So, here it is officially - two new classes coming up.

NAUTICAL EXPEDITION CLASS

Nautical Expedition Class features The Open Sea stamp set and Nautical Expedition Designer Paper. The four cards and matching Log Book Card Box make a wonderful all Occasions gift set.


Date: Saturday, June 18th
Time: 2-5 pm
Cost: $25
Location: My house, 3150 Stephens Street

If there is interest, I will open up a date on Tuesday, June 21st, 6-9 pm as well. To reserve your seat for either one of these dates, please call or email me.


TIM HOLTZ STYLE CLASS

On Saturday, June 25th, I will be teaching Tim Holtz techniques. Come and play with his products, make your own grunge board bracelet, and get dirty with me. Hmmm, that did not sound very appealing, did it? ;-) I don't have pictures of the projects yet, but I will post as soon as I have everything done.

Date: Saturday, June 25th
Time: 2-5 pm
Cost: $40
Location: My house, 3150 Stephens Street

If there is interest, I will open up a date on Tuesday, June 28th, 6-9 pm as well. To reserve your seat for either one of these dates, please call or email me.

That's it for today. Blog ya' later,

What a gorgeous day we had yesterday. The sea wall was bustling with crowds of people enjoying a sunny day. The Creekside Community Centre was busy and full of light and laughter.

For those of you who had never had a chance to come and visit me at Portobello West, for the first time ever, here are the photos of my display.





I don't know why I've never had pictures posted before. I've just never done it. I'll try to get better at it. I had a great day. Lots and lots of people came by my table and I had lots of heart warming comments. I came home tired, but very, very happy.

I will be at Portobello throughout the summer and I'll let you know if I go to any other shows. Off to bed now...

Blog ya' later,

I love Fridays. My kids love Fridays. When a Friday comes around, that means we can stay home for two days, go for bike rides. Daddy doesn't go to work. We can watch movies and be silly. Or go geocaching. That is what we did last weekend. Well, a little more than that. We went camping and geocaching. We left Vancouver on Friday and went to Squamish. We've stayed at Paradise Valley Campground. It is a great place. Then, on Saturday morning, we left for Cache Creek. Across a snowy mountain, to the other side... We've stopped at the Seton Lake to rest and give our motorhome some rest as well. You can see behind our motorhome the mountain we went over.




After a break, we kept going until we've reached Hat Creek Ranch. What a great place!!! I've seen some things that I've only heard of before. The boys learned a lot in those two days. About the old times, about first nations, mainly Shuswap. We've seen Shuswap dancers, a kekuli, and a lean-to, and a sweat lodge... We've seen an old road house and all the old stuff in it... Well, take a look for yourself:

The boys having a ride in a stage coach while still in their pyjamas:


A Shuswap dancer:


Old cigar cutter:


Playing cards with no numbers, not many knew how to read back then:


Ice cream maker:


I was in heaven with all this old, old stuff around me. Oh to have some of it for my displays at the shows!

And here is our Geocache:


Mentioning shows, I will be at Portobello West Art and Fashion Market on Sunday, May 29th. It costs only $2 to enter, so come and see me!


Here is some of the new stuff I will have at my table:

These are three bottle cap pendants with a chain packages.


These are some of the scrabble tile cufflinks I've made:


The next items are made of upcycled bamboo tiles. Love these...



The pictures are not the best. It is very late and I am tired. It was a quick shoot and dash for bed...

Oy, this turned into a really lengthy post, eh? One more thing to mention... Two new classes coming up. On June 18th, I will be teaching a class for those men in your lives - fathers, brothers, husbands, you know those guys we all love so much... Lookie:


Yes, I know it is really, really close to Father's Day, but I have no other opportunity to teach this. So, come and get some cards ready for Sunday.

On June 25th, I will be teaching... drum roll, please... a TIM HOLTZ class!!! Come and play with his products and get dirty his style.

I will be posting exact times and details on Monday, so come back then.

Phew! See, it is better when I am quiet, eh? When I start, can't stop, I tell ya'. :-) Gotta go now.

Blog ya' later,

What a soggy, soggy day... My kids school is only three blocks away, and yet, I was drenched by the time I picked them up from school. The street we walk to school is lined up with cherry trees. Today all the blossoms hung heavy and sad.

I played again with My Digital Studio. Slowly, I am getting hang of it. It's not that different from other design programs I've used before - so no steep learning curve here. Look what I've made:


I am really, really starting to like My Digital Studio. I still do some stuff for my pages in Photoshop, but I have to wonder why I waited so long to give MDS a try.

For the last two months I've been participating in Portobello West Art and Fashion Market. It is a monthly market at Creekside Community Centre, held on the last Sunday in a month, and I am scheduled to be there every month through August. I will be selling my jewelry, including my bottle caps designs and bamboo tiles jewelry, my handmade cards and some altered art items. Come and visit me if you can.



That's it for tonight. Sleep tight.

Blog ya' later,

I've had My Digital Studio for quite some time now. Close to a year to be exact. I kept postponing playing with it, and finally, tonight I did it! I pulled a random photo out of my "to be scrapped" stash, played with it, and here is the result:


I am quite happy with it for the first ever layout, but I need to figure out a few tricks, it is a little flat, don't you think? Oh, well, I might fix it a bit sometime in the future.

It is very late, for me, that is. One more picture of the stuff I am making for the next Portobello West Art and Fashion Show. I will be there on May 29th - come and see me. I'll give more details later. Too sleepy now.




Blog ya' later,

Often times I am asked "What's new? What's coming up?". Well, I have news for you. You know that little jewelry of mine that I've been making lately? I am starting to work with some Canadian artists and was very fortunate to be allowed to use their work. I tell ya, their art will make this jewelry sparkle so bright!

The very first artist whose art I've used for my pieces is Regan McDonell. Regan is a full-time artist with a background in printmaking, collage, illustration and graphic design. Her work has included clients like Much Music and Feist, and Calvin Klein and Disney have bought her surface and textile designs. You're not wondering how I got so lucky to be able to use her art now, are you? What, my awesomeness is not enough to attract an immeasurable talent like hers? Ahem. You can check more of her wonderful work at her website - it's a feast for your eyes. Look what I've made though:



B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L if you ask me. Thanks, Regan!

There is another question I am asked often - how do I take my photos and what camera do I use? You really want to know? OK... My camera is Nikon D50 DSLR with a 18-200mm lens and I LOVE IT! As for the set up, I have a light box. A great tool, right? I take it out (if I know where I left it last time) and I set it up, all while praying there are no parts missing again, then under the mountains of stuff piled up on my desk I try to pull up what I want to take a picture of, only to find it on the floor covered by newly acquired supplies. If by now nothing went terribly wrong, no worries, this is when it often does. Wondering how? Guess who is sitting pretty on my chromakey blue backdrop? Well, see for yourself:


After a couple of minutes of me hoping he will just go away - he attacks my set up.



And this is when I throw my arms up in defeat and go and make a coffee. Nothing could be wrong with a day that a good espresso can't fix.

Now, you tell me blogging is easy peasy lemon squeezy? Not in my house... :-)


Blog ya later,