I'll be sharing a table with ZNE Member Gina Gabriell. There will be lots of wonderfulness throughout the entire event, and it was co-produced by ZNEer Tracey Buxton.
Come visit!
Friday, June 27, 2008
5-8 p.m.
Saturday, June 28, 2007
8 a.m-3 p.m.
hosted by
Lavender Ridge
7450 W 4th Street
Reno, NV 89523
775) 747-3222
Another wonderful ZNE Zaftig page example (the above by ZNEer Gina Smith!) Have YOU signed up yet? Click on theZNE Zaftig flyer below!
"Wishing is good for us. Daydreams, fantasies, castles in the air, and aspirations all drive us forward, impel us to make things happen."
Here is another lovely product from last weekend's Castle in the Air workshop in Michigan. This is Gina Smith's gorgeous castle. I wish I could step in and stay a while...
Speaking of stepping in and staying a while - the wonderful Diva Danielle and Rayme had me as a guest on Diva Craft Lounge yesterday, and I so enjoyed my stay. I am the second guest on the show - you listen live, here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/DivaCraftLounge/va/2008/06/11/diva-craft-lounge
Here is to hoping that all of YOU have a divalicious day!
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
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!
So, to say I am excited about the upcoming month would be a serious understatement. Woo Hoo! June, here I come!
Here's that banner I was working on, on Tuesday. It's about 4 feet wide by 2 feet tall. Also, the magic wand on the left of the picture was created by Sarah Huckman, I got it as part of her Enchanted Swap, and the robins egg blue circle tag above the pink bow on the left side of the picture, is a wonderful glittery art tag created by Gail Schmidt. It was her contribution to the ZNE Design Team Swap. Thanks guys! I had fun with it. Can you tell?
Speaking of fun - what a blast we had at the First Wednesday Street Fair. I have to say, as always - Mediteranean Pizza and Kettle Corn notwithstanding (thanks Gina - YUM!) the best part of the evening was hanging out with such fabulous crafty sistahs!
Here's Julee Herrmann and Iva Wilcox (L/R).
Oooh. And look at this amazing doll by Iva. The tall one with the theatre skirt. I had to have it. : D
Lucky me!
And here's Roni with all her beautiful bling.
Woo Hoo!
If you missed it, don't worry. ZNE/PCM will be at First Wednesday through September. Every first Wednesday of the month. 6-9 p.m. on Main Street in Pleasanton. It is a wonderful outing for the whole family!
Have a great day everyone!
CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION - 1st Wednesday Street Party
The 2008 Pleasanton Downtown Association FIRST WEDNESDAY STREET FAIR season kicks off with our annual Cinco de Mayo themed Street Party. This month's featured band is local favorite, LA VENTANA.
Shop, dine and stroll your way through downtown Pleasanton. Visit our unique shops and restaurants and hit the middle of Main Street and the additional wide variety of businesses and community organizations who will have booths set up market their products and services as well as provide information.
Stop by the ZNE/PCM booth, and then stop in at the Beer and Wine Garden to experience Latin rock and salsa at it's best. It doesn't get any better than La Ventana! Salsa right into summer and enjoy their unique and exciting musical style! Click here to visit La Ventana's website!
Beer,including selections from Anheuser Busch and micro-brews from the Main St. Brewery will be on tap. Great wines from the Livermore Valley will also be available for purchase.
Main Street will be closed from St. John Street to Old Bernal Avenue from 5 to 10 p.m. There will be plenty of off-Main Street parking available. OUR BOOTH WILL BE LOCATED IN SPACE # 175 - Closer to the St. John end of the street. Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Here's who will be there from ZNE/PCM in May:
Me & ZNE(!)
Iva Wilcox
Julee Herrmann
Roni Seabury
My wonderful friend JoAnnA Pierotti received her copy of the book ZNE created to comfort her in her time of sorrow as she deals with the death of her mother.
In true JoAnnA style, she created a beautiful piece of artwork to express her appreciation. She used a picture of her mother holding her when she was about one year old:
Click on the image to see a close up and be able to read her beautiful words. Check out JoAnnA's blog to see her post about receiving the book:
http://mosshill.blogs.com/joannas_journal/2008/03/my-dear-preciou.html
(And if you would like to purchase a copy of the Never Forgotten book which honors mothers, loss, and healing - CLICK HERE.)
Well, there you go. Herein lies my problem. I have endurance down, and plain clothes - oh sure - what better description of jammies 24 hours a day is there? I love nature, so that's not the issue. Some would agree that good humor is among my saving graces. Vast curiosity could be counted among my attributes. Good speech and good silence are a bit tricky for me, but I am working on them. It's that dang OLD SHOES requirement that gets me every time.
I am a shoes hound. I covet a good pair of heels. Is it really even necessary for me to explain why, when I saw the pair of shoes above - I HAD TO HAVE THEM? That's RED GINGHAM after all. Nuff said. They're mine.
So yesterday was an Altered Everything ~ Everything Altered day. However, it turned out that most of my regulars had one conflict or another. In the end, the fabulous ZNEers Patricia Cowen and Kathryn Virello came over, but we all decided to take a field trip and walk up and down Pleasanton's historic Main Street and do a little window and gallery shopping - which was quite fun.
Now, what shoes do you think I chose to take this lovely walk downtown? That's right! Wo
o Hoo! Here they are on my feet:
What did this mean? It meant that I tripped and almost fell on my face, not once, not twice, but three times!! The ladies were quite kind to not laugh out loud each time. Though, I did hear some faint giggles. So, did I learn my lesson? Will I be retiring these shoes to the back of the closet? Of course NOT! Clearly, I just need more practice in wearing them. : )
Ok, on to other stuph...
I am so excited about all my swaps and prize mailings this past week! Check it out:
I received this fabulous wonderful incredible beautious altered can doll from fellow ZNEer, Sherry Scheitel , my partner in the Altered Art Obsession swap. Remember the one I made for her? Here it is!
AND - you may recall that I participated in a First Aid Kit swap that Missy Ballance put together. Well my partner, Kathleen sent me the fabulous kit! I am totally prepared for ANY kind of emergency now. Except for a chocolate emergency. Unfortunately, I have already eaten the chocolate. Just couldn't resist that coffee crisp. I haven't seen 'em here in the U.S. (It was sent from Canada.) Mmmmmm....
And, here is the pack I sent to Kathleen. I sent it a bit late so I don't think she's received it yet, but I was really amazed at the fact that we sent eachother such similar stuff!
I also had fun decorating the front of the box I put all this stuff in, with a blown up version of the graphic that Missy created for the swap:
And... This one I got off in the mail JUST in the nick of time, it arrived literally on the drop dead due date. I am so excited, because it was my first charm swap. Another Altered Art Obsession swap - and I had SO much fun with these charms:
I used a little cowgirl pin up girl image from Fenderskirts Vintage, which I laminated with a tiny brass star and moon attached. (The batch you see here is in individual plastic bags. The entire charm is not laminated, just the little cardstock cowgirl.) Then I attached a vintage lucite cowboy boot charm, and a tiny gold plated starburst. I just thought they were so fun. I think they may work better as a pendent than on a charm bracelet, but we shall see. I am definitely going to wear one of mine as a pendent!
Ok, so - I enjoyed that swap so much, that I immediately signed up for this one, which I saw on Creative Rants from Nerissa's blog: 
Now, moving on to prizes. I've had a whole slew of prizes that I needed to get out the door. First off, the fabulous ZNE Founding Member Linda Mitchelltree is a member of the ZNE Design Team, and she was the first one to upload a finished piece of art in this month's Design Team Challenge, so I sent her this box of goodies as a fun prize:
Hope she likes some of these goodies!
And... Dana Eskes won my "who knows what wella balsom is?" contest. (Shampoo.) She told me she likes whimsy, birds, and butterflies - so I sent this little package off to her:
And... the prizes don't end there! See that picture of Kathryn Virello up top? Well, she is a part of the ZNE Talk yahoo group, and she recently combed through over 200 messages in that group, in order to archive all etsy related posts on the ZNE website. Needless to say, she deserved a prize too! So when she arrived at my house yesterday, This was waiting for her:
I hope she has fun playing with her goodies!
Speaking of ZNE Talk, ZNEer Steph Stargell posted information about this day of silence on blogs, to take place on April 30th, in honor of the Virginia Tech victims. I think it is nice idea, so both this blog, and Spririto Di ZNE will be silent, on that day.
To Learn more about One Day Blog Silence - click here.
And with that, I am off. Have a great Monday everyone!
The world is but a canvas to the imagination. - Thoreau
Now you'll see why I am so excited about our collage sheets and The ZNE Design Team!
It's only just our first week playing together, and look at what these artsy SUPER STARTS are coming up with!
Linda Mitcheltree is working with our Mr. Postman Collage Sheet:
And she created the stunning piece below:
And, Lennea Truesdell picked out our fun Windows Colllage Sheet:
And look at the incredible piece that Lennea created - with that itty bitty window up in the far left corner of the sheet:
Isn't that magical?
And then there is this gorgeous altered box, created by Pam Carriker:
Pam used the Notions Collage Sheet, shown here:
And all this? It is just the very beginning! We have 14 members of the ZNE Design Team, and they are each working with a different collage sheet, so we are going to have a LOT of incredible art coming from this group.
Do you want to play with ZNE Collage Sheets too? Well mark your calendars!
ZNE Collage Sheet sales will be opened up on April 15, which - here in the U.S. can be a bit of a stressful day for some. Hopefully, the availability of some fun, quirky, collage sheets will cheer us all up.
Have a great Friday everyone!
PS - The first person to leave a comment that includes the "obvious" reason why 4/15 can be a stressful day in the U.S. - will receive a FREE collage sheet download!
Phew! I was able to hand off my latest Cercles D'Ame journal pages. The theme of this journal was childhood. Here are my silly pages:
And, making me happy lately - is - of all things, my key chain. A few months ago I bought this big huge fused glass bead dangly keychain thing, and then yesterday a little collage e
mbellishment key chain created by ZNE Member anemone arrived at my doorstep, and now I finally feel as if my keys are really stepping out in style. Check 'em out.
But that's not all. Look what my super talented adorable 11 year old step-daughter Abigail made:
ITS A PILLOW! That little doggy is so cute, I can't stand it. Almost, but of course - not quite - as cute as Abbey.
Hope you all are having a fabulous APRIL!
Back to the grind for me. Lots going on!
xo - Chel
1. Stevie Nicks was on the Today Show today. : D
2. My altered pen art doll arrived in the mail! Lookie what Julie O'Neil made for me!
Her hair is made out of goat mohair. How fun is that? I particularly like the C heart on her chest.
Thanks Julie!
FUN!
xoxo - Chel
"Raggedy Ann, Oh Raggedy Ann, My Sweet Raggedy Ann,
Here You Sit All Torn And Tattered,
But, You Were There When It Really Mattered!"
Hi everyone!
Oooh! Lookie what I got f
or my anniversary gifts, on Friday. This lovely ring (the silver one on the left) which was created by SF Bay Area artisan, Aline Sar of Hartstring Jewelry. (I wish she had a website, her work with silver wire and other mediums is really exquisite).
But that's not all! I also got this wonderful little cherrylicous doll!!
Look at that dress! And her red gingham bow. SWEET indeed! My Annie was created by ZNE Member, Christine Zorn. You should definitely click on her link, and check out her eBay store. Such wonderful stuff.
Ok, ok. But enough about what I got! How would YOU like to get something? Well, today is the last day for entries in the ZNE Style Try monthly prize drawing. The prize this month is a gorgeous fairy collage sheet created by ZNE member Divas D'Este. Look how fun it is! And click here, to enter yourself in the drawing ~ today!
Good luck everyone, and have a bling filled cherry-fairylicious day!!
Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.
- Dorothy Thompson
It is funny how you can feel both angry, and hopeful at the same time. I am angry, and have been for longer than I can even remember, about the number of women being diagnosed with, coping with, and many dying from - breast cancer.
I am angry that my son's great grandmother died years before he was born, from the disease. I am angry that my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. I am angry about a sister in our mixed media art community, Kelly Snelling, who has young children, and is undergoing treatment today. I am angry that my beloved friend JoAnnA Pierotti is also going through treatment, and is having such a hard time with chemo. I am angry about more artists, and other dear friends - Carolyn, Lillian, Joyce, Jan, May, and on and on and on....
And yes, there is hope as well. There is a grace that can be found in the goodness of all people, when they reach out and support one another. I do know that treatment is better than it once was. I know that survival rates are higher than they once were. I know that one day, we will get there. And I personally believe that in my impatience, and grief around this disease - I have something to learn. And on the days when I can step out of my anger, I get closer to those lessons.
So, I am trying, and I find that grace is present today. I am getting ready to send out the next batch of Live Pink art to those who have been registered for the program. For those of you who aren't aware, ZNE has an absolutely wonderful program that mails original art that has been donated by the artists - to individuals whose lives have been impacted by breast cancer. Be they patients, survivors, friends, family members or caregivers. The Live Pink program was inspired by and is in honor of JoAnnA Pierotti and her truly giving spirit. The ultimate goal of the program is to provide a bit of cheer or inspiration, and if nothing else, a message to the people engaged in this battle - telling them that they are not forgotten.
I was really pleased yesterday when Karen Lynch blogged about the Live Pink program on her blog - The Breast Blog. I am hoping that anyone reading this post will also help us spread the word.
You can learn more about the ZNE Live Pink program, here.
Thank you.
[Artwork at top donated to Live Pink by artist Patti Victoria Crump.]
Ok, I am way overdue on posting some pics of these fabulous goodies that the splendoriffic Barbe Saint John sent me. Now, I ordered one pair of earring, and one shirt, from her - and this is the incredible lot of goodies that she stuffed in my shipments:
And, needless to say, these pictures don't do the lot of tasties and treats and wonderfullness any justice at all, becuase they are so small and because there are things piled on top of things. My favorites in the jackpot of goodies she sent me are the paperdoll book which you can't even see at all, the little plastic retro looking lambs - can't wait to play with those, both pieces of original Barbe art which you can see at the top of the picture on the left, and the two fabulous glass charm pendents, one of which you can barely see at the top right of the picture at right, and one of which you can barely see in the middle of the left hand side of the picture at left. Pure gorgeousness. Barbe, you rock my world!! : )
On to more mundane happenings ~
I am sick sick sick today, actually have been for the past couple of days - but last night was the absolute worst, my whole body ached so much I couldn't even sleep. So today I am stuffy, tired, achey and draggy. Fun stuff. So, I am going to leave this post at that. I'm going to play with my little yellow and red sheep and see if that doesn't make me feel better. If not, then that KitKat should do the trick. Happy Thursday everyone. Here's to hoping you all are a little less achey than me, and enjoying some fun jackpots, of your own.
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. T
he 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 Izab
ella 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!
My incredible (artist, person, group leader, website designer, confidante) friend Julie O'Neil started Altered Art Obsession, just over a year ago.
I can't even tell you how incredible this group is, other than to say that the art swaps happening here are bar none, the best I have ever experienced! Julie and her fabulous group of moderators have worked really hard to create a group where excellence in effort and follow through is emphasized and a requirement of membership. I am not sure how it is that I snuck into this group - but I sure am glad that I did!
December marked the group's one year aniversary and some 20 plus members got together to create an ATC chunky book to honor the occasion. I loved every single page of this fun book - and wanted to share a few pages that were also created by fellow ZNE members:
Julie created the beautiful cover (note that Ellen Gray's tag is just showing as it was attached to an inner page. It does not relate to the cover). The rich and magical colors are really representative of Julie's mystical style.
Cris Cunningham's lovely ATC incorporated a bit of Parisian influence. What altered art collection without such an influence would be considered complete? Absolutely lovely
.
Lorraine Beaumont created the whimsical "Sshhhhhh..." piece. The pom pom on the girl's hat is a three dimensionaly fuzzy little embellishment. What fun!
Lisa Carney in Canada, sent in this fun little girl. The piece is embellished by hand and the background is colored with pencil, or perha
ps even crayon - either way - I love it!
And then this wonderful couple was created by Chrysti. This is a one of a kind original, and I am thrilled that this is the one that ended up in my book. Let me tell you, if you are doing a chunky book of any kind - You'll be lucky to get Chrysti in your group! She is famous for creating all originals for each book. I plan on doing that too. One day. When everything else in my life calms down and goes away. Ha! Don't hold your breath. How that girl does it, I don't know - but I do know her art is always stunning and wonderful!
And Kathy Dirks created this little partying fella. I love his derby. And, as scanners are wont to show - the postmark stamp is in a metallic gold that really makes the page sparkle. (Along with that fun rhinestone.) This one really makes me giggle!
The angel page was created by Debbie Lakies. The beaded embellishment on the right side is almost like a tiny handle to turn the page with. This is a really elegant and fun ATC!
And the book is closed out with another of Julie O'Neil's fabulous creations. Too cute for words. And such a fabulous composition of vintage and newer images.
What can I say! Phew. I hope this little tour of my tiny but big-on-fabulousness ATC Chunky gives you a good idea of why I love the Altered Art Obsession group, these swaps, and all these fabulous artists!
Oh - duh ~ and yes, of course! I created a page too. In fact, I had a few pages left over after I sent in the pages for the book. Does anyone want one? Drop me a comment (first three who ask) and let me know you want one of my AAO Party Pages - and I'll drop one in the mail to you! Here they are:
Ok everyone - happy creating!
PS - Yes, yes, clean office pics - coming soon!
That's right. I did it. I actually cleaned my office. This was a monumentous task, and it took me a good two weeks. In the meantime my collective sorted "goods" grew like prodigious mold all over the entire house. Every box had to be gone through, every item evaluated - and I ended up with two huge hefty bags of crap that - with great pains - I actually threw away.
It is important for you to know to that I have secret stashes and boxes of art "stuff" in every single room of my house, atop every flat surface, and still, my office was so full to the brim with overflowing boxes and bags and jumbles of junk - that - as I believe I have mentioned before in this blog - I literally could not walk across the floor. AND - my car usually contains some overflow. I kid you not. The car holds the stuff that I know - if I bring ("one more thing!") into the house - may be cause for the dissolution of my marriage. Oh, AND - did I mention my off site storage facility? Yep. Filled to the brim. I pay monthly rent on more SPACE just for my art supplies. It's true.
But none of that is ridiculous. After all I'll bet that some of you are in the same predicament as me, and if I know my collage and altered artists - those of you who aren't in the same position feel a bit of (completely unreasonable) envy. Why dont YOU have an offsite storage space? So what that it is completely full, and I can't remember what was at the bottom of it, and I can't be bothered to drive across town for some ribbon or scrap of who knows what - so really, it is just this mixed-media-artist-packrat-disease THING - the fact that I would rather PAY to store stuff that most likely I will never use or see again, than heaven forbid - toss a bit or bauble that may be EXACTLY what I am looking for to complete that assemblage piece I intend to create - s o m e d a y. Don't you wish you had that bit or bauble? Or ten thousand of them, like me? Wouldn't you sleep a little easier if you did? You see, that is the ridiculous part.
The truth is - in cleaning and sorting just what was in the house, I slept not a wink last night. So, in fact, my ten billion bits and baubles don't help one to sleep better - at all! That's right. I had to pull an all nighter to get ~ the charms in the charm bucket ~ and the water color tubes seperated from acrylics ~ and the acid free pens in one box, beside ~the colored pencils in another, and ~ the vintage text in a different cubby, than ~ the foreign text which needs to be in a different cubby than ~ the children's book pages, which of course should be beside ~ the dolls, although ~ the doll clothes really should be over near the fabric stash, and well, ~ you can see how one day turned into two into weeks and finally one twelve hour straight marathon cleaning session that, in the end, means that here I am, exhausted beyond belief, but incredibly - able to see the floor of my office! Hooray! It all started with a tiny little trail, two weeks ago, and now - who knew? I have carpet under my bare feet.
WOW!
Ok. I am so excited about this development, I had to write the above novella. An ode to my clean office. Tomorrow, I'll be teaching a workshop here at the house for some fellow Pleasanton Craft Mafia members - so I will have the camera out to capture us in all our giddy goofiness and I promise - I'll take pictures as proof that MY OFFICE IS CLEAN!!!!
In the meantime - speaking of pictures of houses - ooh! I am so excited. My wonderful friend Tiffany Jane Marshall agreed to do a fabulous cyber house tour of HER house (I am certain she never has to deal with the excess minutia problems that I do! Ha!) in time for ZNE's April (that's right, I'm on to April already! Catch up!) Shabby Chic launch at ZNE!
Her home tour will debut on the ZNE website on April 1rst (whenever I mention that date, I want to say - NO REALLY. Really. I mean it. Ha!) so be sure and be there! I hear that Tiffany is quite the hostess.
And in case you don't know her, let me tell you a little bit about my friend Tiffany.
I've known her for a couple years now. While I've never met her in person, she is still a dear friend to me. Tiffany has heard me complain and bemoan all kinds of silly things. She's known when my feelings have been hurt, when I have had health scares, and when babies have been born in my family. She is always supportive! She's busy of course - like so many other artists I know. Often times her expressions of support are quick and of few words - but her words are always sweet, on target, and go straight to my heart.
AND - Tiffany is an absolutely incredible artist! My house is filled with little treasures from Tiffany. She is the queen of glass glitter! I do have some favorites though. Like the "Welcome to ZNE" collage she created in 2005. LOVE IT! It hangs on the door to my office. (The door that now swings open all the way, may I add! Ha!) And also, my little "Variazione" tag. When ZNE was in its very first days, she sent this adorable little tag to me. To this day, I keep it taped to the top of my monitor. Isn't it purty?
And as if that weren't enough - she still sends me prezzies too! The other day I got a big 'ol package of gifties in the mail from her - and she enclosed a note saying that I could sell some of it, if I wanted - to help with ZNE promotional efforts.
Ha! Well, that's gonna be a tough one! I am supposed to give up this wonderful bunch of loot!?
Look! She even sent me a cherry magnet. Now that is a girl after my own heart.
Thanks Tiffany. I love you hon! And I can't wait to cyber play in your house, come April!
Ok. Well, that's about it for one day. I've got to pop over to ZNE - we've got some new members-a-knockin and I've got to open the doors. Plus, (shhh!) I still have to finish the agenda for the PCM workshop tomorrow. Oh no! And I think Adin needs his nappy changed. And what's that? Oh that's right. It's the lil' witchin hour - ie, time for the kids to come home from school! So, yeah - gotta run.
But picture this - I'll be running through, as in feet hitting the ground - my office!
So now it is your turn. Get out there and blaze a trail of your own today. And leave me a comment all you lurky-loos! I want to hear about your monumentous accomplishments. Happy Friday everyone!
Oooh! It is ZNE Theme Week this week, and the theme is LOVE! Check out the incredible Tiffany Jane Marshall's entry:
And Speaking of LOVE and Tiffany - she sent me the most incredible RAK - a package full of wonderufl artsy goodies! I am going to scan and upload them this week so that you all can see 'em. She even sent me a little cherry magnet.
I'm a happy girl!
THANK YOU TIFFANY!
Ok, I was blog-a-lurkin' today - and I found the list below on scrapbookaddict's blog. I figured I handle some highlighting - so I gave it a go.
Here is how it works: Copy the list and highlight only the things that YOU have done yourself. Let me get this out of the way - I tag:
Cinda, Chrysti, Bella, Missy, and ... YOU! Leave me a comment if you add this to your blog. Enquiring minds wanna know!
xo - Chel
1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had an amazing friend
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
3. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children -does raising count?????
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
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