Art From The Heart

Best line of the evening . . .

*We need more glitter over here.*

Carson Kressley on Dancing With The Stars

September's Bookbinding Class . . .

 

 
Saturday, September 22 (10:30 am - 4:30 pm) is my Book-of-the-Month class at For Keeps Sake.  It will be put together with the help of a portfolio, some adorable papers from October Afternoon and

 

a couple of different binding techniques we'll incorporate on the inside!

Use this book for filing important school papers, children's artwork or keeping track of

dates and notes about this school year.

Hope you can join me @

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook - St. Louis MO

314-487-8131

Reservations Required.

ATC's with Simon Says Stamp & Show . . .

If you're new to the world of ATC's, ATC = Artist Trading Card.  Artist Trading Cards have been around since 1996 when a Swiss artist (M. Vanci Stirnemann) decided to document his activities with other artists by producing 1200 cards by hand.  In 1997, a bookstore gallery in Zurich exhibited the cards.  On the last day of the exhibit, Stirnemann gave an ATC to anyone who wanted to trade.

A Canadian artist named Chuck Stake attended Stirnemann’s exhibition and participated in a trading session while in Zürich. Stake became very enthusiastic about ATCs and collaborated with Stirnemann to stage “The First International Biennial of Artist Trading Cards” at The New Gallery in Calgary, Canada.  It included 80 artists from 10 different countries. And the rest is . . .

There are just a few rules when creating ATC's. 

1. The size of the ATC must be 2.5" x 3.5"
2. They can never be sold - only traded
3. They need to be signed and dated by the artist.

I often wonder if Stirnemann knows what a quiet revolution he created.  Millions of artists from all over the world trade ATCs every day. 

I've been very lucky to be included in the world of ATC trades.  Since I first began trading and collecting, someone came up with the idea of making what is affectionately called CHUNKY ATC's. 

 

 
Cut from a 2" x 4" piece of wood, chunky ATC's are much more dimensional than their older sister but oh so much fun to decorate!  The chunky ATC that I created is all about Halloween. I love that these chunkies can stand-alone - a perfect little decor item for shelves or tabletop decorating.

Starting with a scrap piece of wood, I added Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 Art Parts. The shelf is from the Sample Pack and was painted with black acrylic. The bottle is from the Borders & Bottles set and used several layers of paint including Pearl Metallic Dabber to give the bottle of bit of sheen. I added a couple more 7 Gypsies bottles to the shelf.  (Of course, after I had this all completed, I thought I should have painted those ball feet to look like pumpkins. Oh well, the best laid plans . . . )

 

 

The pumpkin-head image above (isn't it adorable?!) is from Crafty Secrets Costume Cuties stamp set.  I love every image in this set! After stamping with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, the image was colored using Copic Markers. The mini bingo card is from Jenni Bowlin's Halloween collection.  This time, instead of using the actual size, I cut the miniature image from the back of the packaging. Adding Bronze Stickles gives each image some pizzazz.

 

Every witch needs a broom!  This stamped image came from my friend Joni Russell at Mrs. O'Leary's in Wichita KS.  If you're ever in Wichita, this is a must-stop!

 

Another adorable image from Crafty Secrets Costume Cuties stamp set.  This image was also stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, the image was colored using Copic Markers. 

If you're one of my blog followers, you may remember this chunky ATC I created last year:

 
Lots of Pink Paislee and Crafty Secrets images!

 

 

Stroll over to Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Blog and enter your ATC in any theme you choose. You may be the person who is randomly chosen to win a $50 gift certificate from our generous sponsor  

or you may be chosen as one of the

top 3 designers for the week!

Stop by

&

see what my Team Mates have come up with

as well as inspiring entries

for this week's challenge

on

Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Blog.

Thank you Ken and Unibind . . .

Attended an amazing class yesterday at For Keeps Sake.  Talented Ken Oliver taught a gorgeous Graphic 45 Renaissance Faire Unibind book with so much detail it made my head spin.

I'm finishing up the project today.  Here's the cover:

Last night at CYI . . .

OMG, what a great night at For Keeps Sake's CYI.

CYI = Create Your Imagination

It's a free meet-up

2nd Tuesday of each month

@ 6 pm

Last night, Ann W was our guest instructor.  She showed us some fabulous samples of building niches into altered books.  Great lessons.  Great handouts.  And tasty cookies.  She even had a prize giveaway for the next guest instructor!  WOW! 

Next month, Dena and Muffy will join forces to teach a booklet which can be added to any page in your altered book.  It can be a stand-alone project with envelopes or added to a scrapbook page.  We're adding it to our books and you can join us to see how this is done. 

Watch this blog for instructions on what to bring to CYI next month to join in on the fun!

Sue V brought in some amazing giveaways with vintage images.  Large poster-type sheets with glorious images.  We each received 3 sheets with different themes on each sheet.  Here's the Christmas themed posters:

 

In addition, Sue brought in vintage children's music sheets (we each received one!) and Ann brought in vintage-looking celestial map postcards of which we each got one.  Amazing huh!

We are gathering new members - which we all love.  Anyone is welcome to join us.  No reservations required.  Just jump in anytime you're looking for something to do @

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO

2nd Tuesday of each month - 6 pm

 

WOYWW . . .

Playing along this week with Stamping Ground's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. 

Here's what I've been working with . . .

Yep, Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 Art Parts.  My lips are sealed until Monday's post on Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge blog. 

Create Your Imagination . . .

CYI will take place tonight at For Keeps Sake.  We begin this free meet-up at 6 pm where we

share ideas, work on altered books and have a really fun get together.

Tonight, Ann W will be showing us how to put a niche in a book.  Here's what Ann says:

If you want to work on a niche or shadowbox--

  

*You will need a minimum of 1" in your book to work with.

If you want to try it in another book  bring an inexpensive paperback about 2" thick or one of the small phone books that  are free in QUICK Trip, or a yard sale book with the same thickness and covers in decent condition.....all of them will work for experimenting.  

  

*Please bring a glue stick and a clear glue that is fast drying. E 6000, 3-1 or Gesso

*Craft sheet, two gallon Ziploc type bags

 

*Match box (small stick matches) or a  mint container (altoids or other candy)

*Metal ruler or a wooden ruler with a metal edge

*Exacto knife with several new blades (cheap ones from the $ store will work but they don't hold up as well as a metal one)  Or a box cutter with a metal handle and several new blades.

*Stanley makes a cheap version for about $1.49 at the box stores & one that is about $8.00 with additional blades and a metal casing. If you plan to do lots of cutting the metal one holds up alot better.

Hope to see you then!

 

It's all about Steampunk . . .

on Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge blog.

I went straight to Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante 8x8 paper pad. The smaller scale of these patterns were just the right size for the Altoid-like tin I decided to alter. Two sizes of Grungeboard Wings were put through a Sizzix embossing folder before being painted and inked. They were then added to the front of the tin with Idea-ology gears.

 

The inside of the tin was finished with more Graphic 45 Steampunk.  As you can see, the entire tin was distressed using a two-step Modern Masters Metal Effects (Copper + Green Patina).  I really like the look it gives tin, paper, chipboard . . . just about anything.

 

I then added a mini-fold out booklet using Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante 8x8 paper pad + Idea-ology Hitch Fastener and Swivel Clasp.

 

 

Stroll over to Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Blog and enter something with Steampunk as the theme. You may be the person who is randomly chosen to win a $50 gift certificate from our generous sponsor  

or you may be chosen as one of the

top 3 designers for the week!

Stop by

&

see what my Team Mates have come up with

as well as inspiring entries

for this week's challenge

on

Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Blog.

 

Graphic 45's . . .

Halloween Rejuvenaiton Challenge!

Fall and Halloween are definitely on the way and we thought it would be fun to have an altered art challenge that's inspired by this colorful season. We're asking you to take an old object and bring it back to life with Graphic 45! We've all got stuff around the house that could use a little dressing up. Maybe it's something you found at a garage sale, thrift store, or even an old item that's been sitting in the basement since forever. We want you to create a beautiful Halloween or Fall-themed altered art project from any old, random objects you might have using Graphic 45 products. It's the perfect craft challenge to jump-start your holiday crafting!

The submission deadline is September 25th.  Email submissions to charee@g45papers.com. 

On September 26th all of the submissions will be uploaded to our Facebook photos and you will get to

vote for your favorite submission by "Like"-ing it!

oting is from September 26th to 7am on Septmeber 30th.

The TWO projects with the most likes win! Winners will be announced on Friday morning at 8am on our Facebook and on our blog.

The prize? You could win our entire Christmas Emporium collection! A 12x12 and 8x8 Paper Pad, both coordinating chipboard die-cuts and one of each cling stamp! That's a $76 value! Wow! We can't wait to see what you create! 

Here's what I created for the repurpose Halloween challenge:

From this . . . 

to this . . . 

Read all about it and see what my Team Mates have come up with on the Graphic 45 blog!