MIXING IT UP WITH JEN STARR

 

We all had a blast mixing it up with Jen Starr (far right).

Some of us were able to share our finished (or almost finished) canvases,

but some were wet and couldn't be shared with you.

Ann and Pam decided to share their inky hands!

 

Sharon was working hard on some of the techniques we learned

during the day.

Cat caught me working so hard on my technique that my hand was a blur!  LOL!

 Everyone gathered around Jen as she demonstrated various techniques using

products from Viva Decor, Art Anthology, Ranger, Stampendous, and Crafter's Workshop as well

as acrylic paints and various other mediums.

 

We all loved the class with Jen!

Can't wait for her next visit to Texas!!!

MIXED MEDIA FUN WITH JEN STARR AT THE RETREAT

 

Jen Starr's first mixed media class at the retreat was

"The Beauty of Inca Gold Canvas".

Jen had everyone pick a stencil to use for the 

first layer on their beautiful canvas.

She shows everyone the beautiful results they can get

by using the stencils.

Carol Houston gently removing the stencil to check her results.

Lifting off the stencil to see the beautiful rainbow butterflies.

Jen showing just how to do it...

Joyce rubbing the Inca Gold onto a beautiful butterfly.

Yes, Joyce, there is a class clown in every class!  LOL!

Letting the project dry between layers

Working on a butterfly while the canvas is drying.

Butterfly and dragonfly both waiting to be attached to the canvas.

Carol Houston adding a butterfly to her beautiful canvas.

 After supper it was time for the second class,

"Paint! Crackle! Stencil! Create Canvas".

 Julie and Paige listen carefully as Jen shows them what to do.

Nanci and Anna are entranced by what Jen is showing them!

All of the students watch as Jen shows them how to paint their canvas.

Everyone made beautiful canvases and 

enjoyed Jen's classes.

Before class began, Jen got to spend time with the longhorns.

That was her one request:

to see a real longhorn in Texas.

So, Cat took her to her friend's ranch to

see his pet longhorns.  

This one wants Jen to pet him!

We are all looking forward to 

Bootcamp with Jen on Tuesday.

MIXED MEDIA INSPIRATION

 

Join us for a FULL day of creativity

 as Jen Starr works us over in the most creative way 

with her new Boot Camp series. 

 Just look at what you will learn:

10am-2pm Paint Boot Camp:
This workshop will give you the 

“basic training” needed to translate a variety of

 paint theory and technique in to ANY project. 

Whether you are a Scrapbooker, card maker, art journaler, etc.,

you will leave with 

 the confidence to incorporate paints in to anything you do! 

We will tackle basic color theory,

 truly understanding the color wheel and how it works,

 proper blending to create crisp colors, 

a variety of basic and unique application techniques, 

incorporating mediums and textures…

and how it all works together in “Mixed Media”.

 This class will give you the knowledge

 to use paints to their full and beautiful potential!

 We will be working in 6x6 format 

with instructions for each technique on the backs of each page

 to create a collection to reference.

**PLEASE BRING TO CLASS: 

heat gun, 

pencil, 

ruler, 

variety of paint brushes,

 Gel Medium (NOT Mod podge),

 a palette knife, 

 container for water.

Then we break for lunch from 2-3. (provided)

 

 3pm-6pm Stencil Boot Camp:

Stencils play a big part in so many mixed media projects and

 the creative possibilities are endless! 

In this workshop we will explore some of those possibilities

 using a variety of techniques and

 mediums from Viva Décor, Ranger and Art Anthology…

so not only will you learn how to get the best use out of your stencils, 

but a LOT of product knowledge as well!

 We will go beyond the basics and create with some of'

 Jen's favorite and more advanced stencil techniques.
We will be working in 6x6 format 

with instructions for each technique on the backs of each page

 to create a collection to reference.
***PLEASE BRING TO CLASS:

 Gel medium, glossy works best (NOT Mod Podge), 

heat gun, 

variety of paint brushes,

 palette knife, 

baby wipes, 

roll of paper towels, 

container for water.

Then we will break for dinner (provided)

 

7pm-9pm Mixed Media Canvas 

 
Put all of your new found knowledge into action with this final class

 as you take all of the techniques you learned in the first two Boot Camp Classes and

 apply them to make your very own one of a kind 12x12 canvas.

 You will have lots of fun creating this after your first two classes. 

 It will be the perfect ending to the day of Creativity!
Working on a 12x12 stretched canvas you will create a mixed media masterpiece 

full of color and texture with a variety of surfaces! 

You will learn fun and unique ways to use

 a variety of mists and paints from Art Anthology and 

beautiful mediums from Viva Decor to create 

gorgeous dimensional effects that will bring your art and photo to life!

 No previous painting experience is needed!
**Please bring to class:

 Gesso; 

collage glue such as Gel medium, 

Mod Podge or Ranger’s Multi-Medium;

 red tape or Fabri-tac for use on fabric/lace; 

a container for water; 

a few paint brushes including a 1” flat or larger; 

One larger photo (black and white looks great!) 

that the main image can easily be cut out. 

I usually recommend 5x7” or larger.

Cost: $140

 Includes all 3 classes 

PLUS lunch & dinner.

Must pre-pay and pre-register by 

October 27th 

in order to have a kit for the class

MIXED MEDIA FUN

Have you tried mixed media yet?  

Messy, no rules, and just plain fun!

There is a group on Facebook called Journal 52.

You are given a prompt each week and you create a page for what that prompt means to you.

One of the prompts "A Simple Place" and this is what  Cat created for this prompt.  She used all kinds of inks, a stencil, some shredded cardboard, canvas...all kinds of fun stuff!  Lots of colors and textures used on these  fun pages.

 

This is Sharon Leonard's pages for "A Simple Place".  Cat and Sharon are both VERY artistic!

I LOVE these pages!

 

Check out Valerie's pages for "A Simple Place".  If you know Valerie, this is SO her and absolutely FABULOUS!

 

This is my page for "A Simple Place", my back yard.  I had lots of fun using the different kinds of mediums, especially the Stampendous embossing enamels and mica fragments across the bottom.

As you can see, everyone's pages are COMPLETELY different from each other.

And all kinds of products are used:

Viva Decor products

Distress inks, paints, markers, stains

Watercolor paints

Twinkling H20's

Acrylic Paints

Spray Inks - Dylusions and Tattered Angels

Stampendous products:  Embossing enamels, fragments, glitter

Faber Castell Products:  Markers, Gelatos, watercolor pencils, colored pencils

Stencils of all kinds

Masks

Stamps of all kinds and brands

Sharpies

Copics

Mod Podge

USE YOUR STASH

AND

HAVE FUN!

 

 

MARVELOUS MONDAY - TRENDS

I rely on "Scrapbook Update" for my sneak peeks of the new releases for the CHA show.  They also have news updates about the scrapbook industry and which company is buying which, and other news.  A few days ago, they published a blog post about the trends they are seeing in the releases for the upcoming CHA show.  You can find the post in its entirety here.  I thought I would share this list:

• Wood: Both in its actual physical form and in the form of printed wood grain design, wood has been hot for some time and will continue to be hot.  We have all kinds of paper featuring various wood grain designs such as the new Kaisercraft Basics line.
• Cork: Natural materials (not just wood) in general seem to be on the rise, and cork has definitely gotten hot in the past year.  We have cork shapes and sheets of cork from Canvas Corp.
• Transparency: This old trend is making a comeback.  We have transparencies from Fancy Pants and other manufacturers. 
  
• Chalkboard: This design element was absolutely everywhere in Las Vegas, and it won’t be going away in Anaheim.  However, Scrapbook Update does not predict this trend to be long lived.  We have chalkboard designs from numerous manufacturers as well as actual 12 x 12 pages of chalkboard paper by Canvas Corp.
  
• Doilies: An outgrowth of the vintage and kitchen theme trends, doilies aren’t going away any time soon.  We have doilies from various manufacturers, doily stamps, and you can also die cut your own doilies with dies from Sizzix and Lifestyle Crafts as well as using your Eclips.
• Arrows: Another trend that has been born out of the Project Life explosion, arrow embellishments are everywhere recently: stamps, chipboard, and even as all over patterns on paper designs.  We have arrows in numerous collections as well as stamps for you to stamp arrows on your project.
  
• Stars:  Stars used to be mostly reserved for holidays like Christmas and July 4th, but they are creeping into more everyday use lately. We have stencils for stars (as seen above), scrapbook paper with stars, and star stamps.
• Rainbow: When industry trends stepped out of the muted tones of vintage and started using bolder color again, some designers went all in on the color and just used it all, creating rainbow themed items and collections. 
  
• Metallic: If there was one color trend in Las Vegas in July, it was most definitely the rise of metallic tones. Gold, silver, bronze, copper, pewter, and pretty much any other metal tone you could think of was on the show floor in the form of almost any product you wanted: embellishments, ink, paper, you name it.  You can add a metallic touch to your project with the Viva Decor products plus we have some metallic card stock.
• Watercolor: This trend has been brought to us by a combination of the art journaling craze and the rise of stamping as a dominant sub-market in the papercrafting industry.  We have watercolor pencils from Faber Castell, you can watercolor with your distress inks, use the spray inks for a watercolor look, and watercolor with the Twinkling H20's.
• Nautical: This theme made a surprisingly strong appearance at the Las Vegas show, despite it being dominated by winter product line introductions.  We have some nautical themed papers in our travel section.
  
• Enamel Dots: These teeny affordable embellishments have become mainstream, snapped up by scrapbookers of all kinds. Companies are rushing to fill the demand, creating dots that coordinate with their product lines.  My Minds Eye and Teresa Collins both have coordinating enamel dots for their collections and My Minds Eye started making shaped enamel dots, as seen above.
  
• Clothespins: Another trend that has transferred from the card making market to the pocket scrapbooking market, mini decorative clothespins are now seemingly everywhere, whereas even a few shows ago they were the sole jurisdiction of a few specific companies like Pebbles.  We have clothespins in many colors and sizes as well as the clothespins that manufacturers have made to coordinate with their collection.
  
• Label Tape Inspired Alphas: These alphabets mostly started out as part of the alphabet “multi sheets” that have been popular at many companies in recent years, but have become so popular (thanks to pocket scrapbooking creating demand for teeny alphabets) that many companies now are starting to produce and sell them on their own.  We have mini alphabets from numerous manufacturers that coordinate with their collections.

MARVELOUS MONDAY

Have you told Santa what YOU want for Christmas?

Do you want some jute and twine for your craft room?

One can NEVER have too many Thickers!

Are you "Dying" for some new dies from Lifestyle Crafts

or maybe some Sizzix dies?

Did you really enjoy mixing it up with Jen Starr?  Maybe some of the mixed media supplies are on your list!

Or maybe you have been REALLY GOOD

this year and a retreat is what you want for Christmas.

If you are not sure what you want, gift cards to Cat's are always a big hit on Christmas morning.  

Send Santa to Cat's and you will have a

VERY

MERRY 

CHRISTMAS!

WOW, WE LOVE MIXED MEDIA!

 Jen Starr was at Cat's yesterday and taught us all how much fun mixed media is!

We learned to use these products, spray inks, stencils, gel medium, gesso, and so much more!

The first class was the Viva Diva class where everyone learned to use the Viva Decor products and made some great tags.  Everyone fell in love with these great products.

Some of the products used were the pearl pens and the glitter pens.

They learned how to make the "pearls" and glitter dots with these cool pens.

Everyone was hard at work creating some fabulous tags.

Check out this beautiful butterfly!

The second class was the butterfly pennant.  Above are the some of the pieces of the great project.  We learned how to use the Art Anthology products in this class.

One of the partially assembled pennants.  

Everyone's pennants were different and we were all so excited to learn so many techniques. 

I'll share everyone's art journals tomorrow!

It's hump day and 

TOMORROW IS OUR RETREAT!

I hope you are ready!