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I am home after attending the Play Retreat in Port Townsend. It was a wonderful and charmed adventure from beginning to end. I got to spend precious time with old friends and new friends. I will share more...lots more...but for now, here is a picture Tracy took of me. Fun with light.
See you soon!
Whoo-hoo! Registration for Rachel McGough's Handmade U - Second Semester event is open!
This is an intimate retreat with a focus on journaling. It is held at the beautiful Minglewood Lodge (home of the infamous Minglewood Mochas!) just outside of Omaha, NE in the small town of Gretna.
Just a heads up, this is a small retreat and there are a limited number of spots with sleeping accomodations in the lodge. These spots filled up within two weeks at last year's Handmade U - First Semester retreat!
I taught a class at last year's event and Rachel invitied me back to teach again this year! I'm so thrilled and humbled! My class is called Stitched and Stashed!
You'll spend the morning making a journal using a one-needle Coptic binding technique and then we'll have the full afternoon to decorate the pages using papers and ephemera from my stash and favorite scraps of this and that from your stash!
The following day, Pam Keravuouri will be teaching a class called Doodle Ink!
And then our fabulous hostess, Rachel, will be teaching a class called Best in Class where she'll teach us how to make a prize ribbon using some of her favorite vintage French ribbon (that she bought in France!)
I'm so excited about both Rachel and Pam's classes!
Please check out the details here....I hope you'll join us!!!!
I have been a subscriber to Daily OM for several years and almost always find the daily lessons to be very encouraging and enlightening. Since I subscribe, I also receive notices of new products and online services. Most of the time, I just delete and continue on my merry way.
Well, I must have been ready for something big because when I got the email announcing an online class titled The Best Year of Year Life, I didn't hesitate to sign up! The class consists of 52 prompts (a new prompt every week) and all for only $21. .40 cents a week? What a deal!
For a project of this magnitude (Eeek! A whole year?), I decided to commit to journaling about each lesson. I started with a thin Moleskin that I found at Goodwill for .99 cents. (I sure get lucky, I tell ya!) It was virtually unused with all of the pages in tact. The cover is still a clean slate. I'm not even sure I want to do anything to it since I do love the kraft paper. Maybe just a little Dennison label. :-) I did cut some slots for a ribbon tie though.
Some intro pages...
The first prompt is all about cleaning house (figuratively and literally) and how draining it is to have clutter and leftover, unfinished projects hanging around.
I've been happily creating pages by covering them with ephemera, labels, tags, etc. etc. from my stash(es).
Here's a shot of the pages I've finished, ready for journaling, up on edge...I love this view!
I'm excited about this project so I'll be sharing my pages as I journal about each week's prompt.
And speaking of being excited! The wonderful and newly married Rachel (Velder) McGough has been busy planning for Handmade U's second semester to be held April 19 - 22! Last year's Handmade U was SO amazing! It took me months to come down from that high! It was all a dream come true and I am thrilled to share with you that has Rachel invited me to come back and teach again!
Here is a sneak peek at the journal project I'll be teaching...
Rachel will be announcing all the details soon so stay tuned! I can't wait!!!
So here we are at the threshold of another new year! This is such an exciting time of year! Lots of chances to start over with a clean slate and so many things to look forward to.
Our holidays were wonderful this year. The weeks leading up to Christmas were very busy with shopping and parties but when it came down the eve and day, it was very quiet and low-key. The only real excitement for us was that Miranda and I made tamales Christmas day. They turned out fantastic and we already have plans to make more!
Our New Year's eve was a little more lively...we joined some friends for the weekend at their home in Eugene, Oregon.
Our dear, Sarah and Cedar, prepared a fantastic meal for us all which included a chocolate-peppermint cake! So tasty! And you can bet I brought along a bottle of my favorite almond sparkling wine!
Despite having stayed up until 2:00 am, everyone in the house was up and fed by 9:30 am and so we headed out for a walk through the neighborhood. We were led through a filbert orchard which was spectacular! It was a chilly, overcast morning and the orchard took on a very magical Narnia type of feeling!
If you've ever wondered what a filbert looks like before it is made into Nutella, here ya go!
The orchard was full of life!
In other news, I am SO excited to share with you that I am now a published journaler! Eeeek! One of my journals along with an article I wrote are in the Winter 2012 issue of Art Journaling magazine! I'm SOOO tickled and excited! Here's a sneak peek...
That's a pretty spectacular way to start the new year, don't you think??!
