Mary Lou shares Peter Thornton techniques

Once again, we had a wonderful learning experience at Deb's house today.

Martha brought a lot of goodies to share that she'd swapped for at an exchange. It was like letting children loose in a candy store! Thanks, Martha!

Mary Lou shared techniques that she learned in a Peter Thornton workshop this past summer about Texts and Textures. Martha, Adrianne, and I had taken his guinea pig class about a year ago with the Mountain Scribes. It was so good to hear about all of the many ways you can put lettering on the page.

Mary Lou, you are a gifted teacher. You know how to explain what we are about to do with clarity and passion. None of us were stumbling around in the dark!

As usual, even though all of us heard the same words, the same explanations, we all came away with our own unique pieces. It's so much fun to look at how everyone else filled their pages.

Thanks, again, to Deb for letting us be creative in her well-appointed artist's room! We love it! (And I think your cat loved Martha's box that she brought in with all the goodies inside!)

Collaging with Deb Averitt

Last Friday a handful of us gals showed up at Deb's house to play. She had a lot of "toys" for us to play with and led us gently through several exercises that built upon one another. We never knew what was coming next, just had to trust her guidance through this artistic journey.

At the end, we all had works of collage art. Every one was unique and spoke volumes about the collager. Y'all really should see Stephanie's!!! LOL.

I won't go into everything that we did, step by step, but just wanted you to see what I did with the two squares of hardboard she gave me. One was white, one was black.

This is not something I would have thought to do on my own, nor would I have taken the time to do it. But, in doing this with all of the other women, it became a sort of meditative, relaxing, recuperative span of uncharted time. I thought of nothing else. I became carefree. Even though I was surrounded by other women doing their individual pages, and enjoyed their presence, I was in my own world, my own mind. Deb's voice of instructions and encouragement wove its way in and out of my head as I experienced her avenues of expression.

Goodness! Did I get too zen just then?

At the end of our get-together, we all decided it was just too much fun being together, sharing space and time and toys, that we are going to meet once a month.

So, if you're interested...get on board!

Monica Zuniga

http://monicazuniga.blogspot.com/

I love this gal, her art, her blog, her videos. Mary Edna, watch her video...there's a little section that I know you will thoroughly enjoy. :)

Stamping

This is my first stab at using all of these stamps I bought at Michaels for $1 each. Nell inspired me. When we partnered at the Cary Spring Daze, she came prepared with bookmarks that already had cute stamps on them that she had colored. Then she let folks choose which bookmark they wanted before she lettered their names. It worked really well.

Practice Sheets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6YhqXCtL7I&feature=related

This is a cute way to keep your practice sheets in one place!

Date Night

I think this is why a lot of us want to learn how to make beautiful letters. We just want to be able to make a quick little piece that will make someone smile.

My niece is getting married in August, and today we had a Bridal Shower for her. I was asked to make this little sign for the "Date Night" Game Station.

Isn't this a lot cuter than some ole' computer fonted sign?

If any of y'all have been wondering what you could do with what you've learned, you do not have to wait for a big commissioned order! Just use what you've got as many times as you can find excuses!

Uncial - Hattie

Hattie just learned Uncial, and she is fast becoming a pro. Way to go, Hattie!