Hello Everyone!
In keeping with my New Year's Resolution (for a change!), here's a blog post for March! Yay me!
Lots going on in my life, and all good (except for having to replace one of our heat pumps and some vehicle expenses, but I digress!).
I have a new set of PTP Elements Rubber Stamps coming out very soon. I should have some of these in stock later this week in fact. Once I receive them I'll add them to my Etsy Shop - Inky Obsessions. The entire image below will be sold as a full 5" x 8" sheet of unmounted red rubber. The images circled in red will also be sold as a separate cling mount set. These images have been requested by my viewers that are fans of my polymer clay mosaics and the black and white tiles I include in all my designs. Using these stark graphic images stamped in black ink on white clay, you get that poppa black and white throughout your project that really makes the designs pop. I have a checkerboard stamp I got years ago with no branding on it. People were having trouble finding a sharp checkerboard and harlequin patterned stamp with distress markings on it so I thought I'd include some of these favorites in this stamp sheet. This also includes some of my new designs on my latest iStencil release of 8" round patterns.
Exciting news -- I've been invited to teach at Creative Studios NC, in Vass, NC. I'll be teaching my Gelli JumpStart Journals that were featured in the 10th Anniversary Edition of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. My class will be on Saturday, 2 April. Spots are still available and you can register on the Creative Studios website. Creative Studios is fairly new to the area. It was created by and is run by Jan Nichols McClay, Jean Skipper, and Jodi Ohl. I've taken a number of classes with Jodi over the years at Create Art Retreat and just love her both as a person and an artist. I then joined Jodi, Jean and Penny Arrowood at their ReMe Retreat in Ocracoke Island, NC in October 2014. If you ever consider going to an art retreat -- this should be at the top of your bucket list. These ladies know how to put the 'retreat' into an art retreat. We were pampered and catered to from the minute we arrived. What a wonderful and fulfilling experience it was to become a ReMe sister. I will do this again, no doubt about that.
Jodi has announced her next book release coming out later this year -- and guess who was invited to be a featured artist??? OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! So exciting and such an honor and amazing opportunity. I can't thank her enough! As soon as details are available for the release and purchase of her new book, I'll be sure to help her spread the word.
Our 2nd Annual Maryland Art Gathering Weekend is coming together nicely. This year we'll have 30 ladies gathering together for a jam-packed fun-filled weekend of art, laughs, fellowship and fun. I'll be sure to share pics here of our time together and projects we create.
I've claimed Sundays at Noon Eastern as my regular weekly Ustream LIVE broadcast time -- Sunday Crafternoon with Patti. This is working out well so far with my schedule, however, I will not be streaming on 27 March and 3 April due to Easter Sunday dinner at our place and another conflict on the 3rd. I'll resume on 10 April as scheduled. I always push the recordings of my live events to my YouTube channel, however, there have been some issues with Ustream lately that have garbled my audio. For some reason though, the recordings playback perfectly if you view them from my Ustream channel. Odd! But if you'd like to meet a great group of artists and interact with myself and them during my live broadcasts, come 'follow' me on Ustream and join in the fun. We share all sorts of information about products, techniques and links to both, and have a lot of laughs too.
Here are some pics of projects I've done recently on my live streams:
Gelli prints using my new iStencils:
Polymer Clay Tile mosaic coat hook:
Collages into ATCs:
Happy Arting!
Patti
I'm so excited! I've been published in the Nov/Dec 2014 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors -- my personal favorite magazine! My Gelli JumpStart Journals is the project I submitted. Since I already do YouTube videos, I thought it would be nice for all you visual learners to actually 'see' the project instead of just reading about it in the magazine. To that end, I've done a series of YouTube videos demoing my process for the Gelli JumpStart Journals. There are four videos in total on this project, but you can start here with the introduction and supply list. Hope you enjoy seeing in addition to reading!
October has been an extremely busy month for me. As you know I work full time, I took off to attend Art & Soul in Virginia Beach in early October, then I was away for one weekend, then I traveled to Ocracoke Island, NC to attend the ReMe Retreat with Jodi Ohl, Jean Skipper, and Penny Arrowood. Just got back from my 10 hour drive Saturday and we're ramping up to leave for our annual sales conference for my day job in Boca in early November. After the Florida trip, I think I'll be in one place long enough to get my thoughts in order and reorganize my studio. But wait, there's those little things coming up called the holidays -- so maybe not just yet, but I know it will happen at some point. If anyone has a proven formula of how I can clone myself, please let me know.
More about the fabulous, and I mean FABULOUS ReMe Retreat. If you love art classes and if you are looking for a true RETREAT -- this is your answer. Most events called retreats that I've attended are simply art classes for 5 days or so at a venue. ReMe has put the retreat back into art retreats. These fabulous women have made it their mission to create such a wonderful experience for 8 lucky artists to join them in a very cool historic home on Ocracoke Island. They bring along a den mother who did all the cooking (fabulous hot breakfasts, warm baked snacks, filling lunches, cocktail hours with appetizers, and luscious dinners, followed by homemade desserts). From the minute you arrive, you are pampered and taken care of, from carrying in all your bags, to any need you have for special diets, errands, to repacking all your goodies, you feel welcome from the minute you arrive and it doesn't leave you even after you are back home. You still can feel the good energy and laughter you shared with the whole group. Please do check out the blogs of the women artists of ReMe and consider signing up for a true art retreat:
Some of my pics from my stay at ReMe starting with the decorated porch, the inside of the house, and our nightly sunset rituals (with cocktails of course!)...
Happy Arting!
Patti
