Hold Dear

T h A n K...Y o U...L i L L i !

So look what my sweet friend, Lilli sent me. Prezzies! And WHO doesn't love prezzies!?!?! Okay, please know that I love to give prezzies but I am here to tell you, dear reader, that I also love to GET prezzies! Christmas prezzies, birthdays prezzies, and, my personal favorite, for no reason at all prezzies! Wheee!!!

Lilli is a brilliantly talented artist who teaches and makes music in Canada. She and her husband recently attended a FolkFest and while she was there, she chose two scarves especially for me. Eeeee! I am still just so tickled to have received these and so touched by Lilli's kindness. These scarves are incredibly beautiful. I am SO in love with them. And so nice to be thought of.

Thank you Lilli!

So I've decided when I'm NOT wearing the pink/blue patterned scarf around my neck or in my hair, it will live on my sweet little Ella Posie purse. How GIRLY is this?

Hmmm...the colors make me happy.

When I first read that Lilli got me these presents, it was the day after Miranda's suicide attempt. I was totally having an out of body experience that day. But her kindness, from 150 miles away, was like a great big hug. It touched me deeply and brought me to tears. Thank you again SO MUCH Lilli. These scarves will always be very special to me.

Happy day, sweet ones.

Just Johanna

Hi...So I got my cards completed for my Just Johanna Rubber Stamp Design Team assignment!

This is SO fun! This is probably my favorite. I used some of the vintage wallpaper I bought from Pam Garrison. Love-er-ly! My goal is try to keep experimenting and pushing myself so when I choose products to incorporate, I'm always thinking "what haven't I used yet?" .

I recently purchased some library cards and pockets and so was inspired to make a mini-pocket.

Even busted out the sewing machine and stitched on this one.

I have been aching to put some brown and pink together. On the first version I made of this card, I tried the using kraft paper cardstock but it just didn't make the pink POP enough. I'm lovin' the dark brown.

While I'm very happy with all the other cards, I was starting to feel...safe. I decided to do one of the cards similar to what I've been doing with my HeART Journal project that's happening over at Norah's. This little blurb I wrote talks about traveling so I felt the Eiffel Tower stamp fit nicely.

It's only 9:20 pm and I'm about ready to hit the hay. I decided to shift my work hours to 7:00 - 3:30 so I can get home earlier. Today was the first day I got up at 5:45 but I really didn't expect for the tiredness to hit me so soon! I still need to call my Mom back. I was on the phone with her when my friend/neighbor Karly came over with some WAY exciting news! She has been hired by a family to be their aupair. Here's the kicker....the family live just outside of Paris! I am SO happy for her!!! I ADORE this young woman and am SO proud of her. She's all of 23 (?) and we get along so well. Her mom is one of my bestest friends so I'm not surprised. I have already put in my order for French Vintage ephemera, newspapers, and postcards!!! Too cool!!!!!

Sneak Preview!

Okay so I'm SUPER excited!!! There are some new stamps being released over at  Just Johanna! The Design Team she and Cat selected are coming up with some wonderful additions to her adorable line!!!! Did I mention a couple of the new stamps are my artwork? Oh gosh gee, how casually slipping this in of me! :-)

One of the new stamps is a little "happy birthday" that can be used alone or with justjohanna's Banner Frame. Once at the site, click on the "frames" icon. It's a match made in Heaven!

The other stamp is a fun little doodle. I love me some good doodle so I'm pretty flippin' pleased with this one! It can be used as is or just color it in! For more "sneak previews," check out Johanna's blog for other links! Such fun!!!!

Studio Friday.

Doing the routine, the familiar feels good. So I checked in on Studio Friday and this week's topic is STUDIO SIDEKICKS as suggested by Debbie:

"I got inspired by those lovely ladies who left comments for me on "A View from Above." My post included my puppy and I received all kinds of cool comments of artists describing their four legged companions. I'd LOVE to see pictures of all of their companions! So how about  "Art Studio Sidekicks?" Originally I had "four-legged" in the title. However, I know there are not only 3-legged-once-4-legged sidekicks out there, but also all sorts of companions. I'm certain that there are artists with birds as their companions and I certainly want to see and "hear" all about them!"

Many of you know I have a wonderful Studio Sidekick. My little partner, Atticus. If I am in my studio, he usually comes in and joins me. I even keep a basket for him on my desk top. That's a LOT of real estate that I'm givin' up for this kitten, but he is worth it! I just can't believe how CUTE this cat is! Everything he does (well except when he's in his pan) is cute. He does all the flips and flops and twists when you pet him. If I hold my hand down towards him, he jumps up into it as if to help me pet him. Sometimes I just can't stand it and have to pick him up hug him with my face. I just can't get close enough to his cute furriness! So here he is, doin' what he does best....makin' me smile.... :-)

Hope you have a happy Friday and have time to spend it with your sidekick(s)!

Miranda.

Hi....I haven't been up to blogging lately. Lots going on with my family. I struggle to find the words to talk about it on a daily basis. I don't want to be mysterious so I'll blurt it out. And I only feel that I want to share this because 1) it will be a part of me for the rest of my life and 2) I would be missing another avenue of support from my dear blogging friends and community.

Last Friday, my daughter, Miranda, took a bunch of sleeping and intended to commit suicide. She was hospitalized for six days and is now on anti-depressants and doing much better now. Just so hard to get my head around it. As a family, we are figuring out how to deal with this. For those of you who know us, know that there's gonna be humor involved. Lots of "Simpsons" references flying at our house. ("No TV and no Beer make Homer something something?" "Go crazy?" "Don't mind if I do!") What's that old saying, "If you don't laugh about it, you'll cry?" Yeah, that fits. Glen and I are doing pretty good. Now. Not so good several days ago, as I'm sure you could imagine. I couldn't even tell my family until this week. The words simply would not come out of my mouth and certainly not without sobbing.

Life is beautiful. Life is abundantly joyful. Life is full of love. I know these things. These are the things that guide me through my daily life. I would like to ask you to please keep Miranda in your thoughts and prayers and ask that she finds these things and know them to be true in her heart.

As another means to help me deal with this, I have joined in the "HeART Journal" over at Norah's. I think I will start a second blog just to post those pages because I'm sure that will be an ongoing process for me. I started the journal already and the first few pages are all text. Not ready for the ART part yet. Still focusing on the heart.

Thanks for listening.

With Love,

Michelle

Studio Friday.

I made a suggestion for a topic over at Studio Friday and happily, Tine is using it this week. View from Above.

Glen and I went flying a couple week's ago and I had a blast-o-rama taking pictures of Mt. St. Helens and over downtown Portland. It just got me thinking about something. When I go outside, I look up. When I walk into a new space or room, I look up. How often do I look down. Unless, of course, I'm looking for a heads up penny! Being high in the sky made me appreciate that I should look down more often.

So in my studio, I climbed up on my stool and took a few pictures looking down. Okay, I have to admit it, the shots I thought I wanted to share here looked very "staged." Sure, they were pretty because there were lots of lovely, shiny, colorful goodness, but nothing grabbed me in those pictures. It was the oddball shots that I thought had the most interest.

I'm diggin' this picture. I shot it level with the ceiling light fixture. I became totally mesmerized when I stared into this picture, just imagining that I was inside a box and the light fixture was the opening of the box. Do you see it? You might have to squint your eyerballs and just imagine everything is miniature.

This shot I thought was kinda cool. I like the converging lines of the curtains and the clay wind chimes that hang from the ceiling look like they're floating.

And then I liked this one. Just looking down into all the crazy boxes and crazy what nots that hold my geegaws. Plus I like that it looks like it's raining scissors!

Hope you have a great day! And don't forget to look down! You just might find a heads up penny!!!

Sneaky Peeky.

I'm being sneaky. Don't tell but I snuck home the pendant I've been working on in jewelry class. We're supposed to leave everything in the classroom because the instructor is afraid we'll forget to bring our work back. But I was anxious to take an "in progress" picture so I'm breakin' the rules, man!

Still lots to do. Where you see some pencil marks are where I'll be cutting away the silver. Then I get to learn how to make bales. (Is that how you spell that?) And then I still have to actually set the stone. Right now it's just sitting in bezel. (I learned a new word!)

This jewelry making is lots of fun! I could SO see myself going all nutsy crazy with this stuff!

See ya later!

Tuesday.

Today was a mixed day. Got some bad news, some more bad news but then got some good news.

The FIRST bad news is that the Karen Russell Transparencies class I was registered to take this Saturday at Art House was being cancelled! I got the phone call at lunch time today telling me that there wasn't enough people registered for this class. Wha..? I am so disappointed! (insert pout here). I registered for this class like four months ago and had been looking forward to it! Heavy sigh.

The SECOND bad news is that I got word from my friend Lilli that my beloved Ella Posie is closing! I will have to go visit the store several times just to further imprint it's beauty on my inner eyeballs. Fortunately, it sounds like Alicia will still be selling stuff on-line so I can still get my fix of lovely things to purchase and/or to just gaze upon. Ironically, Ella Posie is across the street from the Art House where I WOULD have been this Saturday if Karen's class hadn't been cancelled!

But gladly, the day ended on a very nice note. I spent the evening with Miranda (that's the good news part!). We went out to Sushi Land for a little, you guessed it, sushi! Then we went to Everyday Music where I bought the new Gnarls Barkely cd and a cd by a group called Animal Logic. I'd never heard of them but the members are Stewart Copeland (former drummer from The Police), Stanley Clarke (amazing jazz guitarist) and Deborah Holland (singer). Never heard of Deborah Holland. I've listened to a couple of tracks and it's okay. LOVIN' the music but so far not diggin' the vocals and songs so much. Very Karla Bonoff sounding. While I love Karla Bonoff (especially in Bryndle!!!!), not crazy for it. Oh well, maybe I'll grow to like it. That has happened before. The cd was used and priced at $3.95 so worth the risk.

Miranda also bought two albums (yes, she's loves vinyl...confirmation that she is truly a child/product of Glen and I). Donovan and Heart. This kid's cool.

After Everyday Music, we went to see "The Devil Wears Prada." Very cute. Very good message (be true to yourself!!!) and LOTS of wonderful clothes, purses, belts, shoes, etc.

So not such a bad day. :-)

Oh and also I have one quick picture for you. I have been doing A LOT of Goodwilling and Second Hand store shopping lately. Got this GLORIOUS sewing kit recently at a second store. FIFTEEN wood spools of thread! I think I'm almost done "collecting" these!

Cheers!

Soul Collage.

Yesterday I went to a SoulCollage workshop with Suzie Wolfer. It was WONDERFUL! It was through the Portland Community College. I've seen it listed in the catalog as well as a few other places around town for a few years now and decided to finally check out the hub-bub.

SoulCollage is basically collaging random images from magazines onto a 5x8 inch card. The size is based on the golden mean ratio or "phi." Phi is the ratio that produces a harmonic effect called eurythmy which blends three principles: harmony, proportion and movement. Phi is intentionally used in poetry, art, etc. and it also occurs in nature such as in the human body and the chambered nautilus. I LOVE this kind of crap...but I digress...back to SoulCollage...

So once you've created a collage, you "read" it and open up to what it has to tell you. Yeah, it's a little touchy feely but but oddly, I got a lot out of this. Suzie Wolfer is a phenomenal facilitator and did NOT present this as some kind of sacred psychic voodoo mumbo jumbo. It is just empowerment.

At first I just felt as though I was piecing together images and making something pretty. However, once it was complete, I found some comfort in it. You then speak to yourself as if the card had a voice. Kind of weird but I began telling myself things objectively and talking to myself the way I usually only talk to others. Nurturing. I began telling myself things I know deep in my heart but dismiss on a conscious level. It was like the card gave me permission to speak lovingly and encouraging to myself. And I trusted myself.

I had a title for my card immediately. Suzie said sometimes it can take up to a year before you know the title of a card.

Happily Ever After

"I am the One who is in search of my happiness. I am the One who can appreciate who I am and what I've gone through; the one who realizes that I will find growth through my experiences; who realizes that the growth I am making comes from my heart. I am the One who is organic and comes from nature; the One who seeks to connect the dots and appreciates extremes in contrast. I am the One who seeks to look under the veil to see who I really am and find my potential.

"Michelle, keep looking to the future, outside the box. Your voice, your style, your commitment and your beauty are out there. You started from beauty and all of who you are grows from beauty."

Okay, kind of vulnerable for me to put this out there but I met a woman named Melanie in the class and she shared her card and reading on her blog so that gave me the courage to do the same. You can visit her here. I have to say, the group of women (there were 15 of us) that attended this workshop were incredible. Very open, clearly each coming with a specific agenda of what they were looking for. Either they happily got it or joyfully got something unexpected! I truly enjoyed witnessing this process. I hope to make some artsy connections with these women in the future!!!

In other news, I took Glen to the airport this morning for another two week trip to Kalispell. Such a mother truckin' drag. Oh well, I've got my list of projects to keep me occupied. Lots of glorious artsy projects, plus laundry, AND we are planning a garage sale in two weeks so that should keep me busy!!

Love you and hope you have a lovely day!

Upcoming Classes.

Okay so I am currently taking a Jewelry Making class on Wednesday evenings. Tomorrow I am taking a half day class called "SoulCollage" with Suzie Wolfer.

I am registered to take a "Transparencies" class with Karen Russell at The Art House on Saturday, July 15.

You would think that would be enough for me. Ha! You don't know me very well! I am SUCH an overachiever! I don't think I know how to not have a hundred things going on at once! Lots of livin' to do and I am in line, thank you very much! I am such a lucky girl, too, because my dear darling husband ENCOURAGES me to find my fun. He has his airplane and I have my art. We're happy people separately and that makes us VERY happy together.

Oh but I digress....so today I registered for three classes at the Art and Soul Retreat coming up in October. I originally didn't register for anything because Glen wasn't working. Well it just hit me today. I CAN SWING THIS! I am taking "Fused Chain Charm Bracelet," "Ladies of the House," and "Creating Metal Charms." I am beyond excited. I am SO into this metal jewelry and can't wait to make stuff!!!!!

Oh and also...I had an e-mail today from Scrapbook Attack that Donna Downey is teaching a class January 2007! Yeah, baby! Registration starts next week!!!!

Okay...TFL!!!!