Pinkfresh Studio's CREATE & CONNECT 2024

Hello friends.  Not playing in any challenges today...just wanted to share what I've been working on this past week.  I had signed up for Pinkfresh Studio's Create & Connect (HOT FOIL & PRESS PLATES) back in February, and the 4 classes were held a week ago Saturday on the 29th.  Since signing up for the class our youngest daughter has taken on a job that requires working on the weekends and her daycare isn't open on the weekends...yep, Nana & Papa to the rescue!  I mean, who could say no to a face like this??

I sure couldn't!!  But anyway, back to the classes.  There were 4 classes and each an hour and a half long, and because I couldn't watch them live (on youtube), I watched the replays this past week.  I have done other Create & Connect events and they move really quickly, so you have to be really prepared and have all your homework done for each class ahead of time.  If you get behind, it's hard to catch up (for me at least!).  I'm not a fast crafter either, so these classes have always been a challenge!  Watching the replays on my own worked so much better for me as I was able to go at my own pace, and it was just so much more relaxing...I loved it!

This whole event was centered around hot foiling and letter press techniques, and I learned a lot of great tips from the 4 instructors...Heather Hoffman, Carissa Wiley, Emily Midgett, & Lea Lawson.  Heather was up first and she titled her class Elegant Stationery and here are the cards we made...

The 1st card was the middle one and that involved hot foiling on patterned paper. The card on the right involved letter press and pictures just don't do this card justice...it is soooo pretty IRL!  The card on the left was a bonus card that we could do on our own.  The one tip I learned from Heather that I loved was when inking up your better press plates, ink cubes work the best and also using a light circular motion rather than the twist & turn method gives a much more consistent inking.  

 This 2nd class was taught by Carissa Wiley and she called it the Floral Arch Frame class.  We started with the card on the left which is once again using the letter press plates and multiple colors of ink.  We ink blended a solid arch in light pink and then added a vellum arch that we inked up with the press plate and white pigment ink...so delicate and beautiful!  The 2nd card was hot foiled and a fun fancy fold, and the card on the right was once again done with the better press plates.  This last card is pretty washed out looking, but the background pressed leaves are a bright green (C&9th Sprout) and then peony is inked with both peach & pink inks...another beauty IRL!!

  The 3rd class was taught by Emily Midgett and called Fresh Blooms.  The card on the right was the first one we did and involves the letter press plates and gradient ink blending. Emily taught us a really cool (and easy) way to get our press plates right where we want them but it's way too hard to explain in words...it involves turning the chase over (upside down) and then pressing into the platten, which probable makes no sense at all unless you physically see it in person!  It's definitely a tip I'll remember though!  The middle card was shown as a full size slimline card, but I'm not a fan of that size, so I made mine a mini slimline card.  It used hot foiling with the Honeysuckle press plate.  The card on the left was one we could do on our own and I just really liked the combination of the blue and turquoise inks blended together over the press plate.

   The last class was taught by Lea Lawson and was called Multi Color Letterpress.  The 1st card we made was the middle one and we used an alignment guide (printed on acetate) with our better press system so we would know where to use which colors on the leaves and flowers.  Really cool technique!  The card on the left used the same press plate but we hot foiled it instead of pressing it.  The card is actually a shaker card, but since the card is standing upright, all the shaker bits are at the bottom of the card.  The card on the right was one we could do on our own and involved hot foiling the press plates and then using stencils and rainbow inks.  Another one that is much prettier in person!!

All the supplies (press plates, stencils, pre-printed and foiled sentiments & dies) were included in this kit other than the cardstock, foil and some of the ribbon or twine that I used on a few of the cards.  I didn't mention the names of any of the press plates or stencils we used as Pinkfresh has said that they will NOT be releasing any of these products down the road like they usually do with their events...everything in this kit is exclusive to this event.  Hot foiling and press plates have really become popular lately, so they will be releasing many new products in the coming months/years.  It was a fun, FUN event and I'm so glad it worked out for me to do it at my own pace as I totally enjoyed working at my own speed (slow!) and just really enjoying the ride without having to worry about keeping caught up!  Thanks for sticking with me through this loooong post...I appreciate it!  Happy Monday everyone!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!