Art From The Heart

It's a Southern thang . . .

When one of my nieces (hi Alexis) married her sweetheart Josh, their wedding took place in Memphis. The Wethington clan was in attendance for one of the most beautiful and fun weddings I've ever attended. Josh is from Memphis. Alexis from St. Louis. Lex wanted southern style foods.

Enter the deep fried pickles.

I'll back up the bus a little. For you Northerners, St. Louis is a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll. There may be a few restaurants who (back then) served fried pickles, but not many. And, even though I am a self-proclaimed foodie, I had never had them.

Alexis and Josh married in a gorgeous Catholic church in Memphis: Lex in a stunningly beautiful gown and Josh looking all handsome in his tux.

Then the reception. When we walked into the hall, the caterers were serving hors d'oeuvres on a platter and one of them . . .

fried pickles.

I felt an obligation to try one. 

Out-of-this-world-delicious.

Today, I found this recipe for oven fried pickles on a blog called Skinny Taste. Don't these look delicious! You can find the recipe here:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/05/oven-fried-pickles-with-skinny-herb.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weightwatcherspointsrecipes+%28Gina%27s+Skinny+Recipes%29

I may try these tonight. Beau's coming over for dinner and hates pickles. I just might be able to convert him.

Nancyland revisited . . .

Since my last Nancyland post, I've had many questions about organization. Like I said before, it's not pretty but it is functional.

For little bits:

These clear boxes can be found in any craft store's jewelry department.  The trick is to get the boxes that have stationary dividers. There are some with removable dividers but I have found that all those bits get stuck underneath, making a scrambled mess inside the box.

Can't remember where I got these blue boxes but I love them. Inside, there are bunches of tiny compartments. I've separated brads and eyelets according to size, type, color and design.

Paper Storage:

Over the years I've tried several types of paper storage including horizontal shelves, wire racks, plastic paper trays and this is what works for me:

It's an old file cabinet I found at a used office furniture store.  I shopped this store for months with ruler in hand.  Most office file cabinets have drawers that are not tall enough to hold 12x12 paper.  I think this may have been in a doctor's office.  The drawers are about 13-14" tall so that I can stack paper vertically.

I like vertical storage because it makes going through individual papers easy.  I can ruffle through the papers without taking them out of the drawers.  The drawers are wide enough to accommodate two stacks per drawer.  The papers are semi-organized according to color: all reds together, all greens, all yellows, etc.

It's nice having these papers in a drawer. Even though everything is acid free, paper is still affected by too much light and can fade over time. Keeping it in drawers also keeps it free from light exposure.

The top drawer holds containers of photos.

The bottom drawer holds kits I've purchased from Carol Wingert and haven't started (yet).

And as you can see, on top are books waiting to be altered. 

Cardstock is stored vertically as well and in a rolling cart near my work desk:

Thanks for visiting Nancyland.

Remembering . . .

June Workshops . . .

can be found here:

http://art-from-the-heart.typepad.com/art_from_the_heart_class_/

Such a great idea . . .

for a man book! 

Found this as I was perusing blogs today:

You can see more on the GoGo Girl Scrapbooking blog.

Do yourself a favor . . .

and watch this video.  It is, by far, the most amazing mini-book I have ever seen.  I found myself gasping, talking to myself, talking to Anne and saying things out loud like *Oh  my gosh, I cannot believe this!*.

http://www.annespapercreations.com/2012/04/graphic-45-olde-curiosity-shoppe-mini.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AnnesPapercreations+%28annes+papercreations%29

It is about 30 minutes long and worth every singe second.

The work Anne put into this is astounding

and one of the most impressive mini's ever!

June? Seriously?

Grocery shopping this week the check-out gal asked what plans I had for the weekend. Weekend? Why? Then it dawned on me that this is Memorial Day weekend. What is happening? These weeks are flying by.

And me without samples ready.

Here are a couple of the cards we will be working on in the

Just Rite Stamp Class

Monday, June 11

6 pm

This class features stamps & dies that work well together

including but not limited to

Just Rite Stamps + Spellbinders dies.

We will create 4 cards total in this class.

Sign up by calling

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook

314-487-8131

Order dessert first . . .

The past couple of days, Timi, Nancy N, Judy and I have been on the road to Springfield MO and Rogers AR. We got to meet up with Timi's adorable grandson, 2 year old Brendan.  We shopped and ate are way up and down the highway.

One of the places we stopped was an adorable place called Spring Creek Tea Room in Springfield MO.

I first heard of this place on Cathe's blog, Just Something I made. We decided to try it for lunch Tuesday. 

First of all, it's located in a building that houses antiques.  Put your name on the list for a table and shop while you wait. They were very crowded Tuesday and yet we only had about a 20 minute wait.  Shopping the aisles made the time fly by.  

The restaurant portion of the store is adorable.  Chalkboard wall with vintage frames, books, etc decorating the space in a shabby chic way.  Pies and cakes are displayed behind a huge storefront window pane glass wall. The names of each are written on the panes of glass so you can see exactly what type you probably will order for dessert.  The aroma in the restaurant is simply delicious.

(borrowed this photo from Cathe's blog)

Timi, Nancy N and I ordered salads. The most delicious salads we ever had with homemade salad dressings that were light and uber-tasty. Judy ordered chicken salad and said it was the best she ever tasted.  We all agreed we would definitely come back each time we traveled to Springfield.

As we sat and ate our salads, we were salivating over the desserts that were being carried from the back room.  The cakes look amazing and the pies out-of-this-world.

Then it was time for dessert.  We checked out the chalkboard menu hanging on the wall and each of us made our decision.  The waitress came back and when we started to order . . .

WHAT!!!!!

All the desserts were gone.  Every last one.  Not even a crumb left.

We were so disappointed.  

I offered to lick the bowls or scrape the cake pans . . . eat off other people's plates (hey, the two gals behind us didn't finish their desserts and they looked harmless enough.) Don't think the waitress was going for any of it.

So the moral of this story is . . . 

Definitely stop by

Spring Creek Tea Room

and

order dessert first!

Organizing Nancyland . . .

For as long as I can remember I've crafted with one thing or another.  And gratefully, I've always had a craft room.

When Bill and I were newlyweds (40 years ago June 3!) we lived in a 2 bedroom flat.  The 2nd bedroom was my craft room. After a while, we built a home in High Ridge and Bill finished the basement so that I could have a craft room in the basement.

We've been back in St. Louis for almost 20 years and I have craft space in the basement. As some of you know, my son named my basement space *Nancyland*.  He has threatened to call hoarders. What he doesn't realize is that it may not be pretty but it is completely organized.

A place for everything and everything in its place.  Grandma would be proud.

We (those of us who craft) have talked about organization quite a bit.  And I have shown snippets of Nancyland now and then.  Recently, I've had students ask how I organize.

Obviously (as you'll see), I don't care about it being pretty but I do have to work in an organized, functional space. 

DIsclaimer: Please keep in mind that I teach and therefore have lots of things in multiples for classes. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

Small embellishments are kept in drawers and all labeled.

These are from Target in the hardware department. I liked the red color.

Alphabets sorted according to letters

(This idea courtesy of Becky D years ago and it still works for me.)

Stamps:

I keep Tim Holtz stamp sets in these We R Memory Keeper binders.

(I get mine @ For Keeps Sake Scrapbook.)

Wendy Vecchi stamp sets are kept in her acrylic binders.

Tim stamps are organized according to subject:

Backgrounds & Swirls

People

ATC's & Mini's

Travel

Houses, Games, Photo

Crowns & Bees

Words & Phrases

I have a few more books that are strictly for holidays.

Those I keep in a closet until the holiday is near.

Most of my stamps are in tubs according to the subjects:

Office

Travel & Time

Birthday & Thanks

Miscellaneous

Animals & Sports

Trees & Flowers

Alphabets

As you can see from the photo, I print on the sides of my background stamps

so I can see at a glance what they are.

Embellishments (chipboard, stickers, etc) are kept in drawer-like stacking containers.

They are slightly larger than 12" x 12".

I love having containers that I can pull out and work with by subject matter.

Here's how I divide up the drawers:

Wings & Crowns

Die Cut Wood

K&Co

Nostalgique (Yes, I hoard my Rebecca Sower things)

7 Gypsies & Crafty Secrets

Tabs

Borders

Envelopes

Tags

Miscellaneous Rub-Ons

Frames

Tiles

Writing & Money & Clocks

Flowers & Leaves

Tapes & Bookplates

Antique Tags & Labels

File Folders & Library Pockets

Antique Office

Transparencies

Words

U.S.

Travel

Party

Card Sayings

Stars & Hearts

 

Hope this helps you organize a bit.  I'll share more on another day.

I'm always open to ideas.

Please share how you organize with comments below.

Yesterday and tomorrow . . .

First, the future . . . 

Saturday, May 19 - 10:30-4:30: Use Your Stash Bookbinding:  This month's bookbinding class will turn an ordinary book into something special.  I've not taught this bookbinding before so hope you can join me for something new and exciting!  I will supply the book and the cardstock pages (and instructions of course).  You bring paper from your stash to decorate the inside pages.  $25

Supplies needed for class:

• Basics (see list posted here: http://art-from-the-heart.typepad.com/art_from_the_heart_class_/)
• Scor-board (I recommend Martha Stewart's)
• ScorTape or red-line tape (or similar) - 1/4" wide will work
• Craft knife

 To make reservations for the above class

please call

For Keeps Sake

314-487-8131

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

 

and for the past . . . 

The good news: It's day two of my new goal and I was successful in remembering to bring my camera to work.  Sixteen students later and I forgot to take pictures.  At the very end (after so many people had left) my lightening speed memory (?) shot into action:

The Savvy Stampers had great success with all those adorable birds on a branch.  Next month's stamps are not in the store quite yet but I think you will love them.

June 6 will be all about butterflies and fireflies and lady bugs.

and July . . . I've decided on Christmas in July themed cards.

To get in on the Savvy Stampers classes

and keep the stamp set we use in class

call

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook (314) 487-8131