Sarah's Cards Retreat layouts Part Two

Also on Saturday we did this lovely class with Claire  We used Echo Park 'Happy Days'.  I put a slightly different flower on the layout as the flower that Claire had made by rolling punched circles into cones was very bulky.  I cut my flower on the Big Kick using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.

Obviously this is not my Mum and Dad - this layout will go in my niece's album.

The first class on Sunday was with Helen and we did this lovely sparkly layout using American Crafts Amy Tangerine papers and the new AC glitters.  I love how we made the chevron pattern ourselves with small strips of paper and will definitely use that again on a layout.  The layout also featured some hidden journalling

Our final class of the weekend was with Jen and we made this gorgeous sun ray page using Jillibean Soup 'Homemade 6 bean soup'

It doesn't really show in the photo but the photo is mounted onto acetate which is raised up on foam pads so it gives the effect that the photo is floating on the page.  Jen showed us a really easy way of cutting all the papers, now that I have my template I will use this again for another layout.

On the Friday evening we were all given a page kit and if you wanted to you could join in with the challenge of using it but were restricted to what other supplies you could use with it.

I made this layout of dear niece celebrating her 21st birthday last year on a cruise with my parents

Sarah's Cards Retreat layouts Part One

Last month I had a fabulous weekend at my 3rd Sarah's Cards retreat in Warrington.  As always there were some lovely classes to participate in -

We kicked off the weekend with Tracey's class on the Friday evening using LilyBee 'Harvest Market' papers.  I wouldn't normally pick bright papers like these for a christening layout but they do really work.

Saturday morning we did this beautiful class with Ifa - a wee bit out of my comfort zone as it involved misting and as you can see my misting skills still need working on.  I found these lovely pictures of my Mum taken on Eastbourne beach in the late 50s/early 60s and they were perfect for the layout.  We used Crate 'Paper Heart' and American Crafts Flutterbys which are not as easy to use as they look, it is very easy to get in a right mess with them LOL!!

On Saturday afternoon we did this class with Lou - it was really lovely but needed lots of precise measuring for each part of the grid.  We used My Mind's Eye 'Lost and Found II'

I will put the other three layouts in another blog post.

Sarah's Cards retreat Sketch challenge

On the first evening of the retreat we had a sketch challenge - I had taken a monthly kit and some spare photographs just in case I needed anything for challenges.

This is the layout that I did using Sarah's Cards January kit - Fancy Pants 'Happy Together'

A photo of Wendy and I at the Cardinal Colours Seaside retreat last September.

Additional supplies used

Fiskars Apron lace border punch
Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch
Blue pearls - Sarah's cards

Layered Lace Class - Parents of the Groom

This is the final class page from the retreat that I have to share with you.  Lianne took this class and showed us how to use the lace paper from the Dear Lizzie Enchanted range (American Crafts).  The lovely soft colours meant that it was ideal for my wedding album so I used a photograph of Richard's parents.

At first glance it looks a very simple layout but there was lots of handcutting to be done and lots of layering.  I loved the thickers that were included in the kit - they are a gorgeous pale green glitter and I have loads left over for future layouts.

Thankyou Lianne for a lovely class.

Vintage Vogue Class - So Sweet

Claire Wheatley did a lovely class using Webster's Pages ' Hollywood Vogue'.  This was the class that really got me out of my comfort zone as it involved misting.  Those that know me well, know that I am not fond of messy crafts and anything that is likely to get my fingers inky LOL!!  BUT I am finally getting to like this misting lark and when I got home I decided that the white cardstock (which we hadn't misted in class) just looked too bright and stark compared with the rest of the layout so I carefully covered the middle panel with scrap paper and misted the cardstock.

The class involved a lot of intricate handcutting of the beautiful papers.  I took apart the large white flower as it was very bulky and remade it so that it was flatter.

A close up of the middle panel -

The alphabet stickers had started out life as white as had the netting behind the flower but they had been misted with the pewter mica spray.  I used photographs that had been taken of me playing out in the little backyard of the first house that I lived in.

Thankyou Claire for a lovely class and for challenging me to get messy!!

Strung Together Class - Navigating the Mon & Brec

Vanessa did a lovely class using Cosmo Cricket's 'Togetherness' papers and stickers.

The class involved punching holes through the photographs to thread string through and was 8.5 x 11 format but you could easily adapt it to 12 x 12 if you wanted to.

I used some photographs of our last canal holiday in 2009 on the Monmouth & Brecon canal.

A close up of the string threaded through the photos -

Thankyou Vanessa for an interesting class - I would never have thought of doing this at all.

What a Hoot Class - Baby you can drive my car

Natalie Grant's class used My Mind's Eye, Fine & Dandy papers and involved making a sweet owl embellishment from felt and stitching swirls over the top of the photographs.

I just loved using these papers and enjoyed making the owl embellishment.  I used a couple of photographs from Harrison's first birthday party.

A close up of the owl -

And a close up of the stitching on the photograph -

The thickers for the title were included with the kit and I added in some alphabet stickers from My Little Shoebox.

Thankyou Natalie for such a fun class!!

Divine Distressing Class - Sisterly Love

Rachael Elliott's class was using Fancy Pants 'Lilac House' and it was a lovely vintage inspired layout.  I chose this photograph from 1966 of me and my sister.

I really enjoyed this class as I do quite enjoy a bit of paper crumpling and distressing papers now.  The photograph doesn't really do any justice to how pretty this layout is - I love it!!

A close up of the flowers -

Thankyou Rachael for a lovely class.

Hidden Depths Class - Beach Belles (and Boy)

The first of my layouts from the retreat classes.

This was a lovely class taught by Louise Stevenson using October Afternoon 'Seaside' papers.

Lou's page was designed as an 8.5 x 11 inches page but it was very easy to adapt the page to 12 x 12.  Lou's page also included a small mini book on the front of the page and a large acetate window cut in the centre of the page - it was lovely but as I am not a fan of interactive stuff on pages or see-through pages I did a plain layout.  As always with a class by Lou it did involve some painting - the chipboard elements were painted and the circles on the base paper were made by dipping pen and bottle tops into the paint and splodging on the page.  I used some photos from a family holiday we had by the seaside back in 1976.

The title was done using the large alphabet stickers that came in the kit and some natural Sunshine Thickers which I coloured in with a Promarker to match the layout (thankyou Tara for the loan of!!).

Thankyou Lou for a great class!!

A little spell of good luck

I think I must have been wearing lucky pants at the retreat, on the Friday I won some lovely American Crafts embellishments on the raffle.

Then on the Saturday evening we played a few games of bingo, the first game I got a line and won a pack of Fancy Pants chipboard and then on a later game I got a house and won an AMM urban album.

At the last retreat we got a gorgeous goody bag and this retreat was no exception - we got an American Crafts 12x12 D ring album in a pink bag, also in the bag were sticker sheets, die cuts and rub-ons

And my good luck seems to have continued on my return home - my layout 9 go mad in the cotswolds was chosen as the winner of the February sketch challenge on Sarah's Cards blog.

Hopefully tomorrow there will be some good light and I can photograph some of the layouts that I did at the retreat.

Sarah's Cards Retreat 2011

It was a fabulous weekend in Warrington with six fantastic classes from the design team.  There was also lots of fun and games with challenges, a quiz, bingo and a chance to catch up with two of my fellow Dizzy Dots Jules and Tara.

Here are a few photos from the weekend -

The Shop

The crop room

Tara, Jules and Jane

Me and my fellow Dizzy Dots, Tara and Jules

Tara and I were very very late leaving the crop room in the wee hours of Sunday morning - Tara obviously overslept on Sunday morning as she didn't get time to shave before coming to the crop room on Sunday -

Photos of my layouts will appear later in the week - I need to get on and photograph them!!

Sarah's Cards Retreat 2010 Part 3

The final class that I took on the Sunday morning was Cathy's mini book.  It was fab but took a wee bit of working out to get all the pages in the right order with the acetate pages so I only got the book made in the class and then decorated it and filled with photographs once I got home.

Warning this blog entry is photograph heavy!!!!

The front cover

I filled the album with the christening photographs of my nine nieces and nephews and a lovely group photograph of them all grown up.

Joe

Amanda

The Gang

 

Antony

Chloe

Luke

Daniel

Melissa

Connor

Harrison

And if you have got to the end of this long post then well done and thank you very much for taking the time to look.

Sarah's Cards Retreat 2010 Part 2

And the rest of the layouts that we did over the weekend -

Lianne's class

Sarah P's class

Sarah introduced me to a new size for scrapping and I must admit when I am using just one 6x4 photograph or some very small photos then I tend to go with the 81/2 by 11 size now for my pages.

Sarah's Cards Retreat 2010 Part 1

This year we have six lovely classes planned which I will share once I am back home and unpacked but in the meantime here are some of the lovely layouts we did last year.

Jen's class

Rachael Elliott's class

Lou's Class

The above class got me really out of my comfort zone as it involved lots of distressing, ripping, crumpling and ribbling of papers - eek!!!