Somerset Workshop love

Audrey Hernandez, a contributor to my book, is a fellow Artist On Call for Stampington & Co. I love her vintage, light, feminine style. Well, she has a wonderful set of articles in the current Somerset Workshop about working on wood. I am going to make some stuff on wood this weekend, just for fun, for a relief from working on paper, paper, paper. Audrey has some inspiring tips in this article, so I will be keeping the magazine with me as I work.

I did the same a while back when I was learning how to make shrink plastic buttons. Lisa Guerin laid it out step by step in Somerset Workshop Vol 3 magazine. It is almost like being at a workshop, if you actually read each little step and tip.

Gotta hand it to Stampington & Co. they know what we need.

Technique practice

I took home the little squares I started in Leslie Riley's class at the quilt festival and made this little book. The canvas sticker paper the book is made on, the light molding paste, gesso and paint are by Claudine Hellmuth from her new product line.

Houston Quilt Festival

Overwhelming. That is the best description of the Houston Quilt Festival. There is a whole world of fabric art, I mean 20 isles of fabric, sewing machines, art, embellishments, tools, you name it. There were also classes on mixed media art and quilting and a world class quilt show.

I was so excited to finally meet Jenny Doh! She is an amazing, creative, energetic woman. We chatted about many art related things. I could have stayed there all day. She was one of the hosts of the 'Where Women Create' booth. I bought a signed copy of this new and inspiring magazine.

And to make that experience better I met Sandra Evertson (I own many of Sandra's stamps and book, I have made a bunch of fun things as an AOC with her art stamps!) and Jo Packham the creator of this magazine who wrote the book Where Women Create, that inspired the new Stampington magazine of the same name.

I also met Jill Schwarts of Elements. She is in the Where Women Create book and the magazine. Her art is beautiful. Just check out her site, wow! It was so fun to meet so many folks who get both the art of mixed media and the business of art. Women who are both stylish and artistic, living the artful life.


I took a class with Leslie Riley at the Cloth, Paper, Scissors Make It University. Leslie showed us how to do a range of mixed media techniques on Claudine Hellmuth's new line of adhesive canvas sheets. I did not complete the project, but I brought the pieces home and I am going to make a little book with them, I will post that in a later post.

I sat with some fun ladies, Lorie who was there with a group of 45 quilters all the way from Canada and an lovely English woman living in the States. When we were done I had nowhere to put my art work and the supplies that came free with the class so Lorie graciously gave me her Trader Joe's tote bag!

What I took away from the show was the beauty of this art form. I was most interested in the highly embellished quilts. I appreciate the art of the more traditional quilts, but bits an bods sewed on, layers and layers of 'stuff' is more my taste. I was so inspired I bought a bunch of ribbon and vintage buttons... all of which may turn up in my future work!

And I can't forget to add that my husband came with me! It was nice having him there, he worked on his computer (nice thing about being an at 'work at home' attorney is the mobility). Mark, thanks for being my constant companion, supporter, fan and all around good guy.