The Joy of Swapping

At the Amazing Kim Caldwells last event an Affaire in Wonderland, I decided to participate in a "swap". I did two of them, one a Fat Book swap where I had to make 10 duplicate fabric pages, and they were bound in to one "fat" book. The other was a shadow box swap. I had already created an Alice themed shadow box, but knew it would be very hard to part with. I decided to go for it. My husband asked me, "Now wait a minute, you are going to give someone that box, and you will get one in return? What if the one you get TOTALLY sucks?" I told him, that so many of the artists that attend Kim's events are very talented, I am sure I will not be disappointed! And I WAS NOT disappointed! The person that got to make my shadow box was named Krisha Hartman. She asked me all kinds of questions about myself and reallllly wanted to do a good job and make it special.  Krisha said that she was worried that her work may not be up to par with some of the other artists going. I told her, "Don't worry we ALL feel that way!!" Here is the beautiful shadow box I got from Krisha, it even got a wow from my husband. I also added on the box I gave to Tina Marie Capriotti. I hope Tina loved her as much as I loved mine!

More to come of Alice..... Denise

Affaire In Wonderland- Kim Caldwells Artistic Bliss Event

I can't even begin to start telling about the most amazing weekend I had at the Happiest Place on Earth! The lovely and amazing Kim Caldwell hosted another of her inspiring mixed media art retreats; An Affaire In Wonderland, all centered around an Alice in Wonderland theme! It took place over two days at Disneyland Grand Californian Resort. When one walks into to an Kim Caldwell event, the WOW factor is breathtaking. Everything is handmade and the attention to detail is impeccable! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Tea Pots and cups and dainty Sandwiches!

more cuteness!

This topiary chair was AMAZING! I thought Disney provided them, but alas Kim made all of them (I am sure with some help of her talented friends!)

They made these adorable little button rings for all of us!

all of the chairs had these amazing custom chair backs with our itinerary's in them! And we got to take these home with us.

The Tables

the front of the topiary chair

My tea cup, and we got to take those home too as a gift!

What our lovely tea party had to offer! The lemon tarts were divine!

This wall art was on every wall throughout the room!

Part of the event was attending Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland movie. Our tickets came with this precious pink popcorn and pink taffy! No corners were cut that this event!

more amazing tablescapes (second day)

This bunny was so  precious! Someone bought him after the event, and thought to myself, why didn't I think of doing that!!!

me and Kim in front of the amazing picture taking backdrop they created. 

my name tag

all the goodies we got in this cute little mad hatter box!

The second day will all got these affaire in wonderland canvas bags filled with MORE amazing goodies, as seen below:

Thank you Kim for such a wonderful time. I will tell you I have gone to classes and events where it feels like the purpose is to make a buck, but at Kim Caldwells events I feel like I was invited to a friends home for a party, that of which no expense was spared. Now of course I paid to go to this event, but I always feel like I left getting more then what I paid for, kudos to you and your team Kim!

I have soooooo mucg more to blog about, the classes, the vendors, the people I met.... so stay tuned!

Denise

Back from BettyFest- Keystone Colorado

Vacation was wonderful. Oh how I love the state of Colorado, I never want to leave! We stayed at our friends Tom and Sandie, they have the most amazing tri-level house in Silverthorne, right in the middle of 6 major ski resorts. The first part of my vacation I took a weekend workshop called "BettyFest". We spent the day with our instructor Jerre Smith who was just wonderful. I pulled a "Denise" and forgot my camera charger, so the above photo is the only one I was able to get! I am on the far left, to my left is Sue, she was soo sweet, and super fast on her ski's, then Claudia who oh so wanted to keep up with her kids, I enjoyed hanging back with Claudia and yelling at her to "stand up"! Then there are Betty and Bonnie two local Coloradans who were also so nice to share class with. (Oh by the way when I got home, I was searching for another lost item and realized I DID in fact have my charger!) Not only was Jerre a great teacher but she is quite the watercolor artist, you can see some of her wonderful work here! The next few days I spent skiing away at Vail, Copper Mountain, and Breckenridge. I wished the snow was a little better, but a crusty day of skiing beats work anytime! The only hard part about vacation is missing my doggies, here they are looking out the front door waiting for us!

Now I am on to my next adventure, An Affaire in Wonderland a wonderful group of women that gather together and created amazing works of art all themed around Alice in Wonderland. The event includes going to see the neew Tim Burton movie. I am just too excited! I also created a very cool banner for a giveaway ot the event, here is a sneak peek!

Thats all for now!!! 

Denise

Taking Sign Ups for Handmade Parade craft show!

Good news, I am now officially organizing my mini-craft show the "Handmade Parade" at the Long Beach Sunday Market! We will be doing the market once a month on the second Sunday of each month. If you are interested in being a vendor please comment on my blog with your info or email me at joinhandmadeparade@gmail.com and give me your shops web info and your direct email address so I can add you to the email list. If you attended the first fair, you do not need to email me again. At this time I am limiting the group to 20 vendors and will be selecting artisans to create the best mix. The best part about handmade parade is that, at this time, we are only charging 10% of your sales for your booth fee.

Happy Sales! Denise

Kate, make that Audrey!

Okay, so my first blog giveaway had some issues. Namely, my clue was for the wrong Hepburn! But guess what Corey from fallingstarlane.etsy.com managed to still figure it out! Congrats to Corey. And here is another piece of my costume collages. I really loved how this one came out. I have boxed up all three and submitted them for publication in Somerset Studio. This will be the first time I have ever submitted anything so I will keep my fingers crossed. I know that so much can go into wether or not a piece of artwork will get published so I will not take it personally, I am sure I will have to consistently submit pieces to have any hope of ever being published, so at least I got a start!

The Long Beach Sunday Market

So this was my first time organizing a Craft Fair. I met Kelli Johnson the Farmers Market Manager through the owner of the Vintage Emporium, where I sell my creations. Kelli wanted to combine local crafters and artisans together and I told her I would do it! I had about 20 vendors interested and of the 15 that confirmed to show, 14 showed! Not bad for a show that required no up front booth fee. Although the sales results were mixed,  so many of the vendors asked to come back! The show had a wonderful relaxed vibe to it, and was fairly busy. I think that a lot of people weren't really expecting to see so many other offerings, or were there to buy food, not other stuff. I think with time and consistency that will change and we can carve out a nice little niche. The market is only 2 months old, and gets bigger every week. I am hoping to run it again Sunday March 14th. Since the booth fee is only 10% of sales, even if you have a bad day, it's still a good day!
My friends showed up to cheer us on; Tom and Sandie (Thanks Sandi for breaking the ice on my first sale of the day!) Nan of Nansglam, Becke of OceanAvenueSilks and Annie of Anniekdesigns and Codyscloset . Nan brought me a big back of wooden cigar boxes and some very cool stones for my collage art. Annie is a property manager and unfortunately had to evict a cabinet shop owner and ended up with all of these Cabinet face samples! They are going to make some very cool pieces!
My Mom was on hand as always to help sell and she did a great job. It's always fun just to hang out.
The inventory I didn't sell will go to the Vintage Emporium on Monday. Hopefully I can sell a few pieces in the next few days....is it Easter already!???

                                                   safiyabeauty

FallingStarLaneprettyparisnaughteebits

Layered Inspiration Part 2- Alice in Wonderland

Okay, so maybe Alice is a little overdone, but I just can't get enough of her! I remember the first time I read Lewis Carrolls novel. I think I was in like 3rd or 4th grade. I was a very early reader and loved books. But when I read this book I just didn't get it. I was totally intimidated. I remember thinking, "I am not going to tell anyone, I have no idea what that book is about." When I saw the movie it made so much more sense! When I re-read the novel as an adult, I realize that it is supposed to be nonsense, but what a difficult concept for a young child to get! 

Okay, I have also finished my 3rd piece. I'll give you a hint. It's a black dress, all black, worn by a very famous Kate. One of my favorite books, but I have never seen the very famous classic movie that was made of it. I have a special gift for anyone who guesses the subject of my third canvas in the comments!

-Denise