Now, we're to my favorite class, Alisa Burke's Beneath the Surface Workshop. She's a mixed media artist with a background in fine arts. She's the author of Canvas Remix, and has another mixed media book coming out in, I believe, August. In this class we basically created colorful fabric out of canvas and muslin. This was my favorite because I love working with canvas, and nothing makes me happier than painting. Yes, I was in heaven in this class.
This is my canvas fabric. I thought it looked like graffiti.
Here's my muslin fabric.
I'm thinking they would make awesome art journal covers, and after sewing that tote I'm ready to pull out the sewing machine for the first time in 15 years!
Here's some more pictures of my projects at Donna Downey's Inspired. This is a canvas taught by Lolly Chessie, who designs for Prima and Crate Paper. This was probably the most relaxing class for me, because Lolly gave instructions on how to make the canvas and then let us have at it. I had been up REALLY late the night before (and everyone who knows me knows I'm the worst student ever), so I did mine a little different than the sample. It may not be as pretty and intricate as Lolly's, but it was fun.
Here's Lolly's pretty sample...
Here's mine...
And, a little off the subject, the humidity in NC is crazy. No matter how much I tried to straighten my hair, I had this crazy frizzy hair thing going on the whole weekend. Nice...
Here's my buddy Kitty. After my late night, we decided to switch tasks. She sorted my leaves, and I hot glued her burlap in place. We made a pretty darn good team.
Is she not the most adorable person ever?!
Here's some other crafty chics that were in my group for the whole event. They were a trip (do people still say trip?)
One last little project for today. Cari Fennell from Prima did this quick little make 'n take. It's made out of a canvas album refill page. I may have to borrow this idea.
I still have a couple more projects to show, so make sure you come back tomorrow.
Okay, it's all a little bit of a blur, so I may be going out of order, but the next project ('cuz I think it's just cool) is the recycled bag workshop Tracie Lampe taught. She's so sweet. She did a little after hours get together, and OMG, can I just say she is hilarious. Love her! She makes all kinds of things, including jewelry, out of recycled plastic. Make sure you visit her Etsy shop.
We made tote bags out of plastic grocery bags and candy wrappers. So, I have to come clean, my friend Marianne, who I met at Inspired, and I went to the little coffee shop in the hotel and bought TONS of candy to make sure our bags were extra awesome. This is my $20 recycled tote, LOL :))
I like it, and I think it's super cute & functional!!
I have to admit, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, but here's a few of some of my favorite people I met at Inspired.
Me and Angela! Isn't she adorable! Love her!
Here's my girl Kip. Check out her blog. She took some great pics of the bags.
Hey! I know, I'm a day late. Getting caught up on work has been quite the feat....the only problem with being gone for 5 days! Which means, this post is going to be short and sweet (like me, hahaha!).
I've long wanted to get into encaustic art, because I've played around with wax using it as a protective coating on some of my paintings and really liked it. Trish Baldwin did a fantastic encaustic workshop. It seemed almost too easy. I loved it! Here's my project...it's very abstract.
In other news, I sent out my newsletter yesterday (click here to view). I completely forgot to mention that Basic Grey Monthly Page Kits for July/August are now on pre-order in the online store.
Hey, hey!! I'm back from Donna Downey's Inspired in North Carolina. Boy am I tired! It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet lots of wonderful people.
I thought I would show you guys what I did while I was gone. We had two workshops everyday taught by the most amazing instructors! I'll start with day 1, Suzi Blu. She is a fabulous mixed media artist! She teaches online workshops, has been published in Somerset Magazine, and is currently working on a book. She's famous for her folk art girls, and bubbly personality. I felt like I was cheating because I had already taken one of her online courses. She made it super simple by providing a template that you basically just shaded the face and painted.
Here's Suzi putting the finishing touches on my girl...yeah, I know, I'm lazy:) When I have the time, I plan to go back and add some details like lace and Prima flowers to the dress. I love the glass-like finish. Super duper cool!
Make sure you come back tomorrow to see the next project!
Hi Everyone!! Thanks to everyone who joined me last night for my Treasured Memories Layout UStream show. If you missed the live show you can watch the recording here.
***NOTICE***
I'm going to be at Inspired 5/11-5/14. All orders in the store placed during that time will be shipped 5/16-5/18. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Transform a 7 Gypsies journaling book into a pocket mini album to capture life's moments. This album has 4 pockets that we'll create using the existing book pages, and are perfect for storing precious photos & ephemera. The 12 thick paper inner pages are great for journaling your thoughts and adding photos. We'll be using acrylic paint, so our hands might get messy, and we'll do some sanding with Coredinations paper. Learn how to make the zipper flower on the front of the book using zipper trim and a needle & thread. We'll add finishing touches to our book with Paper Blooms and metal key charms. Join me live via UStream on June 27th as I give step-by-step instructions for making this journal, or watch the recording anytime after the show.
PRE-ORDER your kit from now until May 23rd and save 10%. Kits expected to ship around May 23rd.
I have several things to share with you today. I'm going to give you a little blog tutorial on an easy Mother's Day card idea. Today is also Day #3 of my Tool School video series. You're going to see a button shank remover in action in today's video. I also have an update on Basic Grey's Page of the Month kits. And, last but not least, we have a winner for last week's giveaway.
I'll start with the Mother's Day card, because there are probably many of you who are in need of some card ideas.
You'll start with the Maya Road Mini Chipboard Cameos Set. You'll also need Distress Ink, I'm using Vintage Photo, 7 Gypsies tissue paper, gel medium, Webster's Pages Lotus Blooms for embellishing, and white acrylic paint. Rub the bottom layer of the cameo frame in distress ink, and paint the middle layer with acrylic paint. Rough cut the shape of the cameo silhouette out of tissue paper. Brush the silhouette with gel medium, lay the tissue paper over the silhouette, and brush the top again with gel medium. The tissue paper "melts" to the chipboard. Scor-Tape the pieces together to form the cameo, and add a lotus bloom resin to the silhouette's hair.
Add it to the front of a card with a strip of Prima lace, and you're done!
Basic Grey Monthly Page Kits for May and June are due to arrive late this week! If you pre-ordered your kit it should be shipping around Monday, May 9th. You'll recieve a tracking notication when it ships, so be looking for that. If you haven't pre-ordered your kits there are 4 kits left (click here to order) . You are more than welcome to order product with your kit order. The kits are sold 2 months at a time. The kits shipping on Monday are May and June kits. This is great because it saves you shipping. Here's a peek at the actual layouts.
Thank you all so much for the lovely comments last week on my giveaway blog post. Here's the not so fun part, "ONE" winner has been chosen. Since I can never pick, I used Random.org to generate a number between 1 and 28. The winner of last week's giveway is comment #8:
I didn't get to pop in to the show last night but have my kit ready to make ...love how visual you are with your supplies. Thanks for always inspiring. blessings to you, Dawn ll
P.s. I would love your bag of scraps- it would be a great gift to receive
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I didn't get to pop in to the show last night but have my kit ready to make ...love how visual you are with your supplies. Thanks for always inspiring. blessings to you, Dawn ll
P.s. I would love your bag of scraps- it would be a great gift to receive