End of Year

It all culminated in a very nice, and relaxing Christmas day. I am taking a sabbatical until New Year's! I plan on enjoying my husband, who is on vacation; and my 2 boys! I will need a very long afternoon in my Studio to set up for a fresh new year; so that's on my list. I will also be reckoning my financials for 2009. There's always something satisfying about wrapping up an old year and having a clear slate to begin fresh...

To all my artistic friends; thank you for your support and friendship this year, and look forward to many upcoming events and making Art!

See you next year!

So the Christmas shows begin! Last weekend was a lot of fun; a church Christmas bazaar is a nice way to ease in to thinking about all the things that need to get done before the end of December.
I always have fun doing shows with my good friend Julie; we help each other and have a lot of fun. Looking at a couple new shows for next year.

I have been working on some new canvas collages; 6X6 and smaller themed collages. I made a handful of them last weekend. Once I started, I couldn't stop. They are so cute.My work table looked like a tornado hit! Of course it always does, so I'm not sure how I can tell the difference!

I attended the Art of Carolinas on Thursday and Friday; there's a lot going on. I only worked on Thursday, which was fun; but I took and awesome class by Patti Brady--layers and layers of Golden products.Loved it! Then of course the shopping was great; nothing to buy for husband or sons. haha

This weekend requires a lot of catching up and cleaning. It's been a long week of later than usual nights for me. I'm on the downhill slide from being a Band Booster Mom; the season is almost over. The cool and cloudy weather will at least keep me in the house. Maybe even a session in the studio for work on some new Christmas ornaments...

Just a quick invitation--Imaginese Gifts in Cary is hosting a Meet the Artist Evening on the Friday after Thanksgiving, from 6 to 7:30PM. Light refreshments, music, and several local artists will be on hand to meet and talk about their work. Take your out of town guests to jump on Holiday shopping, and to get out of the house! Andrea has an awesome selection of unique items; a very cool store!

Getting down to business...

Now is a great time for getting my studio ready for the Holiday Season Shows. I'm trying to clean and reorganize for prodution time. I did de stash by bringing a bagful to the CMMAG meeting at Scrap Exchange last week. It was a fun event, making ATC'S for the Art of Carolinas in November. I had never made an ATC before! Mini Art! Everyone in the group is super nice.

I have some work to do before October--Charm swap, and I have the perfect raw material to make mine! Old bus tokens from Springfield, Mass. Always go to the flea market when you ned something. I also am starting the AOC challenge canvas this week, I do better with a deadline, and this one is coming up!

Stop out sometime and visit Imaginese Gifts in Cary! This is an awesome store/gallery that has recently started to carry my glass and scrabble tile pendants. Owner Andrea has a huge seletion of unique jewelry, home gifts, and Art of all kinds. She is located at Stonecreek Village on High House Rd. between Davis and 55.

Lazy Daze 2009

Lazy Daze has come and gone. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and a lot of rain! It was also pretty successful; although several people noticed a smaller turnout than most years. Economy, threat of rain? Who knows? I love doing this show, though. I had a lot of repeat customers, and met some great new ones. Thanks to all who stopped by my booth!
A lot of appreciation for my "staff"---Lauren, Julie, Peggy, and Lois (mom:)) You are all out of sight! I could never ask for better friends! Honorable mention to my husband Dave, and my boys Matt and Chris for heavy lifting and setting up the %&^%$##% EZ UP tent! Even my Dad loaned me his van :)
I always like to introduce something new to my inventory at a show; my glass tile pendants were almost a sellout! The worry stones went over well, too. Back to the drawing board for a new idea for the Christmas Season shows...
Now I turn my attention to art waiting to be created: Art of the Carolinas challenge, CMMAG charm swap, (as well as my nametags!) I can't wait to get into the bag for the AOC and start making something fabulous!

Down to the Wire

A week and a half until Lazy Daze; why do I wait until the last minute and then work like a demon? I hope to get a lot of work done in the next week. As far as the heat goes, I am wishing for a repeat of last year's great weather. Crossing my fingers for sun, some fluffy white clouds and temps in the 80s...

I have discovered you really can bring very little in the way of supplies and still get a lot of work done. I was away last week as a camp chaperone, and brought my Goodwill travel case with some foil tape, glass, and hand painted papers. Did a lot of wrapping and burnishing. So as soon as the temperature drops below 120 degrees in my garage, I'll get in a soldering session.

I joined the CMMAG at their last meeting, and I already missed the first meeting since I was out of town. I am excited to join this group of very talented and enthusiastic artists. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. I am looking forward to the challenge we will be working on for display at the Art of the Carolinas. and the CMMAG Charm swap. I was involved in the CPS swap, and I loved it. Maybe I can fill in my charm bracelet...

Now that I have my light box in operation,I'm finally getting around to posting a picture of the charm exchange I participated in with my Artful friends; and Cloth Paper Scissors! Mine are the black background postage stamps, the green orange glitter handpainted paper by Christine, the sexy eye is Lynn, and the others are from the magazine exchange. I want to use them on a bracelet, but I would like a lot more charms! I might have to get another swap going, it was so much fun getting the package in the mail. It's neat to see what everyone thought of when "charm" was the challenge; quite an array of ideas.

Quick Picture update

Here is a picture of my lightbox--if I can make it, anyone can!

The Lightbox is Ready!

The lightbox is built! A free box from BJ's, some clear packing tape, a yard of plastic table cover runner (white), and a box cutter! I spent about 50 cents on the white poster board to make a seamless background. So I spent about an hour in the making, and fired it up out in the back yard. It was sunny and perfect to test it out. I took pictures for 2 listings on Etsy, which I actually already edited and posted! Many thanks to Jane from Ornamentea for all the great tips I got from her photo class I took in March. She is very talented at the technical end as well as making some awesome jewelry :)
I had a small show this past weekend at Downtown Live in Moore Square. Let it suffice to say, not every venue will be a success. BUT, you never know until you try. My friend Julie helped and kept me company. Trust me, it took a very good friend to do this!!!
Check out my Etsy site to see the glass tile and scrabble tile pendants I just listed, let me know what you think. I think I have figured out the computer part, so I will be listing more items very soon.

Treasures don't come in chests, they come in the mail!

I love a good package! There is nothing better than walking down to the mailbox and finding a package with craft supplies waiting for me. Two days in a row; my Mom would call that a "Lucky Strike Extra"! I am going to spend part of this weekend making some of those popular glass tile pedants that have papers glued on from the back, and silver pendant bails. They are sooo cute and I want several for me! Plus my studio table is pretty clean and organized for once. I have been thinking maybe some with vintage dictionary text, some with art glitter, and some with old photos I have been wanting to use. I hope to also finally construct my lightbox (what a procrastinator I have been). There may also be a few garage sales in my future if I get out of bed early enough. I would love to restock my supplies of scrabble tiles, watches, buttons, etc.
I love stuff!

Time management has gone awry!

Well, It's been a long time since I've posted. How the times gets by me so fast, I will never understand. Maybe when the kids are on their own I will have all the time in the world (doubtful, I am a world class procrastinator!)
I have finished the custom soldered collages; and the pictures are coming soon! I was pleased with the results; and so was the recipient! I enjoyed the process of putting someone's memories behind glass for safekeeping, and thanks go out to my friend Peggy for putting her trust in me to do her family memories justice!
The charm exchange. Well, the charms have been exchanged, and they are SO cute! I would love to do another just so I can have some more; I am going to put them on a bracelet so they can make lots of noise and attract all sorts of attention!!! I thank the Displaced Design Team (Lauren, Lynn, and Christine) for all their effort and creativity. Speaking of that, they were away this weekend at the Inspired Art event this weekend. They had a wonderful time, and said they would share what they learned. I am going next year, no matter what. I need to be Inspired!
Now I am moving forward. I have one show left for the spring season, this Sunday. I will be running my booth at the Bluegrass Festival in Cary; I guess I will discover if I like Bluegrass haha. Then I am on to preparing for Lazy Daze and working in earnest on my Etsy site. I took the photography class, and I am itching to use what I learned.

Custom Work~The Upside

I am in the midst of making 3 custom soldered glass collage frames for a friend of mine. There is a combination of scrapbooking and collage behind soldered glass. When they are done, each will hang by a silver chain with ribbons/fibers hanging from the chain. These are so pretty, and having someone share the personal story behind the content is humbling. I always hope when I make a custom piece that it's what the person has envisioned. I appreciate how people put their trust in me to do their item justice.
I never know how something is going to turn out when I start; I just start pulling papers, stamps, etc. out from drawers and boxes. As I begin, things always just seem to fall into place, and then I remember "just the right" paper or embellishment to add.
There will be a picture to follow when I finish; I'll see if my friend minds her frames on public display.
It is time to buy a new tiny-point tip for the soldering iron, I dropped mine and it's now in the shape of a fishing hook! OOps.s

Designer's Downtown Market~Chilly, but successful!

My show today was pretty darn good; cold in the morning (why is it this cold on the second day of spring in NC?) but a great show. Coffe and crepes had free refills on delicious coffee, yay!
This was my first time at this show, and it was enjoyable seeing vendors and their goods that I've never seen before.
I even had a little time to practice photographing my work inside the tent, since the light was right. Too bad I'm too tired to download the pictures tonight! Need to take all those Etsy pictures.
As long as my trusty assistant manager came to help today (my sister Lauren), I felt as though I should do my part for the economy and do a little shopping. I found a few cute photos at Stacey's trunk show inside Ornamentea, some tiny glass bevels, and a beautiful heart pendant from Isabels Rose that I needed.
Now to take a few days off before I think about the next show. I'm sure I'll be feverishly working up until the night before, as always.

So the Designer's Downtown Market has been postponed until next weekend due to the cold and rain (an excellent choice!) Come out on the 21st; it's sure to be a nice weekend!
Meanwhile, there's plenty on my (craft) table to keep my busy. This gives me time to complete some recycled CD clocks I've been working on, and to try a few new finishes on some old tins.
Working on the charm swap entry; they will have some OLD postage stamps on them, as well as some glitter. I thought I'd make some extra, maybe for a gift bracelet.
Next Friday is the next meeting of the displaced design team! We'll see how everyone is coming along with their charms.

Last night was an awesome background night; I spent a couple of hours in the studio making handpainted backgrounds for some new cards! Working with alcohol inks is one of my fave techniques; on watercolor paper. Then, twinkling h20-like paint, and then sprinkled with some kosher salt actually ended up looking like leather! This was definitely an unexpected surprise, but looks pretty good.

I am starting to prep for the first of my spring shows; the Designer's Downtown Market in downtown Raleigh is March 14th in the parking lot of Ornamentea. Never done this show before...I need to repair the ripped tent panel I was going to fix last year. I will be at the Cary Spring Daze on April 25th, the Apex Peakfest on May 2nd, and the Carolina Bluegrass Festival at Regency in Cary on May 17th. Looking forward to the Spring!

I hope the snow and cold temperatures are long gone by then, this is crazy NC weather

Craft Goings On

This is almost better than opening up a brand new journal and writing in it for the first time! Even though my laptop doesn't have that wonderful smell of new PAPER, writing in my new blog is too exciting!!
There is so much going on in my crafty little world right now, it's an exciting place for me to be. Almost done with my website, and getting ready for the spring season of craft shows is keeping me busy.
A special craft project I am getting involved in is the Cloth,Paper, Scissors mixed media Charm Swap. My craft buddies and I are getting together to create our own charms (nothing encourages creativity like working alongside other likeminded individuals). These girls are great, and inspire me to stretch my imagination.
I just have to squeeze in all those other menial chores, like errands, housework, laundry. Yuk!
Someone's got to do it, though! And a recent reorganization in my Studio has me liking going in there...