Wow - what a ride!

The last six weeks have been incredible - I've had the pleasure of teaching my favorite activity to incredibly talented children, my in-laws came for a wonderful visit, I sold button blooms at the De Anza Flea (twice), Aidan attending 3 weeks of summer camp, I enjoyed the company of some of my local UGRA fellows at an amazing luncheon and I got some super quality time with my family. Here are a few photos showing the recent "Art" in my life...

This is an "Under the Sea" Project I did with the Pre-K kids. We painted fabric banners, decorated card stock fish, cut them out and glued them to the banner with pop dots to give the banner dimension.

I taught card making to the 1st - 2nd and the 3rd - 6th grade girls. Each girl (60+ students in all) received a class kit with the materials to make a dress card and a purse card. The templates for these cards are on my web site.

Sample cards with minimal embellishment.

The banner project was extraordinarily successful. I taught this to the 1st -2nd grade girls and I was astonished at the ingenuity. They painted and embellished their banners in ways I had not even thought of. They were fearless in their experimentation and their creative process was a truly beautiful thing to watch.

This is a paper bag book I did with the 3rd - 6th grade girls. They absolutely loved this project and their finished albums where darling!

Aye Carumba! The Ugra projects started piling up on my desk because I did not have much time to play while prepping for the classes.

This paper doll project started by Corvus was so fun to work on! My husband and I caught up on few Tivo'd Law and Order's after the kids went to bed one night while I worked on my doll. Tim said, "I'm getting the biggest kick out of watching you work on that doll. You are so happy! It's great!". It was true. My spirit dances when I drift into my creative space.

This is Corvus' doll. I just love the funky and edgy feel of hers!

This is the talented Sharla's doll who I had the pleasure of meeting in person a few weeks ago at the local UGRA's play date. Turns out we had met before in an entirely different context at an Autism Education Workshop where I was a vendor selling customized PECS boards and she was an Autism educator attendee. Life is full of connections if we open our eyes to them. I think her doll is wonderful with all of it's tiny details. I had a hard time committing to my final design because both of their dolls were so gorgeous!

My doll's face came from an Aug. 15, 1943 edition of life magazine. I adorned the coat with rhinestone buttons that match her broach and shoes. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the players create!

I also was very busy making button blooms for the July and August De Anza Flea Markets. They were SOOOOOOOOOO much fun and super validating! The July 5th flea market was pretty slow due to the holiday but nearly everyone who stopped at our booth left with a bloom.

I brought mostly arrangements for sale but learned that many of the customers would have liked to have purchased the blooms by the stem so they could put them in their own pots and vases.I shared a booth with my friend Linda who I met through Aidan's pre-school. She sold these fabulous kid activity kits at fantastic prices - Our booth was bursting with color!

For the August flea market I decided to diversify and created "Goodie Bags", "Card Kits" and "Collage It!' kits.

I thought the booth was even cuter for this flea market and I doubled my profits.

The highlight of the day was when Tim and Eva popped in to say hello and Tim told me how impressed and proud of me he was.

I wanted a couple of examples of things you could create with the goodie bags so I asked two fabulously gifted artists, Loretta and Bonnie (both from UGRA) to take bags and make something for me to display

This gorgeous wall hanging was created by Loretta,

and this beautiful mini album was created by Bonnie! I am so honored to know such talented individuals.

I also had the honor of technically assisting my dear, dear, dear friend, Nancy with a letter of interest for an exciting opportunity. It is an incredibly creative and humorous response to a job post I was so pleased to hear (but not surprised) they contacted her for an interview! You have to check it out - be sure to go to the bottom of the page where she shows before and after pictures - it is a crack up!

After this lengthy tidal wave of activity, my office was a complete disaster so last weekend I dedicated an entire day to getting organized and I am ready to get back to the business of creating.

When one room gets clean, another usually acquires the mess. Such is the case with my studio. It is ridiculously cluttered with the odds and ends leftover from the class kits, flea market and a number of unfinished projects which I WILL COMPLETE as soon as I get caught up with life.

While I did not have much time to work on "my art", I did try to dedicate a little time to my art journal each night before I fell asleep. Here are a few doodle pages I tinkered in with my prismacolor markers.





Other highlights of the last 6 weeks include swimming at the club, lots of Yoga, quality time with my family and a week long visit with Nana and Papa (Tim's parents) which was fantastic!

I had the pleasure of taking Suzanne (Nana) to 2 Yoga classes and the week following my mom joined me in a class! It was a very busy time and I will avoid that kind of over scheduling in the future but I have to say that I am so very blessed to have such a full life filled with so many gifts and loved ones.