Stampaway Stencils Masks & Stamps Oh My! Guinea Pig Class

First I apologize for cutting one of my guests right out of this photo. It wasn't intentional. She's not trying to hide. (Or at least I don't think she was hiding; just pushed a little too far from the table.) And poor photography on my part is mostly to blame. This year I've got a large group of ladies joining me on my trip to Ohio for the Stampaway convention. And a lot of good eggs willing to give up a Sunday afternoon to help me time out each step of this sold out convention class. All good sports; all invaluable to me. A HUGE thank you ladies for your willingness to be my guinea pigs!!!!

And yes, that's my very own line of rubber stamps you see in the above photo. I'm pleased to announce I have a new set that includes some surprising new designs, so if you're interested, holler and tell me so!

As always I provided oodles of supplies, giving them way too many choices. But that's the whole point of these classes: find out what works, what doesn't, what's most popular, and what we can live without. (There weren't many things we could live without, so when the class begins at Stamp Your Art Out, I'll be watching the clock and keeping everyone on track so that their finished portfolios are as divine as these.

Look closely at all these photos and you'll spot the most popular stencil: Onomoto Holes from Coffee Break Designs. Whether they were using inks or paints, the results were all brilliant!

Most of these gals had never played with the masks from Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp, so experimenting was lots of fun.

And the tiny word stencils from Stampers Anonymous were also a hit. Keep scrolling; you'll find them...above and below.

Let's talk about before, during and after so that you can appreciate how much fun this class really was for us all. The photo below was during the process while the photo above shows the end result. Can you see a difference?

Same thing here...the too-close shot below was during, but just look at the photo above and you can appreciate those final minutes of a class when just the tiniest little thing can totally transform art into a masterpiece.

Could we have used more time? Certainly. Lynda C. spotted something I never thought to introduce in this class, and everyone took their art in a whole new direction. I'm not telling what they played with; it's a surprise.

Think we had a lot of fun in this class? You're right, we did. And once again I forgot to suggest that the ladies use the Kleen Handz before we got started. The great thing about this product is that the more you use it, the cleaner your hands are at the end of the day. We used it throughout the 3 hour play time along with a hand cleaner bar and it worked wonders, so all's not lost because I'm getting forgetful.

Hope you've enjoyed this teaser. Now if I can just remember to take my camera out and use it during my 5 days at the convention, I'll have lots of photos to post when I return. You will come back and take a peek, won't you?