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Next week the Create Mixed Media Retreat will go live, announcing the workshops and instructors that will be in NEW JERSEY in July! It is very exciting to be in the line-up and teaching less then five miles from home! I've posted links to my classes in the left sidebar, (Carrie already spied it!) and you can get to my workshop listings on the toolbar just below my banner.
I hope to see some of you at the event. I don't know who else will be teaching yet, except for my friend Seth Apter.
If you click on over to the Street Team blog you'll see I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions but take the turn of the calendar as time to reflect on past accomplishments. I find it rewarding and motivating. I have posted a To-Do/Ta-Da list for you to print and use over on the Street Team. If you've been wanting to get things going in your journal come over and play with us. Eleven days to go....that means two weekends still left!
One of my Ta-Das for 2011 was to propose 42 stencil designs to Stencil Girl Products. Two more have been released! I had submitted the borders as 12" but Mary Beth and John launched them as 6" and they are so cute! Perfect for an edge of a card, or a small journal page. I've been playing with them - will show you soon.
REMINDER: Registration for Valley Ridge Art Studio Workshops starts on Saturday, January 14th at 9:00 a.m. Central Standard Time.
We've been watching season three episodes of Castle on dvd, which includes my favorite, "Last Call". It ends with a fabulous scene, if you missed it click HERE. Piano Man is one of those songs that you love to sing along to isn't it? So you can imagine I cracked myself up when preparing this blog post as a reminder that registration for Valley Ridge opens at nine o'clock this Saturday. (FYI: it's 9:00 a.m. CST)
The phrase hasn't left the soundtrack running in my mind and I'm guessing if you take a listen it will stay with you too....and will be a fun reminder to register at 9 or whatever time it is in your zone this Saturday morning. A live version of Piano Man by Billy Joel HERE, or in tandom with Elton John on the Tonight Show below.
EDIT: *smacks head*, it begins at 9:00 Central Standard Time....I revised from previosuly posted PST.
Hope to see you in Wisconsin in October. There are many fabulous class offerings by stellar instructors at VRAS this season, visit the site to check it out. ValleyRidgeArtStudio.com
We don't begin taking down Christmas until after today, Epiphany...the true Twelfth Day of Christmas. The first thing we set up following Thanksgiving is our manger scene. A perfect way remember the meaning of Christmas is to start and end with our Nativity. It continues to grow with new additions each year. You can't really see it here, but we have over a dozen angels flocking around the back. Nearly every item has been a gift....except for a new tree we indulge in each season.
While today is Epiphany with a "E", back in October I had an epiphany with a "e". After seeing Candyce Marten's article in Somerset Studio, where she fabricated trees from stacks of cut cardboard, I had to give it a try, and add one more silver tree to our sparkley forest. I got a good start on it then the holiday schedule crept in and I set the project aside until just after Christmas. I wrote to Candyce to thank her for the inspiration and we shared some lovely email exhanges....then the sweet and precious tree that appeared in the article arrived at our door. A most special gift! When I asked her permission to blog about this she asked that I explain how she wanted to return a kindness, and that kindness is contagious. So true, right? A simple gesture of sending a note with much deserved recognition of fine work, resulted in an unexpected surprise. How often to we miss an opportunity to brighten someone's day by reaching out because we can? Try it....both the homemade tree, and the spreading of kindness, any time of year.
Our existing trees have been collected from TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Goods, or Michaels. The layered text tree was a score from Anthropologie's after-xmas-sale last week. When I saw this red metal tree at Target (on clearance too!) I knew I could make it my own with a quick shot of spray paint. Shown here as Before and After with my cardboard stacked tree.
As you may remember from past posts about my table top setting, we have a pink tree to go with the pink deer from Judi, a sign for my sister. Another sweet deer keeps her company, gifted from Linda this year. And then I found this tin embossed deer from Pottery Barn....a staggering find with the leg raised ;)
This morning I began journaling about the holiday....love the cut strips fashioned into a tree to remind me of this year, and my new friend. What traditions do you build on each year? Put it in your journal.
Happy Epiphany!
