Class Review: Tim Holtz' Creative Blocks

Somewhere in the craziness of coming back from vacation and the stress of dealing with my poor, sick doggy, I had almost forgotten that I'd signed up for a class with Tim Holtz at Scrapbook Island in San Jose.  Luckily, I had arranged to carpool with my friend Cindy, and she reminded me of the class. I took Creative Blocks ($85 U.S.) and made this wonderful assemblage which I call "Time Skips Along." The class lasted four hours, and we made a decorated canvas, on which we mounted three smaller canvases and a variety of ephemera. We learned an easy technique to create a grid pattern, how to use a graphite pencil for shading and how to use a variety of Tim's products. For me, it was an easy and very enjoyable morning in which I learned a few new techniques and got to spend some quality art time with friends. Of course, the person who made it all worthwhile was Tim:

It's hard to imagine that there would be a nicer, more natural teacher than Tim Holtz. I've taken a half dozen classes with him over the last ten years and, in spite of his success and popularity, he remains the same, friendly, down-to-earth guy he has always been. Even though there were 70 girls in the class, he was completely accessible and chatted with all of us before, during and after the class. Can't give the class anything other than an A+.

Did a little shopping too (sorry for the grainy, upside down picture - can I blame it on Blogger?). . . bought some October Afternoon paper, stamps from the discount bin, a bunch of travel themed paper ("Destinations") from Simple Stories, baseball paper from Moxie, some distress stains, embellishments for our upcoming family vacation to Washington state and some vintager bottle cap shaped images!

In other news, my dog Gypsy seems to have stabilized. She had a blood transfusion and a bunch of tests (including a bone marrow biopsy) to deal with a severely low level of red blood cells. Right now, it looks like she has some sort of autoimmune disease, which we're attempting to  treat with drugs. We're all hoping for a good outcome, but her prognosis is definitely guarded. Good thoughts and prayers to St. Francis definitely appreciated.