Artiscape, Art & Soul Hampton revisited!

Goodies on our Vendors table at Art & Soul

Wow has time ever flown! In a little less than 3 weeks Mike and I've been all over the place, and visited with friends from around the country!

First, we had a visit with our good friends Kathy from TN, and Andi from WV. So nice they could come in early and spend time with us! First Mike made us his awesome world famous ribs, we enjoyed the comedy styling of John Pinette. The next day the girls and I spent a glorious day stimulating the economy of Dublin Ohio at Miss Biddies Coach House & Tea Room, and then shopping at The Morgan House. Not finished yet, we finished the day with a car full of goodies from The Greater Columbus Antique Mall.

From then the race was on. Artiscape was in full swing, with Mike, Kathy and I setting up and them vending while I demo-ed my new favorite tools, Knead-a-mold and Casting Resin! (More on that later!!!) So all day & night Friday and Saturday we were swamped busy. Our booth was small but mightily filled with goodies, and the shoppers and other vendors were so much fun!

Sunday was my "Happy Bird Sings" clay covered journal class, taking the majority of our day. Had great students, and a lot of fun. Andi shot home after her classes, and Kathy and Mike and I wound down getting Kathy ready for the Airport the next morning.

Upon arriving home from the airport, I was lucky enough to spend time with my cousins Wendy and Laura. Sadly, we lost Laura's mom- my Aunt Linda, and I was heartbroken at not being able to attend the funeral due to my Artiscape commitments, but thank goodness I got to spend time with my girls. We were the closest in age, and so of course we spent lots of time together growing up. I miss my time with my cousins. Now that I'm always travelling, Wendy is in CA and Laura has 5 kids- that time is precious and scarce these days. They kindly helped me re-stock my supplies for my booth and we spent nice times together at the Antique mall and then splurged on Jeni's Ice Cream. If you've never had their Bangkok Peanut....OHHHH MY! Thai Chili Spice, Peanuts and Coconut....ice cream that sets your mouth on fire....I DREAM of it...

Then Easter! And Mike was on the freeway, and a Canadian Goose flew right into the car! Smashed the windshield, dented the roof, and sent glass all over him. The Lord was good and spared Mike from any injury, and other than being shaken and having an un-driveable car, all was well. We scrambled, and Mom lent us her car, as the very NEXT day we were to leave for Art & Soul in Hampton VA.

Mike's Easter Goose Encounter

We loaded the car to the gills, and headed out- stopping at Andi's to spend the night. Mapquest said it was exactly halfway... Mike and I were used to our GPS, and my Mom's was totally different. We ended up going thru the most twisty, turny, 180 degree, one laned roads, but we eventually got there, and we had a lovely, VERY rural drive doing it. We hit an antique store with Andi and found even more goodies, and had a fun dinner out. A nice evening chatting and then off to bed to get ready for the next day. Of course Andi had prepared her WORLD FAMOUS Creme Brulee' French Toast, and so Mike and I waddled to the car and said goodbye, knowing we would meet up with her again in a few days at Art & Soul!

Mike and I went through the Monongahela National Forest & Park, and the George Washington State Park on our way to Hampton Virginia. Lovely all- stomach did not like the curves much though...

Hooray! We arrived at Art & Soul, and I taught 2 full classes of the most awesome and open-minded, creative artists! Each and everyone a happy success story! Fluid Romance and Event Journals Extraordinaire! Can't say enough good about the experience! Everyone was positive and happy and thrilled to be there, enjoying the venue and each others company! Class spaces were wonderfully large and comfortable. The hotel rooms were lovely suites with plenty of space to sit and work and still be comfortable.

I got to spend good down time with my friends Christy from VA and Deb from TX, along with Andi and a new friend Adriane. Seemed I also got to quickly connect and see dozens of friends in the halls and at breakfast every day.

I also was fortunate to meet several of my art heroes- which is always a big kick! I was so pleased to meet Suzanne McNeill, Pam Carriker, Lesley Riley and Susan Lenart Kasmer. Fabulous ladies each and every one!

Vendors Night came, and with a WHOOSH it went, but boy did our booth just BLOW OUT the goodies! Can't believe how many empty containers we had on the table at the end of just 3 hours! I just barely had a few minutes before opening to scour the room, and a few minutes after closing to go back and pick up my treasures. I always have to stop at Lesley and Tom Venables table- they have the most MARVELOUS goodies! And Lesley is an awesome instructor on top of it all!

Finally the sad day came. Art & Soul was over, and we headed home. Mike and I shopped at little out-of-the-way antique shops all the way home to restock our supplies for our vending booth again. And WOW! What cool stuff we found! Can't wait to show you!

Whew! If you've hung-on this long, my thanks. I don't know when I'll get to get back again, as I am leaving for the CREATE Retreat in Costa Mesa CA in just a few days, and I am crazily getting ready for those classes. Unpacking, Repacking, Restocking and Shipping has taken it's toll on the house. Thank goodness Mike will be home this time, to keep things under control!

Whoosh!

WOW! has time ever flown by since my last post! I've been just BLASTED with work and home life. I've not yet unpacked everything from Artiscape, because Mike and I had to leave for a job just a day or so after the Artists Retreat.

Artiscape was WONDERFUL- and the people who took my classes just could not have been any sweeter! I always try to plan enough techniques so the artists will be busy the entire class. But we were having so much fun I think we really could have used a couple MORE hours.

The meals were yummy, and the Afternoon tea was divine on Sunday. The venue was smaller, but seemed more cosy, and was certainly more convienient. There was always something to see or do, and the vendors were well stocked with great products.

As usual, I hit the Meadors "Coffee Break Design" booth pretty good, and have tons of cool pieces to make art with, as well as "Rock Candy Studios" and "Random Arts," "Studios Blackbird," " Invoke Arts," " 10 Seconds Studio,"" Altered Art Source," "Paper & Ink Arts," "Mercart," " ERA Graphics," " Diane Maurer Hand Marbled Papers," and " Stamp Zia." There were probably some others in there too, but my brain is on excitement overload.

There was a Sisters of the Secret Fatbook Society get together late on Friday night, that was a huge success. It was so much fun getting to know new friends and reacquainting with friends from other years!

I also got to spend a few minutes with some of my Altered Art Diva sisters, and that was a true highlight of the day for me!

Oh- and I was lucky enough to win one of the door prize raffles! I couldn't believe my luck! Tons of delicious Golden products! I can't wait to dig into them.

The week or so before Artiscape, my little King Charles Cavalier Sophie all of the sudden couldn't use her rear two legs. She was fine one moment, then later that night, it's like she got overly weak. So it was worried, hurried trips to the vet, medicnes, more trips to the vet, and then to OSU School of Vet. Science. More meds. In the beginning, they didn't hold out too much hope.

It was a terrible week for doggies- 2 other art friends lost their furbabies that same week! I was not in a happy creative place, and was panicking about it- knowing I had classes to teach and needed cheer and energy and creativity despite a breaking heart!

After many prayers and tears, Sophie is slowly responding, and getting more active. She's only just 8, so not that old for a little dog. It threw me for a big loop- I was in tears for days. But I mean- look at this sweet face- how could you NOT love it??? Please ignore the two squinting people loving on her.....

Anyway, Mike and I are just back from a location photo shoot in Bettendorf Iowa, where we had rain rain and more rain. IT was a 4 hour drive once we flew into Chicago, so we broke up the driving with stops at antique malls. Found some AWESOME stuff! Will share in my upcoming posts. Shew- It's good to be back!

I'm swamped!

Several of you have emailed me wondering where I've been- Thought I'd post a few quick peeks at what I've been up to the last week or so-

I've been getting ready for my upcoming Artiscape classes ! The kits are jammed packed with things, and many of the items needed to be cut to size for speed in the class. Here's only one classes' kits, and they were only 1/2 done at this point! They are spreading out all over the house. Not to mention the 40+ Fatbooks I'm assembling on the dinning room table.

Trying to get this done around daily life has been challenging. I needed to make sure the little one was getting plenty of time too. SO out came the Easy-Bake oven, and it was light bulb cooked cakes for everyone.....

Busy Busy Busy

I've been down with that awful stomach virus that is going around in the area. Can't really get far from the house to get anything done, and so I've been busy working at the house online. Besides trying to get caught up for work, I've also been busy busy busy creating my booklets for the classes I'm teaching at Artiscape in April. It's funny how my hands can fly and do something so much faster than the time it takes to write it down so it makes sense to someone else step-by step. I am having fun with them, enjoying the process.

As the time grows near, I'm getting very excited about Artiscape this year, as it will be the first year it's here in Columbus. I've gotten my teaching packet, and with a big sigh of relief I found that my classes are nicely filling up, with only a few spaces left in each. Shew! I've got tons of piles of delicious stuff in my studio that will be going into the class kits. And it's an all time record for the Annual Artiscape fatbook I am hostessing-42 copies!!! That's alot of covers and punching and binding! Thank goodness for Mike helping me!

Before I came down with the virus I was able to get my charms done (over 100) for the swaps and trading sessions...so that's one major project completed. (Sorry for the poor picture- I just didn't have the energy to get the big camera out- so the cell phone was handy.) It's tough to photograph those little glass bubbles, the light plays havoc with them, but they are really cute in real life-both the front and the back are decorated.

Artiscape Bound

Getting ready for Artiscape!


Carved rubber stamp

Rolled out clay

Clay pounced for texture, trimmed and adhered to cover

Clay stamped and baked

My grandfather passed away on the 4th of April. We had a wonderful celebration of his life and re-connected with old friends, and heard many stories that we will cherish always. It was difficult to go thru, but it was infinitely made easier by knowing Grandpa loved life, and lived it to the fullest and lived his life in a way he had no regrets. To have the assurance that he is rejoicing in Heaven with the Lord he dedicated his life to is a huge measure of peace.

Thru the sadness, I looked forward with eagerness to Artiscape. It was my 5th year to attend, and as always I was filled with new inspiration and ideas to the point of bursting. Mike and I left the morning after the funeral, the car loaded down with art supplies and snacks.

I loved getting to meet my dear online artist friends, and spend time with them all face to face. I enjoyed the creative energy and enthusiasim that engulfs the entire resort each year. I was thrilled to sit in classes with instructors of the highest caliber that I've admired for years, many of whom I own their books and videos. I so enjoyed getting to visit my favorite vendors and seeing all their goodies in real life, and re-stocking my ephemera and supplies. I reveled in the packing and re-packing just the right supplies to take (every year I always find stuff I forgot I had!) I was delighted to bring back armloads of finished projects each year!

This year it was held in Sandusky, at the Kalahari Resort. Artiscape is hostessed by Lisa Ohmer of European Papers fame. For more info on Artiscape be sure and visit her site here. http://www.europeanpapers.com/

In the wee hours of the night as my Grandparents rested, I was been busy binding our "Sisters of the Secret Fatbook Society" Artiscape 2008 Fatbooks so the "Sisters" could pick up the finished book at the event. We've worked ahead of time to have them swapped out and completed for the event. That left us free to make trades of other kinds like ATC's and charms! The theme for this year was 'An evening in Casablanca.' We donated a fatbook to the silent auction that helped a benefitted a special school in Mtaya, Zambia, and it sold for $125!

I was inspired by the following artists and carved my own rubber stamp of what I felt represented an area archway to make all the covers of the Fatbooks. I rolled out the clay, pounced it with a kitchen scrubbie for texture, and adhered a trimmed piece of clay to the matboard cover with liquid sculpey. I took the stamp, pressed it into the clay, and followed up with the Artiscape logo rubber stamp. I baked according to the clay manufacturer's instructions. After baking, I used an acrylic glaze to darken the crevices.

Anne Bagby http://www.annebagby.com/ (Dear Anne taught me the wonders of GLAZES!)

Michelle Ward http://michelleward.typepad.com/michelleward/2008/03/cut-it-out

Dawn Rice http://artistreborne.typepad.com/artist_reborne/2008/03/a-new-crusade.html


Jo Wholohan http://artheartstudio.blogspot.com/2008/03/gpp-street-team-18.html

Almost ready, just waiting to be trimmed!