Art Retreat day one...

I drove hubby to the airport this morning...off to Las Vegas to a "convention" hmmm... BUT, as my friend Susan said "When the Husband's away...the Wife will ...create...!"

First thing on my agenda: re-organizing my "studio".

That is I hope to turn it into a studio. Right now its a cluttered closet like area...

and this is the partially cleaned up version! I have been following a new blog: see Balzer Designs over on the right. She has had a week long organizational seminar going on. She had some great ideas and has inspired me to dive in.

I am moving everything out of that room. Then, organizing it according to the various artsy things I like to do: paper crafts, art journaling, sewing, etc. I actually think there is some hope for me! I am only posting this as a way to be accountable to my readers!

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From the same blog (Balzer Designs), I signed up for "Stamp Carving 101". Below are examples of the stamps we will be carving over the next 5 weeks. she guarantees her students will be addicted to stamp carving by the end of the class.

An alphabet, some words, those chevron things are little banner stamps. I watched the first class video, and made this little heart stamp. Of course I already have lots of heart stamps, but this was an exercise in using the "speedball carving tool" and the carving material. It was pretty fun to make and I made these tags using it. I'm also working on an art journal spread, which is drying under weighted books at the moment.

I'm having fun multi-tasking. I do a little cleaning, a little reorganizing, some art, some laundry, watch a little tv and then start all over again. The snow helps keep me at home and on track!