Cloth Paper Scissors Gift 2011 Fabric Tree and Magazine Giveaway

Gift 2011 Giveaway

Red and Green Tree Giveaway

If you haven't seen it yet, this years CPS Gifts is available at your local craft and book stores. It's a great magazine, chalk full of creative holiday ideas, and guess what? I'm in it! I wrote one of the "how to" articles on my fabric trees. I'm pretty excited, this is my first article, and I think I've shown it to everyone I know. If I haven't, my husband has, he's very proud. I also love the black and white ornament challenge featured on the front cover. Laurie Mika, one of my favorite artists has some really pretty polymer clay ornaments I look forward to making. There are also some great ideas on wire flower wreaths, blue jean pocket decorations, and some paper ornaments that my daughter has had fun making. Needless to say, I am pretty happy to be a part of this magazine. I love CPS, it's been my favorite publication for sometime now. I would love to giveaway the green and red tree from the article. I will also send a copy of the magazine along with it. If you leave a  comment, you will be put into the drawing once. If you join as a new follower, or post on your blog about the giveaway, you will be entered twice. I will post the winner on December 1st. Check back on that date. Now go out buy that magazine and start creating.   PS:  Thanks for all the phone calls and emails from all over the country about the article. Thanks also to those of you that wrote about the article on your blog. We now share the addiction of cutting circles together. Congrats to Jennifer of Vintage Gwen, you won!

Open Studio 2011

Open Studio 2011 is coming to a close. I'm writing this post in between visitors. It's been a blast as usual, meeting new people, seeing long time friends, and sharing what I love. Throw in good snacks, what more could you want? Thanks to you that stopped by to take a look around. I hope those of you that signed up for workshops are looking forward to them, I know that I am. If you weren't able to stop by, contact me for the workshop schedule. I will be teaching the tempered glass class several times in 2012, along with new polymer clay classes. I also plan on posting some fun tutorials in the near future. The first one will be a vintage pumpkin, adorned with paper leaves and polymer roses. It's really cute and super easy to make, the perfect hostess gift for the fall holidays. I recently had my first article published in Cloth Paper Scissors Gifts magazine. If you have a bag of scraps and love to cut out circles, you should check it out. But I warn you that I've been getting emails from people, that say they may need a six step program, as circle cutting can be very addicting. I've found that in my busy life, it is sometimes relaxing to do a repetitive project that you don't have to put a lot of brain power into. It keeps your hands busy while you ponder your next project. If you're like me, you always have several creative projects brewing in your head.  It's no wonder I forget the important things, like when to take the dog out, when to pick up the kids, and when to go to bed. Oh well nobodies perfect. Thanks again for making open studio a great success.

Open Studio 2011 Preview

 Well, it's only a week away:  Open Studio 2011. I look forward to this event all year, but as it approaches, I always stand in the middle of my studio and yell, "One more week, I just need one more extra week!"  This year I was so sure that I would be ready on time,  I committed to a Friday night reception, as an early bird customer appreciation. I hope this is well attended.  If you get my card, you will have the info, if not, it is from 6-8 pm.  My address is in the catalog.  As usual, I have a little of this and a lot of that.  Something old, something new, something borrowed and lots of blue.  If anything else, you have to come by and see the walkway I made from broken concrete, it's really cool.  I also will be more organized with my workshop signups.  Last year I just took names and tried to put together classes on the phone.  Now I know that this is very time consuming, and nearly impossible to work around everyone's schedule.  Sorry to those that were disappointed. Come by and please give me another chance.  I have some great new classes in mind, and I will definitely teach the tempered glass and polymer clay workshops.  Well, I need to get back to work, I have a zillion things to do, and only one more week to do them in.

Sew Sari

 I love, love, love, recycled sari silk. If I had a talk show and I was giving away my favorite things. I would be throwing rolls of sari silk into the audience and shouting, I loovvee sarrrri Sillk!!!! The crowd would be jumping up and down, hugging their neighbors, and with tears streaming down their faces they would be  dreaming of all the creative things they would make with this magical product.  Ok I've gotten a bit carried away, but it really is dreamy stuff. The first time I saw sari silk was a year ago at the Long Beach Quilt Show.  I loved the rolled up rainbows of color. Every time I pasted the booth displaying it, I spotted another color combo I just couldn't live without. I ended up with about 20 rolls before the weekend was over. It took me about a year to get to the bottom of my basket of sari silk. It was a very sad day indeed. But happy days are here again, because I found Nicole at Darn Good Yarn. Nicole is a doll, and  helped me mix and match colors to put together the perfect combination. She didn't even mind my phone calls as I impatiently waited for my package to arrive clear from Maine. It was well worth the wait.  The first thing I made were these flower pins, that will be available at my Open Studio Tour this month. More info on that to come in a few days. So I'm happy that my sari silk basket is once more full, and that I have a great source when I run out again. Check out Darn Good Yarn and read their story about how they help women in Naple support their families with this business.   

Be Blessed

Being blessed is a choice we choose to walk in. We make the decision every morning of what side of the bed we get out of, the wrong side or the right side. Things happen everyday that effects our mood, as they say "Stuff Happens". It would be a perfect world if it didn't, but we all know the world isn't a perfect place. No matter if the Blue Bird of Happiness comes to give you a smile, or leaves you a little present on your shoulder, life moves on with or without you. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord and walk in His blessings, even if that blue bird gets the best of me at times. I would really love to hear from some of my followers, please comment if you have the time.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

 My art and posts are usually bright and cheery, but not today. I've been in a funk for a couple of weeks. We all have ups and downs, I guess this is a down. This years birthday post is so far from last years, that it doesn't feel like it's from the same person. Sorry for this depressing cloud of glum, but that is how I feel right now. How does that song go? The sun will come out tomorrow. We'll see! OK, it is now tomorrow, and things are brighter. Thanks for your concern.

A Touch of Vintage

This new artwork with it's old book pages, handmade polymer embellishments, and neutral color palette has a touch of vintage style. So many of us find joy when we reminisce on things of the past. I know it makes my heart happy. Right now outside my studio window, the hollyhocks I planted last year are blooming. I couldn't wait to see what color was going to burst forth when they opened. I remember loving the hollyhocks in my Grandmother's yard. I also remember one day when we were watering, and her telling me that it takes two years for hollyhocks to bloom. What a strange thing for me to remember, but sure enough, forty years later, it still takes two years to enjoy those beautiful tissue paper thin blooms.I also loved the little ring of black seeds. Now I'm patently waiting for the pods to dry and the seeds to mature. I'm looking forward to sharing the experience with my kids. They'll probably grow up and say, "do you remember how freaky Mom was about her hollyhocks?" As I think back to the day I planted those flowers, and the disappointment when I realized I wouldn't  be seeing those blooms anytime soon. It makes me think of the time I've invested into my art, and the time I've spent wondering when I would see the harvest. It's so easy to want to break open that seedpod to early and find the immature green seeds inside. It's much harder to wait for God's perfect timing and reaping the right harvest at the appropriate time. That's when faith, and hope, and works, and dreams, come together and in the end you are looking at your harvest with a smile on your face. What harvest are you waiting for?




 

All about the heart

I've been having so much fun in my studio! I'm combining some techniques I recently learned at a Lisa Kaus workshop, with some of my older techniques, and some new, and this is the combined effort. It's funny even my husband and kids said," this looks like what you used to do." It's a bit more whimsical and I'm using brighter colors. But it's funny to see my work come full circle. Who knows what I'll be doing next week. I'm really concentrating on some easier work, that I can wholesale, these little beauties are being delivered to a local store, called "Serendipity" later today. As artists it can be a tricky deal to wholesale and retail your art at the same time. I've had my things in a few galleries and stores over the last couple of years, but have mainly sold my art at local art shows. There is a real balancing act to selling at a price that works for a retailer,and is still  affordable at my shows. My answer was to come up with a completely new product to wholesale. I still continue to sell my art that is really labor intensive at the art shows along with my new items, that I sell at the same price as my stores. So far it's been a win-win situation for myself and the stores.  I decided  to give wholesale a try after setting at a three day show. Sales were good, but  by the time I pay the entry fee, and my husband and I invest three days, I knew I needed to make some changes. I'll always do shows and my Open Studio Tour, but now I have more options, which is always a good thing.