A Bit of Bragging

Every once in awhile I need to brag about my girls.

The older one is living in Prague, and writing for several blogs. (Check out her "48 Hours in Prague" guide!) She loves to travel, and often writes about her experiences - the good AND the bad.  Sometimes her posts give me pause as her mom - but she always ends up OK.  Check out her post for Pink Pangea: A Guide to Traveling Safely in Columbia.  I'm so glad I only learned about those adventures after the fact!

Mariel keeps a personal blog here,  and, in addition to writing for Pink Pangea, writes for Envato,  Medium,  The Write Life,  Go Abroad, The European Association for International Education, Sonderers Magazine, Immersion Travelers, and more.



She keeps her own website at ESL Write Away, and will be going to Oxford University in the fall to get her masters in Applied Linguistics.

My younger daughter, Samy, lives to be onstage.   She's been performing for as long as she could walk and talk - and just blossoms under the lights.  Here she is at 9!

Now, she is a sophomore in High School, but would much rather have an agent and be running around NYC to auditions.  While she's waiting for that to happen, she is performing in her High School shows, and was recently chosen to be part of a program run by Vanguard Theater Company called the Broadway Buddy Mentorship Cabaret.  She, and 24 other teens and young adults, were selected out of an audition pool to work with Broadway actors for a few months, and then perform with their mentors in a cabaret.  Here are some glimpses from the cabaret - where you will see a bit of her performance.

The best thing about both my girls is that they have huge hearts.   I love them so much!

I would love to know a bit about your kids' passions.  If you feel comfortable, please share in the comments below!

         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:

InLinkz.com

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Stencil Test Drive -- Medieval Leaves and a Giveaway!

Welcome to the Medieval Leaves stencil test drive!  

Four amazing artists are in the driver's seat today: Carolyn Dube - A Colorful Journey;  Corinne Gilman - Sparkle Days Studio;  Maria McGuire - Believe Dream Create with Maria; and Ronda Palazzari - Help Me Ronda.  Wait until you see what they did with this stencil from Stencil Girl!

I created this template when I was designing a line of ceremonial plates and platters for the Jewish festival of Passover.  

The motif is based on the acunthus flower --

a big design element in Byzantine and Medieval architecture and art. 

Here's how the motif looked in the tableware I designed for Aviv Judaica, Ltd.   

And here's how I used the stencil in my mixed media work!

I wanted to express my feelings about the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut in my art journal.  The senseless loss and inherent goodness and innocence of children has been very much on my mind.

I used a credit card to scrape Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, and Burnt Sienna Fluid Acrylics on my journal pages:

I used white gesso to stencil two layers of the medieval leaves on both pages, not caring where the second layer overlapped the first.   On the left side of the spread, I masked off part of the stencil to isolate one of the "leaves," and overlapped the second layer of white leaves with a third layer of blue leaves.  I cut up extra collage paper I had painted for another project to make the dots.  On the right hand side, I sketched the face of a young girl.

She is loosely based on this gorgeous little girl we met during our last service trip to Guatemala:

I was so struck by her beauty and the soulfulness of her gaze.

I stenciled golden leaves in her hair, added clip art of a child laborer from the turn of the 20th century, and a beautiful quote by Mahatma Gandhi, from a speech he gave in 1931 at the Montessori Training College in London:  "The law of love could best be understood and learned through little children."

So many people are doing acts of kindness and compassion in memory of the children who were killed in Connecticut.  It appears that there will be a real discussion about gun control and how we care for people with mental illness.   Although their time on earth ended way too soon, those children are teaching us the law of love.

Next, I decided to play with the stencil on an unpainted box I picked up at the dollar store.

I also made some tags -- which I still have to embellish with some ribbon or twine so I can tie them onto gifts.  They all include the word "Joy," which I'm feeling like we can use these days. 

I hope I've given you some ideas for using the Medieval Leaves stencil.  Now don't delay -- go  
visit Carolyn Dube - A Colorful Journey; Corinne Gilman - Sparkle Days Studio; Maria McGuire - Believe Dream Create with Maria; and Ronda Palazzari - Help Me Ronda!

Congratulations to Nettie, who linked up to the Hebrew Calligraphy test drive with this gorgeous bag: 

Nettie, the Starry Night stencil is on its way to you!
For the test drive schedule, click here.   
Purchase your own stencils and test drive along with us!  Stencil Girl Products has a great promo - 6 stencils for $75, or individual stencils for $14.  Free domestic shipping for orders over $50!  Click here for more info.

And look at this beautiful journal page that Gloria Zucaro created for Artists in Blogland's most recent Fall Fearless and Fly challenge!  Recognize the Medieval Leaves? 

NOW... Your Invitation to a Blog Party and a Giveaway!
Have you been using stencils in your work?  If so, link up to the linky list below, to be in a random drawing for the Rain stencil!

Linking up to Frilly & Funkie (make it a tag), Paper Issues (It's Your Life), Simon Says Stamp and Show (Gift-spiration) and of course Paint Party Friday, Mandarin Orange Monday, Art Journal Every Day,  Artists in Blogland and Create With Joy.  

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.