Nancy Wethington

Oh my look at this art . . .

One of the Altered Book groups I'm in just sent this out:

It was created by artist

Rachel Ashe.

You can see more of her work here:

http://rachaelashe.com/

Where did the summer go . . .

I don't know about you but once September hits I'm thinking holidays.  What happened to the summer? So happy to think the heat is ready to subside (the sooner the better for me).

Here's what I've got going at For Keeps Sake in September:

Thursday, September 2: 6 pm - 8 pm: Cardiology: $12

We will create 3 cards using the newest Northwoods Fall stamps to hit FKS shelves.  We'll color these delightful images in with Copic Markers (BYO Copics) then bling them up with Ranger Stickles.  You can find a list of the colors we'll be using at For Keeps Sake.

Sunday, September 12: 12:30 pm - 4 pm: TAG book: $35

Hope you can join me for this playful tag book.  We'll bind-it-all together then stamp and junk this baby up to make it a fun journal.  BYO basics + (if you have them) a bind-it-all and your favorite border punch.  I'll have the tags, the envelopes, the binding materials + loads of my favorite stamps to embellish this book with.  Direct from Mrs. O'Leary's in Wichita, I'm happy to bring this energetic class to St. Louis' favorite paper arts meeting spot!

Tuesday, September 14 is CYI meet-up (free) + Card Club ($5 with a 6 month subscription)

CYI will meet at 6 pm with their latest Tag Swap trade. I've just divied up the teams as follows.  You will be trading 3 tags as follows (one to keep yourself):

1. Nancy Connelly, Donna Prothero, Mary June Walker
2. Dena Redfern, Trish Busby, Stacey Shea
3. Muffy Pullen, Mickie Kiefer, Bonnie Heggemann
4. Carol Blankenship, Sue Valthauser, Sue Benedick
5. Susie Newman, Carolyn Krassinger, Nancy Wethington

Stamp Club (meets between 7:15 and 7:30 pm, depending on how chatty we are in CYI):  We will be working with Copic Markers (for the card), colored pencils, Adirondack coloring pens, alcohol inks and a domino.  Please BYO Copics and colored pencils (and Adirondack markers if you have them), sand paper (600 grid), black Staz-On ink, black Memento ink + basic supplies.  Very excited to be working with dominoes again!

Layers . . .

Today is Monday and that means another challenge at Simon Says Stamp & Show. This week's theme is layers and you will have until Tuesday September 7 at midnight to turn in your entry.

Here's what I did for the Simon Says Stamp & Show DT:

 

 

I started out with the idea of doing something Halloween-ish with Graphic 45's Halloween in Wonderland.  So I bought a white pumpkin and canvas and took it home but when I got it home, nothing hit me until . . . I started going through my Graphic 45 stash and ran across Transatlantique.

Bill cut the pumpkin in half for me and then the fun began!

First, painted the pumpkin black using Tim Holtz Dabber paint

(out of the bottle and with a sponge brush).

One coat will do because it was going to be covered anyway.

Then I took the map paper from Transatlantique and cut it into 1/2" strips.

I knew that using paper on a convex shape would be too difficult to cover

unless it was cut into smaller pieces.

I chose to use strips so that you could still see the map itself.

However, this can certainly be collaged and will look fabulous!

After cutting the map into strips, I distressed the white cut edges with

Distress Ink.

Once that was done, using Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Medium

I glued each piece onto the pumpkin

starting at the pumpkin stem and working my way down.

Again, because of the convex shape,

unless I overlaid each strip

there had to be space in between - which is ok.

After everything was adhered and dried,

I covered the entire pumpkin with

Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Medium.

Then filled the in-between spaces with black Stickles.

 

 

Now it's canvas time:

I painted the canvas with

Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Line acrylic paints (Tan).

Once the paint was dry, I used Distress Inks to edge the canvas

making the edges a bit darker.

 

After that was painted, I felt it needed a little something more.

So I grabbed a Tim Holtz mask and decided to put a deeper color

on the canvas (using Distress Inks) in a subtle pattern.

You can barely see the pattern but it made me feel better!

Using a trusty glue gun,

the smaller canvas (5x7)

and the pumpkin

were adhered to the larger canvas.

And then the layering began with all that luscious

Graphic 45 Transatlantique

adhered to the canvas.

Added twisted wire and a blinged up fern leaf to the top of the pumpkin

and

Tim Holtz corners to the top

and

Tim Holtz feet to the bottom corners.

(not Tim's actual feet - you know what I mean!)

and a hanging Idea-ology charm
 

and some spinners

 

I've been very fortunate to travel a lot when I worked in the

corporate world.

This is an ode to my travels.

 

Enter the LAYERED contest here.

And just so you know

the winner

will be chosen by a random computerized drawing

and

you can win a $25 gift certificate to our sponsor's store

Simon Says Stamp

and

you don't have to have a blog to enter!

If you'd like to enter this contest

simply upload your image to

Flickr

then create a link on the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge blog here.

 Stop by and see what my very talented fellow DT members created.

What a great challenge!

 

 

 

Found . . .

With many adorable children going to school for the very first time this year, I'm hearing lots of quotes from friends about what their grandkids are saying upon entering kindergarten or pre-school for the first time.

Makes me think about Beau's first day of kindergarten.  It was a full day so I was very anxious to see what he thought.  He got in the car and said (very proud of himself) "well, I'm done".  Little did I know he thought he only had to go to kindergarten for one day (not an entire year) and thought that was the end of his kindergarten education.

Looking at various blogs, etc this morning and found this adorable layout on two peas:

You can see more here:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/gallery/member/209261-pne123/1658762-quotable-sarah/?c=t

So sorry, but I can't tell from this gal's bio what her real name is and/or if she has a blog.  Never-the-less, thought this was an adorable way to capture quotes from the little ones. 

 

Too fun . . .

and easy.

I am a fan of Celine Navarro's work and therefore visit her blog regularly.

Today, she had a program featured that allows you to create a mosaic of your work. 

You (ALL of you) probably already knew how to do this, but this was a new toy for me.

(Remember, I grew up in the typewriter era when the thought of having a tape deck was amazing)

So, if you want to create your own mosaic, click here: http://bighugelabs.com/

PS: It's much easier to do the mosaic if you have pics already uploaded to flickr.

And if you want to follow Celine's work click here: The Green Frog Studio

 

Another TRADE in the works . . .

at For Keeps Sake with my CYI group.

Gettin' ready!

Isn't that a great way to adorn the bottom of a tag?

with Prima leaves?

I saw this on someone's blog last week

(so sorry, can't remember who's)

and thought it was just wonderful.

If if was your blog, pleas identify yourself

so I can (1) give you credit and (2) list your blog here.

 

 

This Week's Challenge . . .

at Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge Blog is *Anything Lord Tim of Holtz Style*. 

When I first saw this challenge, I thought of the 3 T's: 

Tim

+

tags

+

techniques

I'll be heading for New England and Canada on Tim's Cruise soon and always travel with a journal of some kind.  I rarely remember everything I did on a trip and like to record (even if it's just bullet points) things that happened or things I did on a vacation.  So every trip I take along some kind of a little journal that I can pop in my carry-on.

Deciding to combine the two (journal + challenge) I came up with this:

 

I'll show you ALL the tags - backs and fronts.

There's lots.

Grab a cup-a-joe first!

Each tag is decorated on both sides

with

stampings

or

Tim designed papers

or

metals & embellishments.

 

 

The tab on this mini-envelope was made with the back cover

of Tim's paper pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's one more thing I'll share with you.

Perhaps you've seen this before on my blog.

It's  a canvas with one tag for each month of the year.

Each tag incorporates a different technique.

 

 

Create your own masterpiece

(a single tag, card front, scrapbook page, altered object)

and join the challenge at

Simon Says Stamp & Show

sponsored by

Simon Says Stamp.

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

 

 

 

What are you doing today . . .

I'm at For Keeps Sake from 12 Noon until 5 pm today (store hours)

amidst all the fabulous things just received like . . .

• Graphic 45: all the latest lines + their NEW embellishments
• Bo Bunny!
• My Mind's Eye: two new lines

Haunted

and

Lost & Found

OMG this Lost & Found is to die for gorgeous!

Need something from Ranger (or Tim or Wendy)? The new shipment from Ranger + Stampers Anonymous with the latest Tim & Wendy stamp sets.

And as always . . . Copic Markers . . . at an everyday low price of just $4.99 each.

 

Please stop by and visit

for a store tour

with all the new things that just flew in!

 

 

 

 

Some things never change . . .

and that makes me happy.

Woke up early today (as usual)

. . . . . . with a house full of kids . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . sleeping it off . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . on the family room floor . . .

and me working on stuff in my basement craft room studio.

There's something comforting about routine!

Looking for my . . .

St. Louis peeps.

You know who you are!

The Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge blog is up and running with this week's challenge:

Create something in the style of Wendy Vecchi.

You don't have to send it in.  Just create something and upload it to the Simon Says Stamp & Show blog.

It can be a card . . . a tag . . . or a larger project.

I'd love to see someone I know win!

The winners are chosen from a random drawing (done by a 'puter). 

And guess what?

Wendy has added an additional prize this week so there will be 2 random winners!

Here's the prize package Wendy added:

You've got the kids off to college.  The rest are in school and it's supposed to storm.  So get in your craft room and make something.  Then go show it off here:

http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/