The New Sign is UP!

Hurray!! That's all I can say!

The Studio officially has it's new name...... *big smile*

Let the ART begin!!

A BIG THANK YOU

On behalf of Jen and myself, thank you so much to all those who participated in Go Scrapping's "Scrappin' Gourmet" weekend retreat in Stratford. We had a blast!!

I'll post pictures and happenings tomorrow.... but until then...... SMOOCH! Thanks everyone! I am home, happy and inspired thanks to YOU!

xo Karen

Studio closed this weekend....

This is it...

Just a reminder that the Studio will be closed Friday march 26 - March 28 for the "Scrapping Gourmet" weekend retreat!

Looking forward to seeing you ladies at the Festival Inn!!

The Studio will re-open TUESDAY at 11:30am

See you then!!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Getting Ready for the Studio Name Change...

Yes, that's right -- if you missed that announcement, I am going to change the name of my studio from the "Go Scrapping Studio" to the "Art House Studio" to better reflect what I actually do here. *big smile*
Go Scrapping Retreats isn't going anywhere!!!
I'm just changing the name of the studio.
So... whatcha think?
I started this at the Nottawasaga Retreat.... I'm going to post it in my Scrapfest Booth next month! SO EXCITED!!
It is a 16x20 Canvas -- I did a big image transfer to cover the entire canvas and then painted it and added the FONT. Yes, those are grungepaper roses .... and the roof was created by using Golden Light Molding Paste on cardboard and then painting it with Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paints .. and some metallic acrylics too. Loving how it turned out!
SO..... keep in mind there are changes coming to the studio... more soon!

Getting Creative...

As you know, I've been busy getting ready for out upcoming retreat next week and Scrapfest next month. I am doing samples (some will become classes) with the product I will be selling at both.

Here's a little Wood Canvas that I painted, stamped and embellished. I wish the photo was better but... you get the idea.

Drop by the studio (or our booth at Scrapfest) to see it up close and in person!

Product used:

Kaisercraft Wood Canvas

Claudine Hellmuth's Studio line: gesso, acrylic paint, matte medium

Wendy Vecchi's "Homemade Art" Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Ideaology Keys and Locks

Archival Ink "Jet Black"

Tools used:

Inkessentials Craft Sheet, Craft Bucket and Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Paint Brushes.

Cards Anyone?

Here they are.... the four cards for our card workshop offered in the studio until April 30.

I have scheduled a Saturday date for this workshop: Saturday April 24 (11:30 - 2) BUT, as always, our workshops are flexible. Contact the studio for an alternate date. 519 954 6620

Class Fee - $20. Work at your own pace. I will show you the techniques involved in the workshop. People usually leave with 6-8 completed cards at the end of the class.

This month's techniques: Pigments and Pearls, Distress Ink Blending, Painting with Embossing Powder and using a little "ideaology" and "grunge" in your work.

Huh???

What the heck am I doing with all of these? *big smile*
Those attending the Stratford "Scrapping Gourmet" retreat will find out soon!!
I have been busy busy getting things ready for the retreat, prepping classes, planning new ones for the studio and sorting out all the new product that's been coming in lately! It's ALL Good!!
Speaking of the Stratford retreat, I just sent an email out to the attendees -- I have a little request for them: Please send me your favourite recipe!!
As you all know, this year's retreat theme is the "Scrapping Gourmet"! I know that the girls will be cooking up some great layouts and cards while we're there BUT... I thought we could do a little something fun with the whole "gourmet" aspect of the crop....

So, without telling you what I'm doing.....
If you are attending the retreat, please send me a copy of your FAVOURITE Recipe! This can be Main courses, Sides, Desserts -- your choice. All will be revealed before the end of the retreat!

Please send your recipes to goscrapping@rogers.com by Next Tuesday (this gives you a week to email them) Can't wait to see what you send. hummmm I might even try a few -- Inspire Me!!
On another note....
I just got back from the States. The kid and I went for a couple of days (March Break and all...) and took a couple of Jewelry Classes. So fun! I'll post more on that tomorrow.
Back to work -- cause the sooner I finish what I need to do, the sooner I can do what I want to do: MAKE ART!!!
Cheers all!

Crops ... they are coming!!

As you all know, I am having a "GARDEN PARTY" Crop for National Scrapbook Day here in the Studio. I'd like to thank you all for your interest in the crop cause it filled in 4hours!! Yep... 4 hours! How wonderful is that!?! I am taking names on a waitlist right now until I have firmed the attendance.


WOW!! Gotta love it!


But.. WAIT.... There is another one!!

I am SUPER excited to be a part of Scrapfest again this year. A paper crafters DREAM!!!!!ANYWAY.... It's official!! I have some fun things planned to celebrate the return of Scrapfest!

We'll start things off by hosting a
Fun and Fabulous Meet and Greet
with Scrapfest's super douper owner/operator
LISA FURTNEY!!!

Watch for my tweets and Facebook posts on Friday April 9 cause Lisa will be coming by the studio (around 4pm for those who like to plan ahead and are non-Facebook/Twitter users) to meet you all, answer any Scrapfest questions and... are you ready.... she will be staying to co-host a Crop in the Studio too!!


YES, You heard correctly... a Crop with Lisa! There will be prizes and fun Scrapfest Style!! You won't want to miss it!! The crop will begin at 6 and go until midnight -- yes, Toppers Pizza will be involved. Tickets are $25 (payment is required to reserve your space as seating is limited) -- Our plans are super exciting!! Can't wait!!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL..... With every purchase in the Studio Store between April 9 and April 14 (cause we will be setting up and getting ready for Scrapfest on the 15th) you will have an opportunity "play" for a discount when you visit us at our booth at Scrapfest! We will be in the same spot as last year - booth 510!! Everyone is guaranteed a discount between 5% and 35% to go towards an item for sale at our booth. Good Luck!! And see you in the Studio ...and Scrapfest!

Ask Karen - Pigments and Pearls

Hello Bloggers! Its been a couple of super busy weeks in the studio and at the Nottawasaga Retreat -- I know I said this earlier but .. WOW! Thanks for a great weekend girls!!

div>I did have a few inking questions come out of that retreat and a few people in the studio asking about different ways to use Perfect Pearls -- one of my favourite subjects as you know so... I thought I would oblige. *smile*

This is an inking technique to create fabulous inked backgrounds for your card making, journal and mixed media projects: its called Pigments and Pearls. The gals over on my Wendy Vecchi Yahoo group have been chatting about this a lot lately so they inspired me to share it here with you. Here we go! Enjoy!

We are using Ranger's Adirondack Pigment inks for this project, their Craft Sheet, Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls, a Mini Mister and a Heat Tool.

Pick out your favourite ink combination and dab it Light to Dark directly on your craft sheet. A good bet -- pick a light bright and earthtone of the same colour set to create depth - they are perfect together!! I used Terra Cotta, Peach Bellini and Sunset Orange

That's the pigment part... now for the pearl.
Mix your favourite perfect pearl with water in a Mini Mister. (fill mini mister with water to approximately the last R in Ranger and add a sm scoop of pearls to it and shake) Spritz the inked area of your craft sheet as shown until you get some good "puddling" happening.

Turn your paper face side down on top of the puddled ink and press down unto the back of the paper to pick up the ink. Do not drag it through the ink.

Lift and....

Dry with your Heat Tool.

Once your paper is dry, do back and "pick up" some of the inked water droplets left on the craft sheet.

Pick it up and dry again. Repeat this process until you're satisfied with the "effect".

Use your Blending Tool and your favourite coordinating ink (I used Terra Cotta) to ink the edges and finish it off. Now it's ready to embellish. And its oh so pearly and fun! :) Here is what I created with my background.

It is one of the cards for the upcoming April Card Workshop to be held Saturday April 24 (the weekend after Scrapfest) . I hope you can join us in the studio to play with the pigments and pearls! I KNOW you'll LOVE it!!

I'm having a Garden Party...

... on National Scrapbooking Day!

Hope you can join me! ;)

We'll be cropping in the studio 10am - Midnight on Saturday May 1, 2010.

Cost is $45 and will include lunch, dinner and treats of all kinds! Spring is Sprung (well, almost :) ) and it's time to celebrate!!

Seating is limited. Space is available on a first come, first serve basis.

A Bunch of Dead Math Dudes.....

LOL... Now, never in a million years would I have thought that this would be my blog title! But then again, you know I try never to say never!!

Last night the Dollar Store Club met.

We were challenged by Kelly to use something from the "kids aisle" ... so off I trotted to my local Dollar Store and started looking at the selection.

My eyes went right to the Rubic's cubes -- and I immediately thought of my darling hubby *wink*. My hubby, for those who don't know him, is a true self-professed GEEK! *big smile*. He develops math software for a company here in Waterloo and is all about puzzles and general geekdom sooooooooooo I just had to create a little something for him!

Perhaps his geekdom is rubbing off on me but .... when I look at a rubics cube I think of math and geeks like him. My first thought -- doing something along the lines of "the Six sides of Sheldon" and adhering 6 fun little images of Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory to each side of the cube -- BUT I opted to showcase 6 famous dead math dudes -- all Kevin's heroes in one way or another! And this is what I came up with: Einstein, Babbage, Cauchy, Pascal, Newton, & Turing

Kevin loved it.... I might even let him take it to the geek farm (aka work) to show it off. In case you were wondering -- that number 26 you see... that is "God's Number" for the Rubics Cube. Apparently, you can perfectly solve a Rubics Cube in 26 moves - or so says some big computer. Sheldon would be so proud!! :)

"My feet feel like dancing!"

If you're a fan of Go Scrapping Retreats on Facebook.... you might have wondered what the heck this post title is all about! Let's just say we had a little fun in the "funny farm" at the Nottawasaga Retreat -- It was all about the therapy after all!!

It was another GREAT weekend at the Nott! This was our 6th annual retreat there and this time the theme was "Scrap Therapy"!! .... we all need a little bit of that, don't we!?!

In A Pinch Designs and Simply Scrapping (Cambridge) joined us again this year and provided some amazing make n takes for our guests (Lucy and Louisa from Simply Scrapping pictured below teaching their make n take)

And there were some great classes taught by Judy Beeksma from In A Pinch and I ... one layout class, Judy's card class, a canvas and even a jewelry class too:
It was the last weekend of the Olympics -- and if you know me at all you'd know that I wouldn't be able to last the weekend without watching my Olympic coverage..... sooooooo.... yep -- you guessed it! I arranged for a big TV in the room!! We turned on the big game Friday night so we could cheer on "the boys" - some were a little my glued to it than others (hehe) but we all got in the spirit! What a weekend!!
We gave away lots of prizes, ate some spectacular food and scrapped the weekend away!

Thanks to everyone who attended! I'm already looking forward to a "zen" experience next year!! Save the date -- the last weekend in February at the Nott in 2011!

I'll post more pictures on our Facebook Fan Page. Enjoy!

Stratford 2010 Retreat Classes....

The classes are ready... the classes are ready!!
I am just back from a GREAT WEEKEND at the Nottawasga Resort ... I will post about that tomorrow. :)

It is March 1st and I promised I'd post the classes for our upcoming Stratford retreat today -- so here they are !! Send me an email to let me know which class(es) you'd like (one class is complimentary for every retreat guest). I sent our guests an email with these photos and descriptions too. Please let me know if you didn't get it.

Talk to you soon... Enjoy!!

Canadian Pride - by Karen Ellis 10:45am
The Olympics have brought out the Canadian Pride in all of us. Karen has created this double page layout that showcases Canadian spirit. If you watched the torch run by or were lucky enough to attend the Olympics this layout is perfect to showcase your Olympic experience. You will need to bring your basic supplies, black ink, and foam squares

Register as an extra class - $13

I Don't Know What I'd Do Without You - Card Box Set
by Karen Ellis - 1:15pm
Karen will not only show you how to make these fabulous cards (8 in total !!), she will also show you how to create this fun box for storing them in. Please bring red and blue ink (she used Fired Brick Red and Broken China Distress Inks), your basic tool kit and a scoring tool (a score blade for your trimmer or bone folder.

Register as an extra class - $20

Flower Flourish - by Sheri East 2:30pm
Join Sheri to create this double page layout. You'll have fun with gold mist, stencilling and stickles and you'll layer flowers to create a three dimensional look. You will need to bring your basic supplies, black ink, foam squares and black Stickles.

Register as an extra class - $13

One Mighty Cute Canvas - by Karen Ellis 4pm
Isn't this little 6x6 burlap canvas a cutie? Karen will show you how to make one too!! Create fun flower embellishments using Grungepaper and a little ink and embellish with some Ideaology charms and jute! Please bring your basic tool kit, distress inks (variety of colours), black ink and a darning needle (with a large eye) -- yep -- we're going to add a few real stitches!

Register as an extra class - $18