ICE ice ... baby!

I am so excited ... tomorrow morning's my Monday-with-Jane art class (it's not really called that, but I call it that; ok, so it's really called "Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth with Jane LaFazio", and it's offered by The La Jolla Athanaeum).

So here's the big deal:

http://www.iceresin.com/articles/using-ice-resin-on-paper/

That's what we're doing tomorrow in class!   Making our own resin papers :-).

As the pot roast is finishing off in the oven with the potatoes & carrots, I'm sitting here selecting images to print (inkjet), and ferreting out cool papers I'd like to try as resin paper.     I'm even going to take some of the monoprint papers we did last week in case that might work ... I wonder if the color would bleed?   We'll see.

Okay, so you want a sneak peak at one of the images I want to make into resin paper?   Here it is:



it's a magpie, of course !!!

 All that, and a post coming on the beautiful day that Ann and I spent at the home of Jenny Doh (Saturday), taking a class from Lisa Engelbrecht - I'm still grinning !!!   My big idea is that I can take some of the bits of resin paper that I make tomorrow and use a little of that when I put together my LE-style art quilt with the blocks I started yesterday.  :-)

~~  Princess Magpie

a day in the company of women ...

... today was a very fine day.   My friend Ann Deakers and I went up to the home of Jenny Doh, for an all-day workshop with the oh-so-talented and very generous Mark Maker / Calligrapher Extraordinaire - Lisa Engelbrecht.   http://www.lisaengelbrecht.com/fr_home.cfm

And the beauty of taking a workshop through Jenny's CrescendoH is that Jenny blogs about it, complete with a big collection of photographs, so fast!   One can just include a link to her post, and voila!  Instant blog post for me :-).

http://blog.crescendoh.com/crescendo/2011/03/a-very-special-day-with-lisa-engelbrecht.html

Once I upload my photos from today, I'll do my very own blog post about today - for now, here's Jenny's "take" on the day.

Wow, wow, wow ...

~~  Davielle
aka, your Princess Magpie

Tracy Porter One-of-a-Kind Bag Giveaway

Just posted about this over on my other blog, www.DH2travelers.blogspot.com -- visit there for ALL the photos and further details ... just hurry, 'cause you don't want to miss the chance to enter to win this GORGEOUS bag ...

Tracy Porter One-of-a-Kind Bag Giveaway

CHA Cha cha ...

Spent about 28 hours at CHA at the end of January ... oh my !!!


I still have some whiplash-like pains from whipping my head around at all the eye-candy. So many beautiful, creative, wonderful new crafting products on their way to a retailer near you.  It's going to be a wild, wonderful year for mixed-media artists and scrapbookers.


Had some fun with Make 'n Takes with my friend Kat. Here's a pic of us enjoying ourselves at the Ranger booth:

Oh, and a shot of the incomparable Tim Holtz doing a demo. Wow. Up close & personal. Well, not so "personal", but you know what I mean. I hope.

Saw Claudine Hellmuth demo'ing some of her new items - she's got quite a line of stamps and a stamp "rocker" coming out -- it was pretty cool seeing her in person, finally.

 One of my favorite demo's, though, was at the Faber-Castell booth. They've got the juiciest, most luscious line coming out that you can use like ink or paint on rubber stamps {or freehand} -- including a great little product that looks like it's in a fat lipstick tube called Gelatos --   

WOW. You're going to love what you can do with all these new Faber Castell products.  You can work with them like crazy, they're so user-friendly. 

It's seriously delicious stuff.

{So now I want to design a half-day workshop around these products, I'm telling you. The rest of the day can be spent on ... art journaling? lettering? something fun and freestyle. Would you come to play?!}

Now I sit here wishing I'd had my camera out the entire time, but I just didn't.  Kat and I were too busy trying them all out. {hence the links and images 'borrowed' from the manufacturers' sites.}

NOTE: due to e-blogger technical difficulties, the way I composed this post - with the F-C images IN this general area, isn't showing up.  You MIGHT find the images at the bottom of the post - who knows?   grrrrrrrrrrrr.

And there's so much more ...

I just received the e-mail yesterday: 
"Mix & Match now in Stores" !!!

Find them close to you and give them all a try.   They're smooth, they're creamy, and they're user friendly {trust me, I'm the perfect human guinea pig for testing something's 'user-friendliness' factor}.

Kat and I saw some great artists demo'ing at CHA, including  Donna Downey and Brenda Pinnick.   They were both at the Faber-Castell booth, and it was Brenda that 'coached' us through the new Mix & Match line.   Here's a photo of all that {Brenda should've given me a look at the pic & taken another - LOL}:


Kat Baker, and me ... I really was MUCH happier than I look here!  :-)

Brenda had a new line of stamps coming out, which we played with.   And now, since I let a month pass before finishing this post, they're already available right here:  
http://brendapinnick.typepad.com/studio/shop-for-stamps.html


So CHA was incredible, and one of the very best bits for me was discovering the work - and the person of - Dyan Reaveley.  As we walked past the {ginormous} Ranger booth(s), Kat and I found    Dyan.  



Dyan Reaveley ~ Art From the Heart

 Her art {read: visual} journals are amazing.   She had a huge old ledger book that she'd done incredible backgrounds in, and her lettering, her images on top of those backgrounds, her entire STYLE - was like a magnet.   She and her work pulled us back for 2 more visits before we left CHA.   


I'm one of those timid artist types that sees a vintage ledger book and says "oh, how can / should I dare to color and gel medium and ink over ALL THAT OLD HANDWRITING?".  


So I asked her.  Her answer was nothing short of genius:   "Why not 'art' over it all?  Otherwise, it's going to sit on a shelf or on a table and nobody's ever going to pick it up again - they might glance at it, say 'oh, cool', and then - what?  If it's an art journal, if it's re-purposed into ART, it's going to have a whole new life."    OKAY, so she didn't say all that.  What she basically said was the first part - the "why not?" part.  And something like "if I don't art on the pages, then it's just an old ledger book that nobody's going to care about."    She also had her father's old mathematics book from his school days.  With his pencil scribbles in it and all.   She'd "arted" in that, too.   THAT is when I asked the big question.  And THAT is when she gave me the big answer.

Yeah, I'm a Dyan Fan. Oh, and her biz card has the best quote on it:

"Always Be Kind, For Everyone Is Fighting a Hard Battle".

Her concise response to my question is what just opened up for me - my eyes and my heart - to REALLY USING all the vintage bits I've collected.   And writing it into the paragraph above {paraphrasing, really, what she said} is when I first put into words - all that I got from Dyan's simple answer.

Thank you, Dyan Reaveley - you rock the art world.   Oh, and did I mention that she's from the UK, and she has the most wonderful accent, and she has a studio / shop of her own, and her Ranger products are fabulous, and that someday, I am going to take a workshop - OVER THERE.   In her studio.  :-)   


Visit Dyan here:  www.afth.co.uk  (that's her Art from the Heart site)  or read her blog here:  www.dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com ...


Oh, and if you see her referred to as "Dylan",  just ask. 


Okay, so I sat on this post for a month - it's time to POST it already.


Your,
     ~~  Princess Magpie





Mix & Match Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils



the new colorful Mix & Match PITT pens



the new GELATOs

it's about art, but it's also about community ...

... I just added a link on my sidebar about raising a puppy for an incredible organization, one that changes the lives of people with disabilities every single day:   CANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE.

Their mission?  "CCI is a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships."

I know, this blog is about ART.  But CCI has been such a big part of my life and my heart for 20 years now, and I just had to share it with you, my fellow artists.   Not only do I continue to volunteer for CCI, but I have worked for them not once, but twice - for a total of 5 years.   {during my last stint as an employee at CCI, our director once referred to me as a 'retread' !!  hey, I've been called worse ...}

Isn't what we do, in the end, all about community anyway?

    Check out little YARROW and her mama right here; and for more information on CCI, find Yarrow on my sidebar and click to link right to CCI's website.   My dear friend Linda will be co-raising this beautiful pup for CCI with co-raiser Vickie.   I can't wait to meet their new darling!

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of posting on this blog about such an incredible program.

~~  Davielle, aka
your PRINCESS MAGPIE {and little Yarrow's honorary auntie!}

Getting my Lettering On - 2011

You can see the blog post I created this morning over on Traci Bautista's CREATIVITY UNLEASED site right here ...

http://creativityunleashed.ning.com/profiles/blogs/getting-my-lettering-on-in

Besides bidding on and winning a great Traci package to benefit CHARITY WINGS last week, I've also signed up for a workshop with Joanne Sharpe {Oh My Word! Artful Lettering Inspiration Journals) at CREATE in May, as well as {Doodle Soup} with Dawn Sokol at the same event.

So now, in my "learn to letter, Davi" arsenal for 2011, I have the talented & creative:

Traci Bautista
Dawn Sokol
Joanne Sharpe

and if I am very very lucky, a day with

Lisa Engelbrecht in May    (details to follow)

I think if I saturate myself with LETTERING workshops, prompts, practice, and play for the first half of 2011, I can focus the rest of the year on ... all the other mixed media art that I already love and appreciate.

Anyone who knows me and my passion for mixed media knows this about me:   I am attracted to many many forms of art, particularly within the realm of mixed media, and so I collect books, how-to videos, online workshops, and in-person classes with ALL MY FAVORITE ARTISTS / ART TEACHERS that I can get to.

I'll post later my reminiscing of just this morning, standing at the kitchen window, of all the great classes I've taken since January 2009, and the amazing people I have met in those classes, and the generous instructors who have encouraged us all to -- follow our art hearts.

Bless you this beautiful Sunday,

~~  Princess Magpie

craving a trip to the UK ...

... to work with the lovely Dyan Reaveley. you can visit her site right here, and I think you might become as enchanted with her style as I have:


wwww. dyan-reaveley.blogspot.com


or here


www.afth.co.uk (Art from the Heart)

Want to see a peak at why I've become so enamored of her style?

One day, some day, I will be there. And I can't wait!


~~ Princess Magpie

having some technical difficulties ...

as they say, "pardon our dust" - site under construction!

I wanted a different look for my blog as we get rolling into this new year, and am trying on a few for just the right one. I'm liking this "love birds" background, but can't quite get the header just right, so bear with me.

Thank you for your patience (as they say) ...

Your ~~
(technologically challenged) Princess Magpie

This is NOT a Sketchbook - The Sketchbook Project 2011

I have created a "sketchbook" journal for The Sketchbook Project 2011.  My friend, artist Suzi Blu, posted a note on Facebook last year saying she had just signed up and encouraging all of us to do the same.  I visited the site, signed up, and then thought ... "what have I done?!".

However, we were able to select a category, a "title" for our Sketchbook, and one of the choices they offered was This is NOT a Sketchbook.   Perfect.  I like to collage.  I knew that acrylics might be a challenge for the thin pages, and so I used that as the perfect excuse to COLLAGE to my heart's content.

My friends Lyn and Lisa also signed up, and they came up with a brilliant plan:  We would all take a weekend trip to Dusty's (Scrappin' at Dusty's, in La Quinta, CA), where instead of scrapbooking and making cards, we would focus entirely on working on our projects.  

We did it - and we all got a fabulous start on our books.  However - and there's always a however - we all came home with - yikes! - many unfinished pages.

Me, I do well under pressure, so I pulled mine out the day after Christmas and left a table up in our living room for 2 weeks - my poor husband; for once, he exhibited the patience of a Saint.  Saint Mark. 

So then - they extended the deadline for mailing our Sketchbooks by a few days, and it was perfect.  I didn't have to pull out any pages at the end, I filled them all, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

I will now attempt what, for me, is a magic trick.  I will attempt to add a link here to the Smilebox album I created of my masterpiece.

Well, that didn't work so well - but I did post again, so look JUST below for the actual Smilebox.

:-)
Happy creating to you all,

Davielle
~~  aka, Princess Magpie

The Sketchbook Project 2011 - I did it !!!

Personalize a slideshow design

my friend Julee Herrmann ...

  How cool is this going to be?  My friend Julee Herrmann (Orinda, CA) of HeArt Collective is going to teach a wonderful class for children.  Read all about it at her link:

#c6638500247451873944

And if you look to the right sidebar of her blog, and scroll down - you'll see a Mermaid Cigar Box that Julee's done with a Suzi Blu online class!  It's fab. 

Be sure to check out all Julee's links on her blog - her jewelry is beautiful ... check these out:


"Faith" pendant by Julee Herrmann





"Pouty Little Princess" pendant by Julee Herrmann



And by the way - she bakes a mean Cherry-Choco Chip Cookie (I think there's even some oatmeal involved?!). 


:-)
Love ya, Jul --

Davielle
aka, Princess Magpie

2 Travelers: 2011: Color of the Year

2 Travelers: 2011: Color of the Year: "Thanks to my friend BETH NICHOLLS of England, who I was fortunate to meet at AN ARTFUL JOURNEY in February 2010 - I've discovered Pantone's ..."