Back in the spring of the year 2000, I took a botanical illustration class from Otis College of Art and Design. At the time, I had already been designing fabrics for a few years, and I realized that my skill with florals could stand improving. I thought the class would be a fantastic way to get more experience drawing plants and flowers ~ and it was! I learned so much from the class and had a fabulous time doing it. There were so many great things about the class. I LOVED the location at the Arboretum in Arcadia, California. If you ever have a chance to go there ~ DO IT! It is just pure eye candy all over. Peacocks roam through the gardens…there are flowers and plants and trees everywhere. It is a botanical illustrator’s paradise!

Olga Eysymontt was the class instructor, and she is amazing. While illustration is never quick or easy, I really felt that she simplified the process as much as possible. She presented the course in such a way that anyone could have had success, even a non-artist. I was pretty amazed at how much I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. If you ever have an opportunity to take a class with Olga, I highly recommend that you do it!

Here is a list of classes that the Arboretum currently has posted. They always seem to have such interesting offerings. In the past I have seen them offer so many interesting gardening classes, and I would love to go back and take more classes there.
Supplies Used in This Scrapbooking Layout:

The rubber stamps are all See D’s by Inque Boutique:

• 50481 Mini – Sharie’s Lower Alpha ~ used in the title
• 50221 Phantoms ~ used to create the watercolor effect under the title, and also used under the right hand side of the orchid photo. I layered 3 of the different “phantoms” stamps, using different colored inks, to get this effect.
• 50450 Mini – Great Shapes Journaling ~ used to create the 2 journaling blocks.
• 50328 Retro Shapes ~ used to create the little pink flowers

Patterned Papers:

• “Dali” by Basic Grey, from the “Romani” / “Gypsy” collection.
• “Flora Coral” by Creative Imaginations, from the Sonnets Collection / Sharon Soneff
• Rhonna Farrer paper by Autumn Leaves
• Olivia Lattice12 x 12 in green from the Boho Chic line by Making Memories.
  

Stickers:

• epoxy stickers from Creative Imaginations ~ Karen Russell’s Narratives Collection in Honeydew

Fiskars:

• Fiskars Shape Xpress was used to cut out the circle around the journaling block
• Fiskars Decorative Scissors were used to create the paper lace and the decorative edging on the cut papers (please see paperlaces.com for more paper lace eye candy!)

Ribbon:

• RibbonFX by Hobby Lobby

Inks & Chalks:

Inks by Rubber Stampede