Cut 'n Paste

Art Journal No. 2

It's Friday today, which means I'm looking forward to the weekend and spending time with my husband. I really am a sap, but I miss him so much when he's at work, so I look forward to our weekends together a lot.

The class, "Mixed Media Studio" that I am team teaching at Big Pictures Classes is going strong, we are in week 3 of the workshop and some of the projects that the students are posting in the online gallery are awesome! If you're curious, it's not too late to join us!

Today I'm sharing another handmade Art Journal which I made as a gift. This one is constructed with vintage book pages & wallpaper, an antique photo, old flower & milinery leaves, and gesso, paints and fabric. The interior pages of the book are all made with plain watercolor paper from Ranger. I then hand sewed the signatures into the spine of the book. Let me know if you have any questions about it!

Enjoy your weekend my friends!

Art Journal no.1

Last month I was in Spain for almost 3 weeks and I brought a few gifts for my hostesses. Now that the gifts have been given, I am looking forward to sharing them here. Over the past 2 years I have been teaching variations on hand bound bookbinding classes, and so I decided to make each hostess her own journal.

This book was made using vintage wallpaper, vintage book pages and a bingo card. Along with the papers, I also had some fun playing with paints and my charcoal pencil to add depth to the cover. The spine was created with my favorite bookbinding tape which is super easy to use and very strong. The interior of the book was stocked with watercolor paper so is a perfect jumping off point for whatever the receiver wants to do with their book!

Today I am writing to you from Lyon, France where I am getting ready to teach at Version-Scrap, a French scrapbooking convention, this weekend. I am looking forward to connecting with a few friends and making some new ones as well. I hope that wherever you are, you have a wonderful, safe day.

Home from Terri Brush's Art Camp

Last weekend I attended my third Art Camp, a women's art retreat in the Pacific Northwest, hosted by my friend Terri Brush. Once again I had way too much fun laughing, sharing and creating with the other attendees. Terri puts on an event that totally spoils, and it was nice to get away and create - just for me, just for fun.

There were 3 workshops over the weekend. I only completed 2 of them - I was too busy visiting and creating my own project to work on the third class, so I won't be able to show you what it looked like. The first workshop was taught by Terri, and students had the choice to make a necklace or to make a shadowbox frame. I decided to make the frame and I changed the orientation of mine from the class sample so instead of being an arch (meaning that the point was at the top of the frame), mine was more of a shield shape (with the point at the bottom). Instead of using a vintage photo as the class sample did, I used a Junior G-Man sheild that I picked up many years ago at an antique store. Given that my hubby is a police officer, I kinda thought it would be a bit of a cute piece to hang in my home. I am really happy with this piece - oh, and it's a lot bigger than the photo makes it look. It's about 6 inches high or so.

The second project I want to show you from Art Camp was from Ilona Steelhammer's workshop. Ilona is a talented artisit in so many different mediums, and in this class she was teaching us to make a Santos doll. We started with a little face that had already been cast for us, then we built the head and body and base. We ended the first class session by baking the doll (to set the sculpy). On the second workshop we then were challenged to paint our doll to give her personality. I wish I had our se It was challenging as it was something I've never done before, but I am satisfied with what I made for my first try.





If any of you are considering attending Art Camp in the future, please take my advice and DO IT! You will be happy you did!

Teaching at Bikuben in Strømmen, Norway

I am very pleased to share that I will be teaching fabulous workshops at Bikuben in Strømmen, Norway at the end of February/beginning of March.This is my sixth visit to Bikuben, and Ellen & Egil (the fabulous store owners and my hosts) always make me feel so welcome and I enjoy spending time with them and with customers who have returned to take my workshops again and again over the years.

Here are some previews of my workshops:

Please visit www.bikuben.com to read workshop descriptions, and contact the store directly to register.

Notes Journal

I know that these are not the best photos, but I wanted to share a handmade journal that I made with you. I used the same techniques that I teach in my "Start to Finish" workshop to make this book which uses vintage fabric and lace in combination with some modern fabric, hand stitching, an old tintype and a Tim Holtz frozen charlotte doll.

I have such an afinity for these handmade books and lately I have made several of them to give as gifts. They are nice to give, because the recipient does not have to be a scrapbooker to enjoy it. In fact, I have a few around the house that I don't even really use. They are more decorating elements in my house!

Frozen Charlotte Mini Album

Hi Friends, I hope you had a good weekend. We laid pretty low as I am recovering from what my doctor has told me is an asthma flare up, which has pretty much knocked me out for about a week. However, I had previously arranged for one of my girlfriends from back from my University days to come over as she was in town for a conference. So, she came to visit Rick and I Saturday and Sunday and it was SO good to catch up.

As I head into another week, I wanted to share with you another sample album I made to show the students in my "Start to Finish" mini album class that I taught in Spain a few weeks ago. This one is a small one, at 4x4, but it's pretty darling if I do say so myself.

I especially like the Melissa Frances Pink Pouf Ribbon that I used as an accent along the left front border. It is made of a tulle like fabric, so it is super light and delicate which really reenforced the vibe that I was going for.

Do you ever sit and stare at projects you have made and just revel in the fact that you have made something that you're so in love with? (Please don't tell me I"m the only loser who does this!) I have to admit, this little album holds a special place in my heart, and is a current favorite!

A good Life

After a wonderful week of touring Madrid during my down time, I will be heading to Valencia Spain today to teach some workshops there this weekend. I am looking forward to seeing a part of the country which is brand new to me,  meeting the students and seeing the brand new Bambola scrapbooking store which just opened.

The album I am sharing today is a sample which I made as an illustration for the "Start to Finish" Album workshop that I have been teaching here in Spain. It uses the same techniques as the class project, however instead of being made with current scrapbooking products, it is made using a combination of vintage and mass produced products. (I used a vintage embroidered hand towel, a Maya Arts trim, an antique  tintype, some mother of pearl buttons, and a Stampin' Up! cream frame which is filled with glossy accents to give the center printed title a durable finish.) I wanted to show the students how they can easily use the techniques they learned in the "Start to Finish" class to make all kinds of awesome albums - both scrapbookish (as in the class) and more mixed media (like this one). This particular album was a hit when I showed it in Madrid and I'm sure the girls in Valencia will like it as well.

To my family and Canadian friends, have a great Thanksgiving long weekend!

Check it out!

One of my favorite publishers, Stampington, have put together a special issue with some of their favorite projects. The best part is that it's a free online issue. Check it out here.

Fabric Journal

I love my stash of vintage fabrics, photos and mother of pearl buttons to the point of finding it painfully difficult to use them. I always have in the back of my mind that I should save them for the 'perfect' project. However, lately (probably after watching one too many episodes of hoarders!) I have been finding myself reaching for and using my vintage supplies.

I have been working on designing a workshop that focuses on making a fabric journal from start to finish. I love the class because it blurs the line between scrapbooking and bookbinding and can really be adapted to each student's personal sense of style. The journal pictured here, that I made several months ago, was the inspiration for developing the class and while the workshop's sample is different as we are not using as much vintage, the techniques are pretty much the same. 

Crafting up a storm!

A few years ago I read a quote in a novel about someone who found their "Contentment in Creativity". For whatever reason the sentiment of those three words really resonated with me, and I think about them often. This week, my contentment has been found working on concepts for upcoming workshops. I have a million ideas, but it's all about refining them and turing them into a project which students can complete during class time.

I am pleased to be sharing that I will be one of the instructors along with Terri Brush and Amy Hanna at Spring Art Camp April 11-15, 2013 hosted by Terri. I know that it's a long way off, but Terri's events usually sell out well in advance, so if you're interested, check it out!