My Gelli Plate Workshops

As you may or may not know I have been having a lot of trouble with my Google Blogger, to the point where I couldn't use it - still can't except off Blogsy in my IPad it doesn't work on anything else and often the photos don't go through. Anyway I was about to write on my Crafters Blg and found a fair few posts that had never actually posted, this is one of them so I thought I would post it now as I kiss my running my Gelli Plate classes but am working out how And when I can get going n teaching again. So hi all my Class Buddies ! 

Hi there, its been a while since I wrote on my Crafters Only Blog but I thought I would take the opportunity to use it as a Gallery for my Gelli Plate/Mixed Media Workshops. 

 

I always get really nervous just before one of my Gelli Sessions, when you are taking money off people you have to know that you are giving something worthwhile back.  To even charge people at all was very difficult for me in the beginning, I kept saying "are you sure you are happy paying this"??   Lack of Self confidence and all that does rear its ugly head from time to time.  In fact every time I am preparing for one of my classes.  But actually I think that is a good thing, its what keeps me on my toes, in all walks of life there is always room for improvement.  So if it  helps me sleep at night its a positive thing not a negative one.  I put my all into finding something to give back, i.e. new techniques, ideas and different ways of looking at things. (hence the 3 days of stress) .

Hi Rena Oooh  nice hair style. xx

This is Rena's print, this print doesn't do it justice, it looks nice here but its even richer when you see it in the flesh.

Look at the depth of shadow that Rena got in this after just one lesson with Charcoal, she was away with it.  I could tell she was impressed with her work and so she should be I love this.  

I do tend to talk about products a fair bit - I do love to try out new products, I love to see what they do or don't do, so I do know what I am talking about most of the time. But for people who just want to craft around that table for my one monthly session then it helps a lot for them to be able to go straight to the product that will "do the job properly", they don't want to spend a lot of time and money on things they won't use, they just want to go straight to the products they will use.

And here is the Birthday Girl, Happy Birthday Dorothy xx
This is the Lady Barbara was talking about on C&C on Sunday

This is where we were learning to Frame things, or fill in gaps on the prints you didn't think you could do anything with "Until Now" x All the techniques were just  a practice for when altering cards and applying to Journal Pages.

And I know I bang on about it but to me, Colour is everything.

I like to do a kind of Gelli Plate Warm Up.  Get some dregs on there and get your crafting juices flowing. We were making a card initially but everyone liked their prints with the shadowing so much that they didn't want to put them onto cards, so we just finished off the blending and shading and kept them as a full print. 

Then we did a Journal Project using our left over prints.  This is why I gave out Journals early on in my Classes so that we could have a little play with techniques every month. So we have ongoing projects in there and we can come back to them at the end of each session and add a few more techniques.

Here is Andy, I think that might be my gorgeous print you are holding up there Andy???
Oh actually no, I think its yours. Knickers!!!  xxx

To see how quickly and how well Rena picked up the Charcoal effects /ideas and what it achieved was so lovely to see, and to show how many ways you can use one good print, and how you can

 re-vamp one not so good print is really what its all about for me.  I have said it before, I might not always produce the best card myself, but I do feel I can teach people enough to produce their best card or at least put the idea into their head that they can do a lot more in crafting than they realised.

Now Andy this would make a great Journal backing page.

 I know this is Dorothy's because she was using the small Gelli Plate
See how those edges top and bottom just become part of the print, it would be
sacrilege to cut them off. So I told her to frame it and sell it, keep it I mean keep it!!!xxx

I enjoy sharing what I have learnt, found out for myself, and remember from my Mam Teaching me all those years ago.  Oh Boy I wish I had discovered this Craft World a bit earlier because my Mam would have loved it.

 So then we did a little bit of Gelli meets Journal and we used houses Hand Drawn by my Sister Margaret! thanks Margaret. So we cut them out and placed them on the Gelli Plate, you could Gelli them up first then cut out either way works, its what you do with them after that really counts.

 

Mine is an on-going project too. 

I have been drawing some "Stix To" people lately, as I can't draw this is my way of communicating!!
I have a little booklet waiting to be done from our Clarity Design Team trip to France, this reminds me of a village
we visited in France.  On this occasion its just a little Sam Stix To teaching Gelli Plate meets Mixed Media.

So this is for the Journals we started and bring along to the class each week as a Techniques Book so when our projects are finished, if we have a little time left we use some of our prints in our Journals and I teach what techniques I use, and then we can practice them.  This bit of the session is lovely because we just chill and chat.

 

 

This No.2 is made using the Clarity Wheelie Grunge Letters

We worked on the basics of colour and backgrounds.

 

Then on adding patter, and using the Tissue Paper Technique

I have discovered a new product to use with this method so I will

be trying it out a bit more.

 

 

But the main focus of it all is still the Gelli Plate and we will be definitely adding more stamping to it and a bit of that lovely Grunge Paste!!!

 

When you are open minded and don't think too much about what you are making who know's what you can achieve. OK so Photo Frame on the IPhone helped with this one but still????

 

 Unfortunately Jayne Davies  has broken her thumb and couldn't come and something unexpected came up for Margaret Iddon, which is a shame because she had been looking forward to coming and had already packed her kit.  I also have a Mother and Daughter who attend but couldn't make it on this occasion and a few other people who are hoping to get to one in the future.  So for now, I am very happy with my little group we get on well, we enjoy what we are doing and we are getting sillier and sillier the more we get to know each other - YES I DID NOTICE!!!!XXX

I would like to thank Rena and Jayne for starting this little childish but funny tradition of hiding behind the Artwork, I said I at least needed their hair in the picture so that I know its not my own work that I can sell!!!! Ha Ha would I????

So if you nip on here, thanks thank you for visiting please call again.

Sam xxx

Clarity Gossip & German TV

I would grab a cuppa if I were you, I do try to do short Blogs???  But its ages since I have blogged so I have to make up for lost time. xxx

Hi there Crafty people. Its a long time since I gave my Crafters Only Blog an airing.  My Main blog will be busy for the next few days, what with the new Clarity Challenge coming up tomorrow and then Barbara Gray on TV on Sunday morning 9am till 11am with some absolutely fabulous Clarity products and I do mean fabulous!!!. What a pleasure it is to be on the Clarity DT.  Not only for the products but for the people.  How lovely and considerate and kind everyone is. I love to see the work that my fellow designers produce, everyone has their own style and we all share the same love of the products, and of Barbara she's a great Boss Lady!!!

 

Bit of blending make lovely by the Clarity Stencils and Stamps

Maria Simms of course has a major role in the team, she does great demonstrations at the shows and I have learnt so much from her, some of which I couldn't repeat on here, ha ha kidding. Seriously I admire her style so much and she is a great teacher.  So what am I heading to hear??? Well I am really excited because on 5th April Maria will be starting a Clarity Workshop exactly 42 minutes drive from my house, if I don't do the Scotch Corner Roundabout twice!! It is in a lovely brand new building.  The building has everything you need, a car park a lift, a kitchen for drinks, a Tesco over the road - dream location or what.  Oh AND it will have ME!!!  I am really looking forward to these Workshops getting under way. Maria is taking bookings now if you fancy coming along.

Can you guess what this says?  Look I have all that white area (for a change) and not a finger print in sight nor a Bird, Oh well actually there are three birds but this time they are not for covering up finger prints!!! Oh there are Five?? saying no more. xx

Also on the same day my mate Jo Rice will be starting her own Clarity Workshop too, I was going to attend until she reminded me that it might be difficult splitting myself in two, so maybe when Maria and Jo haven't got a class on the same day I will get along to one of Jo's? Jo is also taking bookings.  You can never attend too many official clarity classes in my book. I am also booked in for the Clarity Retreat again this year too with Barbara Gray.  Its going to be a very crafty year for me.

 

I love the Clarity Numbers stamped this way don't you? I just think they look really, well, attractive?  I love them as a backing paper like this? They come in a strip so I did this before cutting them up, but you could also lay them back onto a large stamp pad to do it at a later date. I have been wanting these little dears for a while too, I got them in the sale, love them.

I am even dabbling in my own Classes!!!  I did a few way before I knew anyone in the craft world, before I was on FB or had a Blog or had been to any demonstration.  At the time I was crafting once a week in the home my Mam was in for people with Senile Dementire, I just thought everyone looked bored so I used to turn up with all my crafty kit and sit at a table making cards with some of the residents, I have told you all this before, but this is where I started off. I really didn't know what I was doing and it didn't matter it was just something for them to do.  Except I started to see what each of my "regulars" needed, I mean regulars too, as soon as I came through the door with my craft bags they all used to start making their way to the table, in the end I had to pull up two and sometimes three tables? Even the Staff joined in?? so I knew they were enjoying it.  My mam would give me a little scolding look sometimes if I didn't sit next to her, she would slowly take apart the heavily matted and layered card I made especially for her before I went in, another lady would colour beautifully on the printed pictures I took in for her, in the end I bought her a watercolour book she had obviously done arty colouring in the past.  There was even the lovely man who used to walk around with a spoon pinching everyone's dinner, well he just loved to turn the handle on the Cutlebug.  Somehow at the end of each session we would end up with some cards that were sellable at the door, all the money went back into the home.

This is the full version of the Arch above, I was really pleased with this card, I love doing this kind of work, adding all the pattern and colour mix whilst still making the stamp the centre of attention.  Mind you I think this stamp looks lovely whatever you do with it.

At that time I did learnt a lot about teaching, of sorts, you need the skills, you need to be organised and ahead of yourself, you need to be able to put across what you mean, how to do something but also how to get people to add their own little personality to a project.  I also learnt that some of these skills can be learnt, and some come from inside yourself. I love to see people being surprised at their own ability when they are really pleased with something they have just made. Probably because I get so excited about it myself??

So I am waffling, this is not what my blog was going to be about at all, but then when I am writing a blog I just go with my head and see what happens. My point, I am dabbling in a little bit of teaching myself, at Hobby Craft with the Gelli Plate and in Kings Coffee Café when I have enough interest in my Altered Art pieces/Books. I love books, I love to decorate them, alter them, give them, receive them, just a shame I never seem to read any?? My favourite are Journals and Diaries and Note Books I love them and I never want to spoil them by writing in them with my scruffy writing, that's why we need stamps!

So I will carry on this conversation on a later date, I will give you plenty of notice of  my wafflings!!!

 

Today I had a card on German TV the presenter held it up loud and proud and I had a little flutter of excitement, it still amazes me that I can produce something that people like to look at, believe me it wasn't that long ago that people wondered what I was ON?? Especially my family I think when I was going through my different "arty" stages.  Anyway I felt it was the nicest card out of the batch I did, design wise, all of the edges are done straight from the new Clarity Blending Mat. I will show you a few of the others too but they will all be shown on the Clarity Web Site along with the lovely work that my fellow DT did for the German TV today too.

And this is IT  - the card that was on German TV !!!  And the presenter talked about it for a little while, I have no idea what she said so I will make it up for myself, Ohhhh a little bit of indulgent self praise or should I go the critical route?  She was probably actually just telling people to join the HSE Crafting Club??? Clarity Blending Mat

So I don't think this Blog was too long considering I have hardly blogged lately, I  hope you will all join in with our Clarity Team this year at the Official Clarity Workshops, its a great way to keep up with all the latest techniques. 

 

So I will be off for now, see you tomorrow on my Main blog for the launch of the Clarity Stamp Challenge Blog. 

 

All comments are always welcome - nice one's only thought Jo  you listening!!!!!

Bye for now - go get crafty! xxx