be yourself: live with passion

What happened to October?

I looked at today's date on my computer after booting it up this morning...I had to look twice just to make sure.  Yep, it said October 30, 2008.  What happened to this month?

It seems like I was just planning and packing for An Artistic Affaire and now the month is almost over.

It's been a whirlwind...with two out of town teaching events, the largest kit shipment yet, a local class as well as trying to squeeze in some time for future project planning and creation of projects for Silver Bella vending, it's no wonder that the month has flown by. 

The last of the kits shipping in the US went out yesterday...there were a boatload of them.  I had mentioned that I upped the numbers on this one because I knew the white book series was popular but I had no idea how much more time it would take on this end to get them all out.  I'm working on finishing the customs forms for Canada and overseas boxes right now...and they will all be out today.  Thanks again to everyone who ordered.  I dropped my sample off at the store yesterday and will be teaching the project there on November 7th.  The class is pretty close to being sold out so don't wait too long if you plan to sign up!

I have to say that many of you have an insatiable appetite for kits...I'm getting emails every day asking about next month's kit...all that I can say is "I'm working on it...promise!".  :))

I do have some Stick and Ribbon kits left...I need to reformat instructions so that they are more detailed and then I will post them...I'm thinking that I'll do another email blast to let everyone know.  These books make great gifts...they are so pretty just to look at!

So what's been happening in your life this month?  Any great plans for Halloween?

Now I know what you mean!

 I'm in Pasadena, sitting in my hotel room...just finished a great room service brunch and love that the only cleanup I have is to carry my tray across the room and into the hallway!

I've got quite a bit of downtime this weekend, very unlike most of my out of state teaching commitments.  Now, since my mama instilled in me a VERY strong work ethic and since I feel guilty when I'm not working, I decided to use the extra time to put together some journals for my vendor table at Silver Bella.  Of course, putting together projects meant first putting together stuff to make the projects.

Let me give you a little background here.  I don't typically go to crops...if I'm teaching out of state and they are having a crop as part of the event, I usually slip in and chat...and that's all I do.  It's a social thing for me and a way to get to know people and see their work and style and sometimes pix of their families.  So, I have no experience in getting ready for a crop.

Let me tell you something...it's worse than packing for a week long vacation with an infant, where you end up taking everything, just in case!  It took me hours to throw together a small box of papers, trims, images, buttons and baubles.  I agonized...did I miss something, will I have enough to build a project...you get the drift.

Now I know what you mean when you tell me how much you love taking the creatologie kits to crops.  So many of you have emailed me to tell me that it's so great not to have to put stuff together to make a project...but to just pack the tools, paints and inks on the supply list and off you go.  Thanks so much for sharing that with me...now I totally understand!

I've build one project this morning and so far, so good...the box has produced everything I've needed.  Hope you have a great weekend...I'm off to do a demo and a book signing!

little bits...

  I promised...and some of you are holding me to my promise :)!

I told you that I'd give you a peek at some interior pages of the holiday white book, so I'm making good on my word and giving you a peek at some of the little bits.

You can tell a lot from this pic...there will be embossed paper, glitter, vintage images and passementerie (vintage French metallic trims that I've been collecting just for this project), just to name a few little bits...

While you are waiting for your kits to ship out (early next week), you may want to unearth some paints (winter white or light ivory AND metallic silver craft paint) as well as a small bottle of crackle medium.  Crackle medium is available at most craft box stores...you can usually find it with the paints and adhesives.  You will need the small size (about 2 oz.). 

I only have a handful of kits left (other than the ones I'm holding back for my class) so if you are contemplating ordering one, don't wait too long!

For those of you who will be taking the class, thanks for correcting me on the date...it is November 7th!  It's good to know that there are people out there who are actually reading what I write :)).

I've been sweeping up glitter a couple of times a day...there are enough knobs and keys floating around to outfit a whole subdivision of houses and the book piles are pretty precarious!  OK, enough teasing and back to work.  I'm heading to Pasadena on Thursday and will ship stuff as soon as I get home...until then, hope I've whet your appetite a bit. :)

ETA:  KITS ARE ALL SOLD OUT...THANK YOU!

WHAT A HOOT!

 As many of you know, I'm not much for putting jewelry together...I enjoy the design part but when it comes to messing with the little parts and pieces...not so much!

Enter, Ashley, my daughter, who not only enjoys the design part, but also the putting together part!  She has done many pieces for me over the past year and of course, has an Etsy shop of her own called AW Style Studio.

One of my new favorites that she's posted in her shop is this fun beaded, charming owl that she calls "What A Hoot"...appropriately named, I'd say. 

I love this necklace...it's been tempting to add this to my collection :)).

Check out her shop for a complete description of this piece, plus the others she currently has posted.

With Halloween just around the corner, don't you think you deserve a treat?

a bountiful life...

  I love the word "bountiful".  It's all about abundance, plenty and blessings.

I have a bountiful life but it's sometimes hard to see it and to remember how blessed my life really is.

In reading through the stories left on the gratitude giveaway post, it's obvious that there are people who are going through hard times and for whom life is tough. 

I think that all of us have times when life is tough...we just don't always know it about the other person.  There are times when I thought that a certain person lived a totally charmed life, only to find out that they are going through some really hard times.

For me, the key is to remember what good things are happening at the time, to recount the blessings and to sometimes write them down because that helps imprint them on the brain.  But sometimes it's hard to do that because the focus is on life's current challenge.  That's one of the reasons I appreciated the stories that were shared on my blog...readers publicly acknowledged and wrote down blessings and good things that happened during rough times.

I came across a quote this summer that I have turned to many times in the last several months and I wanted to share it with you.

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.  -Harriet Beecher Stowe-

Like the women who took time to acknowledge the generosity of someone in their life, I definitely want to take the time to acknowledge the blessings that God has given me...I have a bountiful life!

A WINNER!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2

Timestamp: 2008-10-14 19:01:56 UTC

I just wanted to thank all of you who shared about the generosity of other people in your lives.  The stories were so touching!

In a time when bad news is prevalent and we hear a lot more negativity in general, it's really good to read through your experiences.  I applaud you for acknowledging good things that people have done for you!

RIG picked a number from your responses and NUMBER 2 is Regina!  My heart goes out to Regina at the loss of her 13 year old dog, Lucky.  Regina was one of the first people to email me when we lost Thatcher earlier this year and she knows that I can truly empathize with her about her loss.  Well, Regina, maybe you can dedicate this album to Lucky!

I'll be sending out your kit today!

Thanks again everyone for sharing a part of yourselves.

L&P Expo in Pasadena

  I am really excited to be participating as an instructor and demonstrator in the Learning and Product Expo in Pasadena, California, October 24-26.

F+W Publications, publisher of Artful Memories and Lifelines, books I co-authored with Tena Sprenger, asked me to participate in the event by teaching a book arts class.  Well, seeing how teaching book arts is one of my favorite classes to do, I wholeheartedly agreed!

The book structure that I'll be teaching is called the "Stick & Ribbon Book" and it's one of the prettiest book structures out there.  I've got it decked out in fall colors (papers in browns, corals and pinks by Anna Griffin) and pretty ribbons and fibers.  People who have created this book tell me that they keep it out on display because they love looking at it.

There are lots of pages inside the book and they are text weight, which makes this such a perfect journaling book.

I will be teaching this book twice during the three day period:  Friday, 10/24 at 9:00 a.m. and Sunday 10/26 at 1:00 p.m.

If you live in the Southern Cali area, you may want to consider signing up and taking this class...it's going to be a ton of fun.  There are also demos and Dick Blick Art Materials will be there as an onsite store.

I will be making some extra kits for this event and if I do have any left, I will be sure to let you know!

If you do plan to come, you will need to bring the following: 

pencil, eraser, scissors, ruler, paper trimmer, 1/4" hand held circle punch, bone folder, UHU glue stick, brayer.

 

Hope to see you there...sticks and ribbons together are so much fun!

inspired to give by the generosity of others...

This morning, I finally opened up all of my teacher gifts from the Artistic Affaire event last weekend.  I have got to tell you that I was truly overwhelmed by the generosity of the givers...everything from gorgeous vintage hand made jewelry to candy, to soaps and bubble baths, hand made collage canvases, candles, books, journals...the list can just go on...and then there's the amazing packaging, too!   You know, these ladies totally didn't have to do any of that...for me, knowing that they loved what they were doing and making was definitely thanks enough.  But this kind of thoughtfulness really amazed me...what a weekend of giving it was!

There is something so very special about receiving gifts...it makes me want to give back.  Opening those gifts this morning inspired me to give...and that's what I'm going to do.

What I'm going to give away is the last "Secret" kit that I have.  It was the featured creatologie kit a couple of months ago and I taught it at the store yesterday...now I want to give one away.  It doesn't matter if you already have one...you could make another and give it away to someone else!

Here's all you have to do...just post a comment between now and Tuesday morning (that would be October 14th) and I'll pick a winner around noon, Arizona time on Tuesday.

What I'd love for you to share with all of us is how someone has recently been generous with you...don't have to mention names or anything, just how you've been impacted by someone's giving spirit.

Thanks so much for reading, for commenting, and for sharing so much of yourselves with me!

Thursday Random Ramblings...

  I've been up since 3:45 this morning, finishing the last of the reports due to my accountant today.  I promised him I'd get them to him Thursday morning and I hand delivered them to him at 11:00 a.m.  Who said I was a procrastinator??? A true procrastinator would have delivered them at 11:59, right?  Ah, the things we say to make ourselves feel better.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit giddy now...many days of lots to do with little sleep...I think it's caught up with me today.

I promised to show you pix of the bracelets we made at French General...well, not me specifically, since Beth so kindly did mine...but all of us had choices as to whether we wanted pink, neutral or green.  Since I already had all three (told you I was a collector), I thought I'd go for another neutral one.  What is so awesome is that all of the charms are different from my first one.  Yay!

Here's another pic with the charms all spread out.  Just love it.

In other random ramblings, I saw the illusive Houdini himself, Fred, yesterday morning.  As the nights are getting cooler, he is becoming much more reclusive...I'm guessing that he's trying to find a place to hibernate during the "cold" winter.

He obviously wanted nothing to do with me...as soon as he posed for his picture, he took off running...well, running for a turtle.  That boy can boogie when he wants to.

I think he was a little put out by the fact that he had gotten wet.  Vern had the drips on in the backyard to water the bushes and trees and he probably ended up with a little shower.  No worries about him, though, as it's still in the 90's during the day, plus it's bright and sunny!

In teaching news, I've got a class going tomorrow at Scrapbooks, Etc. at 10:30 a.m.

I am teaching "It's A Secret" at the request of Marti, the owner.  She thought it would be fun to have the book that was featured as my August kit taught in person at the store so that's what I'm going to do.

What you are seeing is the "diamond book" insert...it is so much fun to make and surprisingly easy!

So, if you have some vacation time coming or you feel the need of a mental health holiday (OK, the business owner in me is cringing about that :))), it's not too late to sign up.  I've made a couple of extra kits, just in case someone just had to come!  Just call the store tonight at 480-854-2303.  Maybe I'll see you there!

I think that's about it for my ramblings...hope you have a great night and, if I don't post before then, a great weekend!

taking a little break

I've been crunching numbers all day...not one of my favorite things to do.  So, to balance that out, I've been thinking and smiling about my weekend.

I had the opportunity to drive out to Southern Cal with Beth Quinn, a fabulous jewelry designer and altered artist.  I've known Beth for a long time...she took several of my classes at Memory Lane when I first started teaching mini book classes there.  It was so great to reconnect with her...it's like we picked up right where we had left off.  She said it well when she commented that the trip felt like it only took a couple of hours.  Check out her work...I am now a proud owner of a Beth Quinn original!

The second great opportunity was to room with Becky Novacek, who was there as an event photographer.  I had booked a session with her and was looking forward to that.  I had only met Becky once but had heard from everyone about how nice she was...but you know, there are always these little nigglings going on in the brain-like, what if we don't get along?  Well, absolutely no worries along that line!  We got along fabulously...in fact, we spent so much time talking that we almost missed our complimentary hotel breakfast the first morning.  We found out that we had tons in common...and it's so great to know that I have another great friend in this industry.  She is an amazing photographer and I really enjoyed my sessions with her.

On Friday, after getting set up at Kim's house, Beth, Becky and I took off to Fullerton to check out Gilding The Lily, a store specializing in vintage trims, beads and findings.  It was definitely a fun store with really unique items and beautiful displays.  The photo above is one of the displays in the jewelry area.  Nancy had a ton of old buttons, appliques and silk flowers and we had fun rummaging through them.

We discovered a cool alley behind the store that was an amazing spot for a photo shoot.  Luckily for me, Becky had her camera and took some of my headshots...an amazing backdrop of old brick covered with ivy and old moss.

After our great time in Fullerton, we headed up to Hollywood for our little soiree at French General.  If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am a huge fan who has purchased many jewelry kits from them, as well as all of Kaari's books.  Going to the store was definitely a dream come true.  The store was closed except for the 30 of us who came to make a bracelet and shop.

  Here's a pic of Beth and Becky outside of the store.  It's a tiny cottage just jammed with French fabrics, soaps, vintage flowers, jewelry findings and various jewelry notions.  Of course, I found some great treasures that just had to come home with me.

I also came home with a great bracelet but I have to make a true confession here.  I didn't actually put it together myself...Beth did it for me.  I've mentioned before that I'm jump ring challenged and when I laid out the various parts and pieces under lighting that wasn't all that great, I knew that it would be a very frustrating time for me.  So, rather than struggle and ruin the pleasure of the experience, I asked Beth to put mine together.  She is quick and did a fabulous job!  So, she was happy making jewelry and I was happy wearing it!

On Sunday, a whole group of us went over to the Santa Monica flea and lunch.  It was great seeing Mary from Sweetpeas and Snapshots again...here is a pic from her booth.

I found just a couple of things at the flea...but it was fun watching Beth and Becky find their treasures.

After lunch, Beth and I took off for home...chatting the whole way from Cali to Arizona.  What a great weekend doing all of the fun things I love to do-shop, eat, teach, and be with great friends.

It's amazing how something like memory art has impacted my life and I know that I have been blessed so much by the people that I've met and grown to know along this journey.

So, thanks for reading and for being a part of my life!

Breaktime is over...back to work!