Chel in the Land of ZNE

Castle in the Meadow Wonderland!

It seems (gasp!) I have misplaced my camera.  As in, I have not really seen it - since prior to leaving Michigan.

I am convinced that it is in some corner of a suitcase yet unpacked and will not stress over it too much, until we actually do unpack.

In the meantime, without my photos - I'll share some image that others took, and share this:

My trip to Michigan was extraordinary!  Between family, friends, and the wonderful Castle in the Meadow event, I could not have asked for more! 

I love this picture that Lisa Dawson (www.youratcstore.blogspot.com ) took, as she drove up the entrance to Meadow Brook Hall:

The fabulous Cookie Sunshine (http://cookiesunshine.typepad.com/the_cookie_sheet/) took some lovely flip phone videos.  She did a great job showing off the front of Meadow Brook Hall, where we had our art workshop - here:

Then, I just LOVED this video that Cookie took, because you get a peak at all the incredible artwork created by our fabulous participants:

And finally, here is another Lisa Dawson picture - here I stand proudly among some of the participant artwork:

And Gina Smith took these wonderful pictures:

(Castle above by Angela Hoffman - http://www.geminiangelart.com/)

Sarah Hodsdon (http://www.sarah-n-dipitous.typepad.com/) with her fabulous Castle!

And the wonderful Bernice Wagnitz and Cathy Minerva.  (http://bernice97.blogspot.com/ and http://www.minervasmadness.blogspot.com/.   

It is good to be home, but I am also sad to have left my family and wonderful art friends in the Midwest.  I plan to do everything I can to return next year!

Have a great day everyone!

xo - Chel

The Castle at the Castle!

Well, the Castle in the Meadow Event (www.CastleintheMeadow) is this weekend, so I did a dry run of the castle we are going to create, today.  I have to say, the picture doesn't do it justice, because it doesn't really show the depth.  The box on the front is three dimensional, and castle inside is sort of floating inside of it.  The Queen is also on a hidden cardboard riser of sorts, so she is raised up from the canvas panel.

The piece incorporates a little bit of everything - a walnut staned canvas panel, creating a box/theatre assemblage.  Working with glitter glue and other embellishments, and just - lots of fun.  It is a fun project that can be completed in a couple hours.  I can't wait to see what everyone else's looks like!  I'll post pics next week.

Speaking of which - a few of my girls were mad that when I posted pictures of the house yesterday, I neglected to post my Candy Machine picture - as you can see, one of their favorite places to hang out.

YUM!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

xo - Chel

Ju-Ju-June!

I can't believe that June is almost here.  I know the month will fly by - SO much wonderful stuff going on!  The first week of June I'll be flying out to Michigan for a family reunion.  I am really looking forward to it.  While there, on June 8 - ZNE will have a Midwest Meet - during our Castle in the Meadow event (www.CastleintheMeadow.com) - I am SO excited about the event.  It should be truly extraordinary.

Then, on Saturday 6/21 - I have a full day of classes to teach at Nova Studio. 

(photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftcoastbound/)

This studio in Point Richmond was so adorable, and the classes should be really cool.  Check 'em out, here:  http://www.thenovastudio.com/index.htm.

AND!  Then, on Friday and Saturday June  27 and June 28 - Gina Gabriell (www.elevenmorning.com) and I will be sharing a booth at the Tumbleweed Cotillion in Reno!

www.tumbleweedcotillion.com

So, to say I am excited about the upcoming month would be a serious understatement.  Woo Hoo!  June, here I come!

What a weekend!

Jon Troast (www.JonTroast.com) was so wonderful, during his concert in my living room (!) - it was just pure joy.

Here are a few of the mesmerized guest.  As you can see - it was nearly impossible to get a non-blurry picture. I think it was because there was a wonderful whirlin dirvish of frenetic and positive energy in the air.  Here, amongs the blur are Gina Gabriell, Iva Wilcox,their spouses, my best friend Marc, and his date Cara. 

Here's a group shot:

Iva, her husband John, Marc and his date Cara, me, Lyn Wright, her husband Bill, Gina, her husband Steve, in front of Gina is her son Noah, and kneeling is Jon Troast.

What can I say about Jon Troast?  This guy is truly up and coming, he is so very talented.  My 11 year old son loved him, all of the guests loved him - and stay tuned for really exciting news about Jon and the ZNE ConvenZioNE 2008 event- coming soon!  www.ZNEcon.com

So, that was Friday night.  On Saturday, I headed out to Point Richmond, and the lovely Nova Studio.

The owner of Nova Studio, Lori Nova, is an expert soap and body product maker - and she teaches exquisite classes about the same...

However, the studio also welcomes instructors who teach other topics.  There are some wonderful mixed media classes at the studio, though I am teaching a series of art/business related classes.  Yesterday I taught a wonderful group of students about the art and craft show circuit.  I just loved the lovely pale green studio.  What's not to love about this fun wall display, showing off both soap and bodyworks, and fun mixed media samplings:

 

And I loved this picture - look at all those jars of herbs and petals and all kinds of lovely scented goodies!

If you all want to join me for the next series of classes I am teaching there, they will be on June 21, and you can learn more here:

http://www.thenovastudio.com/2008_CAL_JUN.html

Here is to hoping that you all have a musical, magical, and wonderful weekend, and week to come!

xo - Chel

Demystifying the Big Bad Business End of Things!

Hey everyone!  Just a heads up that I am teaching several art-business classes at Nova Studio in Point Richmond, at the end of May and end of June.

The most common questions I receive that are business related have to do with internet selling and marketing, and breaking into the local arts and crafts show scene.  I am more than happy to provide a whole whopping bunch of info on all those topics during the following classes:

The Art & Craft Show Circuit - May 24, 2008, Sat., 3-6pm
Social Networking for the Artist - June 21, 2008, Sat., 11am-2pm
Online Selling & Marketing - June 21, 2008, Sat., 3-6pm

And that's not all:

LIMITED TIME SPECIAL OFFER - SAVE UP TO $20:
When you enroll in at least 2 of Nova Studio's 4 business classes scheduled in April, May or June, you will save $5 off each class! So, if you sign up for 2 classes, you'll save $10, if you sign-up for 3 classes you'll save $15, and if you sign up for all 4 business classes you'll save $20. A great way to start your business off right - by saving money!

So don't miss out!  Hurry on over and register today, and add "business smarts" to your personal list of great qualities!

   

Laying Down and Hanging Up

My snuggle bunny Butter was worried about his mom, this past week - as I the side effects from the meds for the asthma attack had me flat on my back a lot of the time.

My husband snapped this picture of him, protectively cuddling me, one afternoon.  Despite my unprecedented bed head (all right, all right. Its precedented around my house!) I thought the picture was too cute not to share.

Speaking of cute, and of days when I was up and around - the Altered Hanger Altered Everything workshop I held week before last was SO fun.  It was made all that much better of course, because the fantabulous PerpetualPlum (Sue Clark) was visiting from Oregon, and so I spent a lovely afternoon Downtown Pleasanton hoppin' with her, prior to the workshop.  She stayed for the workshop as well, she's the gorgeous blond in these pictures.

In this shot, we are gathered around my infamous "basket-o-fibers."  That's Kathryn Virello on the left.  We were also joined by Patti Schuldheisz - but I forgot to snap her picture before she scotted out the door.

Sue took this picture of me, demonstrating how to unscrew the cap from a jar of gesso.  This is an important skill to have. 

Here is some of our work:

Sue Clark:

Here's the one that Patti  Patti Schuldheisz created:

   And I had fun making another one as well.

I don't have a close up shot of Kathryn's - as she took hers home to finish.  But she returned it to me for a special project we are working on (more on that at a later date) so I'll get a good snapshot of it later.  In the meantime, here's another group shot of us, with our finished hangers:

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

xo - Chel

Looking forward to teaching on Tuesday!

I am really excited about the Altered Everything workshop on Tuesday!  We'll be creating altered clothes hangers, and as usual, my sample is excessively kitschy - which makes me smile!

Altered hangers can be used:

As hangers for a special piece of clothing.

To hang a coordinated piece of art from.

As necklace and scarf holders.

Or, as a piece of artwork all in themselves!

Wonderful as gifts, or as a gift to yourself!  JOIN US!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

Altered hangers can be used:

As hangers for a special piece of clothing.

To hang a coordinated piece of art from.

As necklace and scarf holders.

Or, as a piece of artwork all in themselves!

Wonderful as gifts, or as a gift to yourself!  JOIN US!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

We had such fun!

We had some FABULOUS kids join us for the crown workshop last Tuesday.  My stepdaughter Abigail is on the far left, then (me!), my son RJ, Maria Schuldheisz, Gina Gabriell's son Noah, and Gina herself.

Everyone had a good time playing with crown forms, ink pads, images and embellishments.

Everyone was royal that night!

The crowns were really fun to see, all grouped together.

Springtime is coming!

This is what it looks like when you stand in the front yard of The ZNE Studios, and look up.

And this is what it looks like when you look down.

How wonderful is that?

It's time for a Spring themed workshop, I think!  Tonight I am teaching an altered crown workshop ~ but next week, we'll make Kewpies in a Nest!

March 18 Altered Everything ~ Spring Kewpies in a Nest!

Tuesday March 18, 6 - 8 p.m.

As always, yummy refreshments, all supplies, and a special gift pack will be provided for all recipients at each class.  Classes are taught by ZNE Founder Chel Stroud Hery.

Classes take place at Poetry on Canvas in downtown Pleasanton.

CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED TO SIX PARTICIPANTS EACH WEEK - SO PLEASE SIGN UP EARLY TO GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT!

SPRING KEWPIES IN A NEST

The March 18th Workshop will be creating an adorable vintage kewpie doll assemblage - whether you prefer your next to bright and colorful or sweet and pastel, you will go home with a sweet little Kewpie in a Nest of your very own.

Your final piece will be guided by your style and color preferences.  The possibilities are endless.  The pieces shown are only examples.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

Happy Spring everyone!

xo - Chel

Tuesday March 18, 6 - 8 p.m.

As always, yummy refreshments, all supplies, and a special gift pack will be provided for all recipients at each class.  Classes are taught by ZNE Founder Chel Stroud Hery.

Classes take place at Poetry on Canvas in downtown Pleasanton.

CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED TO SIX PARTICIPANTS EACH WEEK - SO PLEASE SIGN UP EARLY TO GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT!

SPRING KEWPIES IN A NEST

The March 18th Workshop will be creating an adorable vintage kewpie doll assemblage - whether you prefer your next to bright and colorful or sweet and pastel, you will go home with a sweet little Kewpie in a Nest of your very own.

Your final piece will be guided by your style and color preferences.  The possibilities are endless.  The pieces shown are only examples.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

The Royal Treatment

My toes are tingly.  My heart is skipping.  I just can't wait for THIS event!

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

 

If you are anywhere near the Mid West, or you are going to be in the Mid West in June, or you are willing to be in the Mid West in June - then quick, grab a spot while there are still some available!

I know I said it above, but again:

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

I hope your day is full of regal wonderfullness!

xo - Chel

These women and their amazing words!

Look at these lovely ladies, in the equally lovely Poetry on Canvas Gallery in Pleasanton.

They have already created their canvas panel backgrounds, like experts.  : D  Now they are thumbing their way through vintage magazines and other image sources.  They were about to get serious about creating some incredible mixed media art pieces.

My teaching style emphasizing freedom and creativity - I hope that everyone will walk away from my workshop having learned a few techniques, but even more so - feeling bolstered in the ability to trust their creative drive.  "Whatever happens, there are no mistakes.  Go with it.  Trust yourself, and just do it."

We had a blast, and - as always, I was thrilled and delighted with the diversity of their finished pieces.  Here we all are. I'm the proud mama in the cherry apron in the middle.  They are each cradling their finished artwork:

What's that?  You want to see their artwork closer up?  Look how wonderful it all turned out! (And click on any image to see it larger.)

I hope you all are having a wonderfully creative week, as well!

 

Women, Words, and Crowns!

I'm teaching a class tonight - we'll be using a special acryllic paint on canvas panel background technique, and then adding Women and Words with embellishments, to complete our artwork.   

The class is full, so I am excited.  This year I am teaching at a beautiful new studio downtown called Poetry on Canvas.  Should be fun!

Next week, I'll offer a workshop on altered crowns.  The projects need to be completed start to finish in 2-3 hours tops, so I don't venture into any really time consuming techniques.  I had fun this past weekend seeing what kinds of crowns I could turn out in an hour or so.  My kids drew pictures and played with my rubber stamp collection while I glued, glittered, and ink stained glittery gold crown forms.

Here's what I came up with (talk about a big difference between the two!)

The Found Object Queen Crown:

I used vintage buttons, cigar bands, and faux grape pearl clusters.  I also added gold ribbon at the bottom, and mica netting.  The top of the crown is rounded out with (careful!) carpet pulling razer blades.   Aint that sharp!  (ha!)

But this crown, was obviously my favorite:  The Pearly Pin Up Party Crown!

  Need I say more?

Anyway, I think the "Fit for a Queen" crown class will be fun.  That class still has some room in it.  If you are in the SF Bay Area and would like to join us, check out the details - here:

http://chelise.typepad.com/the_zne_scene/2008/03/march-11-altere.html

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

xo - Chel

Spring Fling Tutorial!

WOW!  March First, already?  You bet!  I am going to share a slideshow tutorial that I posted in November, for my Jingle Dogs, just in case you didn't see it then.  These doggies can be created in any color so they don't have to be x-masy.  And you can use any kind of tiny charm on top.  They could be Jingle Dolls, or Jingle Kats, or you name it!  Be creative and have fun.

Here is the link to the slideshow!

And if you are looking for more fun tutorials, check out the Artist Reborne blog, here:

http://www.artistreborne.typepad.com/

Have a jingle-joyful Saturday!

The Class Schedule is HERE!

2008 Altered Everything ~ Everything Altered Workshops are Scheduled!

Click on the logo above to learn more.

Scroll down to see project samples for our first class!

The 2008 series of Altered Everything and Everything Altered workshops is HERE.

With a new location, and all new projects, it was impossible to narrow it down to once a month!

The new dates and times will be:

Tuesday evenings from 6 - 9 p.m.

As always, yummy refreshments, all supplies, and a special gift pack will be provided for all recipients at each class.   Classes are taught by ZNE Founder Chel Stroud Hery.

Classes will take place at Poetry on Canvas in downtown Pleasanton!

CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED TO SIX PARTICIPANTS EACH WEEK - SO PLEASE SIGN UP EARLY TO GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT!

FIRST CLASS: February 26, 2008

MIXIE PIXIES!

Mixed Media Pixie Flowers

Using a variety of paper folding techniques we will create floral star bases and embellish them with vintage images, glitter, fibers, and more.

These whimsical creations can be used as wall art, scrapbook and altered book cover embellishment,gifts, special awards, and more!  Your final piece will be guided by your style and color preferences.  The possibilities are endless.  The Mixie Pixie samples shown are only examples.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

Click on the logo above to learn more.

Scroll down to see project samples for our first class!

The 2008 series of Altered Everything and Everything Altered workshops is HERE.

With a new location, and all new projects, it was impossible to narrow it down to once a month!

The new dates and times will be:

Tuesday evenings from 6 - 9 p.m.

As always, yummy refreshments, all supplies, and a special gift pack will be provided for all recipients at each class.   Classes are taught by ZNE Founder Chel Stroud Hery.

Classes will take place at Poetry on Canvas in downtown Pleasanton!

CLASS SIZE IS LIMITED TO SIX PARTICIPANTS EACH WEEK - SO PLEASE SIGN UP EARLY TO GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT!

FIRST CLASS: February 26, 2008

MIXIE PIXIES!

Mixed Media Pixie Flowers

Using a variety of paper folding techniques we will create floral star bases and embellish them with vintage images, glitter, fibers, and more.

These whimsical creations can be used as wall art, scrapbook and altered book cover embellishment,gifts, special awards, and more!  Your final piece will be guided by your style and color preferences.  The possibilities are endless.  The Mixie Pixie samples shown are only examples.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW and join us for this fun evening!

Moodling

So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.  - Brenda Ueland

I am a bit late in posting this, but better late than never!  Weekend before last I held another fabulous Altered Everything ~ Everything Altered workshop, and we worked on magazine journals using vintage magazines from the 50s.  As always, we had a wonderful time, and the art these ZNE Members create really blows me away. We were all moodling away. Here are some tiny sneak peaks!

Wanna see the final products?

Wanna experience the workshop?

Wanna make an altered magazine journal of your own?

Hooray! You can!  You can!  You can!  You just have to wait until May 1, when ZNE Style Tries Magazine Collage!

And I will be teaching this workshop - online - free for all!:

Here's to wishing you all some happy moodling of your own!

xo - Chel

My Altered World

Alrighty, I'll start with this.

Could there possibly be a more miserable face than this one?  We've had to baby-gate proof the area of the kitchen that houses the dog and cat food dishes.  Apparently, Adin thinks that Kibbles and Bits could not be more delicious.  And he is NOT happy about these recent gated developments!

Now this is MUCH better.  Now, I can write a post in my blog!

(But first, one more comment on the picture at right.  Is it just me or is there a little magnet in that cheek begging for a kiss?  Honestly, my lips are puckering just looking at it.  He's a miniature Marlon Brando with those pudgy cheeks.  But, I digress...)

So, on Sunday I gathered together a dozen or so ZNE members, and then I cracked the whip and worked 'em hard and fast so that in four hours, each one had created 18 (!) individual chunky book pages.  (As you can see, I also bribed them with apples and brownies!)  The end result is an absolutely extraordinary ZNE Zaftig book.  The ZNE Zaftig book is an ongoing chunky book project.  Our group has hosted two chunky books - the first one was hosted by the fabulous Shin Young a couple years ago, and this second one is being coordinated out of The ZNE Studios.  Members from all over - Georgia, Indiana, New York and Illinois sent in pages to join those which were created by the members of the workshop on Sunday.

The pages were created as a part of February's Altered Everything ~ Everything Altered Workshop.  Normally I teach these workshops at my house, but this month we really needed room to spread out given the quantity of pages we were creating.  ZNE member Andrea Chebelau was kind enough to offer her art studio, A Work of Heart - which is in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. 

I hope to get as many pages as possible uploaded into The ZNE Projects and Activities Gallery this week - but, in the meantime, here are some fun pics from our workshop.  Speaking of Andrea, I love the close up at right, of one of her pages:   Cool, eh? On the left is a picture of some of her pages in process.  I supplied her with some vintage (circa 1918) precription ephemera and she really had fun with them.

And below are some pages that Alison Downey created.  She hated having to create so many pages in so little time, but she was a trooper.  I gave her these fun little vintage scottie dog toys, and some cat cards that Izabella sent me a few months ago.  It was raining cats and dogs for Alison.  Ha!

And then there are these fabulous pages made by Patricia Cowan, each one ended up with a little hand created bookmark tucked inside.  So cute!

 

I was just really impressed with everyone's hard work.  I am not kidding when I say that most people were mighty grumpy with me the last hour of the workshop.  One person commented that 4 hours is little long for a workshop of this nature, and to tell the truth, I agree.  But, again - the end product is just so extraordinary.  For those of you who haven't done chunky books before, the way it works is that every participant ends up with a bound book that has one page that they made, and one page that every other participant made, inside.  These books are such incredible wellsprings of creativity, inspiration, and artistic collaboration.  They are truly fabulous.  So I say a great big thank you to all the participants of this month's workshop!  We made enough books that everyone got to take one home, plus I have a couple  to send to ZNE We-Care recipients, and one is going into the ZNE Show-Your-Love contest pot.  WOW!

BRAVO EVERYONE! 

For those of you who live in Northern California, or will be visiting on the 4th of Sunday of the month, join us at an upcoming workshop.  We work on a different project each month, they are great fun - and all supplies plus generous servings of chocolate and caffeine are always available!

Ok, well, before I sign off for today - I have one more thing to share.  I just love this pot of glue image that was in the corner of one of the pictures I took:

If anyone can think of a fun way to use the image in a collage or piece of artwork, I'd love to see it.  Maybe it is just me, leave it to a collage artist to love a picture of a pot of glue!  But what can I say, I do.

Wh...Huh?  What's that I hear.  Ah yes.  The familiar stirring.  A bit of a cry.

Adin's awake!  I better run and grab him up quick.  I'd hate to have him make that face, at the top of this post - again!

Let me go kiss those cheeks!

Here is to hoping that you all have cheeks to kiss and pots of glue at your disposal, whenever you need them!