Vesta Abel has been in the stamping and paper arts industry for over 20 years. She is the founder of Comotion Rubber Stamps and is currently the President of ArtSeeds.com where her mission is to inspire creativity in others.
Vesta is a frequent guest of the Carol Duvall show on HGTV and is the author of numerous books and articles on the art of rubber stamping, including “Rubber Stamp Extravaganza”, published by North Light Publications.
She also writes a regular column, “Practical Stamping” for Expression magazine and serves on the advisory board of that publication.
Vesta is currently developing her online store artseeds.com, and creating new projects for upcoming books for Publisher’s Development Corporation, as well as teaching at venues around the country, and marketing her own artwork.
Jessica graduated as an art instructor from the University of Michigan and went on, to study film postgraduate at UC Berkeley, and then commercial illustration and graphic design at Parson’s School of Design in New York City. She taught art at the high school, college, and adult school levels, and headed a high school art department in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years.
She is a watercolorist and multi-media artist whose paintings and assemblage pieces have been collected worldwide through galleries in San Francisco, New York, and Santa Fe. She is also a professional (nature) photographer.
Jessica founded and ran her own graphic design and marketing firm in the Bay Area, and was a pioneer in the field of computer graphics - working closely with companies in the Silicon Valley as the field developed.
Jessica has now brought all this experience into Cre8it! (www.cre8it.com) her internet paper arts company where she markets art materials of her own design (Sheer Heaven for one) and publishes a free online art magazine called “Now What!” She is dedicated to the joy of creativity and to sharing that joy.
“Life Balance Coach”, Cassie Schindler, considers herself just an ordinary mother of two, wife of 24 years, and professional Business Manager for a large Fortune 500 Company.
But, things became not so ordinary about six years ago. Cassie was diagnosed with M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis). What may have been a major blow for many folks, presented itself as a major challenge and wake-up call for her. She had known, like we all do, that she was really “stretched” by the demands of her life - and that things were not in balance as they should be. Now was time to fix that.
So, she has searched inside and out to find the formula for that necessary balance. She uses her “creativity” (as an aspiring ceramic artist) and “good life choices” as her prescription for health and well being. And that prescription has been a “miracle drug” for her.
Cassie believes that everything in life that “ails” us, ranging from “Creative Beasties” (a phrase she learned from Artist/Sister, Jessica) to dissatisfaction in life, depression, and disease, stems from a personal lack of balance. Get back the balance, and you get back the “good life”.
Thus was born her company,The Alternate Path, through which she offers workshops to help people get a handle on things. The “down to earth” hands-on activities in her Alternate Path workshops allow students to align priorities while creating a piece of art to take home as a reminder of their commitment to their own happiness and well being.