The brayer workshop cards

Let me start by saying that Michelle Zindorf is a wonderful teacher. She is patient and makes sure you  are happy with your results before you make a card. There were 9 of us in the beginner class I attended. Everything we needed except your favorite scissors and adhesive was supplied. This is our first creation:

We started with the lightest blue and then added a medium and dark shade. For the workshop, we used all Adirondack dye based inks. The stamps are by Innovative stamp creations and the set was called Marvels of Nature. We stamped the tree twice, once in lettuce and once in black shifting the stamp slightly. We stamped the flourish twice in two different shades of blue. The flourish does come from a different set. We sponged lettuce and black along the bottom to make the ground. A white gel pen was used for highlights.

Here is the second card we created:

 It is a long card which we felt was a challenge for us to brayer ink on all that space. We began by brayering the bottom third first for the water. The colors used were peach bellini, mountain rose and watermelon. Then we turned the card around and brayered the sky. The palm tree was stamped in pitch black upright first, then we turned the card around and I attempted to line up the tree, but the current was moving too fast and it is a little off. We sponged black for the island and added the white gel pen for highlights. Ribbon and brads were added at the end.

Our final card is here….

 We began by brayering sailboat blue on both the left and right side of the card leaving the middle white for the moon’s reflection. Then denim was added for the depth. We used a post it note for the moon and brayered over it first , then took off the mask and applied a light blue so it wasn’t so stark. The horizon line was sponged next. The tree was stamped the same way as the first card, with lettuce and then with black. We stamped the tree twice in black, right next to each other. The land was sponged in and white gel pen added for the highlights. One of the tips Michelle gave us was to remember where you wanted your light source to come from when adding highlights and creating shadows.

Overall, the workshop was amazing and the host Lillianne was so generous. She allowed her house and lodge to be used for the weekend and that was a treat to visit all by itself. When we were done with the workshop we met up with my husband Chuck who was already downtown on River Street. He found a great place for us to eat lunch called Docksiders. After lunch, we took a trolley tour by Old Savannah Tours. It was a fun 90 minutes and the tour guide was excellent. He was born and raised in Savannah and added loads of personal tidbits. Once the tour was over, we wandered up and down River Street. We ended up at the Shrimp Factory for dinner. Chuck and I had eaten there 23 years ago when we were dating and it was fun to go back there. Savannah is a beautiful city and I encourage you to visit if you already haven’t.