Snapdragons and Crazy Brains

Funny story behind this journal I finished up yesterday regarding how my brain works. Comically, I have this theory that I can clean up my studio by finishing up projects. This never works. Why? Because my brain has a tendency to go down rabbit holes pretty quickly. I had been saving my Dove soap boxes to create some tiny journals like this one and decided I could use up some of the off cut paper on my table to make signatures for those tiny journals. I had several signatures all folded and ready to go when I remembered some graph paper I had that would be a nice addition to the signatures. I just knew that graph paper was in one of the cubbies over there under my laptop. Searching for that paper, I found the paper I used in this journal, but we aren't nearly there yet.

I came across this box of Fabriano Artistico folded cards that I'd had for years and had yet to use, so I pulled that box out and started folding a few sheets to see how it would work together for signatures. Beautifully!  I folded a few and then remembered that I had sat down on the floor actually looking for the graph paper for the tiny journals, so I sat that box down and set those few signatures aside and went back to looking for the graph paper. In one of the cubbies on the other side, I didn't find the graph paper, but I did find some books I had picked up from Goodwill that I thought would make good junk journals. But really, I'd had them for a while and they were in great shape and I did have a garage sale coming up, so maybe I should just put them in the garage sale ... so I proceeded to take all the pricing stickers off those and set them in a pile for the garage sale. Oh, right!  Graph paper, I was looking graph paper!  Oooh!!! Then I came back across the more than 100-year-old Bible I picked up at a neighborhood garage sale for $3. (Of course, I had to rescue it.) It was in pretty bad shape, but I figured I could clean it up and maybe even find its rightful owner.  Holding it in my hands again (graph paper, what graph paper?), I decided that at that moment, it was about dang time I did something with that Bible. So on a whim, I grabbed some scissors and trimmed down the cover where it had separated to just clean up the edges a bit thinking, hmmm, maybe I could fashion a new cover out of Kraft-tex.  I cleaned her all up and then started flipping through it again, and I came back across the memorial notice of one Paul Taylor who passed away at the age of 74 in 1954 in Deland. Tucked in with dear Paul's memorial notice, a family member had included some newspaper clippings and his obituary. Among other family members, Paul left behind daughter Helen Milliken of Tallahassee. Aha!  Perhaps that's how the Bible ended up in a garage sale in Tallahassee.

So off to Google I went to try to find Helen Milliken of Tallahassee. Of course, dear Paul was 74 when he died, so Helen was likely in her 50s then - in 1954 - so unless Guinness missed her as the oldest living human, she was no longer with us. But that did not stop me!  Maybe I could find dear Helen's obituary and find other members of her family still in Tallahassee. But alas, I could not find Helen Milliken of Tallahassee.  But hey!  Helen Milliken of Michigan, she's done some stuff!  She was the First Lady of Michigan Governor William Milliken and quite the political force in her own right! This Helen was the longest-lived First Lady in Michigan history, living to 99 years old and first lady for 14, and was a women's rights activist and environmentalist. During the 1970's, she was one of the leading proponents of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment had been passed by the United States Congress in 1972 and was ratified by thirty-five states, including Michigan, in the next few years.^. When the 1980 Republican National Convention, held in Detriot, removed language supporting the ERA from the convention platform, Helen, still First Lady of Michigan at the time, boycotted the convention's opening ceremony to attend a pro-ERA protest. You go, Helen! Thank you! (and thank you, Wikipedia, for that nugget.)  

Well, since I could not find Helen Milliken of Tallahassee, I put the Bible back in its cubby for now. I had completely forgotten about the graph paper at this point, so I sat back on the floor and created more signature with that yummy Fabriano Artistico paper I found. And three days later, I finished this journal.  I still haven't found the graph paper, nor made any further progress on the tiny journals, nor cleaned up my studio. But I did finish this journal. I'll keep you posted on the Bible rehab! 

Artful Growing and Mermaids and Mamas

For years, I've dreamed of being an elementary school art teacher.  I just think that would be the coolest job!  I've actually researched getting a second master's degree in Art Education but have not had any luck finding a program that will accept me. It doesn't appear to matter that I've already earned one bachelor's degree, one master's degree, and have more than twenty years' teaching experience.  In order to be accepted into every program I've researched, you must have a bachelor's degree in Studio Art. We self taught artists are apparently not talented enough.  Phooey.

So instead, I have to get my fix seeing what my girls do at school and through Mermaids and Mamas.  Livvie created that awesome tree painting above. It's hard to see in the scan, but it's actually pretty textural. She first painted the background stripes and then painted the three background trees.  From there, she drew the fuller trees on other paper, painted them, cut them out and collaged them to her painting. The topmost branches are free floating.  Sarah did the landscape below.  It was a bit large to fully fit on my scanner, but I love how she's shown depth of field here!

Speaking of Mermaids and Mamas, we are in our last few weeks of registration!  If you have some young ladies in your life, we'd love for you to join us. Hop over here for all the details.
  

Making Tough Decisions

See that sweet group of girls? This was our end of the retreat shot at Mermaids and Mamas last year. Earlier this week I came to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see that shot this year. At least not like this.

On Tuesday, I had to make the heartbreaking decision to cancel Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure 2013, for now anyway. It was particularly heartbreaking since I had just spent the better part of five days promoting Mermaids and Mamas at One Spark.  The basics of the facts are insurance issues. I had to provide the college with liability insurance to rent the Outdoor Center, and I thought I had it all worked out nearly a month ago. I was working with the agent who holds my homeowner's policy (who shall remain somewhat nameless...cough...State Farm), and they told me in early April that everything was taken care of; I'd have the policy in my hand in about two weeks. Well two weeks came and went and no policy appeared in my mailbox. Monday they called with a few more questions. I answered those questions. Tuesday they called me to say they could not write the policy. "But we have found someone else who can do it for you!" Yeah, at about eight times the cost they had quoted me, and non-refundable. Needless to say, I'm researching new homeowner's insurance agents.

I called my former agent who retired about three years ago, an old family friend I knew I could count on for the best advice.  He gave me a few leads that might have worked, but there just wasn't enough time at this point. I had to commit to the rental, full paperwork ready to go, by May 3...just not enough time to get another policy written. I gave it a day to sink in, praying for a miracle, and then knowing I just had to let it go, contacted my Mamas who had already registered. But I also had a plan to salvage at least a little something. I knew they and their girls would be disappointed, as I knew mine would (I hadn't told them yet), so I decided to invite them all over to my house instead. We certainly don't have room for everyone to sleep over like we would have at the retreat center, but we could at least make a day of it...a back up Mermaids and Mamas at the main Mermaids and Mama's house. Though all the moms were disappointed, they were also incredibly supportive, and to my delight, said, "We'll see you on the 18th!"

So there you have it. Our Mermaids and Mamas may not be gathered on that particular picnic table, but we have one heck of a picnic table at our house that will serve as a great back up. I told the girls today, and though they are very sad we won't be at the retreat center for a sleepover event, they're happy that they'll still get to have an art play day with a bunch of friends. And us Mamas will still get to have an art play day with OUR friends and our girls.  

Thank you, Mamas. You forever have my gratitude. Next year, I'll start on insurance paperwork in November.

Project 365 Taking a Little Knee Surgery Break!

I'm dealing with knee surgery this week and next so I'll be taking a little break from Project 365. I figured you'd probably not be interested in the daily view from my couch! Here's one photo I took earlier this weekend of some fun tags the girlies and I are making as part of an upcoming Mermaids and Mamas accordian book project! I'll share more of these later once I can get back on my feet!

Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure 2012 Is On!

Things have been super crazy in my world lately so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do Mermaids and Mamas this year, but my Mermaids have convinced me!  Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure 2012 is on!  Dates are May 19-20, and registration is $100 per person. Registration deadline is May 4.  Hop on over to my Purple Cottage site for all the details! 

Mix It Up Monday: Mermaids Spray Paint and Stencils

I’m finally weeding through all the Mermaids and Mamas pictures and getting ready to write the wrap up post, but I wanted to share a few things from my girls with you. Sunday morning as a wrap up, we do a “show and tell,” letting all of the girls take center stage one by one, sharing all the art they created over the weekend and telling everyone what their favorite activity was. To a one, the favorite was the spray painting with stencils. I learned this technique from my artsy friend Martha Lever, and I became instantly addicted! It was so much fun to watch the Mermaids do it!

These two pieces are Sarah’s and Olivia’s spray paint stencil art. Since they’d had some practice at home, they did a little better than most of the girls, but everyone had such a great time, I don’t they think they really cared how they looked in the end. To make a spray painting spot for us, my trusty assistant Whitney taped down two large plastic table cloths under the pavillion walkway so we’d be in the shade but still have some airflow to keep the fumes at bay. We left everything there to dry, and then about lunch time, a huge storm came in! Whitney ran over and at least grabbed all the art so we were able to salvage that, but the girls had a great time later picking stencils out of the woods. The rain was very heavy and blowing sideways, but at least all my stencils survived! Thanks for the inspiration, Martha!

Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure 2011

Registration is now open for Mermaids and Mamas Arful Adventure 2011!  This mother/daughter art retreat is designed for elementary school aged (pre-K through 5th grade) girls and their Mamas (or Grandmamas!).  Dates are Saturday-Sunday, May 14-15. Space is limited to 22 total participants so sign up soon as spaces go quickly! Hop on over to the Purple Cottage website for all the details.  If you are interested in working with me on a retreat for older girls, just let me know!

Mermaids and Mamas!

I’ve finally had a chance to go through all the Mermaids and Mamas pictures! We had such a fabulous time and have fabulous pictures to show for it! I’ve uploaded them all to a private Flickr group for now until I get the Mamas permission to share more. For now, here are a few to give you a little peek into our weekend: my Livvie enjoying a little hula hoop action, the perfectly wonderful mermaid wand Wyanne made, and part of our group...the last of the gang that stayed until the bitter end and helped me clean up!

I was so pleased with how everything came together! The girls were the perfect hostesses, showing everyone around as they checked in and helping them get settled in, and DH was the perfect helper, taking care of all the meals for us. We started out with our love letter envelopes (a project I brought from my big kid retreats) and then created our journals. From there it was on to some painting! We created painted initials, magic mermaid wands and painted rocks, all embellished with a variety of embellishments, everything from buttons to stickers to little wooden letters to paper and silk flowers. Lots of glue gun action! We also created pendants and bracelets, hair clips, a treasure box to keep them all in, and fairies to watch over all us. Mixed in between the projects we had hula hoop contests and bubble blowing parades, some parachute fun, and a dress up dance party Saturday night with a few challenging games of musical chairs. Some of those girls are fierce competitors!

All in all, it was simply wonderful. The Mamas gave me great feedback and the Mermaids (and the Mamas!) all had a ball. Girls enjoying being girls…both the big girls and the little girls. We played, we talked, we bonded, and we played some more (we didn’t sleep very much). It was magical. And it hope is was the first of many more to come!

p.s. Don't forget I'm up as a guest curator on CrescenDoh all this week! I share different links every day and tell my Art Saves story.

p.s.s. I currently have a very happy kitty sitting in my lap purring. I don't think I shared with you here that our sweet little Tink has been off on an adventure for the past two and a half weeks. I had almost given up hope. Then just as I was getting ready to come upstairs and write this post, something told me to peek out the front door and there she was! She's pretty skinny and very meowy, but otherwise appears to be in good health! I know the girls will be so excited when they wake up in the morning and she's here. Welcome home, Tinkster!

One Excited Mermaid Mama

Been crazy busy prepping for Mermaids and Mamas this week! The girls and I are all soooooo excited! We prepped the projects (of course, I’m sure I’ll think of something else I want to do between now and 9am Saturday morning), we’ve planned the menu, and our final shopping will take place tomorrow. DH has graciously offered to be our main Mer-man cook and bottle washer (no, you’re right, I didn’t really give him a choice, but he did truly volunteer to cook burgers and hotdogs on the grill Saturday night instead of us going pizza delivery!). Here’s a couple sneak peeks of some of the projects we’ll be doing. Above, pendants and hair clips. For the pendants I changed up the recipe for Aimee’s collage pendants, and for the hair clips, I just played around with silk flowers, ribbon and metal clips. Below, something to put all their treasures in, of course! I’ll have lots of pictures and hopefully a few videos for you next week. We’re having a good old-fashioned dress up party with dancing music Saturday night!

Creating and Assessing or Assessing and Creating

Here’s another new piece I’ve recently listed. I test drove this one a couple times at work and always get tons of compliments on it! I might have a hard time letting it go! I paired one of my glass tile pendants with chunky colorfully-dyed turquoise nuggets. You can find it here in my Etsy shop.

I’ve been assessing and reassessing what I’m doing with all my various art forms here lately, and more importantly, how I’m able to incorporate, or not incorporate, them into my daily life as a full-time working mom. I was recently working on a wholesale order. I was hesitant to take it on initially because I’ve just never really thought wholesaling was for me. Well, I was right. In the end, even though I finished creating the entire order (25 glass tile pendants), I decided to cancel it. The potential buyer was incredibly sweet, but I just finally decided my time was worth far more than the wholesale price she was offering. And I’ll take the fault for that. I should have set my price higher to begin with, but after several back and forth emails with concerns shared on both sides, I just decided it was best to cancel.

It was a very valuable lesson for me. Juggling a full-time day job, part-time teaching, twin girls, a husband, and my creative play (note I called it play and not work), my time is just too valuable to create on demand on a schedule. And I think that’s where that assessment comes into play. Do I create for others, to sell my work, or do I create for me, just for the outlet that creativity provides? More and more, I’m finding that it’s far more important for me to create for me. Sure, I’ll still list my work online and participate in a few arts festivals a year simply because I truly enjoy them (though I must admit, what I really, really enjoy about them is seeing all the other beautiful work out there!), but I’ve noticed more and more lately that I’m really having a hard time focusing on one thing! I hop from jewelry to mixed media to photography, and now I’ve caught the book-making bug. (I blame, um, credit you for this, sweet Leah. :-)

Mermaids and Mamas is next weekend, and I'm thrilled beyond belief that we sold out. Through this event, I've been able to combine my 16 years working in experiential education with my love of art and children, so this really just feels right. The girls and I are so looking forward to playing with everyone, and I'm hoping it will be the first of many. And what will be we doing? Oh, a little jewelry, a little mixed media, some photography, some book-making…and who knows what else…definitely some hula-hooping, bubble blowing, fairy wandering, and s’mores making…maybe even a little late-night toenail painting. It will be an artful adventure for sure! Creating just for the fun of creating and spending time together…

Mermaids and Mamas and More

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I’ve posted! We’ve been on Spring Break this past week week, so the girls and I have been staying busy. We spent Monday being totally lazy, lounging around in our pj’s all day…we needed that after Easter Day down at the lake! Tuesday, we spent the day up in Fernandina browsing the galleries and shops and going to the beach, and then Wednesday we went to the Zoo with friends. Thursday and Friday, the girls had Daddy time since I had to travel over to Tallahassee for some legislative meetings.

This weekend, I've gotten back to work! Yesterday I created new pillow covers for my back porch swing and had a genius moment I'll share with you later this week. I still need to photograph them! I’ve also been working on my Picture Spring assignments, so I’ll share more of those with you soon. I’ve started getting caught up on jewelry photography as well as some custom orders, so all in all, we’ve been hopping around here. I'll share some new jewelry with you later this week too.

Lastly, I’ve been working on my latest retreat project, and that's what I wanted to share with you today. Carmen and I set an April 1 make or break date for Art and Dreams Bound. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the amount of registrations we needed to make the retreat a go for this time around, but we aren’t giving up! Carmen is a very talented artist and, having experienced one of her online classes, I know she's an excellent instructor. I fully believe we had a great offering; I guess the timing just wasn't right, and we probably need to invest a little more into advertising. Lessons learned! We’ll try again another time!

Since I already had the retreat center reserved, I decided to implement my Plan B. I mentioned a while back that I’ve been taking an online course with McCabe Russell called Mermaid Warriors. It’s been a great course, and we've had some awesome discussions centered around working with young girls and all that comes with that...confidence issues, self-esteem issues, mean girls at school, etc. I’m adding some great ideas to my skill set and quickly seeing how I can take what I’ve already been doing for years—experiential education retreat planning and facilitation—and working in art. To that end, Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure is ready to roll! I’m very excited about this project and I hope it will be the first of many more to come. Please hop on over and read more about it here. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and if you have four-to-nine-year-old girls in your lives, just the first age group I'll be working with, I hope you’ll consider joining us!