This past weekend I had the pleasure of attended four classes at Scrappy Chic in Livonia, Michigan with the famous Donna Downey.
Having wanted to take these classes for some time now I was especially excited to see when Donna announced she was coming to the Detroit area. This was a simple 3 hour drive from my home in Marysville, Ohio and I was not only familiar with the suburbs of Detroit but had been a customer at Scrappy Chic a number of times. So this seemed like a no-brainer.
Friday night was a mixed media album called BLOOM. We took actual pieces of cardboard and with a box cutter cut our own stepped album which we covered with paper and actual fabric in bright yellows, reds and turquoises. The fabric was from Heather Bailey and a lot of the embellishments in this album were from Prima. We learned how to make cool twisted paper flower stems and Donna even provided us with an entire page of old dictionary paper to add to the edges of our pages and photos for that "old world charm". I even worked on this album in my hotel room until very late at night and even a little bit on Saturday morning. It was just a fun album to work on and I was enjoying the process of putting the pages together.
Saturday afternoon I returned to Scrappy Chic for a layout class called CELEBRATE LIFE. We started with two sheets of 12x12 Bazzill White. With a little acrylic paint and our mister bottles (my new favorite tool) we created our own canvases to showcase a cool grid of photos, book text and felt. On the other side was a large red painted heart with a full page of handwritten journalizing. This class was about "letting go" and just going for it. It was definitely a great way to start the day.
Later that day was the big FABRIC SCRAPBOOKING class. This class was 5 hours long but it went by in a flash! We dug out some really unique supplies in this class - everything from gesso to gel medium to watercolors to liquid watercolors to modeling paste to charcoal pencils. I felt like I was in art class! We got a little messy but it was super cool to be scrapbooking but in a completely different way! This kit is chalked full of Donna's gorgeous Prima appliques - I think we got a package of just about everyone she has done. The album was her canvas binder album and inside we worked on the five canvas pages specifically but there are also five page protectors that used the same techniques just on paper. I have a lot to finish in this album but it was a complete joy to just let go and try all these wild techniques and not worry about what the finished result looked like.
During this class I ran into a SCRAPSCRIBER!
We came to know Deanna at the 2009 Mega Meet in Novi last May. Since then she has not only been a good customer of ours but she recently became a ScrapScriber! It was so fun to have a chance to chat with her and hear her thoughts on being a ScrapScriber. Can't wait to run into her again!
Sunday was our last class and this was a set of three canvases called SWATCHES.
Again, we drew upon a lot of the techniques we had learned on Saturday to create three unique canvases that will be framed in large embroidery hoops. This was my first experience using Alcohol Ink from Ranger. We were dropping the ink onto the canvas to create "splatters" which formed flowers. Well, it didn't take long for me to have a complete purple mess on my hands from my bottle that was starting to leak. Have you ever tried to get permanent alcohol ink off your hands? Yeah...not so much! Thank goodness I had also purchased the Ranger Alcohol Blending Solution which dilutes alcohol ink - I soaked my hands in it and it finally faded my purple fingers. :) Just glad I was able to keep it off my clothes. :)
I truly enjoyed my weekend away and the opportunity to learn some new things. It just goes to show you that there is always something new to learn or try. You just need to let yourself try it - you never know - you may unleash the artist in you!
