Students:FYI!!

Just a quick note for any of my students who have been in workshops in February and wanted to join my Yahoo group to get workshop updates:

If you put your name on the sign up list and HAVE NOT received an invitation from me, it is likely because your emails (for whatever reason) are bouncing back to me.

Please go the the left hand sidebar of this blog, and scroll down till you see the purple Yahoo Groups button. Click on the button to subscribe. It will tell you you must be approved-don't worry-you will be! Once I get the email message to approve you, I'll let you in and you'll be all set.

Unfortunately, sometimes certain email addresses don't work with the Yahoo Groups' invite system. I just didn't want you to think I hadn't tried to include you!

Thanks much!

OWOH Giveaway

Copyright Tattered Edge 2008

After 154 entries and a whole lotta wonderful examples of kindness being shared, the winner of the OWOH give away is.....Malevolentmini (Michelle)!! Congratulations!! Thanks everyone for entering!

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day! If you were one of those folks who shared a kindness someone had done for you, why not pay it foreward today? Spread the love!

Hop on over to the Valentine's blog to see the magic unfolding there!

Serendipity

WOOHOO! This is the working cover of the next issue of Haute Handbags, which comes out in April. This will be the issue that my very first article for Somerset gets published in. If you click the link and scroll down, you will see that there is also work being featured by my pals Deb Trotter and Kristen Robinson.

Deb's work is her Buckaroo Bags and the one featured is just so vibrant. I love the colours (my favourites), the bear embellishment and the sweet little First Nations girl. What's not to love? Kristen's work is Three Bags for Jane and the one shown is just so lovely, soft and romantic. Kristen has a real gift for creating along those lines and even though it's not my own style, her work makes me want to embrace my own inner girly-girl. (I know she's in there somewhere!)

Also, congratulations to Karna, a very talented seamstress friend of Deb's who collaborates with her in the creation of the Buckaroo Bags. Well done Karna and I hope you are feeling mighty proud of yourself too!

Sharing this issue with people I love and respect and have the blessing of calling my friends makes it even more special. Congratulations ladies!

Evidence of Art

Copyright Tattered Edge 2008

See? I am actually still squeezing in time for art amidst all the workshops preparations in the last 2 months! This is my page for a collaborative book my friend Penn is hosting called Colour Characters. Three guesses which colour I chose. (It's an Aries thing!) The postage stamp is actually an embellishment on my colour copied pages. I am not 100% sure I am finished with it yet. I might add a few more elements or fuss with it a bit yet.

This is another busy week. I am teaching a third free workshop at the Poirier Library. The demand was so great we decided to have one more to accomadate the folks who were on the wait list. I have been very pleased at the response and it's so great being able to teach in my own community. I love teaching elsewhere, but it's lovely to connect with folks in the city where I live!

I am also presenting a day long workshop at the Coquitlam Teacher's Professional Developement Day. (Or Pro-D day as we call them.) That class seemed to fill up pretty quickly as well! I can't wait!

If you are looking for some Valentine fun, be sure and keep on eye on the Valentine's exchange blog. I've been posting pics over there of the wrapped gifts everyone has sent to their partners. On Thursday we get to open them and will be sharing what's inside each parcel. There will be lots of eyecandy to share!!

News from the Studio

C0pyright Tattered Edge 2008

You know when you are so busy that your brain starts letting go of little things which really aren't so little when you realize it? Well that would be me in the last few weeks. It's been a crazy busy time in the studio since the start of the new year. I am NOT complaining-it's just that I realized the other day that my brain was letting things slide and I had several UH-OH! moments.

For example, I've known for some time that my passport needed renewing. I knew it was scheduled to expire right smack in the middle of Artfest and with the border being in a state of flux in terms of what ID is needed, I figured it would be sensible to just bite the bullet and renew. One thing led to another and I ended up unwittingly parking across someone's driveway and blocked them in. It was totally unintentional and when I returned to my car after about an hour, he was waiting for me. UH OH! I saw what I had done as soon as I arrived and ended up apologising profusely. I am very lucky I didn't get towed! In my own defense, there was sneaux all piled up and I really didn't see the dip in the sidewalk for his drive. I should have seen his truck sitting in the drive, but I was distracted.

The other day I also discovered I was driving around the whole day with expired tags. I had renewed my insurace over the weekend, but since I did it a few days early, I hadn't put the new tag on yet. UH OH! Good thing I didn't get a ticket!

There was also a whole fiasco with copying handouts for my upcoming workshops. In error, I printed a whole wack of scrap paper on my dime. As my friend Linda is so fond of pointing out, Mercury is in retrograde! *grins* That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

On the good side of things, the workshop I taught last night at the library was so much fun! I even had folks bringing me goodies. One lady (apologies-I am blanking on your name.) brought me copies of the photos she took at my trunk show which was very nice of her. Betty Ann did the sweetest thing-she made me a matchbox style altered box and filled it with original ATCs. I was so surprised and it was so lovely of her to want to make me something so special. I will have to post a pic when I find the camera. I haven't unpacked yet.

It really was the nicest class-everyone had such nice things to say to me. I also got to meet Dan who works at the library and makes all the cool promotional materials. He's the one that made that fantastic poster and flyer for my class. I asked if I might have one of the posters when they came down and he went right to his office and printed two up for me-how amazing is that? THANKS Dan! He was pretty humble about his work, but he has an excellent eye for colour and layout and I am very impressed with what he does.

Also in good news department, I have something exciting to share: I have an article being published in the April edition of Haute Handbags!! I am very excited! I won't say more than that just yet, but I imagine that Stampington will have their usual sneak peek up soon so you can find out more. More details to follow.

Okay folks, time for me to get back to business here!

Giveaway!

I was inspired this morning by Linda & Opie to participate in the One World, One Heart giveaway. The idea is very simple: it's designed to bring the blogging community together. I love the idea so I am playing along.

These are the goodies I am offering up-a Tattered Pocket Journal, perfect for capturing your thought or to jot down artsy ideas and a packet of Trinkets, bubblegum machine charms. The charms are totally random and fun and would make great embellishments for just about any art project!

To be entered in the draw, please leave a comment here telling me about something kind someone did for you. Make sure you post in such a way that I can contact you (meaning it won't be helpful to post annonymously) and let me know if you too are participating in OWOH so I can play too!

I will accept entries up until 8 p.m. PST on Febrary 13th and then randomly draw a winner and post their name to my blog. Please remember to check back to see who has won! If it's you, you will then email me your mailing info and I will send out your goodies.

That's it! So what are you waiting for? Go comment! :)

With Heartfelt Thanks

Thursday night was the first of the two free workshops I am doing at Poirier Library. The turn out was wonderful and everyone was so kind. I really enjoyed myself and from the feedback that I recieved it sounds like those of you who came did too! THANK YOU for being such a great group, for interesting questions and for all the lovely things you had to say. I am humbled. Sharing of what I love with others is one of the very best parts of what I do. It's all very well and good to make art, but it's nothing if you don't get out of your studio and have the experience of sharing it with others. Next week is the hands-on part of the workshop and I am looking forward to it.



In the magical way my life works, the universe presented me with some wonderful opportunities on Thursday night. Some things are still in the process of being worked out, but I can tell you that I have been invited by the executive director of ArtsConnect to participate in The Port Moody Festival of the Arts Studio Tour in mid-April. From what I understand, this festival includes artist from the Tri-City area (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody) and the studio tour takes place in Port Moody. This means if your studio is outside of the tour area, you will be hosted at a venue, which is what will happen in my case. I will be stationed somewhere within the route and be showing my art and probably working on something while people visit. Isn't that exciting? I'll be posting more details as they become available.

In the meantime, it's back to work for me! I have a stack of new rubber from Paper Artsy just begging to be explored, preparations for an upcoming class, two art projects to finish and submit and we won't even talk about getting ready for Artfest! WHEW! It's a whirlwind in the studio these days and I couldn't be happier!