"Beautiful Disaster" Canvas Class - Scrap & Chat Retreat

Hi everyone!

Just popping in with a project share and a quick wrap up of the class I taught last month at the annual Scrap & Chat retreat in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne. (If you have never been on a retreat, let me tell you that there is nothing that compares to being around 60 like-minded people for a weekend full of creating. So good for the soul!)

I had so much fun teaching my class to all these gorgeous ladies...

The piece I taught was a mixed media canvas panel, entitled "Beautiful Disaster" and it was a great opportunity to fly the flag for a number of my favourite brands including Colour Blast, Cocoa Vanilla Studio, Flutterby Designs and StencilGirl.

The canvas was was coloured with my favourite Colour Blast product - Colour Artist Inks, and we used the warm tones of Slipper, Cranberry, Cider and Citrus for the background; then the cool blue colour of Oasis for adding some contrasting highlights. 

Besides the Colour Artist Inks, we also used one of my other favourite Colour Blast products - Colour Paste. We used Deep Water for contrast and texture, applied through a Flutterby Designs stencil (although there were a couple of ladies who used Lovely Lilac from my stash because we thought it would work better with the pieces they had created). 

We also used Colour Blast black and white heavy gessos on the canvases - using the white to strip back colour and offer the eye a place to rest; and black to add contrast and tie in with the StencilGirl 'Talaya: Goddess of Rain' stencilled image and the Flutterby Designs quote. This was probably the messiest part of the class as I encouraged everyone to test my motto that "fingers make the best brushes" - so fun! 

We finished off the canvases with some 'Bohemian Dream' vellum accent embellishments from Cocoa Vanilla Studio. The gorgeous colours of the printed vellum die cuts worked beautifully with the tones of the inks and paste. 

I so enjoyed the opportunity to fly the flag for some of my favourite products and to share my love of mixed media with such a lovely group of ladies. Thanks to everyone who attended!

If you would like me to come and teach at your local scrapbook store or event, I am happy to discuss your requirements and see if we can make it work. You can email me via the contact tab at the top of the page.
Until next time, happy scrapping! X

"Thank You" Card & Colour Blast Retreat Classes | Colour Blast

Hi everyone!

Just popping in to share a "thank you" and to give a quick wrap up on my classes from the recent Colour Blast retreat in Brisbane. I had such a fabulous day with all the ladies, and I was so happy to be able to share my love of Colour Blast products with everyone. 

I was also lucky enough to bring a couple of new Colour Embossing Powders home with me (perks!); and I couldn't resist using the stunning 'Golden Purple' right away to test it out, so I whipped up a quick "thank you" card. 

I started with very basic supplies for this one - white cardstock; a small Heidi Swapp stencil and stamp set; 'Lipstick' Colour Shimmer Spray and 'Golden Purple' Colour Embossing Powder. 

I started by securing my stencil onto the cardstock using washi tape (so it peels off easily) and then spraying the heart in with the Colour Shimmer Spray. I sprayed it lightly because I just wanted the heart to be part of the background, rather than too dominant in my design.

Once it had dried, I took the Heidi Swapp stamp and stamped the sentiment over the top using embossing ink. Then I applied the powder over the top.

Look at that amazing colour! You can see the golden sparkles through it already. I tipped the excess powder back into the jar and then set the powder using my heat gun before repeating the process with the word thankful (also a Heidi Swapp stamp).

Photos really don't do this embossing powder justice - it has the most gorgeous golden flecks speckled through the purple tone. I then added a few splatters of the 'Lipstick' Colour Shimmer Spray by flicking the nozzle from the bottle and then set it aside to dry.

Next, I mounted the cardstock onto a piece of patterned paper to form my card base. I then added some small pieces of torn washi tape and a few purple enamel dots to tie it all together and finish it off.

There you have it - a quick an easy project you can create with a small amount of supplies. (And gives me a card in my stash for when I next need one!)

Not only did I want to use that gorgeous Colour Embossing Powder right away, but I also really wanted to create something that expressed how thankful I was for the opportunity to teach the lovely ladies at the Colour Blast retreat. So. Much. Fun.

Here we are getting busy in class one - the layout class. We used Colour Shimmer Spray; Colour Paste; Colour Artist Ink and Colour Shimmer Cubes on the page, along with products from the new 'More Than Words' collection from Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

Sometimes I just can't help myself but get "hands on". (Thank you for trusting me Dianne!)

This is the layout the ladies were creating...

In the afternoon it was time for the "messy" class, where everywhere created their own canvas panel and I got to share my love for (my favourite) Colour Artist Inks. This class was very free-flowing, with everyone able to interpret it as they wished and I loved seeing the ladies "go their own way" with it!

Everyone was heads down and hard at work during this class...

This is the piece that I created for the class...

Besides Colour Artist Inks; we also used black and white Heavy Gesso; Colour Paste; a fabulous quote and stencil from Flutterby Designs and some gorgeous 'Bohemian Dream' vellum accents from Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

Here's a peek at some of the amazing interpretations that were produced...

Thank you so much to everyone who came along, I hope you all went away inspired to create more. (And remember what I say - "less think, more ink!")

There is another Colour Blast retreat being held at the same venue in Brisbane in October. If you are interested in attending, the details can be found in the Facebook event HERE

I will be back again soon with another project to share. Until then, happy scrapping! X

Best Crew | Scrap the Girls March Challenge

Hi everyone! 

I am here today to share my take on the March challenge at Scrap the Girls. This month, Krisy has put together a challenge inspiration called "Don't Mess With Me" and it looks like this...

And here is my take on it...

I went a little bit left of field for this one and created a canvas panel instead of a traditional layout. I also twisted the colour slightly, opting for a hot pink instead of the red in the board. The image of the woman in the board said "girl power" to me, so I chose to document a photo of the 2017 crew at the Scrap and Chat retreat. (This retreat is nothing if not a gathering of girl power at its finest. I am already counting down to this years retreat!)

To create my canvas, I started by sticking down some background texture using some torn pieces of old music paper. Then I started adding my background colours over the top using Dylusions acrylic paints, which I love for their vibrancy. I began with yellow and then built my other colour layers from there.

Next, I added some stamping using my favourite Brick Background stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps and some stencilling. I used a Dusty Attic Squared stencil with a sponge dauber and some ink; then used a Dusty Attic Crosshatch stencil with some Colour Blast Royalty Colour Paste. 

Once all the background layers were dry, I added some lace paper doilies from D-lish Scraps, before mounting my photo on top. My title was a mix of Cocoa Vanilla Studio alphabet stickers and American Crafts Thickers.

I then added the heart image to the right hand side of my canvas. This was an image I had stamped onto tissue paper using the Squiggle Heart stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps. I used a matte medium to adhere it then rubbed some gesso onto the centre of the heart with my finger.

To finish off my page, I added some Flutterby Designs wood veneer stars (coloured black with a Sharpie); and then added some white stencilled and doodled detail around my page using paint pens.

I hope I have inspired you to join us this month. We have the fabulous D-lish Scraps supporting us again, so make sure you get those entries in for your chance to win!

If you would like to see what else the rest of the team created for this challenge, head over to the Scrap the Girls blog HERE
Until next time, happy scrapping! X

True Friend Canvas | Colour Blast

Hi everyone! I am here today to share my latest design team project - a mixed media canvas I created for Colour Blast. I was inspired to create this because I wanted to make a decor piece to showcase the beautiful quote featured in the centre.

I started my project with the quote card (which was cut from an Everyday Etc card from Flutterby Designs); and a 6x6" blank canvas. Despite the fact the surface was pre-primed; I covered it with black heavy gesso using a foam paint brush, as I needed a dark background for my design concept.
*Design tip - when painting on a canvas, don't forget to paint down the sides as well - it helps when your project isn't always viewed from front on to carry the theme over the edges*

Once my gesso had dried, I took my canvas outside and spritzed it all over with Bling Colour Shimmer Spray. (You really need to try the Colour Shimmer Sprays on a dark background if you haven't already, that is when they are at their best!)

After the Colour Shimmer Spray had dried (so shimmery!) I adhered my quote; then it was time to add a little texture. I reached for my Bling Colour Paste and smeared it around randomly using a palette knife. Once that was dry, I added a border around my quote with a Sharpie pen (yes, a Sharpie will draw over dry Colour Paste, just make sure it is completely dry and don't push the tip in too hard.)

Next, it was time for embellishments! I wanted to keep the embellishments to a minimum to ensure the quote remained the focal point; so I opted for some simple chipboard stars from Imaginarium Designs, which I embossed using Snow White Colour Embossing Powder. (I would ordinarily prime my chipboard with white heavy gesso before embossing with snow white, but I didn't want the stars to be too stark against the background, so I opted to emboss them from raw and allow a bit of the natural colour to show through.)

As you can see, I embossed the entire sheet. Some of these stars were super tiny, so it made the job a lot easier to simply emboss the entire sheet and just pop them out when they were done. I then glued them onto my canvas.

The final step was to add some fine "starry" detail using my white Sharpie paint pen. (I really love this pen! It has a fabulous fine tip and great flow!)

And here is my completed canvas...

Here you can see some of the close up textural detail the Colour Paste adds...

And check out the shine on those stars!

Finally, look at how gorgeous the Bling Colour Shimmer Spray looks against the black background - *swoon!*

That's all from me today. I hope I have inspired you to pull out those Colour Shimmer Sprays and put them to work on some dark backgrounds! (Remember the black heavy gesso is ideal for this, you can grab it in the Colour Blast store HERE)
I will be back in a couple of weeks with another project to share. Until then, happy scrapping!

D-lish Scraps May Projects

Just thought I would pop in and share a couple of my projects that have featured on the D-lish Scraps blog this month.

The first was this mixed media based layout, which made good use of some 5 year old papers and stickers and lots of gorgeous D-lish Scraps embellishments...

{Papers and stickers by Basic Grey}

There is no doubt my absolute fave D-lish embellishment is paper flowers. There is such a huge range of beautiful blooms available and they are such good value too. (You can check them out in the store HERE)
Here are a few close-ups...

{Freckled Fawn 'This' paperclip, paper flowers & sequins from D-lish Scraps; Love Candy embellishment from Burdy's Embellies; stamp by Heidi Swapp}

{D-lish Scraps 'Captured Moments' flair and paper flowers; Burdy's Embellies satin flower}

{D-lish Scraps sequin bow, paper leaves, flowers and sequins}

My second project I created was a canvas I made for my mum for Mothers Day. (I thought this would be a nice way to give mum flowers that would last longer than a week!)
Here is my canvas...

So many beautiful D-lish Scraps products on this piece! Here are some close-ups...

{D-lish Scraps paper flowers, coloured wire, and sequins; journal cards by Project Life} 

{D-lish Scraps paper leaves & flowers, gold foil doiley, coloured wire and sequins}

{D-lish Scraps paper flowers and sequin bow} 

Thanks for stopping by today, (especially if you have made it to the end of all those photos!) I will be back soon to share my take on this months D-lish Scraps Inspiration Board Challenge.
Til next time, happy scrapping! X

A Couple of Canvas Creations!

Just a quick share from me of a couple of canvas creations I recently made as Christmas gifts. I shared these over on the Off the Rails blog the other day, as part of my post about using Project Life cards for something other than Project Life.
(You can see my post on the OTR blog HERE, which includes my tip about printing on PL cards)

Here are my canvases...

A closer look at some of the detail...

Thanks for popping in! :)