Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Pens, Watercolour Pencils, Crayons & Pastels - Techniques

Decided I should share some of the samples of cards we made during techniques training on Friday night - we experimented and perfected a number of colouring styles.

Watercolour pencil with Blender Pen, Aqua Painter on glossy cardstock and then on matt cardstock(unfortunately the photography gremlins interfered with my individual gloss shot):


Here is an example of Watercolour Crayons with an Aqua Painter - always stamp with permanent ink when you are colouring in as you do not want to compromise the outline of the stamped image when you come back in with a blender pen or aqua painter to merge the colour.


Pastels with Versamark really make the chalk colours pop with vibrancy.  Stamp the image with Versamark then apply the chalks with a dauber, sponge or ear bud - I hope the close up shows the detail.  This is a fantastic method with Two Step Stampin' (always stamp your outline last).


Finally stamps inked with Stamp 'n Write Markers direct onto the rubber die of the stamp then stamped onto your paper project.  Love doing this with the Vintage Vogue set as it really lends itself to different tones of the one coloured ink.


I hope you find something of assistance in the above.  Experimenting is the key and making the time to experiment is the trick!

Cheers
Shanni xx

Monday, March 28, 2011

April Classes

Fabulous weekend – busy, creative and lots of fun. Saturday’s class was great, the galz who attended were all attentive and enjoyed the vintage technique. Sunday morning saw me at a girlfriend’s doing an in-home demonstration for Mums & Daughters – we made a lovely fancy favour box using the Big Shot and punches. Sunday afternoon was relaxing and productive with a Swaps Swot – getting ready for Melbourne Convention in May – am very excited! Can’t wait.


Anyway the purpose of this post is to upload my April Calendar, so here it is:

Date                                                                       Class Theme or Topic

Friday 1 April 7pm                                  Aviary Cards (repeat class due to popular demand)

Sunday 3 April 1pm                                 Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue Cards

Thursday 14 April 10am                           Fabulous French Foliage

Thursday 28 April 10am                           Sew Cute & Sew Versatile

Thursday 28 April 7pm                             Fabulous French Foliage (repeat)

Saturday 30 April 10am                            Fantastic Flower Cards (Big Shot, Punch & Stamp)

I am starting a number of new clubs in April which run until September. If you are interested in being a member of one of my clubs check out the Clubs Page and contact me today for a timetable. Great benefits – FREE stamp sets and products and FREE classes!

Until next time, happy stamping!
Shanni xx

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Team Techniques Training

Our team gathered tonight for a techniques class. This month we did colouring and made a heap of examples using different colouring mediums such as Classic Stampin' Ink pads, Stamp 'n Write Markers, Watercolour Crayons, Watercolour Pencils and Pastels.

The girls were exhausted by the time I let them put down their blender pens and aqua painters but it was worth the effort - they made three beautiful cards and twelve beutiful sample pieces to put in their technique manuals for easy reference. We have been collating a folder of different methods of using stamps, inks, cards and papers - it's amazing how many different ways there are to do the most creative things.

If you have time one day try this nifty technique: colour in your rubber stamp die with watercolour crayons, spritz it with a fine mist of water, then stamp the image on cardstock - it looks like a marbled version of the image in the colour pallet of your choice. Stamps clean up quickly using a Stampin' Scrub.

Busy weekend ahead, two classes and a demo and I really have to attack my swaps for convention soon.

Happy stampin'
Shanni xx

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Vintage Class Thursday & Saturday

I love doing classes because they force me to get creative or at least try to get creative. Sometimes it is really easy to come up with ideas; a stamp set literally jumps off the shelf and colour combinations come easily and on other occasions I would rather go to the dentist. . .


Fortunately tonight I have had no difficulty in coming up with some ideas for cards, and its ironic but I return again and again to the same stamp sets when I am doing vintage cards (maybe there is a reason for this? hmmm). Vintage Vogue, Artistic Etchings and Notably Ornate are amongst my favourites. So here are a few of the cards that I have come up with:




























I hope that you enjoy the cards and if you would like to receive details of classes for the month of April send your email address to the comments box below.
Happy Thursday,
Shanni xx

Monday, March 21, 2011

Finally uploaded some photos to the Gallery!



An exciting day today. . . I have managed to watermark some photos of some of the cards that I have made over the last few months and uploaded them to the Gallery Page so please take the time to pop over and check them out. . .

I am going to have to improve my photography techniques as most of them are off square and a bit blurry when it comes to showing detail but hopefully for now it is enough to inspire some of you to make a card or start a new project.

If you can't be bothered checking out another page here are a few teasers of what you will find there. . .












Please let me know if you would like to see some cards made with a particular stamp set or colour scheme. If I don't already have some in my boxes I would be happy to create another. . .
Happy crafting
Shanni xx

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Busy Weekend

It has been a fabulous weekend, very busy but also very productive! I had two demos yesterday and enjoyed a relaxing evening with friends. The family are all well, in fact fighting fit and I am off to a writing seminar today with the amazingly talented Helene Young (author of Wings of Fear and Shattered Sky). Have been taking photos of cards to upload and once I have mastered watermarking over the image I will be uploading them without delay so stay tuned and thanks for popping by. . .

Sunny Sunday to all,
Shan x

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Woot-Woot!

I am so excited - I have finally taken the time to learn a little more about blogging. My friend Jill kindly agreed to spend a few hours with me today to teach me some of her newly discovered skills and she was a great teacher! Visit Jill's site so that you can see all the amazing things that she is creating. . . jembellish.blogspot.com - she is one of the most capable people that I know, no sooner does she decide something than it is put into action. . . now that takes skill, resourcefulness and stamina.

So you will see that I have uploaded a slide show of some of my creations from classes and demonstrations that I have done this month and I hope to add to this regularly, so please stop by and check things out from time to time. I would love to see you register as a follower if you are so inclined. And here's to me blogging more regularly in future!

Back soon
Shanni xx