Feeling Groovy with the Groove Tool and StencilGirl Stencils

Welcome to Day 1 of our Blog Hop with Art-C and The Groove Tool. I want you to read this entire post while humming 'Feeling Groovy." Because that's what I did while working on this post. Could.Not.Get.It.Out.Of.My.Head.

I'm going to confess that I didn't expect to like this tool. I'm not a tool junkie in general, I am kind of old fashion and tend to do things the way I always have. When Art-C sent me one I didn't know what to make of it. First of all, I had just purchased a Clarisonic (for my face) and the Groove Tool looked suspiciously similar, ha! Note to self, keep it in the studio.

Here is a picture of the little guy, isn't he cute! There are four heads the come with the tool, moving from the left, we have a sponge, brush, coarse sander and fine sander. Being a stencil maniac, I knew I wanted to try the sponge tool for sure. And if you are a regular reader of my blog, you surely know how picky I am about my stencil sponges. Ahem.....

But I digress. 

As I was trying to figure out what to make, I opened my journal to find two pages totally stuck together, I hate it when that happens. Being up for an experiment, I snapped on the coarse sander and went to work: 

breaks my heart when this happens, argghhh......

I sanded the damage and then painted over it.

First I used the brush tool to cover up the damage with a similar color. Then I snapped on the sponge tool and stenciled a pattern.

Newly stenciled areas.

Wow. Honestly I was so impressed with this darn sponge, I went ahead and added pattern in a couple more areas. It requires hardly any paint! Seriously, I used just a few drops and it made such a nice clean result, check out this close-up. It is a real fooler - I could barely tell I was depositing any paint and when I lifted the tool it was such a crisp pattern I was super pleased. 

Closeup up of stencil parts. 

Next I wanted to distress something because I like doing that but my hands are arthritic and using sandpaper is not their favorite thing.  

Journal page thick with paint.

This journal page had some thick paint and I feared it was going to be a sticky mess, so I used the coarse sanding attachment and went over the white circle area. No pressure whatsoever. The tool does all the work. And amazing, I got this cool distressed look. 

Distressed with sanding attachment.

To sum up:

• Groove Tool sponge rocks with stencils - use very little paint, you get a terrific result
• Groove Tool sandpaper will knock the sticky edges off your journal pages easy peasy
• Groove Tool sandpaper will distress a painted surface with ease
• I think that Groove Tool is going to seriously help my arthritic hands.

The Groove is available now at EVERY Hobby Lobby store.  Most Michaels and Joann Fabric and Craft stores have it now, as well. At Hobby Lobby and Michaels, it is in the stamping isle.  At Joann, it is in the paint and stencil aisle, near the unfinished wood.  Of course, it may be ordered directly from Art-C by calling Customer Service at 800-448-6656.

Thank you Art-C. I love this Groove Tool!

Life Book 2016 Blog Hop & Give Away!

Congratulations to Jennifer Van Pelt, the winner of Life Book 2016. 
Thank you so much for all the heart felt entries. I hope to see you all in Life Book 2016.

I am so thrilled to be teaching on Life Book 2016. The lineup of teachers is 'pinch me' amazing and I have a sense this year's instruction is going to be transformational.

I am ready, are you?

Well..........drumroll please..........I get to give away one (1) space to this amazing year long course. I mean how cool would that be to win a spot!?!?

Keep reading if you want to find out more about Life Book 2016 and if you want to find out how you can win a spot! :) 

First let me tell you a bit more about Life Book in case you haven't heard about it yet! 

MB Shaw Journal Spread

“Life Book, a celebration and honouring of YOU” is a year-long mixed media art class organised by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts. Tam is joined by 23 incredible art teachers (including moi) who are all gearing up to share their mixed media techniques, tips and tricks with YOU! Themed around self-development and healing, you’ll be creating several loose mixed media art journal pages per month which by the end of the year you will bind into a glorious journal (a Life Book)! You will have a wonderful keepsake that you can treasure for the rest of your life!

Truly, I am so rocked by this concept that I am going to work along because I mean who wouldn't want to be part of this??

You can find out why this course has been so popular (joined by over 8700 people in the past!) by clicking HERE.

I am pretty excited about the class I am developing and will share tons of my journal and painting techniques such as those seen here.

Close up drips MB Shaw

Registration opens on October 5th 2015 and the class begins on January 1st 2016. 

So if you want to start the year with a fabulous creative BANG and spend 2016 with a wonderful creative community of like-minded souls, learning more about art and how to be kinder and more loving towards yourself, be sure to join once registration opens! :) Keep this page bookmarked so that you can sign up the moment it goes on sale!

Closeup neon MB Shaw

Now then, onto the give-away and blog hop! 

I can give away 1 space in Life Book 2016. And if you follow the blog hop (see below for links and dates) you can increase your chances of winning a space by entering all the other give-aways also.

To enter my Give Away, all you have to do are 2 simple things:
1. Sign up for the StencilGirl newsletter, found toward the bottom of the StencilGirl home page. 

2. Leave me a comment below as to why you would love to join Life Book 2016 

I will announce the winner on October 1st.
Here is the list of the other amazing teachers who will be teaching on Life Book – they too will be giving away a spot on Life Book so go check them out and enter their give-aways! :)


Blog Hop Order

7 Sept 2015 Tamara Laporte

8 Sept 2015 Annie Hamman

9 Sept 2015 Kristin Dudish

10 Sept 2015 Effy Wild

11 Sept 2015 Faith Evans-Sills

12 Sept 2015 Gillian Lee Smith

13 Sept 2015 Ivy Newport

14 Sept 2015 Jane Davenport

15 Sept 2015 Jenny Grant

16 Sept 2015 Angela Kennedy (Pennystamper)

17 Sept 2015 Lisa Viger

18 Sept 2015 Martha Lever

19 Sept 2015 Mary Beth Shaw THAT'S ME!

20 Sept 2015 Melody Ross

21 Sept 2015 Pam Carriker

22 Sept 2015 Pauline Agnew

23 Sept 2015 Rae Missigman

24 Sept 2015 Renata Loree

25 Sept 2015 Roben-Marie Smith

26 Sept 2015 Roxanne Coble

27 Sept 2015 Shiloh Sophia McCloud

28 Sept 2015 Donna Downey

29 Sept 2015 Tracy Verdugo

30 Sept 2015 Wyanne Thompson

I am part of Life Book 2016

I am so honored to be part of Life Book 2016. 

And I know if is going to rock, my oh my the teachers! 

Wow!!!!

Tamara LaPorte has posted some details over on her blog, you can find out more by visiting 

HERE where you will find info on GiveAways and Scholarships.

I will post more detail on this blog shortly.

In the meantime, here is where you register, starting October 5th.

Resist Technique with Flora Bowley stencils

I promised this video awhile back and am sorry to be delayed......sometimes life gets in the way. At any rate, here are some ways to use those 2 part stencils we are selling over on StencilGirl Products.
We have lots of these, but specifically, our new releases by Flora Bowley are perfecto for these techniques.

Watch on YouTube

Hello VerDay, meet StencilGirl

Welcome to Day 1 of our blog hop. 
I can't remember when I first heard about VerDay paints, but I couldn't wait to get my hands on them. Needless to say I was thrilled when TENseconds Studio sent our StencilGirl team paints to play with.

These paints come in four finishes - copper, bronze, iron & brass. There are actual metallic flakes in the paint and when used with the VerDay Patina they will turn anything (yes, anything!) into a metallic finish. I swooned over the results I saw in the videos on the TENseconds Studio site. 

Oh my oh my.

Kit with four metallics & Patina

As someone who picks up rusted parts off the street, you can imagine the idea of creating rust in my journals rocked my world. 

I followed the instructions that came with the product and am happy to say, it's easy peasy to use.

Original journal page

1. Apply metallic paint and allow to dry (the instructions say an hour, but it didn't take that long for me)
2. Using a stencil (ok, the instructions didn't mention a stencil, but what do you expect from moi?), apply a second layer of the metallic paint
3. While the second layer is still wet, spritz with the Patina and wait for the magic to begin.

Beginning journal page

I found that you need to be fairly liberal with your paint application to get a 'pop' of rust. The first go-round, I hadn't used enough paint on step #2 and nothing much happened. I was adhering to my typical 'keep it dry' stencil approach and that really isn't the best way to achieve this fabulous result; think 'make it gloppy'. And good grief, I was very much wowed by the effect - can't wait to use it in some of my abstract painting.
Check out this closeup below, be still my rust loving heart.

Wonderful rusted accents.

Closeup of rust, ooh la la!!!

And for my second trick I used Copper.

MBShaw Journal Spread

Journal spread with VerDay Copper accents

I seriously love this product  - thank you TENsecond Studio!!!
And........don't ya know, we are having a contest. 

GIVEAWAY

4-piece VerDay Kit of Reactive Metal Paint & Patina
and a $25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate to one lucky winner!

All comments left on the hop list participants’ posts will be entered. 

One comment per blog. 

Comments close on August 21st @ 11:59PM Central.

(be sure and leave your email so we can contact you)

(In addition, Cheryl will be giving away a set of paints and leather coasters.)

TENseconds Studio homepage: http://store.tensecondsstudio.com/

TENseconds Studio Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TenSecondsStudio

VerDay Paint and Patina Video and Supplies for Purchase: http://store.tensecondsstudio.com/vdsecmain.html
In case you are wondering, I used the two stencils below, both by Carolyn Dube. They are available on StencilGirl Products, right here. 

All right, I gotta beg forgiveness here, I messed up the Resist Video. I'll have it up in a couple of days. Stay tuned.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Resist Video

How to Store Your Stencils

We recently did a survey over at StencilGirl and this was our number one question. Thought I would share the video with all of you here as well. It took me awhile to find a system that worked for me and now I hang all sorts of things where I can see them.
There are links to the products mentioned on StencilGirl Talk. 
Hope you enjoy!
Be sure and share your ideas too, I love to hear other ideas.

StencilGirl and Seth Apter Blog Hop

You know what I like about Seth Apter's stencils?

Lots of things really.....

but mainly the itty bitty parts,

the words,

the shapes, and

the versatility.

Those little parts - weird shapes, circles, squares, grids. Those parts are what I call "integrators". That probably isn't even a word, but I'm talking about design elements that can help pull your art together, be it a journal spread, a greeting card or a canvas. Tiny detail can work wonders to link up sections of the art and to help the piece flow.
And the Words, these are words for thinking people. The type of words that have a lot to say. Double meanings and prefixes and suffixes with lots of variety.
Here's a journal spread I recently completed using Seth's and also one of my new stencils.

Mary Beth Shaw journal spread with StencilGirl Products stencils.

 See Seth's new stencils on the StencilGirl Products WEBSITE:

We are having a give away too. But you probably knew that, didn't you? Just leave me a comment along with your email address. 

GIVEAWAY
$25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate to one lucky winner!

All comments left on the hop list participants posts will be entered. 

One comment per blog. 

Comments close on July 24th @ 11:59PM Central.

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Seth Apter

Mary Beth Shaw   

Mary C. Nasser     

Carolyn Dube

Gwen Lafleur

Kirsten Reed

Janet Joehlin

Maria McGuire

Seth has Rubber Stamps!!

Stamps by Seth Apter for Impression Obsession

Psssst, guess what? My friend Seth Apter has rubber stamps, woo hoo!!! I was lucky enough to receive a set from him, these beautiful constellation based deeply cut rubber stamps. You know I'm a stencil girl at heart but I always love a good stamp and I will have to say Seth's designs are so.....well.....Seth! Which means they are terrific and versatile. They work perfectly with his stencils too!

Using the stamp on vintage paper. 

Before using a rubber stamp on my work, I like to try stamping it on plain paper to see how it looks. In this case, I happened to have some vintage medical papers in my stash and I grabbed one. I LOVE how well these intricate stamps work. Sometimes I am kind of a doofus with a stamp, I think it is because I use stencils so much, but I was excited that these stamps looked perfect the very first time I used them.  

Collage part

So off and running I went........gluing the collage part into my journal.

Paint and Collage on journal page

I developed a ton of layers, paint, collage, repeat. The stamps added a lovely circular effect and you know how I love my circles. I felt like they created a nice sense of movement. And naturally I used some of Seth's stencils too.
To check out more about Seth, go to his blog, he is one of my favorite bloggers and provides regular content that I find quite interesting;

http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com
It you are interested in Seth's stamps, you can find them here, at Impression Obsession Rubber Stamps:

http://www.iostamps.com/

Final journal spread

Here is a list of the others participating on this blog hop, I can't wait to see what everyone made! 

Marjie Kemper http://marjiekemper.com/blog/

Linda Cain http://cain81art.blogspot.com

Pam Carriker http://pamcarriker.com/blog/

Brian Kasstle https://apaperbear.wordpress.com

Kim Henkel http://khenkel.blogspot.com

You can find Seth's stencils at StencilGirl Products, but you knew that, right?

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1853.htm

Expressive Collage Webinar

Hey, did you know that I have a Webinar coming up?

Art Journal spread by Mary Beth Shaw

I am very excited to be talking with Crystal Neubauer's about her new book, The Art of Expressive Collage. It is a gorgeous book and Crystal and I go way back so you can be sure our discussion will be entertaining and hopefully informative. 

I want to clarify one thing - you do NOT need to be present to listen to the Webinar or see the Video. You can watch/listen any time as you will be furnished with the link. You could even listen over and over if you want. Just sayin'....

I absolutely love the art that I was inspired to make after reading Crystal's book - watch me make it on the video! Good stuff, great fun, you won't want to miss this!

Sign up here. 

New Stencils for my Birthday!!

I got to design some new stencils, woo hoo!! 

You might think I would design them all the time, owning the company and all, but my other obligations tend to get in the way.
The stencils I design are the ones that I want to use. I especially enjoy stencils that I call "the great integrators". These are ones I use when I have a background that maybe isn't hanging together exactly how I imagined. 

These are stencils that cure all woes. HAHAHA. That's a lot to ask from a stencil, eh?

Juxtapose stencil 6x6

Little Eddy stencil 4x4

MB Makes Marks stencil 6x6

Random Marks 4x4

And guess what? We are having a sale too. Cause it's my birthday. Here are the details:

Organization; it's a beautiful thing

As I prepare for "the move" I am organizing and have to say it makes me very happy.


Seeing all my paints in this container makes me want to paint. This bin will be the top layer of my rolling cart that will be right next to my studio table. I think it will be way more convenient than my current setup.


I have plans for these doors and this adorable little chest. Don't you love the colors?
Stay tuned as my journey continues.

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.