HAPPY KIND YEAR !!!!

Yeah, that's right!!  

This is my first post of 2012, so I'm wishing you a belated HAPPY one.  

And a year filled with kindness to ourselves.

It's about time I gave this blog some attention!

I wanted to post this canvas collage that I started at Brave Girls Camp, and finally finished.

I wanted the message to stand out clearly, and be supported by soft happy images and textures.  Using colors and florals that are positive and make me happy.

I was experimenting with using different techniques and textures:  painting, drawing, distressing, texture medium, glazing, glitter, fabric.  

The flowers are all painted with acrylic paint, and then I gave them definition by drawing over them with a black superfine Sharpie.

The "KIND" letters are made of chipboard that I punched with images using chip art tools, then painted, distressed with different inks and glazed...all with the intent of making them look like leather.  After all that abuse, they even feel like leather!

Then I wanted soft lace to go over the flowers (perhaps like a window's curtain in the breeze, floating over the view of a flower garden), so I used a clear gel medium and some neat-o vintage plastic doilies to make the lace.  After that dried overnight, I held my breath as I rubbed on the white-washing because I didn't want to totally obscure the flowers.  There was a lot of pouncing on and then wiping off, to get just the right effect.

The gingham trim is real cotton trim that I soaked in modpodge, which both adhered it and made it stiff.  Some glittery red letters and the turquoise birdy balance out the design.

This message is important to me, as a reminder to myself to be kind not only in deeds, but in thoughts.  

And not just to others, but to myself, which is often the most difficult person to be kind to.

Does that resonate with you too?

It's hung over our back door, so that it might also serve as a gentle reminder to my family as they go out into the world.  

"in the end, only KINDNESS matters......"

I don't know if anyone looks at this blog anymore, since I haven't posted for months.  But if you do, and you'd like to share your thoughts, I'd love to get your comments!!!  TFL!!!

Hoops and Babies

Gift giving season has started already! 

I have loads of friends and relatives with November and December birthdays,

and this month I also had a friend's baby shower to attend.

I'm not really inspired to shop for gifts anymore - the commercialism, the long waiting lines, the coupon/sale games, the not-having-the-right-size dilemmas, etc. etc. etc.  

Plus, the lack of the PERSONAL in those kinds of gifts.

The older I get, the more important it is for me to do things that have meaning to me, 

and hopefully, to the recipient.

So HANDMADE is my preferred way to go.

(plus, having a TON of crafting supplies spurs me on too!!!)

OK, blah, blah, blah.

I've had these embroidery hoops laying around for way too long, plus I love to collect lovely scraps of leftover fabric from my favorite charity shop, The Legacy, in Sebastopol.

Time to put them together........

This hoop was made for my friend Kelli's birthday gift.

Who doesn't like their initial?

Kelli's a hip dame with a sophisticated artistic style, hence this classy color scheme.

The monogram K was made by using a large stamp on scratch paper,

then pinning it to the fabric and cutting it out like a sewing pattern, 

and layering it over a canvas scrap that was cut as if it were a matte.

The way to make the flower on the left was taught to us at Brave Girls Camp, 

by Kathy Wilkins' 12-year-old daughter (!!!) - hint:  much hot glue was used.

The flower on the upper right is layered from a leather die-cut, a hand-cut canvas circle and a button.

The embelly on the bottom was purchased.

 This next hoop was made for my friend Jenny's baby shower.

Jenny had  POSTED how she made her hoops to decorate the baby's room,

so I followed her lead, for baby Isabel.

This beautiful fabric is from Stampin' Up.  

The monogram "I" was clip art I googled and enlarged, and again cut from the fabric like a sewing pattern.

The pink plastic doily is a vintage find from Etsy (ka-yoot!).

The flower embellies are all layered bits and die cuts from my stash.

Again, who doesn't like their initial?

Below is the card I made for Jenny.

The scallops are all die cut from decorative paper and fabric, all by Stampin' Up.

I love the fresh lavender-yellow-pink color combo!

I made the card extra large (5"X8" I think) because I wanted to fill it with a lot of scallop layers.

Why not?  More is MORE, right?

TFL!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving collage

OK, I am totally inspired by my friend Jenny (see her BLOG).

Actually, I love stealing ideas from her...because she has such FUN ideas!

She has this shadow box in her entry hall in which she displays a variety of 

seasonal or holiday collages, on a rotating basis.  

Her house is new and clean and beautifully decorated, in what I would call a chic country style.

My house is old and worn and contains the possessions of the three generations who have inhabited it.  I would call our "style" ranch eclectic, with an emphasis on the ranch part - lots of mismatched stuff from different eras and places, and lots of art and "collectibles".

To liven things up, I purchased my own (black) shadow box, and have so far made three seasonal collages.

This one I made yesterday while attending a crop with a bunch of my friends.

Yes, the theme is Thanksgiving, which is only 12 days away (!!!).

Better late than never.....

Here are some close-ups of the details.....

.....this is a great way to use up lots of random embellishments that you may have lying around.

I used lots of different techniques:  stamping, embossing, watercoloring, paper piecing, distressing....

...plus using lots of different textures, like fabric, felt, paper, metal, buttons, etc., gives it lots of interest.....

The little rusty house is so cute!  Its from RED LEAD PAPERWORKS, which carries lots of yummy vintage-y stuff, plus lots of inspiration.  

The sticker next to the house is a sweet Irish blessing:

"May your troubles be less,

and you blessings be more, 

and nothing but happiness, 

come through your door"

This is just a fun way to play with all the little bits we collect or have left over.

Now that Jenny has inspired me, I hope that I have inspired you!

Happy Halloween!!! (a week late...)

Some of my crafting friends and I have a new monthly ATC club, which started in October.

After some discussion and many laughs, we decreed ourselves the HOT FLASH HOTTIES!

Being of, or approaching, a "certain" age - ya gotta laugh!!!!!

So our first month's theme was "HALLOWEEN", and here are the artistic results:

something bright and fun, by Kelli

profound and mysterious, by Deborah

something delightfully dyslexic, by Marcia

some interactive ghostly fun, by Diane 

a scary spooky witch, by Berta (check out her lovely blog HERE)

some neat-o fall textures, by Mahria

an exquisite scary cat on a fence, by Helen

some bats having a party, by Kate

and a little witch with her spider friend, by me

Here's a shot of the group.  Creative and fun, eh?

Stay tuned for November's creations.......

Brave Girls Trip - the conclusion

I apologize profusely for having taken so long to post this conclusion to our trip!

We've been having frustrating internet connection problems, out here in the country,

so now we are attempting to go wireless.  Setting this up has occupied WAY too much of my time......

but now I'm back and - hopefully - online and carefree!!!!

So the last full day of the camp was capped off by a wonderful party.

We all wore white shirts and beautiful necklaces - and we were all BEAUTIFUL!!!

All us women are beautiful, inside and out, aren't we?

Isn't this group shop fantastic?  Can you find Michelle, Kelli and I?

I love each and every one of these girls, truly.

The festivities included music and singing and dancing (natch!), along with our own gallery of all the art we had created, plus dinner and goodies and photo ops and hugs and love and laughter.

Here is one of my favorite collage's by Melody.  

Her words and images always reinforce each other.  And they're BEAUTIFUL!

We displayed the projects we had done, all of which were the outcomes of the lessons Melody had taught us.  We made truth books, truth cards, art journaling, collages, books, canvas' and we even learned how to tool leather (thanks to Melody's swell husband, Marq, using her Chip Art tools).

Above is the cover of my Truth Book.  Due to my unfamiliarity with all the potions and glazes and mediums that were available, I experimented and played and my cover has at least 12 layers of stuff on it - never to be re-created again, that's for sure!

Below is are 2 of the truth cards inside the book.

Truth cards are messages to ourselves.

Here is my tooled leather bracelet.  It was so much fun to make!  I've worn it every day since my return.

The message is "LISTEN" and that's one I need to constantly work on - to really listen to others, without my own ego getting in the way - and to really listen to my own heart and soul - and to my TT.

I believe that is what gives me an authentic loving peaceful life.

Listening is an art which must be practiced to be successful.

The funny thing about making this bracelet, for me, was that it brought back long-forgotten memories of one of my hippie summer jobs while in college.  I was living in Isla Vista, going to UCSB, and found a job tooling leather belts in a studio run by a French artist.  And we sold them at craft fairs.  It was fun to do and fun to work in a studio with others, making art and making a living at it.

I'm so thrilled that Melody has brought these tools and techniques into the crafting world with her Chip Art line.  Besides leather, these tools can be used on chipboard, metal, and more.

Definitely something new to invest time and $$ into!!!!!

Below is a group photo of the staff  at BGC - yes, all those girls!

Can you now see why we were so pampered?

The next morning, it was up for breakfast, packing and goodbyes.

Here I am with the AWESOME & AMAZING Kathy Wilkins - den mother extraordinaire.

Kathy is always calm, full of grace and good cheer.  The definition of a "centered"  person.

I want to be like Kathy when I grow up!

Here are just a few of the handmade gifts we received:  tote and portfolio and journal and books and personal messages and nametags and clip art and cute little things, plus a BG hoodie (now wearing), treats, etc., etc., etc.

And our parting gift was my favorite thing of all (well, OK, besides the tote bag and the journal).

It's a beautiful wall plaque, with a collage by Melody, under beveled glass, and it reads:

"courage is not a lack of fear, it is moving forward in spite of fear"

Wise words from a wise lady.

So we said our sad goodbyes to all the staff, hopped on the bus for an exciting ride back down the hill to Boise, and then said our even sadder goodbyes to our fellow campers.  

But I know its not goodbye, it's see you later.  Because many real friendships were forged in these 4 days.

So Kelli and Michelle and I hopped into the Brave Girls-mobile and headed out to Winnemucca, through Oregon and Nevada. 

And you know what, the dreary ride we experienced on the way up turned out to be a

glorious gorgeous ride on the way back.  Clear and beautiful scenery and sky.

Could our new-found good moods have anything to do with that?

Of the many beautiful songs we learned and sang and listened to, the one that became the theme of the camp was "Life Uncommon" by Jewel.  I had never heard it before, but now it plays constantly in my head, even after all this time.  The words are so powerful and true.  I can barely stand to hear it on my iphone, without crying!  And coming back home, to our home, our California, reminded us of how blessed we are to be living right here, right now. 

A LIFE UNCOMMON!!!!!!

Brave Girls Trip, continued !!!!

I didn't think it would be such a long time until my next post,

but I must tell you that the Brave Girls Camp experience was so profound, that it has taken a long time

for me to process all that I experienced.

Add to that the usual disorientation of coming back from a week of vacation,

and being faced with a myriad of family/work/ranch stuff to take care of, well, you know what I mean......

I want to give the full flavor of the rest of our trip, 

and so because there is so much to share, I'm going to divide it into 2 posts.

First, I want to finish up our time in Boise, 

because it is such a pretty place and the people are soooooooo friendly!!!!  I could definitely live there.

We spent the rest of Tuesday exploring the charming old downtown......

Michelle and I playing tourists in the rain

 Kelli having a "EUREKA!" moment

  

Michelle enjoying the heavenly croquetas at Bar Gernika (a Basque restaurant)

Super-friendly Idahoan's at the Basque Museum

and now it begins........

Then it was off to Eagle to the Hilton Hotel, where we met the rest of the Brave Girls Campers, received handmade tote bags containing handmade journals, snacks and many other thoughtful goodies (like earphones, much-appreciated !), and boarded the bus....

for the 2-hour ride up along the beautiful Payette River, up into the mountains, to McCall (a town that just begs to be returned to and explored).  During this ride, we started to get to know the other 20 ladies - we'd all become life-long friends by the end of the camp.

We were met by Melody and a couple of her friends and had a moment of peace by the lake, before heading to the lodge.

We arrived at dusk to a twinkling magical beautifully-decorated huge gorgeous mountain lodge, with a welcome/reception/hugging line of all the people who helped to create this camp.

The love was overwhelming! 

..

Inside, the huge great room was decorated with lots of lights and banners and streamers and parasols and Melody's art - and photos of our loved ones all around.  It was breathtaking.......

....to be pampered with so much love and beauty.  The photo above is of Kathy and Melody welcoming us right after we arrived.

The next day...............

We awoke to a serene light snowfall, making the lodge feel all cozy and comfy.  We were greeted by beautiful music, a fabulous hot beverage bar and homemade food (to die for!).  This was continuous throughout our entire camp.

The most thrilling part of all was our ART ROOM!!!!  Oh my goodness, it had every art supply and tool you could imagine and more - like having your own private store from which to pick whatever you wanted.  AND we got MORE handmade lovely things.  AND it was decorated so fun and girly - just like everything else.  I've never felt so pampered!!!!  

Much better than any spa or candy or clothing store.  

Art-music-beauty-food = PERFECTION!!!!

Here's the beautifully decorated dining and cooking area where we spent lots of time visiting, and eating!

 The lunch crew, headed by wonderful Kathy

One of my favorite pieces of Melody's art (do you think she'll mind if I copy it????)

 And here's Miss Melody Ross herself - such a sweet, giving, loving, intelligent soul.  

Our teacher and inspiration and guide......

I want to be free and dress like Melody when I grow up.......I LOVE HER!!!!!!

And the day after that.............

To be honest, I wasn't taking many pictures.  There was just so much going on:  gatherings, lessons, music, sharing, arts and crafts, making new friends (i.e., lots of conversations), restoring our souls.  This girl's paradise....

Melody, filming the creation of a beautiful collage which was then given out as a contest prize on the Brave Girls blog.  (see the video HERE )

Kelli stylishly making art.  And if you look to the right, you can see Michelle in action too....

My new BFF Kathleen, who was going to adopt me, but then we discovered she's only 12 years older than me, so I guess I have to settle for big sister.....

A much-needed and -appreciated group walk to the lake in the crisp mountain air.

Posing with my roommates, Coreena from Canada and Kam from San Diego.  These are two amazing women - I miss them!!!!

Photo ops with Melody.....

Left to right:  Kam, Sarah, Jayne, Heidi, Kathy and one of her darling twins, and the fabulous Miss Barbara (another sartorial artist who makes me smile!).

It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so many inspiring generous artists.  

Below is sweet Kelly-with-a-'y', posing with her buddy and the beautiful painting she did of Kathy and Melody.  

I'll post the rest of the trip very soon - it gets even better!  So stay tuned..................................