Inspiration a la Finnabair

As many of you know, I had the privilege, along with over 60 other ladies, to take a class with an amazing artist, the great Anna Dabrowska (aka Finnabair). This event was organized by Scrap en Masse and was a huge success. Meeting such an inspiring artist was one of the best experience in my life!

I always wanted to try mix-media art. When I started painting a few year ago, I added Saran Wrap and Newspaper to my art so it would have more relief. But this was not satisfactory to me, I really wanted to add a third dimension to what I was doing. Taking Anna's class allowed me to try mediums that always intimidated me, which kept me from taking the leap. I had no technique or method to use the mediums, pastes, sealers, etc. During the class with Finnabair, we created the cover for an art journal, which I will show in a future post. This was a reveal for me; it opened the door to another world that I want to explore more and more.

So yesterday, I created a sign for my scraproom door, my Creative Cellar. 

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I took one of my unused canvas and started by applying modelling paste with a mask to create a flowery background.

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I applied a mix of pigments and glimmer mist to colour my canvas. The elements I used come from my own stash, but I also include an old key that my Dad had in his 'treasure box' (aka his mancave), a button that used to be on my hubby's military uniform, some dragonflies my friend Diane gave me, as well as lace and corrugated board. As a finishing touch, I applied the beautiful LuminArte Silk glaze and covered the whole canvas with a gloss protective sealer. So I did what Finnabair teached us, but added my personal touch to the mix!

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

I love this new mix-media style and will probably create more and more. And now, I have a lovely sign to walk by every time I enter my scraproom :)

The Creative Cellar, Nathalie Noreau-McLeod

Happy creating!

Evolution 4

Hello Friends! It has been six long weeks since I wrote on my blog... life got busy, that's the least I can say! But here I am, full of energy and with a lot of new layouts and fun stuff to share with you.

I am back from France where I spent two wonderful weeks visiting Paris and the Loire Vallée with my hubby. Of course, I took over 600 pictures, just to make sure I have enough scrapping material to keep me busy for the next 5 years!
So, being back home also means being back to preparing classes for Scrap en masse, my favorite scrapbooking store! I started a series of posts on the theme of evolution where I presented layouts I did during the course 'Technique de Scrapbooking #1 / Scrapbooking Techniques #1', which by the way will be given in English this fall.

Now I am presenting the layout I made for the second part of the course, 'Technique de Scrapbooking #2 / Scrapbooking Techniques #2' (same links as above). The first session of this series of 3 courses aim at combining stamping techniques along with creating a doilie and following specific guidelines in a layout.  Here is the layout I created last year, when I first took the class:



Based on an original layout created by Josée Lalonde (SEM)


I have fond memories coming back at me when I see this layout, as it reminds me of the wonderful visit my family and I had in Victoria. We also visited Butchart Gardens, which is by far the most beautiful flower garden I've ever seen!

Since I could not find a doilie that matched my photos, I created one by cutting a big circle and punching smaller circles that I crumpled with my fingers and then sanded.

We also used background stamps to created a cool effect on the white cardstock. Since I also wanted to include pictures of the flowers I saw, I re-sized four of them into 2x3 wallet size pictures using PhotoShop Element and combined them on a single 4x6 mat. I few embellishments clustered around, et voilà!

This time around, I created a totally different 'look' using the same layout. I made this girly looking layout for my very girly daughter. She loves it!


Based on an original layout created by Josée Lalonde (SEM)


Again, I made my own doilie, this time using the hearts that were on one of my papers.  I cut them with scissors and inked them with Walnut Stain distress ink.

I found this cute girl chipboard in a sale bin at SEM. I painted it and added a few coats of glimmer glam to give it a glittery effect. I embellished it with pearls and flowers.

I used the new sew stamping around my page, I love how it turned out!

Finally, I used a beautiful background stamp and spayed it with goosebumps texture spay, a very cool product that adds texture to any surface. You can see it on this picture. I used a beautiful die designed by cheery lynn designs, a company that I just discovered and that creates some truly amazing dies!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Happy scrapping everyone!



Evolution 1

Hello dear readers! It's been a long (too long!) time since I had the occasion to finally sit down and blog! But here I am, with many creations to share with you :)

During the last couple of months, I have been busy creating and preparing for a very exciting life experience: teaching scrapbooking.  I have joined the Creative Team at Scrap en masse, a wonderful scrapbooking store located in Alfred, a little town 45-60  minutes from Ottawa.  I will be teaching  scrapbooking techniques #1 and #2, an upcoming series of vintage techniques and layout classes, and maybe a course on Dylusions.  I am really excited about all this!

In order to teach the two techniques classes, which I attended last year, I needed to take it again so I can learn the new content of this 6-day course.  However, most of the exercises are the same, with some variations, and I thought it would be cool to show you the comparable layouts.

The first layout is made of strips of papers that we combine to make the base of the layout.  Basic embellishment were used in this first layout.  So this is the layout #1 I made in 2011.

Based on a layout created by Josée Lalonde (SEM)

The new content of the first class now includes techniques to make handmade flowers, the use of glimmer mist and other medias.  Here is the layout #1 I made in 2012.

Based on a layout created by Josée Lalonde (SEM)

I like this layout, it is so colourful.  I added Apple and Red Velvet glimmer mist on my pages and flowers.  I also used glimmer glam on my red handmade flowers.

This post is the first of a series.  For each layout I created in my class the first time, I will write a post and compare it with my most recent one.

Let me know what you think, I always love hearing from you :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have fun scrapping!