be yourself: live with passion

the tie that binds...

When I woke up this morning, my first thought was that I had to turn on my computer so that I could see what this week's lesson in my BPS class looked like.  My next thought was, "Oh, the class is done."  It was disappointing, really.  I have met some of the nicest women I'd ever want to meet and they have shared their homes and families with me through their pictures and layouts. 

Which got me thinking about relationships and how strong a tie scrapbooking and memory art were in binding us together as friends.  Did you ever imagine that you would have friends all over the world because of scrapbooking online and in classes and because of following the blogs of people that shared your passion for memory art?  Truthfully, I sure didn't!

But it's an amazing thing.

I'm thinking forward to next week and Creative Escape, where I'll be doing a little teaching and a whole lot of playing.  I'll get to see friends I made last year at the event, as well as friends I've made over the past year in teaching around the country.  It's like a huge reunion.  And, all because of scrapbooking.

I sat next to a woman on the plane on my way home from Mass. on Monday and she was asking me what I was doing in New England.  When I told her, she was immediately intrigued.  A faux finish and mural painter by profession, she had become disabled several years ago and was looking for something artistic to do that was less mobile.  And do you know what else she said?  She was looking for something where she could spend some time in the company of people that shared her love of art; she wanted to have some friends enjoying the same thing she did and it sounded like this was just the thing for her.  Sharon, if you're reading this, you may have a new customer at the store! :))

What was so cool is that she picked right up on the whole relationship thing...how we are tied together by something way bigger than ourselves...how we can become friends with each other so quickly...how, overall, there are so many positive people in this industry.

I am definitely blessed; I have met so many really kind people through my teaching experiences and through my blog.  Thanks...I totally appreciate you!

Can't wait to see so many of you next week!

Feeling at home, pj's, slippers, Dunkin Donuts and connections...

Whew!  That's quite a title and that's cuz I've got quite a few stories to share about my weekend at Right at Home.

Now, I've been sworn to secrecy about some things; as Michelle says, "What happens at the crop, stays at the crop" so don't expect all sorts of really juicy details...not going to happen...no racy pix either.

I have to tell you that Sharon very aptly named her store.  When I walked into that event, I felt right at home.  Everyone was was warm and welcoming and there was even an apple pie and home made ice cream in my room.  You know, if I keep eating all those pies that I'm being greeted with.....well, you know what will happen.  So I ate a piece and shared the rest.  It was awesome.  Sharon definitely knows my taste and showered me with all sorts of fun goodies.  You know that Nice Matters Award that has been going around?  I think that Sharon deserves a dozen of them!  Sharon and her daughter, Lisa, were so generous with the event attendees, too...lots of goodies were given to everyone.

After I spent all of Saturday stressing everyone out with their projects, they got to relax and crop in their PJ's.  Here's a cute pic of Fatima, Lynn and Shelley, AKA, Super Nail Girl, Super Roller Girl and Super Pigtail Girl.  Did I get that right, Shelley?   Fatima has the most awesome painted nails...not to be confused with my awesomely gessoed nails!  Yes, of course we used gesso.  And, guess what, as I was sitting in the airport waiting to board the plane this morning, I noticed that I still had some under both pinkie fingernails...even after scrubbing them.  I must say that Fatima's nails are a bit more artistic than mine!

Now for the community part of my title.

OK, any group of women with so many funky slipper wearers is a community.

Any group of women who razz each other as much as these girls do is a community.

Any group of women who know so many stories about each other (and sometimes dish them) is a community.

This group was definitely a community...and the stories...hmmmm.

About Dunkin Donuts.  Sure we have them in Arizona...but not on every block...maybe more like one in every city.  I was astounded.  Everyone walks around with their Dunkin Donut coffee.  Starbucks?  It was pretty low on the totem pole in everyone's opinion around there.  OK, I give.  It actually was good coffee (Shelley brought me some for Saturday morning).  When I got to the airport this morning, I wanted to get a cup of coffee to help wake me up (I was at the airport at 5:45 a.m.!) but when I saw the mile long line at the Dunkin Donut place, I changed my mind.  No coffee is that good...seriously.

The connection story is a bit woo-woo.  On Sunday, I was getting ready to start my class and a woman walked up to me and introduced herself as Leslie.  She hadn't been to the Saturday event and I welcomed her to the class.  She told me that she had come from Dallas to take the class...right.  The real story was that she had dropped her daughter off at college in New England and was there the weekend that I was running the class.  But she really was from Dallas.  OK, here's the woo-woo part.  Turns out that she was born and raised in Philadelphia...turns out that she was raised in the same section of Philly as I was for my first 7 years-Olney...turns out that we attended the same elementary school but not at the same time...turns out we're the same age...turns out she lives in Dallas and I live in Phoenix and we're both in Boston at the same time for the same class.  She's my Olney soul sister....and, oh yeah...turns out she made a travel journal using the same Rusty Pickle paper and 7 gypsies sticker sheet as we were using that day in the class.  Wow.  That's a woo-woo story.  Now if I could only figure out what happened to the picture that was taken of the two of us...not on the card...another little bit of woo-woo, I guess.  Anyway, Leslie is coming to Creative Escape and we'll have to take another pic together.

Thanks to everyone who made my weekend so great...thanks for telling me your stories (and your friends' stories, too :)) ...you are all awesome!

see ya in a few days...

I'm heading off to Boston early tomorrow.

It'll be an exciting weekend teaching at Right at Home at their Summer Art Retreat. 

My bags are mostly packed and I just have a few loose ends to tie up.

Thought I'd leave you a little flower until I get back.

Have a fabulous weekend.

See ya Monday!

(Photo is of a wildflower (complete with ant) taken in Northern Arizona last weekend.)   

nice matters...

Wow, what a special honor.  I was tagged by Rebecca for the "Nice Matters Award".  It's especially special because it's coming from the Queen of Nice herself.  Thanks, Rebecca!

This next part is the hardest...tagging four people for the award.  It's hardest because there are soooo many nice people that I've grown to know through blogging, emails and teaching.  What I decided to do was to tag four people in Virginia where I was teaching earlier this summer...and, if any of them had already been awarded before...well, that just tells you they are extra nice!  Without further ado, the Nice Matters Award goes to:  Jeanette, Carol P. (who doesn't have a blog but avidly reads them :)), Pamela and Jennifer.

Speaking of nice, when we were up north this weekend, we stopped in at an antique/vintage store that was really nice.  I like a good bargain and sometimes I root through junk shops but mostly, I like a good bargain in a nice environment that doesn't have a ton of dirt and dust or the smell of mildew.

This place was great...a mixture of old and new...and all at great prices.  Don't you just love eclectic stores?  Ones that will carry beaded purses such as this one (way too pretty to resist!), that will also carry vintage Breyer horses (we found two awesome ones to add to Ashley's already massive collection), vintage chandelier crystals (got a handful) and rusted metal pieces such as this shovel sitting in a bed of greens?

  The shovel is actually a door knocker which I thought would be awesome for the door of a potting shed...when I get one.  Or, maybe for a studio door since it seems more often than not, I need a shovel to dig through the mess! :))

Finding nice things in a nice store owned by a nice lady...NICE MATTERS!

a little R&R...

Vern and I escaped.

We escaped the heat of the Valley and all business for three days to head to the White Mountains of Arizona.  When I say all business, that's totally true...not even my laptop!

We stayed at a B&B which was located on a 300 acre ranch just outside of Greer.  We weren't sure just what to expect because it was our first time staying there and there weren't a lot of pix on the website.

Turns out that the house is OK...an older style, not really very chic, but immaculately clean.  The views...to die for.  This is the view from our room which was called the "penthouse suite" by some friends of our host and hostess. 

The food...wow, out of this world...awesome breakfasts both mornings with so much food that I asked our hostess if someone else was coming.  Harold and Ruth are the ultimate caretakers...they greeted us with a homemade apple pie and some iced lemonade and when they found out we were celebrating our anniversary, they added candles and chocolates to our room while we were at dinner.  So sweet.

This was the perfect place to relax.

It was quiet, except for the thunder during the monsoon storm and the rain beating on the metal roof.  And, oh yeah, the coyotes singing in the early morning.

It was cool...way cooler than Phoenix.

They had horses on the property...Vern was in heaven.

There were hiking trails...we did a minimal amount of that...too much would be like work! :))  The elevation was really high and it takes a couple of days to acclimate and be able to really exercise without totally losing your breath.

I got caught up on reading my magazines and actually read a novel without guilt.  Can't do that at home...way too much to do and the guilts hit me big time.

The national forest is only about a mile away and there are some amazing hiking, biking and horseback riding trails.

This is one of the trailheads...awesome.

We were also referred to a great little cafe that had fabulous dinner specials...it's called Java Blues and it's so funky that you'd think it was in the middle of Mill Avenue in Tempe.

We loved it!  They make yummy lattes, too!

It was a great escape.

I think we need to do it more often!

almost famous...

This past Saturday morning, I opened up the newspaper to find this...

It was on the front page of the Gilbert section of The Arizona Republic...a pic of Country Manor owner, Kristin, and moi chatting it up.  Actually, it appears that I was doing the chatting...and no, I wasn't pointing at her.  I was showing Kristin the height of something.

The journalist/photographer had asked if it would be OK to shoot some pix and I basically said "whatever", totally thinking that it would never show up in the paper anyhow.  It's a bad pic...but he spelled my name correctly and he did mention that I was a scrapbook and crafts author.  Any publicity is good, n'est pas?  Now, if I had been on the front page of the whole newspaper, then maybe I would be famous...but, for now, it's almost famous.

In other news, Ashley is starting court reporting school on Monday.  She is really excited about the whole program and it's like there's a weight that's lifted off her shoulders.  Indecision can really bog you down, can't it?  It's a self paced program that's full time and it will take her anywhere from a year to two years to get her certification, depending on how fast she wants to work.  It's a great way to use her Justice Studies degree, plus it's a career that's in high demand that can be taken anywhere in the country where there are attorneys...so, that would be anywhere.  :))  We're really excited for her!

I've been furiously kitting up my classes for Right at Home...they are heading out of town on a big brown truck tomorrow.  Yay!

OK, back to the kits.  I keep envisioning that they're done but it doesn't seem like anything's happening while I'm blogging.  So, I guess it's up to me to do something!

On that subject, here's a great quote...don't know who said it but it's great:

"Action and intention must be in harmony with each other.
You can't rely just on one or the other."
-Anon

 

wishes do come true...

Several months ago, Vern, Ashley and I were talking about Northern California.  The context was horseback riding and the abundance of endurance rides in the area, leading to Ashley's wanting to eventually live there because she can ride a lot...definitely horse crazy :)).

I happened to mention that I would love to teach in Northern California...how fun would it be to be up there in the fall...but not going to happen this year because the travel calendar was booked for the year.

Several weeks later, my September classes in Texas got postponed until next year due to loss of venue.

About a month ago, I received an invitation from Sheri, enthusiastic and upbeat owner of My Daughter's Wish, to teach at a weekend event in September...yep, the same weekend that was just postponed.  Wishes do have a way of coming true.

The weekend event is called WishFest and it's a three day Artistic Journey to benefit ScrapPink, a Susan G. Komen foundation.  I'm so excited about being able to participate in this event...the brain has been in high gear planning two new projects for the classes.

Keep on the lookout for little teasers...yesterday, I was combing my favorite sites for special little touches to add to the projects and I found some great surprises...stay tuned.

Sheri has some awesome teachers at the event...I'm looking forward to reconnecting with Janelle Smith (we worked together on a number of Autumn Leaves DW books and she is an amazing photographer and artist) and to meeting Melodee Langworthy and Renee Savage...check out their sites...their work is fabulous!

It's going to be a great weekend of creating for a great cause...and a wish come true for me.  Registration begins this week...hope you can join us!  (Walnut Creek is just a hop and a skip away from Phoenix and Southern Cali :)))

a party...indeed.

Last night, I attended a book signing party hosted by Kim and Jennifer, owners of Mystic Paper, a Mesa scrapbook and paper arts store. 

It was a party indeed.

Featured authors were "terri O", Craft Queen, local TV celebrity, spokesperson for CHA and co-author of Terri O's Easy Embellishing, Michael de Meng, assemblage artist and author of Secrets of Rusty Things, Josie Cirincione, jewelry and collage artist and author of Collage Lost and Found, and Tena Sprenger and me, memory artists and co-authors of Artful Memories and Lifelines.

We are seated, L to R, Terri, Tena, me, Michael and Josie.

The evening started with a dinner hosted by Kim and Jennifer at S Bistro, located directly across the street from Mystic Paper.  This was my first time at this restaurant and I have to say that Chef Brian did a fabulous job.  I will definitely be back!

After dinner, we meandered back to the store where the atmosphere was energetic and upbeat and the customers were happy and ready to party.  I met some fabulous new people and got to hug some old friends!  It was great.

These fabulous looking cupcakes created by "Fairy Cakes", located in Chandler, were our dessert.  Don't they look absolutely sumptuous?

After the dinner we had, eating one of these cupcakes just wasn't an option for me but I did want to take a pic to share!

Spirits were high all evening and it was so enjoyable to be part of this happy event.

Thanks, Kim and Jennifer, for throwing a great party!  Anytime you want to do another, I'm game!

Happy Saturday!

extra special touches...

I don't know if you are like me or not, but I am totally impressed with unexpected special touches or details. 

This week, I received a couple of packages with delightful surprises.

  I ordered the book Pattern, by Tricia Guild based on the black accents incorporated into the cover design.  Much to my surprise, the black areas, including the title were flocked!

What a cool touch to give this type of texture to a cover.

Tricia Guild is a textile and wallpaper designer from the UK who owns the company, Designers Guild.  She and her team have an incredible sense of color and style and this book is so inspirational for putting together colors and patterns in room design, which, of course, translates beautifully into paper arts design.

This is definitely a book that awakens the senses...it makes you feel alive...it makes you crave color in your surroundings.  And the cover...well that's an extra special bonus.

My next surprise came when I opened a box from Bayberry Cove.  Bayberry Cove is an online store that features the art and dolls of artists such as Wendy Addison, Nicol Sayre, Charlotte Lyons and Dee Foust, just to mention a few.  Cute stuff.

  At the top of the box was my little surprise.  It was the receipt, wrapped with a strand of raffia with this little handmade bird attached.

Wow.

What an extra special touch...it made even the receipt something fun to look at and touch.

I'm going to have to incorporate that little bird into some piece of art...it's so cute.

Do you want to see what I got from Bayberry Cove?

Isn't he just the cutest thing?  He's designed by Dee Foust and he's being retired soon so I thought I'd add him to my collection.

His base is a box...the details are awesome and the expression on his face is priceless.

Add to that the whole black and white thing...a no brainer.

It's so cool to be involved in an industry where designers and retailers pay attention to the little things, where details are honored and enjoyed and where extra special touches become sources of inspiration.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the "oh wow" moments I had this week.

Happy Friday...and have a great weekend.

Do you see what I see?

Now you do!  I thought I'd share with you a few things that I'm seeing in my world this morning.

  My favorite chicken mug...filled with delicious Brazilian coffee.

This mug never fails to make me smile and even though it has a chip in it, I love using it...every day!

As I was making my coffee this morning, I noticed a beam of sunshine playing over one of the red roses I had gotten from Vern for our anniversary.

The colors and shadows (and scents!) were gorgeous and I just loved looking and smelling...

The makings of a new project are out on my studio table.  I'm circling the table on this one.  It's a box (with circle accordion inside) and little roses from Petaloo and I'm adding things I want to use to the pile...one of these mornings, I will just put the thing together...but for today, I'm enjoying the view.

Looking at these simple things and photographing them reminded me of a couple of quotes I have in my inspiration notebook:

"Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."  John Petit-Senn

"Abundance is not something we acquire.  It is something we tune into." Wayne Dyer

What are you seeing in your world today?  If you've posted it on your blog, please share the link so that we can all see what you see!  If you didn't post it, I'd still love to read about what you're seeing.  Thanks for sharing.