ScrapFest In Kitchener

I had such a marvelous time at ScrapFest in Kitchener, ON yesterday! While it was primarily a scrapbook event, a lot of the materials and techniques are transferable to any number of paper crafts, such as artist trading cards and greeting cards.

They had a plethora of free mini workshops. I learned a few things and came home with a bunch of take-aways that I made.

Tags are another popular canvas to create on. This one combined several techniques...painting, stenciling, stamping...to end up with this beautiful tag. The flowers were punched out of card stock, then painted and embellished with a marker. They were applied to the tag with foam dots.

Next came this little embellishment that can be added to a greeting card. The flower was stamped onto card stock, then the co-ordinating die was use to punch it out on a Big Shot. The fancy corners were made with a corner punch and the greeting stamped on. You can't really tell by the photo but the petals of the flower were slightly curled up with a pencil, then a foam dot adheres it to the tag.

This was a really quick and easy project. A bit of Distress Ink applied with a sponge and some rubber stamping with different colours of ink created a very simple but pretty design. it was glued to a kraft bookmark base and a bit of ribbon was added to finish it off.

I learned how to make a little gift bag using heavy-weight scrapbook paper, ribbon, a small circular tag with a word stamped onto it and a bit of glue.

Copic markers and I are never going to be able to work together, at least not in the near future. As lovely as the instructor was, praising my work, clearly I am not skilled at it. It is great to be able to try out new techniques though without investing the money in products that end up not working for you.

Another tag workshop came next. The flowers were flat die-cut spirals that we painted, then rolled, formed and glued into shape. A gem was glued in the centre. The kraft tag was stenciled first, the leaves and flower glued down, and the metallic die-cut greeting added. Some canvas ribbon and string finished this one off.

Here's another interesting project made with heavy-weight scrapbook paper. It is a sleeve or pocket for a gift card. A little bit of glue, a paper doily, a punched out scalloped circle from patterned paper, artificial leaves and flower, along with a hint of bling create a unique and beautiful way to present a gift card for any occasion.

There were long line ups for this mini workshop, and from the end result, I'm sure you can see why. In the afternoon, the crowd thinned out and I was able to get my turn. This Christmas card used a lot of die-cuts and a variety of Distress Ink colours applied with a sponge. It is so simple to do, once you know all the steps and how to put it all together.

For this one, a glossy paper was used. A rubber stamp was coloured with water-based markers then stamped onto the card. I faint background image was then stamped on. The stamped and die-cut butterfly was coloured, and applied with a foam dot.

This small tag was punched out with card stock. The flower was stamped on with Versa-Mark ink. White embossing powder was sprinkled onto it and the heat tool used. Once it cooled down, alcohol ink pens were uses to apply colour to it. I did not realize that you could colour on an embossed image. Add a piece of ribbon and, voila, it's done!

This was the last workshop that I attended. This is on watercolour paper. The hearts were masked off and the paint applied. Once the masks were peeled off, some paint splatters and the stamped sentiment were added. The string was taped on the back and wound around it a couple of times and taped at the other end. A bow was made from the same string and glued down. The button was glued down next, as well as the sequins. The decorated card was glued to coloured greeting card base.

I did not actually end up buying very much at this event but I sure did learn a lot of new techniques and get some wonderful ideas for future projects.

The highlight of the show was getting to spend a bit of time with my friend, Natialie, who was conducting one of the workshops.

I'm already counting down the days until ScrapFest comes to my hometown in September!