Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Getting Our Cardstock On!

Beautiful Layout by Lisa Greedy from Embellees


What a fabulous Workshop we hosted last Sunday.  It is so great to see all our lovely ladies come along and, to welcome our new participants.

We wanted to share a story with you about our Workshop journey... so grab a cuppa and read on (no that is not an indication of how long this post will be).





Last year we had a gorgeous lady by the name of Carrolyn join us at one of our first workshops.  She was very nervous and was worried she wouldn't 'keep up' (that is how she termed it).  She was at that stage in her scrapping journey where she loved following the instructions word-for-word and knowing exactly where to place the stamp and what size the paper should be - as she would jokingly say to us 'I just like to follow the sample detail for detail so mine is exactly the same'.  She would chuckle as we 'teased' her about 'going freestyle'.....

In our April Workshop we undertook an Off-the-Page (OTP) project that resulted in a beautiful canvas covered album.  At last Sunday's workshop our lovely participant (and now friend) Carrolyn brought in her version of an album she styled on our April Album.  For us it was the most incredible experience.  Carrolyn had created not only a beautiful album for her daughter (in honour of her celebrating her first wedding anniversary), but in it she had utilised every name tag, every technique and lots of left over bits from our Embellees kits.  What resulted was the most gorgeous album and recognition of Carrolyn's journey in her scrapbooking - she was thrilled, we were thrilled... she has promised to provide us with photos ...

Next to Carrolyn sat another one of our lovely participants (and now friend) Nola.  Nola jokingly told Lizzie at the end of the April Workshop - 'another project that I won't get around to finishing' - well finish the album she did and, she has all intentions that this album will be added to as she continues to document her life in letters and memorabilia for her lovely daughter Kerry (also one of our participants) and her grandbabies.  Nola's album was beautiful and as I (Lizzie) turned each page, the tears welled up as this is what I had hoped would be the result of us doing this eclectic mix of envelopes and pushing the 'freestyle' scrapping approach - a collection of lovely memorabilia of Nola's life, her parent's lives ... we too hope to share photos of this beautiful album very soon.

Thank you not only to Carrolyn and Nola, but all our lovely workshop participants for the gorgeous work they show us after they have adopted and adapted the techniques we strive to bring to each Workshop for them to try.

The May Workshop was great for all involved - thank you all for the feedback via email and Facebook - it is so good to know we 'hit the mark' and, that you enjoy the time with us, as we do with you.

Layout by Lisa Greedy from Embellees
Check out more of the beautiful layouts created by Lisa.  She always brings such a lot of great ideas to the table and has us thinking about new ways to use our tools and combine our crafts onto the page.

The great way Lisa put together the banner on this beautiful 'girlie' version was incredible - everyone was 'raving'.  The gorgeous roses made from wet and twisted cardstock were fabulous and had us all experts at this new trick to use up our cardstock stash!

To ensure we catered to all genders, Lisa did two versions and, the Embellees Workshop kit provided enough goodies to complete both (what a bonus).  It was great seeing everyone's gender based photos being 'catered' to - or just the fact that they could choose whichever layout they loved on the day to complete and do another one based on the same techniques at home was fantastic.

Layout by Lisa Greedy from Embellees
Gotta love those Ippity Stamps on the layouts (see above) - if you want to grab yourself some of these - then please pop on over and visit our lovely friend Alex Hughes at Ippity by Alex Hughes they are great value and so very nice!

We loved seeing everyone going 'freestyle' and getting out their water paints and stamp pads... not a piece of patterned paper in sight ...... just 'getting our cardstock on'....!!!!


Layout by Lisa Greedy from Embellees
Our third layout by Lisa is a beautiful mix of so many techniques.  Stamping, Glimmer Mist, embossing, punching... it was great to get to showcase some lovely stamps and reminding all our participants how great it is to get those tools working for us... again not a piece of patterned paper in sight and lots from the 'stash' we all have. 






Layout by Cassie McCumstie
The fourth layout - yes you read this right 4 layouts, was presented by our very talented guest presenter and 'claytons' member of the Embellees Team - Cassie McCumstie (check out Cassie's blog "Pieces of Me By Cassie")... what Cassie did with her punches to create all these cute little Monsters had all our imaginations going full throttle.  What fun it was putting this page together.  Thank you so much Cassie for getting us to use up all our scraps and think of different ways to use our punches.

Desktop calendar created by Lizzie Smith
(based on Box Calendar by A Little Hut)


To finish up the day we had a gift for each participant - a calendar to complete with all those scrappy pieces of cardstock.  This is a great way to make a gift for a friend or to use as decor in your home.  Here are some samples of what I (Lizzie) have done with my calendar I purchased from the lovely Patricia Zapata at 'A Little Hut'.

I made up my calendar in two ways for 2011.  This is a sample of my desk version for the year.  Check out my use of 'repurposed' spring loaded paper clips covered with  - yes you guessed it - scraps of cardstock embossed as calendar stands.

My second version is a sample of the original Box Calendar Printable I purchased from A Little Hut.  This takes pride of place on my study wall and was a groovy adaptation that I did with my 8 year old DD in the Christmas Holidays ready for 2011.  Again concentrating on using up scraps of cardstock from my 'scrap stash'.

Wall calendar created by Lizzie Smith
(based on Box Calendar by A Little Hut)




As our participants have come to expect the day is not over until we suggest some ways for them to repurpose their kit 'packaging'.  This was an idea we started with at our very first workshop and we have so much fun deciding on what we might do with it after each Workshop that it has become a 'must do'.

I (Lizzie) decided to play with the name tags, a new favourite size in layouts (12 x 6) and the brown paper bag our kits were presented in.  The only thing dictating my creativity was my 8 year old DD requesting a layout that was all purple and black - yeeepppppsssss ...










This is a sample of the name tags for this Workshop (all made out of repurposed cardstock).  Our lovely friend  Dianne had given me a box of manila folders she had in her stash... they were grey in colour and, well there was nothing that a quick reshape with my all time favourite Stampin Up 'Top Note' die couldn't fix, a Heidi Swapp Mask and some pretty Glimmer Mist... some outlining (Thanks Donna Downey for reminding me how good this technique can be and how much it can change an image from dull to extraordinary) and a shabby hand-made rosebud... noice!

Layout by Lizzie Smith from Embellees
This was quick 5 minute layout that had me experimenting with the handle of the paper bag using it as a stem for the paperbag flower and then shaping it to fit the Heidi Swapp masked flower of my name tag.  Some paper bag cut up, embossed and inked gave me some added background, some extra hand torn spiral cardstock rose buds, some burlap twine and stamping - my DD was happy and it was great to test my creativity with limited materials to work with...

Layout by Cassie McCumstie



Having shown you what we did  
with the packagingoff with a beautiful layout that Cassie McCumstie showed us she had made using our April Kit packaging  - showcasing the beautiful Donna Downy Dressform Foam Stamp that Lisa had done up so beautifully as a sample on our kit bags....




We hope you have enjoyed this 'big catchup' with all our Workshop news!!!

Lizzie & Lisa

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