pages for kari, and home again

my spring secrets book is home again! this has been my first round robin and what a great experience.
it was small only five of us and we only sent books around for a little over two months so over before i knew it.
it is so amazing to have these lovely pieces of art from friends in my book. such talented artists, i can't wait to meet them all someday. . .



these are the pages i sent of for kari's book and then the ones that came home in my book.
the little garden of flowers is adorable.

by kari
by lilia
by melissa
by cassondra

check these blogs and sites for more photos of this cool project. melissa, melissa's little yellow book for cassondra, kari, lilia, cassondra hasn't posted her photos yet but check out her latest two books!
we are announcing the november Artnest retreat in a week so i am taking photos today for our website and getting all the details together. it looks like christmas again in my studio!

21 years later. . .

i have had the most wonderful month.
the artnest was absolutely amazing, we spent the most beautiful day of my life together as a family in salt lake where this picture was taken. then we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary and went on our second honeymoon to the incredible island of Kauai for a week.

we scuba dived for a day, went to a luau, walked the beaches and swam in the waves, ate the best mango of my life, took a boat tour along the napali coast and snorkeled on a coral reef, slept in as late as we wanted, ate dinner whenever we were hungry, and swam with sea turtles.

it was heaven! huge thanks to both sisters and my mom for the wonderful gift of a whole week for just the two of us.

a day with Kristin

Saturday at the Artnest was spent with Kristin Steiner creating fabric books on the theme 'I am a Woman Who'.
Here is the lovely packet that awaited each of us as we came to class. The lovely display of Kristin's work.



close-up of the flower kristin was wearing. we got the pattern in our class kits.


I have followed Kristin's artwork in many books and magazines, but I was so completely unprepared for how lovely her work would be in person. Even more amazing is meeting Kristin and taking a class from her! She had so many great techniques for combining paint, dyes, stencils, transfers, and ink to fabric. Really opened my world.
What was the most wonderful part of her class though was watching her teach. She has a real gift for expressing so honestly her heart. She invited close inspection of ourselves and what we most wanted to say with our art. She was completely open and encouraging.



rebecca, amanda, and angel with their fabric book projects.
I have taught classes before but have always held back that most personal part of myself and my connection to the art I create. I guess the distilled atmosphere I usually have while teaching helps me feel safer. After being in Kristin's class and being part of what was felt there with her I will never hide who I am again.


i love this picture of misty and kristin. they posed for a picture and then the click of shutters was like a press conference or something. they both disolved into laughter. such remarkable women with such beautiful hearts. J.

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. . .