INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION, AND A PINCH OF CREATIVITY...

Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.

-Bo Bennett-
I have a few fun goodies to share with you today. I really love learning from other artists. No matter how experienced or inexperienced you are there is always something to be learned or gained, some fabulous tip or trick, some new technique or construction method, and most importantly inspiration. I have long been an admirer of KC Willis and her work and have wanted to take a class from her for ever so long. But, geographically and financially that has not to date been possible. A few months ago while visiting her blog Lipstick Ranch, I saw that she had put herself in a box.

For my birthday my husband purchased her DVD series, KC in a Box which includes three wonderful DVD's.Collage Camp - a six part series where you learn the elements of collecting, project preparation, image transfer, laying out the design, sewing your fabric collage, and finishing the project. KC covers everything from A to Z in the construction of her famous fabric collage art here and this is the basis for the projects on the next two DVD's...Altered Books - Three projects are featured on this DVD, a Mixed Media Fabric Journal Book, a Book Cover Shadow Box, and an Altered Book Collage - trust me these are fantastic projects...Alters and Shrines - This is a part of KC's Mixed Media Mania series, there are three parts to making alters or shrines, this is an assemblage type project in shadow box form that combines found objects with her fabulous fabric collage technique...Each DVD set comes in a box with a piece of signed original artwork embellishing the box top...Each box also comes with an assortment of goodies from KC's studio...My set of DVD's were nestled inside some hand dyed fabric scraps from her studio...

Bits of dyed vintage lace...One of her famous "clumpies"...And a bag of baubles that she uses in her art...All these are little pieces of inspiration to get you going on your first project. I was so inspired by her teaching that I want to make my first project using her construction methods mixed with my own style for a large piece of family history artwork for the farm. I'll be sharing more about that in a later post. This is one of the best gifts I have ever gotten. Thanks honey!

If you are thinking of getting this series for yourself not to worry about skill level, this is great for a beginner up to an experienced artist. Some of you might say, but I don't sew! Well, neither did KC when she started and her sewing technique is super simple. One of my favorite parts is where she shows her first attempt, her second, her third, and then a recent piece of her work. You get to see the potential for growth, the learning curve, the advancement, and finally the achievement, very inspiring. Her teaching style is very down to earth, friendly, and funny with more than a pinch of creativity, inspiration, and motivation. You can learn more about about KC Willis Collage Camp, Art Kits, DVD's, and Classes at this link.

I stumbled across this issue of Victoria the other day and was thrilled...Victoria Classics Rooms of Bliss is a collection of beautiful room images from the magazine archives. (Sorry about the shiny shots below. I should have scanned rather than photographed.) This is not the regular issue, this is classic old Victoria! It is not filled with advertising and verbiage is kept to a minimum, the showcase of this entire issue are the beautifully styled inspiring rooms, much in the format of a coffee table book at a magazine price. Love it!

Lastly, I wanted to give you a better sneak peek at my latest project...Ruffles...Roses...Texture...A tiny shoe plus another thing or two...

I hope to have this one complete by this afternoon. It is down to the details and those always take me the longest to do. Yes, Lisa, I will show the finished project when I am done. She's on to me folks...I owe you some reveals ; )

This post is about a person, a publication, and a pleasurable project that have given me inspiration this week. I'd love to hear what or who inspired you this week.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy