Growing Pains

I am in the midst of moving my studio. It's all good. StencilGirl has grown so much the company needs my space at home.
So cleaning and organizing I go.


Canvasses anyone? I prefer to work on rigid substrates nowadays and my friend Mary Nasser is going to love these!
Oh Lordy, the things I am finding though!
Anybody remember way back when I was using crazy things for texture?


Israeli couscous.


Wild rice.
You can't make this stuff up.

Give STL Day

Each year The Great St. Louis Community Foundation sponsors "Give STL Day", which highlights a singular 24 hour period when donations may be made to a variety of worthy non-profit organizations and funneled through the Foundation. Of course you can donate all year round, but big shout outs build energy and are exciting. 

 

I find the hardest part is deciding how to divy up my cash. 

This year, my top three:

Art Saint Louis - the group I first met when I moved here from San Francisco. They accepted two of my pieces into a juried show right off the bat; I made friends; I got involved: I watched them struggle and then get back on their feet; my friend Robin has worked there forever and she is good people. They are a class act. 

Chesterfield Arts - another organization I met after moving here. I was so stupidly bold I carried my art into their gallery (unsolicited) and somehow landed a 4 person show, complete with a radio interview, oh be still my heart. I have taught here for pay and taught here for free. I have volunteered in projects, donated works for auction and they even made me a "Visionary Artist in 2012, wow oh wow. They are in the midst of a big reorganization and really need money. 

St. Louis Teacher's Recycle Center - my "go-to" spot for inspiration and class supplies, this group collects all sorts of recycled material and organizes them for re-use. I never fail to find cool things to share with my students. Love them.

So yeah(!) all three of these groups need money, there is just never enough to go around and I watch them struggle to find enough volunteers, equipment, supplies, you name it - non profit work is hard!

I am blessed with a successful business and am happy to give to others to help out.

Hope you might consider it too?

GIVE HERE.

My Book Club with Sue Pelletier and a GIVEAWAY!

Does it mean I am even remotely like Oprah, since I have my own book club? 

Ha! One could only hope, eh?

For my very first Mary Beth's Book Club Webinar, it is my privilege to feature my friend 

Sue Pelletier (one of our StencilGirl artists, woo hoo!!)  and her terrific new book, Collage Paint Draw. I hope you will be able to join us for our conversation about Sue's book and how we both approach art making and personal symbolism. 

The Details:

Join Mary Beth Shaw as she welcomes Sue Pelletier, author of Collage Paint Draw, for an hour-long live web seminar! During this online event, Mary Beth will show you how she combined techniques from several projects in Sue's new book to create a dimensional, textural mixed-media collage with lots of flair and kick. During the presentation, Mary Beth will talk to Sue about choosing personal imagery, using unusual materials like rigid wrap and more. Then they'll answer your questions on the air.

The Details

• Date: Thursday, April 23, 2015
• Time: 1PM (EDT)
• Where: Your Computer via a GoToWebinar Link

What You'll Get Before the Live Event

A unique GoToWebinar registration link.

What You'll Get After the Live Event

48 hours after the live event you'll receive a recording of the full webinar plus a demonstration video, not shown during the live event, of Mary Beth creating the complete project. You'll also receive a supply list so you can create the project on your own.
You may sign up for the Webinar by clicking this link. 

And guess what? StencilGirl Products has put together a really sweet giveaway. Cause you know we are celebrating our girl Sue's book this is gonna be good. 

Enter to win TODAY on StencilGirl Talk

Hello DLP!! Meet StencilGirl!!!

Hello DLP fans!

I'm StencilGirl, aka Mary Beth Shaw

I love me some DLP and am thrilled to be here today. You may or may not know that before 2013, I didn't even keep an art journal. Yep, I was one of the naysayers who didn't get it.

Then my husband got cancer. 

And then my Mom got cancer. 

And my business exploded. 

Good and bad things, I had a million stressors in my life and wasn't making any art just for me, it was all I could do to meet my deadlines. 

I finally picked up a journal and haven't looked back. My journals save me. 

I made you all a little video so you can sneak a peak at how I work. 

You can see the challenge for this week over on the Art to the 5th blog HERE.

Not only am I thrilled to be Guest Designing for The Documented Life Project I am also excited because today, at StencilGirl we are introducing 

a NEW artist

 who just happens to be one of the Art to the 5th girls.

Don't you love that kind of synchronicity....

A BIG welcome to Rae Missigman!!!

Rae has 16 new stencils that we just released TODAY on the StencilGirl website. 

We made a special package to celebrate StencilGirl and DLP and are calling it Rae's Bunch. I am using the stencils on the Video cause I like Rae's Bunch a whole bunch!

And do we ever have a deal for you! We have packaged up Rae's Bunch (yep, ALL 16 of 'em) 

at a special introductory price. You better hurry though

 cause we only packaged 100 and when they are gone, the introductory price is gone too.

Of course, they will still be available at regular prices. 

You can order the bunch HERE 

and see all of Rae's stencils HERE.

Products Used:
Rae's Bunch Stencils from StencilGirl
4" Round Gelli Plate from Gelli Arts®
6" Round Gelli Plate from Gelli Arts®
DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic

Laurie Doctor Chance Images

In this year of less teaching (!!), it is my strong desire to get back to my own art. Yes, that has been one of my goals for the year. Like every artist I know, I long to capture my voice in beautiful soul inspired works that bring people to their knees. 

Ahem. 

A girl can dream, eh?

Seriously though, I mainly want to express myself and Laurie Doctor's recent class, Chance Images,  allowed me to do precisely that. 

The book I made during the workshop, fantastic woven embellishment on the binding. 

I have known Laurie for over ten years, having taken classes from her at the very beginning of my artist journey back in 2001. She inspired me so much then! And again today, she somehow gently pulls things out of me in a way that is hard to explain. Her classes are so incredibly special.

One of my favorite spreads from my book.

I don't want to reveal specifics of her teaching style or classes because it would only serve as a spoiler for future any classes you wish to take. 

Painting, poetry, mark making, writing, storytelling, music; 

Laurie's classes contain all these things orchestrated with grace and serenity. 

After our recent three days together, I came away rejuvenated and utterly blissed out, as though I had been to some sort of sensory art spa. 

Smiling inside and out. 

Some details from my book

And then I signed up for a week long class she is teaching at Madeline Island School of the Arts. 

Because I must.have.more. 

I feel certain that Flotsam & Jetsam will be just that - it is 5 days after all, in a fabulously charmed location where I look forward to a Midwestern leaf display on an island setting. 

Check it out! 

I would love to meet some of you there. 

Art Journal du jour

A Settlement

Look, it's spring. And last year's loose dust has turned
into this soft willingness.  The wind-flowers have come 
up trembling, slowly the brackens are up-lifting their
curvaceous and pale bodies. The thrushes have come 
home, none less than filled with mystery, sorrow,
happiness, music, ambition.

And I am walking out into all of this with nowhere to
go and no task undertaken but to turn the pages of
this beautiful world over and over, in the world of my
mind.

***

Therefore, dark past,
I'm about to do it.
I'm about to forgive you

for everything.

~ Mary Oliver

StencilGirl and Craft Attitude Blog Hop

Welcome to Inspiration from the StencilGirl Team using Craft Attitude . For me, Craft Attitude falls into a category not easily defined. I consider it a collage tool but it is really called a printable craft film.

You can use it on nearly any substrate - wood, canvas, glass, painted items, even fiber. You apply it with a glue stick, yes, a simple glue stick. Before you apply, you can run it through your inkjet printer and print whatever you might like. After you apply, you can go back and paint or embellish.
It's really that easy.

What did I do you might be wondering......well, I have this wee little obsession with the reverse of our stencils, like for this StencilClub design (see the big 9x12?) I really wanted to have the opposite of the pattern. Now I drew it, but the chance of me replicating it to my own satisfaction was rather unlikely.

November StencilClub

The first thing I did was pull up the original stencil image on my computer and invert it using Photoshop. This made the linear black. Then I printed it on the Craft Attitude film. Great, you say, but what about me!?! I don't have the original stencil file on my computer? No worries, cover the stencil with paint and flip it onto the Craft Attitude film. Depending on the amount of paint you have used, either brayer (if you have a thin coat of paint) or press with a paper towel over top (if you used more paint). You might want to practice this on scrap paper before you move to the film.

Stencil on Craft Attitude film

Next up, I pulled out a plastic folder I found at our Teacher's recycle shop. It holds a tiny notebook and I thought it would be cute to carry in my purse, but (for obvious reasons) I wanted to decorate it in a more appealing manner. 

I sanded it lightly to give it some "tooth" and then painted a coat of gesso. Then I collaged a piece of paper and blended a couple colors of transparent paint. 

Using a glue stick, I carefully applied glue to the entire outside of the folder and then positioned the Craft Attitude over top and pressed it evenly all around. Trimming it with scissors couldn't have been easier. You have a bit of time to move it around so I was able to position the design exactly as I wanted. 

I used Washi tape to make a faux binding and I also put Washi over the clear pocket inside. I replaced the tiny pad of paper and was done in probably 15 minutes. What a cool way to make a cute little item! 

I even had plenty of leftover film left to use in other projects such as my journal. 

Probably the coolest thing about the Craft Attitude is how seamless it looks. Once it is glued down, you can't even tell it's there. Love it! Plus I can go back and write or paint on top of it, such as in my journal. Easy peasy and you gotta love that!!

Now go see what Terri Stegmiller made today!!!!

GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment to win!

All comments on each post during the hop will be entered in the giveaway. 

Ends Monday January 26, 2014 @ 11:59PM Central Time.

One comment per post please.

Of Good Friends and CHA and Exclusive Stencils

Last week I flew to Anaheim for CHA Mega Show, that is the convention of the Craft and Hobby Association for the uninitiated. 

When I left Missouri it was 3 degrees. I got off the plane and it was 70. 

NICE!

The show was good too. 

It is so stimulating to see the new products of the various manufacturers. Serious eye candy. I particularly enjoy the yarn companies as their displays are so over the top, I mean check this out. The entire display was made from yarn. Yarnia, how darn clever is that??

My company, StencilGirl Products has never done the show because I'm a weeny about the idea of playing in that arena, scares me, don't ya know? 

But this year we did special release stencils - one each for me, Pam Carriker, Traci Bautista and Seth Apter - because we were all invited to be an Artisan teacher at the show. 

It was a B-I-G honor and I am so glad we memorialized the occasion with fabulous stencils that we provided to our students. The stencils were quite a big hit as you might imagine. 

But NOT to worry, you can get them too......the pack of stencils is on sale TODAY! Limited edition, go take a look and buy one of these exclusive stencil sets by clicking here.  Cause when they're gone, they're gone. You need to be quick like a bunny. 

Pam's new book arrived just in the nick of time, it was overnighted to the show! I had a chance to look through it and can't wait to get my hands on a copy I can keep, wowzers, lots of good stuff. 

She and I hung out at the North Light booth signing DVDs and doing demos. It is always fun to have the chance to talk to people and share techniques. 

I caught up with friends, wallowed in amazing eye candy, ate and drank, taught fabulous students, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A good time was had by all! Can't wait till next year.

A New Year is like a Mulligan

It's a do-over. Not that last year was bad, on the contrary, it was quite good. But turning the page always energizes me. Tomorrow I am headed out to CHA to teach and also do a Demo for my publisher. After I return I hope (fingers crossed) to be more regular with my blog communication. 

And my painting! Yesyesyes, she says, I will get my body of work back this year!!!!

In the meantime, I will leave you with these journal pages. 

These were done with Pam Carriker's ink, gesso and Golden High Flow Acrylic, dispensed from a needle point applicator. 

I envision them as inspiration for enormous works that fill a wall. 

Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2015 - Cyber Monday deal

Woo Hoo am I ever excited to announce that I'll be participating as an artist in Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2015, run by Nathalie Kalbach. This is my second year and if you're not familiar with CJS, it's a one-of-a-kind online event to fire up your creativity in Jan 2015. I found it totally worthwhile last year, so I am thrilled to be back.

Learn techniques, discover new materials, and connect with artists and crafters. 

Throughout January participants get 25 videos from 23 featured artists. And I'm one of them; we are called “JumpStarters.” See for yourself, what a lineup:

Creative JumpStart 2015 Trailer from Nathalie Kalbach on Vimeo.

Head on over to Nathalie's site to sign up and for more details: http://nathaliesstudio.com/shop/online-workshops-ubermedia/creative-jumpstart-2015/

You get 25 videos for just $25 (USD).

But wait – it gets better: if you sign up today you’ll get $5 off. Just use this coupon code during checkout:

cybercjs

*This is a limited offer valid from 9:00 am Dec 1, 2014 to 8:59 am EST on Dec 2, 2014.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up here, and apply the coupon code during check out process

CJS 2015 is proudly sponsored by Liquitex.

StencilGirl Cyber Monday Sale!!!

It only happens once a year....mark your calendar.

StencilGirl Products

Grateful

I am grateful  

Happy Thanksgiving

Printmaking with Traci Bautista & a Book Giveaway

11/29/14 update - the winner is Jean, who wrote a song which impressed my grandsons. 
Thank you everyone for playing along!!!

When Traci Bautista gifted a copy of her book with me I had a feeling it would be fabulous. 

Indeed!

That girl manages to pack more ideas onto each page than you can ever imagine. It is the kind of book where you read and reread every single section because there is simply that much to absorb and because yeah, you want to try it all!! 

She sent me a pack of 'stuff' along with the book, so I could get an idea for the types of supplies she uses. Crazy stuff. Like a foam hair roller, pom poms, a square plastic mesh and an orange rubber thingamajig.  I have no idea what it is. Turns out I absolutely love it and now use it all the time.

Cause Traci is genius like that.
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Traci's book.

Step 1, I worked on my large Gelli Plate, setting up textures.

Golden Open Acrylics are perfect for Gelli Prints and create beautiful layers. 

Painted papers and painted journal pages.

My journal spread using some 'parts' that Traci drew (see my initials!).

Traci's collection along with her book and other supplies.

I am giving away a copy of Traci's book and a set of markers plus a few of her stencils so one lucky winner will be able to play till their heart's content. To enter, please leave me a comment below - say something really clever and creative. Seriously. I haven't done this for a long time, but I used to let my grandsons pick the winners on my blog contests. And yep, I am going to do it again! Woo hooooo!! You need to enter before midnight CST 11/26/14 because this will be a Thanksgiving Day project. 

Be sure and leave me your email too, you know the drill, right?

And.........fyi.....a couple months ago, I did a Webinar using Traci's latest book as my inspiration. Traci appeared as a guest during the live broadcast and we had a lot of fun talking about art and all sorts of things. If you want to check that out, you can click HERE to download the project video. You can also click HERE to see that uber cool package that North Light put together for her book - pssssst, there is a custom stencil. 

Last, but certainly not least, check out Traci's stencils with StencilGirl Products HERE.  I am fond of all of them but have to admit that Love Collage and Tropical Floral are favorites of mine, I just *love* them. 

StencilGirl and Lesley Riley TAP Blog Hop

I met Lesley Riley for the first time at Art Unraveled a few months ago. Of course I have known of her for years, she is a name brand artist in our world, don't you think? I had heard wonderful things - her generosity as a teacher, the guidance she has offered to new artist teachers, and of course her amazing talents as an artist - and yeah, she is all of that! She has invented this cool product called TAP - Transfer Artist Paper. Maybe you have used it? I hadn't!

Truth be known, I am not really one to use Transfer products. I am kind of a 'transfer idiot.' I have managed to screw up every method of transfer that I have tried. It is pitiful. 

So here I am, a package of TAP sitting in front of me, wondering how I might make this work. I also had Dina Wakley paints on hand (just waiting for a try.) A match made in heaven, right?

I needed a greeting card. A special one, so special I was going to make it by hand and God only knows I don't do that much anymore. But this was a card for Maria and I wanted it to be something nice.

First up, I tried prepping a greeting card with a light wash of Dina's paints, a few lovely colors applied in a watery fashion. The paints are soft and creamy, the colors sheer and lovely. I had a beautiful background and printed a piece of my art on a sheet of TAP. When I attempted to iron it I realized I had printed the paper on the wrong side. 

Ahem. Fail #1.

Second try. 

I got a new card, tried printing my image again and then ironed it. Ugh, looked like crap. I had chosen an image that was way too intricate and my transfer didn't work out as I had hoped. I put too much paint on my receiving paper, thus rendering the transfer quite ineffective.

Ahem. Fail #2.

I turned the first paper over, the one where I printed on the wrong side. I decided to paint on it and selected the Trees stencil along with What's the Point from StencilGirl, creating a design with the Dina paints. I decided to transfer it to a Gelli print I had done on a map.

Yummy. When I ironed this to my receiving card, I was thrilled to end up with a clean transfer. WOW, maybe I could do transfer after all. 

I proceeded to embellish with paint and collage until I ended up with a greeting card worthy of my talented assistant, Maria. I hope she likes it!!

Today's Blog Hop List:

StencilGirl  Talk

Lesley Riley

Mary Beth Shaw

Before you go, make sure you enter to win the GIVEAWAY!!!!

ALL comments left on all posts are eligible to WIN!

One comment per post please.

Giveaway closes on Sunday, November 16th @ 11:59PM Central Time.

StencilGirl and Clearsnap Blog Hop

I was a rubber stamper many years ago, back in the late 90's I suppose. Somewhere along the way, I stopped using the stamps and all the supplies typically found in that 'department' of the craft stores. You know what I mean? I started using acrylic paints and just forgot about all my stamp inks.

Thus I was so pleased to receive all these terrific products from Clearsnap and have a chance to play with them along with StencilGirl stencils.

And check out these colors, are they yummy or what!??!! I decided to work in my journal. Before starting, I painted both pages with white gesso. 

My first step was to play with the inks. I decided to use Nathalie Kalbach's NEW Art Deco Wallpaper stencil from StencilGirl. I spritzed the Izink on the page, using a couple colors together. It is more of a viscous ink than the acrylic inks I normally use. Very cool though! I sprayed the ink with a little water and smushed it around, then placed the stencil on top and pressed it down against the paper. Using a baby wipe, I removed parts of the ink and when I pulled the stencil away, I had the amazing background shown above.

I was so in love with my first step it was hard for me to continue.  Gosh darn I loved it! But I knew it was really too strong for me to actually make a journal page on top. After removing the stencil, I kept using the baby wipe and blurred the edges of the stencil, just keep come loose definition here and there. The ink remains open long enough for you to keep working it for awhile and that is certainly nice. 

Next I grabbed Terri Stegmiller's stencil, Tossed Blossoms along with Traci Bautista's Tropical Floral Stencil. I used the ColorBox Chalk Paintbox and acrylic paint to build up the background with flowers. That stamp color on the far right (see my first pic) is just a stunning yellow, sort of ochre but brighter - I am thinking it might be Harvest? Oh my oh my am I ever in *love* with that color. And the others too, I might add. Really lovely colors and the chalk finish is really perfect for journal pages. 

I saw a package of canvas flower shapes (something I had picked up on sale somewhere) and they beckoned to be use. I use acrylic paint and the white Izink to 'finger paint' each flower and then dried them with a heatgun. Using the Cat's eye stamp pad from Clearsnap, I darkened the edges to add depth. In the photo below (which is the final spread) you can also see that I used paint pens on a few flowers.

 I was thrilled to receive these luscious products from Clearsnap and hope you enjoyed seeing how I used them.

Today's Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

Clearsnap

Denise Hahn

Before you leave, make sure you enter the GIVEAWAY! 

Every comment on the hop is eligible to win!

Comments close Sunday, October 26th @ 11:59PM Central Time.

One comment per post please.