scrapbooking fun with Donna & Debby !!!

WHEW! What a whirlwind weekend of scrapbooking FUN! I had intended to post about it throughout the weekend, but was just too exhausted when I got home each night, sorry! I almost overslept for Sunday's workshop.

As promised, here are some highlights from the 4 workshops that I took at Cherry Blossom Studio in Coconut Creek, Florida (about 30 minutes south of me). The store has a fab classroom, with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing lots of cheery daylight to stream in, raspberry-colored walls, BIG work tables to spread out your projects on, and a flatscreen TV up front for the teacher to give her PowerPoint presentation. Slick!

Anyway ... 2 of the classes were with Donna Downey & 2 were with Debby Schuh (who'll also be teaching at Creative Escape 2009). Too. Much. Fun. (note: the projects pics here are of class samples, created by their respective teachers ... because I haven't finished mine yet!):

me & Donna Downey (if I look tired, I was!):

As a nod to the fun I'm having with my new iPhone & iPod, I just had to pick up this new "iScrap" T-shirt! It made me chuckle. :-)

In Donna's "Fabric Scrapbooking" class, we made an entire album from her new canvas & fabric scrapbooking line (by Prima). The album is a hybrid of fabric & paper, I just love it! Donna, like me, enjoys browsing fabrics and buys them just because they're pretty to look at. We played with lots of paints, and Donna introduced us to unique techniques and products to take our sb'ing up a notch ... like using gel medium and modeling paste on our pages. Here's the front cover and a few of the inside pages:

Fun stuff, right? Like I needed another excuse to go to the fabric store!

And by the way sb'ing friends ... fyi ... Donna said that she's launching a sb'ing furniture line soon. Uh-oh, MORE temptations! *wink*

getting ready for Debby's "The Places We Go" travel album class:

There along with the class kit, my distress ink, and fave adhesive, you might have noticed a bag of M&M's. But these aren't just any M&M's ... my friend and fellow CE-er Vicki kindly gave them to me (thanks!) ... they're COCONUT M&M's, yummy!!! So, if you love coconut, especially with chocolate --- and hello, who doesn't??? --- then RUN don't WALK to your local Walgreens, Target, or store of that ilk to get yours. Even the packaging is super cute ... I'm such a sucker for palm trees! They're a "limited edition", so don't miss out!
But I digress. Back to the class ... Debby modeled this project after a vintage photo album that she had. We made the cover out of Tim Holtz's grungepaper ... with some paints and distress ink, the dull, gray stuff was amazingly transformed into this:

It has the look and texture of leather, but it's totally synthetic (and you know how I'm all about being "animal-friendly"!). And it looks incredibly "vintage". Here's a sample of some of the inside pages:

Cute huh?

Here's me & Debby ... and, yes, my shirt does say "Runs with decorative scissors" ... I like to wear fun(ny) scrapbooking T-shirts to these events.

So that's only 1/2 the classes! Two more to go ...

"Bloom" by Donna was an album class with a mixed-media approach ... fabric, paint, acrylic, Glimmer Mist, etc. Loved it, especially the happy color palette ... yellow, turquoise blue, red, green. The fabrics (bold prints) that we used are by designer Heather Bailey, who's also teaching at Creative Escape next month. The incredible thing is that the album pages are all made of cardboard ... yes, as in from a box that was cut up into pieces! Here's the clear acrylic cover and a peek at some of the album pages:

OK, one more workshop to go! It was an artist trading card (ATC) class ... they are little 3.5" x 2.5" cards ... each one is like a mini scrapbook page, and they're typically put on display, hung vertically in a rotating holder, rather than in an album. This time, I did finish the project! So here are the ATCs that I made:a close-up view:
Debby gave us some great ideas for these adorable little things!

After today's workshop, Sal met me at the store and took me to lunch next door at Lime Mexican Grill. They have such fresh (!!!) salsa and some yummy vegetarian choices on the menu. What a nice way to end a fun-filled scrapping weekend!

Now I need to try to get all the paint and ink off my fingers!

Have a great week,