New Goodies, New Workshops .....

Woo Hoo - it's Friday

Just ....

I'm up late (or early, depending on which way you look at it) - as always, things are a bit crazy in our household !

We've spent the last week organising the shipping of our old NZ life over to Aus - we are going to be reunited with stuff we haven't seen in 12 years ! It'll be a bit like Christmas I reckon !! Can't wait for it all to arrive.

Angus has been there for the last week and I am off later today (well, midnight actually) for the weekend to tie up the loose ends and catch up with family and friends. It'll be a busy weekend that's for sure.

While all that has been going on, Olivia has been beavering away ordering in new stock and we have some awesome new stuff coming in almost on a daily basis at the moment.

I'm just looking at some of it now .....

 More yummy stencils - such a must have for us all - can't get enough of them .....

and some other interesting bits and pieces as well with more coming in tomorrow !! Lovely, lovely. Can't wait to get back from my little trip and have a go with some of it.

And we have some exciting news coming in the next week ... just a hint .. it starts with G - and that's all I'm going to say about that. But if someone wants to email us at customerservice@crafterscupboard.com.au with their guess on the magic word, there just might be a prize or two for the right answers !!!

It's the Sunday group of Art Journaling Basics next weekend so I'll be making sure they get to play with some of the new goodies. Check out our website for the details !!

And speaking of  ART JOURNAL BASICS ...............

We've  organised another Art Journal Basics Course which will run on Saturdays commencing in July. Check out the website for more details. We have a waiting list for the Saturday classes, so be in quick if you are interested.

This is very much an introductory course for those who have yet to start their Art Journal Journey and you will learn lots of techniques using various products. We cover off the theory of Colour, Creating layers using various mediums and tools, Collage, Doodling, Faces and much more. So .. come and give it a go. The class maximum is 8 - we find smaller groups benefit from the extra attention from the tutor. Our current participants in our Sunday group are having a great time and loving every minute of it. Here's some of the feedback:

' It's wonderful - I go home with my head buzzing' - Danni

'Really good, love it. Can't wait for the next class' - Irene

'Thank you for the class on Sunday. Both myself & Julie really enjoyed it' - Bri

The Basics course gives you the tools, skills and experience to prepare you for moving on to more advanced workshops in the future. If you've thought you wanted to try Art Journaling, give it a go ... you won't look back !!

And that's all from me for now

Have a great long weekend everyone, catch you next week.....

Jennifer

And then there were Demos

Hello Everyone - Jennifer here with the final post on our big day with Paper Artsy.

The afternoon and evening demo sessions flowed on from each other and from the class earlier in the day. Everyone gathered around in chairs and watched Leandra demonstrate lots of her techniques including brayering and the use of foam to get the paint down, along with creating backgrounds using some of the new recent stamp releases. Here are some examples - the pink background piece looked very reminiscent of basic grey and gave everyone ideas on how to make their own backgrounds for so many things.

 Leandra also showed us how she stamps onto a background and then uses the Fresco Paints to achieve a water colour effect in colouring the stamps. Below are two examples of where she has used Lyn Perrella stamps and the paints to give added depth and layers to the stamped images. It was fascinating to watch and we all learnt a huge amount from her.

 She was great at taking questions from the floor and also demoing anything that anyone requested or needed clarification on. There were some clear followers of her You Tube videos on the room !

And of course, after you've made a mess with paints, stamps, Treasure Gold, Stencils, Inks etc etc, some one has to clean up the mess !! Here's Leandra at my kitchen sink doing the honours !

and last but not least, a photo of us both together.

It was a quick visit, minimal planning, but so apreciated by both the Crafters Cupboard team and all our customers who were able to get at short notice on a working day. Next time we'll give you more notice - promise !!

Thanks again to Leandra and Mark for taking the time to detour through Melbourne and spend some valuable time with us all.


Jennifer

The Class with Leandra - Part 2

Hi there -

Me again, with the second part of the class with Leandra - sorry it''s taken me a few days to get back to this - needed to track down a photo ! Long story ..

So, after everyone had completed their background peices using both brayers and cut n dry foam with lots of paint etc, we moved to working on our 'Finnabair inspired' peices which we had started at the beginning of the class.

By this time, they were completely dry and ready for the first coats of paint. One peice had a coat of Nougat while the other piece had a coat of a dark Opaque colour (or colours). Try mixing Claret and French Roast together - they create the most gorgeous deep mahoganay colour which reminds me of the inside of a beautiful and expensive chocolate. Our boards had to have a couple of coats of paint to make sure all the white bits were coloured up.

Then came the fun part ... finishing them off! These photos are Jennifer's large board which she had prepped the night before. Leandra finished it off, colouring the metal heart with a translucent paint and highlighting the various embellishments with another paint to provide awesome contrast to the background of the claret and french roast base coat. And last but not least, Treasure Gold for highlights.

Aren't those large resin roses just gorgeous ! We are on the case to track some down !! You will recognise a lot of what is on here as we stock it at Crafters Cupboard in our embellishment section on the website.

Leandra then demo'd a great colouring technique with her large board that she had prepped the night before with Nougat. She sprayed water in areas to be highlighted, the dabbed French Roast in with a paintbrush and used a baby wipe to dab off the excess paint. This gave a great grungy feel to the canvas board piece and this technique can be used with anything to get the look. Remember the Fresco paints are able to be used indoors and outdoors, being UV resistant and permanent so you could use the paints and this technique to decorate anything, be it for indoors or outside.

Here is a pic of Jennifer's little board using this technique

And here is Leandra's small board using dark opaque colours with highlights, including Treasure Gold to finish off (sorry can't remember the exact colours that she used). You can see the impact of the Treasure Gold over the paint on the various embellishments - looks awesome

And here is Leandra's finished large board. What a great colour scheme !

Next time we'll cover off the demos which were held in the afternoon

Cheers everyone,

Olivia