Nancy Wethington

October Workshops are up . . .

WHAT! OCTOBER! ALREADY!

Here is a list of the workshops I'll be teaching this month:

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

Practicing again . . .

with some old photos and 12x12 formats.

On another note, why does Publishers' Clearing House keep sending me letters of intent when I've told them a thousand times that I do intend on winning?

A Cut Above . . .

tomorrow . . . 

September 27

2 pm or 6 pm

Choose your own papers and create a card using this month's club die.

BYO machine such as Big Shot or similar.

Round scallop punch.

Inks of your choice.

 

See you tomorrow

@

For Keeps Sake - 4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

NOTE: If you missed this gathering, this month's *kit* will include the club die only.

(10th) time's a charm . . .

I ended my two page 12x12, 3 day extravaganza scrapbook hullabaloo with this:

Enlarged the photo and took away the tree and the house.

 

Added tons of machine stitching.

 

Back to the practice table.

This craft is not for sissies!

Gypsies . . .

A little trade with an online ATC group I'm associated with is complete.  The theme is *Gypsy*.  I remember the first time I saw a troupe of gypsies. I was 18 and traveling through Spain.  We were on a country road heading to Asturias. And suddenly there they were.  A caravan of gypsies . . . looking exactly as you can imagine. Wagons. Horses. Some of them walking.

Not sure where they were headed but I do remember being completely enamored with them. What a way to travel!  All the time in the world to discover anything and everything you wanted.

Sigh.

A few years later, I went on my first camping trip.

And that's when I discovered that maybe the gypsy life was not for me. I preferred indoor plumbing. Hot water. A fully equipped kitchen.

Today, my gypsy life means staying in a hotel with no room service.

This ATC is an altered photo. I added white glaze pen markings to her fringe, pink wings and sparkles on the flowers she's trying to sell. Coins from various European countries overlap the German scrap paper border.

Still working on the re-do 12x12 scrapbook page. I'm now on version 237! (not really)

PS: Entering the gypsy into the Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge this week. Haven't played over there for a while and just love the samples and entries they get each week. Really inspiring!

 

Channeling the designers . . .

It's been ages since I've done a 12x12 scrapbook page. My M.O. is usually mini books and cards. After going through old photos, I found some pics of Beau back in '93, our first Christmas in our current home.

Finding my mojo with the 12x12 pages hasn't been easy. It seems that every time I have done a page in the past, it always looks the same to me.  This time, I'm trying to channel one of my favorite designers, Heather Jacob.

I love the layering and grouping she does on each page. She adds the most unique and amazing embellishments, not to mention the stitching. 

So far, my copycat designs are not working. It's taken me all day and I'm still working on one 12x12 page, which would be OK if I were satisfied with it.  But I'm not.

Here's my first attempt:

I didn't know where to look.  Where was my focal point?  The tree?  The little house?  Beau? 

NADA!

So I took the tree away and now have this:

It looks better to me, but still needs work.

Going back to the drawing board. Suggestions encouraged and appreciated!

UPDATE: I don't like this! Scratching this and starting over. UGH!

Junque Journal 2013 . . .

For the past few years I've been creating Junque Journal Calendars.  They are so much fun!  Usually, I create these the week between Christmas and New Years.  This year, I decided to hold a workshop early enough so that if you want to give it as a gift, it's ready to go.

Using papers from Tim Holtz and American Craft, this calendar is created using almost everything in a kraft color.  The finished book is generic enough for everyone, yet filled with a 2013 (month by month) page calendar with plenty of spaces to write notes, add ephemera or collect ticket stubs and photos.

BYO Zutter Bind-It-All or The Cinch (or use mine) to bind the entire yearly calendar together.  Flip pages to add included American Crafts corrugated numbers, letters and stickers and use my rubber stamps to add finishing touches.

There's plenty included in this workshop to make each one uniquely your own!

Saturday, November 24

10:30 am - 4:30 pm

$35

Limited Seating

Reservations Required

@

For Keeps Sake - 4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

(314) 487-8131

 

Please bring to the workshop:

• Basic supplies
• Bind-It-All or The Cinch (if you have one)
• Inks I used (if you want to BYO): Rusty Hinge Distress Ink; Denim Distress Ink; Memento Black
• Clear blocks for cling stamps (I'll have plenty of stamps!)

Save the date . . .

Attic Sale

October 6, 7, 8

(Saturday, Sunday, Monday)

@

For Keeps Sake

4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

For Keeps Sake and the FKS Instructors

are cleaning out their attics, craft rooms & storage spaces

to bring you our first ever

ATTIC SALE.

You won't believe the fabulous deals you'll get on

some of the best products in the industry.

SAVE THE DATE

and join us for this weekend long extravaganza.

Couple of things to share this morning . . .

I've been playing with a new set of stamps from Oxford Impressions. Actually, Suzanne sent several sets but this morning I'm working with an adorable Halloween set called Masquerade.

I combined 5 of the small stamps from Masquerade with Spellbinders Hexagon die.

More stamps from the same Masquerade set. You get so many stamps on 1 sheet - an amazing value! Spellbinders dies again (love those things!): Exquisite Circles; Labels Twenty. Copic Markers were used to color the girl with cats image.

All this brings me to my next class: Two Tag Tuesday

Two Tag Tuesday

September 18

2 pm or 6 pm

I'll bring some of these delightful stamps to class where we can practice batik techniques. I think you'll love doing this really simple but WOW factor technique. If you don't like Halloween, then please BYO stamps that you do love - two or three will do.

We will need to use:

• Heat gun
• Clear embossing powder and Versamark Ink pad
• Craft iron (if you have one)
• A towel (if you're bringing an iron)
• Clear blocks for stamps
• Your favorite colors for inking Halloween backgrounds: greens, oranges, purples, blacks
• Edge distresser

It's going to be difficult for you to appreciate this technique from the photo below but it is a *wow* factor technique and one I'm sure you'll love.

Hope to see you soon

@

For Keeps Sake - 4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129

(314) 487-8131

Such a good meet-up last night . . .

at CYI. If you're not attending these meet-ups, you're missing a great time (just sayin').

Here's the tea cup trade. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(UGH, I think I missed one photo. OH NO!)

Although we had a lot more people than trades, it just goes to show you that . . .

• if you can make the trade, then that's good and jump in
• if you can't make the trade, no problem. Come to CYI anyway 'cause there's always a lot more going on.
• no pressure to trade. If you want to join the trade, just show up that night with what you've created.

See how easy!

Dena brought in some beautiful bracelets she made with her niece. The base of the bracelet was a piece of silverware top i.e., top of a fork, spoon, etc. Then beads and a clasp were added. Gorgeous pieces!

Then after the trade, Vicki showed us how she put together her toilet paper roll book. She shared great tips with us of how to make things easier, finish edges, etc.  Some of the gals brought along supplies to play along.

 

 

 

Great job Vicki. Thank you so much!

And . . . TA DA . . . Jennifer is back with us! So good to see her walking again. Stay with us Jen and say *hi* to your beautiful daughter Taylor.

NEXT MONTH: We are creating our own version of toilet paper roll books.  Any theme. Any way you want to bind them.  Make one and bring it in to trade. There are a gazzilion ideas on you tube. Just go here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toilet+paper+roll+mini+album&oq=toilet+paper+roll&gs_l=youtube.1.2.0l10.17306.20106.0.22473.17.11.0.6.6.0.144.1274.1j10.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.nhio1RiOkGc

Hope to see you

2nd Tuesday of each month

6 pm

@

For Keeps Sake - 4530 Lemay Ferry Road - St. Louis MO 63129