Whimsy Stamps & Simon Says Stamp ~ OCC Classes Creation

Hi friends, if you follow me, you'll know I enjoy doing Online Card Classes when I'm able and to my joy they offered a class a couple of weeks back, with Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Cathy Zielske and Dana Joy teaching. Well right there, you know it's going to be a good time, because these teachers are not just incredibly talented card crafters, they're also seasoned teachers and share their knowledge and passion for the craft really well. So I had a wonderful time on this one day event, and like an excited school kid woke at an ungodly hour here in New Zealand so I could be part of the 'live' event. I had such fun, though I'm not so young anymore, so not sure I'd choose to do the early waking again, hehe. But honestly, it was chock full of fun techniques and as I've noted in previous classes, there's a buzz and excitement that remains beyond the event, with students sharing their creations and often 'extra tips' from the teachers too, which is always a fabulous bonus! 

Cathy Zielske taught a fun class that focused on using up scraps of paper in fun strips, to create interesting backgrounds. I love the way her finished project looked, she used a limited palette and no patterned papers and it has a serene beautiful look to it. I went a little rogue, because I have so many washi tapes (and it was the wee hours of the morning and I didn't want to do a whole lot of paper trimming while the rest of the house slept) so I did a few strips of Whimsy tartan paper, because I love their tartan papers and then pulled out some Washi Tapes to tone with that and set about creating my striped pattern. I chose to go diagonal rather than straight and if I did this card again, the only thing I would do differently would be to remove the Washi Tape with the hearts on it, I feel as though I added one too many 'designs', but otherwise I am really happy with the strips. I love the shine the gold washi tape brings to the mix. 

After applying the washi tape and cardstock strips, I realised some of the colours in the heart washi tape, wasn't a perfect fit for the card, the orange in particular wasn't resonating for me, so I pulled out the word die I planned to use and had a play with placement, which happily, when I added it over the stripes, obscured the orange in both strips of washi perfectly! So I was happy to proceed then. But I felt the stripes needed something more and it occured to me I could add some texture for a bit of fun and I pulled out a lovely quite new to me embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp to add that bit of texture I was looking for. The folder I used is the same one I used on Zac's Teacher's engagement card, it's called Sparkling Facets. We have some fabulous slimline embossing folders at Whimsy, but no full A2 size embossing folders, so I have collected one or two from Simon Says Stamp recently to fill that gap in my stash. 

I used a beautiful glitter cardstock from Simon Says Stamp to cut the sentiment from and used the positive of this cut on another creation, keeping the negative for this creation. I cut a second shadow layer from Hammermill Cardstock and then laid the sentiment negative over the white shadow layer to get this recessed sentiment look. I love how this looks and I've used this sentiment and it's different layers in several combinations now and they all look fantastic! If you'd like to see other creations made with this die set, you can visit here, here and here. I'll have another to share in a few days too.

There's just so much sparkle and shine on this card with the gold washi tape which beautifully shows the texture of the embossing folder, the gold glitter cardstock and then the bling to finish from This Calls For Confetti. My mum was thrilled to bits with this one as she loves a bit of glitter and sparkle. 

Thanks for popping in to visit today. I still have a few Christmas makes to share, I just hope I can get them all blogged before Christmas arrives. Blogger seems to be taking down every post lately, it's really putting me off this platform! Is anyone else being affected by these random take downs? It's making everything harder than it should be which I'm finding super frustrating. I've had one post down for days now. My card with the postage frame and sweet Christmas characters. How random is that?! Back soon I hope with another crafty adventure. Hugs, Wends xoxo

 

(I use affiliate links where possible, which helps the companies I design for to improve their marketing practice. I receive a small commission, which costs you no extra whatsoever, but helps these companies see where their marketing efforts are most effective. I only design for companies whose products I absolutely love and buy for myself. My opinions are always my own. If you're new to Whimsy please feel free to use the Whimsy Stamps discount code in my sidebar if you're doing some shopping and remember to check out their sale and retiring section, the deals are phenomenal!)

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