pamgarrison

creative lettering

 

I received a copy of Jenny's newest book, Creative Lettering, in the mail and I love it!

And I'm not saying that just because I am a contributor, nope.

I love a book that pays attention to the details, like the inside cover and title page above, 

and throwing in some extra eye candy, like my lettering on the materials page.

 I am honored to be one of the contributors, and I love what Jenny and her team did with my artwork.

But the true star of the book are the letters themselves, created by a whole bunch of talented artists. I can't wait to try some of the other contributors' techniques and suggested materials. So fun.

Jenny will be signing copies soon too, here's the info.

If you are a fellow letter lover, especially of hand drawn fonts, you're gonna love this book.  If you try your hand at any of the letters or projects from it, let me know, I'd love to see them!

Souvenir holiday issue around the corner

Just around the corner from the holiday issue of Souvenir, Heather's Lifesyle publication. I had fun with Amy and Heather doing a little party themed article for this issue and am ready to start the holiday season with more fun ideas. If you want to be on the mailing list to be notified when it launches, go here. And see some behind the scenes from various contributors here. It will be released next Monday, November 11th in both digital and print formats.

Ready or not, the holidays are heading our way!

Souvenir summer free preview

Open publication - Free publishing - More souvenir

sneak peek Souvenir summer

The summer issue of Heather Bullard's  Souvenir Magazine will be available July 10th. Here's a little sneak peek teaser.... I haven't gotten to see anything more, but I know it will be a keeper. I had fun working with Heather on a terrarium feature. Here are a couple of my instagrams from the day she was here shooting:

I always have fun playing photo assistant and photo styling with Heather.

Gathering the props is one of my favorite parts of any photo shoot day.

You can sign up for our Mailing List to be notified when the issue goes live.
Or follow Souvenir Magazine on Facebook and get to see a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes.  

All that worked on it are excited for the issue and we hope you'll join in the summer fun!

the new (& even better) Souvenir Magazine

Heather has re-vamped her lovely Souvenir and has gone from a nostalgic gazette to a full blown beauty. You can hear Heather describe the changes here, and follow the Facebook page for it here.

 

{Instagram taken after gathering up some supplies and getting ready to head out the door for photo shoot}

I'm very happy to continue contributing to the beauty she is creating. This issue I had the most fun when playing photographers assitant/flower arranger/prop stylist alongside Amy while Heather captured the magic right before our eyes.

           {more photoshoot supplies instagrammed before loading into the car, Souvenir bound!}
  {one last instagram taken of flowers I'd been arranging before rushing out the door to get my son}

You can sign up to be notified each time a new issue is available right here . The newly formated Souvenir launches Tuesday, March 20th, hope you'll be savoring the beauty too!

inspired birthdays

Amy Powers has a new Inspired Ideas issue available. It's the Birthday Edition. Here's a peek at my project:

 
I hope you enjoy it. Lot's of great birthday party inspiration in Amy's online magazine, all for only $3.30!

souvenir

Have you signed up for Souvenir? It's free and full of "old fashioned charm in a modern way," as Heather describes it. The seed packs above are there for you to download. I remember being inspired long ago to package up some of my own garden's seeds and share with friends, but hey, that's a lot of work, so there's a little cheat suggested in Souvenir. Hope some of you will be gifting your friends with these handmade packages; I know I love receiving any handcrafted gift.

inspiration for the long holiday weekend

            

Amy at inspireco has done it again! Another wonderfull issue choc full of fun projects. There's the opening spread of mine, above. I must say, I love my project, it was so fun to make. Anyway, this is her best issue yet. There are 170 pages without one ad. The images are so pretty, and well...Inspiring! Go here to subscribe.

                   

matthew mead's holiday

                                 

 

Have you ordered a copy ? If so, it should be arriving in your mailbox any moment! I am eagerly awaiting my issue's arrival. I've always loved  Matthew Mead's style, and this is 100% his baby. There are guest blogger sumbissions (including gift tags by yours truly, although I haven't seen what was used- you never know when sending off if it "fits" with the content) and other artist contributions as well, but all through his eyes and lens, and graphic design talent. Can't ever get enough holiday inspiration and yummy photos, can we? Be sure you stop by the Holiday blog as well, they are doing lots of give-aways!

are you ready for some inspiration?!?

Above is a peek at one of the projects I worked on for Amy Powers' holiday magazine. I can not believe how much work Amy did, and how many wonderful contributors she gathered for her beautiful online publication. And all for free! So generous of her, as I know she has at least 100 hours of work in creating it. I know she does it with a joyous heart, and we are so lucky she does! If you've never met Amy, I hope you get to someday, she's a sweetheart through and through. Congratulations Amy! Your second issue of Inspired Ideas is beautiful. Go see what I mean here: Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas Christmas 2010. I hope you enjoy paging through as much as I do!

playing with books

I just received a copy of Playing With Books, the latest book by artist Jason Thompson. Just like Jason's other books, which remain among my favorites, it's full of style, wonderful projects, and overall coolness. Congratulations Jason! Here are a few other shots from the book:

 

My little paper mache creatures are in the book too...
 

along with projects and instructions from so many artists:

for some more sneak peeks from the book head on over to Jason's post, or Amazon here. And I see more congratulations are in order for Jason, being featured in Wall Street Journal!

creative therapy

I'm the guest artist over at Creative Therapy today. This journal spread shown above and below is the art I created in response to "tell a random childhood memory". If you hop over there, you can read the written response that goes along with these journal pages. 

more journaling fun

As I mentioned in the last post, I have a give-away for you journalers or journal admirers. Dawn Sokol, author of 1,000 Journal Pages, has kindly offered one of her books (a signed copy) as a prize. Congrats to Dawn for having her books among the offerings at Anthropologie. That must feel like a nice stamp of approval, we all love that store so! Dawn's got other ways for you to journal with her over at her blog, both NaNoJouMo and her upcoming online class, {12.31}, so pop on over to see about those.

If you want to be entered in the 1,000 Journal Pages give-away book, just leave a comment on this post. I'll use random number generator to pick a winner this week. Let's say you have to leave a comment by Friday night midnight, and I'll announce the winner Saturday. I've got some journal pages in the book along with many many other artists. If you like looking at journal pages, you've got 1,000 here.  

And, for more journal inspiration, or if you want to journal, but don't know how to get started, Teesha Moore has some really great videos that walk you through her process, step by step. I think Teesha and Tracy did a great job putting them together, and you'll enjoy them whether a beginner or a regular journaler.

Ok, gotta go find my journals, all this talk about journaling has me itching to work in them!

{Ed: The book contest is over now, sorry to those that missed it!}

at your local bookstore now

The latest issue of Where Women Create is out and on the bookshelves now. Here's the opening spread of my article. I thought it was so cool that they used my doodles and scraps of vintage wallpaper on my layout. Fun to have friends Lisa and Amy in the same issue with too.

And not quite at your local bookstore, another book that I've just ordered from Earth Angels. It looks quite yummy. I love the artwork of Julie Arkell. (Katie Runnels of the constant gatherer compiled that lovely Julie Arkell post) Just in case you love Julie too...

amy's book!

I received my long anticipated copy of Amy's book and I must say it was even better than I had expected! I knew it would be wonderful, because I have followed every detail that she has worked on for well over a year, but somehow, all together, it is even more than hoped for. Her jewelry, as I'm sure you know, is so beautiful and magical, but her storytelling is special too and I'm glad others finally get to know that creative side of her as well. Yours truly did the illustrations for her; those included the "how to" steps, but also the chapter headers shown here:

and this one on  the about the author page (which is my favorite!), as well as tip boxes, page doodles etc.

It was fun to be included in helping her achieve her vision. Amy, all your hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears of joy were worth it! We all are so proud of you...enjoy the fruits of your labor and then get to work on your next book...maybe about your home, or flea marketing, lifestyle...anything would be great. I love experiencing the world through your eyes, you truly have such unbelievable style and your creative imagination is always an inspiration! xoxp

To see more of Amy's world, visit her blog here.

art journaling

 

As always, thanks for all the support in my endeavors. And speaking of which, many of you have sent me emails and comments telling me you enjoyed the article in the new Art Journaling magazine. It was so fun to be chosen for the cover of the very first issue!

 

 

The top photo is a journal page I was just coloring in. It has one of my favorite quotes on it: 

 

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.  - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

 

I thought it quite appropriate for January and all the fresh starts. (Yes, that page on the right is the one from an earlier post)

 

Off to begin something. xop

where i've been

above left to right: me, jo packham and michael garland-as taken by my daughter, last night 6:30pm.

I know, I've been remiss at blogging again, but I've had good reason. I've spent every spare second (why are there never enough of those?!?) trying to get my art room ready for it's close up: a photo shoot for the Where Women Create quarterly publication. (Can't wait to get the new issue in stores February 1). In my defense, I had short notice, but then again, my art room really isn't kept in photo ready state. Ever. I wish I couldn't leave the house without everything in order, but i don't have that issue. Just the opposite; I have no problem working on something up till the last second, dropping it and running out the door. And I don't feel the need to get back to cleaning it up once back. My creative whim might pull me towards something else and off I go in that direction, assuring myself I'll be back to the other in short time, but that "creative time" is what I find to be so illusive being a mom and wife and everything else we try to be in life. Before long a real mess can pile up. I'm really good at that unfortunately. I came really close to getting everything put in it's place,  but truth be told, I did end up pulling some of my "I have enough of this to sell some at my next teaching gig" stuff out into the hallway. Surely someone else must have had to do that for their photos?!?  I can't be the only one, can I? A messy, whirling dervish at times?

Well, you know my art room's secret now. But really, this time I'm really going to try to stay organized! (Oh please, I hope I've got it in me!) I'm not sure what magazine issue my studio will be in, but of course, I'll be sure to let you know. Thank you Jo and Michael for the hours of fun!

more stitching fun

Last April or May (I think), the editors at Somerset Home sent a few different artists a new, plain, pillowcase from Ikea and gave us free reign to create whatever we chose with it.  As I was bedridden at the time (the back), I decided to stitch on my pillowcase. I set out to make a cover for my sewing machine. Once I was able to get up and about again, I trimmed the case to the correct size for my sewing machine and added a pretty trim to the bottom. Sew simple (ha ha). Here is the finished project:

 

Since embroidery seems to be enjoying a resurgence in blog-land, I thought I'd offer a free embroidery pattern inspired by this design.

Download the free Sew Sweet PDF here and then  print it out, trace onto fabric, and stitch away. If you do end up making something, I'd love to see a photo so post a link in the comments so we can all admire your work!

If you want to see what all the other artists did with their pillowcases, check out the latest issue of Somerset Life.

 

The article is called "Pillow Talk". Clever.

 

And if you're looking for stitching sampler inspiration, be sure to check out Sandra Everertson's beautiful antique textiles book in the making in this issue as well.

 

Happy stitching!

a couple reader questions answered

In the latest issue of Somerset Life, there are some glass ornaments made by lots of different people. I've gotten a few questions about my two ornaments, so I thought I'd answer them here. In the grandfather ornament shown above, I started with a photo and glued it onto hard card stock. I tied a thin string from the top to hang it from the little silver hoop that you attach a tree hook to. I took long tweezers and curled up the little guy ever so slightly to get him in, then uncurling again by pinching the edges straight with the same tweezers. In the middle of doing this, the string broke, and I chipped little bits off the ornament glass top by hitting it with the tweezers. This process was very frustrating! (That's why I wouldn't recommend these ornament crafts for kids, although some of you have asked.)  Since the thread broke in process, I changed plans mid stream and dropped a pool of white glue in the bottom while holding the little guy off to the side. I put in a bunch of mother of pearl buttons and mica flakes (like a snow globe I thought, but instead, it just seems to make the glass look dirty). Then I held the little guy down into the glue and propped it all ever so carefully to set. Again, frustrating process trying to get the buttons in the glue in a manor that would enable the photo to stand straight.

For the bluebird ornament, I cut  up some blue ledger paper in the shape of a little bird, trying to use the writing to emulate a beak and eye. I coated the bird with decoupage medium to strengthen it and let dry. I shredded some music paper and put that and a bit of vintage tinsel loosely in the bottom to hint at a nest. Then, after putting a thin piece of wire through the bird, I curled it up and placed it in the ornament, this time hanging it from the loop of the ornament instead of resting on the bottom.

The ornaments were purchased at Ikea. As you can tell, I found it hard to get a good photo, the glass was so reflective. There are lots of other creations made from the same glass ornaments in the magazine, so you might find something that inspires.

About a year ago I posted about these ribbons. I still get questions, they are so pretty. The website is www.Raffit.com if you are one of the many interested. But be careful, as you can see, there are so many pretty colors to choose from you may go a bit overboard as I did.

Have to run to the bus-stop, will answer some glitter questions next time...

color love

This past Artfest, I took "Welcome to Color" taught by Tiphoni Moore. I have such a strange relationship with color. I love it, I love to mix them and match them, but I also love that non color look, sometimes in my art, but especially in my home. Anyway, in Tiphoni's class we brought 7 acrylic paint tubes :cold and warm of red yellow and blue, and then white. Tiphoni taught us how to mix colors to make (or try to make) any color we want. It was so fun to play and mix and create our own color palettes. Here's my journal page from class. I took notes in class and then glued down some of the colors from my wax paper palette.

Now that I'm home, I don't try to match colors to a magazine page like we did, but I do enjoy mixing colors willy nilly. Here's my palette from the other nights playtime.

And here is what I was playing on...the same boards from the other day...still in progress.

Here are close ups of the two closest to completion. It's been really fun not  knowing where these are going. Well, fun and then sometimes frustrating. The two on the left remained untouched from the other day because I didn't want to "ruin" them in the discovery phase.

Speaking of color palette's and the love of color, I received Teesha Moore's Art&Life issue #7.

Inside, Teesha created her own endpapers of sorts by making a gorgeous water color palette. Here's the inside of the first page.

and here is a bit of the back palette. Thanks Teesha, now I've got about 5 more watercolors on the must have list, ha ha. How about you, see some must haves?

I am honored to have some artwork in this issue, the innagural all-color issue. Here's the first spread. Teesha surprised me by including the back of one of my submitted pieces, that's what's on the right side, because it had some interesting color bleeding things  going on. I like the way her mind thinks, I certainly never would have thought of that page as anything, but I like the honest nature of it.

Above is the 2nd spread I did, an article on Moo cards in case anyone hasn't discovered them yet, and a little ode to color which seemed fitting for the issue. The paper is so smooth and feels great. Paper quality is so important, isn't it? If you want to check out Art&Life click here.

To answer a comment question, yep! Marie Antoinette project info coming soon, but the above's all the blogging I can fit into today. xo