Monday, February 28, 2011

Key Largo, Here I Come!




One week from today I will be flying to Florida to teach a class in Key Largo. This all came about because of a woman writing and asking me if she could teach a class featuring my girls. I told her I would love to come and teach a class, and so it began. The journey to Key Largo. As I was getting some of my stuff ready today (while dealing with a flat tire and a cracked and very expensive rim...thank you California potholes!), a darling little lugage tag came in the mail today with my name on it. Sent by the pillow fairies! Hmmmm I wonder what else these little fairies have up their sleeves?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Procrastination


What do you do when there is absolutely no motovation in you? I clean! Organizing my little creative space today, I am hoping I will find some inspiration lurking on a shelf, inside a jar or hiding under a pile. I am at one of those points when I have a ton of little things to do. Packaging, embellishing, pricing...you know the stuff. All little, easy things to do, but what do I do? I procrastinate. Because there's nothing major, I say I can do it tomorrow and then all of a sudden tomorrow comes and there's too much to do! So I am hoping to get motivated to do something big, so I will have to finish all the small stuff before I start a major project.

I had a great weekend. Lots of rain and even snow in No. Calif. The rain brought out cooped up people for
my class and I ended up having a great time with 7 talented ladies at Scrapbook island in San Jose. Lots of personality in this class and all were creative so they needed little direction. Which is a good thing. It leaves more time for chatting! What I love most about teaching at scrapbook stores is the students normally are all about scrapbooking or card making so a lot of the techniques are new to them. It always makes me smile when they learn to stamp with bubble wrap or when they learn that Mod Podge is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Or they use Stickles for the first time and wonder where it's been all their lives.

So this post was a bit all over the place, wasn't it? Just like my head!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Paper Couture Class in San Jose


I will be teaching a class on Feb 19 at Scrapbook Island in San Jose. We will be making this little pretty, an 8x10 canvas which you will handpaint the background and use some fun collage techniques combined with the paint. Don't worry...you don't have to know how to draw for this class, I will provide a pattern! Cost is just $40. All materials included.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

January came and went


City Girl    A gift for my neice

January seems to have come and gone. I posted just once last month! It became a month of focus, planning and newness. Sounds kind of boring, huh? But not really. I sat down and planned how many shows , workshops and magazine submissions I need to do in the next 6 months to make the amount of dollars I want (need!) to make. This forced me to focus on emails and phonecalls to any stores, venues and magazines that I've been thinking of working with. A day at CHA gave me the opportunity to meet many people in the business and of course makes me think of the endless possibilities that could lie ahead.
I also took on a part time job putting together programs and such to revitalize an ailing art association into a thriving community gathering spot for artists. I welcome any thoughts on this as it is a little bit overwhelming at first. I will focus on some senior and kid programs, beginning the the grant writing process. There is a beautiful gallery space as well as a fabulous classroom space. If any locals out there need a low cost area to conduct workshops, let me know. We have kilns,wheels. easels, water. It's just a great space to create!
So that's been my January. I squeezed in a series of gypsy girls and mermaids for article submissions and oh yeah, a little makeover on my kitchen. Nothing major; just painted a chalkboard wall, changing the window coverings and sprucing up with a couple of ideas I brought back from the CHA booths. I will post later when I finish it all. Here's to a fabulous February!