Excellent March Break Arts Program for Your Preteens and Teens!!!

Diverting from my normal fare here. And tooting the horn for a family member of mine.  

 I am getting the word out on an excellent Arts Program for kids aged 12-17 years.  It will be run during our upcoming March Break.  The course will be at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery in Brantford and my very talented sister in law, artist Mary Abma, will be teaching.  Mary has done various exhibits here in Ontario and in the U.S.  She also has taught numerous art classes throughout the Sarnia and Grand Bend area. 

This program will be in conjunction with her upcoming exhibit at the gallery, "In My Own Backyard", which opens March 16, 2013.  During the week students will be working with Mary on one of the actual pieces of the exhibit, titled  "Terra Dulcis:  Triptych Altarpiece of Glenhyrst Gardens"  Students will also work on their own pieces of art using different techniques and materials. 

Here is a brief statement about the exhibit from Mary's website:   "In My Own Back Yard” is an exhibition containing series of works that are rooted in the study of botany and history--specifically, historical and current botanical practices that have led to ecosystem degradation and homogenization. The artworks‘ grounding in my own piece of property in a typical suburban neighbourhood personalizes the ecological issues, literally bringing them “home”. “In My Own Back Yard” was an in-depth project that spanned four years of intensive study and exploration. There are four separate components that form a comprehensive exhibition of this project; however, each component can stand alone or will work well in combination with one or more of the others. 

Below are some images of the exhibit when it was at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I was able to view this exhibit when it was at Redeemer University, in Ancaster, Ontario last year.  My favourite piece of the exhibit, and it was hard to pick one, was the piece "Herbarium of Lot 161 Plan 150".  It is the second image below.  Very impressive.

For more info on the March Break program and the gallery itself you can visit the website here:  Glenhyrst Gallery     March Break Program

To learn more about Mary and her exhibit " In My Own Backyard"  visit her website here:   Mary Abma  

My three kids have enrolled in this March Break program, even computer genius 12 year old Daniel is excited.  If you live in and around the Brantford/Ayr area, and looking for something to keep your 12-17 year old busy.  Get them into this program.

And before I forget here is a link to some images of when Mary did a similar program with University Students at Calvin College:   Creating an Exhibit 


Thank you for visiting my little corner of the blogging universe.  Any questions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Valentine's Day Projects

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone. It was a good day.  I was spoiled with a bouquet of roses.  Dave and I were going to go out to the movies, but weather was snowy and slippery and he was stuck in traffic trying to get home from work.  So we decided to watch a movie from home while the kids did after dinner clean up.  And we both could then enjoy the bottle of Lindeman's Bin 40 Merlot that I had picked up earlier and we need to drink it before it spoils.  

Today I would like to share with you a few projects I have made for Valentine's Day.   I love special days like this, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's etc.  And Kim, on our team, has a few challenges for us this month, and I am hoping to scratch a couple of them off my list with these projects.  

First project is the card I made for my amazing husband. 

Supplies used: Heart paper doily (inked with Primrose petals and a sponged dauber), scalloped and cotton lace ribbon, ticket stub, and button all from Artisan Embellishments Kit  and More Amore Specialty Designer Series paper all found in our Spring Catalogue.

The image was stamped in Real Red Classic Ink in using the You are Loved stamp set. The image was then cut out using a heart from the Hearts Collection Framelits and my awesome Bigshot die-cutting machine  And the card base is Real Red cardstock, image was stamped on Very Vanilla Cardstock.    

This second project is a little something I left at each person's seat for Valentine's day morning.  So cute.  Laura and Daniel actually had a few pieces for breakfast (nothing like starting you day off with a little sugar!!), Dave took his to the office and Amanda had the best self discipline of everyone, she didn't touch hers until after school.  

Supplies Used:  More Amore Speciality Designer Series Paper and Ciao, Baby! stamp set both found in our Spring catalogue.

The love tag was punched from the Petite Curly Label punch, which can be yours for FREE in the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.

 Itty Bitty Shapes Bunch Pack, Curly Label Punch, Rhinestone Basic Jewels, 1" x 8" Cellophane bag, Real Red, Very Vanilla and Primrose Petals cardstock, and Primrose Petals Classic Ink, all found in our main Catalogue.  

This third and final project was placed at each persons place at the table for dinner.  In each box there was heart shaped chocolates and red and white jelly beans in 4" x 6" cellophane bags.  The bags were tied with Whisper White Taffeta 3/8" Ribbon and Real Red 1/8" white edged Taffetta Ribbon.

Additional supplies used:  Real Red, Pretty Pink and Whisper White cardstock, Pretty in Pink Scallop Dots 1/2" ribbon, You are Loved Stamp Set, Real Red Classic Ink, Pearl Basic Jewels, Decorative Label Punch, Fancy Favour BigzXL, and Big Shot Die Cutting Machine.  All found in our main catalogue.

The Bitty Butterfly punch can be found in our Spring Catalogue.

 

The links to all of our catalogues can be found along the right hand side of this blog.  Items can purchased through me, contact me via email at riajenkins@rogers.com, or shop online and have your items delivered directly to your doorstep via my Stampin' Up! website which can found HERE

I hope you too had an amazing Valentine's Day.  I know mine was.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the blogging world.  Comments are always welcome, and let me know what you would like to see for upcoming projects.

A Little Bit of Snow and a Layout

I'm back.  I have been a bad blogger, I know.  Life has gotten in the way, my mother is still in the hospital, my sister and I are getting ready to close her apartment and the medical staff is trying to get her stabilized to be transferred to a long term care facility.  The problem is she keeps going into kidney failure and bladder infections, which is not allowing her to get off of the I.V.  It has been a long journey these last six months with her.  And this on top of a already full life with three very active kids, well, my blog has fallen by the side.   To say things have been overwhelming lately, is an understatement.  But I am starting to find a  rhythm in my life again. Time to regroup and get back on track.   

Today, Friday, was a snow day around here.  I awoke to this scene this morning.  Snow, and more snow.  And this was just the beginning of the snowfall, which has gone on all day.  All three kids and Dave were home since everything was pretty much shut down.  It was a nice day to cocoon, and we all had a much needed recharge of our batteries.

The layout below I created as part of a team challenge our leader Denise had given us for our most recent Team Social (sounds some much more fun than Team Meeting)  The challenge was to use the Canvas Creations in our current spring catalogue.  I found the canvas is easy to work with, our Classic ink pads work beautifully with them, as well as our watercolor crayons.   You will see the banner at the top, the elephant, and the ticket stubs along the side are  made from the Canvas Creations.  Denise dyed a bookmark piece of canvas completely in a mixture of re-inkers and water, she sewed  a cute tiny heart shaped pillow perfect for wedding favours and Margie, embossed an image on the canvas followed by water coloring, and had it beautifully framed, a stunning piece of artwork.   

The layout is of some shots I took while trying to take a group photo of my family.  We were waiting for a subway train in D.C. during our vacation there in 2011, and I had hoped to used the time to get a decent group shop.  I succeeded with one shot, and it was a hard won battle to get that one good shot.    Whenever I try to get a "nice shot" of Dave and/or kids, its always ends up as a circus full of clowns.  Bunny ears start popping up behind people's heads, funny faces are everywhere, and eventually they end up in a tangled heap laughing hysterically.

Besides the Canvas Creations, I used Sahara Sand cardstock as the base, Designer Series Paper was World Spectacular, the ticket stubs and elephant were from our "Your're Amazing" stamp set, and Baker's Twine, all found in our main 2012-2013 Catalogue. The Hearts a Flutter stamp set and framelits were used for the banner, which are found in a cost saving bundle in our Spring Catalogue.  The buttons were our Brushed Bronze buttons which was found  in our now discontinued Holiday Calendar.  This challenge was a fun kick in the creative pants that I needed to get me going again creatively.  You can find links to our current main catalogue and the spring catalogue along the right hand side of this blog.

I also would like you to mark your calendar for Saturday, February 23.  Our team will be hosting a Scrapbook/Card Making and Rubber Stamp Garage Sale.  It will be 9 am - 2 pm at St. Jude's Anglican Church, 81 Peel St., in Brantford, Ontario.  We will be selling new and slightly used items such as rubber stamp sets, embellishments, of course paper, and much more.  And the items for sale there will not be just Stampin' Up!!  There will be other products as well, as demonstrators, many of us have been in paper crafting for many years before becoming Creative Coaches for Stampin' Up!! and of course have accumulated all kinds of different paper crafting products and tools.  And it is time for us to clear out our studios of the old to make room for new and exciting products that we can showcase for you.  And listening to what some of the demonstrators were talking about selling, this is one event you will NOT want to miss.   A huge thank you to Denise and Natasha for organizing this event and of course to St. Jude's for allowing us to use their facility.

If you are interested in hosting a workshop please feel free to contact me at riajenkins@rogers.com.  And I would love to hear from you what you would like to see featured on this blog.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the blogging world.