We all have favorite things in our stamping rooms.  This month I decided to ask about our favorite books and DVD’S   Every one has something they fall back on or when they need ideas they go to.  They have a new book they just got and love.  So I asked everyone to share theirs.  See if any of these give you inspiration.

DVD’S:

The hands down winner of favorite DVD was… Tim Holtz Altered Journey.   The draw to this was it is loaded with lots of ideas and easy to follow.  This DVD just doesn’t tell me to go and use my stuff and here is one thing I did, they give you lots of ideas to ponder. Tim’s ideas are clear and thought out and the camera brings that across.

Another one that received high praise was the DVD by Mary Jo McGraw.  Jean Hawkins particularly like it, “She won my heart when her artificial fingernail popped off in the middle of a take and she didn’t notice.  Also, in the beginning you cannot even see her table for the stuff and she sort of puts her hands in the middle and shoves everything aside a lot like my own art space.  Her techniques, ideas and tip for very useful.”   

Other DVD that were mentioned were:

DiBona Designs has some great DVD’S out with vintage photo’s, postcards and vintage calling cards…great for using in your collage work

Gwen Gibson…. love what she does with clay…very informative projects

Fold It by Karen Thomas…. Many of us that watched the Carol Duvall show saw Karen on there folding things into some wonderful creations.  She truly loves to fold and it shows when she creates her items.

Collage Texture and Technique and More Collage Texture and Techniques by Claudine Hellmuth are two DVD’S that show her style wonderfully.  Her books were great but the DVD gives you a chance to see her actually do her work.

BOOKS:

The hands down winner in the books was…. Texture Effects for Rubber Stamping by Nancy Curry.  I know from personal experience what a wonderful teach Nancy is.  When her book came out I could hardly wait.  People love the fact that there are 40 projects in the book and you have most of the things she talks about.  There are easy directions to follow.  This book is great for learning backgrounds.  She prompts me to use stuff I own.  It shows wonderful examples of finished projects.

Another popular book was the Art of Rubber Stamping by Suze Weinberg.  Her book is a great reference book for technique ideas.  She does a lot of ideas for any of your creations using the basic stamping tool to create some beautiful works of art.

Mary Jo McGraw books were talked about…Greeting Card Magic with Rubber Stamps   is an excellent book because it coves many different mediums. There are various techniques and very easy to understand directions.  A great book for beginners as well as advanced stampers. 

Other books that inspired people were:

True Colors…a piece of art all to itself great inspiration

Vintage Greeting Cards by Mary Jo McGraw…I just love vintage I am drawn to anything with vintage in it.

Both these books…Mary Todd Beam’s Celebrate Your Creative Self and Jean Drysdale Greeen’s Art  Effects  focus on experimentation in different art mediums.

Creative Stamping and Creating with Paint by Sherrill Kahn   both excellent books.  I have taken classes with Sherrill and she is another truly giving and sharing artist.  She made me explore the use of using paint in my stamping.  An art form I am loving.

Now these are just a few of the books and DVD’S out there.  There were a couple mentioned that I intend to check out.  Just remember that you have these items and are great source of inspiration.  A while back several people said that they used these to work thru blocks along with magazines.  If you get a book or a DVD share it with your group if you like it so others can find inspiration for their work.

As always my section doesn’t come together with out a lot of help so I would like to thank:

From the StampersMall Design Team:

Betty McCommon, Nicole Leon, Phyllis J and Sue4Stampin

And

Tennessee Stampers:

Carol “Hootie” Hilton, Allison Priputin, Nancy Curry, Jean Hawkins, Meg Lowitzer and Debbie Neis.

As always if you have anything you would like to discuss please let me know.  We all learn from each other and sharing ideas is the best way.

Steph Schirmer

Tips/helpful hints leader

sschirmer@stampersmall.com