just simply charming

I just received this box with the props for the cover art back from my book editor today, in a few weeks a cover will be created for: Artful Exchange: connect create collaborate, I can hardly wait to see what the art director come up with!

Kelly and I have just 4 more weeks to work on the remanding 10 pieces for our book. Then on July 29 we will both fly out to Cleavland Ohio for a week to film our hands :)

I am happy to say that the little swap that kept on going "Just Simply Charming" is at long last been featured in the July/August Belle Armoire congratulations to Carrie Edelmann Avery, Crystal Neubauer, Jerri Reimann and Lelainia Lloyd who's creations made with the charms from the swap have been published!
and a BIG thank you to Deryn Mentock who wrote the article for us all!
I must add that "Just Simply Charming" was my fist ever time hosting a swap and I was so lucky to have had such a amazing group of talented girls to work with!
I am so honored that they have continued on with Kelly and myself to created even more stunning creation for : An Artful Exchange: connect create collaborate!

My Chihuahua is cuter than your Chihuahua !

(Baxter is a one year old male and weighs 8 pounds)

I just went over the deep end! I just joined a flickr group called: My Chihuahua is cuter than your Chihuahua !

lol, oh my! that said now its time for me to get to work in the studio :)

I made these for Amber~Dawn's Black and White charm swap.
they are made of resin and have little black beedz
( these are one of my all time favortie art supplys... funny I know... I got them for the kids but I love to use them in just about all of my projects!)
black fibers with black and white papers and book text words.

!blac

!blac

!blac
k
agains
t

(whi)

te sky
?t
rees whic
h fr

om droppe

d
,
le
af

a:;go

e
s wh
IrlI
n

.g

ee cummings

kiss the ground

Debbie is my high school best friend and as luck has it after 27 years we still completely understand and support each other! She sent me the most inspiring hart felt gift yesterday in the mail! I just booked my air ticket to film the book at the end of July, then after I am done with the book I will spend a week with Debbie in Chicago at her bead shop Bella Luna.

(amazing gift from Deb)

The timing of this piece is perfect! As the jewelry for my books is being created I need to be reminded that Art has always been a part of my life and that I am so Lucky that the beauty I do is my art and being surrounded by so many supportive creative souls in my life.
So much of what we do as artist is done in solitude, inside our heads is a life all its own... Some say I work best under presser and dead lines... well at this point I must say there has been times that I have wanted to run from all these dead lines and never look at another trinket or bead. There was a fear ,but over this last week my path has become more clear and I see the sun shining and I don't want to run I want to enjoy each day and embrace this creative process of creating this book.
So with pliers in hand and wire scrapes all around me the trinkets are starting to tell me just what they want to become and what beads they want to play with and the process is starting to open up in front of me and I have found a safe space where my fear is far behind me at last!


Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
~Rumi

read the directions

My Time is not my own any more! Making Jewelry for the book has taken over my life!
there was a Mob of hungry people in my studio yelling at me last night telling me it was time to go out to dinner to eat (now make note, they do not have to yell at me to cook dinner because they know that this does not happen any more, they just wanted to go out to eat and still they had to yell!)

(hungry mob leader!)

I tyred really hard to get out of this "try some thing you have never done before swap" But when the Hostess comes to your house and and ask you were are your cards for her swap...
well then you have no choice other then to create! LOL
so here you have it "my made with some watching over my shoulder" metal foil tape and alcohol ink atc cards...
I did have fun making them :)
if I had more time I would have made them more like frames and added a hanging element.

if you try alcohol inks read the directions before you start not after you have finished like I did,
they are a little stinky and I almost passed out from breathing the fumes :)

I crack myself up!

Egomania got the best of me tonight! this is my first time seeing this on a news stand! Sarah snapped this photo with her phone... I think I need to take the good camera in and take one more shot before its off the stands :)

when I received my preview magazine... I looked at it and said "ok... I did that" but it never really hit me till last night that I could walk into just about any book store in north america and see something that I did on the news stand and see a little peek of what I created on the cover no less :)

sacred gift

It looks like spring but its almost summer! (my kids just have 7 more days of school left!) as you walk to my front door you are greeted to the most intoxicating smell of these sweet peas!

I received my bird swap goodies from Tammie Moore! She treated me to so many Bird treasures!

I was totally delighted! her hand made parts where a fun bird purse and earrings! I am not so great at collecting so many delightful goodies so I was very over joyed with my package :)

(Bird gifts from Tammie!)

This was my care package that I sent her... I came in late to this swap so I did not have time to shop around and buy bird themed treats, so I had to create them all my self...

so I pulled out my trusty bird stamps and went to work! I made her the banner with her name on it and a bird themed cone along with bird earrings in a bird earring holder, a vintage bird book, a nest and some bird ephemera. with some hand stamped bird images that I made from my stamps are in the little brown bag.
I felt like I was a short change partner because I did not have time to shop around and BUY bird goodies we were supposed to spend $20, but its funny how we perceive are gifts that we give and make opposed to the gifts we receive.
(you can read what tammie thought about
her gift here)


I spent a hard uninspired day in my studio yesterday...
I like a crazy woman, told my self that I was going to walk into my studio and in one day create 6 amazing things for a new article that I am working on...

well the joke was on me because not a lot happened!
my dye colors were all wrong!
the one good thing that did come out of it was a near miss hap!
( I burnt some of the fabric that I had in my oven! but it looks really cool! see the brown bit under my beloved aunt Mary's sheers... she was a marvellous dress maker!)

but as luck has it today looks a lot brighter and the lay outs that I did yesterday just need a little tweaking :)

(its a misty morning so I required the Caramel Macchiato Venti,
with a side of gardenia!
please click on the image to read )

I did learn a lesion yesterday, and this is to never take for granted the good days when the creativity flows so easily as if each steep we take is perfect.

creativity is surely a sacred gift that I will respect more!

Albert Einstein:

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.