Scrapping Fancy: Art Venture 2017-Phoenix

Hello, friends!

I'm finally getting around to sharing my projects from Art Venture 2017 (from January)! If you are even on the fence about going, I say, DO IT! It's such an amazing experience, and definitely worth the money- the classes are so filled with great ideas, and you get so much product!

Day One, Class One: Gilded Monogram Plaque with the IOD Sisters

What a fun first class for Art Venture! I love the energy that Sally and Josie have, and they are so encouraging! I loved the painting techniques and it was fantastic to pair the different pieces from the molds together to create one project.

First, I'll just say that I was a horrible student! Not only did I go buy different paint colors during the class, I didn't follow instructions to make sure my clay pieces were dry enough before painting, and I did not think to lay the project flat, so a couple of the pieces slid, and were off-centered, to put it mildly. And to make matters worse, my project was damaged by the time it went through security and baggage handling at the airport. Sadly, my project was not salvageable. So, I remade the project:

I used copper and blue instead of gold and red. And, I used resin in the molds instead of clay because it's what I had on hand, and wanted that top piece to be strong enough to come off of the wood plaque.

We used a layering of paints, including diluted black paint that is wiped off once it starts to set, and it gives the molded pieces great dimension that you can see in this closeup.

Here's a closeup that shows off the paint layering, along with the stamping. I adore this vintage look!

And this is a closeup of the bottom part of the plaque- I mixed some 3D gloss gel with some light patina Metallique paint, and brushed it on to the clear gems. Once dry, I used some of the Color Philosophy ink in Sepia with a foam applicator to give it some dullness/distressing.

Day One, Class Two: When Pigs Fly with Miranda Edney

I was sooooooo excited that Miranda was teaching at Art Venture this time, because it meant that I FINALLY get to meet this gal in person. We have been online friends for years, and were even on the same design team back in the day. :) I love her with all of my heart, she is talented and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet!

I enjoy watching Miranda create projects on her YouTube videos, but this was so much better. I enjoy her process, and it was amazing to take part in that in real life.

Here's my pig, Alexa. She sits on the table in front of the Amazon Alexa that we have. :)

Unlike the first class, I did stick pretty close to following the example from the class- I LOVED that the pig was blue and the rest of the colors give the pig a touch of whimsy, so I wanted her to keep that feel to it.

I learned many techniques in this class, and what I loved was learning the process and tricks and tips for how to alter ANY object!

I love this project because I think it's the perfect blend of cute and beautiful. I love all of the layering of techniques- I notice something different every time I look at her.

I loved using the alcohol ink and water on the pig and the flowers- it's not something I would think to do on my own, and I love the result!

Here's the other side, that no one sees. :)

Profile view of my gal- you can really see the gold mica on her forehead- I sprayed her with hairspray to seal the mica.

Back side- I love the planner poms for a tail. Not only is it cute, it conceals the fact that before she was sanded and painted "down there" she was a boy. :)

Day One, Class Three: Crown Royale with Cari Fennell

I have to say that I loved all of the classes, but I was really most excited about learning how to make Cari's crown. While I could probably figure out how to make all of the projects from the Art Venture classes, this one really had me stumped as to where to begin. This is not an "altered" project- we didn't start with a crown- we created the crown using fabric! This technique was fabulous and it really gets you thinking about what else you could make using it.

I only took one picture- I should have taken more! I kept my decorating pretty close to the example, but I did add my own centerpiece.

Day Two, Class One: Sparks Altered Denim Album with Anna Dabrowska

When you take a class from Anna, you know you are going to learn so many techniques! We mixed glitter in gloss gel to use in a stencil- AWESOME! And covering everything in clear gesso before painting is a great technique that I never would have done before taking this class. But the one technique I am SOOOOO in love with is using the new waxes!

Here's a closeup to show how much dimension the waxes show, especially when you use more than one color!

Day Two, Class Two: Bohemian Summer Mixed Media Album with Frank Garcia

This is the second class I've taken from Frank, and I adore the amount of DETAIL that goes into every aspect of his albums.

I didn't stay too far from the class example- I did wait to finish most of this at home like most of the other projects because I wanted to add different flowers to the cover.

Here's a broad view of the inside of the magnetic album- this is the large dossier album, and it is LARGE!

This Wild and Free collection that we used is soooo beautiful- I love the image of the gypsy woman.
Here's a closeup of the right side of the album.

I can't wait to fill up the waterfall pages!

Day Two, Class Three: Rustic Romance Framed Layout with Sharon Laakkonen

It's fun to do all sorts of projects, but my favorite kind of project to do is still a 12x12 layout. And Sharon makes the most beautiful pages, so this was a great class to end Art Venture with.

We learned a lot of great techniques, including using glue with the foils- WOW!

And, it was interesting to use the new waxes with the artisan powders on the beautiful oval resin frame.