Delightful Artventures

I've been busy preparing for a workshop - The Ghoulfriends, A Halloween Journal With Tags

 We'll be assembling a book with pages to record  Halloween memories and thoughts.  These pages are not limited to ghoulish reflections only!  Each journal should be about your personal experiences and if Halloween is not your thing, you don't have to abide by that theme.  I just happen to have fond memories of that jolly holiday!

There will be lace pockets to hold the tags which we will be painting, stamping and adorning with ghoulish delights.  There's plenty of room behind these 8 x 4 tags to continue with your journaling artventures.  See how I journaled on the opposing page?  It was fun digging up pictures of past Halloween jaunts.

I like to give my tag girls names.  This one is Lost Soul.  She's been searching deep to find herself for several years.  Other tags from this workshop have names like Twilight, Raven and Black Magic Woman.  I find them to be hauntingly beautiful and not scary as their name may imply.  I hope you'll join me in this fun day of art making.  

And now for some news.  Great News!  Breaking News! Extra! Extra!  Guess what?  See that little cowboy below?  Well, he's a grown-up now and just two weeks ago he made ME a grandma!  YES!  I'm the happy grandmother of a bouncing baby girl!!   

Here she is being held by a very proud gramps.  LOL!  I can't stop staring at my little Penny.  And I swear, but not loud enough for her to hear me, that each time I see her she looks a little different.  As if she's changing every other day.  I wonder how she'll look next time I see her.  Probably more beautiful than the last time I saw her.  LOL!!!  I am a very happy and sappy grandma!

As you can see, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind of various activities.  I got behind in producing a sample of my Ghoulfriends Journal due to my constant visits with you-know-who.  

Have a great weekend.  Make sure to get your fingers dirty with paint, ink and glue.  Those are great signs of fantastic times!

Cozy Inchie

The word prompt at Every Inchie Monday is "Cozy."  Doesn't this kitty look cozy sleeping on a pile of yarn? 

This is the man responsible for creating the "yarn monster" in me!

My love of yarn began in the fifth grade when Sister Evangeline announced that she would be offering knitting lessons to girls after school.  I was pretty excited about this and I immediately signed up.
The big day came when we were to meet after school in Sister Evangeline's class.  Throughout the day girls would bring out their skein of yarn for show and tell to one another. I remember seeing shades of baby pink, baby yellow mixed with white and someone had this wild color combination of black with primary colors.  Everyone had brought their yarn to school except me.  My dad was going to bring my yarn and knitting needles later in the afternoon before leaving for work (he had the night shift).  My mother didn't drive and she was too pregnant to go out walking to shop for my supplies.  So that left Dad. 
We were all gathered in Sister's class ready to begin the first lesson and I still didn't have my yarn and needles.  I didn't know what it was like to sweat bullets but I think I learned about it that day.  All of a sudden there was a knock on the classroom's door and lo and behold it was my daddy!  He gave me a quick glance with a grin and a nod that seemed to say "Here's your stuff."  When I opened the bag from Newberry's there was a pair of white plastic knitting needles and a beautiful skein of coral yarn.  I think I got my love of color from my dad.  
I quickly caught on with casting, knitting and purling and by the end of our first project I was sporting a pretty jazzy coral headband.  Our next projects included knitting slippers (mine were medium yellow) and then baby booties (mine were a mix of various pinks that I had to donate for the school's White Elephant Booth).  By summer I began knitting lots of baby booties for my baby "something" (we never knew what we were going to get back then) that was coming in July.  I stuck with basic colors like white, mint and yellow and when "she" was born I saw to it that her feet were never cold.  
I suppose it's safe to say, and I'm sure you'll agree, that my love of yarn stems from that first skein of coral yarn that my father bought and chose for me.  And I think it's safe to say, and I'm sure you'll agree,  that my kitty's love of yarn comes from that basket of yarn I hope to make future projects with! 

Change

"CHANGE" is the prompt this week at Every Inchie Monday and as  you all know there's a lot of changing that goes on in fitting rooms.  Some good, some downright BAD.

Decades ago (at first I typed out many years ago, then I changed it to several years ago but in reality it was many decades ago and who am I kidding anyway) I worked in a department store where on occasion I'd stand at the fitting room handing out numbered tickets to customers.  I wore a red smock (we all did) and thankfully red was my color.  I was young(er), had long hair and when customers weren't trying to score a date with me they were yelling at me because they couldn't try on underwear.  as in panties.  Which reminds me, try not to buy underwear that isn't in a package cause you just never know.
Working in a department store taught me a couple things.  First, never argue with the customer because no matter how stupid their claim is they're always gonna be right and you can possibly loose your job if you tell them like it is.  Two, if something really cool goes on sale the majority of the employees will have their hands on it before the sale starts and the only sizes left will be the 0's or 1's.  How many times has that happened to YOU?  This was back in the days when sale prices ranged anywhere from $3.99 - $7.99 max and we're talking clothing items!
Even today, several decades later, I have dreams about going to work at that same place.  I actually call them nightmares.  A typical dream will go like this.  I walk into the store and have no idea what my schedule is cause I haven't been to work in a really long time.  Duh.  I walk back to the fitting room area and just stand there wondering when my next day off is.  
If you work at a fitting room, I have high respect for you and I will promise you that if I come to your fitting room, I will NOT be asking you if I can try on a pair of panties.
This post has been brought to you by the word CHANGE.  As in "change of clothes, time, job and panties."      
     

Re-purposed Artventures

It's taken a while to get my Daughter-in-Law's baby shower album together. 

I made the decision to re-purpose a binder that's been waiting quietly in a drawer for it's "one day" moment.

I took a piece of sandpaper and gave this old slick binder some "tooth" for paint to hold onto.  

After I sanded it down, I gave it a thick coat of white gesso and then the fun began!

Paint and decorative stamps covered the front and back covers of my binder giving it a new look!

The inside covers got "the treatment" too with decorative paper!

I thought long and hard about punching holes at the spine to hang fiber.  Should I?  Shouldn't I?  Slowly, a fiber pile developed.

Before long THIS was born!  I added buttons, beads and hung tags that I'd been saving (again for that one-day-moment).  I added ric-rac and a row of flowers.  I added more flowers onto the front and back covers and I was done for the day.

This is my first attempt at scrapbooking.  Thinking of the word "scrapbook" gives me  hives.  I prefer the word "memory art."  I had the most difficult time trying to decide where to start.  Once I made the decision to rely on the painting techniques that I've taught in a few of my workshops, I was over the first hurdle.  My love of fiber followed.
If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's that everything will fall right into place if I go with what I love, which in this case happened to be  paint, stamps and fiber.
My next challenge will be the page inserts.  The paper has been chosen, cut down to size and is now waiting to be attacked by pictures.  I've got to approach this one step at a time and maybe if I look at it as a journaling page, it too will come together in the end.  Wish me luck!


  
    

Imagine

Imagine is the theme over at Every Inchie Monday.  Can you IMAGINE watching the news and not hearing about a war, hate crime or other acts of violence?  

Can you IMAGINE living in a world where everyone is equal and treated with mutual respect?

Can you IMAGINE loving the same person for 32 years?  

Imagining how life could be, should be and is were the the ideas behind my IMAGINE inchies.  And yes, we've been married 32 years and he has a '63 bug!  And no, that's not us in the VW window.  Remember when couples used to sit real close together while driving around town?  That was before mandatory seat belt regulations for you youngsters who are scratching your heads.  And yes we wore our seat belts.  LOL!  
Try to live in peace, treat those around you with mutual respect, and don't be intimidated by love.  Now go make some art!
       

Day one of the "Stamp, Paper, Stuff" backyard sale took off with flying colors!  It was a day filled with friends, both old and new.

Jessica and camera shy friend "E" stopped by to check out our bargains.  Decisions, decisions!  So many stamps to choose from!

Charmaine (left), Ellie (right) and I all took a moment to enjoy each other's company and the beautiful sunshine that finally crept out.  

It's always good to catch up with friends to discuss the latest artventures we're into or to just be among each other's company.  Christina made Ellie and I delicious turkey sandwiches and potato salad.  "THANK YOU CHRISTINA!"  I was ready for a siesta afterwards but I had to stay awake to greet the constant flow of visitors we had at our sales.  

I think it's safe to say that there were good deals found by each person who dropped in on us.  Don't Joyce and Laverne look satisfied?  It was so good to see them both. 

And just as Ellie and I thought it was time to start putting our "merchandise" away for the day, Rosemary dropped in and surprised us!  But it was a good kind of surprise cause we don't see her often.  It's always great to hear what type of art she's dabbling in.  She's a big fan of Teesha Moore and was sharing her last Teesha encounter with us and more!

And then I was visited by a very dear friend of mine from elementary school.  I was actually her monitor when she was in the 2nd grade.  She was a sweet little girl who grew up to be a gracious woman.  "Thanks for dropping in Rachel!"  She's just started beading and she stocked up on a few bags of beads for an upcoming project.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support our Stamps, Paper, and Stuff backyard sale.  It was great to see you all and I think that Ellie would agree with me that the thought of your friendship means more to us than the sales.
For any of you that couldn't make it out today, "DAY TWO" begins at 9:00 A.M. tomorrow and will continue till 3:00 P.M.  Come join us if you can, we'd love to see you!
For those of you who enjoy eclectic jewelry,  my blogger buddy Sherry Goodloe will be having a class next Saturday.  Go to http://gotart.blogspot.com//2011/08/eclectic-charm-necklace-workshop-tim.html to see what she'll be teaching and to see what you can be making!  Very cool!
  

Yard Sale Update

OH MY! Look at what I've been finding!  There will be packs of paper at my yard sale!  Great for scrapbooking and paper art!  And at great (cheap cheap) prices!

You'd be amazed at what I've found in the wee hours of the morning.  And yes, I have been staying up as late/early as 4:00 A.M. and you know what I've discovered, besides finding a lot of lost art treasures?  I've discovered that staying up super later/early is for young people.  LOL!!!!  But hey, I'm on a mission and I will continue to unearth as many goodies as I can until I start seeing double.  Hmm, maybe not cause by then I'll be pricing and I refuse to double charge anyone!!!  This is a yard sale after all and you will be saving so much you'll think we're back in the 60s!  OK, that's an exaggeration but it did sound good, didn't it?     

I came across rolls of paper which make great book covers.  Aren't they great? 

At one time in my life I was into shopping at bead stores.  My daughter and I would trek on over to downtown L.A. and spend an entire morning scouring bead shops and pouring through stalls filled with boxes and boxes of beads.  Although I did make a few things, I never did get around to creating those beautiful necklaces I envisioned as I shopped.  sigh.  So I gathered as many beads as I could and divided them by color and packed those little suckers into snack-sized Ziplock bags.  And they fit in those little bags like a family of sardines but without the stinky smell!  I am not skimping on the goods, folks.  Click on the pictures to get a closer look.  There may be more packs of beads on the way. 

There will also be a handful of art prints at our yard sale.  These prints are of professional quality.  The colors and images are beautiful.  The texture of the paper on some of these art prints is amazing.   You have to see these in person to appreciate their beauty.  This is just a handful of what will be on display and they will be priced below $5!  That's all I can say.  I don't want a yard sale riot over here!!!  But come anyway!   

Well, I'm off to put stacks of paper together, search for more yarn, embellishments and maybe, just maybe I'll get around to the rubber stamps today!   Oh so much to do before Saturday.  Remember, our yard sale is this weekend, the 13 and 14, and will run from 9:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.  E-mail me at stampmaiden@aol.com for my address and directions.  My apologies to those of you who had a tough time reaching my link on my last post.  I don't know what possessed me to add www in front of stampmaiden!  Maybe I want an online shop, huh?  Oh well, it's gonna be a yard sale for now!  Hope to see you all!

Save the Date! Yard Sale!!

There's a "backyard sale" coming to Los Angeles on August 13 and 14!  There will be some of this...................................

Some of this..............

Some of this...............................

Some of this..............................

and some of this and more!!!

My friend Ellie and I are hosting a crafty yard sale on August 13 AND 14th in my backyard from 9 A.M. - 3 P.M.!  If you enjoy stamping, making cards, scrap booking, reading arty magazines, knitting, crocheting, dabbling in jewelry, embellishing your art projects, etc....then you DON'T want to miss this yard sale!  Believe me when I tell you that what you see here is just the tip of the iceberg!  There are more stamps to dig out, more yarn, magazines, beads (they didn't even make it on this post!), paper, paper punches, embellishments and MORE to pull out of hiding!  By the time we set everything up I hope hope hope there will be enough tables but hey, it's a yard sale and if we have to, we'll put out blankets and place whatever doesn't fit on tables out on the grass!  That's how much stuff we have and guess what?  Our prices will not make a dent in your wallet cause we live in the real world of this current economy and we know that being crafty should not make you sing the blues but shout for joy cause you found bargains!  Our prices start at .50 and go up by not much! 
Keep visiting my blog to get a glimpse of what else Ellie and I will be selling.  We just keep finding stuff!  Oh, and if you're interested in coming to our backyard sale, please e-mail me privately at www.stampmaiden@aol.com  for directions to my address.  Hope to hear from you!

Sunset

Sunset.

  
Sunset is the theme over at Every-inchie-Monday.  I didn't think of palm trees waving through orange-pink backgrounds or lavender clouds sailing across hot pink skies.  I thought of an older woman.  As the numbers of my age grow higher, I know what  kind of older woman I'd like to be.  One who can look back and laugh.  One who can look forward and smile.  One who's not afraid of who she's become.  And one who's not afraid to stretch out her arms to welcome the sunset of her life.                 

Every Inchie Monday

Nest is the chosen word this week at Every Inchie Monday.

Wherever your're "nest - ing" be content in it and be grateful that you have somewhere to "be."    

Inchie Monday

Can you smell the pages?

The word prompt this week at the Every Inchie Monday site is "BOOKS."  How convenient and lucky for me to be surrounded by them the majority of the school year.  This is my summer reading stack.

My summer reading stack holds a variety of titles that include biographies, fiction and history.  

  

The covers of these inchies were all created from the pages of discarded book catalogs and one of these inchies has an old borrower's book card as a background.  A few of the titles and images are mixed-up on purpose except for two.  Each inchie was then glued onto EcoArtBoard which was the perfect surface to create the dimensional look of a book.  "Spines" were painted with acrylic paint.  Which reminds me.... NEVER use acrylic paint on your
books boys and girls unless you're altering a DISCARDED book.  There's NO way I could ever explain my way out of this to my students.  What would they think of me?!!!!  I can just hear them..."MRS. FORREST IS DOING WHAT TO BOOKS?!  OOOOO,  MRS. FORREST!" 
So what's on your reading stack and have you turned any of the pages?   

Asian Infused Memory Keepsake

Just thought I'd give you another look at the Asian Infused Memory Keepsake Workshop that I'll be leading this coming Sat., July 16 at Stampin' From the Heart.

By adding pictures, you'll be personalizing your keepsake making it super-special.  These "pages" fold down revealing more pictures from your past or present.

We'll spend time doing a little painting, stamping, embossing and embellishing of this very unique keepsake.  Oh, and there will be lots of smiles and happy sighs - a good time is guaranteed.   

I do a lot of prep work to ensure that  you'll leave with a completed project.  You can get more info by clicking on Stampin' From the Heart's icon to the right of my sidebar or by e-mailing me.  
I just showed you glimpses of the inside of the Asian Infused Memory Keepsake.  Scroll down to see the cover.
Hope you'll come out to play!  

  

Workshop Coming, Stay Tuned...

Coming Saturday, July 16 in Los Angeles at Stampin From the Heart...  No, not that "thing" the media has dubbed as "Carmageddon" - what does the media know about all those side streets we street savvy Angelenos have known about for years anyway?!  You know, those roads we zip through in order to get home pronto during rush hour traffic so we can get our fingers all inky, painty and gluey!  Uh huh, that's what I thought.  NADA, NOTHING, ZAP!  Rev it up LOUD people, get your engines ready cause there's an art workshop coming to L.A. and it's just what you need to get your art mojo going!
This is just a sneak peak.  I do a  lot of prep work so please sign up as early as possible.  

More sneaks to come throughout the week.  Keep looking...stay tuned....later..... 

Tag Girls MITI Details

Tag Girl MITI this Friday at Stampin' From the Heart in Los Angeles!  These Tag Girls are not named for the fact that they're mounted on 4 x 8 tags, but because they're actually donning tags themselves!

The Tag Girls are full of little details that make a big difference.  I can't seem to let something just be.  I always gotta be adding a little of this or that.  Some might say  I'm a bit obsessed with extra touches.  Yeah, they're right.  

Did I mention that we'll be spending time painting distressed backgrounds with acrylic paints?  Each time I sit down to create a painted background, I'm very careful NOT to repeat colors.  Handouts are passed out at all my MITIs so that you can re-create these painted backgrounds not just on tags, but on journal pages or small panels that you can mount onto handmade cards.

There will be a healthy dose of fiber too!  Fiber does the body good you know.  LOL!  I couldn't resist.  I know, I know.....

This is what the Tag Girls will look like once they're all put together.  You can make one, two or all three.  Can you tell I'm in the 4th of July spirit?  

Injecting fun in an evening of art making is my number one goal and I hope you'll join me this Friday, July 1st.  Check out my sidebar where you can get more info at Stampin' From the Heart's blog.
I'll have extra kits from my last MITI available for you to paint in addition to the Tag Girls.  Hope to see you!