Artiscape 2016 - Concertina Book Class

There's no such thing as too much fun, and I should know.  When I teach classes, I have more fun that anyone in the room!  It's possible these 2 gals gave me a run for my money last Friday; just possible.

Two of these charmers were registered for another class and switched to mine at the last minute.  The only supplies they had to bring were scissors and a glue stick from their stamping suitcases, but I'd packed extras and shared a few of the glue sticks and lots of double-stick tape throughout the morning.

I admit I do a lot of my best work standing and clearly I'm not alone in that preference.  As in all my classes, I really should bring along an assistant just to snap photos, because I'm too busy running around, lending a hand, or digging for a needed item, that I forget to capture all the fun to share here.

I offered both masks and stencils at the beginning of the class, but the only masks used were the tiny ones I set out by each student.  Everyone still loves stencils so those were the most popular.  That doesn't surprise any of us, does it?

I'd packed both Ranger and Clearsnap dye-based inks for this class in bright, cheerful colors because those are my favorites.  But I brought lots of sample books done with walnut ink,  Distress inks in the original palette of Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Tea Dye & Old Paper, but also one with Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Spiced Marmalade & Worn Lipstick, so they'd realize their options were many.

 

 

And I packed more than 800 rubber stamps and a dozen black ink pads so that once their color was applied, they could stamp a few cute saying and images.  They seemed to get my quirky sense of humor, thank goodness!  And instead of giving them just 7 photos for their 7 windows, I gave them close to 100!!  After all, I've been collecting thousands of black & white photos for years now, so I wanted to show them off a bit. 

 

Again, these girls were taking my class for the first time but insisted they'd be back next year for more.  I sure hope so!

 

It's taken me a few days to unpack everything from the classes.  But I shopped at antique malls in VA, WV and OH for a full week and really want to examine all my treasures before I start organizing it all into drawers and cubbies.  Wish me luck with that!

 

 



Artiscape 2016- A Jumble of Journals

Sure, I see all the stuff on that table.  I put most of it there myself.  But this was close to the beginning of a 4-hour class, so just imagine how it looked at the end!  This was my Jumble of Journals class where I promised to guide them through 4 totally different types of journals.  And they'd have been thrilled with that, but instead we made SIX!!  In just 4 hours!  Can you even imagine?

This photo was taken while everyone worked on their 3rd journal of the day.  I asked them to tidy up after each one was completed so their kits wouldn't get jumbled together.

I think they had as much fun plundering through the kits, choosing ephemera to add to pages, learning about origami folds, deciding the order of their pages and such as I had pulling it all together for them.

I still have extra kits for all of these journals if anyone is interested.  Just ask.  I enjoy moving around the room, checking the progress, noticing the ones who keep everything neat and tidy while others prefer to see all their options at their fingertips.

And of course I love journal classes that allow me to share all the ephemera I continue to collect.

I wish I'd had more time to get to know all these lovely gals since this was their first time taking one of my classes, but there wasn't a minute to spare. 

 

And I brought so much more than what you see in their kits.  I packed lots of glue sticks and rolls of double-stick tape, just in case anyone forgot to pack something, or ran out. 

 

 

If you'll look on that table behind these busy ladies you'll see just a portion of things I brought along for this one class.  Yes there's a Cinch on the left, and not one, but two Zutter Bind-It-Alls.  And of course that required wire cutters and the spiral bindings.  And I wanted everyone to try their corner rounders which punch beautifully through chipboard and mat board.  But you can also stack up sheets of cardstock and punch through the entire stack at once too.

 

 



One of our journals used those heavy duty travel Bingo cards with the red sliders to cover the numbers and O-rings as the binding.  That meant punching holes in lots and lots of cardstock, so I brought 3 heavy duty hole punches as well as handheld punches.  And because I like to spoil my students, I'd already punched quite a few of their pages and rounded the corners too.

  I find my students prefer when I pack all the necessities like 5 awls, 8 punches, 3 binding machines, etc., allowing them to bring just a pair of scissors and a glue stick.  I even wrapped washi tape around playing cards to tuck into their kits for that little added detail, though a few brought their own rolls.

 

The journal made with the spiral binding has coasters as covers, some courtesy of my brother who lived in England for 25 years and brought me a few.  I just love the unusual, don't you?  But I wanted everyone to have the opportunity to try the Cinch or the Bind It All, just in case they hadn't already made a purchase, allowing them to compare the features.

 

And the 6th journal was really a gift from me, which some completed right there in the room and some only began.  Who doesn't love a freebie, right?

 

Next post includes photos from my Concertina Book class, so be sure to check back!

I'm Still Here

Yes I realize it's been a year since I posted on my blog.  A busy year.  I might even say a hectic year.  Busy having fun if you really want to know.

Last year this time I was preparing to teach at Artiscape for the first time, and today I'm doing the very same thing.  I'll be teaching 3 classes again this year and during my free time we'll be easy to spot in downtown Columbus antique stores or those incredible book stores we discovered last year.  We left NC with the car filled to the brim and unloaded all those art kits, thinking we'd come home with a fairly empty SUV.  Alas, we came home with more in the car from those shopping excursions than we'd left with, leaving a tiny space in the stacks so I could see out my rearview mirror.

 
In June we traveled down to FL for Stampfest.  My classes there are always fun filled with lots of chatter and laughter, seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  I was one of 4 instructors for a mega workshop on Saturday night when we were all exhausted, but it didn't stop us from having too much fun.

 

 

Journals are still my favorite classes to teach because it gives me an excuse to keep buying paper ephemera in all those antique malls we visit from coast to coast.  For the third year in a row I spent 4 1/2 hours in an antique mall in Monterey CA, with 4 hours in one booth looking through thousands of old b&w photos.  It's a sickness!  But this year I'm teaching several classes using those very photographs, so I feel I've justified that extravagance.

 



And I'll be back in Cincinnati in August teaching 6 classes at my beloved Stampaway.  This was my first convention more than 20 years ago and every year I'm just as excited to work my way up and down the aisles with the rest of the crowd, searching for those rubber stamps and supplies I simply can't live without.

I'm on a roll now so expect me back with more photos.  Lots and lots of photos.  And news about my travels and classes and such.

Maybe even later today!

I'm Teaching at Artiscape Next Week

I'm pleased to tell you I'll be teaching at Artiscape next week in Ohio.  It's an unconventional "convention", unlike my usual venue, but I'm so excited to add it to my schedule.  There are 50 workshops offered over the course of 4 days, as well as an Artist's Marketplace and an Outsider Art Fair. 

Can't steal away for 4 days?  Not to worry because day-trippers are welcome to shop or attend a class or two.  There are 15 art supply vendors from across the country, plus artists selling their wares including jewelry, paper, book arts, glass, metal and so much more. 

The workshops cover so many topics from metal embossing to torch enameling, encaustics to stencils, watercolor to Zentangles, and of course a wide variety of journals will be made.  Why I'd be taking a class or two if I weren't on the schedule to teach.

My studio is a whirlwind of activity as kits are being prepared.  My collections of old ledgers, books of sheet music, foreign text books and such have been plundered for my Specimen Box Collage class.  There are teeny tiny puzzle pieces, buttons & lace, flashing tape, and so many things scattered here and there, awaiting their turn to be packed into baggies & boxes.

There are oversized sheets of cardstock in various weights and colors being trimmed to size for the Collage in Miniature class.  Inks and paints, stencils and applicators, are all being corralled and sorted.  Every drawer and bin has been scoured for ephemera. 

And rubber stamps!  Oh my, trying to choose between the thousands to see which lucky ones get packed have me in a tizzy.  I know which are my favorites, but how many more would have appeal to new students? 

I'm diving back in, but will surface tomorrow with more news, so please visit again.

Playing Catch Up: CA, CHA & Vacation

Time has raced by while I've been having fun, so this is the first of many posts you'll be seeing in the next few days.  Before I jump into anything else I thought I'd give Luke,  grandson #2, some face time...playing with big brother Jackson's Nabi Jr & the new headphones Mimi gave him for Christmas.  Only 2, but such a cutie patootie, right?

In January we spent 3 glorious weeks in CA, including a week in Anaheim to attend CHA, and a week in San Francisco, plus so many points in between.  This is a photo I took on the second floor of the Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, just outside San Francisco.  Wow.  Such a collection.

They had several cars in various shades of purple, but don't you love the interior of the last one?  Yowza!!  We took so many photos, but I won't bore you.  Visit their website and then go see it for yourself.

For the first time ever in all my years attending CHA, we stayed at the Anabella Hotel, within walking distance of the convention yet still on the shuttle route for those rainy days.  And yes, we had rain almost daily this year for our week in Anaheim. 

Such old world charm.  Fantastic, friendly staff, suites with hardwood floors...what's not to love?

Mind you, our suite wasn't this neat except when we first entered it.  That extra room with the day bed held all of our luggage.  We always plan to pack one bag for the week in Anaheim; one bag with class supplies & for carrying home my loot; one bag for the final week in San Francisco; and then one bag for all those one-night stops in between.  But when the packing is done, weight is a major factor, so inevitably I have to shuffle to keep each one at less than 50 lb. and then re-pack upon arrival. 

But here's the best news of all:  we could step out onto our second floor balcony every night and watch the fireworks next door at Disney.  The lights on the roller coaster and Ferris wheel changed colors too, so it was quite the show.  And the fact that I could watch them in my jammies was the icing on the cake.

We found the BEST gluten free pizza at Palo Mesa Pizza in Arroyo Grande.  Pricey like you can't even believe, but so good I'm already planning next year's vacation around it.  Pieology in Fairfield, just outside Sacramento, was good but in a different way.  It looked like a salad bar except the choices were toppings for your pizza.  Very clever and excellent service and food.  And then Pizza My Heart in San Francisco...I know it sounds like we ate nothing but pizza, but to discover so many options compared to here on the East Coast, I couldn't resist.

Of course we also found dozens of antique stores and antique malls all along the coast, and each one pulled me in like a magnet.  By the time our luggage was filled to capacity, weighed and determined to be bordering on the airline's weight limits, I still had days left in my trip.  It was heartbreaking to stop shopping.  Truly. 

I've been home 2 full months and still have 3 huge tote bags filled with treasures from the trip to be unpacked, sorted and stashed.  But no time to do it, as I'm headed off again next week.  More on that tomorrow.