Resolution Journal

Happy 2014 Everyone!!!

Hope everyone had a joyous holiday and thanks for returning to the STC blog for another year!

As we enter the new year, many people create resolutions...I, usually, am not one of them. My perspective, especially as it relates to Survivorship, is "resolve to be the best you can everyday"! Therefore, for me, deciding that at the beginning of a year to embrace enhancements instead of embracing growth everyday, somehow, makes me feel ungrateful for this second chance.

However, over the Christmas break, while in my ultra creative mode, I came across several vlogs, encouraging Art Journalling.  I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised with the impact it had on my perspective and creative flow. It was a great way to test out techniques, make a mess, and expand my comfort zone. I was quite hooked. So, imagine my own surprise when I ..yes I.. made a resolution to keep an Art Journal for 2014.

A journal is usually quite a personal and private thing. But when my fellow survivor, mentor, and friend, Judy posted her beautiful art piece on Facebook today, I was inspired to share my creations.

 I look forward to this creative challenge throughout the year and hope you will consider trying an Art Journal option for yourself!

Blessings for a CREATIVE new year!!!
Jeannette

Merry Marriage Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!!!!!

I am done all my shopping, I have caught up on email (at least for the next 5 minutes), and I am finally accepting that Christmas is here...literally!  Before I head out to Church this evening, I wanted to give a shout out to my wonderful and loving support partner...my husband Greg!  Our 14th anniversary was on Sunday and it was fun to create a card and matching paper that brings together several elements of Christmas and a marriage celebration.

I could not "wrap" up the year for Stamp to Cope, without sharing my appreciation to Greg, my family, and my friends for standing by my side as we serve others.  THANK YOU ALL!!!

Merry Christmas and a blessed 2014!!!
love
Jeannette

The Color of Thankful!

Happy Greetings Bloggers!

Originally, this post was going to be a picture of a Thanksgiving card I made and some updates on what we have been doing here at Stamp to Cope.  However, when I sat down to type, I realized I was still riding on the excitement of being at Disney World for the Sloan C conference last week (thanks everyone who came out for my presentation!)! Instead of focusing on how I made my card and how it ties in with the holiday, I found myself flipping through my pictures, unfolding my Magic Kingdom Guide Map, staring at my extensive Disney Pin collection, and daydreaming about past trips with family and friends.   So many of my thankful memories coincide with trips to Disney World....

As a young girl, my first airplane ride and actually spending time as a whole family since my dad worked long hours.
As a young teen (16), going alone with my older sister (18) and finding out how cool she really was...we felt so grown up..(note to Cookie...remember Slimy Limy's)
As a young women, going to the grand opening of Epcot and discovering a behind the scenes world like no other.
As a first time mom, watching the magic and awe through my daughter's eyes.
As a wife, enjoying the romance of riding the rides with my soul-mate...I love you Greg!
As a second time mom, realizing on the Disney Transportation that my son has a gift for making people smile.
As a Cancer survivor, getting a "Disney Wish" granted that my husband and children would be rewarded for providing such wonderful support.
As an artist, amazed at the creativity in everything Disney.
As a career women, so blessed to be able to share experience and skills with others in such a glorious venue.

Like the picture of a Cinderella's Castle above (thank you my loving daughter Carly for merging it together for me), my thankfulness is FULL of color!

Love to all and a Blessed Thanksgiving!
Jeannette

Harvest Herd

Happy Fall Y'all!

Not sure what it is like in your area, but Berea is finally feeling, to me, like Fall!  Leaves just changed color and then quickly disappeared after a weekend of rain.  Seems like if I had blinked I would have missed it...happens in quite a few areas of life I suspect :).  It did remind me that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and more festive holiday events are coming my way...truly a card makers time of year for bulk! Now all I need to do is make time to actually create with time to send.

However, before I get lost in the pull of the Season, I wanted to play around with dimensional technique. I am so lucky to belong to a card making group called PaperKutz and mentioned my interest.  These wonderful ladies meet once a month and share tips, techniques, and the latest trends in the paper crafting world. Look what we worked on at a recent meeting! It is fabulous to know Stamp to Cope has so many talented women supporting what we do.

So, from my herd to yours, have a super week and enjoy the Fall while it lasts!
Blessings,
Jeannette
 

Pumpkin pARTy

Greetings and Festive Fall Hellos!!!!

Wow, what a busy and fulfilling Breast Cancer Awareness Month for me and the whole group at Stamp to Cope.  October 3 recognized my 10 year anniversary of my diagnosis....I am so grateful and blessed! Clearly something to celebrate and within a perfect month :). Thanks all of my loving supporters.

From that celebratory event, we went on to prepare for our first Survivors pARTy. I prepped for 100 participants creating at 3 stations. Yes, I know, dreaming big :) Station 1 covered basic card making, station 2 covered wax pencil techniques, and station 3 covered water based markers.  Gifts were provided at each station along with hands-on assistance from wonderfully talented volunteers.  A huge shout out to Anita, Kassondra, and Tammy for helping with the stations.  We also had the all important food/snack area "manned" by my fabulous husband Greg.  Our daughter, Carly, came home from college to take pictures of the event.

For our first offering of this type, we were thrilled by the results. We met our goal of contacting with at least 20 people, we created beautiful projects and memories, and we had a fabulous time!

From the pARTy event, directly into preparing card give-away sacks for local care giving facilities has kept us all busy.  Stamp to Cope received over 2000 hand made cards from survivors, support partners, and caring crafters around the world as part of our Reach Out Readers initiative with Card Maker Magazine. To close out our Breast Cancer Awareness month, we put together bags of these blank, seasonal, and occasion cards to be distributed this week to help share a warm greeting with those needing a special uplifting message.

Even though the end of October means the official end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it does not end for Stamp to Cope.  We are participating in the Women's Wellness Day on November 2 so stay tuned for an update on this wonderful event!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Halloween!
Blessings, Jeannette

October 1 is soooo IMPORTANT!

Happy October 1 everybody!!!!!

This day is so super important in my world!!!  Why you ask?  Maybe you think it is an anniversary date of some kind....no.  Maybe you are thinking it is some significant milestone date I have set for myself....no.  Maybe some special event is happening today that I forgot to blog about...no.  It is so important because today, October 1, is the day my husband brings up my Halloween Clothes from storage!!!!!!

Do not be deceived...this tub is HUGE!  For those of you who do not know me as well, beginning October 1, I wear something Halloween related everyday until my birthday.  It all started when my sister Cookie (Shirley) purchased a very pretty Halloween sweater for me for my birthday. (I think I was about 19) However, that same year my mother also purchase a very pretty Halloween sweater for me for my birthday.  Well, as much as I love my sister, Moms trump sisters every time, so I wore the sweater from my Mom on the day. But that made me realize I have so much cool Halloween clothing that I can't get it all in on one day. Why am I limited to only the anniversary of my birth to celebrate my life?...I am not!  Every year since that moment of discovery, I begin my birthday preparations through my Halloween clothing display on October 1 so I can enjoy them all. In truth, sometimes I have to double up or I won't get everything warn before the month is over!  So keep an eye out for my wild display which started TODAY  :)!

Another great thing about October 1 is that it is the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month!!!! Yay! This is a special time for all survivors and partners all over the world. Stamp to Cope, Inc. has several things planned to show support during the month and we encourage all of you to participate in some way.  A new thing we are going to try this year is something we are calling Survivors pARTy! The funds raised from our Power2Give matching gift event earlier in the year is the basis for our ability to reach out in this wonderfully creative manner.  Thanks to all who contributed.  Below is the information I have been circulating and I hope you will share the news with others....

October 19, 2013 – Saturday

1:00 – 4:00 – open house style

Berea Arts Council

116 N Main Street

Berea KY 40403

 STC is throwing a pARTy for Breast Cancer Survivors! Join us for an open house event at the Berea Arts Council on October 19, 2013 from 1 – 4pm.  The celebration will focus on the power of arts and crafts in the survivorship journey.  Join us for give-aways, snacks, projects, and color techniques. Hope to see you there! 

Coloring with pencils will be one of the technique stations we will be sharing with survivors during the pARTy.  To get prepared, I have been practicing up on my skills. Using these beautiful digital stamps created by Dina Kowal of dkDesign Studios, I have been practicing my contours, dimension, and shading using both wax and oil pencils. It is so relaxing and quite addicting.  

As you can see, now that I have my clothes, my colored pencils, and our pARTy plans started, October is off to a GREAT start!  I look forward to some super events to share with all of you!  

Blessings,
Jeannette

Gelli Swirl

Hello All!

Surprised to see me finally post?! Thanks for staying connected and waiting so patiently :).  As with many of you, my life has been very busy and quite hectic these last few weeks... not complaining. but it has impacted how often I post lately. However, I did not want another day to go by without being creative and sharing this latest project with you. Before I get to the project, a reminder that Breast Cancer Awareness Month is just around the corner and you can be assured I have been focusing on our BIG event.  Mark the date of October 19 at the Berea Arts Council for the Stamp to Cope Survivors Celebration.  Thanks to everyone who participated in our Power2Give matching funds event, we will be able to put on a first class event... it is going to be great crafty fun with project stations, snacks, giveaways, and technique tables.  Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the date.

Now, on to the project....

I wanted to share my continued fascination with the monoprinting technique. Using the Gelli Plate, I created this swirly background full of depth and color. Loving the mess and randomness...how does this work you ask? 

First, I inked up the gelli plate with acrylic paint spread around with a brayer. Then put a stencil on top and texturized around it with one of those shower fluffs (have no idea of the name but they usually come with bath sets at Christmas)

Once textured, I put a piece of white card stock on top of the whole things and used my hands to rub on the back of the paper to get the paint to lift from the plate to the paper. Once the paper is lifted, it has the print of the stencil.  BUT another really cool part is that the stencil is now full of paint on the underside so I turned it over and rubbed another piece of white card stock to get the opposite pattern.

Pretty cool isn't it..

  Word of warning...it is so addictive.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more exciting news from Stamp to Cope!  Have a great week.

Jeannette

Flying By to Say Hi

Greetings Bloggers!

Just a quick post to share a gift collection I created for a friend who loves music and birds.  The blue jay and magnolia blossom were colored using markers inspired by all those back-to-school supplies. The music notes were created by embossing a brown piece of cardstock that had a blue core.  Once the notes were embossed, I used sand paper to bring out the blue...messy but fun.  The jewelry set pieces are of Italian brass that has been embossed with a bird motif.  I painted on a patina in a variety of blue tones and then sanded down to reveal the embossed images once dry.  A clear protective glaze was added last to keep from tarnishing.  I hope she enjoys them.

A few STC updates....

Thanks again to everyone for a very successful Learnshop fundraising event. I am thrilled to report that we have been asked to participate (for the first time) in the winter learnshop continuation called 12 Days of Christmas.  I will share more as we get closer to the event.

One of my mixed-media canvas pieces was accepted for the Artisan Center exhibit CAPTURING THE ART OF SPORT.  This juried exhibit will run from August 31 - February 22 and gives STC another venue for fundraising and sharing our mission.

We started the planning for the October 19th Breast Cancer Awareness event supported by our Power2Give campaign contributors.  Lots of enthusiasm and excitement already.

The Madison County Breast Cancer Support Group invited us to woman an STC booth at the Women's Wellness event scheduled for November.

As you can see, we are headed for a busy time of out reach!  Hope you will join us!

Blessings,

Jeannette

"Staycation"?

Dear journal, Monday, July 15, 2013 9:00am and the first day of my long awaited 3 (count them) 3 weeks of vacation! Finished grading, closed out classes, here we go. So excited to plan to get a trip to Charleston, SC in with my husband and son (we LOVE that place), embrace the Berea Festival Learnshops (teach and take), catchup on some Stamp to Cope planning and paperwork, do some local sight seeing, and CREATE. 

Dear journal, Monday, July 15, 2013 11:00am.  Just received phone call that my Dean was resigning and would I serve as interim dean..."transition meetings start tomorrow."  I am very humbled and honored ... the reality is my vacation has now become a "staycation." :)  Thankfully, I am blessed with the most supportive and loving family EVER!!! 

The three weeks of "staycation" are now over. Even though plans had to be changed and it seems to have flown by, staying home was truly a rewarding experience....

I was reminded of how blessed I am in my family.  I know they were disappointed but they never made any complaint and jumped right in to help. I still took some time to create but now I had a heartfelt purpose..thanking my family. Since we were unable to  make our trip, I used this picture of Charleston, SC's harbor and created an 8x10 pastel canvas for my husband to put in his woodshop. Hopefully, we can get there next year.  

I was able to add an additional Learnshop event at the last moment. Since this is our annual fundraising event, the outcome determines the service and fundraising plans for the upcoming year.  Adding one more option added that much more to our mission resources. The Stamp to Cope Learnshops were a wonderful success with great participation and evaluations!   I do not have the exact total yet but it seems to be around $800!  THANK YOU participants and Berea Tourism! 

We developed an outreach plan for Stamp to Cope to include more Facebook use. Please click this facebook link, "Like" us, and share the link with your network so we can spread the word.  

In addition to these staycation events, I received notification that one of my mixed-media canvas projects was accepted in a Juried Art Exhibit at the Berea Artisan Center! The piece will be on display from the end of August until February 2014! How exciting to find another avenue to get out the Stamp to Cope name and message.

So, while our vacation did not go as planned, there were so many blessings right here at home, that my staycation was full of wonderful moments and memories. Thanks to everyone who contributed to make it an  incredible ride :)!!

Love Jeannette

Perspective!

Greeting Bloggers and hello Summer!

On behalf of Stamp to Cope, Inc. please accept a huge THANK YOU!!!! Why? Because, with your help, we EXCEEDED our Power2Give matching funds goal and way ahead of schedule!  The link is now closed and I thank all of you who helped in whatever fashion!!!!!! If you would still like to contribute in support of our ongoing programs, please check our website  for specifics.

Over the last weeks, I was asked to participate in a Berea Community Mural project. It was quite an experience working with international. mural artist Andrea Good as she guided Greg, Joshua, and I through the steps of mural design and completion.  The key to success of the illusion, we were instructed, was the perspective.  I couldn't help but think..."isn't that also the truth about surviving?"  My hope for all of you is that Stamp to Cope can be a part of your positive healing perspective and that you will find something creative to embrace everyday!

Thanks for sharing your journey with us!  Have a great week!
Jeannette