Project : GRACIE HUGS

Hey everyone!  Today's post is a special request to help out one of our youngest fans and cutie pie daughter of our own Packer Di.  Gracie is about to go through some substantial dental surgery Dec 3 so I would like to put together a card / craft package campaign to help her through December.  Anyone who would like to assist in Project GRACIE HUGS is asked to simply send some mail to Gracie.  It can be a card.... a small art package... anything a young 8 year old girl would love to pass the time. 

Gracie has been doing art beside her mom since she could stand and I have seen her work she has always been ahead of the so - called art standards of development; which essentially means she has inherited her Mom and big Sister's artistic abilities.  Many of you have seen her come in to say hi in chat and she loves how we all talk to her so I think we can show her some love through the mail. 

If you would like to help and do not have Packer Di's mailing address she has given me permission to share her address with our online group who wish to help in this effort.  

Please contact me through DM on twitter if you follow me there or you can send an email to jean.pitts@icloud.com

Thanks so much
Jean

Maryland Art Weekend

So many news stories of bad things happening online are reported on TV and in Newspapers the great  story I am going to share with you gets over-looked.  I wish newscasts were more interested in sharing good stories.  The group of online friends I have met through the streaming channel USTREAM.TV have been a Godsend to me.  

I am going to begin with some personal history before continuing with the Baltimore story.  Five years ago I had to go off on disability leave from my teaching position due to severe primary lymphedema from the abdomen down.  I was suffering from yet another bout of cellulitis.  (In total I had 14 episodes of cellulitis in one leg or the other over 8 years.)

While at home I started watching scrapbooking videos on YT.  (At this time I had only just started card-making thanks to going to a Stamping Up party.)  Well I started buying and using LOTS of scrapbooking supplies.  Then I discovered mini albums and made a number of those.  Oh! then came the building boxes and even an upright piano that holds several mini albums.  

Then during a YT search I found Paula Phillips aka JournalArtista and her "Art From the Couch" series. Through Paula I found Dede Willingham aka Inkwell whose Ustream show is "Coffee And Art in the Morning".  As they say, the rest is history.  The wonderful thing about Ustream is that it is a live streaming show that has a live chat as well.  So the broadcaster can see the chat and interact with all the viewers and the viewers can interact with each other.  And boy do we. 

Earlier I stated that meeting these wonderful folks online was a Godsend and this is no exaggeration.  As well as the Lymphedema I suffer from Clinical depression and it was also during this time I was trying to find the right medication to alleviate my symptoms.  Had I not found this new artistic outlet and this group of people so willing to share their talent, I really don't know if I would have had the will to try to get myself to a level of maintenance with either of my conditions.  But yet here I am! Thanks in large part to them.

I have been twice lucky to get together with some of these art friends I have met through Ustream.tv.  A little over 2 years ago a number of us got together in Austin, Texas.  This was not a formal retreat but a get together of 19 friends who had initially met online.  A few of them had gotten together before Austin, as they live close to each other but most of us had never met IRL (in real life) but had chatted many many hours on Ustream and Stickam (which no longer exists oh how I miss Stickam)   

FAST FORWARD TO 2015...  Last week 23 of us met at the Maritime Institute (MITAGS) near Baltimore, MD.  oh and there was a plus one because Happy DIane came for a visit Saturday afternoon and overnight.  OH what a time we had.  Our hostesses and organizers for the event were Patti Tolley Parrish (Inky Obsessions) and Paula Phillips (Journal Artista.  

What did we do during our time in MD?  Well, we laughed, talked, ate, laughed some more. hugged, laughed yet again oh and of course we did ART.  OH yes and then we laughed and ate even more.  Wow who knew 23 people, who had initially met online, could find so much in common that there was not a moment of dead air in the room over the 5 days. 

On Thursday, Patti lead a workshop teaching us how to gelli plate cotton fabric to use on a journal cover.  For her journal we also had to gelli plate 16 double-sided  letter sized cardstock. We folded these into 3 signatures with 5 sheets each with the 16th being used for the inside of the journal cover.  She showed us how to insert the signatures using the pamphlet stitch.

Please watch her videos to see how to make this JUMP START GELLI JOURNAL  Part 1 - Making the Gelli Prints      Part 2 - Making the cover      Part 3 - Signatures and spine. 

Below are the photos of the journal I created with her tutalage.

This is my fabric before it was adhered to the cover which was made from a file folder. 

 Journal cover

Gelli print adhered to the inside of the journal cover.

Journal with the signatures sewn in.  

WELL!!!!  if that wasn't enough fun, on Friday Paula led us in a workshop showing us how to make a duck dori (or is that DUCT dori) using Duck (or duct) tape for the spine,  WE made a couple signatures for inside using folded white cardstock added to the book using elastics (aka rubber bands)  

My Duck dori.  The apine is Chipboard covered with duck tape overlapping the front and back covers to join them into one piece with a nice working hinge,  I covered the front and back cover with yummy basic gray striped pattern paper. 

The inserted signatures are for practicing techniques.  Paula walked us through some different ways to rub off paint through a stencil.  Here is my page.

  

Another cool technique Paula taught us was her "Black Gesso Technique".  For more info on this technique watch this video on Paula's YT channel...  BLACK GESSO TECHNIQUE   This is the page I created.   On the left I used Dylusions sprays on the black gesso and on the right I used Sharpie Brush markers.  This is so cool. 

Next, Paula demoed how to create a "stamp plate" by scratching a stencil design into scratch plate.  You can also use fun foam for this technique.

Below is my scratch plate.

And here is what it looks like stamped on a journal page...

    

Next we had supper and then traveled in to Baltimore to a wonderful store called "QUEEN"S INK".  Now first I must say this art store is in a wonderful restored old mill that is home for several unique stores.  Oh! here is a group of us waiting in line to pay for our purchases.....

Patti, the owner of Queen's ink was wonderful to us.  She kept the store open past the normal 6 O'Clock closing time so we could come do our shopping - and spend we did.  She also did a demo for us while we were waiting for the others to finish shopping and get through the line.

SO we lugged our treasure back and Paula then showed us how to do packing tape transfers through a stencil.  Because I had never done a regular packing tape transfer,  I first did one without a stencil then one through a stencil.  Check out Paula's YT video on this technique   Packing Tape Transfer Through A Stencil

We used laser printed "found relatives".  Here is what I did and I love them both!  My stencil had a little blue/green "PEBEO" paint on it so you can also see some of that also transferred around the edges of the stencil design.....

At some point after this fun filled day we did go to bed for a few hours sleep  LOL

On Saturday I, and a few others,  chose not to go shopping and stayed behind and did some art.  I used a cool napkin, some black gesso through a stencil, and my new Liquitex paint markers to create this double page spread in my large Dylusions journal....

Well I thought I would end off this post with some more photos of the wonderful weekend.  Some were taken with my iPhone,  Some I 'borrowed" from others' Facebook pages (sure hope they don't mind) and some i captured from the live Ustream videos recorded while at the retreat.    

(Check out the recordings here   Paula's Stream   Zandra's Stream 1   &   Stream 2   

 Waiting at my gate in the Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) airport

 Halifax to Toronto - had to wait on plane 90 mins as Toronto airport closed due to Thunferstorms

Toronto to Halifax  also late leaving Toronto because of the back up
Notice how my hair got a little more haggard in each photo?  Long 16 1/2 hour travel Day.  

Cool lights coming in for a landing in Baltimore.  I see a Question Mark  ? left of center

Our great room

 Andrea (AndreaMercier) and Kerri (Ikerrilove)

 Ange (Gingela)

 Carol aka CB (cboudreau) and Andrea

 CB, June and Colleen

 CB saying Hi on the stream and Lesline working away in the background

 I caught CB unawares checking her phone  LOL

 Colleen, Ange, Vicki L 

 Helen and Colleen

 Raine (RainePhoenix) talking to Gayle (GoGayleGo)

 HUGFEST - Zandra (Scraps to Beauty) Patti (Inky Obsessions) and Kerri

 Kerri, "SQUIRREL"

 Kerri watches on as Patti shares her wonderful "teeth" on stream

 Kerri photobombs her own room photo

 This interesting angle makes it look like Patti-with Kerri's face-is about to slap Zandra  LOL

Lucie Jane aka  LJ was our resident Parisian "Artiste"

 Me and Happy Diane - was so happy to see her again - we first met IRL in Austin!

Zandra stenciled her apron with the stencils I designed.

 Well my light green Dylusions paint cover was not on tight and when I was removing the plastic the jar fell open and i lost a fair amount over my workspace and my shirt.  EIleen (aka ETEE - Eileen the Enabler Elf) took the photo and created a wonderful digital print in Photoshop Elements.  

 Patti all set up and ready to go!

 Paula and Zandra getting ready for a stream on Ustream.tv

Kerri peeking over Paula's Shoulder

 Paula chatting live on Ustream and Vicki L working away in the background

Pennie shares some of her Zentangles on the live stream.

 Raine and Andrea

 SMILE! Raine..... Love the T-Shirt

Susan (LoveRibbons) saying Hi on Ustream and Ange smiles  in background

Tam (Tambit) and Andrea 

 Tam, Raine and Andrea

 Those who were able, had the chance to go in the ship simulator.  Smile Tam

 Vicki L and Andrea

 Smile Vicki - well I didn't have to ask she was always smiling.... 

 My workspace - yeah i didn't make a mess at all nope.  LOL

 Zandra and Andrea

 Zandra streaming live on Ustream!

 Sunday morning breakfast before the rest of us leave!!!!!

Waiting for my plane in Baltimore Airport I ate at THE GREENE TURTLE

 YUM couldn't leave MD without having some crab so I ordered crab cakes did I say YUM?

 Enjoyed yummy raspberry infused iced tea YUM

I got this very cool photo coming in for a landing in Toronto to the right you can see the CN tower and just to the right of it is The Rogers Center (formerly SkyDome - the first stadium with a retractable roof in the world).  It is the home of the Toronto, Blue Jays ML Baseball team and Toronto Argonauts - CFL - Canadian Football team

After some delays in Toronto again, my flight landed an hour late in Halifax at 3 am.  I spent the night in the airport listening to my audiobook as I waited for my 8a.m. bus to Moncton, New Brunswick - HOME

The sun is rising at the Halifax Airport.  

After a 3 1/2 hour bus ride I am almost home.  A whole 23 Hours after leaving MITAGS

This weekend was so AMAZING we are already planning for next years art get together!  Count me in!!!!

Here are some links to my videos related to this Art get together.  They were all recorded live on Ustream then uploaded to my YT channel.

Making my Travel Journal - Part 1

Making my Travel Journal - Part 2

Sharing my art and purchases 

Beginning to fill my Travel Journal

Well if you read to the very end bless you!!!  

Thanks so much

Jean MusicScrp