Spellbinders Geranium & Leaves Card Class

Hello Spellbinders enthusiasts!

Today I am showing you the cards we will be making in my 17th Spellbinders Educator class. I can't believe that we have had that many Spellbinder Educator classes already!  This is one of our September classes, using the Geranium & Leaves die set.

SPELLBINDERS EDUCATOR CLASS # 17

GERANIUM & LEAVES CLASS
WHEN: Monday, September 17th
TIME: 6:00 - 8:30 pm (may go a little longer)
COST: $42 + GST (includes $26.95 die)

Contact Stacey at sbebc2011@gmail.com  or  778-533-4290 to reserve your spot

Join us in this class to create not only these two cards, but learn other ways to use this die set. Geraniums come in different colours, which makes working with the die a lot of fun. The geranium leaves can be used in a crunch as lily pads and other types of broad round leaves. The additional long fern and other leaf helps in making floral or leaf arrangements on your projects.

PLEASE BRING TO CLASS: Your die cutting machine and plates, 3 in 1 tool or paper piercer, Stylus tool (like a paper piercer with a ball at the end) thick dense foam for flower shaping, 3 - 6 toothpicks, white gesso (if you have), dble sided adhesive tape, black foam tape or squares, ink blending tool, one of these ink pads - TH Distress in either Weathered Wood or Hickory Smoke, or Memento Gray Flannel, non-stick graft mat, & wipes. Bring a note book and pencil to write down ideas and tips for using this die. If you do not have some of these items, I will have mine there that can be borrowed.

Looking more closely at each of the cards you can see the details like the white centres of each blossom. I used NUVO Glossy White with a tiny drop in the centre and then took a toothpick to spread it out.

Here you can see the details a little closer. See the veining of the Geranium leaves?

In this side view you can see the white sentiment stamped piece is on the black card base with the circle die cut black piece popped up over it to also show an 1/8" border around it.

The next card did not quite turn out as I envisioned it, but is still a beautiful card with the leaves all being gray like the background, and the blossoms pop right out because of their coral colour against the gray.

I used a toothpick again as my brush, but used white thick gesso this time.

I love the "Happy Birthday" peeking out between the blossoms. Here is a closer look.

Did you notice the brushed on silver around the Geranium leaves? This was accomplished using NUVO Mousse and a brush. In real life you can see the metallic shimmer better.

Below is a side view and the only thing pooped up is the heat embossed sentiment strip.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in class to make these cards.

Happy creating!

August Bullet Journal Set Up

Hello Bullet Journalers!

My apologies for not getting this up sooner, but I have been rather busy trying to get as many class samples going for a big event where I teach. So if you are looking for August inspiration for your Bujo, you may need to keep it for another month.

First I would like to say, that I have always been a person that has difficulty with keeping things real simple. I do succeed at times, but not that often. This is also true when it comes to setting up my Bujo. Because I am busy right now, and I love seeing all the beautiful clean and simple layouts out there just using the black pen, I was hoping I could dot that for myself this month.

Guess what? I couldn't keep it that way and ended up putting washing tape in my layouts. I did pretty much keep it to black and gray. Though at one point in setting things up I grabbed the wrong gray Tombow marker, and ended up with a soft lilac colour.

So why don't I get on with showing you my August 2018 set up pages.

Even though I have more than enough pages left for setting up August, I decided to see what it would be like to make a one page, rather than two page, monthly calendar set up. It is still new to me, and I see that there are some pros and cons to this set up, but I have not made a definitive decision yet. I think I will know better once I have used it for a while.

But let's go to the 'Hello August' page. I cheated a little on this page. How? Well I used a stamp for the 'hello' and an alphabet die set for the 'August' and glued the letters onto the page. Did it save time? I guess it depends on how you look at it. I think is did save me some time because I am not great and fancy lettering.

For my class & kit page set up, I have been so busy making many samples in July, I did not know if I would need two pages or not for August. However, I did not want to run out of space in case I did need it. So I just set up one page, leaving the second blank. This way if I need it I can quickly set it up, and if I do not need it, I can find a nice quote to put there.

Next is my Brain Dump page.

This is where I felt I needed something more than just the frame for the page spread, and added the quick and easy washi tape to embellish it a bit. See, I couldn't just frame the words, I had to add the washi.

Next I have my Habit Tracker layout. As you can see I went back to the way I had a couple of months ago. I did not like all the work involved in setting it up like I did for June and July.

Once again, I could not leave blank spaces and had to add some washi tape.

Next, is my August finances set up.

I had to add a little house on this page...

Now that is it for the August set up, but now we have the first few days of August.

Normally I like to view my entire week on one spread spread across two pages. However, when a week is split between two months, there lies a challenge. That challenge in my monthly finance spread. I like to include a weekly expense tracker, which I transfer over to my monthly spread. I do not want to include my expense and spending from two months in a weekly tracker. So I decided that I needed to split the weeks up for that purpose. That means the week you will see in my first August week is a partial week. What I ended up liking about this is that I could have wider daily columns. Hmmmm, have to think about that a bit.

Any way here are the first 4 days of August in my weekly spread.

Remember me mentioning grabbing the wrong marker? This is where that happened. You can see that, again, I could not just keep it simple and ended up adding some washi tape. Did you notice the change in my set up?

Next is my weekly gratitude and expense trackers. Following that is the start of my daily journaling section. I usually leave about 4 to 5 pages for this.

The last thing to show you is my weekly review.

I find this helpful in my goals, and what I may need to change or include in the next month's set up, as well as what goals to set for the next week.

Well that is it for this post. Happy bullet journaling to those that are doing it!

Rusty Autumn Shabby Chic - 49th & Market

Hello everyone, and welcome back for another new class post!

This is an Autumn themed shabby chic, using the 49th & Market paper "Rusty Autumn". What do you think?

SHABBY CHIC RUSTY AUTUMN CLASS

WHEN: Wednesday, September 26th
TIME: 6:00 - 8:30 pm
COST: $30 + GST

Contact Stacey at sbebc2011@gmail.com  or  778-533-4290 to reserve your spot

Shabby Chic lovers, it's time to create some beautiful Autumn Shabby Chic cards! The paper of choice for this class is 49th & Market's "Rusty Autumn". With some fussy cutting, paper distressing, NUVO Mousse and stencils, and a few extras for embellishing, we'll create these two lovely cards. 

Homework will be available for pick up the evening of Wednesday, September 19th.

PLEASE BRING TO CLASS: Homework, scissors, non-stick craft mat, paper distresser, double sided adhesive tape, liquid glue, Glossy Accents, white foam tape or pop ups, paper trimmer, 2 toothpicks, and if you have the following - white gesso, Tim Holtz Mini-Stencil set 25, palette knife, NUVO Mousse in Cosmic Brown, Mother of Pearl, Calyso Coral & Powder Blue. I will have these in class, or you can get your own from Stacey if you wish.

These class always fill up fast so make sure you get on the list...

OK, so now on to taking a closer look at the cards we will be making.

Usually, or maybe I should say traditionally, Shabby Chic cards are in pale soft colours. Years ago I never thought that I would create shabby chic in darker colours, or in a rustic look, let alone use plaid! But the reverse side of this paper is a paid, so why not.

Here, in the photo below, you can see the stencil work done. I used NUVO's Mousse - Calypso Coral. It helps to pick up the colour in the plaid while being close to the pumpkin orange too.

The above image shows the rustic nature of Autumn with the dark coconut husk. The images below show the card from both sides to see the layering.

Because the next card I wanted to look taller because of the length of the narrow fussy cut pieces form the paper, so I trimmed 1/4" off the side of the card base to make it narrower. It did the trick while not making the card the tall skinny version I usually create. That would not have stood very well with the front heaviness of the card.

This time I used the bleached coconut husk and it looks great on this card and with the colours. Do you see the two hearts I cut out? I edged them with white Gesso so that they would not disappear into the card background.

I again used NUVO Mousse, this time in Mother of Pearl, adding flower texture to the background of the fussy cut flowers.

I added a pinched ribbon tucked in under the fusty cut flowers. I like the pinched ribbon look and have been using it for a little over a year now. I still haven't gotten tired of using it. Not all cards call for this, but I do like it for Shabby Chic.

The next two photos show the card from both sides so that you have an idea how it is layered.

Well, that's it for these two Fall Shabby Chic cards. Hope you are inspired by something in them. For those that will be taking the class, these images are a good reference to take to class if it helps you to see them larger than when they are up at the front of the classroom table.

Thank you everyone for stopping by today. Hopefully I have inspired your mojo and you can try out something you haven't done before.

Happy creating, everyone!

New Graphic 45 Card Class - Imagine

Hi there, and welcome to another class posting.

This is my first class for September, and it is a Graphic 45 card where we will be making these four cards.

G45 Imagine Card Class
WHEN: Wednesday, September 5
TIME: 6:00 - 8:30 
COST: $38.00 + GST

To register for this class contact Stacey at sbebc2011@gmail.com  or  778-533-4290

It's time to have some fun with Graphic 45's new Imagine Collection! Get ready for some fussy cutting to create these four unique beautiful cards. No stamping, just fussy cutting homework and card assembly in class. Homework kits will be available for pick up at the studio the evening of Wednesday, August 29th.

PLEASE BRING TO CLASS: Homework, scissors, paper trimmer, double sided adhesive tape, mini-glue dots, liquid glue, & white foam tape or squares.

Shall we have a closer look at the cards?

This first one has several fussy cut pieces attached to the front of the card. The main hot air balloon has two layers attached together with pop ups to give more dimension to it.

Here are photos with a closer look.

These side views, below, show the layering; what gets popped up, what isn't, and what has two layers to it.

I love how this next card turned out. All the butterflies arranged on this card turned out beautifully.

The next two photos are a closer look at the top of the card and the bottom of the card.

The side views give you a better idea on what is popped up and the arranging of the butterflies.

For this next card, you will note the two striped borders that are mitred. I believe I have recently posted that I love to do that with striped paper.

A closer look for you to see the arranging of the rose fussy cut pieces.

And, the side views to see some of the other details, such as layering and popped up pieces.

For the final card, there are again mitred striped pieces, much wider this time, and a lot of roses.

These next two photos show a closer look at the arrangement of the roses on the card.

And lastly, side views from both sides of the card so that you can see more details as with the above three cards.

Hope that you have enjoyed seeing these cards. For those that will be taking this class, the photos will be of help to you. For everyone else, may these cards inspire your creativity. Especially with the beautiful Graphic 45 Imagine paper collection.

I am working on more Fall classes, but tomorrow's post will be showcasing my August Bullet Journal set up. Then, hopefully, Monday or Tuesday there will be another class posting.

Happy creating everyone!