Creative TECHniques

Today the third issue of Creative TECHniques hits newstands! I am so excited to share that inside is a great 4 page interview I did with them, and that they chose to use my portrait Jamey & Adam for the cover! This is a fun magazine full of great projects that merge craft and technology! It will get you thinking in all different directions! It is inspiring and really fun. Please make sure you check it out!!

Free Hugs Campaign

This video is inspirational and just makes me smile. I hope you enjoy it!

She's A Betty!

Just a quick thank you to the fab She's a Betty blog for including me in Volume 1 of their holiday picks! There is lots of fun on this blog! You should check it out!!

Holiday Goodies!

It is about that time for all of the holiday music, jingle bells, sugar cookies, snow, and turkey that make the end of the year so delicious! I love the holidays, especially our trips to NY for Thanksgiving. There is nothing in Los Angeles that compares to that crisp air feeling of the East Coast in November. I can't wait!

I have been working hard on fun new holiday items and have just added them all to my shop. I have put together some great stocking stuffers, as well as gift tags, and a few prints. Also coming soon will be my holiday shop featuring great tote bags, Christmas Cards, and lots of other fun goodies! But more on that later!

Happy Halloween!!

BOO!!!
One day only sale! All Halloween items in my shop are 20% off today only! Prices as marked, they are all the first items in the shop list. Happy Halloween!!

Imperfection-wk 5

This week the Self Portrait Challenge happens to fall on Halloween!! Too many crazy and stressful events have gone on in the last week for me to wallow in imperfection. Today I want to celebrate the fun. I want to haunt and spook, and give away TONS of candy! We decorated the front of our home over the weekend and Tom was very proud of his decorating skills. We were lazy, and busy, this year and didn't carve our own pumpkins, but I kind of like the Targét version! They really illuminate the front stoop and look killer in the dark!

I guess my one Halloween imperfection would have to be that I dont really enjoy dressing up. Costumes just dont seem to be my thing. I will however indulge and slap on a hat, or kitty ears, or something of that nature. This photo was taken in 2004 in San Francisco. We went to dinner at a yummy place that I cant remember the name of, where the projected the original "Vanished" on a wall. I am sure that once we have kids, and the magic of the day is fresh and bright, I will get sucked in, but for now, this will have to do!

Illustration Friday: Wind

This weeks Illustration Friday theme is wind, and although we are in Fall, and it has been unfortunately very windy here in LA for the last 2 days, this is the image I conjure when faced with this word.

I think that one of the most interesting things I have learned since becoming a full time artist is how encompassing of the 5 senses each image it to me. A lot of my memories are triggered by smells, or sounds, and I seem to incorporate certain background noises or sensations with my experience of each finished piece. I guess part of it is that we have all had a picnic at the park, and although this image is not on of my personal memories, it is familiar. It triggers personal memories.

This is Celine, and she is enjoying an afternoon at the local park with her new love. There is a warm wind blowing that wafts in the sweet scent of freshly cut grass, and I can hear the clanging chains of the swing set nearby. I can hear the kids make that unmistakable THUD when they jump off of the monkey rings and land in the sand, and I taste the grit of the sandy splash. I can see the colors and patterns of the butterflies and the wind tosses them about.

I think I might need to have a picnic this weekend!! Right after the CRAFT: magazine party! Happy Friday!

Upcoming Shows

Many people have emailed me asking for a schedule of holiday events for the upcoming holiday shopping season. So here is a breakdown of all of my upcoming fun!!!


NOVEMBER 12th: FELT CLUB
11am-6pm | THE ECHO, 1822 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park
You can see the fabulous list of vendors participating here!

NOVEMBER 18th: Sous Le Soleil
12-5 | 330 Redwood Dr. Pasadena
15-20 artists sharing their wares at a gorgeous home in Pasadena! Live music. Fun! Fun! Fun!

December 3rd: Home boutique in Woodland Hills, CA!
Paula Smail from Henry Road will also be participating! I Can't wait! More details to come. Join the mailing list on my homepage if you would like more info on this event.

DECEMBER 9th: XL FELT CLUB Event
12pm-7pm | THE UKRAINIAN CULTURAL CENTER
4315 Melrose Ave. @ Heliotrope
This event is going to be HUGE! Over 70 crafters are participating. You can see the vendor list here.

DECEMBER 10th: ROSE BOWL
With HannahMade under the canopy in the Arts & Crafts Section, booth 843B (or there abouts, they always seem to move us one to the left, or one to the right)!


ALSO!!!! This weekend is the CRAFT: magazine launch party in Los Angeles. I am going to definitely be checking that out! The event is sponsored by Felt Club and there are going to be amazing door prizes and events going on! I will be sure to take some photos!

One Step Closer

OK-so I got my logo back up (YAY!) . . . but now how do I get rid of the superfluous wording beneath it?? I do not heart beta blogger!

Any suggestions anyone??

Real Simple-finally!

YAY! It is finally here! The November Real Simple has hit the stands and I am so excited to see the article! It is surreal to see my family photos in a magazine, but it is very cool, of course! That is a school photo of my dad, and a fabulous photo of my grandmother! She was super stylish! She turned 92 last week! Amazing!

The other 3 women in the article have extremely interesting stories. Be sure that you check out the issue!

Imperfection-wk 4

My imperfection confession for this week is that, at the age of 29, I am still a nail biter. I am not proud of this fact, but I don't seem to be be able to do anything about it. My hands get so dry when I am working, that that leads to dry hands, which leads to bitten nails, and so on and so forth. And the glue I use is particularly fond of nail enamel. It will stick to polish like superglue! So manicures are a waste of time for me. My hands may be clean and tidy for a week or two, but inevitably it all goes to pot.

This photo was taken at a lovely birthday dinner that we attended a week or so ago (Happy Birthday Randee!). There was this funny, sparkly man who befriended our table and told us all about his working with disadvantaged kids and young adults. He went to the trunk of his giant Cadillac and pulled out the big box of Wet n' Wild beauty supplies and told us to pick something. Jamey picked the glitter nail polish, and then began painting her nails at the table (luckily we were seated on the patio). Despite my knowledge of the formaldehyde and chemicals in these polishes, I joined in and have spent the last 10 days picking at what is left of the sparkles. My poor, dry hands are a mess! How can something so sad, come from something so sparkly?? LOL. I should just get out the Acetone and clean 'em up! Maybe later . . .

If you'd like to see more imperfections, check out the Self Portrait Challenge site.

Website Finally up!

After years, and I mean YEARS, of having a URL, and no homepage, I can finally, and very happily, share that my homepage is now live! Now, I can just gove out one web address, instead of 3! Yay!

I would like to thank the magical and mystical Kay Stoner for all of her web expertise. If you need programming and design help, Kay's your go to gal!

If you would like to be part of my brand spanking new Mailing List to get updates on all shows, sales and special invitations to events, then be sure to sign up! I promise, your email address is safe with me!

Happy weekend!

lets see if this works . . .

For those of you who missed it, I totally screwed up the blog. Beta is not my friend! I am glad that I have been able to get the posts back up, but now I have to figure out how to replace my header . . . anyone rememebr how to do that in Beta?? All help and advice would be appreciated. I have the code ready to go, but cant remember where to place it! So I am here, trying to figure it out!

Back soon . . .

Thanks Lia!

This photo was posted to Flickr by one of my clients! I am so excited to see the piece, Jodie, in her new home!! Thank you Lia!!

Lia is also a collage artist! You can see her beautiful work on her Flickr page.

Imperfection-wk 3!

This weeks imperfect Self Portrait Challenge post is all about my knitting debacles. As you can see, I am a semi-beginner!

Let this be a lesson to all of you semi-beginner knitters out there who think that you can put down a project for a year, and then remember what the heck you were doing when you finally decide to resume the process!

I started the lace on the right last year around Thanksgiving on our trip to visit Toms parents. I don't think I have picked it up since, and could not remember what pattern I had been knitting in any of my various books and printouts. Once I was relatively certain (did I say relatively?) I had identified the original pattern, I realized I would never figure out which row I had stopped at. In my infinite wisdom (HA!) I thought that I would turn this into a scarf that had lacy ends, and a stockinette stitch center (is that what that stitch is called?). When the middle finally wrapped my neck twice, I started the other end . . . . but the laces do not match! HA! Oh well!! This will be my eccentric artist scarf. I will wear it under jackets!

At second glance, I realize that the original lace pattern was this pattern by Susan Lawrence. It is a gorgeous pattern, and hopefully I will make something from it later on. I am sort of, but not really, embarrassed to admit that I knit this!! It will be funky, but it will be the first thing that I finish that I will keep. Granted, because I would never subject a friend to wearing my Frankensteinish mistake scarf!

If you are a knitter, check out this post on Creative Swoon. It has great resources for patterns, yarns and is all based on a great scarf drive that SuperNaturale is holding to benefit Sanctuary For Families, a very worthy group that helps battered women and children.

Black and Orange

Penelope Dullaghan, the brains behind Illustration Friday, is holding an illustration contest in honor of Halloween! Click on the link to see all of the entries for the Black and Orange Illustration Contest.

Great Day!

Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored Jamey, Orliyah and me. Together we managed to raise over $1300.00 in about a week! We had such a great time on the walk. You can see photos of the adventure here.

Last Chance to Sponsor Me!

I hope that your Saturday is treating you well. It is a little rainy here which I am hoping will clear up in time for the AIDS Walk LA that I will participating in tomorrow with 2 of my friends.

If you would like to make a donation to help me meet my goal, please click here!

Lovely write up!

Just a quick thank you to Victoria Smith, the fab gal behind SF Girl By Bay. If you aren't familiar with this blog, you should be, especially if you live in the San Francisco area!! (Heads up ladies!) Victoria has the most amazing collection of flea market finds and decorative pieces. She is kind enough to post pictures of her apartment on Flickr. Here you will find no shortage of inspiration!!!

With what she calls her Bohemian Modern Style, Victoria's blog shares fun places in and around San Francisco to shop for great pieces to add to your own collections! Victoria also has a site, Petite Flea, where you can buy items that she has collected to create her own cyber flea market of sorts! But you have to be fast! Once an item sells, thats it!

Also, today marks Victorias first column with Apartment Therapy: SF. This will be a weekly column, and todays was a great guide to flea market shopping including great tips on what to take with you to ensure that you are prepared when you find the perfect item for your home!

(Header image courtesy of Victoria Smith)

Illustration Friday: Smitten

On my last outing to the flea market I came across a few images that just made my blood rush and made me want to come directly home and start working on. This photo was one of them!

This weeks Illustration Friday theme is smitten, and I certainly am smitten with her, as I am sure was every man who crossed her path! She reminds me of a young Elizabeth Taylor! The whole image is so romantic. This piece is 6"x 8", and I am inthe process of working on a huge version, 30" x 40".