Hold Dear

vintage back to school journal swap catch up...

Howdy...

I just finished up a Vintage Back to School journal page swap that turned out amazing! Thank you so much to all the artists who participated! Everyone definitely brought their A+ game and exceeded my expectations and brought my vision to life! Thank you!

Here's everyones pages sorted and ready to bind into the covers...

Of course, the pages first had to be inspected by Mr. Tubby...

Cover preparation assembly line...

Front covers...

Another inspection by Lt. Bastian...

And then the journal pages were married with the covers...here's a finished journal...

Stacks of the completed journals...always one of my favorite views...

I was very lucky enough to meet up with two of the artists who were in the swap to give them their journals in person. Sheila and Jan live in the Portland area so we got together for a little dinner and journal meet up. I first met Sheila at an Anahata Katkin class at Papaya headquarters in Ashland, Oregon (the year before she did Art in Ashland) several years ago and then another time at an Art and Soul event. We maintained our friendship via online (gotta love the interwebs!). This my first time meeting Jan but you'd never know it! I felt like we all connected and I had a wonderfully delightful time! Here are the three of us towards the end of our three hour dinner (where time absolutely flew by!)

L to R: me, Jan, Sheila

Okay, so back to the journals...below is a list of the artists who particpated in the swap. If they have a blog, their name is underscored. Several have posted pics of the journal and everyone's individual pages so please be sure to visit them and say howdy! Sorry I'm being lazy but this way you'll get to go visit them and get to know them! :-)

Jan Clem

Sheila Earhart

Cynthia Fawcett

Jan LaFollette

Beth Leintz

Rachel McGough

Mollie Morrison

Lorraine Peltier

Heidi Redfield

Barb Rickard

Jessica Rodarte

Jill Sibbald

Lisa Stanton 

Handmade U is just around the corner (SO EXCITED!) and at this point in time, pretty much my every waking moment is consumed with prepping and dreaming about this fabulous event! I can't wait...and if you've been on the fence, there are just a few spots left!

 

Handmade U Sponsors!

Hi there...

I wanted to share with you the line up of Handmade U sponsors so far! The goody bags and door prizes at this year's event are sure to thrill and surprise!!!! 

Calliope Studio

JemJam

Speckled Egg

The Rat's Pajamas

Jessica Rodarte

Lemoncholy's Studio

Everyday Cookie's

Michele Witchell

Lisa Kettell

Studio Dee

Hope Ellington

Jennifer Babcock

SO excited!!!

There are still a few spots left at Handmade U so be sure to check out Rachel's blog for all the details!!! I'll be teaching a Make and Take on opening night. I'll be sharing details about that soon!

july journal collaborative project...

In late June, I was talking with my good friend and creative pal, Rachel. Rachel is the fabulous host of the art retreat Handmade U  and is currently gearing up for its third session in September! Rachel told me about an idea she had for a journaling project for the month of July. She described how we would put together two journaling supply kits, one to keep for ourselves and one to send to each other. We would then journal daily, using only the supplies that we have in our combined kit. I said YES to this project even before Rachel finsihed describing it to me! I love any excuse to journal and after hearing the words "journaling" and "ephemera swap,"  I was in!

I've been actively posting pictures of my July Journal pages on Instagram but just realized I haven't shared any pictures of it on my blog. To see my pages on Instagram, you can follow me here.

Rachel blogged about her July Journal here. To see more of her pages, follow her on Instagram here.

Here's a picture of the contents of the kits I put together for Rachel and I...

And here is a picture of the contents of the kit that Rachel put together for each of us...

Rachel even packaged up her kit in the cutest vintage chalkboard case! So much wonderful vintage goodness!

As for the base of journal, we each started with a French cahier. Rachel found a stash of these beauties (which she is selling in her Etsy shop!) on a trip to France and I was lucky enough to buy a few from from her at a previous Handmade U. Here's the front of the journal...

And some pages (click to enlarge)...

Rachel and I had so much fun working in our July Journals that we are doing it again for August. This time the base of our journals will be these little Bingo journals I made for Handmade U last year.

Our goal was to put together kits and have them available if anyone wanted to join us for an August Journal adventure; however, between our jobs and life, that didn't quite come together. The good news is that we are planning on making journal kits to sell at Handmade U and if there's interest, we will make sure we have them available to crafty friends who aren't able to join us at Handmade U!

create mixed media interview...

Hi there...

How exciting is this...I was interviewed by the super talented Dawn DeVries Sokol for her Journal Fresh column! This column appears on the on the Create Mixed Media website and I am so honored to be part of this! Wow! I loved the questions and had fun with them. I just hope my answers don't make me sound too goofy, but then again, I am goofy so whoopsie daisy, the truth is out! :-)

I hope you'll pop over to the site and check out my interview here.

 

baby journal...

Hi friends...

In a previous blog post here, I mentioned that one of my many works in progress was a baby journal for one of favorite friends, Heidi. Well, I finished it...

I loved how it turned out...it's all full of pink and pastels and cream (with a dash of red) and lots of vintage! Heidi gifted me with some gorgeous (and I mean ridiculously gorgeous!) scrap, trim and Victorian calling cards that were her mother's and grandmother's. She said she wasn't sure what to do with them. She's shown them to be before and normally, I don't think I would have accepted them. However, I had just started this journal for her so when she put them in my hands, I knew I could accept them because I had a way to give them back to her, little did she know. :-)

For the covers, I covered chipboard with some very girly vintage wallpaper I had on hand. The gold scrap and star cabochons were from Heidi's mother's collection. The name plate is the back of a calling card.

A view of the journal standing up (I never get tired of this view!)

Here are some of the pages...

For the pages, I had a tablet of brown kraft paper that I bought at Goodwill and so I just used that. The kraft paper was about the weight of brown paper bags.

I left lots of room for Heidi to add journaling and pictures. I also added lots of blank pages so she could add her own keepsakes. Before I started decorating the pages, I first went through my paper stash(es) and pulled out a few vintage baby announcements and cards to use. That was fun! I swooned whenever I came across an old book page that had a grandmother reference!

This isn't actually a picture of Heidi and her granddaughter - but it's somebody's grandmother!And you can see that I had lots of help when I was taking these pics. That's Bastian's paw and whiskers. :-) This is what I have to deal with all the time...

Heidi is a fellow kitty lover so there are kitty references here and there in the journal. She has a very sweet orange tabby cat named Mr. Frankie Toodles, which has got to be one of the cutest cat names ever! But I digress...back to the journal...

Heidi also gifted me a few old Finnish hymn books that were gorgeous! She knew I was going to "repurpose" them and so I turned right around and used some pages for backgrounds.

For the spine, I wanted it to be flowey and very girlie so I just winged the binding. I used lots of cream silk ribbon and did a criss-cross pattern with lots of dangley ends. It seemed to work and plus I love that when the book is open, it lays flat.  I'll definitely have to recreate this journal technique, but with a different theme. :-)

baltimore journal playtime...

So I mentioned in my last blog post that I had a few journals in progress. Unfortunately, I have several journals in progress that are, shall we say, not from this year? One of the journals that needed some catch up (ketchup?) is a souvenir journal I started for a trip to Baltimore, MD to visit a friend. I have these three very, very sweet friends and a few years ago we decided to get together at least once a year. We'd known each other for several years and got to see each other here and there at art retreats but in 2010, Hope, Kari and Cassondra all came to Portland and stayed with me. We had such a memorable and amazing time that we decided to do it every year and the annual Peepsters get togethers were born! Hope hosted our Peepster visit In 2011 and so Cassondra, Kari and I traveled to Baltimore to visit and stay with her. 

In anticipation of this trip, Kari sent each of us a journal, knowing what journaling friendlies we all are. Here is the front of mine decorated. The four little girlies (which represents the four of us) was already on the cover. So cute! 

Here are a few pages...

There was lots of visiting, shopping and eating. And one of us even got a tattoo!!!

As I've been working in this journal, I am still in awe as to how much we did during the short visit! One of the days we drove to Washington, D.C.

It was PHENOMENAL and I have been wanting to go back ever since. And even before we made it to the main mall area of DC, we went to the Eastern Market flea market. Again, phenomenal!

Lots more to do in this journal but at this point, pictures are printed and I've organized all the memorabillia.

I'm motivated to finish this journal up so I can take it with me on the Peepsters 2012 trip. Hope is one of the teachers (Liesel Lund is the other teacher!) at Rachel's Handmade U event in September in Omaha, NE. Since I was already planning on going, we wrangled Kari and Cassondra into joining us so we could turn this in to our annual Peepster trip. It's gonna be fun fun fun...and there are still a few spots left if you want to join us!

I'm almost finished with the journal I'm making for my friend, Heidi. When I'm finished, I'm going to try to make a video of the pages and share it. Wish me luck!!!

can't-make-up-my-mind journaler...

Oh man when it rains it pours. ALL OF A SUDDEN I have three journals I am currently working on with all kinds of other stuff rumbling around in my head!

One of the journals I'm working on is a gift for a bestie friend of mine, Heidi.

At the end of this month, Heidi is retiring from our mutual employer. I've known her pretty much the whole time I've worked at my company...18 years! When she retires, Heidi will be moving (oh there will be so many tears!) to the bay area to be a full-time grandma. Heidi has always has been a huge source of encouragement with my art. When I finish a journal, she is often one of the first people I can't wait to share it with.

I decided that as a retirement gift, I wanted to make Heidi a journal to document her new grandma adventures. She doesn't frequent my blog often (at least I don't think!) so I'm okay showing a few pics here. I just have a few pages done but this will give you the flavor of the journal...pink!!! Is that a flavor?

This journal really should be my priority since I want to present it Heidi in just a few weeks. However, I will be torn because I am full on loving and hip deep working on my souvenir journal from my trip to Baltimore in April 2011 (can you say behind?) when a couple of friends and I traveled to visit our buddy, Hope. 

And then if that wasn't enough, I just realized I will NEED a journal to capture the memories that my sister, Renee, and I are going to make when she comes to visit me and the fam in early July! I started working on that one but then had a little talk with myself and pushed the Baltimore and Renee journals aside. I have to be disciplined and keep sitting myself down and work on that big pile of pink! :-) 

moulin rouge journal page swap...

In March of 2011, I attended an event hosted by the amazingly talented Kim Caldwell. The event was a Moulin Rouge-themed art retreat and it was amazing! I blogged about it here and here. For this event, I hosted a Journal Page Swap. I had hosted a similar swap at Silver Bella and it just turned out too gorgeous not to try again! Twelve artists each created thirteen pages. They sent their pages to me and I bound them in covers I made. Each artist got a book of her own plus an extra book was made to give to our fabulous host, Kim.

I am SO excited to share with you that this beautiful journal is featured in the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Pages magazine! I submitted this journal to CPS for their consideration right when I got home from Moulin Rouge in April of 2011. The journal wasn't accepted in the first round but they were still interested and asked if they could hold on to it. So it took awhile but I am very happy with how it turned out. The photography is lovely. The only bummer is that not everyone's pages were published. I'm sure the staff at CPS struggled because EVERYONE's pages were spectacular!!! There was definitely something magic about this theme and inspired every artist that participated to create something magic.

So for your viewing pleasure, here is the full book in all its amazing, majestic glory. Thank you again to all the artists who participated and made this such a special swap!

Click on any image to enlarge.

The front cover of the journal.
The spine.The view of the book opened up with the edges of all those gorgeous pages.

Here are the pages with the name of the person who made them. You'll see some pages with my name that look very plain. I added extra pages (airmail envelope, piece of white embossed wallpaper, paper doiley and ledger paper) to give the girls plenty of surface to journal on or add pictures.Inside of Front Cover (Table of Contents) & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Sherry Bamsey Sherry Bamsey & Terry FriasTerry Frias & Michelle GellerMichelle GellerMichelle Geller & Terry Frias
Terry Frias & Sherry BamseySherry Bamsey & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Cynthia FloresCynthia Flores & Rachel McGoughRachel McGough & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Denise HahnDenise Hahn

The Eiffel Tower is a pop-up!

Denise Hahn & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Rachel McGoughRachel McGough & Cynthia FloresCynthia Flores & Andrea VillarrealAndrea Villarreal & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Valita BaxleyValita Baxley  & Julie WellerJulie WellerJulie Weller & Valita BaxleyValita Baxley & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Andrea VillarrealAndrea Villarreal & Cheryl StonehamCheryl Stoneham & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Michelle DukeMichelle DukeMichelle Duke & Michelle GellerMichelle Geller & Cheryl StonehamCheryl Stoneham & Inside of Back Cover

I hope you enjoyed this! It was an honor to host this swap and I still can't believe I have one of these books that I get to look at over and over again. But I do!!! :-)

A little sad note...you may have noticed that Pamela Keravuori's name is in the table of contents. I am still so bummed that her pages never made it to me. She mailed them but they never arrived. :-(

So back to happy stuff...would anyone be interest in doing a Journal Page Swap? I was thinking how much I LOVE this journal and was thinking of hosting an online swap. Maybe with a vintage flower theme? Each person would make two-sided pages and I would add the covers and bind with binder rings. The number of pages each person has to make will depend on the number of people that are interested but no more than 15. The deadline would be an end of July, beginning of August time frame. Let me know what you think! 

ETA: The swap is full! Thank you!

new little treasure...

It's been a long time since I've shared pics of treasures I find. I am an avid scrounger, hunter and digger. I LOVE going to the Goodwills (there are several really good ones in my area), estate sales, antique stores and thrift stores.

Here is something I recently found at Goodwill for $1.99.

So cute! It's a cassette tape holder. I love the retro flowers in the kitchy color palette! My first thought was to pull out the plastic insert and use it as a marker case but alas, I found a different use for it...

Groovy! :-)

i'm on a roll...artfest 2012

I don't know if blogging about Handmade U Spring Semester unblocked something, but I am definitely feeling up for some more! I am motivated to get "caught up!" :-)

First up...did you see the moon on Saturday, May 5? The media was referring to it as a "super moon" and around 8:30 pm, it was super! I started snapping pictures and got some great pictures using the zoom. I set up the tripod and got lots of shots just like this...

Very cool, right?

Okay...so on to a bit of catch up. It has been a very busy, crazy year so far. In January, I attended the Play Retreat in Port Townsend, Washington. While I was there, I made the decision to attend Artfest in April. I knew it would be tricky to juggle Artfest because it was two weeks before Handmade U in Omaha, Nebraska. I thought it would be more than I could handle but after months of back and forth deliberation, I signed up. This was to be the last Artfest ever so I figured I had to go for it!

Artfest 2012 was my fifth Artfest and while I don't regret going, I felt out of sync most of the time. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that I stayed off campus and so I missed out on the shared meals in the commons and all of the trading. The brightside of the whole affair was renting a room from my lovely friend, Marilyn, who lives in a beautiful cottage in Port Townsend.

Along the way to Marilyn's house, I did get a little lost but it was worth it because otherwise I wouldn't have stumbled upon these lovely words written on a community art center...

A very perfect sentiment for Artfest.

It's actually never a bad thing getting lost in Port Townsend. There is always something gorgeous to see.

As for the classes at Artfest, I mentioned I signed up late but I was still able to pretty much get all the classes/instructors I wanted! My first class on Thursday was Dave Steele's Metal Adventure Journal. I LOVED this class! I was very comfortable with the bookmaking component but had never worked with metal before. Dave is a very patient and knowledgeable teacher and I finished my journal in the class. That made me WAY happy!

The book is about 4 1/2" x 5 1/2".

Friday's class was Misfit Dollmaking with Lana Guerra. I thoroughly enjoyed the techniques that Lana shared. She is a very fun teacher. I didn't get very far with my doll unfortunately. This was a new medium for me so I think I got way too ambitious. The possibilities are endless! One of these days I will finish it...or not. But I will make dolls. :-) Oh and I did sit next to a very charming and gracious woman named Ellen. We're friends on Facebook now. Love that!

Saturday's class was with the ever delightful and super talented Mindy Lacefield. I was looking forward to this class most of all...mainly because Dawn was going to be in this class too. My super friend, Sarah, was to be in this class but she had to leave Artfest unexpectedly. :-(

I am in love in love love LOVE with the techniques I learned in Mindy's class. Here are three paintings I painted during class...

Right when I got home, I went out and bought lots of flourescent paints! I can't wait to play with them! Here's a pic of Dawn and I taken during class. Dawn is SO talented and hanging out with her absolutely enhanced my whole Artfest experience! Goodnight, Dawn Sokol! :-)

Before heading to Artfest, I started putting together a souvenir journal (of course!)


I just finished it and am thinking of making a little video as a way to share all of the insides with you. I just need to carve out a bit of time to do that. Until then, here's the first page in the journal...

Lastly, here's a pic of the commons at Fort Worden! I hope it's not the last picture I ever take of the fort. The era of Artfest has passed; however, there's talk of something else on the horizon involving Fort Worden and Port Townsend. Hopefully we'll all get a chance visit the fort again...for the next big thing, :-)