So, I had the good luck to take two classes with Emily Falconbridge a week or two ago at Right at Home Scrapbooking in Massachusetts. Her classes were very laid back. Totally my style. Basically, she hands out the class kit and gives about 5-10 minutes of lecture/demonstration. Then, you just do what you want for the next few hours.
I’m usually quite the class rebel since most classes are pretty anal about the directions. You know, “Cut the blue striped paper into a 6×2 inch strip and place it in the bottom left corner.” I’m more of a technique girl. Show me a cool new technique and I’ll figure out how to get into a project of my own! But there was no need to quietly be a rebel in the back beause Emily is just my kind of teacher! Loved her classes!
My three favorite things that I learned are as follows:
1. Use file folders cut in half to make a mini book. Very cool idea!
2. Create a faux glaze by painting a second color over an already dry page and then wiping most of it off with a baby wipe. Definitely going to use this one again!
3. Create a clothesline and hang your painted pages in the sun. They’ll dry eighty-five times faster. Of course, this is hard for me in NYC (23 stories up, I’m sure they’d go flying off the clothesline in the wind and don’t even talk to me about the grit that would embedded in them!), but I’m going to give it a try next time I’m in Watertown!
But, mostly I’ve been thinking about something my Mom jokingly said to me on the way to the class: “You just wrote an article for a magazine on making your own background! What are you going to learn in this class?” Now, she was only being half serious, and if you knew her sense of humor, you’d get it. She was mostly making fun of me. But, it did get me thinking about learning.
Learning is such a part of who I am. I am constantly taking classes, buying books, and experimenting with new ideas. I get impatient with repetition and constantly want to innovate and invent. Learning is a very conscious thing for me. After every play I direct, I write a list of things that I learned from the experience. After I make a mistake, I try to correct it and then after I’ve kicked myself a few times, I focus on the good news: I won’t do that again! I am an observer of human behavior (love to sit in Central Park and make up stories about the people who walk by). More than just casual observations, I make an effort to learn from other people (teachers, speakers, whomever) and take the tricks they use and make them my own.
So beyond the three things I chose to mention above, I left Emily’s classes completely inspired. Emily created a lovely atmosphere for creativity and I loved looking at her work and hearing her reasons for why she started scrapping the way she does. I also loved seeing everyone else’s work. So many of these women complained that they weren’t artists, but looking at their pages, I have to disagree! This was a big learning. I dump on my work all the time. It’s unattractive. I think, as women, we have this “thing” about being humble. Men don’t do that. I will say it loud: I’m an artist and I’m proud!
You can see photos from the class (including the very cool clothesline of paper) on Emily’s blog here.
You can see Emily’s class samples here and here.
I just finished the 9×9 album and am posting it below. All of the “patterned paper” is paper I painted. Originally, Emily gave us 12×12 white paper and told us to cut it down and then paint it. I decided to paint it at 12×12 and then cut it down afterwards. This turned out to be a great idea as you can see from the photos. This allowed me to seamlessly extend some papers across the page gap. Thanks for taking a peek!
Oh, and sorry about the glare on the cover. It’s a chipboard cover that I painted and then sealed with Mod Podge, so it’s a bit shiny.
In my next life, I want to be a paper designer!
Oh, how interesting! I’m teaching classes too – but for a “limited” crowd (in sign language…and there’s not that many deaf people in Norway who also scrapbooks,,,for the moment being)…so the classes kinda limits themselves for now…but I’m very curious at “advanced” classes and how other people do them….I’d love to do some myself when my people are ready for them…do they really give you down-to-every-detail-measurements and stuff? I guess I’m like Em…a bit… tell them some background, show some samples and how to do them then shoo them away..helping them if they need…telling them theyre free to either copy my samples, try some of the sketches I bring or try their own imagination. But then again..it’s beginners classes I’m doing..and minibooks…
Really am curious on whats “usual” out there,…have seen other samples that seem to be very strict aswell… but I guess you gotta do so if you got classes of 40-50 people?? I only have max 8-10 😀 Ok. Babbling. Have a nice day! 🙂
Oh, how interesting! I’m teaching classes too – but for a “limited” crowd (in sign language…and there’s not that many deaf people in Norway who also scrapbooks,,,for the moment being)…so the classes kinda limits themselves for now…but I’m very curious at “advanced” classes and how other people do them….I’d love to do some myself when my people are ready for them…do they really give you down-to-every-detail-measurements and stuff? I guess I’m like Em…a bit… tell them some background, show some samples and how to do them then shoo them away..helping them if they need…telling them theyre free to either copy my samples, try some of the sketches I bring or try their own imagination. But then again..it’s beginners classes I’m doing..and minibooks…
Really am curious on whats “usual” out there,…have seen other samples that seem to be very strict aswell… but I guess you gotta do so if you got classes of 40-50 people?? I only have max 8-10 😀 Ok. Babbling. Have a nice day! 🙂
Oh, how interesting! I’m teaching classes too – but for a “limited” crowd (in sign language…and there’s not that many deaf people in Norway who also scrapbooks,,,for the moment being)…so the classes kinda limits themselves for now…but I’m very curious at “advanced” classes and how other people do them….I’d love to do some myself when my people are ready for them…do they really give you down-to-every-detail-measurements and stuff? I guess I’m like Em…a bit… tell them some background, show some samples and how to do them then shoo them away..helping them if they need…telling them theyre free to either copy my samples, try some of the sketches I bring or try their own imagination. But then again..it’s beginners classes I’m doing..and minibooks…
Really am curious on whats “usual” out there,…have seen other samples that seem to be very strict aswell… but I guess you gotta do so if you got classes of 40-50 people?? I only have max 8-10 😀 Ok. Babbling. Have a nice day! 🙂
Oh, how interesting! I’m teaching classes too – but for a “limited” crowd (in sign language…and there’s not that many deaf people in Norway who also scrapbooks,,,for the moment being)…so the classes kinda limits themselves for now…but I’m very curious at “advanced” classes and how other people do them….I’d love to do some myself when my people are ready for them…do they really give you down-to-every-detail-measurements and stuff? I guess I’m like Em…a bit… tell them some background, show some samples and how to do them then shoo them away..helping them if they need…telling them theyre free to either copy my samples, try some of the sketches I bring or try their own imagination. But then again..it’s beginners classes I’m doing..and minibooks…
Really am curious on whats “usual” out there,…have seen other samples that seem to be very strict aswell… but I guess you gotta do so if you got classes of 40-50 people?? I only have max 8-10 😀 Ok. Babbling. Have a nice day! 🙂
Love what you did – aahhh I would have loved to take this class LOL!
Love what you did – aahhh I would have loved to take this class LOL!
Love what you did – aahhh I would have loved to take this class LOL!
Love what you did – aahhh I would have loved to take this class LOL!