Memories

Our blog may be fairly new but the TennGRITS (Tennessee Girls Rubberstamping in the South) group has been together for ten years. We've held retreats, had art shows, and we've had more fun than we could have imagined at that first meeting held in the back of what used to be Stampareami Bros. in Franklin, TN. Eager to come together monthly and make art, who would have imagined that many of us would still be hanging out in 2009. Just when we think we've done it all, some new inspiration comes along and we're full of enthusiasm like we were in the beginning!

This is a moment from our past. Our first art show was held at the Brentwood Public Library in Brentwood, TN. Our group was so honored to be featured and worked hard to put together a great showcase. Just like 'real artists', family and friends came to our opening and admired our work. Memories!

Christmas In July

Club member and world traveler, Allison, led our club in "Christmas in July" cards this past weekend. Allison was inspired by classes she took at Red Lead in St. Louis. We're all envious of her frequent trips to Red Lead so it was only fitting that she shared from her Red Lead adventures.

This is a grouping of projects completed by Alice. Alice somehow manages to complete things... Check out the cool Christmas tag. I think she might be the only member to get to that project.

Isn't this the coolest? This is one of Allison's many samples. Again, this is Red Lead inspired.

This card began as a slick commercial Christmas card. It was altered by lightly sanding some of the color and original image away and was then altered. Imagine the possibilities of those boxed Christmas cards that you have left over each year.

What a sweet image! It is so perfect for this card and is beautifully stamped in red ink. Check out Red Lead's store to purchase the image.

What fun to make Christmas cards on a hot, stormy day in July thanks to Allison and her friends at Red Lead!

Project Plan For May

Our project this Sunday will be fabric flowers. I think this one looks cool with the work apron that Alice gave us. The diameter of the largest layer is about 3.25" and the smaller petal diameter is about 2.875. I cut the circle flowers at close to the same size. The buttons are 3/4" but I have a larger size as well as a smaller.

These all have pin backs but could easily be left without a back and be mounted onto a journal or any number of things. This photo will hopefully give you an idea of how dimensional they are. Beads or stitching could also be added to the fabric; so many possibilities but so little time! Plus there are no rules. These are typically six layers but additional layers could be added for a more full effect. See you Sunday.

TennGRITS Knows How To Party!

I have to say that one of my favorite times of the year is our Christmas exchange. Besides Christmas morning with my family, the TennGRITS party is my favorite part of the Christmas season. Now that we're well into our 10th year together, several of us have a nice collection of photos, projects and memories to share. We also have new things to add along the way so I thought I'd start off with our Christmas 2008 party. We do art well but we also party well! Here's to many more years together!

TennGRITS - Beginning a Blog

Ladies, we have a potential home for our blog, here at eBlogger. A lot of the blog updates I get from different lists and stores have blogs on blogger and hopefully, this will prove useful for us. I've selected an initial format, but we can change this later. Please let me know if you have any techniques or projects that you'd like to share. Perhaps after our mini-Spring retreat we can post tutorials and start putting some valuable information on our new site.

I am so tickled that we've decided to engage the blog community with this effort.

We've got a blog.....