pamgarrison

we found sea shells

We found seashells on the South Carolina sea shore. Here's what we found right on the beach where we were staying. Fun, because it's pretty rare that we find shells on our Southern California beaches. It's also usually illegal to collect them on the beaches that do have them here (like all the beaches in Laguna). We didn't have many chances to go looking, and we didn't find many whole shells, but that didn't stop us. My favorites are the plaid pieces outside the jar, they are so smooth and silky feeling, and the plaid is so pretty. We didn't find any shark's teeth, and seeing a fellow searcher's three she found that morning explained why; they were minuscule.

My friend Sally and I did make it to Fox & Hound and B&B Antiques, (thank you Paulette for the research and comment), and I came home with this tiny mum tin for my air sickness patches, and a cute hanky to add to some embroidery samplers. And this funky little handmade piggy bank box shown below.

And my favorite finds were these art books.  At $2.00 a piece they will be fantastic journal collage fodder.

And that was it, all for under $20.00. I'm home, they are unpacked, and I'm digging to cut into the art books, but laundry first, creating later.

As always, I'm happy to be home, and it looks like we brought some of the weather with us; we woke up to rain today!

greetings from the road

I got caught out in the rain yesterday and loved every minute of it. We're on the other side of the country and for us Californians, thunder and lightning and giant rainstorms that arise out of the blue are just plain fun. Of course, you know, the storm lost a little bit of it's luster when certain scheduled events were cancelled, but only a little bit. I started the morning searching for shark's teeth on the beach (no luck, ...yet) and finished it watching our gang of boys play baseball. A very different, yet surprisingly fun, vacation for us all.

So, anyone know any places we should be sure to shell hunt, sea glass/pottery chard hunt, junk shop, antique, eat, etc. in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina? Just in case any games get rained out due to unexpected lightning storms? ( That is when I'm not trying to catch the storm on video for pet/house sitter that hasn't seen lightning in years- I'm finding it really hard to capture the excitement of the storms. I won't even bore you with the video here. I guess there's no substitute for experiencing things for yourself, no matter how good technology gets; and there's something very comforting about that!)

thanks ladies!

I had lots of fun teaching at Jenny's last weekend. Here are shots of the whole gang both Saturday and Sunday.

Many friends from previous classes, and lots of new ones too. I always love to spend time with artists. Each person is unique and to see all the different styles/thoughts/ideas show up in their work is so fun. As with most events, I didn't take one photo (thank you Jenny for sharing these)...I just feel like I forget to document, I'm so into the creating. Anyway, I wanted to thank each and every one of you that came to play. And a special thank you to Jenny and her family too, who were most generous to share their time and home with us so that we could play the day away. If you were there and posted your work anywhere we can see online, please leave a link in the comments. xop

a weekend up the coast

 

Can't really complain about car rides when this is the view out the window, now can I? Or this one, which I think is equally as beautiful.

With our daughter graduating this year, it was time to tour some of her favorite college campuses again. She's so grown up, yet not, all at the same time.

             
             

          
I had fun playing with my new camera while at a Farmers' Market,

and my son had fun playing with my old one on one campus.

          

I love that one of the students painted their bike, and that he noticed.

i saw pinwheels and inspiration galore

What kind of friend shows up for an all day visit when you are leaving the country in two days? Well, I am. Hahaha. After many failed previous attempts, I finally made it up to Moss Cottage! And Mary Ann was a most gracious host even though she's got a big trip around the corner.

 

              

We knew I had to see the pinwheel garage that she found while walking one day, as we had been having many conversations about the inspiring art of Thomas Campbell, which got me to copying him, and Mary Ann to making lanterns and other Campbell inspired creations.

Here are some other color combos and cool sites seen while walking:

               

                   

               

{not using the new camera yet}

It was so fun to spend the day talking about creativity, and cameras, and projects,  and traveling, and houses, and walks, and families, and paper, and and and, and most especially sitting down to a feast of visual journal viewing. That was certainly the icing on the cake! Another helping? Yes, please!

san miguel de allende, mexico

          

               
                 
     



            

            

           

        

       

          

              

       
 

the colors of querétaro

            

               
           
                                  

                   

                
             
                  

                

             


Querétaro, México is so very vibrant, bold and beautifully colorful!

¡hola!

Greetings from the top of the hill overlooking San Miguel de Allende! Do you love the perfect bandito mustache the shade from my hat makes? Couldn't resist using this photo, it cracks me up!! I've just gotten home from a week in México attending this Ace camp  and have lots and lots to share. For a homebody, this girl sure has been on the go a lot; I haven't even shared Rome with you! But I'm happy to report I'll be home for a good long stretch now and am determined to catch the blog up along with everything else. Hasta mañana!

what a fun art weekend

This weekend my friend Charlotte was able to escape the New York snow and fly my way. We headed up to see some favorite artist friends, Syd and Mary up at Syd's Art Clinic in Solvang. The four of us have talked about meeting there for so long, and it didn't disappoint!

              

         

We all had canvases pinned to the wall and went to town. Syd really inspired us all to be playful and try new things and we painted until late into the night both Friday and Saturday. And then of course, there's the usual laughing and eating and thrifting and chatting and planning that happens when we get to hang out. Here's Syd hard at play:

           

and Mary...

           

and Charlotte...

             

Here's a photo of my first painting in progress:

         

which currently looks like this:

    

It's still a work in progress, and I'm still having fun with it.

 

 

We had some fun with visitors Carol, Sukey, Colleen, Jill and Susan too. Thank you, and Happy Birthday to both Syd and Mary!

But our adventure didn't end there, Charlotte was actually in town to teach a workshop at French General. Here she is with part of the gang. How cute does Kaari look busy at work in the background?

              

Here's Charlotte with Kaari's adorable mom. (Did you notice that Kaari and her mom have very similar sweaters on?  They actually weren't the same, bought at two different stores in two different countries!)

 

                    Kaari's whole family is so great, including her sister, artist Molly Meng. It was so fun to finally meet her!

 

 

            

There were so many more people there, but I only got these few photos, and even that felt like an accomplishment!

It was a whilrwind weekend, but it sure was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

the second travel journal

Here's the second journal I made for our trip to Rome. I actually started this long ago when I was going to be teaching in Italy, and when I re-discovered it I decided it'd be perfect for this trip, thus the two journals. This one is made from an old book that I gutted, but left the spine on. It's 7"x8". {The journal in the last post is 6x10"} I sewed in 3 signatures the same way as the first journal. The signatures are made of watercolor paper and a few other vintages papers and envelopes like this:

Below you see a partial page from an old photo album. I'll just slip the photos inside the glassine pocket. And the envelope is double wide so it will be able to hold big pieces of paper.

This is one of my favorite pages made from one of those photo album pages of long ago. You know the ones where you peeled back the plastic cover, stuck your photo down and put the cover back down? I think it's going to be great for putting new photos on top of, and maybe keep one as a journaling square...or do little illustrations in each space...hmmm...you can see why I love it so; it gets my wheels spinning.

I glued an envelope to the inside back cover for treasures found on the journey like this:

Like I said in the last post, I'm hoping they both will be full of tales and treasures from the journey when we get back. Yesterday I was googling flea markets...hahaha!

new journal for a new journey

We're heading to Rome over the holidays, (!!!!)  and as soon as the flights were booked, {that was a huge pain in the behind- my son asked one night, "what are freakin' flyer miles anyway?" after hearing endless discussions about how we could use them. hahaha!} I couldn't wait to make a travel journal. Well, actually, I made two. I'll show you the other one soon; it's a totally different style than this one shown. This one is made from decoupaged chipboard for covers and bound together using Teesha Moore's method. The three signatures are made Mary Ann Moss' style, straight from her Remains of the Day class. Such a good class. Anyway,  I am always inspired when I see Mary Ann's travel journals. I love how she uses some new scrapbook paper as well as old, and has no 'theme' for her book. So that's what I did here. We'll see which type of journal I use more on the trip. Of course, I'm hoping I'll take to both journals and that they are filled in when I get back.

See the "proceed" index card above? I was sitting at the kitchen table gluing away and quizing my son on his spelling words at the same time. I couldn't resist slapping it down. And look at this little cutie below, I think she came from a Land of Nod catalog. Apparently, no paper is safe around me.

The other journal up next...

inspired

{me between amy hanna on the left and donna downey on the right}

Well, again, another event has come and gone and I have about 3 in focus photos on my camera to show for it. It's because events are such a whirlwind of fun and focus and a flurry of activity. Inspired was no different. All I can say is WOW!  I can't even begin to sum it up, it's just something you've got to experience to understand. I couldn't believe the amount of opportunity the students had at their disposal and the energy and desire they had to participate and learn. The above photo was taken at about 10:30 pm on the last night, after teaching 9 hours that day and cleaning the room and packing up the supplies etc. And as this picture was being taken, there were still students in the classroom taking another mini class! Donna and I were joking that this was the first time we really got to talk for a second; saying goodbye. It's really that jam packed with inspiration.

Here's a photo of the teachers on the last dinner:

 

Starting on the left you see Dara Troshane, Angela Bannatyne, Suze Weinberg and her husband Lenny, Valerie and Regine Dossche, Amy Hanna, CD Muckosky and me. I loved meeting these teachers and think they're sweethearts as well as witty and fun.

And this is a quick photo Amy took of my classroom demo table. Big thanks to Amy for returning the TA trade and being such a huge help all the way around. More gratitude to all the great inspired TA's and staff, really, they had my back all the way. And big thanks to Donna and Bill too, and congratulations on another successful inspired event!

off to north carolina for inspired!

Well, there's just never enough time in the day, is there? Thanks for all the island love, I'm still loving it. I've returned the  towel bar; too big, too fancy, too expensive, I'll find something vintage over time. When I get the marble top and towel bar I'll be sure to give you updated photos.

For now I'm in crunch mode trying to get packed and ready to teach at inspired! I head to North Carolina tomorrow. If I won't be seeing you there, I'll be back blogging next week. Here are some sneak peeks at my teaching sign that will hang outside my classroom and then be auctioned off.I've been sewing paper and canvas and painting away...

  
Ok, back to the pre-teaching trip panic, have a great week wherever you are! Be back soon...

hope you are enjoying your spring break

or enjoyed it, whatever your timing might be...we are enjoying ours, here:

doing this:

 

and this:

I'll be back to blogging next week.

TA trade

My pal Amy and I decided to do a TA trade. Last week  I went with her to her recent teaching event, Adorn Me. Here's a picture taken at the end of the vendor night. We started getting punchy at this point and kept gathering people as each photo was taken. Unfortunately, this is the only one that I had on my camera, taken by Diane Cook, but someone's camera captured the increasing silliness. From left to right is Ruth Rae, Amy Hanna, Stephanie Rubiano, me, and Diana Frey.  In the photo I'm wearing my latest Amy Hanna acquisition. Here it is up close and personal.

My photo doesn't capture it's true beauty. Each and every bit is gorgeous on it's own. Here it's in a box that Amy gave me for my birthday. She bought it in Paris at the flea market when we were there together. When she gave it to me she had put this picture of the two of us, at the Palace of Versailles. What better box to keep my own Amy Hanna jewelry collection?

 
 

She's brought back a few pieces and the inspiration for new creations, so be sure to check her etsy site later this week for her latest jewels.

And if you're coming to inspired, you'll get to meet Amy yourself, because she'll be there returning the TA favor!

silver bella '09

  Teresa has gone and done it again! Another  Silver Bella event has come and gone. I was a teacher along with these other great gals.  Silver Bella is a whirlwind weekend of community and crafting and celebrating the season that is now upon us. It is always fun to see the reuniting of old friends and the making of new ones, the over-the-topness of gifts and booths, and supplies and outfits. It's such a festive feeling from start to finish.

How cute is T in her flowery necklace? Very. I didn't take a ton of photos but I did remember to take a few. I have stopped traveling with my good camera, trying to lighten the load and get around the country more easily, but I think my little camera might be getting a bit tired, these photos seem a bit blurry. That seems fitting, because the weekend is a bit of a blur as well. Time goes by so fast and is so full that I feel like I didn't get a chance to visit with friends for more than a minute, or create, or sleep. I even brought a laptop and didn't even take it out of it's case. Each time I attend any event, I think I'll feel more prepared or more in control of time, but I think it's about time I gave that delusional thought up and surrender to the blurriness of it all. With that, here are my somewhat out of focus photos:

 

Charlotte, Kaari and Anna, all teachers, during the opening night welcome dinner.

 

 

Dawn (Kaari's T.A. and dear friend since 2nd grade) and  teacher Rebecca at the same dinner.

And Denise and Jennifer, teachers too.
 

 

Here  Jo (the guest speaker) and Kaari are deep in discussion.

And one of my dearest friends in the whole world, Kelly,  that I seem to only see once a year at Silver Bella, with another dear friend that I met at Silver Bella years ago, Charlotte.

The attendees are one of the very best parts of Silver Bella. They have such enthusiasm for the entire event, and continue to up their game each year with trades, and sisters, and gifts and supplies, and I could go on and on.... Here's the gang from my first class Friday am:

We've got Alisa Nobile, Amy Huff, Carol Ryan, Carolyn Logan, Cynthia Flores, Denise Nelson, Eileen Clough, Elisa Osnaya, Elizabeth Shea, Ella Marie Jenkins, Heather Ales, Heidi Gordon, Heidi Wallingford, Jennifer Day, Jennifer Hayslip, Joanna Lewis, Karla Nathan, Leanne Shawler, Lori Oles, Lynn Lebsack, Marguerite Blanks, Robin Sanchez, Sheila Ann Rumney, Stephanie Harris, Susan Elseth, Suzanne Duda, Terry Frias, Valerie Jones, Leocadia Eyre, Kelly Jacobs. 

 

This is a photo of the Friday afternoon class with: Andra Hepler, Andrea Singarella, Betsy Begens, Cammie Polak, Catherine Aguilera, Cheri Schmitz, Christina Sequino, Christy Spencer, Cynthia Sanders, Danielle Muller, Gabrielle Messina, Jane Jennings, Jennifer Kershner, Jodi LeJeune, Kana Conger, Karla Steele, Kelley Kirk, Kim Hanauer, Kristina Malone, Linda Richter, Michelle Arnold, Pam Keravuori, Peggy Lucas, Shannon Arnold, Susan Skinner, Tracy Hughes, Virinia Burrows, Meleen Dupre, Kelli Flitton, and Hope Wallace.

Lineage of Love was my Friday workshop. Here's a photo of one of the samples:

I have to thank Janice at Papier Valise and Jenny of Jenny Bowlin  for their sponsorship. Love their products so.

 

 

My Saturday workshop was Holly-Days Countdown Wreath (an advent calendar concept, adding one holly leaf a day until the big day). For this class I owe Heather Bailey a debt of gratitude, for generously donating some of her new, beautiful felt.

 

Joining me on Saturday morning were: Alianna George, Ali Gripp, Amy Smith, Andrea Singarella, Bianca Gaspard, Cheryl Stoneham, Colleen MacDonald, Debe Leone, Denise Nelson, Gabrielle Messina, Gina MacIntosh, Jennifer Norman, Kara Ward, Karlene Gray, Kristy Street, Linda Richter, Lisa Baggett, Lisa Orme, Marsi Bennett, Megan Hunt, Melissa Danner, Michelle Early, Paige Bingham, Rachel Velder, Rebecca Gawryl, Robin Kesner, Shannon Johnson, Shawn Street, Sheila Rumney, Valita Baxley, Vicki MacIntosh, Virginia Burrows, and Stephanie Spacy. Jo Packham joined in the photo fun too.

At the end of the day Saturday I had the same workshop but unfortunately didn't remember to take a photo until the very end. Lots of people are missing in the photo. Some finished up, some were exhausted from a weekend of crafting,  some met friends at the free happy hour in the hotel, etc. Here are the die-hards:

 

All the students in the class were: Amy Littlejohn, Beth Evans-Ramos, Corrine Ayers, Cynthia Heath, Debbi Schuldt, Georgia Evanson, Heather Rowley, Janet Doherty, Jenny Lor, Jessi Nagy, Julie Fjell, Kari Ramstrom, Karla Steele, Kim Caldwell, Kim Hanauer, Lana Koch, Leocadia Eyure, Lori Oles, Maija Lepore, Margie Dickinson, Marlene Haveron, Molly Hughes, Sabrina Sane, Sandra Navarro, Shannon Arnold, Susie Vergenz, Valerie Jones, and Joy Campbell.

This photo sums up the fun. My friends Kelly and  Cori,  these two always have me in stitches.  I'm sure scenes like this go on all weekend long in room after room. If you want to see more Silver Bella photos, you can go to the Silver Bella flickr group. Hopefully, lots of finished projects will end up there, they all were so great you'll want to see all the different classes. Thanks again T, great job as usual!

Can you understand why it took me so long to do a recap post? I've never had so many links in one post ever! That said, if yours is missing, or incorrect (I know there are some of those), please let me know. Now I'm going to resume my typical let-down/re-entry behavior I always feel/do after being away at any retreat: as little as possible, ha ha!

fun day sunday

 

As seems to be becoming my standard M.O. , I took not one photo to share.

Bad blogger.

Thankfully, Jenny took these, and Heather took tons too. Heather's a professional photographer after all, so I knew she'd capture the fun beautifully. I think Amy captured some good shots as well. Check their blogs in the next couple days for more glimpses of the fun.

And fun we had. Here are some of the lovely ladies that came out to shop the Rose Bowl flea market with like minded creative friends old and new. And to those of you that came late, left early, or were just plain camera shy, we were happy to see you there too! 

At least 6 came from San Diego, and one from Santa Ynez to join in the fun. {Too bad she was busy visiting to pipe up when the prize was awarded for the person who came the farthest distance!} There is talk of others hosting more of these blog world flea marketing mornings, so maybe one will even end up being in an area near you. 

One fun part of flea marketing together is reviewing the finds. Over lunch we shared our favorite purchase. It's great to see through someone else's mind for a moment and hear their plans for using their treasure. Hearing the deal they got when buying it is super fun too.

I'll show mine here for those that enjoy that part too. I can take photos of those, now that I'm home. Here's my favorite purchase of the day. It was my first purchase too. An antique spun cotton bell ornament. I saw this at the flea market before (for $35.00 firm), but it was finally a price I could (sort of) justify. $20.00. A lot for an ornament, an extra, an indulgence, but it makes me so happy and I will treasure it, especially on the tree this Christmas.

 

Here are some things I found to share with my Silver Bella classes:

 

Some Rogers Brother's "first love" silver plate   to add to our everyday silverware basket:

 

Some supplies for future creating fun:

 

And some fun things to use in the house:

and one last tiny pin that I thought was funny as I head off for Silver Bella... wonder if this is how my family feels about me!

 

 

home again

Returned home last night from artFIBERfest, another fun week of stitching and sewing and playing with fibers. But the most fun is being with friends, both old and new.  I have some projects to share, but want to finish them a bit more first. Until then, here's a couple photos from yesterday, when Charlotte and I went exploring before our flights home. It was right in front of this church where I discovered that my suitcase zipper was broken and irreparable! To the lovely lady walking by who guided us to a Fred Meyers store; THANK YOU!!  Thanks to the directions from the passerby, I was able to buy a new suitcase and make it to my gate with 10 minutes to spare before my plane was set to board. Oh, how fun traveling can be!

              

artfest 2009

Another ArtFest has come and gone and again, I have hardly any photos to share. But here are a few:


Here I took a photo of Amy taking a photo of the sights.




There are so many sweet buildings that have been converted from their original use. I'm not sure what this is currently, but some tender loving care has gone into restoring it. Below is another.





Here I am with Amy and Ruth Rae on vendor night. It was a pleasure to meet Ruth and she is as sweet as you would expect. We three found out we live somewhat close to each other, so we're going to set up a play date soon.

On Friday I had such a fun time with a great group of students. Thankfully, Amy came into my classroom at lunch and took some photos of work in progress (thanks Am!)...if it's yours let us know, and if you show your photo of finished journal on your blog, please post a link, we'd all love to see. Everyone really made beautiful, vibrant journals. I wish I had thought to take a group photo!









some of my journals above, and I know this beautiful journal below is Lisa Call's in progress.










 

It was a pleasure to spend the day with all the fun, talented artists working away. It's always amazing to see how different each artists' work ends up, even though we are all using the same materials. Thank you to everyone that chose to make journals with me!

More from Artfest tomorrow. Journal questions will be answered soon.

the weekend's artistic affaire

This past weekend I taught at the Artistic Affaire called "La Petite Maison Blanc" hosted by Kim Caldwell. I do believe everyone that attended would say it was an artistically sweet feast (thus the close up at left). Kim left no detail unattended to, that's for sure. I was amazed at how smoothly the big day went especially considering that this was a new location for Kim's Artistic Affaire's. I also know that everyone who attended would agree with me when I say you did a fantastic job Kim! And so calm and graceful under a day full of pressure. Kim aims to please her guests, and she does! (For example, it was only afterward that I found out Kim asked each guest her favorite refreshment, and then spent the day secretly restocking the refreshment bar so that they would always find it there. And the delicious catered lunch arrived in a box that wasn't up to Kim's standards, so she repackaged each and every lunch in a more beautiful container. Only two examples but you get the picture.)  And what a great friend she has in Kim Hesson, who assisted Kim and we three teachers throughout the day; big thanks to the two Kims!

Here's a photo of Kim welcoming the guests, or doing a give-away, or explaining the party favor, or...

and the room almost ready to receive guests... it was even cooler than it looks here. Such a great location!

Here's the table setting at each guests' seat.

A photo of the day in full swing. This is during Amy's class.

Here's Amy's sales table. Even her display is gorgeous! And of course her jewelry too...

Love Teresa's sassy little ladies. I had to have one and love her smiling at me on my desk.

Here's a shot of Amy's class samples:

 

(photo by Cheryl)

The day just wouldn't have been as special for me without my pals and co-teachers Teresa and Amy. And then, of course, all the wonderful students who always come with such generous hearts and open minds and smiles on their faces. It's fun to see old friends and meet new ones. Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day.!xop

silver bella 08

Me behind my vendor table. As Jenni Bowlin's adorable husband (seriously, could the two of them be any cuter or sweeter?) said, "Pam, it looks like a bomb went off". It sure did. I needed two tables I guess. :) YES! I have plenty left and will be listing it on etsy. (pamg.etsy.com) Sometime this week is my goal. Of course, I'll mention it here.

The girls taking their prom class photo. Can you see the also adorable and sweet as pie Amy Powers? (think pink)

And the rest of my photos are blurry. I tried to travel light without my big camera. Big mistake. Even my photos of Mary Engelbreit of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, blurry.  She was very real, cool, dry witted. Love that in a girl. Some of my favorite answers to audience questions: (ok, I'm paraphrasing here, but the meaning is what counts)

Q: What one special possession would you take if your house was burning down?
Mary: None. It's just stuff. I like my stuff, but it's just stuff.

Q:How do you balance it all?
Mary: I don't. There is no balance...When I'm home I think I should be doing that, when away doing that, I think I should be home. You do the best you can.

Q:What does the future hold for Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine now that the publisher has announced it's closing the doors?
Mary: We have lots of irons in the fire and are even thinking of new inventive ways to publish ideas. Stay tuned!

And then there's one of my best friends, Kelly and I, goofing around. I see her only once a year at Silver Bella and we never get a photo...so the last night as we were going out to dinner,...more blurry photos:

 

miss you Kell!    As with all retreats, the time goes by waaayyy too fast.

And in other news, we heard great medical results yesterday, so things are looking up here! Thanks as always for the prayers and well wishes.

Back soon...

art in ashland

Getting back into the swing of things after Art in Ashland. The trip was my first venture out in the world since surgery and my back was very kind to me. Although I must really thank Amy and Anahata for lifting everything for me; without their support it would have been a different story I am sure.

It was a great retreat. Anahata and the Papaya peeps did an amazing job. Close up it's so much more involved than it looks to arrange/host these types of events. I know all the attendees like me send big kisses and hugs to Anahata et al for the wonderful time.

{At left is a close up of the piece I was working on in Anahata's class. Full size below.}

Here's a shot of the beautiful view from Anahata's home. Her home is every bit the hip, cool, creative pad you'd expect it to be. She really lives such an artistic life. I wish I had more shots to share, but as you can see the sun was setting. How gorgeous is this view?

Here's a photo of class in full swing: 

It was really fun to all be together in the same room for all three class days, everybody working on the same type of project.

I wish I had more class photos, but I seem to bring my camera to these events yet fail to use it.

there were pretty flowers throughout the room. 

Papaya girls Ana and her Mama on opening night, sweet gals through and through and fun to boot.

My table top during Amy's class. Obviously, I had a hard time paring down before I came...I just didn't know what kind of necklace I'd feel like making. Here's the one I did make, a copy of one of Amy's:

Here's the piece I worked on during Anahata's class: It's not done, more doodling to come, a word needing re-doing, and an ink spill to incorporate.

Here's a quick overview of the final night party at Prize, a yummy yummy store. You can see how we were all signing each others' journals. I just had to get the chandelier and light strands in too. 

No, it's not your eyes, this picture's blurry. Wouldn't it have been nice if I'd had my camera setting correct?

Ahh, that's better. Sally Jean, Amy Hanna, Anahata Katkin and me. At this point we were all getting a little punch drunk, the retreat being over and having little sleep.

It was a great event and a pleasure to create alongside old friends and new. If any of you have a link to photos from the event feel free to post it in the comments.

convenZioNE!

I wanted to let you know that I am looking forward to teaching at ConvenZioNE this August in Pleasanton, California. I love NorCal, there seems to be such a great amount of creativity up there, and both my brothers live there as well, so how could I not love going there? Anyway, my class is called "Homecomings", a mixed media wall hanging, samples shown above. As a little thank you to my sweet students, there will be 3 prizes given out per class...think wallpaper or kits...that's all I'm sayin'!

There are so many other great classes offered by teachers like Jennifer Murphy, Sally Jean, Lisa Kaus, and I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. Check them out yourself here.

There are some other special treats in store as well:
a keynote by SARK, appearance by Michele Beschen of HGTV, 1000 Journal Pages and Crowns and Tiaras book signings, etc. etc. If you have a group interested, there are discounts to be had, and there is a scholarship program as well.  You can read all about the event here. I hope to meet some of you there, it promises to be a good, creative time!

i love paris

Need I say more? (Notre Dame, both photos above). Just.really. love. Paris. So many reasons. There's so much magic there for me, as there is for so many of us. ...Anyway, I'm  home again. And as much as I love Paris, I love home even more. Believe it or not, I'm pretty much a homebody. I love being at home. Hmmm, a home in Paris?...nahhh...I'm an American girl. But I'd love to be an American girl that gets to go to Paris quite regularly.  If you're a blog reader,you know I've been more successful at that these last few years.

Amy and I went early (more on that later) and had some less than ideal weather, but the day we met up with these silly girls, it was absolutely gorgeous. Here they are after just stepping off the metro in front of Hotel Deville (probably spelling that wrong). Starting from the left we have Tena, then Cori, Amy, Laurie, and Kim. 

I was there to teach, as you know, and boy, was that an adventure. Couldn't have done it without Genevieve, my sweet translator (thanks again Genevieve!). Due to many things, classes varied in size from large to small. Both experiences were fun, the French students so sweet and interesting and smart. Here's a photo from my largest class:

And me teaching. See how there was no ceiling? It got a bit noisy in the giant building, with all the classrooms being together. And especially when the vendor event was in full force. It's really no problem for me to be loud, but poor Geneveive, she's not used to it; it was pretty funny. I think that the event itself was a big success, so hat's off to Anaiis, Claire, and Camille, the girls in charge of most everything (or everything to do with me anyway).

Here we are, the three teachers from America heading out of the convention center at the very end. Even Kim was exhausted, and that's saying alot.  This photo (above) was taken right before this one over at Kim's blog. I just love this photo. I can laugh at it now, but truth be told I was a bit grumpy then. Thankfully, my back survived fine, and just after this Kim bought me a beer, so  my mood lifted quickly.   Well, I'm sure that's enough for now...

Oh, and yes, we all have a few kits left. Look for info on them this week. Have a great weekend!

what i made on the trip

To the left is the folder I whipped up before leaving so I had somewhere to keep maps/class info/notes/registration all at my fingertips.  It's my favorite thing that I made in those few days. A simple pink file folder with some music paper and vintage wallpaper sewn on, papers attached with seam binding and some doodles colored in. 

The other two photos are of what I made in the two classes I took.  Like at most creative craft retreats, time flew and I made not nearly as much as I packed :).  The first is a music box made in Romona and Thomas Ashman's class.  It was a fun class and they are a delightful pair.  The little face is a picture of my daughter. She sits on a heart shaped altoid tin and spins around when cranked.  I was excited to learn that you can scroll saw through plexiglass, and torching the altoid tins was fun too. I'm going to give it to my daughter for Valentine's Day. 

The second photo is of things that I made while in Susan Lenart-Kazmer's class. The class focused on resin and it's uses, seeing other things as bezels, and even making our own bezels out of rebar tie wire.  Susan too was fun and full of energy and a good time was had by all.

I'm not crazy about any of what I made, I was just feeling off, but I know I learned a lot in both classes and it will show up later in other things. It's always fun to meet other creative people, see old friends,and just be around a lot of people who love to make stuff. This time I had a very hard time with the guilt of leaving my family,

which wasn't helped by my 13 year old daughter calling one night crying hysterically on the phone; "I need you mommy...I have split ends...I still have to make lunch for my brother to take to school tomorrow, etc."---no, I'm not kidding.  Clearly she was in a 13year old girls' place of need. This too shall pass they say, man I hope it's soon.