Once upon our time in the far away land of Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha Nova Scotia, there lives a beautiful Princess of the Airwaves. Her name is Alice; she lives in a wonderland of caring and sharing, between two Dave’s, the mountains of masculinity that give her purpose. Alice masterfully expands time for all those she adores, her listeners.

Had my Ernie not encountered Alice out there on the waves of “Ham,” we would not have the pleasure of knowing and loving this determined survivor of three killers, heart attack, stroke, and cancer. Alice authors missiles of daily living with a flare of cursive, second only to hours of melodic ruminations she sets afloat upon the airwaves. Living, Laughing, and Loving humor of the “Frank, Ernie, Alice” kind is oh so rare and wildly contagious.

Now, here comes the mailman! And what to our wondering eyes should appear, but tiny little packages filled with crafts Alice doth share. Socks, shirts, and every other sort, emblazoned with the red leaf of Canada’s Court; handmade dish cloths and chocolate candies galore, letters and photos and how could there be more?

So, I and friend Carol, think,"how do we say, thank you” in the lovliest way? Then came the idea, "we'll make stationery to brighten her day". What you see below, designed in Sally’s workshop, are the results of our play.

Spark! The Event

Gateway to Sparks the Event

and, "What an Event!" But wait, it was more than scrapbooking. We sewed. We did jewelry. We learned new techniques. ect. etc. etc. It was amazing.It was put on by Liz Kartchner, Margie-Romney-Aslett, Rhonna Farrer and Jefra Linn.

Elena and me

Elena and Sally flew to Salt Lake City together on Thursday, Nov. 5. Elena was going as the Canon representative, demo-ing the Selphy printer, plus, Scrapbook Royalty, her non-profit charity was organizing and running the raffle and silent auction. We stayed at the Marriott University Park which was about 2 miles from the event and provided everyone with a shuttle back and forth.

Liz, Margie, Jefra and Rhonna

The creative force and our leaders at Spark

This Is The Place had been decorated from head to toe very shabby chic and using the least amount of dinero and the most amount of man power to create this village for us to roam and play.












On Friday at high noon, registration and shopping began. This was all located at a place nestled in the mountains above Salt Lake City proper called - ready? This Is The Place. . . For some reason (those who know me well won't be surprised) but I had trouble remembering the name - it was just to obvious for this Pollack, I guess.

The rest of the day was spent in different houses at an event called "Artisan Show & Tell." Demonstrations from several artisans and hands-on mini class demos were so much fun. The person with the longest wait period to sit down and learn from was Melissa Blackburn. It was sewing and using some of her collection of antique pearls. See the sample below.

Elena, me and Melissa

What I made with Melissa Blackburn's instructions

Elena setting up

There were so many hands-on demos including learning to crochet and paper folding to make a book out of velum. Theses teachers all had so much patience. Especially those who taught intricate techniques.

Where we got together

That night in Smoot Hall we all came back together for dinner, games and train trip around This Is The Place. They had a photo booth set up with props. Four of us squeezed into the booth, but Elena has the photos that the booth actually took. Here is one from outside the booth.

Stephenie, Elena, me and Karla
almost in the booth

I met so many new people that I only knew by name but now we are friends forever.

April, me, Margie in Karla's lap and Rhonna

Then there was this large wood piece that had 3 picture frames with the inside of the frames cut out. We could have our photos taken inside one of the frames or all of the frames. Very cute idea. Then back to our hotel for us out-of-towner's.

Me in one of the frames

The following day, Saturday, it all started early at 9 a.m. with the key note speaker and painter/artist Cassandra Barney. She was so inspiring - which was exactly the point! One of her larger pieces was later silent auctioned to benefit the Suan B. Komen foundation. She also had canases there to purchase.

Bad photo of darling Canssandra Barney
and her work on metal and canvas that was for sale

Then we were on to our 4 classes. I went first to Pine Valley where Margie and April Meeker lead us in making a necklace. I purchased one of April's necklaces at the shopping spree made of fabric and jewels. I was so happy to learn that she is local - Carlsbad. We had much to talk about since I am adopted and she has adopted a child and is in the process of adopting another. She also has a "natural" child and helped me understand how a mother does not love one more than another. They ARE her children - biological or not! Thank you April.

Then after lunch which was provided by the Boutique & Bistro extraordinaire - "dear lizzie" my group went to Rhonna and Liz's class at Social Hall. I also learned that I can now purchase Rhonna's PhotoShop brushes at www.houseof3.com. I have been a big fan of her brushes and images for a long time and used some of her brushes on my moo cards!

Next was Jafra's camera class. This was a hands on class where first she
showed us on a screen, photos she had taken including with her cell phone. She made the point that good photos have so much more to do with the person taking the photo than with the camera you are using. She then took us outside where we taught us a few tricks to do with our camera and how to trick our camera. Then we broke up into people with complicated cameras with BIG lenses and another group with the point and shoot cameras. She had helper bees, the event photographer and husband of Liz - Colin, who was so helpful to all of us and was such an addition to the entire Spark event. There was also a young girl who is a photographer extraordinaire. She went around outside with our groups to make suggestions. What I mainly learned was how to look at my scenes with new eyes - to really focus on the composition. I ended up taking so
many great shots to use as backgrounds in photo shop.

View of Salt Lake City from the even
with my little Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T90
It fits in the front pocket of my jeans!

What I made in Kelly McCaleb's class

Finally we finished up at the Hospital where we learned to make wonderful fabric flowers with no sewing. (They will be glued to my t-shirt shortly). Kelly is the most layed back (which lay am I to use here?) teacher. It was the only class where I actually finished my flowers and loved them! Every other project is still a work in progress. . . I promise and can't wait to complete them all!

Alisa Burke's purses that I won

After dinner back in Smoot Hall we had two inspiring women stand up and tell their story regarding their bouts with cancer. What amazing women and what a great lead in since all the money from the raffle and silent auction went to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. So after they spoke we all went back up to the Social Hall to learn if we won any of the 125 donated items in the raffle. I got there a little late and was told my new friend Karla la la la, that I had already won 2 items. In all, I won 5 items! Boy was I lucky. Plus, guess who 3 of the prizes were from, my online teacher and local artist, Alisa Burke. I won all 3 of her canvas purses. Elena immediately informed me that her birthday was coming in Dec. and that she had really wanted the black and white purse. We'll see. . .

I also won the rhinestone front and back license plates from my new friend Laurie along with a pkg of scrapbook goodies.

Lastly, I won one of the most desireable raffle items, the chandelier pendant and necklace - that everyone wanted including Elena - Note Elena, you're not getting this!

When we got back to the hotel, the Marriot at University Park, I helped Elena count all the tickets in all the bags and then she put all the info into Excel.

Elena inputting data at event

Elena worked so hard all day on the silent auction and the raffle to benefit the Susan B. Komen foundation. I never realize how much work this entails. You need to give each item a name and number. Make bags for the raffle tickets to go into. Sell raffle tickets. Have all the items cataloged and displaced in a safe place but one where everyone can view the items closely. Since she was in a room that was being used for classes, she could do some of this until the last minute! Plus, items kept arriving up until the last minute.

I went to all the classes and colletcted her kits so that at some point she will be able to sit down and see exactly what she missed!

Stephenie, me and Karla
they are both 6 feet tall. . .

New friends, Erin Bassett, Lori Shrout and me

Margie leading campfire in foreground

We finished the day around a campfire where we were handed sparklers to light and share the SPARK of new friendships that we gather at this event.

Regrets? Yes! I hung around with two of Elena's great friends, Stephanie of Fiskars and Karla, from up in Pittsburg, CA. I have no photos of them. I would have loved to have taken a photo standing between the two of them since I am 5'2" tall. Stephanie is 6' tall and Karl la la la, is at least 2 or 3 inches taller than that - 6'3" . Next time. . .

Margie, Liz, Rhonna and Jafra are not sure right now if this is going to be an annual event. But, I am so glad I was able to go and participate. It was worth it for so many reasons! I now have the Spark and will continue to pass it along.

Halloween Book x 3

Three of them!

The first week in August there was the So Cal Shop Hop. We were given books of all the scrapbook stores in Southern California. I missed that week and was not able to get out an about except to two stores close to my home. But, the following week I had to go up to Los Angeles and decided to stop in and see some new stores that I didn't know about before.

Cover - Scrap n' Yap's idea

One of them was in Monrovia, right off the 210 freeway. It is called Scrap n' Yap. The store was so cute and the person behind the counter was working on this darling Halloween book. She was using a product that was a book to make a castle. It was a work in progress and she was doing such interesting things. I ended up purchasing 3 of theses books and asked if I could photograph what she had done so far. I told her I don't teach and won't be selling my creation. She said, "no problem." I then ended up purchasing tons ($$$$) of product to make my book. One of the items that made the book so unique was the lace that they had for sale at the checkout counter. It looked like spider webs and the worker bee had used it in the windows. Loved it.

"boo" board made at Scrapbook Club - Pink Pineapple

I am so glad to be finished with this project. Making one would have been fun. Making 3 is an entirely different story. Yesterday I sent off two of the books - one to my husband's grandson, Aidan - the other to my husband's great-grandson, Christian. I kept one for myself, in case my kids will ever decide to have children. I would not want to make this book again and so, "I am ready!"

Design idea from Scrap n' Yap

I'm just posting a few of the pages so that you can get the idea. Remember that some of the pages were not my idea, but gave me new ideas for other pages.

Spiders EVERY WHERE

BOO!

Curtains

Stencils, stickers and a stamp

Pages with place for photos

Last page

There are 8 double sided pages in each book. Hope if you ever are in the Monrovia area you will stop in and visit at Scrap n' Yap and tell them Silly Sal sent you.

Edward and Bella - Suzi Blu's "Le Petite Dolls" style

A new challenge. Am I up for it? All I can do is try my best with the tool set I am learning.

Rob Pattinson who plays Edward

It all began when Elena of Scrapbook Royalty asked me to draw the logo for a charity event in the spring of 2010. She had seen my beginning sketches from Suzi Blu's August "The Goddess and The Poet" online class I was taking. As I mentioned in a previous post - I had NEVER drawn before. You did not want me as a partner playing Pictionary. . . I thought I had months and months to get it right. I was then given a dead line of a couple of weeks for the logo. Yikes.

After that challenge, I signed up for two more of Suzi Blu's online classes: "Le Petite Dolls" and "Marie". They had their own set of parameters, but came much easier after the more realistic Goddess class. I started sharing what I was learning with other friends/artists and yes, scrapbookers. . . They were fascinated.

Then Elena appeared again with a new challenge - another Spring charity event that centered around the characters in the book "Twilight" - Edward and Bella. She would like this logo to be in the Le Petite Doll genre.

What was Twilight and who the heck are Edward and Bella. To the book store - Borders, here I come. Well, I am almost finished with the final and fourth book in the series. I have seen the first movie. I have purchased a magazine exclusively devoted to this book and it's characters and my humble attempts follow.

But first, a little background in my character and who I am and how I view challenges. I relish them. I taught piano and organ (yes for money) from the time I was 15 years old. Each time I went to my lesson with my teachers, I could barely wait to show them what I had accomplished and to see what new piece I had to tackle that week. I learned early on how valuable practice, practice, practice is. And how rewarding success or improvement is after you have put in long hours and hard work. I always tried to pass this on to my own students saying, "I'd rather have you practice 10 minutes each and every day then 1 1/2 hrs on Sat. There is something about daily practice.

So here are my attempts. I am posting a bunch of them in a slide show at the end of this blog. They aren't "right" yet, but they are getting there. New challenges? After sketching, you have to now color them. Edward is a vampire and has skin smooth like marble. How do I achieve that?

Suzi has been so great. She has taken me under her wings. And, you know what? It's just like piano lessons. It's the basics. Are your eyes on the same plane? Are your eyes the same size? Did you measure? The pupils need to be in the middle of the eyes. Draw the entire eye, put the pupil in the middle and then erase what you don't need. With music lessons - it's the scales. We hate them but they are the basis for improvement.

I've never had a problem sleeping. (I would just go to bed around 8 am and get up at around 3 am - I am a morning person. . .) Now I stay up late and still wake up early. I wake up thinking about Julie Prichard's online Journal class. I saw her finished journal up close and personal. OMG, the richness of the pages. I CAN do that. I just need more practice. Camera classes. Re-doing all the Goddess canvases again. How can I make them better. Watching all the videos again. Finishing my Le Petite Dolls class and Marie (I bought the 12 x24 wood for Marie - it's ready.) All I need is TIME and I don't work. . .

Chris Cozen is coming to Stamping Details in Poway and I am signed up for her color class. Boy do I need that! And thank goodness she is going to have a class where we bring unfinished canvases. I have three 12xs12 canvases "almost finished" from and in the style I learned in my first Chris Cozen's class way over a year ago. (I do have three finished canvases hanging in my computer/art room!).

I am hoping that showing my work in progress and not being afraid of someone saying, "who does she think she is, that is horrible" that I will encourage others to try new things and keep working and trying to improve. I truly am not happy with what I have so far. But, I see things I like. How do I keep Edward from looking like an alien and a girl? Challenges. Welcome them!

So below are my current attempts at Edward and Bella. I just learned that they have a deadline also for the logo advertising the event in the spring. They don't have to be perfect by Oct. 25. I can make corrections like I did in the middle of the night in PhotoShop. Like I did with the Good Witch and the Bad Witch logos. The logos only appear on a website. Next spring you will see the finished Good Witch/Bad Witch canvases. I am really proud of them. They are sooooo much better than what I did quickly to get the logo up that is on Elena's website.

I have no idea what I am going to use for backgrounds for Edward and Bella. Any ideas and suggestions and criticism are welcomed.

Published Artists in San Diego - Lisa Bebi, Julie Prichard, Suzi Blu and Pam Carriker

Group Photo in Escondido

Suzi Blu
Meeting Suzi Blu all started with Suzi's online classes at Les Petit Academy. I had seen her promo for her Beginner LesPetit Dolls class and her work in magazines and wanted to make this face! I told my friend Deborah and she went to the site but she decided she wanted to take Suzi's "The Goddess and the Poet" online class. The words "poet" threw me off but I listened to Deborah and signed up for that class immediately. This was the beginning to an entire new world opening up to me.

When the Petit Dolls class opened, I signed up for that one too. And then the Marie class began. Suzi has so many incredible videos and PDFs for her classes. She wants you to download them to your computer and keep them for life! She maintains that theses videos are her class and you paid for her class. Now, she doesn't keep the chat and all the other things that are available while you take her classes open forever. There are beginnings and ends to her online classes. She also takes it as a compliment if you start with her techniques and add your own touches and then are fortunate to get published. As long as you are not just directly printing out her sketches, coloring them in or selling them and then publishing them as your own.

Suzi's classes were featured in Sept/Oct 2009 Somerset Studio magazine, page 72-75. Be sure to check out her classes. They are awesome! Love her, love her classes.

Pam Carriker
Last Friday I visited Suzi Blu at her new home. She is very new to the San Diego area, her home being New Jersey. When I got to her place I realize that she was really close to a stamp store. I also knew that there was a class going on where Pam Carriker was going to be teaching. Plus, I knew that Lisa Bebi and Meridith Cummings would be taking the class. So I suggested we go up and see what was happening. Well, they were all thrilled to meet each other and iPhone photos flew and everyone seemed to be "twitting."

There I learned that Pam was going to be teaching at Escondido Arts Partnership Municipal Gallery the following day and was told that there was room for me in the class. Well, how often do you get to take classes from someone who is a regular to Somerset Magazines and lives in Missouri? So, I was there the next day to take her class. The class an project that we did is featured in Cloth, Paper Scissors May/June 2009 issue, page 50-53. We made this project. My canvas is seen above.

Pam and Sally

I would like to tell you two things that I loved about Pam's class - she knew exactly how much time to allow us to be taught and complete the project. We were not rushed and we did finish! Plus, she provided all the materials including a tracing of her "woman's face." We did not have to use this and was encouraged to draw our own if we could. It was mainly the outline of the face and body since we obscured the features with a thin watered down coat of gesso. (The eyes were the hardest part for almost everyone where I found the lips to be the most difficult.)

A painting technique that Pam taught us and that we all struggled with, was her shading technique and how to work the angled brush. She shared the paints and colors that she likes to use and how she achieves her soft background effects. Very nice class.

Pam is also featured in the Jul/Aug 2009 Somerset Studio in an article entitled "Sisterhood of the Traveling Canvas."

Her journal that I spoke about in my previous blog is Winter 2009 Somerset Journaling. She has a 6 page spread with many tips and photos of her journal. But, I am telling you again, the camera just could not capture the true beauty of her journal in person. I guess she is working on a journal where all the pages are black (the initial pages that is). It seems to give a different depth to the pages. Very interesting.

Julie Prichard
Julie Prichard's online Super Nova Journal class is fun and takes you step by step how to produce a layered journal page. This has been such a crazy two weeks, I haven't had a lot of time to watch the videos as they come out and keep up with the class - even though I promised that this time I would. But, so far, so good.


I did not make Julie's journal since I already had journals waiting to be filled with art. One I made a long time ago with the teacher that first helped me to be comfortable with acrylic paints - Kelly Kilmer. Her laid back teaching style and generous nature with products and collage materials started me on the road to loving altered art more than anything else. Kelly likes to use Wausau paper from Kelly Paper (I don't think there is any connection there).

The larger journal I made from instructions I downloaded from Teesha Moore's website. I even ordered the Fabriana paper to make this journal. The paper is awesome.

Julie's work is also featured in Somerset's Winter 2009 Journaling. She is found on pages 88-93 and also on pages 130-133.

Lisa Bebi
Lisa Bebi "Paint Over" class out in Rancho San Diego at the library out there really started Suzi meeting Lisa, meeting Pam. Lisa had taught a class at my home to 10 of my friends - her paint over class. I learned that Lisa was going to be doing a demonstration at the library and decided to drive out on a Monday. There, I found my good friend Diane Chen.

In the end, Diane, me and Nina Reeba ended up taking her class again. I wanted to finish my triptych that I had started. I the one of my natural father and one of my natural father but I needed one with me. It is still a work in progress. So is the triptych that I started of me and my baby dolls. When I finish them I will post them, but for now, I have a lot of canvases and ideas from Lisa that are not finished. My bad - not the artist's fault.

Lisa seems to be in every issue of Somerset. But, my personal favorite is the Spring 2008 of Somerset Workshop. There you will find four articles with28 pages of step by step instructions and a gallery of her works.

Pam Carriker adventure with Suzi Blu

Sally, Pam and Suzi

Today was quite an adventure. I got to visit Suzi Blu at her new digs which she is in the process of renovating with the help of the nicest neighbors. We visited and she was nice enough to look over my sketches and ideas of the work I have been doing in her online classes. Plus, she made some excellent (of course) suggestions as to how to improve my Good Witch and Bad Witch canvases.

We had to run a little errand to Home Depot so that her wonderful neighbor could complete hooking up a brand new toilet for her. When we got back, I asked her if she wanted to visit a store that is so close to where she now lives - The Stamp Addict. I told her there was a class going on and that I knew that Lisa Bebi was taking the class along with her artist friend Meridith Cummings.

She was very excited to meet Lisa Bebi and so off we went. I had no idea who was teaching the class. When we entered and Suzi saw who was teaching, she screamed and was so excited - Pam Carriker! Well, Pam had never meet Suzi was even more excited to meet her. It was a love fest and Pam had to have a photo of she and Suzi and then Suzi had to have a photo of the two of them and then I had to have a photo of me with them!

Then Lisa returned from a short errand she had to run and was delighted to find that we were there and to meet Suzi also.

What did they talk about? Well, they talked about the paper. What paper do you use? What paper do YOU use? It's all about the paper.

About Pam's work. OMG. Her journal was the most beautiful book ever in person. And I say in person for a reason. I ran home after dropping Suzi back home and making arrangements for us to get together today again and to show her around San Deigo (she now has a car). I got out the Somerset Journaling mag and the first article was of Pam's journal. The article was wonderful but the photos could not do justice to the book. Not the photographer's fault. I really dont' know how to explain it but Pam's book in person and her drawing and artistry seen in this journal was incredible. If you ever get an opportunity to meet Pam in person and see her work in person - do not miss it. The pages are so smooth and yet there is such depth. You know, I am out of my field to even explain what makes her pages so beautiful. I will stop now. but, just know, that the photographs do not do the pages justice! And what a nice person she is also!

That was my day, my friends and I didn't want it to ever end. . .

p.s. Pam showed us a new journal she is using that all the pages (paper) are black. Very kool.

Photos for Lisa Bebi's Paint Over Class

"Do you like my hat?"

Today I am getting ready for my Thursday class out at Rancho San Diego Library. It is Lisa Bebi's Paint Over class - revisited. In the spring, Lisa came and taught a class at my home. In it a created theses two canvases. This Thursday I will add this to the mix.

Then I am thinking about a series of me behind my home in Glendale, California at 315 Riverdale. It seems like it would make a fun triptych. We'll see what Lisa says and if I have them the correct size.

There are also theses two photos of myself where I am smiling.



















Then there are theses where I look a little possessive of my dollies. One of them has a particular expression on my face that I recognize.

There's that look. . .

Finally, there is this photo of Kari and Erik taken at Wrightwood, CA in 1983. Erik is 7 years old and Kari is 5. Only my family will realize that something is missing from this photo.

Erik and Kari