pamgarrison

at it again

So, Tara and I have been trying to go to the flea market together for at least 3 (?) maybe four months. This weekend the stars finally aligned. She brought her friends Emily and Liz and, of course, a successful day it was for us all. It was fun to meet these cool chicas and spend the day hunting for treasure together. Can't wait for the next time. Thanks again girls!

Here are some of my treasures.

My favorite, but most frivolous purchase, was this gorgeous salesman's folder. I just love it, but it will serve no purpose other than to hang in my art room and make me happy, which kind of seems a bit indulgent.

I love it because of the incredible detail that you can see here. And because I love pom-pom fringe.

I left a bunch of things in Tara's car I think (hope!), so I'll have more to show at another time.

A word or two about our Southern California flea markets...To me, they are really like open air antique malls, you know, where everyone has a small space. It's not like what I think flea markets are like back east. I imagine that those are more like estate sales, or people selling at the flea once in a while, not vendors who travel the circuit of flea markets like they do here. But really, I have no idea. I just wanted you to know that if you have antique malls, you probably have somewhat the same thing. Here are the ones in Southern California:

1st Sunday of the month:
Irvine Valley college and Pasadena City College
2nd Sunday:
Rose Bowl
3rd Sunday:
Long Beach
4th Sunday:
Santa Monica

Somewhere in there is Ventura, I'm not sure if it's the 1st Sunday or not. I've been told there's one in Tustin or old town Orange, but have never been. And I think there's one in Hollywood, every Sunday (???). So if you're in town, you might want to hit a flea market. Sometimes you'll get a great deal, but for the most part it's antique mall prices.

And just so you don't think all I do is flea market anymore, a little crafting...

As you know, the kiddies are about to start school soon (which should mean back to our regular scheduled blogging!) and this year my daughter wanted a bag vs. a backpack. So we bought this Roxy bag at Chics Sporting Goods:

Of course, it needed some pockets and compartments inside. My daughter picked out this fabric:

And I sewed 4 various sized  interior pockets in.

I know it's a bad photo, sorry. Do you know how hard it is to photograph the inside of a bag without anyone to help hold it open? There must be a better way, but you get the idea. Shocking, isn't it? I actually crafted again.

As for the mail, I received this little beauty from Syd. It's an original oil painting that I purchased at artfiberfest. I love it, thank you Syd!

And these adorable postcards from wee wonderfuls...I'm just so mad that I missed out on the stitching kits because I haven't been reading blogs!

Did you know that Sally Jean has started her version of a blog? I am so happy!

Looking for more inspiration? Try here.

And one more thing before I go. If you were inspired to make a fanciful banner of your own after seeing the Somerset article I did, Jenny Doh (editor) would like to see it for possible publication. You can email her photos at: jdoh@stampington.com

With that I'll sign off for now. I'm taking the kids up to Northern California to visit my brothers et all, so I'll be gone for a few days. Hope your week is loverly.

but you already knew that

You don't need this little birdie to tell you that I love to go flea marketing.  If you read the blog, you know that for sure. It's also fun to have some friends that like to see what I found...yeah, that's it, I'm doing it all for you, ha ha. Now if I could just get my husband to see it that way . ...Anyway,here's what I found this time:

5 (!!!) ledgers of different sizes, an old photo album and some letters. My favorite photo is this one here. How cute is this wee one, fishing on dry land in a little washtub?

Here's some buttons in an old jar, an old Eiffel Tower, a watch box, some anagram pieces, old music, wallpaper (fancy that), old baby gift wrap, a tattered bird, some ephemera, a celluloid mirror, and bits of vintage jewelry.

Two old metal boxes above, one once for a doll, one for ? tools ?
And then my favorite find of the day, this old typewriter.

It's my favorite

I'm not sure if you can read what it says "because it types like this", but it's in a larger font than the typical typewriters. And because it was only $25.00, which I think is a good price for one that actually works.

Gotta go, it looks like the troops at home have been deployed and an all out war is about to begin. Hope you have a peaceful Sunday.

inspiration abounds on the net

I always like to start a post with a photo, since I am such a visual person. This is a little sign in I did for a mother/bird collaborative in Corey Moortgat's book. Oh how I love her art, her playfullness, her creativity. Here is her book (which I don't think she'll mind me sharing, since she posted pics on her blog). My photos of it do not do it justice, it is so much better in person. She is so clever, she took cardboard and cut it into this shape that she is known for, covered the back of each page, and bound them all together with ribbon. This is her cover.

and then her next two pages, the first a sign-in, the second a tribute to her son, Riley.

She was ever so smart (and organized!) to send along photos of her son for us to use when working in her book if we were so inclined. Here are my two pages. The first is a little busy, the second a little plain, my creative juices just weren't flowing this summer. But my work is not a reflection on how inspiring the book is, it is really a treasure. I'm sure she'll post the whole thing when she gets it back in a couple months. Can't wait to see what the other girls have done with it!

As for inspiration on the web, sometimes, don't you feel like it is everywhere? I did the other night and wrote these links down for you.

I know everyone is posting how excited they are about this book, and I am too, but I had no idea about this book, did you? Can't wait for this both of them, talk about visual stimulation!

Then on flickr I saw this, and this (so creative and beautiful!!!), and this too (the colors alone get me  going).

And I've got to make some of these. Thanks Heather, who also made these adorables.

And Christine shared this, which inspired her and has me pining for a trip to see them in person, and also reminds me of Lisa, who recently made this delicious page.

Oh, how I love how accessible inspiration is on the web! Thank you to everyone for sharing their creativity, their inspirations, their many phases of creative living. I, for one, am grateful, and I'm sure if you are reading this you are too, because we blog readers know the wonders of blogs/websites/flickr etc! Hoping you find some inspiration on the web this weekend.

moving slowly

I really am moving at a snail's pace, with pretty much everything. Tired but can't sleep at night, etc. Just seem to be doing a little bit of this and that, here and there. So once again, I spent a little time in the garage yesterday, cursing myself for not organizing along the way. I hate it that no one else can clean it besides me, because everyone else would just sweep it all into a trash pile, and you know there are surely treasures in there. Sadly, it is mostly my mess that needs organizing (so of course, I started the whole clean-up by sorting out all the toys and sports equipment-procrastinator!) The nice part was that my daughter hung out with me, and then, inspired by one of the designers on "The next great design star" (or something like that-we love to watch that show together), she started taping and painting and taping and painting. Above you see some of her masterpieces. I love them and think they would be so cool on a white wall in a teenagers room. And just look how clean that part of the garage is, ha ha!

I so appreciate seeing other artists work in process, like Carla and DJ did recently and  Corey too, I thought you might like to see how the journals of the earlier entries are coming together. I use all different things for journals, some old books that I alter, some already bound that I sew fabric cover for etc. etc., but after first seeing Teesha's art journals a few years back, I had to have some like hers. Her method is what I use, taking canvas panels and sewing in watercolor paper by hand. Before I took a journaling class from Teesha, I would  always be compelled to journal in order, start to finish. In other words, each page would be done all at once, and in date order. After her class, I started to loosen up a bit. As you saw, I even painted and machine stitched some pages before I even sewed them in. Now I have all the different stages: doodling, painting,writing, collaging etc. ) of journaling in the book, available for whatever mood I'm in. Here are the books with the pages you saw before sewn in, and various stages of journaling on each page, and I can just grab a book and go, like I did this morning at my daughter's dental appointment.

Here are the scraps from tearing the paper to size for the books. I can't bring myself to throw anything away, guess I'll make a little itty bitty journal.

party flowers

My daughter and Dad decided to have a little dinner party at his place. They watch the cooking shows together and enjoy trying recipes. The date and theme of "surf and turf" was set and they invited a few families for dinner and fun. My contribution was to be homemade apple pies and flowers. So my daughter and I went to Trader Joe's and bought these.

I had bought this Oasis flower foam a long time ago just because of the colors. Aren't they pretty all together? So I decided to borrow glass vases (I quickly discovered that I have no see through vases) and use up that foam once and for all. My daughter and I had fun arranging all the flowers on my Dad's patio. Here's they are before being put all over inside and out.

They did a great job with the party. I left my camera at home, so I don't have any photos from it, but trust me, a good time was had by all, and there were big raves about their cooking. Thanks Dad and Ali!

 

more playing with paper and paint

Both my kids are gone today, for the first time this summer, I think. I hopped around and read some blogs(I have missed so much!), answered a few more emails (I think I might have made it into July as far as replies go) and decided  to keep playing in the new journals I'm making before the day of freedom is gone. This one at left is one of my favorite pages. Can't you just see it with some lines painted on and words written on it?

Here are some more drying.

and another favorite:

I'm going to clean up now (I have had paints all over the kitchen table for days, after all) and sew the pages in...really I am, after I paint one more thing...ha ha ha. The blue color in the previous post is Golden Fluid Acrylics "Cobalt Teal". You can get the little bottles at some Michael's craft stores...I forgot how much fun creating is. And, also, I will be teaching a class on how I journal where we'll make a journal out of an old ledger book and prepare the pages at Artfest this year. The online brochure is up! Fun fun.

Here's my class sample:

i actually worked on something creative again

I found myself wanting to journal this weekend. With most of my journals full, I started the process of making new ones. These journals are pretty much made using Teesha's method. Saturday night I glued the bookbinding onto the covers, tore the  paper to size, and doodled. Yesterday I brought the paints down to the kitchen table and had fun painting some of the papers and some of the doodles. Here they are drying on the floor.

I even sewed on the papers since they were still loose from the book. And painted some more.

Next step is to sew the pages in and decorate the cover some, then I'll be ready to journal. I'll show you when I complete that stage. It was just so fun to play again, feel like it's been forever. I have to set it aside again today, since the weather has taken a turn for the better (not unbearable), I'm going out to work on the garage some more (something else I started this weekend). It's been waaaay too out of control. Hope the weather has cooled down where you are too.