We had a fantastic Recycled Rubber weekend at Art 'n Soul! We want to thank all of you who worked hard to sort, organize and bring your gently used items to Art 'n Soul this past month. And an even bigger thanks to our customers for coming in over the weekend to purchase the bargains made possible by so many. It was a win-win-win for everyone involved! and that's a good thing!

There was such an abundance of Recycled Rubber items that a lot of items had to be placed on the floor . . . even rubber stamps that were still in the boxes.

this little cutie found a book of stickers and was
artistically placing them on her legs! 

Marge Chandler happened to come in to show one of her latest cards. Sue mentioned she had told Marge some time earlier that her top shirt was beautiful and would make a great card design. Voila!

Patti Ritterhouse shows us how she made a storage envelope for her metal dies using the envelope punch board we've been selling.

Using a piece of acetate, Patti scored the lines from the envelope punch board. She says to avoid the corner rounding punch because the acetate will most likely become 'stuck' when you try it. She used Scor Tape to secure the closed flaps, and added

velcro for the envelope closure.

by Patti Ritterhouse

Quite clever, Patti! I hope W R Memory Keepers is taking note of another terrific use for their envelope punch board!

Sherry Barello shares with us more of her zentangled artwork that she has made cards with . . .

by Sherry Barello

by Sherry Barello

by Sherry Barello

by Sherry Barello

Judy Daugherty and Sam Lee were totally enthused and happy about Fred Mullett's "Spritz Plus" class the other evening. Each student made a beautiful background paper, stamped one of Fred's beautiful organic stamps on it in white ink, and then colored away.

Front Cover by Judy Daugherty
Fred Mullett's "Spritz Plus" class at Art 'n Soul
Judy used Washi Tape along the binding

Back Cover by Judy Daugherty

Close-up by Judy Daugherty

Close-up by Judy Daugherty

Sam Lee chose a botanical stamp and soft colors for her journal book.

Front Cover by Sam Lee
Fred Mullett's "Spritz Plus" class at Art 'n Soul

Close-up by Sam Lee

Close-up by Sam Lee
Sam used a piece of random card stock that was made
into the design and color she wanted for the cover trim

To learn the secrets of making that beautiful background paper and how they colored the white stamped image, you'll have to take one of Fred's classes or come into Art 'n Soul; some of the staff were in the class and can show you how it's done. You'll return home totally inspired.

A great idea for our art journal members . . .

"I fitted a big scrapbook [which came from a yard sale] with 11"x14" envelopes to store my collage materials. The envelopes are marked with either colors [Red/Orange, Blue/Green etc] or patterns [Floral, Animal, Maps, etc.] When it gets too bulky I will add some more spacers." . . .

--anonymous (source unknown)

As you make your plans for the week, please remember to include Art 'n Soul's Journal Club meeting on Friday, September 13, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the store. It's sure to be energetic and creative . . . all we need is you! Anyone and everyone is welcome!

I've been trying to remain diligent about straightening up and organizing my studio space . . . an ongoing effort since we moved into the house a year ago. It's slowly coming together . . . much re-organizing, purging, discarding . . . you know the drill. They say if you need help initiating the re-organization, help someone else clean out and organize their space . . . you'll have more perspective about your own place afterward. I have to say it worked. I helped my sister-in-law clean and re-organize a lot of different spaces in her daughter's home last month . . . I was itching to come home and dig in!

My progress so far . . . this wall is almost finished. Only 2 more to go! And then there's the craft table . . . rollin', rollin', rollin'!

By the way, there are a few of the new Fred Mullett stencils left from his visit to Art 'n Soul last week. In fact, there is only ONE left of the bird stencil that I am refraining from purchasing to allow you to purchase it now. I will impatiently wait for the next order to go in . . . Fred doesn't return to his studio until next month which gives me plenty of time to develop the Fred Mullett pink sheet for stencils and stamps. Unlike other stamp artists, Fred uses actual organic materials for his stamp artistry, i.e., fish, leaf, plant! How environmental is that! Love it.

I chose to show you the backside of the stencil packaging because it was difficult to see the stencil design from the front. The stencils and stamps are altogether in the Fred Mullett section along the stamp wall. Happy buying!