Techniques and Inspiration

OMG what an amazing last 5 days I've had!!  My hubby treated me to an early bday scrapbooking retreat with Marion Smith (check out her blog here) at the uber fab scrapbooking store in Valencia, CA, Remember When.  Tonya, the owner, and her staff were so fantastic and her store is stocked full of all the goodies an artsy scrapper craves!  I did some serious damage there...

3 days, 4 workshops - all loaded with techniques and yummy Prima product.  I had sooo  much fun and met some really fantastic people!  I just wished I lived closer so I could crop with these girlies all the time!

My favorite technique from Marion's workshops was a "glass flower" technique using UTEE (ultra thick embossing powder).  UTEE is a powder like resin that adheres to inks, glues, and other wet materials and hardens to a clear glassy appearance when heated.  We took plain white Prima flowers and then painted them with Glimmer Mist.

Misted Prima flowers - 3 layers per flower.  Pretty on their own!

Then we dipped them in melted UTEE and then sprinkled them with glitter.  As they cooled, they could be shaped and molded.  I love love love this effect!!! 

Flowers coated with UTEE and assembled.  Prima page pebbles were added to the center of each flower.

We stopped in Paso Robles and did some fabulous wine tasting at Robert Hall and Eberle wineries on our way to Valencia and had lunch at a terrific hole in the wall called the Jack Ranch Cafe.  Home cooked food and really yummy pie.  I highly recommend all three!  Apparently James Dean died in a car crash along hwy 46 (the road that goes between hwy 101 and Interstate 5 through Paso Robles).  Who knew?!?! 

So the So Cal trip was fantastic, and then I get back today and the latest Live with Prima web show features Julie Balzer (Julie's blog) doing some super cool altering techniques with Prima flowers.  There was one in particular that really got me excited and I had to try it out right away.  It's a fairly simple idea but sooo cool in its effect.  You basically layer flowers in a certain way to create a dimensional effect.

I've been really into fabric lately and I had some crinoline so I decided to use it instead of Prima flowers (plus this way I could try it out as many times as I wanted and not feel like I was wasting anything).  ;)  Because the crinoline is so stiff, I thought it would really poof up with this technique.  I used the Tim Holtz altered flowers die and cut out 5 flowers of the same shape.  I then misted them with Glimmer Mist.  For some reason I was channeling fall so I used all fall colors. 

Following Julie's technique, I took one of the flowers and folded it in half, then folded it in half again (I should have taken pics of these steps, sorry!).  You end up with 4 triangle looking petals.  Arrange the petals on the 5th flower with the points all meeting in the center.  Glue it down and voila - instant fluffy flower!! 

The crinoline soaked up with Glimmer Mist so nicely!

I added a smaller flower to the center and included a dot of glue and some microbeeds to give it some sparkle.

I love the rough earthy texture of the fabric.

I'm so going to use this with all sorts of different media!  These Prima shows are so great!  I learn so much and just love chatting with all the gals.  :)