A Creative Treat

Oh, the joy of spending an afternoon in the company of fellow artists - creative minds extraordinaire, bouncing around ideas, telling stories of artistic beginnings, business ventures past and present, sharing an appreciation of each other's work and a love for all things creative.  That is exactly what I did last weekend and all at the behest of the most gracious hostess, Joanne Fink...pinch me!

Friends and fellow CZTs Sindy P (Real Life Strings) and Dorian Eng (A Little Bit of Heart) joined Joanne (Zenspirations) and her friend and owner of Pink Ink Stamp Company, Peggy Jo Ackley.
Here is a picture of our gathering ~

Peggy Jo Ackley, Adele Bruno, Sindy P, Joanne Fink, Dorian Eng

It was wonderful to get the opportunity to meet Peggy.  Among her many ventures, Peggy authored and illustrated over 200 Bitty Bear books for the American Girl Doll Company.  She also designed the fabric for the doll clothing and accessories.

My own girls played with the Bitty Baby dolls over the years, so just before I left my house, I dipped into the bin of all things Bitty Baby and Bitty Bear (still in our game room) and selected a book to bring along.  Peggy graciously signed it to my girls, two of whom have girls of their own now.

Peggy showed us the display boards for her beautiful new stamps, card making ideas, and her technique for embossing stamped images with a stylus.  Her colored pencil work is phenomenal.

Peggy Jo Ackley 

Our minds raced with ideas on how Zentangle® could be incorporated with her stamps.  Joanne made copies of Peggy's Wacky Cake stamped image.  I tangled mine ~

Joanne colored one with Koi Coloring Brush Pens (Sakura) in her beautiful signature style.
Here is our little collage ~

Clockwise from top left - Peggy Jo Ackley, Joanne Fink, Peggy Jo Ackley, Adele Bruno

Do visit Peggy's Pink Ink Stamp Company website (click here).  It is chock full of wonderful things.
While the company does not sell directly to the public, her beautiful stamps can be purchased through many craft and hobby stores throughout the world and several online.

To top off our day, we celebrated Sindy's birthday (with real cake :) ~

Happy Birthday Sindy P, CZT!

I felt as if I went on a creative retreat for the few hours we spent together on a Sunday afternoon - a Funday as Dorian coined it.  Thank you for coming along.