Workshop with Sue Wilson

I had a great day on Sunday with Sue Wilson at the Creative Expressions warehouse in Kettering. Apart from learning great techniques a child in a sweet shop. We made four cards and was also given a project to make at home - of which I have yet to start.

The first card that we made was with ribbon and fake pearls. It was amazing just how much ribbon was used to make this and to see Sue demonstrate looked so easy but first attempts were not as easy as it looked.

This is one that I obviously need to practice to get perfect and for it to be quicker that the time that I took.

The pearls are in fact dried Cosmic Shimmer white glue dropped onto wax paper, left overnight to dry and the dusted with Cosmic Shimmer Mica powder. They certainly work out much cheaper than buying the pearls to go onto the cards. The stamp is from the Postcards set by Sam Poole, as are all of the stamps used for all four projects.

The second card was made using eco friendly acrylic paint. Blobs of the paint were put on the top of some card and using a credit card or similiar object, the paint ws pushed down the paper in streaks. You had to be careful that the streaks did not go murky and also ensuring that the paint was put on evenly. Once dried it was cut out, stamped onto and then mounted. A bow and gold thread were added to finish it.

It was quite a quick card to make and although I was not keen on the mess, I did like the effect that it made so although whilst making it, thought that I would not use that technique again, am not not so sure.

The third card was made using domino tiles. The reverse side of the tiles were used and these were mounted onto card. Once the glue had dried, they were coloured with alcohol inks and then stamped onto. They were then sprayed with a varnish to prevent the stgamping from coming off. The background behind the dominos was stamped with distress inks and then stamped and mounted. The dots around the black card was made using inkessentials white pen.

The last background was just stamped onto a light blue marbled type card with the sprig stamp using perfect medium and then the greeting was stamped in black. The ribbon was added with the bow to finish the card.

Although quite a heavy card, I thought that the overall effect was really good and was very pleased with it.

The last card that we got finished on the day was made with Shaving foam and again the effect was really lovely for something that was so easy to do. Shaving foam was put into a container and a blue and silver Cosmic Shimmer Mister sprayed onto of the foam and then worked into the foam with horizontal lines. A circle was laid onto of the background card with a temporary tape.

Once the required effect was achieved, the card was laid down onto the top of the shaving foam and the foam was wiped off with a ruler. The circle was taken off straight away to avoid it sticking permanently.

That left a fantastic background and then was stamped in black with the holly creating a hill and the deer, sprig and greeting stamps in black. It was then distressed around the edges with Black Soot distress ink.

This background was then matted and mounted onto another background that was stamped with faded jeans and then perfect medium and mica powder brushed over. The ribbon was added with a knot put it in midway and then glints added to finish the card.

This was a great day and I really could not say which was my favourite card as I liked them all and the company on the day was fantastic fun. I am really looking forward to the next workshop that Sue does and the techniques that she teaches.