Scrapbooking & Papercraft Expo - Brisbane 9 - 11th June 2012

It's been a while since my last post and I have had a ball in the meantime (also work too!).
The wallet is looking a bit sick and my stash has grown proportionally. More on that later. In this post there is a lot of chat and then some pictures. So grab a cuppa and put your feet up for a few minutes for a read.

So what happened?
We decided to make a long weekend of it. Here in Australia it was the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend so the timing fitted admirably with our plans! On Friday 8th we decided to go to the Cinema to set ourselves in the mood - we went to see Prometheus - Yikes! It was a great movie, I only embarrassed my dear and patient husband Frits once, by leaping out of my seat noisily in alarm, so as movies go - not bad at all!

We then set off for Brisbane. Australia is a big place, so we "broke the back" of the 6 1/2 hour journey and stayed in a lovely little Motel for the night. Saturday we were up early with a lovely home cooked breakfast and then very soon on the road.

We had booked a Hotel in Toowong (suburb of Brisbane) so decided to call in and leave our gear somewhere else other than the car. We were delighted to find our room was ready so we immediately were able to take cases up to our room and not have to leave them with the concierge. Lovely.

Next was the Exhibition and Conference Centre. The venue was easy to find and we were able to take a train there. The WOW WOW WOW! It was packed . We had got there at about 11.30am, doors opened at 9.00am. Frits noted that he was the only male within the visible vicinity (he loved it as all the ladies made a fuss of him). The plan was to make an initial reconnoitre and get a feel of the layout as well as discover where my classes would be held the next day. Well I did a bit, but when you see something you like/want/need/desire/couldn't live without - you just have to get it! And I did! Some lovely papers, more COPICS, stamps, some really great mists, flowers, dies, ribbon, glue and so on and so on.

OK now some pictures.
I did Three classes on Sunday 10th June.
The first was an Introduction to the basics of using COPICS.  I was thrilled to meet Kathy Jones. Who I am sure thinks I am stalking her. She is a favourite of mine and someone who inspires me. She has done some great pieces for some of the well known crafting magazines here in Australia and internationally.

We made a Marci Tag and got some REALLY great info on where to start, different techniques we can use, how to choose which Copics to buy as well as the unique colouring numbering system. The coolest thing for me was to understand (and practice) how to go about colouring skin as well as blending colours.

Kathy was really great and VERY patient despite being in recovery from poor health just recently.

The second class was equally FANTASTIC. We were with Mandi-lee Klinger. She was excellent, good fun, loads of energy and lots of patience too. This time we made a Marci easel card as part of our Copic Learning journey.

I don't know the Design paper we used as it was pre-cut in little kits for us to assemble.

Wow! Copics colour almost any thing. Bling, Pearls, Ribbon - -  even Hair. Mine got  a nice vibrant purple highlight by Mandi-Lee!

In addition to different techniques we also learnt about shading and using the W1 & W3 colours.

Here is a side view of the easel card I made.

Here is Marci from La La Land stamps herself.


















OK. I think I will stop here for now as this is turning into a really Looooong post. I will do another quickie post a little later showing you the cards I made from my last class at the Brisbane Expo.

Thanks for stopping by I really appreciate your comments and feedback!

The Little Mermaid

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everything in your world is going well. It's a bit chilly here at present so the winter gear is out of the closet!
I was Blog hopping between some of my favourite Design Team bloggers and came across "La La Land" stamps, and more particularly I was introduced to the Marci and Luka characters. Then I also discovered that you could download Digi images from their site. Well! Decision made I had to have a closer look. I chose a couple of images to start with as I also was honing my colouring skills. I had recently purchased some Prisma Color Pencils as well as a couple of Copic Sketch markers.
My card today is one of my first attempts using these digi stamps with Mermaid Marci, my pencils and my Copics. Of course it goes without saying that I have also used lots of Spellbinders dies.
I hope you like it.

This is an easel card.
 (Please forgive my Mug of Tea also shown at the edge of my photo - it is another picture taken on our dining table -  I will get better at taking these pictures!!!)

Lets Break the construction down a bit.

I regularly use the DCWV matchmakers Cardstock stacks which are a textured card stock and heavy enough to use for card bases.
Firstly I cut the card base (on two layers of card) and also one other piece on a single layer using Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Circles (LF - 124) using a dark green card stock 12" x 12" sheet. (Making sure the die didn't cut one of the edges so I kept a hinge at the edge of the card.)
I then cut two circles using the Spellbinders Grand Circles (LF - 114) from a dark cream card stock and embossed them using both sides of the Spellbinders Sea Beauty M-Bossibilities (ES - 007) folder.
Using Spellbinders Parisian Motifs (S5 - 035) I cut a piece from the same dark green card as my card base as a mat layer behind my image of Marci.
The "stopper" on the flat base of the card was cut from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three (S5 - 031) dies and embellished using Want2scrap nestabling pearls that fit this particular dies shape.

Colouring Marci was a real experiment.
I played around with Blue, Green, Purple and Lilac colours for her tail, top and starfish  hair decoration.
FOR MARCI'S HAIR: I used my Copics and Pencils, I will remember the numbers of the Copics next time I use them so I can repeat the process!
FOR HER SKIN: I used my Prisma pencils - cream, beige, ivory and blush pink. I blended the colours using the Gamsol technique - here is a great Tutorial from Inky Antics showing how this works.
I typed and printed out the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment on my computer and cut it our using .... yes you've guessed it another Spellbinders die - the smallest of the scalloped ovals LG (S4 - 111).

Here is a closer view of the "Stopper" I created. Again I typed and printed the sentiment which is a quote I found on one of these quote websites that are now available (I searched on "Mother" and Google found it for me!!) Then used the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three (S5 - 031) dies to cut it out, I used foam pads to raise it from the card base to act as the "stopper" for the card front.
I think he pearls were a nice "under the sea" touch for this card.




CARD RECIPE:
Cardstock: Dark Green and Cream 12' x 12" sheets from DCWV matchmakers Cardstock stacks
Dies: Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Circles, Spellbinders Grand Circles, Spellbinders Sea Beauty M-Bossibilities, Spellbinders Parisian Motifs, Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three, scalloped ovals LG
Stamps:  "La La Land" Marci Digital stamps,
Accessories: Prisma Color Pencils, Gamsol and stumps, Copic Sketch Markers, Want2scrap nestabling pearls, Foam Pads.

Ingredients that I used in picture format:

                                         I really appreciate you looking at my blog today. Thanks.