Celebrity Spotting for the Crafty Crowd

Le Bohemian Charm Necklace by Kaari Meng

After taking a week off from the blog I'd intended on getting back to you all with some amazing content last week but started slacking right off the bat. My excuse is that my husband had decided to take the week off and I really tried to limit my online time while he's here. This week then was supposed to be the start of my new "schedule"- you know the one where I get to blog, create, and surf all your blogs without guilt, but this week too is shaping up a bit differently then I expected. First, my husband is home yet today nursing his sprained ankle. Tomorrow I have an art group lunch, and then Thursday through Saturday are..... Super Exciting... The Creative Connection Event.

The Vivid Vignette Class by Lauri Meseroll

I swear I want to hang out at the airport this week because not only are a ton of amazing authors and artsy business people flying in for the TCC, like Amy Butler, Tonia Davenport, Ruth Rae, Kaari Meng, Jenni Bowlin, The Farm Chicks, the Crafty Chica, Tiffany Windsor, Lori Meseroll, Betz White, Vicki Howell (the list could go on and on). BUT there's also a Scrapbooking Convention in town that's pulling in the likes of Tim Holtz and Melody Ross. THEN, there's the Junk Bonanza going on Thurs- Sat. just outside of Minneapolis and that's seriously got to be one of the coolest junk extravaganza's you'll ever attend. I'll be attending all three days of The Creative Connection Event and it's a pretty packed schedule so I won't be able to attend the junk bonanza or the scrapbooking convention. :( Thus, the airport comment. I bet you'd go with me. :)

Family Keepsake Album by Ruth Rae

The Creative Connection Event was a huge splurge and I still can't believe I'm going. It would be killing me right now to know something this cool was going on right here, without me being able to participate. So I am super glad I'll be attending.

Loosely, the event is structured so that when you registered for the event you were asked to choose one art class a day to attend and one business-y forum. So you do one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. Around this schedule they have a book signing/cocktail party, a kick off dinner, an editorial brunch, a handmade market, a luncheon, and a pajama party. I chose some really fun classes that I promise to take lots and lots of photo's of to share with you all. First I've a jewelry class with Kaari Meng, then a painting class with Lauri Meseroll, and finally on Saturday a fabric book making class with Ruth Rae. I can't tell you HOW excited I am about these classes! I'm determined to find a way to share it with all of you too. I do know that there will be a lot of coverage of this event. There are " TCC special correspondents" for the event that will be reporting on all things TCC, and the pj party on Friday night will be broadcast live on Facebook through Tiffany Windsor's Cool2Craft site.

So it should be fun! So next week- I promise, we'll return to our previously scheduled blog programming. :)

All Three of My Artisan Entries- Revealed!

I just finished entering my work into the Artisan contest. Wow! It's such an amazing feeling. Each artist was asked to submit three pieces of art and then two additional detail shots of each entry. I tried to enter three very different pieces to show as wide a variety of techniques, materials, and skills as possible. There is a connection between the three, which I talk about a bit at the end of this post (besides that they all contain wire and fabric in some way). You were also allowed a little description area to tell of your process, your inspiration, your materials and techniques. It's fairly daunting but also very very fun. I showed you the completed angel last post and I did show you close ups of the first two but not the completed pieces. SO today I thought I'd do a big reveal of all three images (drum roll please....) :)

Entry #1: My Life Story is Unfolding- Stitched Wire Sculpture

The idea behind this piece was to take my journal entries from 2d to 3d. I also love the idea of a person's life unfolding as a flower does. Bits and pieces are revealed as if petal by petal. I realized not long ago, while journaling that my life has been unfolding and has now reached the point where most of the major questions I had as a child have been answered. There's more to the story behind this piece so if you'd like to read more go here.

Entry #2: Creative Bloom Mixed Media Quilt

This is the quilt I showed you a sneak peak of over a week ago in this post. It was a work in progress photo so I thought I'd show you how it came out. Again, there's a story behind this piece that I'd love to have you read about here.

Entry #3: My Angel of Inspiration- Stitched Sculpture

I really do love how this one came together. A total gift from God. I've never done arms on any of my angels before, I'd never added clothes, and I'd never added the little elements like the flowers, needles, or polymer clay bird before. The fact that her coat actually fit her is a miracle unto itself- seriously. I really do love how she turned out though. She feels like such an expression of who I am as an artist.

The connection between all three of these pieces is that they were all inspired by inspiration. It's an idea I love thinking about. Where does inspiration come from? How does it work? Why do you get ideas out of the blue? Can you cultivate it? How do you get more? I explored all of these questions when I wrote my upcoming book, Creative Bloom. I'm really excited to be able to share more about the book and as we near the two months to publication date next week I expect to be able to give you a couple of glimpses. But, in the meantime I'd love to know what inspires YOU most? and how is this reflected in your art? Is it? Please leave a comment and share with us!!

My Girl

I finished her the other night and hate to leave her anywhere. I move her from room to room with me throughout the day and love looking at her. She's my Angel of Inspiration and she represents who I am as an artist. She's constructed primarily of fabric and wire- my personal fave's. She is also very mixed media and glories in it. Besides fabric and wire she has a torso made of a spool of thread and arms that are paper clay. Her skirt and jacket are- of course- artist's canvas and have needles embedded on either side of the front. You've probably caught the sewing theme by now but for extra emphasis she's holding a small embroidery scissor given to my by my mother. Besides sewing she loves found objects (the pieces of carpenter's ruler) and she is of course, much enamored with birds. Because she represents my inspirations I had to include my love of drawing and color by adding in the used and broken bits of caran' dache crayons.

Because I love flowers (you all know that I do) she wears flowers, one in her hair at one at her breast. She's my girl and I love her and I hope you do too. She is also, my final entry for the Artisan contest so I am done done done! In the few weeks since I decided to jump in and enter so many amazing artists have contributed their work to the contest, I really want to encourage you all to stop over and take a look. But it's a little scary. There are some truly amazing works and I look at my entries and feel the pull to protect them and myself by not entering. If I don't then there's nothing risked and I won't feel badly if no one likes them. But if I do enter, and post my three little projects then I'll feel like I've been brave and feel good about myself for having done it. The flip side of course, is feeling regret if I let this opportunity, this chance, pass.

So I'm gonna jump- I think My Angel would approve.

Tossing Out My Old Life and Committing to the New

There are always seminal times in your life that you don't realize the importance of until much later. Today feels like it might be one of those days.

Today my husband and I are cleaning out our house and garage. A huge undertaking that makes me feel so much lighter for having done it. I'm scavenging all over the house, he's grabbing ten years of remodeling remnants. For instance, there's the carpeting and pad from the time we tore it all out of the downstairs and put in hardwoods. Some nasty old closet wood and some metal thing from when the furnace was replaced. We don't have a vehicle that will truck all this stuff away for us so it's all just sat, and accrued through the years in the house and in the garage.

So with half a week of vacation ahead of us we decided to get a dumpster and TOSS it all. And as we were tossing it all I started to dig a little deeper, past that couch we got when we were married, and the chair from the 70's his parents gave him for his first apartment. There deeper still, were my drawings and pastels from my college art classes. I've saved them all this time but for what? I'm never going to put nude sketches on my walls, just not my thing. But to see them again brought back memories of how cool and sophisticated I felt as an art student, drawing them.

Then there were the remnants of my past business lives. The things I did when I thought I really couldn't make it as an artist. Things like vases, floral spray paint, and other leftovers from my years as the owner of my own floral events business. Even before that there was the glassware I'd painted and tried to sell for a while in the mid '90's, my first attempt at a business. Then I found the the stamps left over from my decorative painting venture along with some small little bottles of dried up glaze. That was soo long ago.

For someone who saves EVERYTHING in the hopes I might find a use for it some day this really is hard. But I've saved so much over the years that my home is making me feel overwhelmed and anxious. There's no room for anything.

Disclaimer: I kept the bag of used up acrylic paint tubes though (I know- a weird thing to save- but I have this feeling I'll need them for a sculpture and it's not like I'll be able to source them again then)and some tin covers too. Explaining why I want to keep those to my husband's going to be a little tough so I stuck them behind something else. :)

All in all I've revisited an awful lot of my life today and I've realized a few things. By tossing out my floral trappings for good I'm acknowledging that the temporary hiatus I took from that business, after my son was born, is now permanent. I've left that phase of my life behind me and I'm glad because the place I'm going- where I'm committed to being the artist I always wanted to be, that's wonderful. Tossing out the old, embracing the new, it's a good thing.

So here's the question I have for you- what have you held onto out of a sense of fear that tossing it out would give you that freeing sensation? What pile of old whatever's really should get tossed? Is it photo's of an old relationship, trappings from a former existence, or paraphernalia from a past you need to move on from? Maybe clothes that are 3 sizes too large but you're afraid you really might gain that weight back again? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!!!

Taking a Mini-Break This Week and a Work In Process

I sketched what I had in mind with my Inktense Pencils

I've  been a little slow at posting this week. It's Tuesday and my last post was Friday! Crazy! But there is a reason for my tardiness as I've decided to use my time a little differently this week. Next week my son starts Kindergarten and I've hit on this last week as a mini break before the session starts. I'll be spending some of that quality time with my little boy, as well as preparing for the fall, and finishing up a big project. Next week, I'll be posting as usual. In fact, the next couple of weeks, I'll have mucho time before me and I'll be using you all as a crutch to get me through it. I love sitting down in the morning, and slowly gearing up to the morning and it's challenges as I read your blogs and find out what you've been doing. That and my art. So I had a couple of tutorials coming up and I think I'll hold off on the first until next week.

Notice the cereal bowl? I didn't want to take time to eat dinner:)

Just to get you completely caught up, I've also been working on my entries to the Cloth Paper Scissors Artisan contest. Yup! I've decided to throw caution to the wind and enter the contest. It's one of those things I talked about in this post. I figure if I enter, I'll have met a challenge- which is always good for me, been brave- which is super important, AND I'll have some really cool art I might not have had the impetus to make otherwise. So I've been working hard on that and am really excited about the work I'm doing. It's me but at a slightly different level. It's good.

I might ditch the copper panels for a batik...

So much love to you all- but I probably won't see you until next week. I'm off to build a Lego city...oh and  trip to the State Fair, as well as the local art museum, and some more fun stuff...

Hope you all have a wonderful few days too and I'll update you on the quilt when I get back....:)

Fall Fashion Bliss- Shop Ruche

Art as usual means, among other things, infusing your closet your home and your life with art. For help with the closet part I found this fall lookbook from Shop Ruche for you all to browse. I love it! My favorite is that candied cape as well as the shoes. Love shoes. Oh and the butterfly dress, and the bags.... you get the idea. ;)

Better yet- they're doing a giveaway for an amazing bag. Seriously- you have to see this bag. I love it! 

More Stamps and Being You in your Art

I did yesterday's post rather late last night and so I thought I'd do a show and tell today and show you a photo of some more of the stamps I've carved recently.

I've been using them on fabric and then stitching the fabric patchwork style to one of my wire frames. I like how it's turning out but you know that little bit of a voice that says it's not that good? I've been fighting that lately. Really I know it doesn't matter if it's good or not, what matters is that you do what you're called to do. That you take the time and the risk to create in the face of that inner critic.

Really in life it boils down to being you, being authentic, whether others will get it, or like it, or not. How do you deal with those thoughts, the negativity? I'd really like to know. :)

So that's where I'm at right now... and here are some stamps.... I used the "faith" on one of the petals in the close up shot above. Fun!

Guest Post at Handmade Business Today!

Hey folks! I almost forgot to share but I have a guest post over at Handmade Business today! It's titled How Becoming a Mother Helped Me Make the Leap from Baby Bottles to Professional Artist. I had a lot of fun writing it and hope that it encourages all the other mothers/mompreneurs/artists/crafters out there. The post relates how I believe becoming a mom was actually responsible for me daring to reach for that art career. How the combination of roles can benefit all of us, and how if you look at something from a slightly different angle, you can really appreciate how wonderful it really is.

SO please, hop on over to Handmade Business and read the post. Thank you!!!

PS- if you'd like here are a couple of links to my past posts that are about the mama/artist connection!
My Mama is an Artist
Art Biz Mama's Interview
Interview with Shop Bug
The Creative Process- It Gets a Little Messy

Summer's End

It's almost here- the end of Summer. All the time I thought we had has whittled down to a mere 2 weeks. Crazy how quickly the time comes and goes. I know Minnesota has a late start to school and some of you have already started the fall routine.  
 
I don't know about you but I'm so excited about some of the projects I have planned for this fall and I can not wait to share them with you. But I'm wondering- from all you mom's that have already started the fall schedule what are YOUR plans for this time? What are YOUR goals and what Amazing things are you planning? Really I'd Love to hear from  ALL of you!

I Feel Lucky- And Am Completely Covered in Paint

This week I feel lucky. I know it's all blessings and maybe it's just the feeling of gratitude I have that makes me feel like things are going great and right. Funny because 1 week ago you would've found me sobbing about the stupidest things, but this week- it's all good again.

The view of the hall BEFORE

And why, you might be wondering, do I feel so lucky? Well, first of all I got to spend two whole afternoons this week painting. Yup, painting. I was asked to do a mural on a small wall near the Nursery at our church and although I didn't know what I was going to do, I agreed and of course still didn't know the day before I was scheduled to begin but the ideas did come and I love the result.

The view through the doorway AFTER.

The goal with this mural is to direct the eye through a doorway at the end of the fellowship hall that leads to the Nursery. It is fairly innocuous and so they wanted something child-like and playful, as well as a sign of some sort that pointed to the Nursery. I started work Tuesday and finished up on Wednesday afternoon. I am going to go back and make the lettering a little thicker on the signage to make it more visible but other than that little bit I'm done. It also worked out that my mom was able to watch my 5 year old while I did this so it wasn't just two afternoons painting, it was two afternoons painting uninterrupted. I have to admit to adding just one more thing and then just one more thing so I could spend just a little more time painting. It was fairly blissful. I also felt fairly thankful that God has given me the ability to transform an old hallway like this. It's definitely my kind of service project. :)

Full View of the Hall BEFORE

Then today, my parents have whisked my son away for the weekend and I'm again left with time to my self. This is a rare thing when you're a parent, and something that's nice but just a little bit unnerving as well. So I'll spend a little bit of time with you, do some cleaning, work on getting a couple of etsy orders done, and run some errands (and maybe make a completely unnecessary stop at Anthropologie- just because I can). Still it feels strange and I realize how lucky I am to have that incessant chattering and sweet little voice always interrupting my thoughts to tell me he's hungry- yet again. In another couple of weeks school will start and my little guy will be gone all day and I'm still not sure how I'll handle it, but I am so so so lucky to have this time now. I know you understand what I mean. :)

The full view AFTER- a sweet change!