Nancy Wethington

Yep, we ordered it . . .

Our two day whirlwind shopping spree at CHA Summer is complete.  Here are a few things you can watch for that will start arriving at For Keeps Sake mid-August.  Not everything ships at once, so patience please. Most things will be shipped within the next few months.

Layer, layer, layer with these amazing greeting card images:

flowers by the yard from Maya Road:

"doors" from Prima:

 

goodies from Jenni Bowlin including tissue thin feathers:

gorgeous Just Rite stamps and Spellbinders dies including

Becca Feeken's newest line:

I cannot wait until all this comes in and we can start playing with all these goodies.

Look for some new classes that I was able to plan while at CHA.

You know I'll keep you posted right here!

This week . . .

Thank you to all who attended yesterday's bookbinding workshop. I appreciate each of you! It was a fun day.

This week is busy, busy with . . .

Sunday: Meeting at For Keeps Sake

Monday & Tuesday: Prepping for this week's classes + Judy's birthday celebration

Wednesday: Mary Engelbreit's in the morning for a product development meeting and then off to For Keeps Sake in the afternoon.

Thursday: A Cut Above classes at 2 pm and 6 pm (If you're attending, don't forget to look here for a major change to these classes. Scroll down until you see the July 26 date.)

And now, a look at a few of my favorite things from CHA:

 

Home from CHA but first . . .

a bit about Midwest Americana . . . 

aka

Morris, IL

I first found out about Morris IL from a post on ?????'s blog (sorry, but there goes that memory thing again). Anyway, it looked so intrigueing

and

it is only about an hour or so south of Chicago

and

my Dad's name was Morris

and

once the girls heard there was shopping and good food

we were on our way!

Look how cute this town is . . .

Lunch at Letty Mae's Tea Room!

How cute is this!

Vintage aprons hang between the dining room

and the gift shop at Letty Mae's.

Refreshing iced water on a hot summer's day.

That blue striped straw made it even better!

This is how Letty Mae's marked our table reservation.

LOVED this door on Ruby Begonia's!

Moral of the story: 

If you ever find yourself just south of Chicago

stop in

Morris, IL.

 

Bookbinding Workshop July 28 . . .

Just back from CHA and excited for tomorrow's bookbinding workshop.  If you've signed up for this class, you can find a supply list here:

http://art-from-the-heart.typepad.com/art_from_the_heart_class_/2012/05/save-the-dates-.html

The basic supply list is at the top of that post

AND

the special items you need to bring with you are under the class date (you'll need to scroll down a bit).

Hope to see you there.

PS: The class is sold out. Thank you!

Sappington Farmers Market . . .

I have to start shopping here even more than I currently do. 

http://www.sappingtonfarmersmkt.com/

Loving how many Missouri farmers and St. Louis businesses are associated with this local market:

http://www.sappingtonfarmersmkt.com/featured_farmer.htm

Oh what a night . . .

We missed quite a few of our *regulars* last night but had a great time.  Vicki joined us again and so did Sherry (welcome back girls!).

Our altered trades were fabulous!

Here's the rest of mine (I teased you with this yesterday):

The side view shows you more of how we put these together.

Use the bottom of 2 Altoid tins.

Hinge them together.

Add heavy chipboard to the front and back so they'll stand on their own.

Decorate.

Sue Kelemen's:

Bonnie's:

Muffy's:

Trish:

Vicki's:

We all really liked Vicki's ribbon hinges.

Aren't they all wonderful! So much fun to create.

Karen showed us her newest domino, decorated with egg shells!

When is a tea cup not a tea cup? When Bonnie alters it!

Here's the bag Bonnie decorated with our latest obsession: embossing powders from Sparkle and Sprinkle. The colors and bling you can get from these powders is amazing! And the glitter - OH MY! 

Stop by For Keeps Sake and see the rainbow of colors. I'm picking up some of the glorious fall colors in anticipation of the upcoming season. (yes, already tired of the hot weather.)

Here's what we've planned for our future trades:

August:  We're making domino mini books. The trade is a one-on-one. Following are a couple of inspirational blogs:

http://paperpiecesofme.blogspot.com/2011/04/domino-mini-book-tutorial-part-1.html

http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/domino-mini-book.html

http://www.joggles.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=10870

and I'm sure there are some on pinterest.

September: Altered Tea Cups with a Christmas Theme. Following Bonnie's lead, we'll decorate the inside of a tea cup with holiday decor.  This trade is a one-on-one. Not necessarily Christmas-y, but here are some inspirational blogs/photos:

http://stephdevlin.typepad.com/photos/prima_marketing/alteredcup7pwm.html

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77161080/teacup-garden-alice-in-wonderland-red

You may choose to use the saucer (or not) or do as Bonnie did and hang the cup from a pretty ribbon like a Christmas ornament.

Whatever your choice, we hope you can jump in and join us for these inspirational trades.

Driving home from Create Your Imagination last night, I saw this:

What a way to end a day!

Hope to see you next time

@

For Keeps Sake

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

 

 

 

 

It was only . . .

90 degrees outside yesterday. What a relief and what a difference 14 or so degrees makes. Every time I complained about how hot it was I got a little tinge of the guilts as I kept thinking of my son who spent 2 tours in Iraq with a 70 pound pack of whatever-those-guys-carry and dressed from head to toe in hot gear.

And that rain Sunday was glorious - even if it did hail.

Can you tell I'm not a hot weather desert person?

Thanks to the gals who made it to my Just Rite with Spellbinders class last night. I appreciate each of you.

Tonight, we'll be at For Keeps Sake again, this time with my Create Your Imagination gals. This is such a fun group of creative peeps. Jump in any time for inspiration and craft talk.

At 6 pm we'll gather and share ideas of what we've been working on. Graphic 45 just returned the last of my CHA projects from this past season so I may bring those to show you.

We're also doing a 1-on-1 trade of altered altoid tins. Mary June brought these to us last month and it was love at first sight. So tonight - we trade away. Even if you're not involved in the trade, hope you can drop by and take a look at all these little beauties.

Bonnie will be bringing in her altered tea cup. I am designating this our September challenge. Do one up in a Christmas theme and let's trade!

Also, have you seen this:

Someone posted this to pinterest. It was designed by Nancy Maxwell James who, IMHO, is a genius when it comes to assemblage and paper arts. I love everything this woman creates.  Hop over to her blog and you'll understand why I'm saying this!

Anyway, I was thinking we could do something like this with those Altoid lids we just pulled off the tins. Whadya think?

Here's a little peek at my tin that I'm trading tonight. Tomorrow, watch for picks of everyone's amazing work!

All this is happening

@

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

Hope to see you there!

Thinking out loud . . .

Actually, if the truth be told, I talk to myself out loud. And I usually like the answers I get.

This thought just jumped in and interrupted the first conversation I was having with myself.  Let me know what you think.

Usually, when I teach a bookbinding class, it's more about the binding than the decorating. Sometimes you bring the paper for each page. Other times, I supply the paper. In any case, during a day long workshop, the most we do is the bookbinding, the front cover and wallpaper the pages.

So, I'm wondering if you would be interested in . . . 

• a 2 day workshop, maybe broken up into either one weekend long workshop or 2 different Saturdays within one month
• The first day we would bind the book and wallpaper the pages
• The 2nd day we would decorate the book in its entirety with ephemera and embellishments and stampings and ribbons and whatever else I can get my hands on.

Let me know your thoughts on this concept and I'll see what I can come up with sometime in the Fall.

Just Rite + Spellbinders means it's . . .

Monday, July 9

6 pm

Getting ready for Monday's class with beautiful Spellbinders dies and detailed Just Rite stamps. We'll combine both to create 4 cards with a butterfly theme.

If you're attending my class, please bring:

• Basics (you can find the list here: http://art-from-the-heart.typepad.com/art_from_the_heart_class_/2012/05/save-the-dates-.html
• Zutter Round It All (if you have one. Otherwise use mine.)
• Heat gun
• Inks: I used Versafine Vintage Sepia; Brilliance Starlight Black; Memento Black; Distress Inks in Stormy Sky, Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Pumice Stone and Tumbled Glass (I will have inks for you to use if you don't have these colors.)

Some of you like to bring your own Just Rite stamps.  If so, we will be using:

• Vintage Floral Labels
• Fleur de Lis Labels Twenty
• Clear blocks for stamps

I will have the Spellbinders dies pre-cut for you.

If you'd like to sign up

today (Saturday, July 7) is the last day for sign-ups!

Call

For Keeps Sake Scrapbook

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

(314) 487-8131

to make your reservation.

 

I'm a new member of . . .

a vintage photo image ATC group.  I haven't created ATC's in quite a while but my Springfield buddy Candy got me interested in trying these again. I was accepted into the same amazing group of artists as Candy (yippee) and got busy with a New Member Swap.

Look what I just received:

Each one a little beauty.  Here they are up close:

This ATC was created by Teri Chinen.

 

April Dudko's ATC

 

Kris Dickinson's ATC.

You can find more of Kris' amazing art here:

http://nostalgiccollage.blogspot.com/

and her HALLOWEEN (!) blog here:

http://anostalgichalloween.blogspot.com/

 

Here's what I sent out:

So happy to be a new member of this swap group.

Thank you for the beautiful ATC's!