Ingenious Inkling

Chicago Stamp Store Road Trip

My best stamping girlfriend Laura and I spent the weekend on our favorite Chicago stamp store road trip.  We've done it several times and each time we continue to perfect the experience. 

This time we left early enough to add Scrapaganza! 2176 west Kimberly Road in Davenport, Iowa to our agenda.  This is a very fun little store filled with paper, inks, punches, fun rubber stamps & great staff (Sorry, I realized after I got home that I had the flash turned off on my small digital camera, so a lot of the indoor shots were too blurry to post).

After that we headed to our next destination, Ottawa, Illinois ... a charming little city that sits where the Fox River meets the Illinois.  They are currently having a sesquicentennial Shindig celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. 

Of course, in our usual fashion, we added a little twist to the trip.  We were so busy talking, that somehow we missed our turn on Highway 80 and failed to realize we were on the wrong highway until we arrived in Peoria ... only a little 150 mile detour :^). 

We just laughed and laughed at our error and bought an error ... we realized it was a story we'd still be laughing at when we were old and gray.  And if we'd never gotten lost, we wouldn't have discovered the adorable little town of Utica, Illinois.

We had supper at our favorite Ottawa Restaurant - The Row House at 728 Columbus Street.  It was a gorgeous evening for dining outside on the patio.  We also made a group of new friends who included us in their 50th birthday celebration.  They gave us their phone numbers, so we can call them up the next time we come through Ottawa.

Another new stop that we added to our trip on Saturday morning was the Milano Baking Company in Joliet, Illinois ... yum, yum, yum. 

The employees were so helpful and fun.  We got delicious bear claws with almond paste filling and several more cookies for the road.  We loved that the backs of the employee shirts says "the best buns in town" (they sell them for customers, but were currently sold out).

Next stop was Stamp Thyme in Lockport, Illinois, which opens at 10am on Saturday.  They have a large and diverse stamping inventory and will order and ship anything you want to have.  We loved looking at all of the new stamps from Outlines and other companies.

It is definitely worth the stop if you are in the Chicago area.

Our next store was Stampology at 5031 N. Harlem Avenue.  I love that they make all of the card samples in their store and will gladly let you take photographs of all of them.  It's a tiny space, but it is packed with wonderful papers and stamps.  I can't wait to try this fun washi paper quilting technique.

Next door to Stampology, we always have lunch at Nottoli's Italian grocery store ... fabulous subs and pasta salad.  We take our coolers so we can load up on wonderful meals-to-go.

Next stop to continue to fill our coolers was Trader Joe's ... maybe some day they'll come to Iowa.  The one on our route is in Park Ridge, Illinois.

Our final stop is The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, Illinois.  They carry the entire A Muse line and this time had lots of fun new stamps from Magenta.  They manage to get lots of fabulous product into their cozy little cottage.

I hope you enjoyed taking our fun stamping road trip with us ... sorry we forgot to take pictures of our Peoria detour :^)

Now it's time to use all of my new goodies and make some cards.

Art Festival

It is an absolutely gorgeous day in Iowa.  We started the day at the farmer's market where we got some decorative grasses and spicy mango jam.  Then it was off to the Marion Art Festival.  I really loved all of the whimsical artists that were featured this year.

One of my favorites was Chris Vance.  I really liked how he had all of his canvases hung touching each other.  I think the work is much more effective as a group than individual canvases, although this one really made me smile.

We also loved the urban folk art of Anthony Pack.  Such funny faces and wonderful life-like combinations of household items.

We finally decided on a beautiful fused glass canvas  by Sheryl Ellinwood to add to our collection.  I've admired her work for several years, and am thrilled to have a piece in my home.

Another artist that blows me away is Keith Grace. His amazing college painting technique turns ordinary objects into something beyond amazing.  I could look at his work for hours.

I also fell in love with the found art collages of Gena Ollendieck. 

Enjoy the weekend.

Road Trip 2008

We had a wonderful Spring 2008 Road Trip vacation.  Here are some of the highlights:

Seeing the original Polaroid composition of the Talking Heads' More Songs About Buildings and Food album cover at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (they wouldn't allow any photos in the museum).  Each square is an individual Polaroid picture.  Since the camera doesn't have adjustable focus, they had to physically move the camera and tripod for each shot.  Absolutely amazing art.

The Cloud Forest of Costa Rica at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.  It was filled with all sorts of butterflies.  Watching them fly was mesmerizing.

We also had fabulous dinners in Cleveland at La Dolce Vita and Sergio's.

The majesty of Niagara Falls ... awesome.

Goofing around on the Niagara Falls Board Walk.

The diversity of Toronto.  This was a view of the houses outside of the window of our room at the Toronto Townhouse.  We loved how the modern home was nestled among the row houses (the palm tree on the roof glowed orange at night).  We also ate amazing Thai food at Ginger, which was only a half of a block from our B&B.  The avocado and squash salad roll was soooooo good.

Being in Millennium Park.  I had seen all of the art on Television, but it was so fun to see it in person and soak it all in.

Seeing Grant Wood's American Gothic at the Art Institute of Chicago.  We see representations of it all over Iowa, but we loved finally viewing the original.

We enjoyed all of the dinosaurs at the Field Museum.  When we arrived, we were told it was a free admission day ... which also meant there were more school field trips in one place than I have ever seen in my life time.

Taking our goofy vacation self-portraits and spending 10 days with the guy I love ... the best part of it all.

If you haven't seen enough, you can view more photos of our trip in our on-line photo albums.

Also, remember, you have until May 17th to get your Caliente! cards linked up at Caardvarks.

Poppit on Vacation

Whenever we go on vacation, we always take some silly pictures for my sister Darcy. This post is for her. When I was at Inspired, I made this Charlie Lost Memorial Poppit for my sister, and since I haven't been able to take it to her yet, we decided to take Charlie with us on vacation.   

He enjoyed his stay at Glidden House Hotel and would recommend it to anyone staying in Cleveland.

He particularly liked the artistic guitar featured on the front lawn.

Charlie thought he had found the freighter near the island, but it was only a ship docked near the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

However, he did enjoy flying around with the sea gulls.

Charlie considered taking a swim in the jacuzzi in Lansing, but decided his wings might not survive the water.

So instead, he went for a canoe ride at the Wild Goose Inn in East Lansing (another B&B he would highly recommend).

Charlie enjoyed his vacation ... and we did too.

So Glad to be Home

Vacation is almost over ... that is always a sad time for me, but it does feel good to be safely home.  We had a marvelous trip with so many wonderful experiences.  I'll be sharing a full post after I get my vacation pictures uploaded.  Niagara Falls was certainly one of the highlights of the trip ... this picture has Horseshoe Falls in the background (I was surprised by the how much graffiti we saw in Canada).

Another great thing about being home was going through ten days of mail and finding a beautiful RAK from Denise (peanutbee).  Her use of Copics and ink watercoloring on the image is absolutely stunning.  Thanks so much Denise!

Here is another adorable RAK I received recently from Christy S.  Christy created the card for one of my SCS Inspiration Challenges, so that made it extra special for me.  I love seeing how the challenges inspire creativity.  Thanks Christy for always participating & for sharing your creativity with me.

Vacation Update

So far, our cross-country road trip has been wonderful.  We've had fabulous food, wonderful weather and amazing experiences ... all of the things one hopes for in a vacation.  However, I am suffering from serious creative withdrawal.  This morning as we were walking down to breakfast, I found myself seeing ideas for cards in the hotel carpet patterns. 

During my travel hiatus, make sure you check out all of the fun Caliente! cards at Caardvarks.

Road Trip

In the morning, my husband and I are departing on a 10 day road trip adventure.  The plan is to drive 1600+ miles, visit 5 major cities, and explore everything from museums to natural wonders to road side phenomenons.  My blog posts will be limited by our Wi-Fi connection.  I have done a couple of card posts and set them to publish while we're gone.  I will post a full road trip synopsis, including a multitude of photographs, when we return.

More Inspired

Things I learned at Inspired:

• There are lots of brands and types of gel & glazing mediums (Kroma, Ranger, Golden)
• There are tons of cool ways to use the many types of gel medium (paper mache, attaching fabric to just about anything, photo transfer, paint glazing)
• When you have multiple layers of gel medium adhered to your skin, it can be very difficult to remove (I'm still finding bits here and there after several showers)
• There is power in the white pencil crayon
• You never know what you might find at Lowe's or the auto supply store or the garbage to make art (cedar edging, oil funnels, cardboard, what's next??)
• Right angles are vital when making earrings
• Never underestimate the power of your assets in helping fabric (or anything) adhere to chipboard
• We all have artistic soul mates, and it is a wonderful treat when we discover them (hey Amy)
• Grits just taste better in the south ... 5 times in 3 days ... yummm
• I am bulletproof ... beauty is on the inside ... and I love making art.

This is my word for 2008 ... I used cardboard, lots of pencil crayons, stickers, rubber stamps, and Permapaque markers (these are so on my growing supply wish list) ... thanks Kal for helping me develop my healthy bulletproof artistry.

This piece uses Kal's carbon transfer technique with a photograph I took in Indianapolis when I went to spend a weekend with my Dad and Step-mom at the hospital ... it reminds me of a truly treasured time.

I had so much fun learning different transfer techniques with Jane Powell of Random Arts.  I can't wait to try it in my own studio.  I loved the ease of producing such unique fabric accents.

There is nothing quite as special as making art for your family and friends.

I got to make Poppets with Ali Edwards and her sister Jessica ... and watching their fun interaction made me really miss my sister ... but since I made this Lost Charlie memorial Poppet for her, she was there with me in spirit.

My stitches on Christina Lazar-Schuler's fabric anthology project were far from perfect  ... I'm not sure if the stitch I used even has a name ... but it's my art ... and it makes me smile.

I had to get a couple of paparazzi shots ... so many fun ladies all in one place ... making art ... loving life ... truly Inspired.

Inspired Dress Form

I returned safely from my amazing weekend at Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshops.  I have so much to share, but for tonight my brain is still on creative overload.  I've never had such a concentrated, intensely artistic experience in my life, and it was marvelous.  It was such a treat to  immerse myself in creativity.

The entire event was wonderfully organized and executed.  The hotel was a great venue.  I had fun.

This is the dress form that I decorated in my final evening mini-workshop with Donna Downey.  I folded Prima flowers in half and attached them overlapping from the bottom up using Zips adhesive glue strips.  It reminds me of a can-can skirt.  It's my one-of-a-kind dress form original, and I love it.  That was one of my favorite things about the event ... how we all created the same projects, yet the final results were all so unique. 

Headed to Inspired

I am packed and ready to fly off to Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshops in the morning (if American Airlines cooperates and doesn't cancel most of their flights like they did today).   I see from Ali Edwards blog that she is currently hanging out in DC trying to get her flight to the event.  I am barely going to make it in time for registration if everything goes smoothly, so I hope I don't have any hiccups along the way.  I packed lots of pictures and lots of adhesive ... and an open mind ready to just relax and immerse myself in creativity.  I can't wait.

Here are a few things that have inspired me lately:

• Christine's Chipboard Flower Photo Tree
• Godelieve's water droplets on her tulip card
• Real Simple's Affordable Art Round-Up for Kids (I'd like a lot of this for my studio)
• Orla Kiely (love the fun mugs & bags)
• Deb Neerman's 15 minute projects ... especially this vibrant paper piecing
• Anso's adorable tractor card and matchbook covers made digitally.  I think I need these kits.
• Maria's Prima Wreath
• Melissa's Cup of Cobbler Recipe
• Jessica's Easy Butterfly Paperclips

My camera is packed, so hopefully I'll have lots of fun Inspired photos and projects to share when I return.

Don't forget to link up your Flight of Fancy cards to Caardvarks by midnight on April 17th & be watching for a fun Micro Challenge this weekend.  Here's a little tease.