Stamping and Stenciling at Sew Uniquely You

I had so much fun teaching at Sew Uniquely You on Thursday.

I took a big box of stamps, stencils and paint, along with my lovely assistant Shelby (pictured above). I demoed my favorite techniques and then turned everyone loose to play.

The flowers in the piece above were done with a stencil. Below, the same artist flipped the stencil over and ran the brayer over it to get a negative image. Very cool!

I love how the piece above turned into an Alice-in-Wonderland-y story.

So many wonderful pieces! I'm sorry I don't have names, if you see something here that you made, please leave a comment so I can add your name.

Home from Artfest

Another amazing Artfest has come and gone. I had a traveling companion for the first time this year. It was soooooo wonderful to have my budding artist friend Maureen with me.

My first class was with Nina Bagley. I had the amazing privilege of sharing my table with the beautiful, brave Tina, who turned out to be a kindred soul. I love how Artfest makes things like that happen.

I made this wrap bracelet, dramatically improving my wire wrapping skills while I was at it.

Friday I had the lovely Misty Mawn. I had a great time hanging out with table-mate Ben, talking sports and admiring the pretty patterns we ended up with on our hands.

I was completely in my element in this class, slapping paint and collage and stencils and hand-carved stamps around. This is one of several pages I worked on.

I spent Saturday with Sunny Carvalho, who is just so wonderfully talented and kind. Above, my table-mate Lynn and I show off our pretty girls.

I usually paint with acrylics, so painting this lovely with Genesis oil paints was quite the learning curve, but so rewarding in the end.

And now it's back home to the regular routine. Happily I've come home inspired and itching to make things.

I'm teaching a quick Surface Design on Fabric workshop this Thursday evening at Sew Uniquely You. $5 to come play with my stamps, stencils and paints. Last I checked there were still spots open if you're in the area and want to join the fun - 509-467-8210.

Weekend wanderings

I was lucky enough to have both time and energy for a bit of wandering this weekend. Starting in my own front yard where Pistol and I have been wandering quite a bit lately, checking out the new stuff popping up out of the ground. I have crocuses!! I can't tell you how excited I was to see these beautiful spots of color pop up!

I headed out to Coeur d' Alene where I caught the fabulous MaryJo McGraw in action teaching a class on Copic markers at the North Idaho Rubberstamp Show.

Here's Melinda demoing at the Lost Coast Designs table. There were some great vendors and lots of folks snapping up all the great products. I left more than a few of my pesos with Elaine from Carmen's Verandah!

I made a brief stop at a flea market in Post Falls. I found a couple of things but was thrown totally off my game by the sweetest little black baby puppy. I couldn't concentrate after putting him back in the basket with his sister and left emptyhanded.

I still had an hour to kill before a hair appointment. I was way out in the valley (where I almost never go) so I had to make the most of it and go somewhere cool. I got off the freeway and cut over to an extremely uninspiring stretch of highway where I found this little oasis of bliss. This Old House, The Mad Cow and All That Glitter all lined up in a little row of pretty.

Here's a pic from inside the shabby chic heaven that is All That Glitter, possibly the prettiest store in the Spokane area.

I also managed to hit Longhorn BBQ for some zesty pork and garlic rolls on the way back home. Which really just rounded out a nice yummy Saturday.