Wire Paint & Paper at My Creative Classroom

Just wanted to share a little peak of my next class that starts on March 17th (St. Patty's Day) over at My Creative Classroom. And, thought you might like to let you know that there’s a special going on to celebrate that March is craft month! For every class you sign up for at My Creative Classroom in March - you get a $5.00 coupon for classes that start in April and beyond. That’s a great deal, I hope you’ll take advantage of it!

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you in my Wire, Paint and Paper class, it’s starting NEXT week! I guess I better get busy!!

Mixed Media Jewelry at My Creative Classroom

I was so excited about this last lesson I created for my on-line course at My Creative Classroom that I had to share. I'm pretty sure that I'm longing for spring by the colors I chose. It's been so brown (or white and windy) for so long I am really ready for lots of splashes of color to brighten things up.

This is usually the time of year when I start moving things around, purging closets and getting rid of junk - which leaves me feeling renewed until we have the pretty colors of spring out the window. I've got so many things going on that I don't have time to right now .....I think I need to hire a maid, LOL!

Well, thanks for stopping by....hope you're finding some ways to get a little spring color in your neck of the woods!

What can I say?

Long time no post....so many things to say - no words to say them...ha ha ha. So, here's a list to catch me up for the last week:

• I was feeling better, well enough to jump back on the treadmill and do a couple 5k's last week, now I'm getting a sore throat and feel a little hot. URGH. I just don't have time to be sick right now. My husband is sick, and I think he has something that we didn't get.....so now that's what I'm getting. urgh. EmergenC don't fail me now!
• I finally got the OWOH packages mailed today, sorry ladies - between being sick, having sick people and lots of work backed up I hadn't gone to the post office. it's done now...look for your packages soon.
• I haven't picked a winner of the 500th post yet, but they're going to win a copy of a book called Craft Cycle and an ATC made from recycled papers. (ok so JINGLE, you're the winner, send me your address and I'll get this book out to you ASAP)
• Took a field trip to Absolutely Everything on Sunday, it was great to finally get out of the house for the day. I was a little crabby to come home.
• Between working on my artsy crafty stuff I'm also planning a trip to NYC for April Vacation. Any suggestions on places to stay? Looking at the Roosevelt.
• We had some wicked weather over the weekend and lost power for 24 hours....it seemed like a REALLY long time. I did manage to read an entire book on Friday and finished it up by candlelight. Also managed to cook an awesome dinner by candlelight.
• I told you, lots to say and few words to say them with.....

Here's a little block of 16 inchies I made. Easy little things to create, they go fast and are fun little collages.

So, what have you been up to lately? Thanks for stopping by!

Instructions for K & Company Handmade ATC's

Right before CHA I made some Artist Trading Cards using one of K & Companies new product lines – Handmade. The entire line was introduced at CHA-Winter in Anaheim and I was really proud of how these ATC’s came out. My favorite is the first one, Be Happy.

You can find specific product details and instructions to make these here, at the EK Success Brands/K & Company website. You can find these ATC's and more at the EKB website.

Do you make ATC's? I'd love to see them ! I'm sick as a dog (nasty chest flu or bronchitis like sickness ) and have been on the couch all week. the weather is so nice out, it's awful to be sick and on the couch when it's nice out.

My Page Abundance on Design IT!

I’m happy to announce that I’ve been invited to be a Guest Teacher in the very popular scrapbook Design theory course by Kylie Hopkins called Design IT. I'm really excited to be involved in this course, Kylie is very talented as are the other Guest Teachers's she's recruited! Here’s the description of Kylie’s course:

BIGGER and BETTER with NEW projects, resources added from my Fall 2009 class "Colour Me Scrappy" incorporated, PLUS new tutorials from some special guest instructors... Teri Martin, Shirley Pando, Samantha Star and Catherine Mathews-Scanlon. Alicia Barry will also be returning for a very special guest appearance. You are invited to join Kylie for a class jam-packed with scrapbooking techniques and projects. The classroom is filled with informative PDF tutorials and photo slide shows created to show you how to release your hidden talents and natural style. Listed below are some of the topics that are covered in this class:Design Principles that Work

• Using Sketches - presented by guest tutor Alicia Barry
• Inspiration from Life
• The Balancing Act
• Blank Space BEWARE!
• It's the size that matters
• Position, Position, Position
• A Touching Display
• A Little Goes a Long Way
• KISS Principle
• Making a Statement!
• Stylin'
• Colour Tutorial - presented by guest tutor Teri Martin
• Scraplifting Secrets
• Mole Hills & Mountains
• Journaling Basics
• Journaling Life As We See It
• Freeze-Framing
• History Makers
• Taking Scrapbooking Off-the-Page - presented by guest tutor Shirley Pando
• Altered Chipboard Alphas - presented by guest tutor Samantha Star
• Mixed Media (Stitching on Pages) - presented by guest tutor Catherine Matthews-Scanlon

  

Here's the page I created for the Mixed Media lesson, I called it Abundance.

Here's a close-up of the page I created for the course

During the course you will be provided with at least 14 creative challenges you can choose from, over 20 supporting resource PDF's and at least nine step-by-step projects to complete.

You can sign up for Kylie’s class here: New Design IT! Scrapbooking Design Theory course

Hope to see you there, thanks for stopping by!

2010 OWOH Winners!

Thank you to everyone that stopped by to visit my blog and see what I was offering as a giveway. Congratulations to the two winners! Anji Gallanos from Juneau, Alaska is the winner of the little album and Lorraine from Fairly Girly is the new owner of the pincushion! I will email both of you requesting your mailing address!

Don't forget, in celebration of my 500th post I offered another giveaway, you can read about it here at this post. I'll be drawing the winner of the surprise on Friday!

Where to find EK Success Valentine Punches

I had a couple of people ask where you can find the Valentine Punches used in the YouTube Video, after a little internet search it looks like you can find them in these places:

Heart and Wing: http://store.eksuccess.com/product/0/54-10015/_/Heart_And_Wing_Ek_Success_2_Piece_Mini_Punch_Set

Heart and Crown: http://store.eksuccess.com/product/0/54-10016/_/Heart_And_Crown_Ek_Success_2_Piece_Mini_Punch_Set

http://www.createforless.com/EK+Paper+Shapers+Punch+Mini+Heart+_and_+Crown+2pc/pid166781.aspx?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse

2” Scalloped Heart: http://store.eksuccess.com/product/0/54-30054/_/Scalloped_Heart_Ek_Success_Large_Punch

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/ek-success/

I’m not sure what Brick and Mortar stores you will find them in, but I thought that JoAnn’s and Michael’s were going to have them. Good Luck finding them!

Mixed Media Jewelry at My Creative Classroom

Just a reminder that my Mixed Media Jewelry class is starting this Wednesday over at My Creative Classroom. It’s a 4 week on-line workshop, each week a new project is revealed – providing you with a detailed handout, supply list and a slide show. The slide show has voice instruction and photographs teaching you the steps to create the project. Each classroom has a forum for asking questions regarding the project, and a Gallery to post your completed project to share with your fellow classmates.

Hope to see you there, and please don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have any!

Don't forget, I'll be drawing the winner for my OWOH Giveaway tomorrow - you still have time to leave a comment on that post if you haven't yet - but today I noticed I reached a milestone that is deserving of ANOTHER Giveaway! Yup, another giveaway this week, I can hardly believe that myself, LOL! I couldn't have done it without you, so thanks for coming back to my blog!

Anyway, the reason for the giveaway??? This is my 500th Post.

I can hardly believe that I have posted Five Hundred times since fall of 2006. I've never been good with keeping a journal or writing consistently so this really is a milestone for me. To be eligible to win all you have to do is leave a comment here, on this post and I'll draw a winner on Friday. In your comment, please tell me what the weather is like where you are. Here, it's not like February in Maine at all! Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you had a great Valentine’s Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!

Since I'm on a roll with vintage Valentine's, here are some more for your viewing pleasure!

Have a wonderful day with your sweeties!

Vintage Valentines

I've had a sick boy home this week and haven't had much crafting or Valentine making time. since I haven't blogged since the beginning of the week I thought I'd share a few Valentine's I made a few years ago, when I look at them I fall in love with them all over again. I hardly think I could have made them, they are so pretty.

The card above uses a stamp designed by Michelle Ward for Stampington that I stamped with black StazOn (a solvent ink) and then painted it with watercolor paints. I also added some shimmery sprays called Radiant Rains by Luminart, LOVE them! Instead of spraying them on, I spray them on my palette and brush them on. I also mix them with the watercolors, it jazzes them up quite a bit. Radiant Rains are a lot like Glimmer Mist, but I think they use a lot more iridescent medium. I don't think they cause the paper to curl as much as the Glimmer Mist. After all that I collaged the stamped images with vintage and other scraps from my box and added some pretty Valentine ribbons, and of course some stitching. No project is complete without stitching! ;-)

Same Michelle Ward stamp along with a stamp from Tim Holtz and lots of scraps of ribbon, paper and a pretty heart charm from Art Girlz, who sadly are closing up shop due I think to the economy.

Same as the last two, love that vintage button, wish I had some more just like it!

I'd love to know what you made for Valentine's this year, leave me a comment with a link and I'll stop by!

I do hope my boy is better soon, though February break starts on Monday. I find it tough to work from home during the day when he or my husband are home, so I don't tend to be very productive when they are around. Not sure why that is, I guess I feel like I need to be with them instead of in my messy, cramped studio. Oh, maybe it's the messy cramped studio that's kicking me out and clogging my creative juices, LOL.

Well, thanks for stopping by, hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Creating Art from the Heart

Just a couple pictures to show you the project I'm working on right now....and to share some exciting news!! I'll be teaching a fun an Weekend Art Escape at Artascope Studios in South Portland, Maine in November. Stay tuned for more details to come!

the projects above are waiting for when I have a free minute to add some stitching. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Instructions for Valentine Cards

King of my Heart Card Created by Catherine Matthews-Scanlon for EK Success Brands, Photo Supplied by EK Success Brands

Do you remember these Valentine Cards? Back toward the end of January I linked you to a video posted on You Tube by EK Success. Joy Macdonnell did a little ditty demonstrating a few new and limited edition Valentine punches, she also used several of my projects as examples of the punches. You can see that post and watch the video here. Anyway, if you are interested in the supply lists and/or instructions for those projects, you can download them from here. Enjoy!

Be Mine Card created by Catherine Matthews-Scanlon for EK Success Brands, Photo supplied by EK Success Brands

Are you busy getting ready for Valentine’s Day?? I know I am!! Last Friday I bravely taught my son’s 5^th grade class to sew. Well, I taught them how to do the running stitch, big difference I guess, LOL.

We made a small felted sachet for them to give their Mom’s for Valentine's Day. I used a large Spellbinder’s scalloped heart die and die-cut 48 felt flowers, hot glued a ribbon hanger. All the kids had to do was a running stitch around the edge to stitch the two hearts together, stuff with a little stuffing scented with pine and tie the end off.

Phew, some of them were really challenged with this!! What amazed me was the GIRLS were not good at it AT all! The girls that I was sure would be awesome at it WEREN’T, and the boys that I thought would be calling for my help every couple of minutes sailed through with little extra help needed. It was funny, in an odd way. Even my own son who has never stitched a thing in his life did a great job.

Here’s a quick picture of the sample I showed them.

When I was in 5^th grade I knew how to embroider and was working on (but never finished) a large Holly Hobby project. I found this fun picture of the same Holly Hobby project by Simplicity on the internet. My Mom completed (and perfectly I might add) the Holly on the right and I worked on the one on the left. I bet it's still in my little sewing basket in her attic, LOL.

I'm not saying I was great at embroidery, but I could do the running stitch that's for sure! I had done some basic sewing when I was a Brownie and also as a Girl Scout. My Mom also taught me most of what I knew about sewing and embroidery.

One of the girls broke her tapestry needle at the head – how she did that I have no idea, and NONE of them could thread a needle. Not ONE! It was crazy. But, the teacher said she's going to try sewing again later in the year. I wonder if she'll ask for my help??

Well, thanks for stopping by...and don't forget you have until February 15th to sign up for the One Hand One Heart Giveaway!

A few MORE CHA Pictures!

I was really happy when I saw these pictures on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Review of CHA on her blog. She was walking the show with my friend Nat and they stopped by the EK Success booth for a minute. Julie snapped this cute picture of Nat and I, and also a couple pictures of some projects I created using new K & Company products. Here are the ATC's I created, I do love how they displayed them in the booth too. That's all for today, I'm still tyring to catch up....but not getting very far! Thanks for stopping by!

CHA Week in Review

Last week was a whirlwind, a crazy busy, exhausting, exciting time in Los Angeles. I didn't get many pictures - and no pictures of new stuff at the show. I arrived in Anaheim on Friday afternoon and got to work relieving my co-workers for lunches, breaks and helped them pack up from their long day of make n' takes at the CHA Supershow. I was really tired, but managed to find the energy to meet the EK Team at the lounge for a meet n' great and quick hello to those we already knew. Luckily we didn't have an early morning wake-up on Saturday so we stayed up a little later chatting and catching up. We worked from 7:30 to 5:30 on all the other show days, but by the time we got packed up and out of the booth it was almost 6. Even though it was late, we did manage to get out to a couple great restaurants for dinner in the evenings: Cheesecake Factory, Rainforest Cafe, and a place I don't know the name of that served awesome tapas. Surprisingly I only gained 2 pounds, LOL.

Saturday morning I woke up on Maine time and was able to catch this beautiful sunrise from our hotel room. The steam from the hotel really was pretty with the sun behind, these pictures don't look so great, but it was pretty. They were all taken in the spance of a minute or so.

At the show I was busy demonstrating some new and exciting products for Inkadinkado and in between telling and showing everyone about them was able to make a few projects using the new Inka products, some new Martha punches and some new K & Company products. I totally love how they came out. You'll have to wait to to see the details on the new products, I'm not sure when they are being released.

A Valentine Card

A Gift Enclosure

A Pretty Peacock Decoration

The beginning of a Valentine Shadowbox project.

Close up

A quick picture of the EK Team: Joy Macdonnell, Becky Cates, Karen Buhlman (my very fun and great roommate), Tara Gangi, me, and Kara Ward. The comraderie and teamwork was great - we all work great together and had a wonderful time.

The most exciting thing to happen was that my dear friend Nat Kalbach came to CHA from Germany, we had dinner with our other dear friend Vicki Chrisman. It was so great to have dinner and laugh and be silly, I wish we had had more time to spend together being creative.

I got home early early early Friday morning and spent the day relaxing and trying to catch up on my sleep. We ended up being a pretty relaxing, family catch up weekend. Now I'm ready to get creative again!

Well, thanks for stopping by - hope you take a minute to comment on the One World One Heart post below and be entered to win one of the two sweet things I'm giving away.

Beaches in Maine

The 1-year anniversary of New England Bloggers is January 27, and in honor of that I'd like to share my thoughts about one of my favorite places to visit in Maine, Popham Beach.

One of the things I like most about living in Maine is living close to the ocean and being able to visit the beach. I do love the beach – but we only go in the summer because it’s too cold in the winter! After living in Washington State for a couple years and Newport, Rhode Island for a couple years - am grateful to be back here for good!

When I was a little girl we lived in a sweet little farmhouse that was just minutes from the beach. When my cousins from Massachusetts would come for a visit we would take them, and my Grandparents to the beach and play in the water. The road to the beach was long and windy, I always got carsick and throw up all over the car - my Mother always thought I could wait until we got home - and I never could. When we finally got to the beach we would always visit the fort – and get a candy necklace at Percy’s. Maybe it was the combination of the candy and the roads that made me sick!

I love taking my son to the same beach. I feel like I’m sharing a part of my past with him and he can visualize stories of when I was a little girl as I tell them to him. We always park near the fort and plunk our blanket down near the Coast Guard Station. Creatures of habit I guess, lol. We walk up and down at the water’s edge collecting shells and trying to get the dog to go in the water. One summer we found the sweet spot – and found 105 sand dollars in one day. We haven’t been that lucky since. But we always go back to the same spot hoping to find it’s going to be sweet for us again. It will, I’m sure of it, maybe this summer.

It’s nice to sit and watch him play in the sand and clean off in the cold New England water. Often I dare him to jump in, the water is so cold – even in the middle of summer - I always expect him to say no. He never does. Creatures of habit.

It’s such a wonderful thing to be able to drive to the ocean and smell the salty air, there’s nothing like it for sure. If you’ve never been to a beach on the coast of Maine, you should. It’s a wonderful – peaceful way to spend the day.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you’ll go on and check the rest of the New England bloggers and learn a bit more about this part of the country.

Join the Magic Carpet Ride, the One World, One Heart Global Blog Event

Sign up here for the OWOH event! This is a perfect opportunity for you to win one of two magical things I’m giving away! The first item is a small coffee table album, ready for you to personalize for yourself. You can add 4x6 photos to the sleeves or create 4x6 scrapbook pages to insert. The second item I’m giving away is a little needle felted tree stump pincushion I made from directions in Jenn Docherty’s book, Sweet Needle Felts. It’s a little different from the one she made, but still sweet and magical!

In order to be eligible you must be an active blogger with a link back to your blog OR leave your contact information (email address) in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Winners must respond by February 25^th with their address, if I don’t hear from them another winner will be drawn. I will be choosing two winners this year, so be sure to comment and leave your name and a way for me to contact you.

In case you don't know what One World One Heart is, you can read about it here. This is a great way for everyone to get to know more artists that are in the blogging community. Just a reminder, please comment ONLY on this post in order to have a chance at winning. The contest closes February 15, 2010, and the winner will be determined using a random number generator.

Good Luck everyone!