Fun With Birgit

We had lots of fun this past weekend taking classes at Bizzy B with Birgit Koopsen.  I was there both Friday night and Sunday afternoon, but missed the Saturday canvas class as I was attending the fall outdoor antique market at Aberfoyle (more on that later in the week!).  Here is a couple of photos of my fellow students hard at play during Friday night's class:

Both classes were focused on techniques.  Friday night's class was called "Technique Tags".  We decorated a number of large tags using various techniques using acrylic inks, gesso, stamps, stencils, embossing powders and modelling paste. 

The pictures below are two of Birgit's tags, they are just so darned pretty!

Here is Birgit in the middle of explaining to us the steps we need to follow to finish this particular tag.

Sunday's class was called "Embossing and Beyond". We used embossing powders (a powdery substance that when heated, leaves a raised, embossed surface) to make various designs on individual pages and then joined the pages together to make a little book.  I'll post photos of my book tomorrow, but for now, here are a couple of pictures of Birgit's.

Barb showing us Birgit's book

The cover of Birgit's book

One thing I really enjoyed about Birgit's classes was that she kept things moving at a very fast pace. Not so fast that it's impossible to keep up but fast enough that you don't get bored and don't have time to wonder, "now what?"  To be honest, we were so busy, I didn't have time to take too many photos, although I did take this picture of my new art buddy Janine, who sat across the table from me for both classes.

We all had a lot of laughs throughout. Our table was quite amused when Diane, a newbie to art classes at Bizzy B, discovered what happens when you place your still hot heat gun on top of your plastic kit bag - oops!  Not to worry, Diane, we've all got a similar experience in our past - I call this a right of passage!!

Diane with her melted bag

Another thing that really excited me about Birgit's classes was the fact that we got to play with her brand new stamp designs, which are gorgeous!  You can see them in this blog post of Birgit's.  They should be arriving at Bizzy B very soon - can't wait to get some for myself!!

Here's our happy group at the end of Sunday's class, showing off our new little books!

Thanks again, Birgit, for a wonderful weekend of learning. I hope you'll come back and visit us again soon!!