pamgarrison

the artnest

I still owe you an artFIBERfest recap, but time is of the essence with a future teaching sign-up, so I wanted to let you know...

Julie Collings and Candice Elton have created a haven for artists to come and play, called The Art Nest. I will be teaching at their next event, along with Amy Hanna and Anahata Katkin. There aren't too many openings, as we all stay in the same cabin for the weekend, it's a small retreat. I for one, am excited to take Amy and Anahata's classes and to share my class with all that attend. Registration opens November 1st, so if you're interested, jump in and join us. To see past events, visit The Art Nest blog here.

itchin' for amy?

My friend Amy sent me some photos of the jewelry she's planning on putting on her etsy shop this weekend. Just thought I'd wet your whistle if you're the type of girl that likes that sort of thing, hee hee.

amyhanna.etsy.com

the fires

What a week! Thank you to those of you that know where we live for checking in. We are fortunate, and all is well here. We live in the Trabuco Canyon area which is by the Santiago Fire. (That was set by an arsonist)
We, unlike so many Southern Californians, were only on "alert" and never had to evacuate. There are no new or magic words I can say for all of those who have been devastated by the fires. I'm so very sorry. My prayers are with them. I have lived in Southern California for over 30 years, and never had an experience like this. Although we were far enough to avoid evacuation, we have been choking on smoke for 4 days. All the public and private schools were closed both yesterday and today, and all sports this weekend due to poor air quality. Yesterday, people were walking around with masks on. Today, however, is a new day.  We have been blessed with blue skies, cooler weather, and less stench of fire in the air. I hope that the rest of Southern California is experiencing the same. Now that the extreme danger is over, updates are a bit harder to find.

Here are some photos forwarded to me. They were taken by my friend's friend's neighbor (I can't locate his name anywhere on the site, I'd love to give him credit for such amazing photos). Gives us all a better idea of what others have been dealing with. Fire photos here. Just click on the picture showing to see more.

artfiberfest 07

I'm off to artfiberfest tomorrow, so this weekend I popped into JoAnn's for some extras. Tracy Porter has some cute new fabric, and I can always find some trims I love. And then the colors of the thread, yum.

Here are the two classes I'm teaching (you've seen them here before) :

sew(FAB)journal

a crazy quilt style journal. above is the front, below the back:

and the inside front cover:

and the inside back cover:

I'm also teaching my "paper portraits" class:

It should be a few fun art filled days. Wish I were already packed though. Must go do that before the kids get home and the day spirals out of control. Hope to see some of you there. I will be back on the blog early next week. xo

and for some color

A gift for a friend.

bits from a journal page...hm, am I suddenly liking golden yellow and olive?

more color in my journal. I think it's funny that I love a pretty colorless home and then most of my journal pages are crazy with color.

Like I said, crazy with color.

And a page influenced by Teesha. I rarely cut pages out of magazines, or use pictures of people in my journals, but this little guy was too cute to pass up. And once he was down, using the caran de' ache neocolor crayons on top (that Teesha turned me on to) just feels so good on top of that slick magazine paper.

On the page I was writing about a couple of opportunities that seemed to be headed my way. And of my dreams and aspirations. I don't know why, but for some reason I am not brave enough to put it out there, what I dream of, what I want to bring into my life. Which is silly, I know, because then I'm not helping myself achieve those dreams as much as I could. My dreams seem, I don't know what the words are that I'm searching for...grandiose? silly? impossible? Certainly personal. I've got to learn to go for my dreams and not worry about what other people think of my dreams and their possibility of coming true. There is something so bold and empowering about claiming and announcing your wishes. I think this is pretty bold . To share a big dream that is so specific to ones self. And the result doesn't surprise me a bit, not even the speed with which the bravery was rewarded.

I hope you state your dreams in a bold fashion, I promise I won't roll my eyes or laugh or tell you it's not possible!

romantic homes

Wanted to say a quick thank you to Tara Frey, columnist for Romantic Homes for writing a nice little blurb about my blog. Welcome to all you new readers who have come to check it out. Tara mentions other blogs too in her "scout it" column, so be sure to look for her column regularly if you like to read blogs. Thanks to Bari J. too for emailing me about it, I would have missed it I think. I told you I've been out of it.

And just for fun, my favorite piece of furniture cabinet (can"t pick a favorite piece of furniture).

My next post will be more art related than home related. Even I'm getting tired of the focus on the house!

October?!? Already? Are you sure?

Hello my long lost friends! The above self-portrait, my latest entry in a continuing collaborative among 25 artists, pretty much sums up September for me. As a friend said, "life is just knocking you around a little bit." Yep. Well, wah wah wah. Enough self pity. I've been overwhelmed as of late with life, good and bad, just so very tired, but coming around to balance (well, somewhat) again. Just wanted you to know my absence wasn't planned. I try to give you notice, I know it's so frustrating to keep checking in on a blog that doesn't get updated. Thank you for all your calls and emails of concern. I'm ok. Coming out of my funk. I know I am blessed, I just wasn't feeling it. I'm very thankful for your understanding. xox

Here's the sign in page for the same self-portrait book. The artist made a sign in page with grids for each participant and a slide cover to use for signing in.

So, the house. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support and wishes for a quick sale (so far two offers that went nowhere. But all the feedback has been the same as yours.) You make this girl feel very good with your sweet words. I'm glad that you understood that a lot of "us", the personality of the house has been removed, cuz it looks a bit barren to me. Just trying to make it so that everyone feels that they could bring their own style of decorating in too. That the house has good bones and character that would work with lots of looks.

The funny thing is, when we removed lots of the funky/special antique things, it looks way too feminine to me. I am anxiously awaiting decorating a new home. I plan on introducing a bit of industrial/modern things along with things like treasured French antique chandeliers. I am also going to take some photos to see what things look like overall, because after taking the photos, you see more like a stranger sees it; you see more of the big picture, not just focusing on a few favorite things in a room. (Kinda like how I see myself in the mirror one way, and then a completely different (of course, worse) way in a photo.) You might want to try it, tell me if you see your home differently in a photo vs. your mind's eye.

So, here are some more house photos, the one above is obviously  the kitchen. Very plain, very white. I love white. If I could have, I would have switched my counters to Carrera marble., and let it age like an old French bistro...yum. But it's fine the way it is. In Rachel Ashwell's book where she remodels her home and takes you through her thought process, she says something about things being "good enough", not obsessing about the perfect faucet etc. (I'd give you the exact quote, but the book is packed away). I just really liked the concept and how "real" it makes a home. Although, I could also go on about the merits of finding the perfect faucet too, so, who knows.

Here are some close ups of the counter in the above photo. I know how much I hate it when in a magazine I see something that I want to see more closely, but can't, and above it seems fuzzy.

Since it's October now, the cloche looks like this today:

and here's the staircase that you've seen before here:

Ok, it's nice to be back in the swing of things, blog-wise. I must go try to catch up on other things now. Here's hoping for a great October for us all!