Random Thoughts & Tidbits

Heading North

Today is my last day at Aunt Joan's house in Florida.  We had a little excitement yesterday and saw a gator sunning itself in her back yard  off the river bank!  It's been years of me watching and hoping to see one every time I come down here to visit and suddenly this little guy showed up out of nowhere.  It made my day : )  Can you believe I didn't even run for my big camera with the BIG zoom lense to get a close up.  I just sat there fully enjoying my time with him...mind you he was only about 3 feet long so he was actually kind of cute.  I don't think I would have sat there so long if he was 12 feet!

So tonight I start my journey back up north.  Tomorrow I'll be teaching 2 classes at Pictures in Time in Orange park, FL.  I know the Alcohol Ink Technique class is sold out, but there may still be a few spots in the Altered Journey Class. 

From there, I am excited to go up to Atlanta to visit one of my best buddies, Lauren Ferguson.  We giggle on the phone at least once or twice a day, but we rarely ever see each other in person...can't WAIT!

Since I decided to drive to Florida kind of last minute, I was able to schedule another visit on Monday (2/28)to an awesome store in Lewisville, North Carolina...the Enchanted Cottage!!  I was there in November and had a wonderful time with Marilyn and a full house of students all day long so I am excited to be there again to teach 2 Ten Seconds Studio Classes...Glazed Metal Effects from 1-4 and Home is Where the ART is from 6-9pm! 

I'm booked to come back down to Florida in October for the Scrapbook Expo and classes so I'm already working on the next road trip.  it was SO nice to actually have everything in my own van as opposed to shipping everything in advance.  It's been a fun little adventure!

jen

 

 

I'm back!

 
I know it's been a while since I've blogged.  I have to say I've become quite hooked on Facebook...it's just so much faster and so much more addicting!  To be quite honest, I've actually taken a few months off.  I had such a crazy travel schedule last year that I needed some time for me, for my kids and hubby, to enjoy the holidays and some other family things happening, plus I got some house projects that have been waiting for me to start, DONE.  Not just the laundry (lol) but the gorgeous paprika paint I bought a year ago to do my kitchen is now empty as is the chocolate brown paint in my dining room!  The decor that I have been collecting and hoarding for almost 2 years in planning these re-dos are now OUT of my closets, drawers and hiding places and UP on the walls, windows and displayed where I visualized them!  I am a happy camper and now that CHA is over I am rejuvinated, have my mojo back and am in full class and schedule mode. 

I started this year's class line up with 2 awesome stores in california after CHA.  This was my fourth visit to teach at Moments in Time in Bakersfield and I made new friends at Scrapbooking Made Simple in Santa Clarita!  Great ladies, cool stores and I'm already planning on returning in the Fall! (More to come about that soon)

CHA was beyond amazing for me this year.  I am so inspired to design new classes, work with new fabulous companies, do some on-line classes with CraftEdu.com (I was SO excited to meet Donna Kato, thanks for the introduction Nat!) and so many possibilities that came up during the show that I hadn't even really thought about before and can't even talk about yet...but hopefully soon.  Lets just say that this whole mixed media trend that is happening now is making this inky girl very, very happy and excited : )

I wasn't going to recap the entire last few months, but one of the best things I did last fall was attend the "Bra Free Weekend" at Ten Seconds Studios to become certified.  I won't comment as to whether it was really bra free (hee hee), but it was a REALLY fun and super inspiring weekend!  Cheryl and Megan are just so cool to hang out with and it was wonderful to have a weekend to just be free to create for me.

This was my favorite project from that weekend (I plan to put my Great-Grandfather's pocket watch dangling in the niche with hsi picture printed in Sepia (getting the visual?)

 
It's their 12x12 canvas that comes with this niche in the middle (LOVE it) Chocolate brown and pearl metals hand embossed with their molds and then of course I added some inky goodness on top while I was playing.  I was going for that patina/vertigris effect.  Nope, this one is not going to be a class.  It took me all day and it's just for me.  It makes my heart happy : ))

  I am completely hooked on the infinite possibilities their metal & molds have with my inky spin.  I have had time to play and explore with it more over the last few months and I have to say I have become a metal maniac!  SO much fun to play with and I am happy to start incorporating it in a big way in to my classes for this year.  I already have 2 different classes that feature it and one of them I will be debuting this week...did I mention I am on a road trip and in Florida at the moment? 

I'll be teaching GLAZED METAL EFFECTS at Whim So Doodle in St petersburg tomorrow and also at the Enchanted Cottage in Lewisville, NC on 2/28

And the NEW CLASS I'm calling HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS...

 
it's not the best picture...I decided to change it a bit when I came home from CHA with one of the NEW Ten Seconds Studio Molds and ran out of time before I could get some nice vintage photos on it...but you get the idea.  LOTS of metal, Glimmer Glaze, Glam and Mist, copper Glitter, added bling, distress inks, My Minds Eye paper...yum! I have to say I am really excited about this one. The beauties of this project are that #1 it doesn't have to be aqua.  the papers are neutral and we will be customizing the colors to YOUR taste with inks and glazes AND #2, it can be a mini accordion book, can stand freely on a shelf because the base is all chipboard OR I'm going to display mine flat over my doorway in my living room (because aqua and brown matches MY decor) Don't you just love when you LOVE the way a project comes out?  : )  I'll post another picture when I get home and get some pictures on it. 

BUT THE POINT IS...

I'm debuting this class at Whim-So-Doodle in St. Pete this Wednesday night 2/23 and also at the Enchanted Cottage in NC.  I'm psyched and can't wait to share this one!!!

I will be updating my class schedule on my side bar as soon as I get a few things finalized, but here's where I'll be during this trip...

2/19    Whim-So-Doodle  - St. Petersburg, FL

2/20    Scrapbooks, Etc  -  Bonita Springs, FL

2/21    Cherry Blossom Studios  -  Coconut Creek, FL

2/23    Whim-So-Doodle - St. Petersburg, FL

2/26    Pictures in Time  -  Orange Park, FL

2/28    Enchanted Cottage -  Lewisville, NC

Then home to the snow in NJ... but I'll certainly be enjoying the weather while I'm down south : )

jen