My face hurts.  It did most of the time I was at Art Is You in Nashville.  It hurt from laughing so hard.  Thanks to Sallianne and Ellen who put so much into planning and organizing this!

Pam Carriker taught a fun workshop, Busting Out.   I finally feel like shading faces is starting to click for me thanks to Pam.

I guess the video is proof we’re a bunch of crazy creatives!

Sue Pellitier taught the boot workshop- we made a huge mixed media mess full of techniques and loved every minute of it! One of the things I love about creating something is that every time I look at the art  I remember the feelings I had when I made it.  The boot at the top of the page brings a giant grin to my face!

The art is amazing at Art Is You and so are the people – attendees and teachers!   Being able to meet new friends, catch up with old friends, and meet online friends like the wonderful Claudia in person is pure joy.   I won’t bore you with all the names- it would be a very very very long list… By the way- check out our name tags- yes- those are our name tags!  Handmade and fabulous for everyone at Art Is You!

Big welcoming open tables for breakfast and lunch invite you to meet new people.  At my first Art Is You I came alone but left with friends!  Planned gatherings kept the creative spark lit and entertained us during the non-class times. Rice Freeman-Zachery (a warm and wonderful soul)led a panel discussion about creativity (which involved a great deal of laughter).  Warrior painting with Sue for Eat Cake and Create. Kecia Deveney let us lose with glitter and wings.  And so much more!

The Art Walk where 3 van loads of us descended upon art galleries…not only amazing to stroll through galleries with such fun people but the people watching was out of this world!  I so wanted to know the story behind the couple carrying a hula hoop and a giant alphorn (a yodelers horn- think Ricola commercials).

These feet took me to Art Is You in Nashville and they’re taking me to Art is You in Stamford in October.  If you’ve ever wanted to try an art retreat- this is the one!

Sifting through a drawer I bumped into my bingo cards. My precious, must save, can’t bear to use, bingo cards.  The words on 1 really caught my attention- 12 different ways to win on every card. Just like life, there are always lots of ways to “win”.

My old ledger colored randomly from using the brayer while Gelli printing.

One of my latest favorite ways to stamp- with PanPastels.  I stamp in a clear embossing ink then gently brush the PanPastels over the top. It is a great way to mix subtle bits of colors together.

I typed on a Gelli print.  Not a fancy Gelli print but just a 1 color, solid print – no stencils no pattern- but it does have subtle little things like parts with just a bit less paint.  So nice to be able to print my own coordinating papers!

The precious bingo card I had been hoarding.  Now, when I say precious, you’d think I only had 1. Nope.  I have maybe 10 but for some reason I was holding it for the perfect project. Did you hear the bad word?  Perfect.  Well, right now is the perfect time – so I used it.

I had the PanPastels out and the orange was just calling to me- and it really perked up the bingo card but I can still easily see all the numbers!  I could seal it with spray fixative, but I didn’t.  The PanPastels were rubbed in well so there won’t be much (if any) transfer issues to the other pages.

I went a bit crazy with the Silhouette cutting machine one day and made these huge words. And I love them!  Crazy thing, I felt myself starting to treat them as precious and had to remind myself I could just cut more!  A sloppy layer of paint was added to the cardstock word.

It was just not quite right yet, so some white oil pastel on the lines.

I am finding more and more reasons not to clean. This scalloped scrap was left out on the counter and worked perfectly here!  If I had cleaned, I never ever would have used it!

So as I look back at making this- I realize the bingo card was daring me to use it!  What’s daring you?

Linking to Simon Says Stamp,  Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day, PanPastel UK Challenge Blog, and Paint Party Friday.