It's been one of those days...

Colour! or is it Color?

I’m home and over the jetlag.  It took me 8 days to get over it in South Africa, but I was right after 2 nights at home.  Happy for that.

My next project.  Big Picture Classes.  Previously known as Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Details of my next class…

Colour! or is it Color? (edited to add more FAQ!)

The Class Description:

Do you love colour? Do you want to immerse yourself in a workshop that takes you through a whole rainbow of possibilities? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet… colours are all around us! They reflect our mood and fill our scrapbooks; it’s time to celebrate the colours we use!

Join Nic Howard for ‘Colour! or is it Color?’, an exciting 6 week workshop that will be a true celebration of the gorgeous colours all around us. Nic is known for her beautifully detailed projects, and in this workshop you’ll get the added bonus of learning some of Nic’s favourite techniques as well as building a library of valuable colour theory!

You’ll learn a variety of things from the way colours affect the mood of our pages, to how to use colours together effectively, to RED hot techniques! Nic will bring you this and more in step by step format with plenty of examples, tips and techniques, week after week. From the smallest of details, to the largest of projects, we all need to know how to enjoy all the gorgeousness the rainbow has to offer, click here to learn more, you won’t want to miss this class!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can you tell me, what will we be doing?

As mentioned in the class description, we do everything from colour theory to practical, hands on, good old creating layouts!  The class includes a large amount of sketches, guest artists, challenges, giveaways, step-by-step instructions, videos of me dancing to old 1950’s songs… you know, just the usual…

Is this class project based, or layout based?

This is a layout based class.  You will receive instructions for the occasional other project, such as the tags above, but in general, the weekly assignments and step by step instructions are for layouts. 

What if I can’t keep up?

Big Picture Classes have forever access.  Participate as much or as little as you wish.  All the materials are accessible forever, you can come along on a crazy colour-filled 6 week ride with us all, or do it at your own pace, it’s up to you!

Do I need specific materials?

I supply materials lists for many of the layouts, but nah, dive into that stash, use up product you already have, unless you really want to go shopping?…

If I completed Dimensional Details with you, will I be repeating things by joining this class?

No – this is new stuff.  I do cover some of the Dimensional Details techniques in pre-class but that is just to get those that didn’t sit that class up to speed with a few techniques.  Join in, I’d love to see you!

Will this class suit the digital scrapbooker?
My class teaches colour theory, which translates to both digital and paper scrapbooking, but all of the assignments and all of the techniques are paper based.  There are no digital templates in my class.  Whether or not you think it will suit yo, as a digital scrapbooker, depends on how well you adapt paper techniques to digital scrapbooking.  Let me know if you are a digital scrapbooker and you join in, I'd love to keep in touch to see how you go!

Are the layouts 12x12"or smaller?
The assignments are all for 12x12" layouts.  Some of the examples are 8.5x11" though!  Although I use the bigger size, I would hope that if you scrapped in a smaller size, that it would be easy to convert!

Nic, can you give me information on what kind of techniques you cover in this class?
Oh my goodness, there are many!  Mostly techniques that are not difficult.  Just interesting techniques that can be adapted to be used a whole lot, of just add a small touch to your page. 

Ok.  I’m just about convinced.  Give me one more reason why I should join in…

Just one reason?  Seriously.  I have hundreds of reasons in the form of testimonials from those that sat in on my last class.  Please, ask around.  I’m a perfectionist.  I love detail.  I pack so much into these classes that my family eat 2-minute-noodles and tomato sauce for weeks while I work on it.  Please make that worthwhile for them.  I’d love to see you there! 

On the road again

It’s time to leave South Africa.  I taught an enthusiastic bunch of amazing Capetown-ians yesterday and today it’s time to head off.  Cape town was fun, the ladies were keen and the layouts were superb.  It’s always satisfying to walk away from a class with so many layouts finished, and looking so good. 

Spier Estate was beautiful.  This place is set in wine country and the accommodation is like old French style blocks of villas, just beautiful.  Everywhere you turn there are squirrels and owls and African culture of some sort. 

There is a place here called Moyo, African music plays constantly, they paint your face as you walk in.  It’s a place to eat, sit, talk, laugh and drink the bar dry of Amarula. 

Anyway, it’s time to head back.  I was sad leaving New Zealand after the earthquakes and I know it hasn’t got any easier with the weather being so atrocious. 

Although I feel like I still have so much to learn here and I’m scared that when I leave I’ll forget some of the amazing things I’ve learnt about this diverse culture, it’ll be nice to hug my kids again.  

I hope to come back one day.

laters

Table Mountain, beaches, coastline and culture

It was sad to leave Kichaka, our game reserve where we spent the majority of the time eating, sleeping, relaxing in the heat or tracking animals.  I have never been anywhere like it.  I learnt more than I think I could ever learn watching animal documentries on TV or reading books.  I watched the behavior of animals at arms reach.

I only dived under the seat once… when this grumpy elephant (notice the way her ears are forward) came at us to show us she wasn’t happy. 

I still find it hard to believe that I was out in the game parks with the animals drinking Amarula while I watched an African sunset. 

Finding it hard to comprehend leaving.  We have three nights to go with some amazing things to do but already the saddies are setting in.  I teach again on Sunday to the large Capetown group. Really looking forward to it.  I’ve learnt so much about this country since I arrived that I think it’ll make teaching here in Capetown an even better experience.

As we toured Capetown yesterday I think I could literally feel my mind expanding.  Understanding South Africa more.  Understanding the South African friends I have at home more.  Seeing how different things are. Seeing what this country has been through.  Soaking in it’s beauty from the top of Table Mountain to the bottom of the coastlines.  The vast wildlife and beaches, the city and the shanty towns.  I think I may have come back to the estate here a little overloaded.  This place is so rich in culture it is mind-blowing.

We are missing home but so sad to think we have to leave soon.

A few days into it…

And then the first class was over.  And it was awesome.  South Africans are an amazingly talented bunch of scrappers.  It’s always hard knowing the level of scrapping in a different country, how things work, even the little details down to what adhesives are commonly used in a country.  It was awesome though, it really was.  And I’m so grateful that the All Blacks were not playing the Springboks today!  It made things a whoooole lot easier!

Anyway.  I teach again tomorrow.  Jacob has discovered a time-zone type place that charge next to nothing for tokens.  He is in spacies heaven and he asked to move his bed in there. 

Paul turns 40 tomorrow and so far he has had about 200 ladies say Happy Birthday.  Each time someone does, he gives me the ‘you totally told the whole class that it’s my birthday tomorrow, didn’t you’ look. 

Um
Of course I did. 

Off to take a sneaky peek at Candice Greenway’s class.  Candice is someone I admire in a huge way.  I was excited to see her in action. 

Leaving you with a layout I did for Prima for CHA, using the Road trip collection.  (Miss you, Brady-bear!)

laters

South Africa

Who woulda known.  South Africa.  In a blur of activity before I left I didn’t even update my blog.  I managed to clear the pantry of all food items  with sentimental value – yes there are such things - so that the house sitter didn’t accidently use something they shouldn’t, and I managed to clean the whole house beautifully – actually that was kinda silly really since it won’t look like that when I get home – but I didn’t update my blog. 

So we are here.  Paul, Jacob and I.  We flew 3 hours to Sydney and then it was a 14 hour flight to Johannesburg.  That’s the longest I’ve ever been on a plane at once and lookie, I still look sane. 

I’ve met with some of the other teachers here, Jacob has taken quite a warming to Jeri, Jodi and Joanne. Together they are the four J’s, Jacob being J4.  I see trouble brewing in the next week.
  This event is amazing.  Sold out to a huge number with a huge waiting list, and just seeing the little details, I’m not surprised! 

It’s been a relaxing day today with a little helping package some stuff, a little sleeping, and a little watching the Warriors play via a cool sports site on the web (watching a NZ team, playing in Australia, via a US sports website in my hotel room in South Africa, there is something incredibly global about that, huh?)

Jacob also tried to swim in the hotel pool but really it was colder than a cold thing that is really really cold and it was one minute short of hypothermia I think.  The highlight of that little excursion to the pool was this bird… it made a huge loud cry which scared the pants off us all, we don’t know what it is, but it can be known as the scare-the-pants-off-the-unsuspecting-kiwis-bird.

Alrighty, time to meet the last of the teachers and get ready for my first class tomorrow.  There are 286 in this first class.  YES all at once.  Epic, huh?

Laters