Summer craft classes ....

... Morning! Kat and I have been lucky enough to attend a couple of really great craft weekends this summer. I should give you advance warning that this is a photo heavy post! Both weekends have been hosted by Chris and her fabulous team at Scrappy Chic in Livonia.

The first crafty weekend was in July when Finnabair (Anna) returned to Scrappy Chic.  Anna did a weekend last year, but I didn't go. Which was silly of me! However, I booked to attend all Anna's classes this year!

First up on Saturday 23rd July was a Mixed Media Canvas session. We had to bring a black and white photo - I took a photo of Kat - for the focal image. We spent the morning in mixed media heaven! I got thoroughly inky and messy and produced a wonderful canvas which I have on display in my craft room.

I had a great time creating this canvas - it's not something I'd normally do, but I'm absolutely delighted how it turned out.

The next session was to alter a clock frame. Again, this is not the kind of thing I normally do, but it was brilliant. We antiqued an old clock frame and decorated it with all sorts of embellishments. Then we got to use some wonderful mica paints to give it a beautiful glow. I decided to go with a black and lime green look:

This photo is a close up of the inside of the clock frame - you can see all the elements here.

Kat wasn't with me for the first two classes (she was recovering from Warped Tour!). However, Kat joined me on Sunday 24th July for the full day class where we worked on altering an old book. This was so much fun. We put gesso on the book cover so that all the crackle glaze and paints would adhere properly. This is my book:

You can see in the photo all the lovely crackle texture and the way we made the book look old and almost rusty.  On the inside we cut a hole in which we placed some ephemera:

We used tea to give the aged look. The inside really does look like it's rusted. It was a fabulous class.

I took a photo of all my projects together - they are all on display in the house:

Here's a photo of Kat's book and the inside:

Last week, Dina Wakley came to Scrappy Chic - her first (and hopefully not last) visit. I was lucky enough to attend the Back to Back Retreat with Dina and Dyan in Florida earlier this year, and when I showed Kat what we'd made, she wanted to meet Dina.

The first day was Friday 19th August and it was a long day for us all. We started off by creating a small board journal. We used the same technique I'd done in Florida, so this was lots of fun. I picked my favourite colours and made a lovely little book. It's not big, only about 5" x 3":

The next two sessions were about composition and colour - and we made some pages in our journals showing off what we'd learnt.

Saturday 20th August was a full day class where we made a bound book, putting into practise all we learnt the day before. Everyone had such fun and produced wonderful books. Here are a series of photos showing the pages in my book:

I haven't quite finished my book - the green textured page will have a tag on it and the last page will have a bit of colour on the image of the woman.

Finally, here's a photo of Kat with all her projects - you can see the size of the mini Board Book and the Bound Book here:

Kat with the book she made at the Finnabair class and the two books from Dina's classes.

Some pages from both Kat's book.

I am so pleased that Kat enjoys journalling and mixed media as much as I do. We are both booked to attend Dyan Reaveley's classes in October! So much to look forward too! That's all for now.