Home Again Home Again

Jiggedy Jig

For those of you who have been following or know me, you'll remember that my sweetheart always has a bouquet and a glass of wine waiting for me when I arrive home from being away.

This is what greeted me last night as i arrived in from Art and Soul.

  drank the wine, sorry nothing left to photograph ;)

There is so much to show and tell but for today, I will leave you with this as I try to unpack, do laundry, catch up on mail, upload pix and in general crash as soon as I can! I am moving rather slowly today as we had too much fun to get much sleep!

See you soon

BTW ~ Sweet Trade Treats

I dare you to try to say "sweet trade treats" more than once even without saying "sweet twade tweets"

Ok , so i'm cheating a little bit with my bead table wednesday this week. These are trades I made for Art and Soul and they were on my bead table until I packed them up to leave this morning.

The theme this year is In The Garden and so i followed up on my theme for the fatbook pages and created vintage image charms and czech glass flower charms and added them to silverplated bracelets and then attached pewter garden fairies. The one pictured here is mine, notice the word "Souvenir" above the birds? Had to have it!

Instead of creating some kind of package for them, this time I attached one of my cards with sentiment on the back and tied them to the flower lollipops I ordered. 

There are 32 in total, less than I normally make for trades but it'll have to do.

I even found a gift bag in lime green with a big pink flower that said BLOOM on it. Perfect to carry them in. If I don't see you there,  I'll see you here in a few days when I get back!

What's on your table today?



SSShhhhh....It's A Secret!

So much has been happening behind the scenes that I am unable to share pictures of yet but I can tell you a little about it.

Art and Soul Hampton 2011 is fast approaching and there is much preparation to be done.

First on the to-do list was the fatbook pages.  My first Art and Soul retreat was 2009 and I never even heard of a fatbook much less participated, but when i saw the finished product I knew I had to join in. 

A fatbook is a keepsake book made up of individual pages, all 4"x4", each page created and elaborately embellished by a different artist and then bound together with a theme.

 2010 was my first and it was great fun to be a part of. This year there was so many wanting to participate that our gracious host, Mary, offered to create and bind 2 different books, book 1 and book 2 but i chose to just be a part of book 1. I had 40 pages to make and spent the better part of the long holiday weekend last week completing them and then mailing them off. A tremendous amount of thought and work goes into each page. The theme for this year's Art and Soul is "In the Garden" which made for a great many good ideas to work with. I will share a picture of my pages as soon as the deadline for submission arrives.

Next on the list is the trades. If you have ever been to an art retreat you'll agree this is one of the most fun things to do. If you so choose, you can make up items to "trade" be it ATC's, charms, pins, jewelry, packages of ephemera, mini artwork,  whatever.  You include your contact info with the trade and it's a great way to meet new people and open conversations. You can follow the theme for the retreat or do your own thing, it's all good. I like to follow the theme and also to package my trades in a creative way.  It's always so nice to come home and go through all the loot and remember everyone you met. Typically I make about 50 trades.

Then there is the round robin that I have been participating in since we left Art and Soul a year ago.  A brilliant member of our "tribe", Joyce, suggested and is hosting a round robin to keep us all connected for the year between retreats. It consisted of each of us starting with an apron of our own, work style for most of us, and we had to embellish our own apron to start and then pass it along to be further embellished by each person in the group. We typically send out the next apron the first week of the month with the final apron being sent back to Joyce who will deliver them back to us upon arriving at the retreat. I can't wait to share pictures and stories of this, it's been hard to keep secret all year! I am awaiting the final apron to arrive so i can complete it and send it to Joyce. It was a wonderful idea and one that has kept us truly in touch with one another and has made the year pass by much more quickly!

Now to explain the photo at top-

I went to my first retreat as I said in 2009, Art and Soul Hampton.  It was there that I met the most wonderful, diverse group of kindred spirits I have ever known. Near the end of the retreat I said that I hated to leave as "I felt that I finally found my tribe". It was a feeling shared by all of us and we have developed lasting friendships over the past 2 years. The necklace hanging on my Santos in the picture was one I made for myself and also made one for every member of our "tribe" and gave to them last year at the retreat. The member medal is a component from antique Independent Order Of Oddfellows convention ribbons. The hand is for friendship, the roses are from vintage 1950's bracelets and although it cannot be seen there is also a heart locket dangling from the extender chain on the back both also for love and friendship. Each was made with czech crystals in the recipients favorite colors and capped and wrapped to resemble a vintage rosary. Vintage Haskell pearls, brass bolo chain, and rhinestone rondelles complete the pieces.

We all wore them the entire retreat last year and since coming home mine has hung on my Santos, where I can see and be reminded everyday of these friendships for which I am so grateful.

Soon it will be time to start gathering all my supplies and tools and packing to go to this year's retreat. If you happen to be going, I hope to meet you there and maybe even trade a little.

Over The Moon

I am over the moon happy about a workshop that I had the privilege of taking yesterday with Barbara Lewis. 

The day started out early, I left about 6:45 to drive to Annapolis to the Maryland Hall  for the Creative Arts where the workshop was being held. The moon was still up for a good long while as I drove, this was shot from my car.

I met up with several good friends, Anne, Bette and Carol who were also taking the workshop and also got to meet Lori Anderson whose blog I have been following as of late.

The class had been sold out for awhile and with only 10 students it made for a very intimate learning experience. Everything was set up and ready for us when we arrived which was SSoooo nice.  Barbara, shared all her knowledge of torch fired beads and we all got to freely play and experiment with the colors of the enamel rainbow!  Beads, enamels, and any portion of the torch setups were available for purchase so most of us left with an arsenal ready to play once home in our own studios! It was a very relaxing atmosphere and a most enjoyable workshop. Thank You Barbara (and Jim!)

 

Follow your bliss!

I'm off to ArtBliss, a new retreat , to meet old and new friends and take some great classes! These are the charms I have made for our "leaf" charm swap. The backgrounds are images of Van Gogh's trees and I have attached patina'd leaves to the back of the charm and wire wrapped Czech glass leaves and flowers to the tops, there are 22 in all, each different. I will post about my adventures as soon as I get back!



Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!

30 years ago today ( my we were so young then!)

Our invitation read:

This day I will marry my friend

The one I laugh with

Live for

Dream with

Love



I am happy to say that 30 years later I still feel the same way and more!

It hasn't always been easy but i'm glad we stuck it out and worked through life's trials and are getting to share in the rewards of our hard work.

Everyday i receive a thought for the day in my inbox and ironically this is today's , I thought worth sharing-

Friendship and Love

Friendships or marriages based on "dire need" or physical security are doomed to fail if each person in the relationship does not grow beyond his or her limited ways of thinking and reacting.

The ideal relationship is one in which each partner strives to grow. It is an ever-expanding commitment, mutually supportive of healthy interdependence. A healthy relationship encourages the seeking of wider mental and spiritual horizons; it is never threatened permanently by them.

TODAY Do I give my loved ones enough room to grow? Do I encourage my friends or mate to do things without me? Am I threatened by change or do I welcome it? Do I have the courage to do things on my own, even if my loved ones do not give me support? Do I have the courage and consideration to share my changes with those I love?

Let the purpose of all marriages and friendships alike be the deepening of the spirit and the enrichment of the soul.

You are reading from the book:

The Reflecting Pond by Liane Cordes