And MORE Stencil Storage!

I believe that anyone who has a studio or a designated spot in their house is always looking for better ways to store tools & products used in creating art. My last blog post was about storing 12x12 stencils and you can read it here. After reading a blog post by Ronda Palazzari and her method for storing 6x6 stencils I knew that I had discovered how I would follow suit.

I purchased the 6x6 page protectors from We R Memory Keepers. You may have a favorite from another company and I don't have any connection with them.

They arrived before the weekend so I had the opportunity to work on it. I used various sheets of left-over 6x6 cardstock to create a background for ease of viewing.

There is room to place another stencil in back of the cardstock so you can actually store 8 - 6x6 stencils in one page. I'm so pleased with the concept but I still have some stencils without a home. As I was doing some organizing a stumbled upon an 8x8 album with photo protectors included...you would have thought I struck gold when I found this because it answered the problem for these stencils. I wish I could tell you the manufacturer but it's one that I've had for several years.

Perfect for the 5x8 Dylusions Stencils

Perfect for 8x8 Prima Stencils

Now I have one more size stencil to store and I have an idea of what I'm going to do. When it is finished I will share. For me this creates a visual of my stencils, keeps them neat & orderly and I can quickly find what I 'm looking for. 

Thanks for stopping by, make sure you come back to see the final method of storing border stencils.

Have a CREATIVE day!

More Stencil Storage Ideas! Update :)

Yesterday a blog post by the incredible Ronda Palazzari on her stencil storage ideas was just the push I needed to finish what I had started.  I was originally influenced to share my idea by a post the talented Alissa Fast  had on how she stores her stencils…and the same goes for Ronda! Funny how great minds think alike….

I he{ART} stencils. I love using them and use them OFTEN, in fact I started a series on this blog but life somehow got in the way and I never finished it. My favorite stencils are from The Crafters Workshop, although I have others I find them to be the BEST!!!

Here is the original post where I shared a tutorial on making your own background papers.

Yesterday a blog post by the incredible Ronda Palazzari on her stencil storage ideas was just the push I needed to finish what I had started.  I was originally influenced to share my idea by a post the talented Alissa Fast  had on how she stores her stencils…and the same goes for Ronda! Funny how great minds think alike….

I took a 12x12 album that I wasn't using and decorated the cover with various stencils. 

I love how my 12x12 stencils fit perfectly in the 12x12 protectors.

I have been very pleased with this method but I was running into trouble of how I would store my 6x6 stencils and was using 8x10 protectors but that meant I had to go through several stencils before I might find the one I wanted to use. Thank your Ronda for the suggestion of using 6x6 sheet protectors…problem solved!

So now I'm off to find some 6x6 sheet protectors. How do you store your stencils? Thanks for stopping by. I found a great source at Amazon.com and I will show you how great they are in my next blog post ;)

On the Road with Saint Motel...

Or my life as a groupie...no...just kidding!

Thank you for joining our blog hop...I'm so excited to help promote the Indie band "Saint Motel" , a LA based band. This is a collaboration put together by Matt and Vicki Chrisman to help promote the bands new CD in a art/crafts sort of way, using the idea of the newest CD "Voyeur". Vicki, being the music lover she is, jumped at the opportunity and asked  several artists to create a project.

Who is SAINT MOTEL?

"With sophisticated savvy and singularity, the Los Angeles quartet Saint Motel has built a formidable reputation on the back of inventive indie pop and wildly fun live shows. Mixing blistering pep with unique flair and rousing rhythms, Saint Motel’s aural catharsis is pure bliss with a twist of cynical humor."....Review 8/3/2012 by Rudyard's British Pub

Find out more:
website: http://www.saintmotel.com/
 
Youtube:  http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=you+tube+saintmotel&qpvt=you+tube+saintmotel&FORM=VDRE

http://www.myspace.com/saintmotel

https://www.facebook.com/saintmotel


The idea for this project was to create a piece or craft design that reflects how the album translates to me, what it is to be a "voyeur". So without further ado here is my interpretation.

Materials Used:

12x16 Canvas Panel

Prima Paintable Paper

Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium Matte

Claudine Helmuth Studio Acrylic Paint ~ Charcoal Black, Smidge of Blue

Liquitex Acrylic Artist Color ~ Cobalt Blue

Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam ~ Night Sky, Steel

Inkssentials Manila Tags

Ranger Archival Black Ink

Dylusions Stamps: Curious Corrin, Dependable Dotti, Pondering Petunia, Traveling Travis

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Barn Door, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed Spiced Marmalade, Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone

Helmar Acid Free Glue

SU Cardstock ~ Wasabi Green

Ranger Distress Stickles ~ Crystal, Clear Rock Candy

Thank you for stopping by,I would love to hear what you think about this project. Make sure you hop through everyone's blog...if you have then head on over to Nathalie & Ronda's blog to see what they have created.

Blog Hop Participants

Saint Motel News Blog 

Vicki Chrisman

Catherine Scanlon

Lousie Nelson

--------> Martha Richardson...you are here

Nathalie Kalbach

Rhonda Palazzari

Altered Spoon Blog Hop with Susan Brown...Happy Blogiversary

Please join me in wishing a big HAPPY 5th BLOGIVERSARY to Susan M. Brown @ "SBARTIST: Painting in the Dark". I was thrilled when Susan asked me to play along and alter wooden spoons...it was a 2-fold mission for me...stretch my creativity and celebrate my retirement as a High School Foods teacher. 

After a lot of creative thought I decided to do something that I could hang and remind me of how much I love the beach...the sun, the sand, the water, the seashells...my happy place. So here are  2 projects that I created by altering wooden spoons.

I created a swag from materials & colors you would find on the beach. The spoons were misted and glammed with Tattered Angels products and embellished with sea glass, shells and beach symbols. A canvas flower embellished with sea glass and burlap rope finishes of the decoration.

Because I only used 3 of the 4 wooden spoons I decided to create a hanger for a beach sign and a seashell wind chime. This wooden spoon was painted and a heavy coat of Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Sandy Beach was applied, along with a small macrame hanger I created.

Materials used:

Helmar 450 Quick Dry Glue, Liquid Scrap Dorts

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist ~ Crushed Shells, Atlantic Beach

Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam ~ Chandelier, Pixie Dust, Sandcastle

Tattered Angels Chalkboard ~ Sandy Beach, Splash

Canvas Corp Burlap Flower & Rope

Make sure you hop on to the blogs DeeDee Catron, Roni Johnson, Barbara Rankin, Leslie-Rayhe Strickland and Becky Voth to see what they have created with wooden spoons.

Thanks for stopping by and helping me wish Susan a big, huge HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!!

Presenting the artistes de spoon...

The Whatevers Creative StoryTelling #2

Here is my Challenge #2 for the quirky & fun challenge created by the incredible talents of Catherine Scanlon, Nathalie Kalbach and Vicki Chrisman. All the detail can be found HERE. It's not to late join in!

Before further ado {and the #3 Challenge is being released this week}!

The story is: 

This is my Grandma Martha; I was named after her because I was the 1^st grandchild. I love spending my summers with her. I act like I’m an only child even though I’m the oldest of six.

When I found the pictures in the attic I thought she would be mad but instead she said that I could turn them into a scrapbook and she would tell me my family history…whew! I thought I was going to be in BIG TROUBLE.

One of the first pictures that caught my eye was this one of Grandma when she was younger.  I was surprised by the look on her face as she usually was smiling and singing. When I asked her why she told me the story of the horrible storm that hit the beach one summer.

“The day started out like any other day. When you live on the beach the weather dictates what you do. Today was going to be the day my 3 younger sisters were coming for their summer visit.  My father sends them every summer from NYC so they can get some sun and fresh air. Even though I get upset with having them under feet I always look forward to their visit.”

“As I was hanging freshly washed clothes I turned to look to the horizon and was stunned by the dark clouds that were rolling in and the wind that was howling. I got an uneasy knot in my stomach because I knew the ferry was already on its way. It seemed like the clouds and wind came from nowhere.”

“I quickly ran down to the ferry landing station to wait its arrival only to find that it hadn’t arrived yet and there was no word. I sat & I sat, it seemed like forever. The longer I sat the more scared I became. On that ferry was Louise {Weezie}, Mary {Mamie} and Gertrude {Tootsie} along with Trix, the mangy mutt.”

“The rain was pouring down, the wind was gusting and it didn’t look like the end was in sight when all of a sudden I heard the ferry horn blasting away. That meant they were close to shore and would be pulling up to the dock in just moments. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief because this area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic with so many ships sinking on the shoals and reefs.”

“I was so relieved that they were safe I even was happy to see Tootsie’s dog Trix, that mangy mutt of hers!”

I hope you enjoyed it. It's time for me to get to work. I'm really excited because today a brand new sewing machine is being delivered to me ;)

Have a creative filled day.

I he{ART} TCW Stencils & Tattered Angels Summer Releases

FYI: I listed 26 new stencils from The Crafter's Workshop last night...stancils from Balzer Designs, Dyan Reaveley, Dina Speed Wakley & stencils perfect for PROJECT LIFE! 

Check them out my Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHeARTTribe

Here are a few of my favs...ok they are all my fans but I won't post them all...lol!

Also here is a link to the Tattered Angels Summer 2012 Catalog for you perusal!

Have a great day...time for me to go and get INKY!!!

Julie Balzer's "The Weekend Five"...I'm playing along!

Don't you love brilliant ideas...this is one of those! Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is documenting life with THE WEEKEND FIVE and I'm playing along. You can find all the details here on Julie's blog and the only rule is that the post must contain a collection of five images.

I decided that I would share my favorite 5 Instagram photos from our trip to Dunedin, Fl. While there I took the opportunity to download several different Photography apps to use with my Instagram photos and these are the results.

Night Sky over the Gulf of Mexico

Palm Trees

Passion Flower

Sunset over Honeymoon Island

Sunset at Dunedin Marina

OK...I'm off to work on some super-secret projects with some incredible artists...they will be revealed on Aug. 18th and Aug. 19th. Have a great day...stay cool!