get them at the dollar store!

M & G

And since they’re otherwise occupied, I can take a couple of pics and get this post done!

Saturday was a fun, daylong crop at the Paperie, and it was a productive one for me! I’ve noticed that I’m doing more LO’s for me, but they’re becoming much simpler.

And while I’m ok with that, I feel that they’re lacking something. That means I need to find a happy medium between this super simple style and the “take 10 hours” style that I was doing.

That being said, I did add a little more to the two LO’s I did on Saturday – some misting, embossing, detail cutting, etc.

I can show you this one, made mainly using one of the Paperie kits, with a few Jenni Bowlin Studio plastic flowers from a Studio Calico kit and a Balzer Designs for The Crafter’s Workshop stencil thrown in:

trust your heart

And some detail of the October Afternoon mist, Ranger Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles, and Kaisercraft wooden flowers:

I still feels like this needs a little something so I’ll leave it out and see what happens. This was one of the pictures from our wedding day, on the deck of our family cabin in Salmon Cove. Love the spot, loved the day, love the pic!

The second LO I did has a touch of product from the new March Paperie kit on it so I can only show you a corner. I get the kit early because I photograph it for their blog.

My Whole Heart sneak peek

Have I mentioned I love Amy Tangerine? The stitched paper and camera stamp are the best! And Studio Calico Shine over the camera? Awesome!

I also did the cover for my Happy Little Moments Class but again, it needs something more so I’ll share that later. I was hoping to be further along in that journey but a seized up and very old Singer sewing machine put the kibosh to that idea. Stealing mom’s tonight so I’m hoping more progress will be made soon!

And finally, an update! All the kitting for the Canvas Class on Sunday is done – whew! That was a major one! I think there may be two spots left if you’re interested, call The Paperie and they can hook you up. This is definitely a great class – it’s based on the Inspiration Showcase Canvas Chris and I did in Houston with Jennifer McGuire and Shari Carroll from Hero Arts. If you’re looking to take your scrapbooking up a notch, or want to learn some new techniques, or just want to be inspired again, this is the class to do!