Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! 

I think I have finally figured out this holiday...I labor more in honor :)  For my daughter-in-law it must have taken on a whole new meaning last year when she gave birth to my grand-daughter, Ella Elise!  Since I can't be there to help celebrate her first birthday, this card was created to share some sweet sentiments for a sweet girl.  The card uses a relatively new product called Gelato by Faber-Castell to create the color. The gelato colors come in tubes like chapstick and are water reactive. If the tube is rubbed on the stamp and then spritzed with water the colors blend together as shown here with the background stamp and 6 colors. If used to color in a stamp, a small amount is rubbed on and then smeared around with a sponge or finger as I did with the cupcake.  They reminded me of very smooth crayons or when I was little and used to draw with my mother's lipstick (no she was not happy and red left such pretty stains :0). They were pretty messy so I think I will have to play with them some more to see what other techniques I can discover.  Happy Birthday Ella.

Speaking of techniques, check out these sea creatures..sorry the photo is kind of blurry at the bottom.(my daughter is taking a photography class so maybe she can teach me how to take better pictures)  After researching some natural stamping techniques I tried to duplicate the process using rubber stamps. Starting with black paper, I used bleach to stamp the image making sure there was enough bleach to soak into the lines so it came out like a solid image. After the bleach dried and took out the pigment, I inked up the stamp again with Memento Dye markers to add color over top of the bleached area.  When that dried, I inked the stamp around the edges with a white pigment ink and stamped the final layer.  The colors and texture really added dimension and they looked very lifelike. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use them....good thing much of my family live near beaches :) Maybe I will start a new beach Christmas Card trend!

Before starting to think of Christmas Cards, however, I have a list of occasion cards that need to be made. We are thrilled that Stamp to Cope will have a booth at Women's Wellness again this year, the Girl Scouts asked that we put on a project for the local council, and we are planning to have some items in the local art gallery for a fundraising event. To get myself inspired for the mass production needed in such a short timeframe, I went to my favorite technique to make a New Home card for my nephew and his wife...Masking. This house card was made with 4 separate stamps and some post-it notes.  For each stamp a mask is created to cover so new layers can be applied without distortion. The trick is to stamp the items in the forefront first, cover them with the mask made of the same shape and stamp the next layer. Repeat this process until the scene is set and then remove all the masks.  It can get pretty slopping while working and sometimes fussy cutting the masks can be time consuming, but once the masks are gone the depth is great. We wish them all the best as they celebrate first-time home ownership. It did the trick, I have been making cards all weekend.  I am celebrating Labor Day by laboring creatively! 

Love to all,

Jeannette

TriFold Thanks

Hi all,  Hope this posts finds you enjoying the close of Summer and embracing  a new school year. Our daughter has returned to college and our son is beginning his second week in the 7th grade. Fun and exciting times for everyone!  At Stamp to Cope, we are wrapping up our Summer activities and preparing for Fall workshops and Breast Cancer Awareness events. 

As the school year begins, so do many clubs and organizations that took a break so families could go on vacation or focus on warm weather activities. Sending reminders and/or invitations to participants can be a great way to get the momentum going again. A favorite type of card is one that can be duplicated in bulk for just such an occasion.  However, designing something that is relatively easy to duplicate but still provide a WOW factor can be a challenge. So imagine my joy and surprise when a large box was delivered to my front door as I was pondering designs for a set of invitations I was asked to create. One of the participants from my stamping Learnshop in July sent a huge stack of trifold/precut card stock bases for our creative use. Thank you Maureen!!!!  This first project used distress stain rubbed directly onto the stamp for multiple colors of the flower and computer generated text for the invitation specifics. A ribbon was fastened to the back so it could be tied completely around the folded end product.  Of course, I couldn't stop there, I ended up creating about 10 different cards to put in our display at the Art Gallery.

Since masculine cards seem to be such a challenge for most of us, I wanted to share this next picture to show how I used the same card base but put a rustic spin.  

The card base was distress inked in brown and the use of sticky back canvas for the stamped clock faces added depth and texture. On the inside, I stamped the sentiment in brown ink and then put a mask over it before I stamped the click. I used Copic markers on the clock for a little pop of color. Coloring on canvas can be trick because of the texture and the bleeding of the inks. Do some testing on a scrap piece of canvas to determine what color medium you like best.

Thanks for reading and have a great week! 

Jeannette

Learnshop Success

Wow, it is August already and boy have my postings gotten away from me with all the activities and travel on my schedule. But, I am back now with plenty of exciting things to share....

During the first part of the month, my family and I took a little road trip to Charleston, SC. As many of you know, my husband is in the recovery stages of throat (head and neck) cancer so we did not want to go too far or take things too fast.  Charleston seemed to have something for all of us with Low Country Furniture for  my husband, Patriots Point for my son, and palmetto trees, salt water, and sand for me (Ft. Sumpter was an added bonus). We all came home relaxed and creatively inspired. 

 Upon our return we immediately jumped into the 2012 Berea Festival Learnshops where I conduct 3 Art of Stamping workshops (beginning, intermediate, and advanced).  These workshops currently serve as our annual fundraising event with 100% of the fees collected for my workshops being donated to Stamp to Cope.  What a great time everyone had with plenty of projects created.  The card picture above uses one of the background pieces we made with the shaving cream technique and working with stamps and inks that play well with water/water color paper.  For more photos of the workshops, check out the Berea Tourism facebook page or directly at these links for beginner and advanced. The picture coverage was great..Thanks Mike! If you were unable to join us this year, be sure to mark your calendars for the 2013 event scheduled for the second and third week of July.

I left the final workshop and headed directly to the airport for a flight to Chicago for my university's graduation ceremony. Watching our students walk across the stage is always the highlight of my teaching year. On this visit I received two surprises...1. I received an honor award and was inducted into the Delta Delta chapter of Epsilon Pi Tau for my work in instructional design and use of instructional technology. 2. I served as a faculty representative welcoming alumni, graduating honor students, and student families at Harry Carey's in Chicago, IL the night before graduation. This event gave me an opportunity to spend some time with very excited students and our gracious commencement speaker, Ben Stein.  

Now that I am back home, it is time to try and catch up...when do the children go back to school? :)

Blessings and have a super day!  Jeannette

"One Grecian Urn..."

Greetings and Happy 4th of July!
I apologize for the long gap between posts, but this post will give a little more insight into my distraction.  My son is quite the little actor and landed the part of the Conductor in our town version of The Music Man. The director needed a few "towns people" and my son asked me to participate. I landed the role of Mrs. Squires and we had a blast. My favorite part was when we ladies became the Grecian urns for the town sociable and it inspired my card. The urn is stamped, shaded, and cut out to pop up at the top.  I made some flowers by putting glue onto flower wire and sprinkling it with Flower Soft shavings.  Once they dried, I glued them "inside" the urn and glued the urn back onto the oval shaped piece of card stock. For the background, I took a bland piece of card stock, letter press embossed and then took my scorepal and made the score lines to form tiles.  A sentiment was stamped, circle punched, and pop up mounted onto the tiles.  A ribbon was added to "tie" (small joke here) all the colors together.  The entire thing was mounted onto a tan card base.

When it came time for the actual performances (there were three), I was surprised how calm I was and totally forgot about the audience. (Keep in mind that I had never done anything like this before.) I did my best the first two nights but I was not actually inspired...the excitement just was not there. However, the third and final performance was completely different.  As I pondered this, the difference finally came to me and the parallels to my survival performances jumped out at me as well.  You see, while the excitement of the cast and the audience were present the first two nights, my son and I did not have any personal supporters in the audience. Unlike many of the cast, we have no family in the area and did not anticipate any of our friends being able to come with all the summer conflicts.  However, the third night, my husband was in the audience and it provided that extra support needed to succeed and motivate. What a reminder of the power our support people bring when we take on new and difficult roles. Like the final performance, I know I fought harder when my family was by my side. I know my strength to perform increased when there was someone to clap for me as I made progress and hit my marks. But, most importantly, I know how much it meant to simply know I had support in the audience...I was not performing alone.

They say, life imitates art...now I have even more proof.

Thanks to all for the standing ovations!  "One Grecian Urn, Two Grecian Urns, and a Fountain.... ;)
Blessings, Jeannette

Good Timber

Now that the official day to celebrate Fathers has passed, I wanted to share the card I made for my husband.  As many of you know, he is a very talented wood crafter so this creation was intended to honor his deep respect for trees.  I created the grain background by embossing a green piece of card stock that had a white core and then sanding off some of the color to emphasize the grain. The wood style oval trim was made by stamping a wood pattern on white card stock and then coloring with Copic markers to bring out the browns.  For the tree, I used Memento markers to color the leaves and trunk directly on the stamp using the huffing technique to reactivate the ink before stamping onto white cardstock. The sky background was done with Distress Ink and a sponge applicator.  Added a sentiment and some pearls to finish it off.

Speaking of trees, I am on a quest to obtain a Mimosa tree for my yard.  When I was a child we had a Mimosa tree and I spent many hours either in it or under it reading and dreaming.  Sometimes during treatment to distract myself,  I would think about the sweet scent and beautiful puffy pink "powder puff" flowers and relax. As I was thinking of new ways to "destress", it finally dawned on me to get a Mimosa tree  for myself. Seemed like an easy thing to do right? Wrong.  I tried all my local nurseries...nope.  In fact, people were quite rude letting me know that the tree was considered an invasive species. One even called it a scrub tree. Then I ordered and paid for 2 saplings over the Internet from a nursery in GA.  What a disaster! They took my money and 6 months later I received two sticks with roots. One never made it and the other turned out to be an Ash tree.  After that, someone suggested I visit a local lake where they were all over the place and dig up a shoot..no luck there. I even stopped by a house where one was growing to see if they would give me a sapling but no one was home. Finally, I contacted the landscaper for Berea College and he said he would see if they could get me something but indicated that I needed to wait until fall.  So keep your fingers crossed and if you have any other ideas, please post a comment so I can follow up.  Truly must be some "good timber" to be so difficult to obtain. :).


Have a great week. Jeannette

Honoring Fathers

Greeting Bloggers!

As Father's Day fast approaches, I wanted to send out a HUGE wave of love to all those men who take on the role of "Dad".  I intended to share a card I made for my husband (a GREAT father indeed), but then realized he would see this blog and the card before the big day.  Since we gave him his presents already (I am really horrible about waiting...I just get too excited), showing him his card early meant nothing to open on Sunday.  Therefore, I decided to dedicate this post to the memory of my father and the blessing of my father-in-law. 

Without getting to emotional (which is hard)--I miss my dad everyday.  When I was diagnosed with cancer he was one of the strongest supporters on my team. He filled the role of the "inspirator" and never doubted I was strong enough to fight.  As he would say...."Your a Foultz, so quit complaining and fight back." He is my hero! I thank God for giving me to such a fine man.

Another fine man worthy of praise is my father-in-law.  He is so special with the largest heart I have ever seen. He still works his farms every day and never met a stranger. When I watch him work his magic, I know exactly why my husband is such a jewel! I made this card for Dad (he does not do technology so won't see his card early) to send a little love his way. The background paper was made by using distress stains and a chevron stamp blending in the colors for a masculine feel. The car was stamped with Versa Mark embossing ink and then heat embossed in black for texture. I added the bow at the last minute to add a little something shiny. 

Thank you Father's everywhere!  Enjoy your day!   

Jeannette

May Moments and Memorials

Greetings all,  

"Just a Note" to update everyone on Stamp to Cope (STC) activities as we wrap up the month of May for 2012. These last two weeks have been full of ups and downs but we remember our blessings through both. 

On May 19th, our dear friend, Michael Lee "Mike" Hix, lost his valiant 9 year battle with cancer. The following poem, shared at his services, says it all...

God Saw he was getting tired

and a cure was not to be. 

So He put His arms around Mike

and whispered "Come with Me."

With tear-filled eyes we watched him

suffer and fade away;

although we loved him deeply,

we could not make him stay.

A golden heart stopped beating,

hard-working hands put to rest.

God broke our hearts to prove to us,

He only takes the best!

STC sends love and prayers to the Hix family and friends.

During the end of May, we also took time to celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who gave all so we can be free. 

"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, 
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today" - (The Kohima Epitaph)

We ended the month with our annual board meeting on May 26 here in Berea, KY. A huge thank you to all the board members for their continued trust, support, and direction! We have a super talented board and I appreciate the time and talent they volunteer. Great things being planned for the rest of 2012 in the areas of outreach and funding so stay tuned to this blog for updates.

Looking forward to the adventures of June as we prep for the July Learnshops!!!  Jeannette

Mother's Day Spotlight

Hi all!  Happy Belated Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is such a fun time for cards and when they are handmade it seems to add that much more love to the message.  As a mother myself, I have cherished (and saved) every one of the cards my children make and I smile at the crayon, scribbles, and lopsided images.  After all, where are you going to find a store bought card that has pumpkins on it in May.  Yet, by creating it themselves, my children can decorate it with all of my favorite things any time of the year.  As a survivor, the fact that I am still here to receive these precious works of art makes them masterpieces.

When it comes to Mother's Day, I am doubly blessed... I have the absolute best and most generous Mom ever and I am so spoiled :) (it helps to be the baby of the family even if I am are pushing 51).  AND I have the most wonderful Mom-in-law that any wife could ever hope to share.  The really cool part is that they are both so different and unique that I continue to learn from them both.  It also gives me an opportunity to make very individualized Mother's Day greetings inspired by their favorite things.  I hope my coloring has improved over the years :).

The first card with the fish I made for my Mom.  She lives at the ocean and just loves anything beach related. This card has tons of dimension which makes it seem as if the fish are actually floating by. I stamped the fish and seaweed, colored them with Copic markers and then cut them out.  On a small piece of card stock, I inked the blue background and stamped on the sea grass and sea horses.  By using pop dots behind the fish and sea weed when placed on the background piece, the shadow that it creates adds the depth. These pieces were then set on top of an embossed piece of cardstock that I inked before embossing to give the feeling of waves.  Everything was then mounted on yellow base cardstock and the sentiment added at the end.  She said it was my best card yet and she plans to shadow box frame it for her house...True Mother's love.

The second card I made for my Mom-in-law. She lives in the country and loves to garden and enjoy beautiful flowers.  She is also very active in her sorority whose colors are purple and yellow. For this card, I stamped the flower twice and colored them both with Copic markers. I cut out the first one completely being careful cutting around all the fine detail. The second one I only cut out random petals and leaf segments. I glued the random pieces on top of the full flower curling up the petal ends to give it texture.  I added gemstones to the center of the petals for shine and realism.  The focal flower was attached with pop dots to a swiss dot embossed piece of yellow cardstock that I antiqued around the edges and tied with matching twine. I rounded the corners and put it over craft paper card stock. She said she LOVED it and was going to show it to her Sorority sisters...high praise for sure.

Thanks to both of my Mother's for all that they do for us.  Have a great week.  Jeannette

Tea Time

Greetings bloggers!
Today the Berea Women's Club had a membership tea.  The organization has several breast cancer survivors in the group so I always appreciate when Stamp to Cope can be a part of their events. Last month they asked if I would create their invitations and I wanted to share how they came together. According to one of the attendees, the recipients really enjoyed the tea shaped cards and were intrigued by the surprise inside.

What a fun way to share with friends and everyone seemed to have a great time.  Hope everyone has a super week!  Blessings, Jeannette

So Much To Share

Wow, May 1 already! Where did the time go? So much has happened since my last post so please just smile if I begin to ramble :)....

Let's start with a few heartfelt thank yous....

A HUGE shout out to Betty T for her generous supply donation in support of our mission. STC received  a very large box filled to the brim with stamps, inks, papers, embellishments, fixatives, and projects.  These items are already being put to great use in our survivor bags.  Thank you Betty... always an Angel!

Love and thanks to all the wonderful women of Star Charities who worked so hard to support STC with a super fundraising event.  These hard working volunteers ensured that everyone had a fabulous time while supporting our worthy mission.  Star Charities presented STC with a check for $1500.00 from the event and I cried!  Check out some of these pictures I took of the event...

Finally, Thank you to my sister, Alderman Shirley Isbell for her $150.00 donation toward survivor bags for recently diagnosed survivors in her district. What a nice way to show true service to her constituents.

Now for the crafty stuff....

Happy Birthday to my grand daughter, Lila Grace "Gracie" who turned 2 on the 30th.  To help share in her celebration, I made this kitten card that I hope made her smile. The focal point was actually several separate stamps that I arranged together to form a little story of birthday sharing. I colored the images with Copic markers blending several shades to give texture to the fur of the animals. Cool blue and green were added around the outside of the images to create grounding and depth. She is "so sweet" and we hop she had a wonderful birthday!

Finally, an update....

As many of you know, my husband Greg has been battling throat cancer.  I am over joyed to share that he seems finally on the mend.  I praise God and all of you for this miracle!  AND my stomach is every so happy because this week he even felt well enough to start cooking for us again!!! Yeah!  Soon he will also be able to join us in eating his excellent cuisine.  Welcome back my love!!!!!

Well, that is it for today..but...if my luck holds, next post will be just as busy. :)  Blessings, Jeannette...

OH, PS, I almost forgot... Start thinking about signing up for my Art of Stamping Classes at Berea Festival Learnshops.  All my proceeds are donated to Stamp to Cope.  Check out our website for the registration links...  www.stamptocope.org.