Gone Camping

Well my idea of camping - since 'roughing it' in my book is a hotel without room service, the thought of actually *camp camping* is the furthest thing from my mind when I think of a summer vacation. Instead I've discovered a most wonderful camp experience that I can enjoy in the privacy of my own home (or back yard if I use the laptop) Collage Camp! - how amazingly cool is that. KC Willis of Lipstick Ranch fame has opened an art camp on line - with videos and a community and your own page to post your work, you learn new things and have the opportunity to share and get feedback from all the other amazing folks that are there. We share tips on finding supplies and there's even a section on errors others have made so we can avoid them (like wait for glue to dry before you sew - I've done that one myself a few times). So, if you are interested in fabric collage, check it out.

KC also has some new mixed media classes starting as well - Altered Book Workshop, Altars and Shrines and Works on Paper. I'll probably be taking one or two of those later in the summer - they look amazinging fun.

I really encourage you to try one of the on-class class experiences. I learn a lot and really enjoy these experiences - in a different way than say going to ArtFest, but I learn every bit as much, plus there's the added advantage of working at your own pace and on your own schedule (and not wearing shoes - that helps too). With so many people facing financial uncertainty and not going on a proper vacation, taking one of these classes can be a relatively inexpensive way to have some special 'me' time. Plus there is the perk of meeting new people on line who share the same interests as you. Give it a shot - I know you'll like it.



In the meantime, my plate is pretty full. I'm taking another amazing class from Jane LaFazio at Joggles.com. I had such a great time and learned so much in the last class I took from her (even though I never finished my projects), I had to take another when I saw it posted. The first week was all about painting backgrounds for our little art quilts - I had a BLAST-A-RAMA! I love love love splashing paint around and dug out some stencils and stamps and played with those too. I knew there was a reason I kept so many of my supplies from the old rubber stamping days - you never know when this stuff is going to come in handy. Here are a couple of my backgrounds - if you want to see the rest, journey over to my flickr page


And of course last, but never least, the project most dear to my heart - the Bead Journal Project page for May is still in progress. It seems like I slow down the beading in the summer and summer has amazingly come to the Pacific Northwest. But I am plugging along on the May page and since I have a brilliant idea for June (okay - it's brilliant in my mind, we'll see how it goes), I have new motivation to finish May and begin June. Here's how the May page looks at the moment. Not much more to go and I can put the purple and gray beads away and take out something more colorful