Back with flair!!!

 Well HELLO all!!!  The world has certainly moved along these years since my last post.  Where did the time really go?!  More to the point, where have I been?! ;P The short answer, is I have been right here moving Stamp To Cope, Inc. along through the pandemic, finding new and safe ways to support our survivors, designing new workshops, creating virtual content, finding unique fundraising opportunities, and revisiting the use of blogs and other social media outlets. Innovation and evolution is a strong inspiration for creativity and adaptation! 

So now I am BACK with the return of the 2022 Berea Learnshops, new approaches to delivering resources and content, and preparing for two Fall "Make It, Take It, Give It" fundraising events. I look forward to sharing new techniques, tips, tricks, and stories of impact from our survivors! For example, the photo reflects a set of cards I made this weekend using patterned papers, die cuts, and embossing techniques for light layers and mailability. Hope you will rejoin me as we create our own NEW NORMAL!

Love and thankfullness for you all!

Jeannette

Belated Dedication to My Mom!
Anna Foultz Obituary - Arlington Cemetery, June 22, 2020 at 10:15am

Hello my wonderful blog readers!

It has definitely been a long time since my last post from a social media perspective and yet life as we all know it has changed so drastically in a very short time.  From an STC perspective, we started discussions on a reconstruction of our website and blog page in Fall of 2019 so I decided to hold off posting until it was done. Then my world took on a few critical curves which completely shook my foundation and focus. On September 22, 2019, I lost my mother and one of the greatest STC supporters. As you might expect, she was a rock on which I rested and depended upon throughout my life. Anna Foultz encouraged us to start STC and donated her time, talents, and resources to aid in our success. Hard to believe that March 10, 2020 was our 10 year anniversary. I have held off posting for multiple reasons since her passing...site was not ready, focus was not there, COVID-19 (no explanation necessary here), loss of my 17 year old best dog ever, plus more...but service, inspiration and creativity have returned and I dedicate that to her. Her life was so public and so awe inspiring that when I read her final obituary received today, I knew that I needed to get back to serving and continue giving as she modeled and expects. While I will never remotely make the differences in the world she did, I am rededicated to making as much of a difference as I can in my small part of the world. Shoot just the fact that she is being laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery says so much about all she (and my father) sacrificed to make the world a better place! How can I then whine and disregard all the blessings bestowed! So, the new website is now up www.stamptocope.org with a donate button to help us grow the mission, we are in the planning for publishing a creative therapy resource free for our survivors, we have (and continue to) created giving projects that we have sent out to our survivors to help cope through this quarantine, and we are developing a new online presence to replace the loss of the 2020 Learnshop Annual Event....and that is JUST the beginning! Hope you will come along for the new wave of STC!  Love you Mom and THANKS for showing me how to love, be thankful, forgive, and serve!!!

Stay safe everyone...its a new world and a new opportunity to give!
love Jeannette

Fall Is Here!

Happy Fall Y'all!!!!

Wow, October is here and I am so excited for the holiday creations to commence!!

A quick drop in to share some Fall creativity to begin the celebration...

1. A very fun Back to School project where I die cut an Apple shape and then painted the Apple with black gesso. If you do not have black gesso on hand, you can find and use actual black chalk paint at your local hobby store. When I packaged them all together, I even included a piece of chalk and the addition of a small cut piece of sponge for an eraser makes a super fun desk top accessory.

2. Pumpkin snack bags are always great for small gifts or to put together for Trick or Treaters. I used a beautiful orange card stock and die cut 25 pumpkins. Using glitter pens, black and purple inks, and green bakers twine, I colored the stem and decorated the front. Using a tiny stapler, the pumpkins were attached to small zip snack bags.

3. After I completed the snack bag project, I had these fabulous open pumpkin pieces of card stock and they just screamed out to me....SHAKER CARDS!!!! Totally respecting October birthday's and being a firm believer that birthdays should be celebrated all month long (I am kind of partial since my birthday is Halloween), I took advantage of the pre-cut "scraps" and birthday confetti...Wolla!

4. Panda's are so cute and align particularly with Fall graduation at my university. Soooo, I could not resist making little tokens for my graduate students who walked across the stage this year! The panda was stamped on white cards stock and highlighted using copic markers. These treats added an additional smile to an already exciting milestone.

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to diving into Breast Cancer Awareness events during this special month and sharing the results of our events here in the future.  By the way, I wanted to let you know that STC will trying to catch up with the latest technology and reworking our website and updating our blog.  Keep on the look out!!!!

Many blessings to all,

Jeannette

Happy Little Trees

Hello All!

Welcome to a little creative fun post! January and February of 2019 seemed to just fly by with all the crazy snow, rain, and temperatures. While I am sure it is not over yet, I am celebrating the oddities because it cut down on my travels and, more importantly, gave me some moments to spread my crafty wings. Over the 9 years Stamp to Cope, Inc. has been operating, I have watched a wonderful blending of art techniques into the craft of making cards. Our survivors seem to want to learn more and more techniques and it is very exciting to expand my kills so I can help them expand their own. When STC participates in the Berea Festival of Learnshops (watch for the 2019 registration post soon), requests come in for me to add gel printing, watercolor, and acrylic tips for coloring card images. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to share some journal projects that might wind their way into some future workshops. Certainly, the techniques will be incorporated in our tote supplies and survivor visits.  Cards are my "canvas" so creating this Bob Ross card with alcohol markers and paper piecing encouraged me to stretch into additional media. After all, he reminds us that there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents. As he would say....

“This is your world. You’re the creator. Find freedom on this canvas. Believe, that you can do it, ‘Cuz you can do it. You can do it.” 
― Bob Ross

Watercolor

Watercolor on Wood

Acrylic Paint

Mixing it all together with collage

Hope you enjoyed these happy little accidents and found some inspiration. Remember to do something creative everyday!!! I look forward to working with you all in future workshops, seminars, presentations, and tote bag sessions.

Love and blessings,

Jeannette

2018 is a Wrap and Happy New Year!

Greetings all!  Hope this post finds that everyone had a fabulous Christmas and Holiday time! With 2019 literally just around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to reflect and share just we have been doing this last half of the year! The image above was a candy sleeve I created for a treat give-away at one of our events. I had so much fun sliding the penguin into the igloo!  Hope you enjoy this little walk down memory lane 😊!

July 2018 - Berea Learnshops! Stamp to Cope held 4 Learnshop events - 2 Mixed-Media Journaling and 2 Alcohol Markers and Colored Pencils. All sessions were a sell-out and we raised $1,840 toward our $5,000 annual budget. Thanks everyone who helped, we had a great time!

Great news!!! We were asked to participate again in 2019!!! July 14, 20, 21, and 28!!!

 August 2018 - Is always a very crazy and  busy time for me because it means Graduation Season! Sharing some trinkets I made for our graduation teams/students and a shot from one of the three graduation ceremonies that month.

September 2018 -  Stamp to Cope was invited to present at a Book Club in Berlin, MD. A great group of women and I had a chance to spend some time with my mother (the women taking the photo).

October 2018 - Stamp to Cope was also invited to work in the local schools with an Advanced Placement Art class working on Art Journaling as a therapy option for teen stress and anxiety. Plus I had a little fun making some awesome spinning face Halloween Cards for my co-workers!

November 2018 - Stamp to Cope was invited to work with 123 K - 2 students at Simmons Elementary School where we share the STC mission and created tags and scratch art. Delivered several Survivor Tote Bags to teachers, parents, staff workers, and family members who were identified as survivors during the event.

December 2018 - Strategic planning, supply inventory, and event applications submitted for 2019! Some card creation time and sending out thank you and holiday wishes to all of our patrons!!!

Wishing all of you a very richly blessed and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
love
Jeannette

Dads and Grads 2018!!!

Happy Father's Day 2018

Greetings all!

Hope this post finds everyone enjoying the end of school and end of Spring season! A HUGE shout out to all the Dads and Grads who are celebrating in 2018.  I wanted to share two cards I created in honor of the festivities and encourage you to try out these ideas.

The first card, "I love you a latte", used a basic layering technique with a dark roast color based card stock folded to fit into a regular business size envelope. The accent layer used white card stock where I randomly stamped coffee beans to create a background and tied a ribbon around it before adhering it to the card base. The real fun began when I stamped the focal point coffee cup onto water colored paper and painted it using COFFEE...yes, you read that correctly...I used real COFFEE to create a backwash and paint the image! As a bonus, painting with the coffee gave the card an awesome scent when opened. The trick is to pour small amounts of left over coffee into a shallow pallet and let dry out. I used a small inexpensive plastic painter's pallet. Once it drys out, it can be used just like water colors. Give it a try!

Graduation Invitation Cards

The second card was a super quick and creative alternative to the extremely expensive graduation invitation and announcement packages offered by schools and universities. The card stock and ink can be changed to match any school/university colors giving the opportunity to really personalize. On the inside, I made a pocket for a wallet sized senior picture and inserted the graduation ceremony information. Mass producing was a snap using a stamp positioning tool. A bonus to keeping flat layers (no pop ups), no extra postage. Congratulations to all 2018 graduates!

Before I sign off, a quick Stamp to Cope update.....
- March and April presentations and tote bag distributions
- May participated in graduations and local Mother's Day event distributing STC information
- June participated in graduations and began enrolling students in our Learnshop Classes

Be sure to get the word out about the 2018 Berea Festival of Learnshops and my courses. This is our major fundraiser of the year.  For more information, click on the links below....

Mixed Media Art Journeling  and
Alcohol Markers and Colored Pencil Techniques

As always, thank you all so very much for your continued love and support!
Blessings always,

Jeannette

You Make My Heart Squeak!

Hello my wonderful blog buddies!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, loving, caring, and compassionate Valentine's Day. February brings quite a bit of work travel for me but I wanted to stop in and let you know you "make my heart squeak!"

These little cuties were made for the hard working and dedicated faculty and staff who joined me for a training week at the office. The project was quick and easy using a Fun Stamper's Journey Heart die cut from white cardstock, an old, but favorite, stamp (anyone remember The Angel Company), glitter brush pens from Crafter's Companion, and a Sweetarts lollipop. Bringing a little love and sugar to long workshop days seems to add to the fun.

Enjoy your week, stay warm, and think Spring ;)! Love Jeannette

New Year, New Goals!

Happy 2018!!!!!

Greetings everyone and Happy New Year!

With the new year comes the chance to set new goals!  One of mine will be to become more engaged with the blog space!  Today marks the anniversary of my first blog post attempt and it has reminded me to reconnect!

Before starting out with additional 2018 plans, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for a great 2017 and share these cute pictures from STC's visit to Simmons Elementary School for their end of year day of art.

We worked with 133 students from K - 3 making personalized wrapping paper using a variety of rubber stamp images.  They had an inky, stampy, messing, and joyous day! Look at some of the beautiful examples of the creations! After the event, I received the most lovely and heart warming cards of thanks. Some of the cards were from children I had worked with in previous years and they remembered their card making lessons :). Such a fabulous sharing activity to end the year.

So what is next you ask?....  We have completed our application for the 2018 Berea Festival of Learnshops, participated in various fun-raising activities with local non-profits, renewed our alliance with the Art Therapy community, and have begun official program planning for 2018.  More to come once the list of activities and appearances is complete. 

Thanks again for your patience as this blog took a back seat in 2017. New focus, renewed commitment to embracing the blog! :).  Have a great January and STAY WARM!!!

Love always,

Jeannette 

Happy Halloween and Updates!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Where have I been you ask? Well... STC and work have kept me hopping. But, I could not let today (Halloween and my birthday) go by without dropping a note to all of you sending THANKS!!!  March - October provided tons of new opportunities for STC such as card sale fundraisers, our annual Learnshops, sponsorship opportunities, and breast cancer awareness events. To say we have been busy would not do it justice. During one of my trips, I made these super cute treat bags for all meeting attendees and they were a real hit. 

Tim Holtz

I was able to attend a stamp training event and had the pleasure to meet and learn from these two stars.. Tim Holtz and Dyan Reaveley...talk about inspiration. I shared with them our mission and some of the fundraiser cards we make using their products. A wonderful experience and we have already incorporated some new techniques into our workshops using Distress Oxides and acrylic paints.

Dyan Reaveley

Our 2017 Berea Festival Learnshops were the best yet! I had an opportunity to work with some wonderful children and adults as we made cards and art journals. Several of the attendees were P-12 teachers who now have some exciting things to share with their students. Great fun trying new products, testing out resist techniques, and comparing pencils, markers, and inks. More to come.... Love Jeannette

Its about the Journey!

Greetings Blog Followers!

Yes, I am still here and STC is busier than every before. Considering that the last time I posted was in October of 2016 (where did the time go? :0), there is much to share.  The STC Journey over these last months has been inspiring with surprise opportunities as well. This post will focus on "catching you up" items and in my next post I will provide our year end closeout (we follow a fiscal year of 4/1 - 3/31). So let's get started.....

November 2016, STC participated in the Arts Day at Simmons Elementary School in Versailles, KY. I worked with 150 K-3 students using stamping art to make cards, book marks, and door hangers. We shared information about our organization with the teachers and administrators and provided resources for several survivors to be distributed through the school.  The event was a wonderful success and I received the most beautiful hand made thank you cards. So great to see they learned something fun and therapeutic.

December 2016, STC made cards for distribution to local senior centers, health care agencies, and art organizations. Over 200 cards were donated throughout the month. I created specialty card sets for use in raising funds for the arts in our community. I just love knowing that our cards bring so much joy!

January 2017, STC completed two proposals for participation in the 2017 Berea Learnshops. As many of you know, this is our largest fundraising opportunity and contributes to about half of our operating budget. Looking forward to another fun and exciting event.

February 2017, As you may recall from a previous post, STC had to find a new vendor to create our survivor stamp set. Very excited to share that we received our first completed batch. The photo above compares our previous look (the set at the bottom with the three hole system on backer board) with the approach of the current supplier. The new sets reflect the same high quality red rubber and now they are pre-cut with a laminated cling sheet visual stored within a reusable zip bag for convenience when taking them to appointments and treatments. A huge Thank You to Lee and Lee of StampaFe Art Stamps  for working with us to create the best possible product for our survivors!

Well, that gets us up-to-date and I appreciate you allowing STC to be part of your journey!  Until next time....
Love, blessings, and thanksgiving!!!!
Jeannette