MY NAME IS ELENA: BACK TO KEYS 4 ART!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

BACK TO KEYS 4 ART!

A couple of months ago I was looking through one of the many Somerset Magazines I devour every month and I came across Julie's glamor girls. I had seen them before but for some reason I was drawn to them this time. At the first Keys 4 Art we all taught a little something so I thought I would give this a whirl. I emailed Julie and told her about the retreat and that I would like, with her blessing, to teach the girls her technique. She wrote me back right away and not only answered all my questions but offered to come teach us!!! Well, to make a long story short, she came!! Voila! Julie Nutting!!! Can you believe that????

I tend to get easily sidetracked don't I????? On Wednesday morning we started with Julie's workshop. Ingrid had been on her feet the entire day the day before and she really wanted to take Julie's workshop so on Wednesday we did the glamor girls.

Lillian Mederak (Canada), Linda Davis (my buddy from Key Largo) and Sarah Walker (Australia).

My New York chicks!! Teri Flemal and Eileen Bellomo

The beautiful and talented Daisy Cooper from right here in Florida.

Gina Goodling (Portland), Sue Young (Ohio) and Marita Kovalik (Portland).

Julie brought me this beautiful canvas as a gift!!! Lucky me!

Ingrid Dijkers with her glamor girl.

My sister Jacquie Valdespino.

The gorgeous and precocious Jennifer Rogers-Daniels from California.

The next day, Thursday, we had another workshop day with Ingrid to continue work on our fabulous journals. Everyone was so into these journals! The day went by incredibly fast!

On Friday we all piled into two vans and drove two hours to The Paper Niche for a WONDERFUL class with one of my best friends BEATRIZ GUZMAN.

The class used Donna Downey's 6x12 canvas journal. We learned unique techniques from Bea that were all her own! We painted, glued, gesso-ed, rubbed on.... wonderful!

Both Lillian and Sarah had birthdays during our retreat and we celebrated them with a cake at The Paper Niche. I had bought each of them a 7 Gypsies receipt holder and everyone made tags for each of them to put onto their receipt holder. The tags were gorgeous and they were thrilled with their gifts.

Each of us had a paint tray with paint and water and ... well, I can't remember what else! We dunked our canvas pages in this and let them dry.

How GREAT is this picture!!??

It was so great to spend time with Tracy! We are in daily contact on line but had not seen each other personally since the Teesha Moore Play Retreat two years ago!

This is Jacquie. One of the most wonderful women I have ever met! She is an incredible attorney but her greatest asset is her ability to love unconditionally. I am truly blessed to call her my friend.

Sarah had a little meltdown when we sang her happy birthday. But like she said, they were "happy tears" so it's ok!

Beatriz and Sue working on Bea's unique techniques!

Linda with one of her gorgeous pages! This was done with a Donna Downey stamp that was part of our package.

We were at the Paper Niche from about 9:30 am until 10:00 pm!!! We were all exhausted but happy by the end of the night. Then, of course, a two hour drive back to Key Largo!

Beatriz made this as a gift for me! Yep, I am a lucky girl!!! This is made with chipboard and .... ready for it?..... air conditioning tape!!!! Bea taught us how to do it and everyone went home looking for air conditioning tape!