Announcing My New Book :: Stamp It!

I am thrilled to announce my new book: Stamp It! It's a book that has 45 fabulous projects and 200 motifs that you can use to carve your own stamps for DIY printing.

The comprehensive Basics section will teach you how to transfer designs onto rubber, carve that rubber, and then use that carved rubber to make the funnest, hippest projects around.

Many thanks to the amazing designers who contributed the projects and motifs for this book. They are (in order of appearance):

Riyo Kihara
Memi the Rainbow
Josephine Ho
Kerri Winterstein
Ishtar Olivera Belart
Gertie Jaquet
Noelle Griskey
Sarah K. Patro
Cynthia Shaffer

Stamp It! is available everywhere books are sold, including on Amazon right here. Many thanks to my entire book team for their outstanding work in making this one come to life.

Here's a tiny little video that gives you a peek inside the book. Hope you'll check it out. Enjoy!

Art Walk Studio this Saturday, March 2nd from 7-10PM!

It's that time again.
Yup. It's the first Saturday of the month this Saturday, which means it's Art Walk Studio in Studio CRESCENDOh from 7PM to 10PM. Time to join lovers of art who will gather in beautiful downtown Santa Ana for a night of creativity, comraderie and ...

a book-signing of course! To celebrate Creative Lettering, there will be copies of the book available for a very special Art Walk Studio price that I'll have the privilege of signing.

Also present will be the talented Tara Wilson of Lulu Max Art who will have her beautiful artwork available for sale. So gorgeous.

Also present will be artist Lisa Guerin who will be facilitating yet another creative make-and-take activity. Hmmm ... wonder what she has up her sleeve!

And I'm also excited to announce that Nina Volpini will be our special guest singer who will be performing live during the evening. I love Nina's positive energy and her enthusiasm and her passion for the arts. It'll be a treat to see her perform.

Also present will be young whipper snappers from Orange County School of the Arts, and a whole bunch of other amazing people with whom you'll enjoy interacting.

OK. So it's Studio CRESCENDOh. 207 N. Broadwah, Studio L, Santa Ana, CA 92701. All together now: Wine. Cheese. Twinkle lights. Good converations with interesting people. :)

This is a FREE event. Parking is a bear. If you're parking on the street, you gotta bring your quarters and feed the meter every two hours. If you're parking in a lot it's about 7 bucks. But it's worth it. It's gonna be a great night.

See you at Art Walk Studio!

Book Signing at Glitterfest's New Location :: March 9th

Have you heard?
Glitterfest has changed venues! Yup. The fantastic event that has been masterfully nurtured by Sheryl Simpson and Diane White has finally outgrown its Santa Ana Elks Lodge location and they are now going to be holding their events at the Business Expo of Anaheim located at:

1960 S Anaheim Way, Anaheim, CA 92805 from 10AM to 4PM

Here's a photo of the location and its spacious parking lot. :)

I am honored to be joining Sheryl, Diane White, and the Glitterfest team on March 9th to help them break in their new location as I sign copies of my new book, Creative Lettering. Hope to see you at Glitterfest where I know you'll enjoy all the fantastic vendors selling their handmade treausres.

I hope you'll stop by, say hello, and in honor of Creative Lettering, share with me your favorite letter and your favorite pen/pencil that you like to use when you letter. I'll be sharing the results of my field study about lettering in a future post. :)

See you at Glitterfest!
:)

Announcing My New Book :: Creative Lettering

I am thrilled and humbled to announce my newest book titled Creative Lettering!

It is a book where 16 amazing arists share their unique insights and signature methods related to their lettering work. From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to offer my sincere gratitude to these artists for working with me to create this truly breathtaking book.

They are (in order of appearance):

Flora Chang, Jessica Swift, Pam Garrison, Francois Begnez,
Karyn Denten, Aimee Dolich, Andy Ainger, Linda Schneider,
Lori Vliegen, Madeline Tompkins, Stine Kaasa, Lisa Engelbrecht,
Philippe Debongnie, Barbara Close, Rhianna Wurman, and Martha Lever

Creative Lettering will hit book stands on March 5th but you can also pre-order it here on Amazon. And here's a little video to give you a sneak peek. Enjoy! :)

Announcing :: 1-Day Workshop :: Lace Ships with Holly Mason Abston

If you're like me, when you look at these lace ships by Holly Mason Abston, your heart will skip a beat. Gorgeous. And truly novel.

I'm very excited to announce that Holly has agreed to come to Studio CRESCENDOh to teach her beautiful 1-day Lace Ships workshop on June 8th.

She'll spend the first half of the day teaching students how to construct  the basic structure using thick construction-grade wire.

After lunch, she'll teach students how to attach lace, and fabric onto the wire structure, which will result in the most unique and stunning ships.

Enrollment is now open here.
This is a 1-day workshop.
See you in Studio CRESCENDOh. :)

CHA :: 2013 :: Wonderful. Challenging. Busy

Thought I'd let you know that I'm headed off to CHA today at the Anaheim Convention Center. It will be the only day that I'm there this year and if you happen to be there, I hope you'll come by the Sterling Publishing booth at 2:00 PM, where I'll be signing copies of Journal It!

It's been so busy lately for me. Family. Friends. Work. Life. Sometimes wonderful. Sometimes extremely challenging. But most of all, busy. I hope that things will slow down for me a tiny bit in a few weeks so I can catch my breath.

In the meantime, I hope to take some fun photos today while at CHA and share through my Instagram feed.

 

Announcing :: 2-Day Workshop with Stephanie Lee!

I've been a HUGE fan of Stephanie Lee's art for many, many years. Which is why I'm beyond thrilled to announce that she'll be teaching an amazing 2-day workshop in Studio CRESCENDOh this coming February 9th and 10th titled Plaster Piecework with Stephanie Lee.

The first part of class will be a study in texture and creating various surfaces with plaster that become ready to receive paint.

The second part of class will introduce color and shape, light and shadow, form and obscurity.
At the end of the workshop, each student will have a collection of 5-10 pieces that can be constructed into a plaster "quilt" or leave separate and used in other ways.


The focus of the workshop will be on mixing paints with texture mediums, marbling and blending with chalk pastels and acrylics and experimentation with scraping, sgraffito, and surface altering techniques.

I can hardly wait.

Enrollment for this class is now open here.

See you in the studio. :)

The Keys to Publishing ... LIVE!

Ever since offering my Keys to Publishing online class, I've received several requests from local peeps for the class to be offered as a LIVE version in Studio Crescendoh ... so that there could be direct face-to-face interaction and tailored feedback about the publishing goals that people have.

I'm excited that in January, I'll be offering the class with an added component in Studio CRESCENDOh: The Keys to Publishing & Time Management LIVE.

The added component will focus on Time Managment.

Why Time Management?

The number one thing that my clients and students talk with me about is how to develop and manage tasks so that creative dreams and goals can become reality. 

If we're not careful, we can spend all our time dreaming or even "dreaming big" but never developing a system to transition those dreams into results-oriented tasks and goals. It's easy to squander time. It's easy to waste time. But once it's gone, it's gone. And no amount of money can get anyone any more of it. We all have the same amount given to us every single day.

So ... the workshop is January 26th. It's a Saturday. We'll learn the nuts and bolts of publishing, explore the heart of what you want to publish, and then dive into work of how to manage it all and really, so much more.

The details are here. Enrollment is now open.

See you in the studio. :)

 

Announcing :: 2012 Handmade Holiday Boutique!

I'm super excited to announce that this coming December 15th, Studio Crescendoh will be hosting its first 2012 Handmade Holiday Boutique with Pam Garrison, Amy Hanna, and yours truly!

For those of you who have been wanting to get your hands on Pam and Amy's one-of-a-kind vintage treasures that they scout throughout the year from the coolest flea markets and little-known places, you won't want to miss it. They'll be bringing some of their most awesomest finds and have them for sale.

They will also have some very cool handmade items (paintings, jewelry, crafts) that are perfect for gift-giving for the holiday season.

I'm excited to be joining in on the festivities with offerings of yummy crochet hemp, books, and a handmade gifts.

We look forward to seeing you December 15th in Studio CRESCENDOh!  We will be open for business at 10AM with the studio all dressed up for the holidays! Join us for fun, friendship, and truly unique holiday shopping! We will remain open until 4PM.

Admission is FREE.

Wishing you a holiday that is beautifully handmade.

See you in the studio! :)

Announcing :: 2-Day Art Journaling Workshop with Julie Balzer!

I'm super excited to announce that the fabulous Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is returning to Studio CRESCENDOh this coming January 19-20, 2013 to offer a fantastic 2-day Art Journaling Workshop titled The Amazing Tape-Bound Junque Journal

Earlier in 2012, Julie's class at the studio sold out and the students had a marvelous time. Afterward, we all agreed that she needed to return in 2013 but offer more of her methods by creating a 2-day class. 

This 2-day class will offer methods in monoprinting, hand-painted patterns, exploration of color, and so much more. Ane everyone will leave with a finished tape-bound journal. And most likely, a whole new batch of art friends who also love art journaling.

Enrollment is NOW open here.

Julie's classes tend to sell out so if you are interested, please do sign up before all seats are taken.

See you in the studio! :)