Tim Holtz workshop: The Artful Journal

Guess what I did this weekend? Okay, that subtle title probably didn’t leave much to the imagination, but it’s only because I still have an afterglow from the event! That, stained nails, and this crazy desire to shut myself in my studio and create-create-create!

Aaaanyway… I have to warn you in advance, I may not be able to resist the excessive use of superlatives or pointless panegyrics, but considering the super awesomeness of it, if you know you are prone to brain explosions caused by bad sentence structure or excessive rambling, SKIP THIS POST.

Everyone else, I HAVE GOT TO SHOW YOU the cool stuff we made!

The Artful Journal sample made by Tim.

The inside cover.

Some of the pages.

Tim has blogged about his Jo’burg adventure. Apparently he likes our food. So do we Tim, so do we BTW, I had to smile while reading about his fondness for the South African saying “see you now now” (which can mean “see you now” or “see you later”, basically “see you when I see you”). One tends to forget that one’s ‘culture’ – those everyday things that are simply part of life – are strange and wonderful and unconventional to people from other places.

Of course, it wasn’t just a one man show – Margie Romney-Aslett from The Girls’ Paperie also taught some classes: a mini-album, and a double-page scrapbook layout. She has also blogged about the Jo’burg event, with some lovely photos to go with it.

Here’s what we made in her class:

Margie's double-spread scrapbook layout

The mini-album by Margie.

I must admit, I’ve never made an album on a stick before. Must be an American thing…

Here are all the photo’s I took (well, most of them). I elaborate a lot on the photos in the photo gallery, so click on the first thumbnail to view the gallery

A room filled with scrapping ladies.

My workspace, before things got messy :)

Tim Holtz in action.

The class kit.

The Journal’s back & front covers

Making the title from Grunge Board.

Such hard work, but oh so satisfying!

The Artful Journal by Tim.

String of findings hanging from the back of the journal.

The inside cover.

Some of the pages.

Tim Holtz and I

Margie in action

Creating the pages of the mini-album

Margie and I

Double-spread scrapbook class by Margie

The mini-album made by Margie.

Some of the pages from the mini-album.

About The Event

In case you’re still reading, this was SA‘s International Scrapbook Convention (ISC)’s annual one-day event (there’s also a two-day event in September) where hundreds of women get an opportunity to attend classes by international scrapbooking teachers. We’ve had some high profile teachers over the years, like Stacy Julian, Donna Downey, Heidi Swapp, Tim Holtz, as well as some well-known Making Memories teachers.

While I have the opportunity, may I just say thank you to Glenda and all the people who have made it such a success over the years! I have been attending ISC since 2007 and it has been consistently well organized, with excellent workshops, great teachers, and exceptional value for money.

Wow, if anyone is still with me after all that, I must commend you. No, I must reward you! Anyone up for a give-away? I’ll give away some crafting goodies to the first person who leaves me a commend about the give-away!

Photos of the memorable Tim Holtz event in 2009

As promised, here are some photos I took at that memorable event I attended two years ago but never blogged about. You have to click on the photos below to open the gallery – that’s where all the juicy details are!

“Grunged Memoirs” class by Tim Holtz

Ingredients of Fun

Pieces of the puzzle

The Project

Tim the celebrity

Me with Tim Holtz

Projects by Tim Holtz

Scrapbook class with Making Memories

Creative chaos

Me with Jayme Shephard

Update: If you missed my post on his return in 2011, read all about it here.

Tim Holtz is coming to SA again!

The greatest thing is happening in April: Tim Holtz will be back in sunny South Africa! I attended his workshop in 2009, and it was one of the most rewarding creative experiences of my life. For real.

I quickly looked to see what I shared about it, and to my shock I discovered I shared– NOTHING! So, as part of my penance I promise to dig up those dusty digitals and post some in the next couple of days. Also, I promise that this time around I won’t wait two whole years before sharing the joy!

UPDATE: As promised, here’s the post of the 2011 event!

I’ve got a date with Tim Holtz

I just wanted to share this exciting bit of news: I am attending a half day workshop by Tim Holtz (yes, the one and only) this Saturday!!! He is coming to teach at the SA Scrapbook Convention. Two weeks ago I was reading about Jennifer McGuire ‘s weekend at Ranger U where Tim was teaching, and that just threw more fuel on an already raging fire! Oh, I just can’t wait, I SO can’t wait! I’m planning on getting so inspired and creative and full of ink that my life (and my nails ) will never be the same again!!

If you don’t know who Tim is, it’s worth finding out. I’ve seen some of his videos, and read articles and interviews and his philosophy on life, his motto to “live the life you’ve imagined”, to be and create - it’s real, and that is what inspires me. Not only is he extremely creative and artistic, he is also the mastermind behind some of the most amazing products I use every day!! (Distress inks, anyone?) But enough about this, I need to go pack since we’re leaving real early tomorrow. I’m attending the Cape Town one, and that means flying down to the coast. Although I live only an hour from Johannesburg, Stellenbosch is our favourate holiday destination in South Africa which means that my husband can now also benefit from a scrapbook class, since we’re making it a long weekend! So I’m signing off until next week. I figure the sooner I get into bed, the sooner tomorrow will come

Aquila Scrapbook Convention

Wow, did I have an amazing, scrapful weekend!!! The short and sweet of it is that we were +- 100 ladies who spent 3 whole days in the company of Jeri (BoBunny USA), Andria (Reminisce USA) and Erika (Aquila SA, representing Hot Off The Press), making AMAZING paper-thingies!

And here is the layout I made especially for the convention competition – it got third place:

“Precious” (click image to enlarge)
[photos © Appel Photography]

The only rules were that your papers and stickers had to be from one of the 3 represented companies. I used Hot Off The Press papers (and BoBunny ribbon, because it’s gorgeous). The rest are from all over, and mostly from my existing stash. The only stuff I specially bought for this layout were the flowers, blue brads and blue card stock. The list of supplies are at the bottom of this post.

And here’s me with the really awesome teachers:

Me and Jeri (from BoBunny)

Me and Andrea (from Reminisce)

We made a LOT of scrapbook layouts, as well as cards, mini-albums, chipboard books, and then some! I have not made that many ‘things’ in such a short time! The most hilarious part was how fascinated these Americans were with Afrikaans (which was spoken by 98% of the attendees) and the South African culture. It gave them hours of amusement making lists of the differences between their English and ours – all the “strange words” we use for common objects (like calling traffic lights “robots”… yeah, weird I know) [Andria even made a game out of this on her blog!] But it went both ways – they kept us amused by learning some Afrikaans words and then using them in the classes – Jeri quickly got “sakkie” (pocket) because she could remember the Japanese word Saki, and eventually also managed “strepe” (stripes)… but everything else kinda got lost in translation and laughter :-p Not to mention Andria’s attempts to try and make sense of rugby… (she has my fullest sympathy)

Well, that was a long post, but it was the highlight of my year so I’m not apologizing!