Category: Class projects

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered, Spellbinders

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Spellbinders

Anne S

Main class #6 and another real highlight for me – Spellbinders has become one of my all-time favourite brands, and this class by Kim Kesti didn’t disappoint. Yes they’re fiddly with all those little teensy die cuts, but oh boy are they effective! The only thing I’ll never ever repeat again is using paste through a stencil then adding glitter to it for the elf card … I was finding glitter everywhere for months afterwards, so definitely NOT a fan. In future I’d choose to use glitter gel instead! It looks amazing, though, I have to admit.

Things I enjoyed:

  • I really loved the Lunar Paste with the stencil on the dark background, so effective!
  • I loved discovering glitter foam, which is totally new to me – and they’re really pretty among the other foliage die cuts on the black card.
  • I love how versatile our kit contents were – there were so many die sets and these are going to be well loved and used in the future. I loved the elf so much I had to go check out some more in the range and swooped in to pick up the Santa die set too.
  • I really love the look of the white heat embossed sentiment on the red cardstock, and something I hadn’t done before (I’d only really done it on black cardstock previously) – I’ve done this a couple of times since I created this card and love the look it gives.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Angie Blom

Anne S

I cannot tell a lie, watercolouring these big images scared the bejeezus out of me … but a I’ve had a year of cardmaking under my belt since this class was offered, and I finally bit the bullet and attempted it last week. I think it was the fastest watercolour job I’ve done thanks to Angie’s simple technique and instructions in the class, and I’m so thrilled with the results!

It’s also just in time for the Beautiful Blossoms challenge as it resonates with the sunflowers in the moodboard this month.

Things I enjoyed:

  • Realising that watercolouring doesn’t have to be hard or intimidating, just fun.
  • Learning how you can give more texture (eg in the flower centre) be adding different colours of watercolour – in this case the addition of a bit of red and purple gave a bit of extra dimension.
  • Learning that you don’t have to have watercolour paints to create watercolour images – in this case I just scribbled watercolour markers onto an acrylic block to use as paint. This is something I’ve tried recently, but I didn’t have this knowledge when this class was first held so I didn’t want to attempt it. Which reinforced point one above … just try anyway, and have fun experimenting.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered, Taylored Expressions

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Taylored Expressions

Anne S

Main class #3 taught by Taylor VanBruggen was a fun one. I’m not a fan of slimline cards, either full size or mini, so this was an interesting one for me. I really love the look of the finished cards, but I’m not sure if I’ll do them again in this particular card format – I need to play with them some more to maybe use them individually to create A2 card panels instead of creating the three slimline cardfronts at the same time.

Things I enjoyed:

  • I really love the design of this stencil set, and that it has a coordinating stamp that adds some detail to the leaves by stamping the mid-rib and veins.
  • Irrespective of not being a fan of mini slimline cards, I do love the idea of these stencils to create multiple cardfronts at once – in fact I may do more in the future but use them as ‘strips’ on an A2 card.
  • I really adore the colour scheme Taylor use for these cards. Not my usual choice as we don’t really celebrate ‘fall’ in Australia, but it’s one of my favourite seasons and I personally love the autumn leaf colours – it was a really great change from my normal blues and aquas that I like to create with, and I should do more of this.

Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Mama Elephant

Anne S

The main class #2 was taught by Kristina Werner for Mama Elephant. I have to be honest and say that I’ve never been drawn to their stamps because they’re in the ‘cutesy’ category for me – but I was surprised how much I enjoyed working with this one, and Kristina really brought the stamps to life with this fun class. All-in-all one of my favourite classes of all … so it’s one of those that reminded me not to judge a book by its cover!

Things I enjoyed:

  • I especially loved working with inks as watercolours as it was something at the time of the class I hadn’t really tried much of (highlighted by the lack of skill that’s evident here haha). I think it was the first time I’d tried watercolouring actual stamped images … and something I’m starting to feel more comfortable doing.
  • I really loved the rainbow watercolour card – it was so much fun creating that background!
  • I’d never really thought of using lots of tiny stamps to create a full background – and I think it’s super effective! I really loved the addition of watercolour to the background and for the sentiment – a seriously cute card!
  • I also love that this is a stamp set that I didn’t really have, ie get well type stamps and sentiments, and I think it’s an incredibly versable set to have on hand.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered, Gina K Designs

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Gina K Designs

Anne S

The first ‘full class’ for the event was with Gina K Designs. Gina is one of the first designers I came across two years ago at the start of my cardmaking journey, and she’ll always hold a special place in my heart. Her Christmas projects for this event were gorgeous, and I loved them so much I made a slightly different colourway at the same time for each of the projects.

Things I enjoyed:

  • I loved how all three cards had very different looks and themes, and are really versatile for future cards.
  • Gina, to me, is the queen of ink blending, so I always love a class where I get to play with her inks for a blended panel … it’s my happy place every single time! She’s also one of the best teachers I’ve come across during my cardmaking journey, and gives so many great tips that you can learn from.
  • I especially adore the snowflake mandala stencil – I’ve already used this to make additional cards since the class, including a stunning one using glitter gel, so it’s a regular in my cardmaking lineup.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Scrapbook & Cards Today

Anne S

The event officially kicked off on Friday night, 30 September. Vicki Boutin presented this class using the stamp and die set from Scrapbook & Cards Today. I’ll be honest this session intimidated me soooo much – I detest fussy cutting (‘fussy cussing’ is the perfect term coined by Vicki), so I was automatically on the back foot on this one. I have to say, though, I kinda got into a rhythm with it in the end … I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I can say there wasn’t too much cussing involved haha. I was originally going to try the cards again in a different colourway as well, but in the end I decided I’d fussy cussed enough, and that’ll have to wait until another day (or next time I’ll find a similar die to use instead).

Things I enjoyed:

  • I loved the mixed media involved in this class – this is an avenue I’d like to explore more, and this was a good basic introduction with fun results using stencil ink smooshing, and a technique I’d never tried before.
  • I enjoyed the different colourway – definitely not colours I’d ever choose to go together, but they really worked well.
  • I loved masking off the bottom section and inking up with the orange ink to create distinct layers, but still having a one-layer card for the background layer – it’s really effective. I also love the white sentiment laid on top of the orange layer so it stands out more.
  • It was awesome to be taken out of my comfort zone in so many ways with these projects – it really stretched me as a cardmaker, and that’s really important I think.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Ranger Ink

Anne S

Mini class #8 was with Simon Hurley and Ranger. This was a fun class, and I loved that we got some stamping foam and Lunar Paste to play with. For the first card below I chose a metal organiser to use for my texture, and the second butterfly card I used a paisley background stamp – I really love the results of that one!

Things I enjoyed:

  • I love having the opportunity to play with stamping foam again – I’ve used it previously and had mixed results, but this time it was much better using some of Simon’s tips.
  • I loved how any sort of products can be used to create texture on the stamping foam – so many things around the home that can be used.
  • I loved the opportunity to play with Lunar Paste … and the fact that we received a blue colour was the icing on the cake for me, the colour palette was right up my alley! It’s also a versatile basic stencil that will be super useful in the future too.
Class projects, Concord & 9th, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Mar 2023 – Concord & 9th

Anne S

This stamp, stencil and die set from Concord & 9th was wonderful – I’m a beach lover from way back, it’s my personal ‘happy place’. Just sitting and listening to the ocean waves crashing on the beach makes my body and soul feel instantly less heavy and at peace. So with that in mind, this class was one that I really enjoyed immensely.

Things I enjoyed:

  • Obviously the theme in general – gotta love anything related to travel and the beach … it’s a win/win in my book.
  • I loved the colour scheme, which is very different to past classes – I loved that we got to try some of the new ink colours that were released soon afterwards. I always love how we get to sample some of the ink cubes as part of the kit – something I look forward to every event, because the Concord & 9th inks are marvellous.
  • I love how everything in the set went so perfectly together, and that we used pretty much every element in the kit on our cards.
  • I’ve started creating cards for charity and they’ve asked for thinking of your cards in particular, so this sentiment is going to be super handy going forward!
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Mar 2023 – Lawn Fawn

Anne S

Getting over a migraine today but unable to sleep so I caught up on the Lawn Fawn class taught by Jenn Shurkus by working from the guidebook instead of following the video. It was the perfect easy project to do in a quiet room with the curtains mostly drawn – just what the doctor ordered today!

I chose to use Gina K inks in Light Carnation, Wild Dandelion and Ocean Mist. I also substituted some Copic colours with Olo markers for the colours I didn’t own. Pretty happy with the results.

Things I enjoyed:

  • I love the rainbow colour scheme and cresting everything with just three ink pads.
  • I love the products we received – the stencils in particular will get a lot of use in the future, they’re the perfect size fit mixed media projects too.
  • I loved using the glue pen for the glitter – I hate working with glitter and this made it so much more tolerable … so happy to learn this trick and try a new (to me) product.
Class projects, Crop & Create Delivered

Crop & Create Fall 2022 – Brutus Monroe and Therm O Web

Anne S

We received a large die set with lots of small elements that can be used on tags and cards but which didn’t get used in the class. My tag card is still a bit sticky in places, so it may be our humidity here in Australia affecting it, or I didn’t quite get the technique right when applying the foil. My favourite is definitely the balloon card, such a cute and fun design.

Things I enjoyed:

  • I love the balloon dies and stamps, and will use them again for sure.
  • I enjoyed using the Therm O Web foil on adhesive – that was a new technique for me, and I’m likely to try it again in the future.
  • I loved the different looks on the two cards with the balloon stamped background – it reminds me to try different backgrounds when using my stamps, and I love the subtle rainbow look of the balloon card.