A few pics from INSPIRED.

....didn't take enough photos by far....but here are a few shots of some of the projects....

One down.....six or eight to go!

Finished my Jennifer Stewart project from INSPIRED today. Loved this class...want to make one in GREEN with my new Heather Bailey fabrics!

...and a yellow one....and a pink one....and PURPLE ONES FOR Cynthia and Sandy! (hee! KIDDING!)

Jennifer Stewart wins the prize for most fabulous presentation in her classroom...her set-up was divine--Heather Bailey fabrics for table cloths...silver trays lined up holding bowls of glitter....a tiered stand holding spools of ribbons and lace....and a lovely tin tray filled with antique buttons....I so appreciate her attention to details! I didn't want to leave the class--the three hours felt like 3o minutes and I could not wait to unpack my stuff and finish this project today. Now THAT is inspiring!

Swirls, girls!

Inspired.

Miss my TRIBE already....wish you were all here and we were elbow deep in our projects together! (instead of unloading the dishwasher and doing laundry!)

Nik--this pic is for you! First thing I bought when we arrived on Thursday at Inspired was the Heather Bailey Flutterby kit (so bummed I missed her class...but it was only offered early in the day...). I finished putting the book together on Thursday night - but no photos yet....her papers were as lusious in person as I had hoped...and I finally got my hands on some of her fabric in the vendor fair....wish our local shops carried her!

More soon! xoxo

P.S. Dietra-thanks for sittin' up late with me in the Crop Room - hope my girlie butterflies and flowers didn't give you HIVES....hee! Shannon---I owe you such a huge apology and RAK---how did I not mention how much I loved/love the ATC holders you sent to me?!?!

ONE MORE SLEEP!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!

One more sleep 'til Aim and I take to the highways en route to INSPIRED! Weee!!!

Let's see...how much is left to do in the NEXT TEN HOURS?

1. Still too much laundry
2. Still packing
3. Supplies are awaiting their final arrangement/packing into the TWO carryalls I am allowing myself (yeah, right. I believe me, don't you?)
4. One apron done. Number two? We shall see...
5. Haircut didn't happen (how rude that salons aren't open 24/7 so I can fit in a cut/color on MY TIME! hee)
6. Pedicure - self-administered. Not nearly the same as that sitting in the massage chair while your feet are soaking in that luxurious bathtub whirlpool thing....but CHECK!
7. Photos are PRINTING! semi CHECK!

Can't wait to see my peeps!

P is for PANIC!

OMG! How can it be only FOUR MORE SLEEPS 'TIL INSPIRED?!?!?!

Can wait to see my WASSIMA peeps and hug you all and squeal over our projects. hee.

(Yes, Larry. It is indeed like GIRLSCOUT CAMP FOR GROWNUPS. We make no apologies!)

Left to do? Oh not much....you know...the usual....

1. A zillion loads of laundry


2. Pack


3. Finish acquiring/sorting/packing/organizing/reorganizing/rechecking supplies! (Determined NOT TO OVERPACK. Keep reminding myself!)


4. Figure out the route Aimee and I will take to get there on Thursday....(think "Lucy and Viv Take to the Road" ...oh yeah. Geographically Challenged meets Directionally Challenged. Thank heavens for navigation systems!)


5. Finish APRONS!


6. Figure out which photos to bring...


7. Print photos.


8. Remember to charge phone, camera and video camera for Thursday drive. (and pack chargers!)


9. PEDICURE!


10. Haircut?

Favorite Photo Friday {#19}

This is my dear friend AIMEE at INSPIRED 2008 in April...so so so happy we are DOING IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!! weeeee!!!
Merry Christmas to us!!

The big wait is over! My TINY ART LADY is done!

click to view larger

Weeeeeee!! Remember my lovefest for the INSPIRED event and the colored pencil class with Kal Barteski? And my instant affection for her Tiny Art Ladies? And my NONE-TOO-SUBTLE hints to hubby about wanting a CUSTOM one of my own? (Note I am skipping over my impatient rantings about it taking too long!)

YUP. It is done!! Miss Kal emailed the jpg to Rob today and it is en route to us!!!

Here is an excerpt of what he wrote to Kal: "Her favorite colors are blue and green (and pink). She is very creative and crafts all the time. She is funny, sensitive, loving, loud and playful." (You can imagine how I cringed at the "she is loud"--uh, yeah, I KNOW I am, but I don't like it! But the rest is lovely, honey! Thanks!)

And here is Kal's beautiful piece depicting his words.....I just love it.

Thanks, honey! Happy Anniversary to us. I love you.

And thanks, Kal! It is better than I could have dreamed up.

Play Day!

Well...so much for the mountain of laundry I had planned to tackle yesterday after my mid-morning appointment. (I did one measly load! Shameful!) I just couldn't PUT THE PENCILS DOWN! Kal Barteski.....can I say again how INSPIRED I am because of you?

So Nik...as you requested...here are some photos of the ART JOURNAL I started in Stephanie McAtee's class at Inspired. Filled it in with the scraps left over from the textured papers I used for the 8x8 page swap (thanks, again, Justy for doing such a great job pulling that together!)....and when Rob got home from work I sat and doodled while we chatted and watched a few shows we DVRd this week.




ALSO - thanks to JILLIENE for the great idea to add the 8x8 pages to the INSPIRED workbook! Now I just need to add the photos and journaling....here are a few shots of some of my favorite pages from the swap. (And yes...I punched each hole in each page individually--with help from DH on the really THICK STUFF.....then remembered I have a CROP-A-DILE NOW! duh!)

My hands are all inked up again. And that makes me grin. : )

And last but not least.....thanks, Aimee for the beautiful PAGE YOU PUT TOGETHER OF US!! It's in the BOOK already and now I just need to get the rest of our photos in there! I love you BFF!

Swirls.

How much did we LOVE Kal Barteski's class? How much do we love her TINY ART? ....these and Donna D's swatches are so inspiring to me right now. Last night I was too tired after work to really get going on a full-on project/creative session.....but I did sharpen all my watercolor pencils and started some mini-canvases of my own.... don't know if I will add them to my art journal from Inspired or use them as background papers for scrapbooking (likely not...why do I never do that?) or just make them individual works - maybe for cards or just inspiring words/phrases/thoughts to tack on my bulletin board. Lots of possibilities!

Love the CIRCLES and SWIRLS : )

STAYING INSPIRED!

OK...going to be LATE FOR WORK but needed to give a shout out to my inspired BFFs!

How about DONNA D and all those canvas swatches??? Does she NEVER SLEEP? I am still not UNPACKED....the laundry MOUNTAIN is overflowing...and yet all I want to do is play with my new colored pencils ("pencil crayons" for those Canadians tuning in!)...

So IDOL was on...I always doodle and keep a list of who sang what....and last night I started my SAVINGS for next year's Inspired event in this cute little HEN piggy bank that has been on my desk for eons....(dollar store find that just made me grin).....here's to Kal Barteski showing me how to use the WHITE PENCIL CRAYON (overtop colors....how yummy is that???)

Staying INSPIRED. See you tonight, Aim!! xoxo

INSPIRED.

Well...turns out I barely took ANY PHOTOS AT ALL.....because we were too busy having a BLAST and CREATING ART! (because we are ALL ARTISTS! if you don't believe me....ask our teachers. They are professionals and they told us so!!)

Couldn't WAIT for work to be over today to come home and PLAY WITH MY PROJECTS some more....sorry I don't have more photos to share....I promise to post pics when all my projects are completed!!

In the meantime....a SHOUT OUT to all my fun new BFFs!! Love you ladies!

Now GO BE BULLETPROOF! (Photo is the canvas outside of Kal Barteski's class...LOVE HER WORK!)

INSPIRED at INSPIRED!

Hey all! Saturday night is here TOO SOON! Having dinner then back to the ALL NIGHT ART FORUM from 8 til midnight.....then it is all over. Boo Hoo. Aimee and I had a BLAST and met lots of new BFFs....cannot wait to show you all our cool projects...but we did not take enough PHOTOS YET! Gotta make up for it tonight. But here are a few quick peeks......
Aimee and I and our new BFF Cameron (cute redheaded girl on the right!) with -- wait for it ---- THE CATHY ZIELSKI!! Love her. She is as FAB in person as she is on her blog.







These pics are from the STEPHANIE MCATEE "Transformed" class...Aimee and I loved having all PAINTED UP hands like REAL ARTISTS. Made a mini book/art journal out of two manila file folders....inks....paints...stamps...tape transfer techniques. Very artsy. This is my favorite page in the book so far. My cool new BFF Cameron said the INK DRIP was like "flatlining til you get to ART then coming alive again." TALENTED AND CLEVER girl! More later -- gotta go CREATE ART!

INSPI(RED).

So.... I've sort of had a "thing" about staying away from HALLMARK stores for quite a few years now. It started after I became a Stampin' UP! consultant and invested the better part of my retirement fund in card-making supplies (oh the stamp sets!) - I decided I should be MAKING cards not BUYING MORE. And so.... Hallmark was on my "do not call" list. And though I love their cards.....I didn't really miss it - and even though I am not a SU! consultant now, I still make my own cards. So flash forward to now.....over the holidays my sister Jackie introduced us to the BANANAGRAMS game and I HAVE TO HAVE MY OWN...so I have been stopping in Hallmarks looking for the damn thing (how can the TOY stores not have this game?? geez). So tonight....I stop in a Hallmark on route back from a jaunt to (the sacred!) Anthropologie (cue the angels!).....but they don't carry the game......BUT......OH MY!! THEY ARE DOING THE RED THING! And just like I HAD TO HAVE the INSPI(RED) GAP teeshirt when it first came out....I had to have the INSPI(RED) Hallmark gift wrap STUFF. Hey Aimee, does Donna Downey know about this yet??

By the way....DH insists on pronouncing this "inspi-red" (inzpa-red)....it's a spacial thing I guess...he doesn't get the brilliance of the whole RED thing, whereas I adored the whole business model and all of its marketing genius right away...JOINRED.COM...it's brilliant, isn't it?

(What isn't brilliant is my use of so many ....'s....)