Christmas in July Workshop ... 8 more sleeps!!!

We are on the countdown to our Christmas in July Workshop - yes, 3 July is fast approaching and, as my 9 year old would say... 8 more sleeps to go!

Miss Lisa and I have been busy finalising the kits and hope our 'workshop lovelies' will be as happy as we are with the projects we have to present on the day.

At an Embellees Workshop we always try to 'mix it up' and 'jam pack' our kits ready for a day of 'full on projects'. 

We will be playing with a gorgeous layout ready to add that special Christmas photo ... for me that is the annual Santa photo.. everyone laughs when I say that it will be great to have the layout done in advance this year, so I can go and choose that 'special Chrissy' outfit to match the layout .... yes, my name is Liz and I am scrap-a-holic! 

What I love about the beautiful layout Miss Lisa has ready for us to do, is that she has challenged us to create the most beautiful Chrissy layout without one piece of Christmas paper in sight. 

It was so funny when we started planning the Christmas in July Workshop, it was acknowledged that I am the Queen of Christmas papers and Miss Lisa is the total opposite, so it seemed only sensible that Miss Lisa designed the layout... challenging yourself to do something outside your comfort zone always awakens the creative mojo and, let me tell you Miss Lisa has outdone herself.


After the layout we will be creating an off-the-page project - a fabulous Advent Calendar! Yes, you read it here - 25 tags and a fabulous frame to hand them from.... all in one Workshop.  We have continued with our colour palette of red, black and cream - a real vintage feel to our projects in this Workshop.

As promised here are some 'sneeky peeks'  ... we can't wait to see all our workshop lovelies cutting up artists canvas, inking, stamping and let's not forget the noise of Lizzie and her new toy .... an electric staple gun... now don't mess with a girl and her gun!







We also have a gorgeous kit for a December Daily Journal... but we have a surprise with this. 

It wouldn't be Christmas if we told you all the details... gotta leave something for under the tree!


We look forward to everyone joining us next weekend, it seems far too long since we saw all our regular workshop lovelies.

Cheers

Lizzie

Retreating = Fun with Mixed Media

What a fabulous weekend the Embellees Team (and friends) had at the Scrapboutique Retreat at Noonaweena last weekend. 

Thanks to the lovely Chelsea from Scrapboutique, her delightful and talented Design Team and all the other lovely ladies we spent the weekend scrapping, laughing, eating, drinking and enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Noonaweena with (did I mention eating and drinking...oh yes I did). 

Check out the view from the patio area off the back of the scraproom at sunrise on Saturday morning (courtesy of Miss D).  This is just the most perfect place to relax and scrap, so much so, we have already booked our spots for next year ...... that's if Chelsea will let us

come back - we are rather a rowdy bunch and with a few 'bubbles' even more so.

While we were away, Miss Lisa and I played around with some canvas art, getting ready for our Mixed Media Workshop scheduled for September (check out the Workshop Tab above).

I wanted to do something quite simple with a fabulous wall art birdcage I had purchased from Kmart (great value with 3 large birdcages in the pack for $10). With some 'tweeking' and finishing touches it has come up very 'noice' if I don't say so myself!

To create this canvas I used:

• Prima journaling spots, bling, birdcage (see the cute metal one hanging in the left corner from my cotton twine) and lace/bling trim.. just scruptious.
• Donna Downey canvas bird - added some embossing and some distressing techniques (thanks for your advice Miss Jen). 

• Loving the beautiful new thickers from the Dear Lizzy range at American Crafts (see the word Beautiful).

I finished off using a gorgeous silk flowers from the local quilting shop and a play with some 'rub & buff' on my birdcage to give it that final antique feel... nothing a few hours, some paint and inspiration can't do to change a boring canvas into a work of art... very satisfied! 

While I played around with my own birdcage, Miss Lisa was busy playing with lots of different textures and techniques to create this beautiful work of art with some gorgeous papers and bits and pieces Scrapboutique have on offer.

Lisa used some beautiful papers from the Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden range .... one of our favourites at the moment!! 

Lots of gorgeous Prima flowers and bling on this work of art...

Notice the beautiful background with lots of old dressmaking pattern pieces used as part of the subtle collage effect.  I put in a big hint that this would make a very nice birthday present for my big '0' birthday later in the year... so just in case Miss Lisa pretended not to listen, I thought I would remind her here on our blog... hint, hint!!

We got lots of great layouts done with all the challenges that Chelsea and her team kept coming up with and, with the great range of products that Chelsea had on hand - well we did some serious shopping. 

So now we are head-down finishing up the kits for our sold-out 'Christmas in July' Workshop on 3 July 2011. We have some more sneaky peeks on the camera ready to load to the blog with our updates over the next few days... so stay tuned!!!

Be back soon...

Lizzie and Lisa

Time to Take Up A Challenge or 2!!!

We have found that when you get busy designing for a business add lots of creative workshops and kits into the mix - there comes a time when you get a bit 'dazed' and can easily loose your 'mojo'. 

So to help re-energise ourselves, we decided to start 'stalking' a few of the great challenge blogs out there in 'blog land' and share our efforts with you.

This week we were inspired by the the fab blog called White with 1.  What a great name - so catchy!

What got us immediately was the May challenge criteria ...ooooh Orange, White and Scallops.  Now both of us have a great stash of orange (one of our all time fav colours) and the whole criteria felt so 'uncomplicated' - just what we needed to get the mojo moving.

Check out Miss Lisa's (aka Lisa Greedy) finished masterpiece below.

You have gotta love the way she has used the buttons to form the heart shapes... so much going on, but in her ever perfect style - it has just the right balance. (Hey don't tell her, but I am feeling a scraplift' coming on)... oh that's right she reads the blog... oh well look for it in my album Lisa!!!

I loved what Miss Lisa did at our recent 'Keeping Mum Workshop' with the resist papers from Pink Paislee, so I couldn't pass up a chance to play with my stash of these, along with my new favourite Tim Holtz distress Ink ...mmmmm you guessed it Orange!!  Just love how it worked  out on the resist paper and gave me an all over orange background to work with.

We both had forgotten how much we love challenges ... we loved raiding our stash to find bits and pieces ... it was 'cathartic' and well... sometimes it just takes someone else to help you get the 'mojo' moving again.  Thanks to White With 1... we had a great hour creating these last weekend.  We are looking forward to what they challenge us with in June!

Hope you pop on over and check out the blog it really has some great entries posted in the May Challenge... they alone would have been enough to inspire us!!!

Be back soon...

Lisa & Lizzie

Mixed Media Workshop

Loving us some

 Mixed Media!!!

When we set about announcing our 2011 Workshop Calendar in January this year - we knew that Mixed Media was going to be the thing we wanted to explore more in 2011.  We announced our Mixed Media Workshop for the later part of the year as we had plans to get our techniques/skills all in order and explore some great projects to introduce to our Workshop Lovelies.


We started our journey back in March, when we had a fabulous couple of days with the gorgeous and very funny Donna Downey when she visited Australia and presented her workshops.  Donna has always inspired us with her fabulous creations.  The creative journey continued for us attending several other workshops and doing lots of online classes.  We have continued to play and explore with all we have learnt and now like the majority of the scrapping community, we are 'addicted' to the whole mixed media and 'art' scrapping approach.

So if you would love to explore this approach, learn the techniques that make it so 'addictive' - why not join us by registering for our Mixed Media Workshop scheduled for 11 September 2011 here in Newcastle (or Newy as the locals say).

To register you can contact us at:  Embellees@bigpond.com

We are already well on our way to filling the class and we have plans to schedule a 'repeat performance' if we go over our maximum numbers and can fill a second class.  Don't forget we are always happy to discuss a 'private' class if you have a group and venue that can accommodate us!

Don't you just love the most recent canvas Miss Lisa (aka Lisa Greedy) has just finished (above) - loving that you could just put any photos on this and that it doesn't really signify any specific gender... so versatile!

We have lots of other things on the agenda for this Workshop as we are very keen to see these techniques blend with our everyday scrapping and have you using your already abundant 'stash' to compliment this popular approach.  We promise to be back with more updates and  sneaky peeks as we start packing our kits. 

Lisa & Lizzie

Christmas in July

Yes, we know it sounds strange or maybe even a case of OCD that we are getting organised for Christmas this early... but with our Christmas in July Workshop fully booked out and our 'Workshop Lovelies' keen to see what the day will bring - as promised we wanted to 'tease' you with some sneaky peeks at what we have been 'kitting' up ready for this fabulous Workshop day!

We have been busy with a gorgeous layout - now those who have been to an Embellees Workshop know that 'a layout' is not just about sticking down paper and adding a few embellishments with us... we love to mix it up! As you can see (or maybe not see) from our sneaky peek. We have gone with a very vintage feel with black, white and red playing a big part in our colour palette. Textures include fabric, tags and some of the ever popular bakers twine... oooh and did I mention yummy stamps.... Miss Lisa (aka Lisa Greedy) has definitely out done herself with the gorgeous Christmas tree (if somewhat non-traditional) on this layout....
I (Lizzie) can't wait to put my Santa Photo on this one in 2011 (I can't believe I will actually have the layout ready for the annual Santa photo... and even better - I can search for a new dress for Miss J that just matches our layout colour palette - am I really that addicted to my scrapping - you bet!!!).

Like us ... bet you promise every year  to make an Advent Calendar and, like us you probably end up having to buy one - not this year!!!

Our 'Workshop Lovelies' are going to be having fun with the 'adult' version Advent Calendar.  We can't wait to show you what we have been up to with an exacto knife, our trusty staple gun, 25 tags and well... yep nearly every tool and product in our stash.

Forget hanging out the washing  - time to peg some gorgeous tag 'goodness' ready for the holiday season.

We will be using lots of texture, stamps, papers and who could forget the 'Embellies'.

Wait until you see what we came up with to complete the finished look ... and there might even be a pressie to go with it waiting under our Christmas Tree!!!

And what would a Christmas in July workshop be without us getting a 'head start' on the famous ' Ali Edwards' inspired - December Daily!

This is a super project that our 'Workshop Lovelies' will be able to adapt to suit their personal needs  - and to think... all ready before 1 December - yah!!!!!

Lots going on in this project - 25 pages to be exact... or thereabouts....

We will be getting out the embossing folders, the spellbinders, the stamps and trying a few new techniques along the way.... oooh we see some masking and inking, some use of clever hybrid printouts... lots happening in this eclectic and fun album....

Well, we hope you have enjoyed the Sneaky Peeks for our Christmas in July Workshop.  Even though we are 'sold out' for the scheduled Workshop date of 3 July 2011, if you are interested or would love to get a group together, please don't hesitate to contact us at:  Embellees@bigpond.com, because we can always bring a Workshop to you or, if we get enough numbers set another date for a repeat performance.

Lizzie & Lisa

Workshop Updates

We so hope you are enjoying this week.

After some careful consideration, we have decided to make some changes to our Workshop Calendar for 2011. 

Now, don't go worrying we still have the same great content on offer, but have just decided to move some of our dates.

• Mixed Media - 11 September 2011
• The Hybrid Approach - 30 October 2011

We love doing our Workshops, but on canvassing our regular 'Workshop Lovelies' the feedback is; "that they are very close together and spacing them out a bit helps everyone with their busy lives and, their scrapping budgets".  We are also aware that there are lots of other great events on and, we have tried to ensure that none of our Workshop dates clash with major holidays or other scrapping events in our local community.

We have a couple of extra dates booked with our venue so we have kept these 'up our sleeve' just in case we can offer a 'repeat' Workshop.  As you will have read below we have already closed our Christmas in July Workshop nearly 8 weeks out from the Workshop date as we are already sold out.  We are encouraging people to contact us to register on our waitlist in the hope that we will have enough numbers to host a 'repeat performance' (so to speak).  We hate disappointing anyone who makes contact and wants to come along to one of our Workshops, only to find out we are already 'sold out' so we are hoping this approach might be the answer.

Having said that, don't forget to register for either or both of the above Workshop dates by emailing us at:  Embellees@bigpond.com.  We are happy to take registrations of interest, but to ensure you have a spot it is important to try and make your payment as quickly as possible.

We will be back soon with some great new 'Five Fab Finds' for next week - so please drop by and visit us soon.

Lisa and Lizzie

Christmas In July Workshop - SOLD OUT!

Yes, it is true our Christmas in July Workshop is full and, we have closed registrations as at

3 May 2011.

We are so very grateful that our Workshops are full and, that everyone loves coming back for more.  We acknowledge that it means limited ability to get on an Embellees Workshop (for now) if you don't register and pay early. 

As we have outlined before, we feel it is important to have a 'ceiling' on our workshop numbers so that we can provide a cohesive workshop and that our 'Workshop Lovelies' are all catered to with the delivery of our projects.

We are considering options, one of these being that we offer a second Workshop if we have enough people on our waitlist.

So if you were interested in attending the Christmas in July Workshop, please don't hesitate to email us at:  Embellees@bigpond.com and let us know you would like to be 'waitlisted' should we get enough numbers to consider running a second workshop (need to talk to the elves and see if they are not to tired to make up some extra kits and do an extra day).

For now we are busy with 'secret squirrel' stuff to finish off the samples for our Christmas In July Workshop and will be back with 'sneaky peeks' in June (can't give the game away to early).

We also want our lovely participants to start thinking about a 'Secret Santa' Scrapping inspired gift to put under our Christmas Tree and, last but not least, to go in search of their Santa hat to wear on the day.

Time to start practicing my HO..HO..HOing and getting the egg nog recipes out!!

Lizzie