The new washi paper from Aitoh is at the store. So far, the comments have been favorable . . . to summarize, they're beautiful!

I was trying to use just one photo, but
the width was too much to capture it all;
however, I'm thinking I like this photo for a different purpose.
So, take a look below to see the close-ups.

They arrived in the large sheet size, so they are sold as half that size to offer you more variety in the projects you want to use washi paper. Right now, they're on the back table at the store.




And ribbons arrived from May Arts today that I ordered at CHA . . . some are a re-order and some are new. Take a look!

I loved the lace look  . . .

The baker's twine comes in more colors but all
of the other colors I ordered were out-of-stock; so we'll
keep trying!

I wanted to show you how sheer and soft these new
two-sided ribbons are. They are light as a feather.

The lens was a little more 'defining' than I'd like;
the orange an black ribbons are silk. And did you
notice how sheer the green ribbon is?

This ribbon has been very popular at the store,
and I was happy to see it came in additional colors.

This wire-edge ribbon is so light and I love the shimmer it gives off.

The Art 'n Soul Journal Club met Friday afternoon. It's been a couple of months since I've hooked up with them. I have to tell you, I was blown away by what they're doing! Totally!


This first set of pics is an interesting exchange project between Gloria and Judy. They took their first names and looked up the meaning of their name. Gloria and Judy then took that definition and made the start of a book about themselves.

Gloria's name means 'glory." And this is the front cover of her book.

The back cover of Gloria's book.

Judy's name means "praise." This is the front cover of her book.

I enlarged the pic so you could read the text.

Knowing how artistically talented Judy is,
I'm sure she drew this free-hand.

Now, Gloria and Judy will exchange their books and make pages reflecting their thoughts about each other.




Four of the club members also worked on a shared project. Each were asked to make two pages to an 8x8 book that best represented their favorite place and/or thought for each of the other 3 gals. (Where I enlarged the photos, it was only to let you read any text on that page.)

by Cindy Sharp

Max was Cindy's best four-legged friend and, unfortunately, she lost Max
last year. Her loving memories of Max are shown here.

by Judy Daugherty, who loves bears!

by Gloria Walker

I had to show you how Gloria 'thatched' the roofs!

by Sam Lee

Sam remembers that every circus act always
begins with, "Ladies and gentleman . . ."

I love how Sam incorporated her entangling into the elephant.

Kathi Peterson showed the last journal she made at JournalFest last fall. She had taken an old book and used the front and back cover only from it. What she did inside is fabulous. I was sad to learn that the folks who put on JournalFest and ArtFest need a rest and won't be putting on either event anymore.

by Kathi Peterson
I'm going to show what's inside in the next posting.

This is Sam's work at Journal Club . . . she was drawing the face (one-eyed on purpose) onto the beautifully designed paper she made.

(a work in progress) by Sam Lee

This is Judy's work at Journal Club, drawn free-hand! I want you to look at the left page and notice the dark circles with numbers on them.

by Judy Daugherty . . . a work in progress.

She found rocks (seen in the plastic bag) that she
she liked. Judy numbered each rock, arranged them on the
page where she wanted each one, and then after
tracing the rock's shape onto the page, she numbered
which rock it was so she would know how to color them (see photo below).

We had such a successful Recycled Rubber this month, that we're actually asking and encouraging you to bring in Recycled Rubber items for March. If you have questions about how to bring in items you'd like to sell at Recycled Rubber (the first Saturday of each month), ask Dianne or Deb at the store  . . . or call us (360.357.6820); or e-mail us at artnsoul@artnsoul.comcastbiz.net.

And we're going to continue to ask for your generous donations of non-perishable food items for the Thurston County Food Bank. The barrel is about 1/3 of the way full . . . let's make it totally full so they can take the contents to the Food Bank soon. They also take pet food!

Enough for tonight . . . hope you're tucked in and sleeping like a baby! I will be soon.