a little bit of magic

thank you diana for this wonderful picture of you, misty, and sally jean taken at dear lizzies friday night at the trunk show.
everything looks like it is dusted with a little bit of magic.
friday began with sally jean's class the gothic pendant. here is laurie set up with her gorgeous soldering tray. it looks like she might be ready to take a bite. i got to sit by laurie each day. it was so wonderful to see the art just spill out of her. you have such a kind and beautiful heart. i think we were the only ones to stay out in the hot tub and watch the stars.



soldering was a challenge the first time around.
sally jean makes it look so easy. . .



the first half of the day we worked on our collage papers. sally jean brought her collage book that she works in, so unbelievable. i loved looking through her pages.
i walked around the class several times just to see what everyone was making. each person was adding bits of their own lives to their necklaces. i added a little piece of an old map of the irish sea. it is a dream of mine to go there and see where my great grandfather, a priest, met his sweet heart an irish gypsy and fell in love.





this is a bracelet sally jean brought to show us some soldering examples. check out the marble!
i stayed up friday night until 3:30am with deb and amanda trying to figure out how to solder on the jump rings. everything was quiet and peaceful. such a wonderful moment. deb held the jump ring to my gothic window glass so i could drop a bead of solder on. i was determined to put my necklace together since i don't have any soldering tools at home.
the week before the artnest i bid on a hand carved mother of pearl rosary on ebay and it came the day before i left! i had pictured in my mind how my necklace would be put together and it was wonderful to lay my finished necklace out at my place when it was all finished then drop into bed so happy.
we were all touched with a little bit of magic that day.

i miss you. . .

i am back after such an amazing weekend at the Artnest retreat. today is the first day i have been able to sit down at the computer. i am still unpacking and have so much on my mind. trying to work through all the feelings that came after spending months with candice planning the retreat and then four days spent so close together with each of the artists that attended.
monday i lurked around on the computer reading a few emails and checking misty's site. i wanted her to post something that would put into words and pictures the experience we all shared. i wanted to see the faces of the women who have opened my heart and cry over the emptiness i feel now that they are all home and going on with their lives.
i miss you. . .




misty taught our first class on thursday. it was such an amazing class! i loved watching how free she is with her art materials. at one point she blew out some white ink from a gel pen onto her painting and it splotched out a big blob. i thought oh know, its ruined. she swiped it around with a rag here and there and it was lovely. here she is with rebecca and diana showing us how to create a background. notice her table still looks quite clean. after she really got working there was paint everywhere.


this face is the beginning of her class piece that she used to demonstrate working with transfers and paint to begin your figure. after sketching and adding some paint you can see how the layers build.


at the end of the day we set out our paintings under the deck and talked about each one. i actually really liked the backdrop of the concrete behind the gorgeous colors.

angel, laurie and diana

lisa on the left, elise the two on the right

rebecca and sherri

my two pieces. i love how the plain background turned out. i made three more small pieces after class and realized how much i like working small. the large size was difficult for me to organize. i wanted to see how if i could do a 'man piece' just for fun and i love how it turned out. i was just playing with the light and dark on the face.



deb and her two pieces.

candice and misty

dinner that evening was out on the deck just at dusk. it takes you by surprise how quickly it cools off. i had to run in for a blanket before dinner was over. several deer came out to graze together and we watched them after dinner.
strawberry cheesecake was served in by the fire so we could warm up.

our group photos were taken with a timer and tripod so it was a bit tricky, but i am so happy i have some pictures of us all.

lilia's book

today i will be sending off lilia's book for the spring secrets exchange. i am sad there is only one more round to go, this has been such a fun project. although i must admit it doesn't feel much like spring anymore. we are expecting 100 degrees today. luckily i stocked the freezer with some juicy tangerine dole fruit juice bars!



lilia covered an old jewelry box with vintage fabrics and trims and then inside she made an ingenious fabric folder. it is a flat rectangle with a pocket sewn on the front and a long ribbon sewn of the spine. here is something i learned after participating in this round robin: plan for expansion!! after everyone adds all their wonderful treasure your book may not close or fit in its own box. lilia's will be fine, but mine might not fit after all.



just inside the book cover is this picture of five friends with each of our initials. check here for the cover of lilia's box.
there was a lovely stack of vntage photo cabinet cards for us each to decorate. here is mine.

vintage treasure hunting

summer is always the best time for finding great junk!
not only is there a dozen sales over the weekend around town but it seems like the antique stores are pulling out all their old stuff to sell while the weather is lovely.
i have a few favorite shops but i love coming across a new one.
i bought all these vintage rhinestone pieces this week at seven sisters and a daughter up in heber. the stick pin is my favorite with its tiny jeweled crest that screws off the end.

then i found this 1950's veil at the thrift store. the tulle is so fine and such a lovely aged color. i bought it planning to cut off the fabulous embroidered tulle trim along the edges, but when i tried it on at home i decided i had to do a photo shoot with it first. it is doubled layered and 14 feet long!

i found several cardboard spools of trims that i want to try dying in krisin steiner's class at the Artnest. i have seen some amazing examples of hand dyed trims but i am not sure if these will work. pretty even in white and ecru.
and how could i pass up this wondrous ball of string? i would love to buy some things at the mercantile and have them wrap up the package in brown paper and tie it up with string. another era.

these darling childrens hangers were in a bundle at a yard sale. i was so thrilled i paid for them and was down the road before i realized they were reproductions. i thought i had really scored. . . still they will be fun for my friend who is having her baby this week. they will look so sweet bundled up with a tiny little outfit.

marilyns paper swap

here is the packet of paper stuff i sent off to marilyn for her vintage paper swap. the package of paper goodies includes the greatest ever flocked wallpaper, crepe paper packets, paper lace, dennison labels, and some very worn word cards, a game called grab.
then two days after i mail her package i found this amazing ledger, look how big it is! i set my handy alphabet ruler on top just to give you the scale of it. the ruler by the way says by lucretia cavanah copyright 1940. on the back is the alphabet in cursive and then in small black fountain pen MR loves BP. hope it worked out for them. . .

his and hers

i found the most wonderful pile of old photos out shopping with laurie. quite a few are so old and worn the edges have broken off. i have stacked them up in an old suitcase and i sit and go throught them over and over looking for just the right image.
the prince was colored with caran d'ache crayons and water color. the word 'prince' came from a chapter of a book hand written on old school lined paper tucked into an old geography book. the loopy cursive was written with a dull pencil and is a bit hard to read but it is something wonderful and new to cut up!


'One into a flower' was scanned on top of an old german book just crumbling with age. she is off to a friend with many thanks for such a thoughtful gift!

here is one of my favorite photos in the bunch, this fantastic shot of a girl scout troup. they look like such a fun group of girls, i wonder where they all are now.

off to cupcake heaven

at an estate sale i came across this whole box full of vintage grannie stuff. the older couple was moving to a retirement home and this stuff was from her mother and grandmother! lovely hand embroidery and crochet work. i dug out aprons, doilies, hankies, old scissors, lace, trims, tablecloths, pillowcases and these amazing crotchet potholders. i picked out my favorite pieces, but looking back i should have just bought the whole box! i sent these potholders off to jenny to live in vintage cupcake heaven. they just seemed to want to go there. i hope she really uses them. i can't even imagine when women spent that much time making potholders but i adore the idea of them making everyday things beautiful.



these little posies i made for each of the moms that came to our moms and muffins day at school. so tiny and sweet. the flowers are tucked into a little wet square of floral oasis and wrapped in colored cellophane. i mist the blossoms and store them in the fridge until i give them away.
it is a day for flowers and thinking about loved ones. enjoy, julie

the luckiest girl

feeling like the luckiest girl here on the first day of summer vacation. i love having the whole summer off with my kids. we went out to ginger's cafe yesterday for lunch to celebrate and made a list of things we want to do this summer. i am so looking forward to time in my studio every day. i organized all my new treasures from an amazing day shopping with Laurie in Berkeley last week. still working on taking some photos of the cool junk!
for my special summer treat i am counting down the days until i get to go to the Artnest retreat in June. . .26 days to go!

quite a lot of pink. . .

there is quite a bit of pink going on right now, must be because everything is blooming pink outside today. this is the beautiful flower that adorned the box cassondra sent her spring secrets books in. inside were five boxes shaped like books that fit inside the main box. so charming!

the size of the tiny pages was absolutely so fun! here are a couple of the little pages i made. they look a bit like tall ATC cards, very fun to make and satisfying to flip through.


melissa tagged me with 7 random things. i have just laughed at a few of these, so here it goes:

1. i love to cook. i make zuccini feta pancakes with sour cream mint sauce, cinnamon rolls with pecans and cream cheese frosting, sweet corn tomales with green chile tomatillo sauce, and hand dipped apricot amarreto chocolates but i have never made a decent roast. i keep trying.

2. i drive like a new yorker. i lived just outside new york city for a year as a nanny and every weekend i would drive a VW bus into the city. i learned in a hurry if you miss the only exit to the bridge you are in big trouble. i even successfully navigated a miniature rental car around the eleven lane round about in paris at the Arc de Triomphe.

3. i am not afraid of bugs. i actually have a wonderful collection of them. one day out running i came across a particularly big beetle crossing the road and i put him in a paper coke cup, folded down the top and tucked the cup in my shorts and finished my run. i have found beside the road dragonfly wings, little nests soaked with rain, seed pods poking through the fence, and acorns of every size. i am worse than my kids at packing things home.

4. i listen to very loud rock and roll music when i clean the house thus making me an easy target for a sneak attack if you come up behind me when i am singing and vacuuming in my own little world.

5. i have a collection of tiny bottles filled with sand from all the places i have been. dark grainy sand from the oregon shore, soft, fine sand from florida, bright white coral sand from belize, pale grey chalky sand from the coast of france, and dark orange powdery sand from southern utah. it is a reminder of all our journeys together.

6. i am a sucker for vintage office supplies. i never pass up a box of dennisons gummed labels or stars. love the little worn cardboard boxes.

7. i can't sleep in. curses! i try, but it seems my eyes just open at 5:30am after 18 years of getting up to go running in the morning. i actually love the quiet of my house before anyone else is awake.

oh and i tag candice (post something for the sparrow), batgirl, sherri, candace the crotchet girl, and girl kris.

May has all the sweetest flowers

may is always like this, a rollercoaster ride that just keeps picking up speed right up to the last day. then i find myself at the end of the ride just sitting there in the car after the metal restraint has lifted wondering what to do next.
i only have two teaching days left of school so i have been checking things off one by one. last night to celebrate the end of a huge week i stayed up late cutting and gluing. wonderful. i can't wait to spend some time out in the garden. the late lilacs are blooming and my rose bushes are fairly bursting with buds.

for lilia here are my thinking blogger nominations. easy since they are all links on the side of my blog.
nina's blog is the first one i started to read after taking a class with her. she is connected to nature, has a warm heart, and writes about real feelings. her art work is always stunning. kari has such a fun blog. she is happily creating there in minnesota every day. i can always find a new post when i stop by. i am hoping to actually catch one of her etsy items before they sell out! charlotte's blog i just came accross a bit ago and then i connected her to her beautiful books. i adore her style. how fun to find her blog! the sweetest mohair teddy bears on the planet. i could stop by to visit misty's blog just for her lovely art, but she also writes about balancing life and trusting yourself. i can't wait for her to come to the artnest. jenny's blog is as sweet as she is. always a dose of cupcakes, aprons, and vintage yumminess. and she likes the same pale blue i do. melissa has a fabulous color sense and creates wonderful collages. her blog is daily dose of creative inspiration for me. she does such an amazing job putting together swaps and the erraticus zine.


time to frost the cake for the birthday party. there will be nine thirteen year old girls running around in just a few hours from now. . .

international quilt market

yesterday was a fabulous day spent up in salt lake at the international quilt market. this is the CHA for the fabric world. booth after booth of fabric, wool, quilts, threads, silks, and every other beautiful thing to sew with. i was very surprised that so many booths offered things for sale off the floor. glad i came prepared, came home with a pile of stuff.
here are my favorites. . .
the coolest booth vintage quilts and fabrics from Mary Koval. she introduced a new line of fabrics based on quilting patterns. gorgeous!


when i got home i found the lastest issue of erraticus by melissa waiting for me. check out the colors, definitely on the same vibe. very cool art work by Richard Russell.


the best give away was this tape measure from Bohin, a french needle and scissor company. serious eye candy!


my favorite threads hand dyed from Romania by Valdani


the coolest hand dyed wools were by Mary Flanagan Woolens in Wisconsin



so many wonderful vintage inspired apron patterns and quilt designs. check out these adorable designs by japanese company kokka co.



A new designer that has a very amy butler feel is Joel Dewberry, he was the nicest guy, love his new line.


more about Anna Maria, Erin McMorris, Heather Bailey, and Amy Butler fabric lines tomorrow.