Hey!

I am still breathing. (Barely.) I have caught yet another bug so I am lying low and trying to shake it. Too exhausted to make any art this week, but I am looking forward to working with a new design team for my local scrapbooking store beginning next month.

Hope all of you are faring better than I during flu season. I will update as soon as I feel human again.

Must Haves!!

Okay so for those of you who know me in person, you have probably heard me raving about my friend Angie's marbled papers.For those of you who don't the scoop is that Angie makes them all herself using vintage ephemera. The marbling over the text is gorgeous. I have been after her to offer them for sale because I know people will be as delighted with them as I am.

So...guess what?!? She has listed them!! You can find them here. I think they are an absolute steal! Go have a peek and tell her I sent ya!

True Colours Journal Project

I bought myself a copy of True Colours about a week and a half ago as an early birthday present. After pouring over it and reading it from cover to cover, I knew I just had to recreate this project. I was just so inspired.

I asked 5 other artist friends to join me and we are now in the process of organizing a journal for ourselves and deciding on a colour pallet. I have chosen Red. I am thinking of my journal as Red and_____. This means red & cream, red & white, red & black, red & grey and so on. The main focus of my pages will be red with some sort of accent colour to set it off. I can envision some of the pages already and I found the perfect journal to use. It has Chicago screws so the others can undo it if need be to work on their pages. I am *SO* excited!!

In the meantime, I am busy teaching and working on art for my classes. It's been hectic, but I am enjoying myself. It's exciting to see people learning about altered books and how creative everyone is. It's a blessing to be able to do what you love.

I added a couple of new ATCs to the ATC gallery. I am headed to Bellingham, armed with birthday money to shop myself silly with a friend and then go to the ATC swap. One more sleep!! *grin*

A collage I made using a layer of text from an Asian book and then a scrap of napkin as an overlay. I added the Buddha stamp from Paper Artsy over top. I was pleased with how it came out. 

It's My Birthday!!

Dh and ds gave me the nicest birthday gifts today, one of which was a Lyra MP3 Player! I am so thrilled! It means I can listen to my favourite CDs while I am working on my art, regardless of whether or not anyone is home and watching tv! YAY!

I am turning into quite the little gizmo girl. I wish my Gramps were still alive to see this thing-I know he would love it. He always loved gizmos-I guess we are two peas in a pod that way. Technology is a wonderful thing!

I am in the process of ripping all my CDs so I can listen to them on my Lyra. It's taking some time but once they are in there, it won't be so much work-I can just add new ones as I get them. I treated myself to Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company with some of my b-day money. That was the first thing I put on my Lyra. MMMM Ray!

On other news, I guess I shold update on the art projects I am surrently working on. Here's the list:
-Working on starting my journal for a True Colours RR I am hosting. I am really excited about this! 6 of us are working together which I think is a good number. I just found the PERFECT journal yesterday to do it in!!
- Penn's ABC collaborative book. I have 3 letters to work on and I will be starting that hopefully by the week's end. I have letters C, H & Q.
-I also have my monthly creative letter to write for the group project I am doing on N'ness. I have to get that done and in the mail by tomorrow!! Yikes!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head for now. (Plenty by my calculations! LOL!)

Happy Spring everyone, happy arting!

More News!

Oh the updates keep on coming! On Monday, I received and email from Artella informing me that they recommended my website in their daily e-newsletter. If you want to check them out, they are on my links page.

Yesterday I also added a link to a wonderful new website called Cowboy's Sweetheart which belongs to the talented Deb Trotter. She sent me the lovliest email and I liked her instantly. Go look at her work-it's so wonderful and unique.

In my little corner of the world, I am recovering from being ill again. This is the winter of vicious head colds. I have no idea how I got through the last week-it's all a blur. I've taken the last couple of days off working on art just to regroup. My workspace was an utter disaster since I spent last week prepping for 2 classes. I tidied it up yesterday and found the table top! Imagine that!!

I am on the verge of launching a True Colours Journal project with 5 friends after treating myself to an early birthday gift of Somerset Studios' True Colours book. It totally inspired me and I just knew it was something I had to do. I decided on Red for my journal. I can totally envision art in red & black, red & cream, red & grey...Seeing as Red is the signature colour of Aries, it seemed like a good idea. I know this is going to be amazing. I can't wait to get started.

Also on deck is pages for my friend Penn's ABC collaborative book. I have letters Q, C, and H. I just need to sit down and get them done. This weekend is the Vancouver ATC swap and I have ATCs to make! I am going to try and get those done later this morning.

Luckily I added a very good CD to my collection yesterday to put on and crank up while I work. I bought *Michael Buble's "It's Time". He is very much like Harry Connick JR.-an old style crooner, except he's young, he's cute and he's from VANCOUVER, BC!! Yes, a local boy makes good!! Gotta love that! If you click on the link, you can hear my favourite track from his album called "Home" on his website.

Okay off to greet the dawn! Happy creating everyone!

*that's pronounced "Boo blay".

Update!

This girl's gone Zeti wild! I just finished 3 more Zeti Journal pages and uploaded them to Gallery 2. I had no idea how wild and fun this swap was going to be, but now I am anxious to see what the other players are going to come up with. It's going to be interesting!

Enjoy!

Updates!

I added some brand new art to Gallery 2 this evening. Look for the Zettiology Journal Pages. You will find an explanation of this project there too!

I also added new work for Paper Artsy's rubber stamp line in Gallery 5.

That is all for now! :)

Satan's Laundromat

Last July I went to NYC for the first time. (I had overnighted there before way back in 1987, but that was due to a missed flight and I don't remember much since I was so exhausted from traveling.)

Anyway, I fell in love with the city and the people this time around. The city is so frenetic-much louder, bigger and faster than Vancouver, but somehow it got under my skin and now I miss it. When I need a NYC fix I visit this really cool photoblog called Satan's Laundromat. (Thus named after a picture of a laundromat featuring the address 666.) It belongs to a guy named Mike whose photos are amazingly observant. He somehow captures life on a microcosmic level. He see things most people just completely miss. I added him to my links page on my website about a year ago so others could appreciate his gift. If you haven't checked it out, go have a peek. You will see the city in a way no one else does. It's amazing.

Sunshine Coast

I will be teaching in Half Moon Bay, BC in June. I am really excited to be working there. From all accounts, it's a beautiful studio and I love the area. I have been to the Sunshine Coast many times for quilting retreats and it is just so gorgeous. The bonus is that is is not very far from home so you can feel like you've gotten away without spending 90% of your time away traveling to your destination. There's lots of trees, mountain and ocean to enjoy for us city folk. Can't wait!!

I have lots of art in the works so new stuff will be posted as I finish things. I actually sent off pages for a collaborative book and FORGOT to scan the pages! I can't believe I did that! Yikes! Hopefully though the completed book will be on my doorstep before too long.

Calling card from the 1850's. I bought this one and the one below just because they are so pretty. 

I chose this one for the poem on it. 

NEW BOOK!!

I have added a new book to my collection. I picked up a copy of Altered Art : Techniques for Creating Altered Books, Boxes, Cards & More by Terry Taylor. I had looked at it several times and my rule is if I can't stop browsing in it, I need to buy it.

The book is chock full of beautiful art and wonderful ideas. It also has some art by the ever-so-talented Tracy Roos. (Tracy your book Pandora's Box is gorgeous and so meaningful!) I have paged it over and over and every time I come away feeling inspired.

Anyhoo, it's wonderful and I am really enjoying it! My art library is growing in leaps and bounds lately. If you are wondering what's in it, take a look at my reading page on my website. I have listed all the art books I own and love there. Lots of good stuff!

Updates!!

Hi All! I have been busy working on updating my web site again. Yesterday my dear friend Kelly came over and gave me a crash course in using two new softwares to do this with. I am amazed how much easier it is to use these programs than the old ones! I am beginning to be more "techie"!

You will be seeing changes made to most of the pages. So far I have added to all but the "More Words" page which has quotes I love on it. I still have to take some pics of the two new collaborative books I have. I hope to have them up for viewing by the weekend. I am slowed by a killer migraine tht has been off and on all week so please bear with me!

Guess that' s it for now!