Having A Good Time, Pardner!

I am probably one of the first members to attend the KC Willis Collage Camp at The Lipstick Ranch! KC is a natural born teacher. You will learn how to assemble fabric collages with new meaning! You will learn how to start collecting doo dads, searching for vintage images, and staining fabrics, in new and exciting ways. She teaches you how to add heartfelt words to your projects. I am having a great time and always learning new stuff!

I probably have watched the class videos a half dozen times, and each time I learn something I didn't hear the first time. Since my sewing machine was in for repair and finally back, I can focus on finishing one of my first projects. What I especially like is talking and reading in the discussion groups, and seeing every one's artwork once you join. I had so much fun attending this camp and didn't want it to end! Her generosity is so apparent, that she has decided to have a $300 giveaway. Please check out this cool video to whet your creativity to sign up for camp.

KC Willis Collage Camp

Drop a comment at the giveaway blog The Lipstick Ranch, stating that you have bandied about the Camp logo shamelessly and your name will get in the drawing for a $300 Lipstick Ranch get-whatever-the heck-you-want shopping spree. Fabulous fabric, art, DVD's, books, collage kits...whatever the heck you want. The drawing will be held in 3 weeks on Monday, June 15th. You can even grab the little icon off the Camp front page and check out class details. If you don't have a blog, post it on your Facebook page, or on any other art group you belong to. Send postcards--you know..."Having a wonderful time...wish you were here."

Can't wait to show you my first piece of art!

Beedeebabee is Having a Giveaway

Paulette Racanelli from Long Island, New York and new blogger of "Beedeebabee" has decided to have a giveaway! Her designs are miniature works of art and will without a doubt dazzle you. Drop on over to her amazing new blog and enter her wonderful drawing. Wow!

Unleash Your Creativity

You will not believe the absolutely fabulous prizes Lesley is giving away at Flatwoods Folk Art!!

http://www.flatwoodsfolkart.typepad.com.

Start commenting today. The prize winners will be announced on June 1st!

Collage Sheets to Share

It is a true honor to have fifty (yes, fifty) followers for my humble blog. Who would have thought I would have an audience for some of my projects and photos! I thank you for your continued support, which motivates me daily.

As a thank you to all of you, here are some terrific "vintage-inspired" seed packet images that I purchased and scanned from the late 1970's. Feel free to download them and use for your personal spring and summer projects. I just love these!




I have recently cut these out and pasted on huge glass jars in my pantry, and they look very nostalgic.

Hugs to all of you,

Nancy

Can't Wait for Summer

This is an imaginary "me" and a girlfriend sitting on the beach in Atlantic City. Honestly, I dream about the ocean almost every day, listening to the waves lapping on the shore. Or maybe me possibly reading a mystery novel with the sound of sea gulls overhead. I could also be people watching on the boardwalk in another life.

This weekend, I will be taking a little break to visit my son and the gang for the weekend. It won't be that long before I can actually get my toes wet in Lake Michigan again in Ludington.


I will return on Monday!

Filled With Hope

Yesterday I read a post on a friend’s blog and it got me to thinking more than usual.

She said during these hard times, she found herself fretting and worrying more than ever, unable to enjoy herself at all. She found herself wanting to hide away. If there was ever a time for womankind to honor their creative selves it is here and now!

Through art, I can find the obvious, which is beauty and FREE expression. Art is the only way I know how to face my fears and let it all out! Focusing inward, creating art, will definitely help a person to survive.

When I feel overwhelmed, I like to look at the art that others have made. It ultimately leads me to create something of my own. Artists like Helen Frankenthaler, DeKooning, Pollack, O’Keefe, and Robert Rauschenberg lived through World Wars and the Great Depression. Thank God they never thought that when times are gloomy, they should stop doing something as self-centered as making art. Even looking at art can fill you with hope and keep you focused in a forward motion.

I look at a ball of yarn or a stack of papers and feel an obligation to make it into an object of color and texture, giving it life. I honestly believe we are created in God's image and therefore we who have been given a vision to make something out of nothing must CREATE. It's what He did.

He set the example and I will follow.

Sign up for a class, take a walk with your camera, and make sure you share with others. Don't lock yourself up in your room. You have no control over what might come, so why not enjoy what is happening right now, right at this moment. So, get going, and create!

Mother's Day

Since today is Mother's Day, I just wanted to post a picture from my past. Luckily for me, I only have fond and beautiful words to say about my Mom. This lovely lady is mine! She looks somewhat different now, but still is silly as ever.

This is a picture of my younger sister, Jane, and I, probably when she came home from the hospital as a newborn back in 1951. My parents were married in 1945 in Belleville, Michigan and I came along two years later, then my sister Jane, and lastly my youngest sister, Peg.

I believe my love of art all began with my Mom. She has always enjoyed keeping her home perfectly pristine, and highlighted with nature. I can remember just going out to play with her, and she would make clover garlands to wear in my hair. And other times, she would place a sprig of lilac behind my ear. How can I remember all this? Probably because, she always had patience for me. We would color, and paint. Other times, we baked, and sewed. I can still remember the day she showed be how to knit in 5th grade.

Thanks, Mom, for always being there for me!

May Flowers ATC Exchange

Some people give of themselves

And never know

The depth or breadth

Of what they have given.

~ by Nancy Van Hoose

~ By Kimberly Baslock

~ By Debra Abel

~ By Terri Gauthier

~ By Vikki Light

Perhaps this is

The power of love

in its purest form.

Garden Mouse of May

'But I must gather knots of flowers,
And buds and garlands gay,
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother,
I'm to be Queen o' the May.'

~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

For most persons, old sweaters may be cast aside and taken to the thrift store. But in my world, a wool sweater hanging sadly on a rack in a thrift store is a treasure. I have to know it's 100% wool, will it felt, and is the color perfect for my artwork.

About a month ago, I found this wonderful lime green sweater at the Salvation Army. I washed it in the hottest water with a little detergent in my washing machine, and then dried it in the dryer. Usually I then cut the side seams and up through the underside of the sleeves. This gives me the maximum area to begin cutting out shapes.

This sweet mouse (pattern created by Debra Abel from "It's All Good") is setting on my felted sweater pincushion, surrounded by a few silk posies, and a vine snapped from a silk flowered garland. I used a couple of circular shapes from my kitchen dishes to make a huge pincushion. Then all you do is sew around the rounded edge (remember to leave an opening), stuff with fiberfill, and embellish!

Have a magical day!

Nancy