Oh Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today finally came and I was so excited! Today was the day that Juliene, Kathy, and I had waited for since last year sometime! Today was the day that Michelle Zindorf was in Grinnell holding one of her brayer workshops. THESE three pictures are actually MY creations from her workshop! I really liked this technique and I plan to use it frequently, so you'll probably see many more of this type of card!

This is the first card that we made. All of the inks, stamps, paper, etc., are from Stampin' Up! The background of this one was made by combining Tempting Turquoise, Not So Navy, Old Olive, and Basic Black. Each color was added with a brayer or a sponge! Once we got the background the way we wanted it, then we stamped the images. The tree one mine was actually stamped in Old Olive, and then stamped twice with Basic Black - twice because I didn't quite get it right the first time!! Then we added the flourish stamp (which depicts the wind) with both Tempting Turquoise and Not So Navy! Since we used my favorite tree from Lovely as a Tree, this one could be my very favorite!

This card was actually the last card we did. All of these, by the way, are far prettier in person than they are in a photo! Again, everything used is from Stampin' Up. The colors in this one are Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, and Basic Black! Michelle challenged us to do another ocean scene card, but next time to use a totally different color wave. This card reminds me of Key West at sundown! I love this card!In between the top two cards, we did this one. Same deal - all papers, stamps, ink, etc., are Stampin' Up. This time we used Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Basic Black, Old Olive, and Always Artichoke. We learned the technique of masking off pieces of land and the moon. The "mask" is actually a Post-It note torn in the shape we wanted our cliff. Pretty cool, huh??
As you can tell, I had a great time. We met some wonderful ladies and learned to put an artistic bent to our cards. Now the trick will be to think like an artist! Thank you, Michelle, for coming all the way to Iowa to do a workshop. I just wish we had been able to stay for the advanced class!! If you're really lucky, you may get one of my one-of-a-kind creations!! I will have a really hard time giving these away, though!

More later...