Cures What Ails Ya!

So today I was feeling like total crud. I've been coming down with my annual ear, (possibly sinus) infection for the last week and feeling worse and worse. (And yes, I have been to the doctor.) Anyway, I decided to haul my sorry self out the door and go check out a new store down in Port Moody called Cherish the Thought.

I'd emailed the owner, Jessie Hurley a couple weeks ago to let her know I'd heard really good things about her store and was looking forward to visiting as soon as I could find a free moment. Today I finally got to meet her. She is very sweet and lovely, warm and friendly. I enjoyed chatting with her and felt as if I had known her a long time. It's always wonderful when you cross paths with someone like that.

The store is amazing-it's light and airy and yet when you walk in the door, you notice right away that it's jam packed with artsy goodness. The sign out front says "scrapbooking", but I would describe it as leaning more towards paper arts. (which is a good thing!) She carries everything from scrapbooking paper to a huge array of embellishments, to twinkling h2o's, to fun little antiques and handcrafted jewellery. The selection is endless and if you are looking for art supplies, this is a great place to find them!

In poking around, I came across this:

It's a 7 Gypsies ATC holder that turns into this:

I've been coveting one of these since they first came out but just couldn't bring myself to order it from the US because the shipping was pretty spendy. You have no idea how delighted I was to find this locally this morning! I have no idea where I am going to find the time to fill it up like this, but I had to have it.

Maybe if I keep the cards on my desk and just do one at a time when I have spare bits to use up or a few minutes to play I could someday have one like the sample...*dreams* Truthfully, I have a *thing* for office supply stuff and Rolladexes. (Let's just say I am artistically embracing my inner geek.)

Anyway, if you are local and have a chance, do stop by and check out Jessie's store. It's worth the trip and I am sure you won't walk away empty handed!

Spring Cleaning

Copyright Tattered Edge 2008

Yes, I am still here! I've just been taking some time to work on my studio. When we moved in, things were so frantic with Xmas coming and deadlines and then the new year was filled with a bunch of teaching engagements and before I knew it, the studio became a disaster area.

I am not a neat freak, but I can't work in chaos so this week I've been trying to clean up. I finally went out and bought myself a new work table. (From Ikea.) Believe it or not, I've been working on a 12 x 12 inch space for the last 7 years! It was time to upgrade a bit. My new table is not huge, but it's a fair bit larger than the old one. Of course you can't change one thing in a room without opening a Pandora's box. Once I got the new work table put together and into place, one thing led to another and I am now in the middle of cleaning, sorting and reorganizing.

My plan is that I would like to install some brackets and shelves in the closet in my studio so I can have a better storage system set up. Right now, everything is in boxes and when I need something, I have to take everything out in order to get to the box I need, which is always at the bottom of the pile. It's really annoying and a waste of precious time. The shelves should help alleviate this situation. I have really nice storage boxes with labels on the front that I can sort things into and then stack on the shelves. That will be the next project. Even if I don't get the shelves installed till the summer, I can still go through all the boxes, sort the contents and get them into the proper boxes so once the shelves are installed, all I have to do is put the boxes away.

I have also been looking through the studio organization books I own and getting ideas about how to make the most of the space I have. It's definitely a work in progress!

I did manage to work on some design work for Hannah Grey this week, before the cleaning bug bit. The image above is a salt box house journal which will be heading off to California shortly.

Good Stuff!

Aren't these lovely notebooks? I picked them up yesterday at De Serres. I have no idea what I am going to use them for, but I had to have them. The designs (by Carolyn Gavin) and colours are just so appealing. They're called EcoJot. They are 100% recycled paper and are acid free, processed chlorine-free paper and board. The glue and ink used to make them is vegetable based and biodegradeable. No new trees were cut down to create them and a portion of the proceeds from sales will go to support Evergreen. How's that for responsible consumerism?

They were fairly reasonable too-the small one with the bird is 3 x 4 and was $3.98 and the larger one which is 5 x 7 was just over $8. I am a true paper junkie-I have no idea what I will use them for, but I had to have them! They just made me happy and reminded me of spring.

It's been awhile since I've done "the list" so here's the latest!

Reading: I just finished High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed by Michael Kodas which was excellent. It was fascinating to read about the darker side of Everest expiditions-the stories that usually are covered up in an effort to preserve and maintain the business that is mountaineering on the world's ultimate peak.

I have several books stacked up on my bedside table:

The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance by Fritjof Capra

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

K2: One Woman's Quest for the Summit by Heidi Howkins

and Marley And Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan

It's anyone's guess which one I will be devouring next.

Watching: TV has been pretty sad since the writer's strike hit. Alot of the shows I love have not restarted yet and some are on hiatus. I have seen promos for "So You Think You Can Dance?" so I imagine that will be starting up in the next week or so. Other than that, I am waiting patiently for May 22nd to see the latest Indiana Jones adventure. I can't wait!!

Listening: My newest musical obsession is The Be Good Tanyas. I love their style and I've bought every album listed on iTunes. I am also enjoying Gaurenteed by Eddie Vedder from the Into the Wild Soundtrack. I wanted to like the movie, truely, I did, but I am too big a fan of Jon Krakauer's writing to have thought they could do the story justice in two short hours. Nope, you need to read the book, to truely understand and enjoy the depth and richness of the story.

Drinking: If you can't name my favoruite drink by now, you haven't been paying attention! *wink*

Anticipating: Warmer weather and being able to have the windows open during the day...although today it's hard to imagine, as it was sneauxing (yes, you read that right!) this afternoon when I went tp pick my son up from school. Oh and my birthday necklace arriving in the mail! I've got my eyes peeled!

Dreaming: Of the changes I want to make to my studio this summer to help things be more organized. I see shelves and a trip to Ikea in my future!

Doing: Preparing for upcoming classes!

Creating: Design work and waiting for some info on a secret project!

Last Bit of Artfest 2008

So my first class at Artfest was Perching Pixies with Stephanie Rubiano. I really enjoyed working with a jeweller's saw and the teeny blade. At first I thought it would be really hard to carefully cut out the image I wanted to use. I doubted that my first attempt would be clean and smooth, but surprisingly, it was! I have to give credit to my Gramps who blessed me with his mechanical ability.

The image I used was of my Gramp's grandfather. (My great great Grandfather, who was Gramps' mother's dad.) All I really know about him is they called him "old man Reimer" and he was from Russia. He was given a grant of land from the last Czar of Russia and so his family moved from Germany/Austria to Russia to farm. Eventually, they came over to Canada.

I managed to find a Smirnoff bottle cap, which I used to make his crown. And look at those teeny tiny screws. Yes, they are as small as you think they are! Stephanie gave us special teeny tiny screw drivers to work them with. I plan to mount this pixie in some sort of shadow box-it's not quite finished yet.

My favourite part of this class was spending time with my pal Gretchen who is just the loveliest person and also looking at all the wonderful pixies Stephanie has created. Working the saw created a ton of sawdust so I won't be making any more till the weather gets warm and I can work outside in the yard. That way I won't have to clean up the mess after-the wind will just blow it away!

Friday's class was Personal Icons with Anahata Katkin. This was the class I was waiting for. Last year I saw the work that came out of Anahata's classes and I was totally taken with it. My goal for Artfest this year was to learn how to be more painterly in my work. I don't want to learn how to paint, per se, but to learn how to incorporate paint into my work.

The first canvass, "Again We Rise" has been completed and the second (with the man) is still a work in progress. Since I have been home, I have completed a smaller canvass and started another. I had a great time sitting with my friend Diane and playing with the paint. The class moved fairly quickly so we didn't have time to over think things and fuss it to death. We just kept layer and working the canvass until we ran out of time. I have to say it was really freeing to work this way.

The last class on Saturday was Fe Fi Fauux with Linda & Opie O'Brien. I know this is the world's worst photo but I am recharging my camera's battery so it's going to have to do.

The idea in this class was to learn how to transform a piece of plastic to look like a piece of ivory. I also got to age some metal with a torch and draw a bead with the torch as well. Linda gave lots of help for those of us who were a bit intimidated by the torch. (I have immense respect for fire and flames, let me tell you!) I enjoyed the hammering part of the class. We hammered our metal to age it. It might be in part due to the fact that I had a nice new bench block and rivet hammer. I am a sucker for hand and power tools. There's just something so deeply satisfying about working with tools.

And of course, so trip would be complete without the shopping! The thing I bought that I am most excited about are the Caren D'arche crayons. We don't have them here in Canada and Penn and I managed to find these sets of 30. They were $54, but I believe worth every penny. I used Diane's in Anahata's class and fell in love with them.

These are mostly the spoils from Vendor's night. Everything but the ribbons, which I got at the bead/wool store in town.

And of course, an Arfest t-shirt and my wish list shoes! During Show & Tell on the last night, Lisa Call came to find me and tell me that a store in town was having a sale on the shoes I have been coveting for some time now. (Enabling, anyone? *laughs*)

I hopped into my car and flew down to the store. When I arrived, there were three women out on the street in front, but the store was closed. They had just come back because one was the store's owner and she realized she'd left a rack of clothing out on the street when she closed up. They asked what I needed and when they realized I was not only from out of town, but also out of country, generously agreed to let me in and sell me a pair of shoes. (That's the beauty of a small town for ya!)

They were completely out of red ones, which would have been my first choice, so I settled for buying these brown ones and I am happy I did-they will go with everything. They are extremely well made (as I remember from living in Spain and buying shoes there) and so I took them to the shoemaker here to have them stretched a bit. The leather is so thick it would take me an eternity to break them in on my own. I picked them up yesterday and they are now perfect! Once I was home, I discovered there are 3 stores in Vancouver that carry these shoes, so I will be buying another pair at some point, probably in red!

So, that's my Artfest. The time flew by so quickly and it was over all too soon. I had such a good time and now I am full of creative energy that will carry me through till next year....how many days till Artfest 2009?!?

Edit: Laura wanted to know what brand my new shoes are. They're El Naturalista.

Good Things

Copyright Tattered Edge 2008

Okay so they're not secrets, but I do have some things to share:

First off, my sweet friends Deryn & Deb got together to gift me with a very special birthday gift. Deryn created the most beautiful necklace for me and has posted pictures and the explanation of the piece is here. All I can say is WOW! and THANK YOU! to my two sweet friends for this incredible piece of art. I will treasure it always. I'll be haunting my mail box till it arrives!

Secondly, Paper Artsy is having a very cool contest and I wanted to be sure and let you all know about it. Here are the details:

We are very excited to announce we have an awesome *competition* this month. The prize is a full set of PaperArtsy Minis. That's 42 cool credit card sized stamps on EZ-Mount with a value of £197.40. (Nearly $400.00 USD).

What do you need to do to get your hands on the prize? We are looking for the most imaginative and original use of a Paper Artsy stamp or stamps. Hmmmm...how well can you think outside the box? Email us a photo (jpg) and we will announce the winner next month. Each week we'll post a selection of the entries on our blog.

This competition is open to all from anywhere in the world, so spread the word. Go have some fun & get your imagination spinning with the possibilities!!!!!!

Leandra Franich

Paper Artsy

And thirdly, Mick Mathers has begun working with an image I gave him permission to use, a birdhouse photograph taken down at my organic garden a couple of summers ago. You may follow his progress here.

Goodies!

There are some new goodies listed in my Etsy shop, the Tattered Edge Mercantile-new journals, ephemera packs, etc.!

I also wanted to let local folks know I have a couple of copies of the newest issue of Haute Handbags available if anyone is interested. This is a fabulous magazine. This issue features my 5 page article, "Totes to Treasure", an exchange I hosted last summer. The artwork for this article includes pieces from Kristin Steiner (my exchange partner), Caren McNee and Kathy Strittmater. There are also articles in this issue by my pals, Deb Trotter and Kristen Robinson. It really is a stellar issue-lots of eye candy and inspiration to be had. If you are interested in a copy, please email me. They are $14.99 (Canadian cover price) and not widely distributed here in Canada so this is your chance to pick one up!

I have also made a new post to the Artsmiths Blog this morning about growing and stretching. Feel free to pop over and have a read!

That's it for me today-time to get back to work!

Artfest 2008 Part 2: Trades

So of course one of the biggest parts of Artfest is the trading that goes on right after dinner the first night and continues on a smaller scale in class after that. This year more people know about Moo Cards so there were Moos aplenty. I was really pleased to add more to my collection.

Last year, the big thing was charms and some folks made them again this year. There was a really nice selection. Lots of owls and blown glass.

I loved that someone did an altered day timer as a trade. I plan to use mine! I also thought the Notes book was clever and the fabric journal was really cool. The artist who made that did 60 of them if you can believe it! I especially loved the raw silk cording wrapped around it. I would love to know where to get some.

Then of course there were the ephemera packets which are always nice-new fodder for playing with!

Some folks made ATCs. I think my collection now stands at something like 1400 or pretty darn close! I have it housed in 4 binders at this point.

Then there was the little owl from the logo, which inspired people to make owl themes goodies. The little owl at the bottom right is a magnet and someone was giving away little owl unmounted rubber too! (There were also several owl charms, if you look closely at the charms photo.)

And last but not least, there was a hodge podge of goodies that didn't fit into any of the previous categories, so I grouped them together here. That parachute fabric leaf at the top is kind of funny. I found it on the lawn next to our house, blowing on the breeze. Tina told me she'd received one as a trade, so I picked it up and added it to my goody bag. I guess it was a tithe from the universe. In any case, I looped it around the closet door handle in the studio where all my Artfest name tags are dangling.

The studio is pretty much tidied up now and most of my tools and supplies have been put back where they belong. Tomorrow I have to go set up for the studio tour. No rest for the wicked!

More Artfest to follow, stay tuned!

Milestones & Artfest

I'm back! Whew! What a good time I had! First of all, before I get into all the Artfest news, I want to make special note of the fact that this entry marks my 900th post! Can you believe that?!? When I began this blog on August 1, 2004, long before blogging became as mainstream to the mixed media community as it is now, I had no idea it would still be going strong. All I knew was that I wanted a place to talk about art and to share my journey. So, for all of you dear readers out there, whether you are commentors or lurkers, thank you for looking in on me over the last 900 posts!

Okay so on to sharing about Artfest. First of all, the piece pictured above, "Where I Live" was created for the Artfest Gallery. It was a forest theme this year so I made this using natural materials, inspired by Sarah Lugg.

I also hosted a exchange again this year with my house mates, so I am going to begin by sharing the beautiful trades they made for it.

This is a wonderful bracelet made especially for me by Kristen Robinson, my roomie. She said she made me the very last in her house series as a thank you for pulling our house together. I love the weight of it and she used garnet stones, since red is my favourite colour. It's destined to become a favourite piece of jewellery.

Jonna Barnett made each of us a house from wood and hand painted them in our favourite colours adding our house number, 6E to each one.

On the reverse of each one, is a bird and I was thrilled when I flipped mine over and saw this magnificent crow! It's found a home on the house shelf in my studio.

Penelope Harris, my art partner in crime made this delightful book about home. Each page is so special and incredibly detailed, as only Penn can do!
The book fans open in a circle when you stand it up so you can get a peek at all the pages. Very clever!

Tara Finlay made this mixed cd with tracks she listens to while creating in her studio. I love the label. She used one of her signature bag heads on it and I love the way the ink printed on it. I am looking forward to listening to it.

Sharon Dibble made us these house pendants. I loved the explanation of all the symbols she used. She said the etched house represents our house at Artfest. The face bead is for all the new faces she got to meet in our house. The hand is for our creativity and the key is opening new doors, new experiences through Artfest. The pendant was strung on cable wire. Very cool!

Tina Abbott who is a gifted photographer created these wall hangings from old photos and mica and a wonderful poem. I can't wait to find a special spot to hang in in my studio. Gorgeous and it's *so* Tina!

I had such a good time with the ladies in our house. We spent some real quality time together, forging new bonds or strengthening old ones. I really appreciated the warmth and laughter that was such a part of our time together and it reminds me why I go to Artfest-not only to learn new things, but also to connect with a community of people who share my love of art. It's wonderful to be celebrated for who you are and what you bring to the world. Nothing feels better!

This week, I am madly preparing for the Studio Tour which is this weekend so I will be posting about Artfest as time permits. I have lots to share and once I get all the photos off my camera, I will have plenty to show you. Stay tuned!

Down to the Wire

ONE DAY TILL ARTFEST!!! Woohoo!! This will be my home for the duration, along with some very dear friends. I am so excited!

Today is the craziness of last minute packing, the checking and rechecking of lists and running various errands. I am hoping real hard that my MOO cards have shown up at the PO. They have been in the mail since March 11th and this is the last day to get them before I go. If not, I won't have any to trade! (Oh the horror!)

I am going to try and blog via my new iPod Touch while I am away. Tina says we got wi-fi at our house last year so I am hoping that is still true. We'll see and if not, I believe the cafe in the Commons has it. I just love my new iPod! *gizmo geek alert*

So...I bid you adieu for now and leave you with this list of why I love Artfest:

1. Seeing old friends I rarely get to see.

2. Making new friends.

3. The ocean right outside the door.

4. Fresh air

5. Not having to cook!

6. Learning new stuff.

7. Scavenging the art asylum.

8. TRADES!

9. Shopping in the US and not having to pay duty.

10. Time for myself.

11. Hugs.

12. Sharing-of supplies, thoughts, ideas, food, laughter, spirit.

13. Being understood and not having to explain my crazy artsy self.

14. Goody bags at registration.

15. The beautiful architecture of the area.

16. People watching.

17. ROAD TRIP!

I am sure I will be adding to this list as the week goes on! Have a good week everyone and catch ya on the flip side!