Sunday 20 February 2011

Lovely day yesterday......lovely day today

Yesterday, I left home bright and early to travel to the NEC to take a class at 9am with Tim Holtz and Dyan Reaveley. I never get to take classes so when this opportunity landed in my lap, there was no way I was going to decline the invitation even though I still have sixty million things to do for Artsycrafts next week. Boy, am I pleased I did go. I had forgotten what it's like to be on the other side of the desk so to speak, and I have to tell you, it's a really nice place to be, I now have the urge to seek out amazing classes and be a student....not sure when that will be able to happen but I'll put it on my "to do" list. That's really very funny as my list is eternally long!!!

Anyway, back to yesterday's class.....first up Mr Tim Holtz himself, he really is an amazing teacher, very easy going and he has a knack of getting you to work at a faster pace that you would normally but without you even realising it. His style, wit, and all round creativeness never ceases to amaze me. The first canvas we made was using the brand new Distress Stains.....love this new product!!! It's a stain in that is available in 12 of the Distress colours that is far more liquid than I imagined it would be, hence great coverage really fast. We used it on some of Tim's new kraft resist papers which were adhered to the canvas and also on grunge, sticky back canvas, ribbon and over the top of rock candy crackle paint......VERY NICE!!!!!

Here's a closer shot, hope you can see the effect a bit better now.
Second canvas of the day and this section of the class was taught by Dyan Reaveley using Perfect Pearls, first as a dry powder and then as a paint to paint the birdy guy and flowers. Of course you are never going to see the beauty of these products in a photograph but they really are gorgeous and shimmery.

It does show up a little better in this shot but it still doesn't do it justice.


Third and final canvas was taught by Tim again. I am really surprised by this one. I thought it would be my least favourite but actually it's the one I like the best. We used Claudine Hellmuth's line of products, her Studio paints, sticky back canvas and her new stamps. The stamps come as two types first up, there are the foam ones which we stamped with the Studio paint and then the line drawings which are polymer stamps were stamped with Jet Black Archival ink over the top. I really struggled to like my houses and flowers at first. It really doesn't matter if the background image (the solid foam stamps) doesn't come out as a complete image, in fact it looks much more artistic if it is a bit patchy. That wasn't my issue though and it took me right until the end of the class to realise that it was the white canvas showing through that I didn't like. Soon fixed that.....mixed up another little puddle of green watery paint and washed it right over my houses and flowers.......love at first sight!!!! It's amazing how something as simple as that can just transform a piece.



I didn't think I would stock Claudines stamps, but now............


........I'm just gonna have to have them!!!!!


So that was my three hours of indulgence, quick bit to eat then helped Mr and Mrs PaperArtsy set up their booth for the trade show which starts today. OMG!! Those guys have been working their socks off to get all their new products ready for launching at this show and I know that Leandra and Mark are my friends but they have got something FABULOUS new products lined up and I can't wait to have them all in my store.
I'm not going to the NEC today as it's Ronnie's 5th birthday today and what sort of Nanna would I be if I missed his special day? Karen and Linda will be at the show today, no doubt Linda will be stalking Tim and Karen, the queen of kits will finally get to meet Mario, the king of kits.....wonder if they will share they kitting up tricks????? I'm off to the show tomorrow instead but for now, I'm off to wrap up a Star Wars Light Saber for a certain young man.


This is the birthday boy in his first school photograph.......he's gonna kill me in a few years time!

22 comments:

Helen said...

Great to see your projects in more detail. Have a lovely day with Ronnie and the family today - hope he has a lovely time.

france papillon said...

thanks for sharing all those details with us! can't wait to be there myself ;) see you... in a couple of days!

donnalouiserodgers said...

Learning is always a the top of my list, be it experimenting by myself, being booked onto my fine art sketching course, doing Tams M3 on line class or eagerly awaiting your Sept AC weekend class with Lizzie, assuming I can get two places...

it is an investment worth the returns to be inspired by others and over come the reservations and try new things...

Kezzy said...

Wow I can't believe all those canvases was made in 3hrs. I'm at the artsycraft event and I can't imagine getting all that done, I'm sort of a beginner stamper, I have loads of rims and paperartsy products but been too scared to use them so I'm hoping that next week will wake my mojo for that type of stamping. I can't believe that I will see alot of bloggers there, it's so exciting. Your grandson is really cute.

Von said...

Can't believe you achived so much in just 3 hours wow :) Have a fun day and don't eat to much cake lol

Kath Stewart said...

wow lots of gorgeous makes...bet you had a ball. Have a lovely snuggly day with your GS...and go easy on the cake...hugs kath xxzx

Dragon said...

Ah, he looks gorgeous... I have two of those ... Arnt we lucky!!!! looking forward to meeting you this week, Lin. LOVING what you did with Sir Tim and looking forward to working with him too
Frankie
xx

Gillian .... said...

Ooo Lin looks like you had a blast yesterday at the workshops, loving what you achieved in such a short space of time. Hope you enjoy your day off today with your family. Been and stopped b the shop again lol. Wish I was comng to the Artsycraft event ... still stuck on the waiting list:)

Linda M. Cain said...

Ronnie is adorable! And I too love your Claudine piece. The colors are fab!

Have a great time,

~Linda

may-chu said...

lovely projects - especially the first one. love it!
your kid is just too cute! :)

Trish said...

I am so glad you enjoyed the classes, that's we feel like when we come to you for classes! I love your projects. Have a great day with your birthday grandson

Daniele said...

the canvases that you did at class are lovely, I saw one close up at the show today, know what you mean about CH stamps ....there is someting appealing about them. Didn't see Linda and Karen whilst I was watching TH doing his stuff, lovin' all the new stains, there is a pic. of a tag he made

Kirsten Alicia said...

Glad you had a great time at the class, these proects really are fab. Hope you're having a wonderful time today.

Sherry Goodloe said...

Love it ALL! xo

Karin said...

They're all gorgeous. Thanks for showing us a close up.
Bet you had a fantastic day.
4 more sleeps to go, excited :-)

Caroline Hallett said...

thanks for showing us those boxes up close, I have been seeing snaps of them on Twitter and was desperate for someone to give some details - and yes I love the little houses too...

Hilda said...

Fabulous that you got such a treat Lin, so pleased for you, true indulgence!!!! Your Ronnis is a star, what a handsome chappy!! Hope you had a super day and look forward to hearing more asap xxx

Neet said...

What a cute little boy!

Great canvases - can't wait to get my hands on some of the new goodies.

Pat said...

What great fun that must have been to take the class from T!m! You did some great projects!

Your shop is looking like it coming right along!

Hugs, Pat Smith

FuzzyFolk said...

Those are stunning, and so unusual. Your little boy is soo cute!

Suz@Shabbi Skraps said...

Just love to see what's going on with you over there!~ So jealous of that fun & amazing workshop! Love your creations!!! Suzette~

Suz said...

Three amazing canvasses in one day. That is really incredible! I love the different Ranger techniques. Just fascinating. I also didn't wasn't crazy about Claudine Helmuth's stamps...and I love that one the best! Thanks for sharing and letting us look closely at the details!

Suz