Calistoga Bank..now a Shoe store!

Home again....

Had a good time on our trip up north....loved the hot springs, walks and good meals out. Picked up the new Fiberarts magazine at the bookstore and it has some cool stuff in it...especially love the dolls. Wanted to go to the DeYoung and see the Gee's Bend quilts but not enough time this trip.
Waiting for me in the mailbox was the new Art& Life no.5 from Teesha Moore! I love it..so much good info. and lots of guest writers and artists. It is so comforting to be a part of this art tribe. I managed to work on a few embroidery projects on our trip and that was satisfying since I haven't gotten as much done this summer as I've wanted to. But School starts on Mon. so things will get back to our other schedule and hopefully I can get my art studio organized and get more work done.

Off to Calistoga

We'll be gone for a few days on vacation to No. Calif..to our favorite get-away- "Calistoga Hot
Springs". It is such a cool little town with good restaurants, fun hikes, book stores, galleries and great natural hot springs to soak in. Get to visit with relatives in San Mateo on the way up, then over the Golden Gate bridge and on up to the Napa Valley. Bye for now!

Tin sisters...

Dolls...paper and tin...

Just for fun thought I'd post the articulated paper doll samples I made about 5 years ago for the kids art class I used to teach, and the one my son, Justin made with his photo from 2nd grade. It was a fun way to use some of the many rubber stamps that I have collected over the years. The kids had a great time rummageing through the box and choosing what stamps to use.
Also, above are two tin dolls that I made. The "Bird Girl" may need some more embellishing...we'll see.

Justin and sample paper dolls...

love these colors....

Pepa's Garden Party..

Oh, what a fun day we had celebrating Pepa and Susan's birthday! We gathered in Pepa's lovely front yard complete with statues and a walking labyrinth for a delicious mango and chicken salad, iced tea, and after presents, yummy birthday cake.
We each had a box at our place with our name on it and filled with party favors. The girls loved their presents and I must say, Syd's "portrait pillows" were a big hit.It doesn't get much better than celebrating with your Art lady friends! I took a few photos of Pepa's house and yard. She has a wall that has little ceramic stars with the names of loved ones who have passed on. The back sides of her house are pink, blue and purple...and the cute sign is in the guest bathroom.

Pepa's Memory Wall

Birthday presents for the art girls...

This week I am working at the Hardware store while our regular register lady takes a week vacation. I was sent to do errands for the store so I grabbed the chance to see if the "Crop-o-diles" were in at Violet's Rubber Stamp Inn. They weren't in yet but the sweet lady in charge, Jana, showed me the new books that had just arrived. So I ended up buying Terry Taylor's, "artful paper dolls" for our birthday girls tomorrow...I took a quick peek today and it is full of fun color paper dolls from many different artists, plus vintage dolls and some history. I've always loved paper dolls. I played with Betsy McCall, Katy Keene and my mother always bought me paper dolls as a "get well" present when I was sick and had to stay home from school, which wasn't very often. I loved the bride set that I had and one with "real" hair. Anyway, I posted a couple of pages ...LK Ludwig and Henry Geldzahler's for a little peek...Lots of other people you will recognize...Michel de Meng and Pamela Hastings. When I was teaching kids art classes we always made articulated paper dolls. I had the kids put their own photo on the doll to personalize them..they came out great...we collaged and rubber stamped the body and if they had time, the kids colored and embellished with glitter, feathers and other stuff. I'll see if I can find the one my son,Justin made and take a photo.
Jana also showed me a set of new collage papers from Catherine Moore. I thought that Pepa might like them, so more birthday goodies for her. And I posted a photo of a little embroidery that I did for the other birthday girl, Susan B. She has horses and dogs and cats and birds...and she makes amazing dolls...so we will be off to party tomorrow at Pepa's cool house of many colors! She even has a labyrinth in her front yard and a wonderful garden. Can't wait!

artful paper dolls by Terry Taylor

Catherine Moore collage sheets..

embroidery for Susan

Now What?

Just how much "tin" does a Fiber Artist need? After taking the O'Brien's wonderful "tintastic" bracelet class at Artfest a few years ago, I began collecting tin. Now I have way more that I will ever need. This is just a portion of my tin and now that I am cleaning out my art studio I am painfully sorting and getting rid of things that I no longer need or use. My son, Jason, is moving into my former Art studio and I will gain 2 small rooms in the house. I actually prefer working in the house and being close to the "boys" so all is well....but this sorting and cleaning process is always difficult for me..."what if I need this for my next project?"...

Pile of Tin...

Pincushion Time

I was given this fun little pincushion years ago by my good friend and art pal, Pepa. A local artist had made these and sold them locally but I could never find them-I wanted to buy them for all my friends! Gail's post about the Shrinky dink pins reminded me of the cool little heart pins that were made using Fimo clay. The fabric is a bit faded but I still love it. Someday I hope to join the "Pincushion Challenge"...

Heart pins and Pincushion..

ATC Trading Group Meets at Jill's house

We had a great turnout for our monthly ATC trading group at Jill Littlewood's wonderful house and studio. Everyone brought lots of new cards to trade and refreshments to share. Each person spread their cards out on Jill's dining room table and we proceeded to gather an ATC from each artist. What a great group! Got to catch up on news with Angela, our founder, see Jill's new paper making equipment, and introduce my friend, Kate, from Montana to the group. She just entrusted me with a family of Kachina dolls that I will treasure forever.

Photo below of some of the cards:
left to right from the top...

Penny, Syd, Jill R.,Jeanette
Susan, Colleen, Mary P.,Shauna
Jill, Angela, Jeanette, Carol

New ATC Trades!

Syd's colorful ATC creations

ATC Trading frenzy

a few new things...

Managed to get a few new ATC's made this weekend...they seem to have the "house" theme going here...inspired by Tracie and Gail
..Have the Fiber ATC trade coming up and our local ATC exchange on Wed. this week...and the "House of Cards II" due later this month. That's a lot of ATC's!
Summer is going fast and I still want to : Take a family trip to Calistoga Hot Springs, take the boys to Hermosa Beach for bike riding, ocean fun and Mickey's Pizza, Go to SF and see ART shows before they are gone, Get samples made for future teaching venues, and sort art supplies, books, and papers and recycle what I don't need. It would be nice to have the dining table back for family meals.

Fiber ATC's...

ATC's

Gnome and new bag...

LA Gift Show...

On Sunday my husband and I visited the LA Gift Show to see if we could find some new products for our Hardware store. Found a few things that would work for us, but the best part was the whole downstairs section called Kentia Hall. There, the booths of all the International traders were bustling with shoppers and buyers. Lots of wonderful Mexican folk art and African and Indian importers of everything imaginable.
Got to have a little chat with the lovely Anahata who had a booth with her wonderful Papaya! cards. I missed seeing my Santa Barbara friends, Penny, Syd and Colleen who were there too, but the place is HUGE!
I only bought a few things: A fun bag made from a Guatemalan embroidered top, some felt beads, and 2 felt key chains.
Haven't gotten much art work done this week. Trying to clean and sort stuff in my art studio...a major task....but I did get Gnome No.2 finished..now he needs a squirrel friend to keep him company.

Welcome...

Fiber portrait...

Still working on this fabric and embroidered portrait for my friend, Deb. It will have a fabric "frame" sewn around the edges and maybe milagros or other little images added, plus more embroidery. She might be holding her i-pod as well....

work in progress...fiber portrait

altered shoes....

I couldn't resist messing around with these sandels. They had been lingering around in the back of my closet and I wasn't wearing them because they had a faded baby blue color that was very ho-hum. So I got out my rubber stamps, Staz-on stamp pad and some Createx permanent liquid fiber dyes (violet and blue) and went to work on them. At least now I will wear them and have fun doing so!

altered Birkenstocks...

Goodies from Gail...

Mail box surprise..

My beach partner, Justin (age 12) and I had to head to the beach today to cool off. Spent the whole day in and out of the ocean and picked up our mail from the row of boxes in our little mountain top community. There inside was a wonderfully decorated package for ME! A beautiful skein of raspberry and pink handspun wool plus 2 bonus surprises! Some gorgeous blue Merino roving for me to spin or felt with and a cool chocolate chip cookie recipe card....could be an ATC...I ordered the wool on Gail Cowan's Etsy site and she has a Blog...but I don't know how to do the "link" thing yet...
Thanks, Gail..love it!

Off to Los Angeles

I just finished this hooked chair pad for one of my mother's friends who will be 91 in Sept. We are going to LA to visit with her, see the Comtemporary Art Quilts at the Folk Tree Collection in Pasadena and then see my husband's mother in Glendale.
Should be a hot, busy day but we are on our way....

rug hooked chair pad

ATc time...

I got busy yesterday and made about 20 ATC's for our monthly trade/swap today. Here are a few that turned out OK.

some new ATC's ...

Cupcake!

something old, something sorta new...

since I am working on some new things but haven't completed anything yet, here are some "old" things...a felt purse a couple of years old that I had fun embroidering and a cupcake that I embroidered in June of this year.

felt purse back....

Felt purse front...

Velvety bird purse....

I am continuing to work on my "Teehsa" velvety bird patch purse that I started before AFF. I plan to line it with some cool fabric and put more little fabric patches on it. Having a little trouble with puckering after sewing the "bird patches" on first...should have embroidered first and sewn on later....but I tend to do things sort of backwards...oh well, learn as you go...
I have two commissioned works to do as well...a fun fabric portrait of an art teacher's daughter and a hooked seat pad for a 90 year old art friend of my mother's.
And of course after AFF my head is swimming with ideas of other things I want to do!
Speaking of swimming, my son Justin and I are off to the beach to go boogie boarding and cool off. The only down side is walking to the water in my black tank suit! When I get into the water I feel like I am about 10 years old again and embarass my son by making squeals of joy when I catch a wave.

Lauren's book and art card

Cool stores in Berkeley..

On our way back from AFF we made several stops for cool stores we had heard about or been to before and needed to check out once again. While on our way to "Tail of the Yak" we found a good fabric store on Shattuck Ave. called Stone Mountain Fabrics. They have lots of classes and rooms of fabric. They had some beautiful velvets and silks too. On the same street there is a large Art Supply store with just about everything you might need. We bought a few things and headed up to the "Tail"..Here we did more damage...this is an exquisite little store. You have to ring a bell to get inside. Great cards and displays and I bought a book with the art of one of the owners, Lauren McIntosh. Love her art. She has a show in Palo Alto Aug. 1-Sept.30 at Stellar Somerset Gallery and I am hoping to get up to the Bay area to see it.

Tale of the Yak purchases

Wonderful trades..

I received some wonderful little trades at ArtFiberFest. Two pincushions, one handmade by Edina..blue and white polka dots..so cool..and one by Lelainia..the cute folk art basket! One can't have too many pincushions...I love them so much. Plus beads, buttons, luggage tag and more..thanks everyone!

some fun little trades...

More photos from ArtFiberFest.....

Marcia's stuffed bird

Beth's piece

Tracie's piece

Darlene stitches...

Sassy art goddess...Carol

Valerie

Robin

Marilyn

Tracie

Elise

Annie..the cool bead maker