Hello Friends,
I have been trying to work out how long I've been playing with the Groovi Parchment system, I checked back through my emails and have found my first Clarity order, ordering my Groovi stash...I'm not saying how much I spent but I can tell you - I got a lot of plates! My order went in at the end of February so to my reckoning I've only actually been having a go with them since the beginning of March.
I'm also a very slow crafter, I'm someone who has to think about my crafting and procrastinate for a while! I really do like to get perfect results, I want everything neat and tidy, just as I vision a card to be. I expect it's the teacher in me, I've taught card making for lots and lots of years and have always wanted "my ladies" to go home with cards they'll be wanting to keep, not send!
So with all this in mind, I wanted to give the Groovi system the best possible chance, especially bearing in mind that I am supposed to be a retired craft teacher and have been pulled out of my retirement by W.I. Denman to cover some Parchment courses for a very poorly Parchment craft tutor. I knew I'd have to give this Groovi system the best chance I could, so I've taken it really slowly and enjoyed every moment.
Speaking to the head of Denman after the course I covered in January, she asked if I'd consider being a regular tutor and be able to include Parchment craft if necessary. I told her that I was happy to cover what I could in the Parchment courses that were already booked, the best I possibly can but if she was looking for a new Parchment tutor, I'd really only want to use the relatively new "Groovi" system by Clarity. I'm not a person who'd want to step on anyones toes, I'd like to consider myself as a fair and considerate person and I really thought I'd retired from my craft teaching (due to health & safety issues and requirements in rented hall type of accommodation - two fire officers and a first aider, don't get me started on that again!) and was trying to get to grips with what I was going to do "now" to keep me occupied!
So I've not had all that long and I've made a few mistakes trying to work backwards with the Groovi system. When I worked in a craft shop many many years ago and when my boss was trying to teach me how to do Parchment craft so I could teach the class ladies who attended my classes there and demonstrate in her shop (I had to call any of my classes/demonstrations where I taught Parchment - "playing with vellum" as the shop had a Pergamano tutor and we sold Pergamano tools) I was taught how to trace properly with ink, where on the vellum to start tracing so that you knew where the fold line would be, how to do the white work from behind etc....., so getting into the groove with Groovi working backwards, caused me to make a few mistakes, meaning I couldn't make a folded card out of my Groovi work, if you see what I mean.
Anyway, I worked really hard and enjoyed designing and making the Parchment design on the front of the card I'm sharing below, only to realise once I'd finished all my Groovi(ing) it was on the wrong side of the vellum! I've been looking at it for ages, it has reminded me for more than a month now that I have to concentrate. Anyway today was the day, it is a great design, I'm totally pleased with how it turned out so I chopped it away from the wrong side of the A5 vellum I'd used, added a bit of Groovi Diagonal Grid work on the side and mounted it onto a card!
Phew! I hope you like it!
I hope you've enjoyed my Groovi story. I do have more samples to share, which I will over the next week or so and I might even start up a Groovi kinda class, just a small one or even two, back around my dining room table, like I did before I rented halls, if any of "my ladies" remember that!
So if you've read my little Groovi story and you'd like to come and play, my contact email is over there on the right hand side of my blog ;)!
I am a retailer of Groovi, thank you Barbara & Paul at
Clarity, but I'm not taking orders and shipping items, Clarity does that best, I'll have a little stash of plates, tools and vellum for you to buy if you come along to a Groovi session at my place in Oxfordshire or attend one of my courses at W.I. Denman, for that matter ;)!
Oh and if you are local to me and want to pop by to see what Groovi stash I've got available to purchase, then you can email me and we can arrange something, for sure!
I hope I've inspired you to get into the groove with Groovi, as you will have seen over the last couple of blog posts.....imjustlovinit ;)!
Happy crafting and thanks for reading Groovi my story.
Carole x
