Getting back to the kNACk of it

Greetings blog fans and welcome to the newly formatted Artful Tourist blog.

As a result of my Destination Heartfelt Art program which I began in February, I am already enjoying a renewed vigor for all things creative. Chances are that getting over a year of wedding planning, wedding recovery, and holiday projects contributed to this fresh approach as well.
I’m refocusing my efforts on writing for the industry and beyond again. In pursuit of this goal I am doing a lot more research and creative projects.

The impact on my blog will be more regular features, a return to many of the concepts some loyal readers may remember from my subscription newsletter, “Get the kNACk,” and more links to my own articles and artwork published elsewhere in print and online.

I will continue the effort to post weekly and continue to be kind to myself if I don’t meet that goal. I anticipate the artwork on the blog to be more limited as my creations are submitted to publishers for consideration. I may also be posting calls for ideas, links, resources, and subjects as I continue my research.

Before you go quoting my previous posts and giving me a hard time about my resolution not to let the industry influence my choices, keep in mind that I still hold fast to that decision. The way I see it, my ideas for spending less, using what you have, and creating for the joy of it are hot topics. I am approaching this freelance, which means I will not be constrained by a particular manufacturer, publisher, or market trend. I’m just putting it out there and letting the Universe take care of the rest.

Project Notes: Artsy Mother’s Day
The card shown this week was created to send to my step-daughter as she celebrates Mother’s Day with her first born son, Sam. It was created entirely from the scrap pile and my current inventory. The brad bar, for lack of a better term, came from a store where I was teaching in 2005 and was made by Karen Foster™. The red background piece is from the Club Scrap™ Egyptian collection and I love how it fit beautifully as a matte for the design.






New! Regular Features

Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:


1. Crafsters.org had a button contest and loved the entries: http://www.craftster.org/blog/?p=1220

2. For your information a cost comparison between the ATG adhesive and Tombow: http://thescrapbeach.blogspot.com/2009/05/whats-so-great-about-atg.html

3. Upscale paper art doll book called Fantastiques: http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1219


Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me—black, gray, and white for an artsy mother’s day card

Most played song-from my head, IPod, or car: “Comin’ Back to the Bayou” theme song from canceled TV show called K*ville performed by Dr. John http://www.fox.com/music/?show_id=kville&clip_id=k_ville_longform_fullversion

Studio progress: This week I did the shuffle--not exactly productive but not inaction either. Emptied some additional tiny drawers, moved some items into what I hope is their new home. Used up some older items that had been hanging around waiting to be transformed.

In the kitchen—a great meal, recipe, or idea: Sir Henry bought me this cool thing from Pampered Chef™ that loads your own oil into a sprayer and eliminates the need for costly cans of oil spray. See a video review here: http://www.expotv.com/Pampered-Chef-Oil-Sprayer/2d-5VR

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): Spent $5.00 on new fonts during the CK retirement sale. I finally got my distressed typewriter font back that matches two of my rubber stamp sets. It was lost during a migration almost a year ago and floats somewhere in the ether still.

My opinion and where it may lead:
Stacey Julian’s “Simple Scrapbooks” and Rebecca Sower’s “Scrapbooking Life’s Little Pleasures are the two Creating Keepsake books that had the most influence on my adventures into the hobby. At the time of their publication, they were like light bulbs flashing repeatedly on each page. Action step: Since I can’t bear to throw either one away I’ll review them this month and let them inspire me anew.

There but by the

grace of God and the love of scrapbooking go I. On Saturday I attended a crop and had a fabulous time. I met three new friends and was reminded of how I knew most of the other women there who were also my friends.

In richness and in richness
I made friends in South Florida before we ever moved here six years ago because I taught scrapbook workshops in the area. These women are still my friends today. I moved away from a dozen more friends in Virginia that all came into my life because of scrapbooking. I still catch up with these out of state friends when I go back to visit and even smiled at a couple of them as I walked down the aisle during my wedding last August.

And speaking of my wedding, we wouldn’t have won our dream wedding if it hadn’t been for the thousands of scrappers all over the world who faithfully voted for us last summer. The generosity and dedication of women I’ve never even met still overwhelms me.

In all kinds of weather
Then there was the time that I fled West Palm Beach just ahead of a hurricane and traveled across the state to stay in the home of a generous scrapbook friend that I had met only one time when I taught a workshop in Orlando.

I have traveled all over the country because of scrapbooking; I have attended all the major trade shows as a designer and instructor. I have laughed and cried through my own life and the lives of others. I have healed. I have learned. I have grown.

The next generation-about these layouts
The pages today are another result of getting by with a little help from my friends. Just when I thought I would be perpetually behind on the pages documenting my grandson’s first year—I received a generous gift from Annette. She had all these pre-done pages she’d prepared for her Club Scrap business that she gave to me for Christmas. So while they might not scream of my style, they are most definitely a work of love and of friendship.

Spring Fever

I’ve had the best time doing the clearing in my studio and using “found items” to create new items. These found items are from old swaps, left over creations from stamping sessions, projects that just never quite came together, half used sticker sheets, and kit items I never used.

I’ve only scanned a few of the many projects from the last two weeks—but they will be filtering in as the days progress.

After completing the digital Easter layout last weekend I used some paper piecing items from a swap I did back around 2000 combined with digital titles and photographs placed on five (or more) year old paper. What a feeling of accomplishment to combine all that older stuff with photos taken three days prior.

I began this journey with goals. I will clear my studio and ramp up my creative process by working my way with the hope that this process will generate more finished items than ever before. I want to get back to pleasing myself instead of working within the confines of what appeals most to the industry and today’s latest technique or trend.

I thought I would be coming up with all kinds of fabulous new approaches to projects that reflected this great insight. I have done some fun and different projects but I’m finding almost as much gratification just from using up all these tidbits in combination with some newer techniques. Cliché as it sounds; it feels like “old school meets new school.” I’ll work on coming up with a more catchy name as I go along.

Our own spring fling

Now this is fun--not only did we have a great weekend but thanks to the "miracle" of digital photography I got to finish it all off with a scrapbook page. As far as the layout--thanks to my organizational folders I used a combination of elements from Designer Digitals and Go Digital. My favorite technique, which I candidly overuse these days, is photo clipping with masks to get that funky photo effect.

As far as the weekend--We went to PBUMC Saturday with our favorite borrowed kids from next door. We started the morning with a pancake breakfast, then visited the bake sale, the rummage sale, back inside for the praise fellowship before heading out to hunt for eggs and topping it all off with a tasty hot dog lunch. That's one run-on sentence describing one run-on day of fun.

But wait, there's more--just like on the Sham-wow commercials. On Sunday I woke up early and attended the sunrise service. It was wonderful. We sang my favorite Resurrection songs and I wept and smiled the whole time. After service I came home and made hot cross buns for us before we relaxed, enjoyed our life in the neighborhood, and then watched the Masters.

I posted all the photos on Facebook if you want to revel in more cute-ness.

Life is good. I wish you joy.

Is it Art?

Trick questions for you and me….

If you spend hours and days on one project and you adore the finished result is that better than creating smaller pieces that might not be your best work, but they’re fun?
If you sell your work and some one pays a ton for it—does that make it “better” than the work you do for yourself?
If you make cards (mail art) from supplies left over from other projects or scraps on your table—does that make them less important?
If you use materials like rubber stamps, photos, stickers, and other embellishments—does that make it less than original art?
Isn’t all art “altered art?” A traditional painter alters a canvas with oils, a tole painter alters wooden shapes or canvas bags with acrylic, a legacy artist alters 12” square cardstock with photos and embellishments, and a photographer alters a photo by cropping and framing.

Pattie Donham,

http://pattiewack.blogspot.com/ the original inventor of blankets with sleeves (smile) sent me to this ExtremeCraft http://extremecraft.typepad.com/ website from her blog. The blog’s title line is: “A compendium of art masquerading as craft, craft masquerading as art & craft extending its middle finger.”

March came in and went out like a lion for me. I had quite a few motivators and I am grateful for the energy. I made a list of all my March projects and before I could finish it I went and made 8 new spring cards to mail for Easter. Cool beans-- or perhaps that should be cool jelly beans.

My March scrapbook layouts are in the post below. I did digital, traditional, and hybrid. I worked predominantly in 12” by 12” except for a wall hanging. I also printed out all my digital layouts in 8” by 8” size to compile in a separate album. I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now.

Artwork Here:

The green square card was created for my brother and sister-in-law. It is truly an ode to my promise of using what I have and revisiting what has made me (and others) happy. The stickers came from a purchase at Paula Massie's store, scrapbook corner back around 2003. The tag is even older. I made it for a Rebeca Sower tag swap right after we moved here in 2001. The post card background is a scanned post card from my grandfather to my grandmother in the 20's.

The "He is Risen" card was made for my parents by recycling an American Greetings card that my Grandma sent Henry and I in 2002. She loved purple, and it was a perfect base for this. She would definitely appreciate the reuse of product. She and I used to make our Christmas cards in this same way together. This was a woman who washed and saved aluminum foil all her life. Grandma never thought of it as recycling, she just did it to "waste not, want not."

I was spurred through this creative spurt in what felt like a rush. I created scrapbook layouts in short amounts of time, I grabbed scraps and assembled ATCs and cards. It just flowed. Sometimes, when that happens, I start to think that my work can’t be valuable because it took such a short time to complete.

I have decided to release that derogatory thought concerning my creativity and take heart in the fact that I love what I make and I really enjoy sharing it with others too. This passion is a calling, a gift from my great Creator. I will honor it and I know that it is art.

May you enjoy the new life of spring and the renewal of your spirit during this season however you choose to celebrate it.

Catching Up

I've been too busy creating to blog--which is how it should be some weeks. My apologies. I've had my own version of March Madness and like the tournament--it's spilled into April. Here are some of my recent layouts in no particualar order. Click to enlarge if you want to see more detail. Coming soon are all the cards and altered art I've made...wheeeeeeeeeee

New Cards, Updates on ATC and Destination Heartfelt Art

Artwork Update:
In addition to the Artist Trading Cards added to the slide show, I made some fun cards and legacy pages this week. Shown here are some of the cards I made.

The Birthday Cone: Created around a sticker set I’ve owned for several years. I ‘puffed” the ice cream to give it dimension as well as aging the sticker with sand paper and ink.

The Now Moment: Done completely with scraps from the Club Scrap™ cardstock base (I haven’t been a member for 3+ years) to the polished stone inked background and stray die cuts—all collaged into a fun card.

The Birthday ATC: I used my Colluzle™ to cut a tiny envelope for an ATC and sent it as a gift on a card. The ATC is secured with another Club Scrap™ left over-the printed twist tie.

The Floral Tri-fold Pocket: The ladies on Jean’s Art Dolls had a challenge to make these cards from instructions on Split Coast ampers. //www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/trifold_pocket_card/ Mine came out very pink and festive.

The Taj Tri-fold Pocket II: My second attempt with this template evolved into a moving card for a friend. She’s not really moving; she is merely expanding her kingdom…

Seven seems to be my stopping point

As mentioned in the last post, I decided to try the 7/30/365 ATC challenge from Flickr. I made my seven, but I’m not sure I want to go forward. The effort helped “spawn” lots of other projects—still, I’m not motivated to go on and I haven’t made an ATC in two days now.

I posted the final three to the Flickr album at right. I like them all and if you visit the album on Flickr you can see the story behind each one. I think I may add the ones I didn’t give away to a legacy art piece as a collection.

Studio Make-over and Austerity Plan

I’ve had a set back in the Austerity Plan—of course, we addicts have lots of excuses that justify our mistakes and I’m no exception. I said I wouldn’t spend over $15.00 per month on my art supplies. I spent my $15 this month on adhesives, a bit of print paper, and some envelopes I needed for spring cards. That went very well. Then I watched Home Shopping Network for a special National Craft Month celebration and totally lost my resolve. My excuse was I had a little extra money that my Daddy had slipped me when he visited.

The item that was my downfall is the We R Memory Keepers™ Ultimate Cutting Tool Kit. It was especially designed for HSN and included a 17” by 14” magnetic mat, a circle cutter (their new one) plus the paper trimmer with scallop and straight blade, ruler, ergonomic cutting knife, extra blades, and magnets to keep your work in place. It was a Today’s Special Value with them for $29.95. Here’s a link to their site, currently priced at $39.95. If you click on the video you’ll see what I just couldn’t resist.

The purchase, and the inevitable guilt that followed, inspired me to do some additional work in the studio. I moved out a bunch of empty containers that I’ve been tripping over because I wanted to use them for organizing. I sorted a 12” high stack of papers and scraps that needed to be put away. I asked Sir Henry to stabilize a shelf I’ve been using to store papers which had sagged. I really did work.

I had one of the most productively creative weeks ever in the studio as well. The seven ATCs, three legacy art pieces, and several cards all flowed out this week. I also worked on the web site and posted some new pages as well as doing clean up. One set back doesn’t mean the end of my plan, it just means I’ve had a wake up call and now I’m back on track.