Exciting news!!!

I'm officially teaching two classes at CREATE retreat coming up in May! It is a retreat put on by Interweave Press, one of the nation's largest craft media companies in magazine and book publishing and several other things! Interweave Press publishes 19 magazines, 30 special publications, and has a boatload of books, websites, PBS t.v. programs and events. They are the publishers of my two favorite magazines, Quilting Arts and Cloth,Paper, Scissors! I'm incredibly honored to be chosen as one of the instructors for this retreat!

I will be teaching "One Page at a Time", my original single page book binding technique as well as "Torn and Stitched: A composition of bits and pieces". This is quite an adventure for me as I will be traveling to teach out of state for the first time! I'm beyond excited! I will be driving over and it will be my first ever long distance road trip where I'm driving! OK, I'm not so excited about this part as I hate road trips... especially to another state! Eek! But what is at the other end of the rainbow... well, it will all be worth it! I also plan to vend at the Artists' Faire so I will have my van loaded down!

I'd love to have you join me for this exciting retreat! The website goes live for registration early February. Stay tuned!

Hey, click on the CREATE button and check out a little bit of info about the retreat!

I sooo heart these!

And there is a give away being hosted here. I'm sharing that with ya'll but just know, I'm competitive and I wanna' win so I'm wishing curses on all of you. Mwahahahaahahaha

Just busy

My life is just busy right now. For example, just for today.... I got up about 5:15, after kids were gone to school, I had to get ready and head to work. Went straight to pick kids up from school after wok. Ran to the grocery store and then home to finish up a meal for a friend who had surgery. I had put a pot roast with potatoes and carrots in my crock pot this morning before work so I had to make gravy. I also sauteed some asparagus in olive oil with lemon and grape tomatoes. Then there were rolls to warm. I baked brownies late last night. Got dinner delivered and then came home and made a completely different dinner for us... my kids won't eat roast! Then clean up, get kids showered and to bed. I also cooked up some beets which I just pickled and stuck them in the refrigerator. They'll be ready to eat tomorrow. So now, it's 11 p.m. and I"m pooped. Heading to bed.

Please, continue to pray for Joanne and her family. You can click the big button to the right and it will take you directly to her blog where Toben is posting updates. The doctor's began bringing her out of her coma yesterday with some brain activity starting today but also seizure activity in the good side of her brain! Pray without ceasing!!!!

The Sketchbook Project

Well, I finally completed my book for The Sketchbook Project so it's winging it's way to Brooklyn! My theme was Lines and Grids. Because of the number of photos I took, I loaded them to flickr. You can view them here. I did not actually do any sketching but created a mixed media book. It ended up 2 inches thick! I so badly wanted to do more to the cover but the restrictions for the exhibit prohibited anything hanging on or out of the book. Because of the books bulk, I created a tie inside to hold all the pages together since it couldn't be added on the outside. Each participant was sent the same size sketchbook. Obviously, I took mine completely apart and made a totally different book out of it but still kept the original covers. Hope you enjoy looking at it.

Awesome!

As I have mentioned, I am getting involved in serving our homeless and working poor community. A friend of mine, Steve, has been serving among these people for several years. He is a writer/poet who travels to different cities just loving people on the streets by his written words, practical gifts of food, socks, water, clothing, etc... and art! He was just interviewed on a podcast with International Arts organization based in NY. If you have a few minutes, listen to his podcast! This is what I am getting more involved in!
http://media.city-gates.org/podcast_episodes/889/audio/Hope_Thru_Art_original.mp3

update

My friend Joanne, is not doing well. After removing part of her skull to allow for swelling, she ended up being put in a medical induced coma yesterday due to seizures and other things. Today, the main prayer request is that the swelling in her brain go down. It is critical. Please, please pray that the swelling goes down. There are some other things going on as well, which I can't really detail but please continue praying for this family... but especially for the swelling.

A New Local Class!

If you are local, this is for you!!!!

We are all familiar with the tried and true Composition Notebook. They have a sewn binding making them very sturdy and they are great for those who need a lined journal.

Join me on Saturday, January 22, for a class in my home where you can create your own altered composition notebook! I will provide all supplies. We will start at 10:00. The class time is estimated at 3 hours but you may stay longer if you need to in order to finish your journal.

I have included photos of a few altered composition notebooks I have created. You will learn several techniques with collage, adding images and other embellishments, paint, and a bit about composition as well. Techniques learned in this class can transfer to canvas or other mediums for artwork as well.

The cost of the class is $25. Lunch will be included! (Please let me know if you have food allergies or things you just don’t like!) You just need to show up in clothes that can get messy and be prepared for some fun with collage and paint!

Please r.s.v.p. to reserve your spot! (princessburninghair@cox.net) Space is limited to 6! If I have more than 6 sign up, I will start a second class that same day, at 2:00.

If you would like to take the class but cannot make it on this date, please contact me to schedule another class! I am happy to create a class especially for you and a few friend. I love teaching! If you check out my work on my flickr site and see something that catches your eye that you’d love to make, let me know and I can create a class for you! If you gather 5 friends to join you, you get to take the class for free!


Hope to hear from you soon!

Desperate prayer request

No, no.. not for me, for my friend. Joanne Heim is a talented writer and lover of Jesus. I met her along with her husband and kids a few years ago. They moved back to their home in Colorado last year and we have mostly been in touch after our meeting through her blog, blog comments, Facebook, messages, e-mails and such. She's a beautiful, young woman... younger than I am, and mom of two beautiful daughters whom she home schools. Well, yesterday, while exercising, Joanne had a massive stroke. You can read that latest updates on her blog and subscribe to stay updated as her husband or sister write. As of this morning, she had to go back in for surgery because of massive swelling in her brain. They removed part of her skull to allow for the swelling but significant trauma has been done to her brain including her brain stem. So much is unknown to us right now. But I know One who knows everything going on. Many prayers by thousands of people are being said on her behalf right now. Please join me in praying for Joanne and her family.

Sundance

Ya'll do know about Sundance, don't you? Well, if you don't, you should. Not that I have ever been able to purchase anything from them but oh, how I love everything in their catalog. I'm dreaming of owning this top. I just love it... size M please! ;) Sundance has a great story that you can read here. And, well, Robert Redford started it so that should be enough, don't ya' think?

Well, I'm still in the midst of my Sketchbook project and now, I'm at the point that I just want to be finished. I want to move on. I want to paint. So, I'm going to eat breakfast, do some quick clean up around here and get back to that sketchbook. The deadline for mailing is in 5 days and the rest of my week is consumed with work and kids so... today is the day.

Busy bee

I was in my studio almost all day today. I finally had to get out of my pajamas about 2:30 to be able to go do kid pick up after school! Ya' see, months ago.. yes, MONTHS ago, I signed up to be part of the "Sketchbook Project". I received my sketchbook and given theme of "Lines and Grids"... but do you think I even started it until a week before the mailing deadline? Uh... well... I just had too many ideas and couldn't narrow them down. Yeah, that's it! Actually, that is true. Even until yesterday when I finally started, I didn't know how to narrow down. My mind just goes like a tornado with ideas and it often takes a while for the dust to settle. So, I decided to take my sketchbook apart. I'm creating my own pages.. different pages. I will then rebind the book. I'll have to completely reconstruct it as it will be thicker than it started! :) Tomorrow, I was originally scheduled to work but I was called and told I wasn't really needed so, I'll be in my studio most all day tomorrow too. I will be going to help feed homeless again in the morning but will be in my studio the rest of the day.

I know I am completely obsessed with the sky lately. Here in Phoenix, we have the most amazing sunrises and sunsets. I just cannot contain myself watching them. I watch for them. I mean, literally. Not if I happen to be out somewhere and notice. No, I watch the clock and watch the sky.... daily... every day. This evening, the sunset was splendid. Breathtaking. I finally pulled out a ladder to get a better view for my camera although it's soooooooo frustrating that I have buildings behind me or electrical/phone wires draped in my view... or trees. It just makes me mad! But the ladder helped a bit. Here are some of my shots from today. They uploaded in reverse... The photos were in progression but you'll just have to look at them backwards! Oops!

See what I mean about all those wires ruining my view?

Well, it's late and I"m getting up early so, I'm heading for bed. I'll try to remember to take some pictures of my sketchbook stuff tomorrow, ok? I'm hoping to finish by Monday so it can get mailed off in plenty of time!

I'm baaaaaccckkkkk

Ok, so maybe not exactly 100% but almost. I just spend the last few days, several hours worth (and I do mean several) turning in proposals for CREATE being held in May in Costa Mesa, CA. I sent in 9 proposals and now crossing my fingers, saying prayers, and waiting to see if I am accepted! While I"m not crazy about the fact that I'd need to drive, I would be crazy about doing it and am thankful that it's only about a 6 hour drive to haul all my supplies. I can't afford to go further and have to ship all this stuff! I'm anxious to find out what it's really like to go teach out of state. With the proposals, I had to send in a couple of photos of myself. I don't have many since I'm always the one behind the camera so today, I had Hannah take one while I was at work! Here I am in my favorite section of the store, the handmade parent sheets of gorgeous papers!
I'm going to try my hand at making homemade chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight for the first time. I'm almost ashamed to say that seein' as I'm from Mississippi and all. I'm a disgrace to my family. It's shameful that I can be from the south with southern family, and be 46 having never made chicken and dumplings! OK, I'll admit, I hate ice tea too. So there....

I have hungry boys so I'm rollin' up my sleeves and getting that rolling pin out.... More catch up later.