It's been one of those days...

Sydney - Pretty pages... what to bring to class

Sydney Papercrafts festival, what to bring to class..

Sydney Papercrafts is going to be such a whirlwind, I fly in to Sydney literally about 4 hours before my first class, remind me not to drink too much on the plane, I'll be whizzing out to Penrith and into that Friday class before I know it!  I have a  class booked out for the Saturday and then Sunday I finish class and I'm back on a plane within a few hours!  I last visited Sydney in June where I had 4 amazing, relaxing days at the beach in Coogee, this is going to be totally different!

Many of you are asking what to bring to class... here is the run-down... please share, link, spread the word because the list on the website isn't quite complete.

So here it is.  Apart from the neccessary Coke Zero, Violet Crumbles and other aussie chocolates I need to indulge in, this is what you need to bring to class... leave me a comment if you are booked in, I'd love to hear from you!
laters

Pretty Pages by Nic Howard

What to bring to class.

• Basic Tool kit including trimmer, scissors, adhesives and a ruler that measures inches.
• Strong glue: eg Helmar 450 or similar.
• Ink: Catseye chalk charcoal or similar.
• Aqua Pen or small paint brush.
• Medium paint brush for use with gesso.
• Baby wipes
• Appropriate clothing (gesso cannot be removed from clothing)
• Heat Gun (if you have one, we will be sharing)
• Photos:
  Layout 1:Two 3 x 4 horizontal photos that go with the colouring in the sneak peeks.
  Layout 2: Photos to be added at home afterwards.

 

 

Prima Art*Venture ...

I've been working away quietly on my class for Art*Venture in California in January.  It's taken a whole lot of emailing back and forward between the Prima offices and myself, it's been a wole lot of mixing and matching  fun with hot-off-the-press products but finally I think we have an amazing class sorted.

This is going to be such a wicked-cool event, it has so many great teachers in one place, chances to take Prima classes with amazing class kits and when you aren't scrapping, there is the resort to indulge in - it's one of those totally-spoil-yourself experiences.  And why not?!

18th-20th January, you can find out more here... many of you will be in California for CHA anyway, why not extend your stay!

Post event crash and the chickenpox...

I scrapped yesterday in the first time in what seems like forever.  I had some serious after-event crash after Spring Edition and until yesterday I just couldn't get any work done. I think after the build up to such a massive event I was all a little down, or maybe it's just that I missed this amazing group of ladies like crazy...

(Rachel Tucker, Kate Booth, Tana Sansom, me, Lianne Gray, Lynda Bagnall, Paula Cheney, Lucy VDL, Natalie May)
Lucky we get to do it all over again in April for Autumn Escape.

Anyway,  I had completly forgot how to get my stuff out and just play.  I had assignments.  I had editors knocking on my vitual email door.  It was a little titchy around here.  The good news is that my house got a little tidier.  The best procrastination, after raiding the pantry and checking facebook, is cleaning the house so there is a bonus right there.  Except the windows didn't get cleaned.  It doesn't matter how much I'm procrastinating in my office, the windows do not magically get clean.

And then my poor baby got Chickenpox.  And she didn't do it by halves.  It was a nasty case.  It was nice to have a little friend home all week but it was so sad to see her miserable.  And she missed the finals of the athletic running races at school, in which she was so keen to run in. 

Cool thing is that she played on my phone all week and I did end up with some fun self-taken pics on there...and the occasional video telling me how miserable she was playing on my phone and watching TV all day.  The last one is a pic I took on day 2... Chickenpox certainly is a take-no-prisoners kinda illness, those spots cover her entirely, head to toe, including palms of her hands, in her nose, down her throat...

Anyway, today is better.  I scrapped yesterday, the assignment is in and I'm on to the next one...

What to next?  I'm in Sydney in a week, so if you are going to be at the Sydney PaperCrafts Festival, I'd love to see you in class.  Saturday is sold out, but there is room on Friday and Sunday...

Then I have some fun celebrating to do when my brother arrives home in mid November, this time he is coming home for good... after nearly 14 years it's great to know he is coming home.  Then it's December and then I'm off on my next adventure...   the Prima Art*Venture retreat in the USA in California in January... but that's a 'nother whole post...

laters (have a fab weekend, I'm off to book flights to the USA...)

Spring Edition - the rundown

It's been a little over a week since Spring Edition finished and I'm still coming down off the high of everything.  Organising an event like this is a little like organising a wedding.  With a lot of brainstorming and help from some of the best friends on the planet, little ideas become big plans and big plans become reality.  Slowly we plan and take care of every detail we can think of.

Registration packs and welcome signs... name tags and gorgeous packaging.

A candy bar full of the most amazing treats.

Room displays, all bought together by different people .. this one put together with an intricate book gifted to me by Rae Cooper, several of my layouts, some scrabble tiles gifted to me at the last Autumn Escape and a fun fairy house, complete with little fairy made by Rachel Tucker- she was named "Pamela the Prima Fairy" by the end of the retreat.  This was one displays that came together purely from the generosity and artistic ability of people that have attended our retreats in the past.

Then there was the reading corner.  The cushions placed across the floor that said "Scrap" on one side and "Relax" on the other.  Needless to say that these cushions spelled many different words throughout the weekend.  This was only part of a display that included chairs, various books and altered items.  A place to relax when time out was needed.

Then there were the classes.  Put together by talented tutors Paula Cheney, Natalie May and myself, there was a huge range of amazing techniques and projects completed.  It's not surprising that one of our most common pieces of feedback is that everyone wants these two ladies back. 

Then of course there was all the other amazing stuff we did.   Janine from "Steeped in Beautea" ensured something totally off-the-wall for a scrapbooking retreat with a buffet of ingedients to make our own relaxing bath-bags.  It was something new to us and we were so glad we took the risk and added something different into the weekend mix.

One of our other make n takes... everyone completed a gorgeous woodland tree.  We were lucky enough to have Tim Holtz's support donating enough trees and ingredients for everyone to colour, glue and glitter to their heart's content.  We know for sure that all Spring Edition Attendees will have pretty houses this coming Christmas.

I could go on with the details but there were so many.  There were more classes, more make n takes, a whole weekend of laughing and learning.  We had one of the best games we've ever had on the Saturday night (did any of you wonder why the toothpicks were on the candy buffet all weekend?!), and the thing that made it - the 90 ladies that attended.  This retreat was the 5th for us, but bought so many new people into the mix - around a third of the attendees had never been to our retreats before.  That's a whole lot of new friends...

And of course the whole weekend wouldn't be complete without the crew...

Rachel, Kate, Tana, Nic, Lianne, Lynda, Paula, Lucy & Natalie.  Some of the best friends a girl could have.

And for those that wondered... YES I guarded my roomkey with my life.  YES *somehow* my room still got the worst toiletpapering in all of AE retreat history.  Those responsible will keep... Autumn Escape in April isn't that far away... who's coming along? (Love this place...)

Laters.
(btw photos taken by Andrea of SweetP photography... thank you so much Andrea!)

A little mixed media stamping fun...

Hey everyone, Nic here with a fun tip to go along with the mixed media that we seem to be seeing more and more in our hobby these days.  I adore experimenting with mixed media and have been building more and more dimensional items into my scrapbooking for a while now, I enjoy it so much.

I especially love to build tags, starting with patterned papers, adding resist canvases and building up to add the most gorgoeus of Prima flowers and trinkets.  Adding a little colour spray on top helps make it cohesive.   This is where the finishing touches come in, things like the Prima crystals, vintage treasures and the junkyard findings are great but I often find myself reaching for some of the gorgeous Prima stamps at this stage too.

At this stage though, my piece is already bulky.  It's nearly finished and it's covered in flowers and other fun stuff.  Adding stamp imagery isn't easy when working with an acrylic block so it's time to put the acrylic block aside, ink the stamp up and use it in your projects just as it is!

No block needed.  Just pick up the stamp, whether it is foam backed or acrylic, ink it up and push it into the areas you want it - stamps are flexible and without the block the stamps can get anywhere.

The finished piece - stamps added after the bulk of the mixed media items were added in there. 

It's amazing what cool effects we can get by taking a step back and doing things as simple as we can, thanks for joining me in a little mixed media fun! Stamps are Prima, metal trinkets are from A Dozen Ideas.

Trinkets from A Dozen Ideas website or visit the A Dozen Ideas Etsy Store.

Late nights, big birthdays and hand cut titles.

Feeling a little under the weather.  Would like to blame daylight savings but it's probably the huge weekend, the 40th birthday party I attended on Saturday night and not being able to handle the 4am bedtime.  All pretty good indications that I'm getting old.  (Especially all the 40th birthday parties I'm starting to attend). Personally I love the idea of nearly being 40.  What an awesome time of life.  I just wish my body would cooperate. 

Anyway - because when one starts getting all the attention drawn to one's BIG birthday coming up, one starts deciding that one should start looking for BIG presents, right?  Tell me that makes sense.  Because I have adored what the Silhouette Cameo can do, thank you bloggers like Kim Watson for their amazing inspiration, I admit to investing in one.  Fiona at the ScrapBox was fabulous at helping me feed my need for this machine, and now it's here.  In the box.  On the floor.  I won't bring it out until I have a little more time, but I can't wait to be getting my handcut titles cut out by a machine.  Lovin' the thought of that.  I still love me some handcut flourishy titles!

This layout was created for CHA in July but also published in the 'My Prima Place' magazine recently.  It's made with the gorgeous Rondelle range of papers and has those touches of mixed media in there... a bit of Tattered Angels GlimmerMist, some gesso and texture paste and lots of trinkets and other embellishments. 

Lookin' forward to being able to have the Silhouette cut that handcut title next time - I love birthdays and I'll be getting the most out of my next one, for sure!

Laters