Just wanted to let you know that I posted more pics from our visit with Donna Downey on our facebook page. I hope you check them out!!!!

Pretty Wools!!

Yes, pretty pretty wools -- perfect for FELTING -- have arrived in the studio! These fantastic wools are all hand dyed and braided locally by "Waterloo Wools" and I CAN'T WAIT to get my paws on them! Come on by and see the fabulous colours for yourself! What are you going to make? *smile*

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

On behalf of Donna Downey and I, I'd like to thank all 59 people who participated in Donna's class workshops this weekend. We had a fantastic time with you, loved seeing you create and relished in quite a few "Snap Moments" THANK YOU! Have fun with all your new techniques and don't forget to "live inspired!" Donna, thank you for sharing your energy and talents with us. You are truly an inspiration!! xo

Donna's Here!!

We had a great kick off to the weekend with Donna Downey Last night!! HOW fun!!
I am here at the hotel now listening to 35 ladies giggle and laugh and create away!! What a wonderful thing!!

Have you created today? Go get messy!!! :)

One More Sleep!

Registration packages are done!! :) Now, to pack up the studio so I can "move it" to the Holiday Inn this weekend for Donna Downey's visit with us!

Eeeeekkkk... it's getting more exciting all the time!

So, this is a reminder to you all of you that our Lancaster St Studio Location will be closed tomorrow and won't re-open until Tuesday for our regular studio hours (at 11am). You are more than welcome to come to the Holiday Inn, Kitchener (30 Fairway Rd S) and see us there.

One more sleep!!

prepity prep prep......

Okay, it's been brought to my attention (by more than a few of you.... *smile*) that I haven't posted in a while! Eeeeek.. So sorry!!! Where does the time fly?

I have been super busy getting things ready for Donna Downey's visit THIS WEEKEND!!!! I can't wait!

You all know me... I love event details! I saw on Donna's blog a while back some handmade name tags that she is making for her Inspired Workshops so I thought I'd do my own little homage to that and got out the sewing machine (and my new ruffler foot) to create some name tags for you!! See????? *Smile*

Wonder what else I have up my sleeve? You'll just have to come to find out!
THE ART JOURNAL CLASS is now SOLD OUT but there are limited seats available in the other classes Donna will be offering this weekend. CLICK HERE for those details.

Creative People Stick Together.....

I have been playing with the "Clearly for Art" films some more -- I thought I would see how it would do as a 3D Embellie for my cards -- like this one.

I made this with a certain person in mind (so when they receive this next month I hope they smile) It is a Character Constructions stamp and studio assistant die that I cut a few layers from and paper pieced together. Can you see the "Clearly for Art" film?...

Yes, it's her collar and her hair bow!
I stamped the Character Constructions Stamp on the film with Archival Ink, gave it a heat blast with my heat gun and shaped it for the card. I teeny tiny bit of glue (glossy accents work too) and attached it to my card. I also backed the paper dolls with it. Those dolls are small and a little too delicate to not be adhered directly to the card for mailing sooooooooo, yes, I glued them (with my xyron) to the "Clearly for Art" cut it out as close to the dolls as I could, heated it so I could mold it to where I wanted and Voila!!!! LOVE IT! ... hope the recipient does too!
Wondering about the background? I made my own with Distress Inks and Crafter's Workshop Templates -- a little Perfect Pearls Mist too :)
Have a creative day everyone!

A Donna Downey Stamp - two ways

Evening all... or should I say morning? I hope you all remembered to set your clocks ahead this evening. That's right - We "Spring Ahead" this weekend. I hope you don't all loose too much sleep!! :)

I had a wonderful day in the studio with Paulette (and some shoppers too). Paulette wanted to create a canvas using the New Donna Downey "Dress Form" foam stamp. She wanted to do it in the studio so that we could do it together -- ummmm.. SURE!!! How fun is that.

Here are the canvas' we created - same colours, same stamp, different styles! What could be better?

Here's Paulette's

And Here's mine. Note the sprayed background? Yes, not just for cards! :) hehe

I hope you are having a great weekend!
Be creative!

One Caged Birdie....

So, this week I felted, painted, embossed, waxed, sprayed and now..... I had an urge to use WIRE!!

I've been eyeing some fabulous creations in my Somerset Magazines for a while now that used crude bird cages to showcase their art. This is what I came up with (for now.....)

Armed with some NEW "ART PARTS" by Wendy Vecchi, I decided now was the time to try my hand at cage making.

The Cake Stand went together perfectly! So nice to use -- I collaged some 7 Gypsies and Graphic 45 Papers to it and set to work on the cage.

The cage was easy peasy!! I used some very moldable armature wire and created the shape with my hands. No pliers required. The wire was fused together with some Memory Foil Tape from Ranger -- you know, the stuff that you can "solder" their Memory Glass together with if you don't want to use one of their frames.... Anyway -- LOVE how it turned out BUT not as much as I LOVED how the flower embellishment took shape. Check it out!

To create this I took some of the new Aluminum Sheets I got in the Studio from MercArt and attached them to a sheet of "Clearly for Art" I NEW MODELING FILM also from Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts line. This stuff is sooooo cool! Just heat it and mold it - when it cools (in a few seconds) it will remain in the shape you placed it. ....Don't like where you placed it? no problem, just re-heat it and it will go back to its original shape. Did I mention that it was cool?

Anyway, I took the aluminum sheets, embossed them with some texture fades and attached them using my Xyron. Heated it. Shaped it and voila!! LOVE IT!!!!

I love the centres too -- cause I've been felting remember? *smile*. You guessed it! I felted a small green puff and hand stitched some small beads to it. A little 3 in 1 Glue and I have one heck of a flower embellishment! What could be better?

For you bird lovers out there -- my bird in the cage was a die cut from one of Sizzix new dies.

I cut him/her out of chipboard (cause you can when you use a sizzix) and then attached some BG papers to it -- don't forget the feather.

I hope you like! Phew! I've been up to a lot lately! All of these projects will be taken to ScrapFest as samples. I hope you are planning to attend and drop by the studio booth to see them in person!). Wait until you see what I have up my sleeve for tomorrow! Yes, the sewing machine has been out this week too!

Have a creative day!

Remember This? (Video) *Updated*

These were some of the backgrounds that the girls in the Technique of the Month Club created this month. We had so much fun inking and spraying!!

Well, I mentioned in one of my comments in the earlier post that I would make a video on how I do this. So..... here it is.

Grab a coffee (it's 10 mins) and enjoy!!! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Oh... and FYI -- Here is the background paper that I made in the Video!! :)

and here is a card that I created using it.....

Can you see the possibilities?

****** Since I posted this*********
I am very honoured that Jaime at Crafter's Workshop liked my video and POSTED IT on their Company Website! THANK YOU JAIME! You honour me!

Getting Waxy Again...

The best part of my job is that I can switch back and forth between mediums and play. Case in point - from Felting one day to wax another *smile* Truth be told, it was actually completed the other way around but, who's counting right? hehe

While at the Nottawasaga Retreat I had a chance to play -- and play I did!!!

I wanted to try out a couple of products I received in the studio from VIVA DECOR - specifically their Embossing Cream and Inka Gold

You may have seen (and used) Inka Gold in the studio before. It's a fast Drying "metallic" paint that goes on like a polish. It's great to use on anything porous -- I think it gives a satin -like finish. The more you "buff" it, the shinier it becomes. It's very easy to use and apply. I used the red colour and buffed it all over the wood canvas to give this project it's base colour.

Since all of VIVA DECOR's products are water based acrylic.... I new I'd be able to emboss over the Inka Gold

Viva Decor Embossing Cream is easy to stencil and will grow to a 3D shape when heated with a heat-gun. So very cool!! The gold parts of my Geisha Canvas were created with it. I stenciled it over a Crafter's Workshop Template I had in stock.

This was totally fun -- just don't touch it while it's cooling (just after you heat it) -- you might get a finger mark in it. .....don't ask me how I know :)

Next came the wax -- love how it just finished it off! Note: Special thanks to Carmi who sent me some DOVE OF THE EAST papers to make some fun Asian Lanterns and embellies for the retreat... this picture came from that paper set. I just applied to directly to the canvas cause I loved it sooooo much. Hope you like too!

... hummmm, what am I going to play with today? *smile*

Me? Felting? Why YES!!!

So there I was, sitting in a comfy chair by the fire, glass of wine in hand, the "Oscars" on and wanting a little something to do. Enter the New Felting Tools that I brought into the studio recently.

Yes, Felting Tools and I am LOVING THEM!!

Carmi Cimicata will be teaching 2 felting classes at Mixed Minded in May and asked if I would bring in Clover's Needle Felting Tool (5 Needle) and the small Felting Mat. Of course I said YES -- cause I've always wanted to felt and this is a great push in that direction. WELL.... you know me, I had to play with it and NOW I'M HOOKED! Or should I say Needled? Hehe. So, now the studio has the 3D Rose which can also applique hearts:

the Daisy the Florets and Berries

the Snow Crystals

the Pen Tool to use them with

and refill needles, and their claw cleaning tool too!!

Anyone else wanna play? hehe

Carmi will be teaching two very different projects using the basic tools (The Needle Felting Tool and Mat) AND,special thanks to Janome's sponsorship, you will get a chance to try out machine felting too! Wowsers!!!

In the brooch class (Saturday May 28, 6:30pm - 9:30pm) you will learn how to create the basic felt and then how to felt other things into it to create something TRULY SPECIAL!

And the beads (Sunday May 29, 9:30am - 12:30pm) -- well, if not knowing how to create basic felt beads wasn't enough, Carmi will also be showing you how to add fabrics, beads and trims to create something magical to wear and enjoy!

Hope you can join us!!
Have a creative day everyone!

Our Fall Retreat......

Hello Everyone!

Hope you had a great weekend! I've been busy busy and am looking forward to sharing all of what I've been up to with you soon.

Here's the first thing....

Our Annual STRATFORD RETREAT (now held in the fall - November 4-6) has officially been announced and I am taking registrations.

Yes, it's a WHO DONE IT!?! A little mystery goes a long way so -- I'll be keeping many of my surprises for the retreat guests BUT, lets just say we'll have some "clue-like" fun - scrappin style.

As I found the tax and early bird thing a little confusing for people (including myself) last retreat - I am posting just one all inclusive price this time (last year's early bird price adjusted for the taxes. Dang HST :) ). BUT -- to keep the early bird spirit alive.... anyone booking by AUG 4, 2011 will be entered in a draw for a fantastic scrappy prize. Here is the retreat page.

Hope you can come! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime!

Some inking and spraying.....

We had some fun at the Technique of the Month Club meeting this week.
Here are some of the creations!

The girls got playful with gesso, paint, perfect pearls and the new colour wash sprays! The pages that we created will be FABULOUS for ATC backgrounds, cards and embellies! Their colours and dimensions are wonderful. Gorgeous work girls!!

New Stamps have Arrived

Yes, I have been busy in the studio this week receiving the new stamps from Unity and Stamper's Anonymous. Have a look!!


See you in the studio soon! .... more product videos to come (hint hint)

how Zensational!

Hello everyone! I had a GREAT time with the girls on the weekend -- scrappin and playin!

THANK YOU to all who attended -- you're all so wonderful, great sports *grin*, inspiring and wonderful "life artists"!!! There was a whole lotta scrapping goin on....

...and other fun things!!

I'll be sure to post some more pictures on our Facebook Page ... and hopefully Cathy will be able to send me a fun video she took. I can't wait to see that - hint hint Cathy!! :)

I've almost got everything back together in the studio. I would have finished already but I've been getting CHA delivery after delivery... !! YAY! I'll post the new stuff soon but I hope you pop in and see for yourself.

Hope you're having a great week!