Little Fortunes

You know you have some, hiding in your purse, your pockets, your wallet, your drawers. i am talking about Fortunes from the cookies and when you have 15 of them you can make this little book. Isn't it fun??

Miracle

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a house concert. Before the concert began, my hostess told Cary, the singer/songwriter, "This is Jan, she can always be counted on to cry at just the right moments." I was enjoying the concert a lot when Cary began to sing a song she wrote about her daughter called "Miracle." It was so touching and it reminded me so much of my daughter. I was crying my eyes out before the song was over! I asked Cary if I could letter the song for her and also one for me daughter. She graciously said, "yes!" So here it is . . . .

As you will read from 2 blogs ago, this weekend I took part in an outside show. It was described as an "Art and Craft Show" with over " 30 arts and crafts vendors!" I believed that, when will I learn to ask the right kind of questions. Most of the booths had large antique furniture and knick knacks and there were also several commercial booths: Scentsy candles, 31 totes and Miche purses plus a booth selling just fabric.

It is not that I did not sell anything, I did sell a little but two of my biggest sales were friends of mine. Part of the joy of showing my work is having people fall in love with it. It is the oohing and the awh-ing that always makes me so happy. Most of the people did not even stop to look or read. And if they did stop to look at a greeting card, they were shocked at the price. Quality handmade items made with expensive materials cannot begin to compete with items made in China.

it is not that people were not buying. I saw many large pieces of furniture being carried out the gates. It did not even dawn on me until this morning that possibly most of the customers that came to this show were antique D-E-A-L-E-R-S!

And ok, it really was my very LAST outside show. The hot sun put moisture inside the bags of my journals and sayings. I could not believe it. Especially on a hot, dry day, you would not think that paper items inside plastic could "sweat" but "sweat" they did. Not good for my paper products. Every day I keep learning!

Baptism

Just yesterday I received this job from a classmate of my son's. Such a small world sometimes. She wanted a specific wording for a baby plaque for a Godchild. I really like the wording used. I hope she likes it too. Have a great Saturday!

Out on a Limb

I wanted to write a little blurb about my upcoming show this weekend. I started out doing shows over thirty years ago. I started small, sharing a table with a friend. I progressed to high school craft shows, traveling around my area and then to a very large show at our local Fairground. I did all kinds of shows, inside, outside, in cafeterias and Fairgrounds. I found out that the little shows take just as much set up and tear down and time involved as the big shows and I made a lot more money at the big ones. I stopped doing the small ones.

Then in the 80's I was doing an outside show and was given a patch of dirt. During the weekend, the wind came up. The wind deposited dirt on every single one of my art pieces. Those were the days before clear bags ( Clearbags.com) and I had shrink wrapped every single one of my products. It was very time consuming and expensive to tear them all apart and redo them all. That was my last outside show for the last 20 years.

I retired from shows in November of 2008. I sold all my walls, my tables, my table cloths. And I thought retirement was b-o-r-i-n-g! And my artwork is in my soul, I need to keep creating!

This coming weekend I am doing a very small outside show and it is VERY hot here. I am breaking all my own rules, going out on a limb. I don't know anything about this show, it is outside, it is hot and it is small. But I was invited and that was so special. I will take pictures and tell you all about it next week.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

From the Rising of the Sun

This piece of paper was marbled years and years ago at a class that I took in Seattle. I like the pattern the inks make as they float on the paper. Too bad I do not have more of this. Happy weekend!

Onion Pop-UP

This is my first attempt at a pop-up book. It has the quote on the end sheets of the book. "Life is like an onion, you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep." Carl Sandberg

Then the center of the book has 8 layers of translucent paper in smaller and smaller shapes. I sewed them together in the center and then glued the largest "onion" shape to the sides of the book. Even though it does not have a lot of color, I think it is kind of perky. It was fun to make anyway, the things I do to amuse myself and use some calligraphy!

Family Tree

This is a project that I have been working on the last few days. It is a prototype of a class I would like to teach. I will furnish the tree, and the students get to do everything else. It has writing, pictures, stamping for the leaves, accordion book, and two little inside books with family story in them. Fun.

2012 Calendar

Yesterday morning after the gym, I picked up my 2012 Calendar from the printer. Here they are stretched out on my dining room table. When I see a finished project that I have been off and on working on since February, it is so exciting. Here are all the months stretched out on my dining room table, ready for putting in order, bagging and pricing. This year is all about flowers and HOPE. Have a great day everyone!