let them eat cake...

I have been asked to do a commission scrapbook for a friend. When we initially talked about doing this project, it was going to be for his parents 45th wedding anniversary. Well, the timing wasn't right and other things like life stalled us a tad. Needless to say, their 46th anniversary just past and I am now smack in the middle of the project, having recently gathered all the pictures and well wishes from other family members. Guess it will either be a late 46th or an early 47th gift.

It has been challenging working on a scrapbook for people I have never met. Luckily, one of the family members obviously scrapbooks. Her package of pictures were numbered and she had supplied captions to go along with them. That has provided me with some additional insight into this wonderfully loving family.

I had particular fun putting together this page. After learning about and playing with molding paste in my last acrylic alchemy class, I thought... hmmm, icing! Perfect for this page.

"acrylic alchemy "

Is that a great title for a class or what? ...and I am fortunate enough to be one of the lucky students in Christina Lazar's first every classes on acrylic paint. Even though, on her blog, she admitted she was nervous to be teaching this particular class, she is doing her usual fabio job as an instructor! I have taken several of Christina's classes and have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. We have had two sessions and the last one is tomorrow evening. We have been learning about colour theory, working with acrylic mediums, etc. The time that has been put into the handouts really shows! Tomorrow we get to put it all together and play. Can't wait!!



I made my most recent trips down to Kroma, on Christina's recommendation. I was delighted to hear such high praise for their products...as good as, if not better than other major brands, made locally in Vancouver and their prices are lower than other major brands because they sell directly to their customers. I had already tried and loved their mediums. I use their fluid medium for most of my transfers onto fabric (works great!). Now, I was going to get to play with their paint. LOVE IT!

If you are from the lower mainland and haven't been yet, GO! If you aren't, check out their website!

abreast of the situation...

This past Thursday I had an appointment I really wasn’t looking forward to. Nope, it wasn’t THAT yearly appointment to see the doc…been there, done that. But this one was going to be just about as much fun. As I was going to a new location, I gave myself plenty of time to get there.

I arrive at 11:00am. That’s okay, I’m only twenty minutes early…and I brought a magazine. I check in. The attendant seems to be having trouble locating my appointment. Ah, she finds it. It’s for 11:40am. Crap…I’m forty minutes early. Oh well. I plant myself in the empty waiting room and start in on my Entertainment Weekly. Within a few minutes I am called to go to another room. Bonus, I’m getting in early. Next I am escorted into a little change room where I am to wait for a technician. The tech comes within a few minutes and before you know it I am face to face with the Mammomat 3000!

Yes, ladies…those of you over 40 are probably familiar with it and its kind. This was only my second mammogram, but I don’t recall ever seeing the name of the machine last time. It just about cracked me up. My mind was racing with other names the inventors possibly tossed around…”What are we gonna call it?” “I know…how about the Boob-O-Matic?” “The Juggernaut?”

Humour always helps those awkward situations. Thank you to the lovely tech who made the whole experience very comfortable. Nice when you have things in common (both our sons had just graduated). Makes for easy conversation and relieves the awkwardness.

Nothing says "I am woman" more than having your breast squeezed between two plates of glass. Say cheese. Or should I say, Got milk?

At least that’s over for another year or two…I hope.

As everyone has somehow been touched by breast cancer in some way…myself, most recently through an art friend who is currently undergoing treatment, I would recommend that if you are of age and haven’t done so, make your appointment with the Mammomat 3000. A few minutes of discomfort in exchange for early detection of this horrible disease are more than worth it. And don’t forget those regular breast self-examinations.

I’ll get off my soap box now.

lesson learned...the hard way...

Don’t forget to back up your computer…

Trust me. I know of what I speak. This past week and a bit have been very frustrating and disappointing. The hard drive in my laptop decided to die. This was no slow death either…it was sudden and completely unexpected. Sure, I had a blue screen or two prior, but nothing that would indicate it was in the final throws…

Wes has done everything in his power to try and recover the data. We even went so far as to try the "put your hard drive in the freezer" trick. We would get glimmers of hope and then nothing. The fellows in the IT department of the company I work for are giving it the hail mary and if I am VERY lucky, there will be good news tomorrow when I get to work. It's a very long shot so I don't want to get my hopes back up.

So, it’s dead…what do we do now. First thing is think about the last time I backed up my data. Hmmm? Not really sure. Couldn’t have been that long ago, could it?

I pull out my external hard drive and we plug it in to Wesley’s computer. December 2006. Okay, it could be worse. Now I have to think about everything that I have done on my computer since then. All my pictures from 2007!! That was the worst part. Okay, what did I take pictures of so far this year? Two trips to the Sunshine Coast. Crap! Oh man…Wesley’s 18th birthday. Double crap! Kyle’s tattoo pictures…Bummer! My Nick Bantock weekend in Victoria…Sucks! Then, I think…NO, not my Artfest pictures! Then a quick wave of relief passes over me as I remember that Wesley had accidentally copied my entire Artfest folder, including my trades and other projects and all my pictures of the event itself onto a CD. He was only supposed to copy the pics so I could send them to a friend who had also attended. Thanks so much for that, Wes!! Happy accident!

I will have to wait until next spring to capture those beautiful cherry blossom shots I lost. Sigh…

What about Wesley’s grad you may ask? Luckily all the grad dinner/dry grad pics had been put on Wesley’s computer as well, so we still have those. Phew! What about his actual grad ceremony? All the pics with the relatives we took? Hey, didn’t I burn those onto a CD and give it to my mother? Yes, I did! Phew plus!!

Needless to say I have learned my lesson the hard way. So, to all of you out there that maybe haven’t been backing up your computers on a regular basis, stop what you are doing right now and back up your most precious data! I am going to be extra careful with my pictures from now on and will be backing up my computer on a weekly basis!

At least I have my blog, which holds the only copies of some of my lost shots. Thank goodness for blogger!

The silver lining in all of this is at least when I purchased the laptop two and a bit years ago, I decided to get the extended warranty. The replacement hard drive has already arrived.

Gotta run. I have a database for our strata council that needs to be recreated.

while we are on the subject...

Our nephew Aaron is celebrating his graduation this weekend. This is the card I made for him. It is actually a little book. Inside are pages I created using digiWERX Vintage Ledger Journally Spots. I just LOVE them!

After adding '2007' to one of the circle spots, I used glossy accents to affix it to the optical lens. I also used one of the journally tags on the front (under the word 'grad') and I sized another to use as the pages inside the book.

Inside contains Dr. Seuss's 'Oh The Places You'll Go'. If you have never read it, I highly recommend it. Very fitting for a graduate.

congratulations, graduate!

It's official. All of the formal ceremonies are complete. The dinner/dance, the dry-grad and the school leaving ceremony. With one final exam to go, our boy is almost finished with high school. Congratulations Wesley. We couldn't be prouder.

lisa vollrath - father's day countdown

More goodies courtesy of Lisa starting on June 8. Find them here: Father's Day Countdown.

streetWERX street team - our first challenge

Here are pics of my attempt at the first of our design team challenges...a hybrid manila folder using the digiWERX collection of high-resolution, downloadable, digitally rendered elements. After looking at the fabulous creations of the other members (which you can view here on the streetWERX street team blog) I realized just how "inside the box" I was on this one. Guess I took it a little too literally...but hey, I'm new at this stuff. I am hoping there will be an upcoming challenge where I can really shine. At least this piece has a little sparkle...thanks to the microfine glitter :u)

fiction plane

We went to The Police concert on Monday night. Vancouver is the first stop on their reunion tour. It was a great show. As an added bonus, Sting's son Joe Sumner and his band 'Fiction Plane' opened the show. There is something to be said about genetics. At times you would swear it was Sting singing. After their set, we went back out to the concourse and picked up their newest CD...'Left Side of the Brain'. I am really enjoying it. If you are interested in having a listen, you can hear the track 'Two Sisters' from this CD here. Have a listen and tell me if that doesn't sound like Sting...talk about good genes!

goodbye, ken

I received very sad news today. My ol' island friend Reenie called to tell me that her dad had recently passed away. Ken, a US military man, moved to Nanaimo way back in the late seventies to work at the US naval base in Nanoose Bay. I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know him and his wonderful wife, Jo through Reenie, who I met during grade 10. Even after her parents moved back to the states, we stayed in touch via Christmas cards and such.

We were lucky enough to have a chance to visit with them during a trip they made to Nanaimo last summer. Sure glad we took the time to go over and see them.

Goodbye to the wonderful man who always reminded me of Santa.

You will be truly missed.

tagged...

I have been tagged by Rachelle, one of the DT gang...

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I sang backup vocals in a band called "Unrealistic Expectations", a band we formed to perform at our company's Christmas party a few years back. We recorded the performance and actually produced a CD of the show.

2. I have three piercing in my left ear lobe and two on my right (I went through an asymetrical phase back in the 80's; hair was short on one side not the other, etc. This is my everlasting reminder, which I don't mind cuz it's a little different).

3. My favorite vacation spots are Las Vegas and Disneyland.

4. I, unfortunately, chew my nails.

5. I was engaged at 17 years of age and married exactly a year and a day after becoming engaged (we didn't plan that, it just worked out that way). Stephen and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this August.

6. I HATE the taste of coffee...always have (but, I love the smell of fresh ground coffee...go figure). Even so, I stop at Starbucks every weekday to pick up my venti, non-fat, no foam, two pump mocha syrup, steamed milk.

7. I give really good hugs; I learned from the best...my Nana G!

I am tagging the following wonderful folks...hope you don't mind...
Shari, Tracie Lyn, Marilyn, Sammy, Heather, Ty and Marcia

'bantock' piece continues...

As promised earlier, here is another look at my 16"x16" piece as it is presently. Time to do some more work on it, but thought I would give you a peek at the work-in-progress. Wonder what it will look like when it is done...and how will I know when that is? Hmmm.






This is a close up of a section that I particularly like.

ah, springtime...

I love our springtime. Sure, we get our fair share of rain, like today, but that helps everything grow and bloom. And really, what smells better than the fresh air outside after a good rain?

I took this yesterday while we were waiting in the border line-up.

Here are a couple shots from last week's trip to Burnaby Lake. It was a much nicer day.

i'm on a design team!!

How psyched was I to learn today that I had been selected to be a member of Lazar StudioWERX design team? I was over-the-moon excited! Lazar StudioWERX has some of the most fantastic rubber stamps I have ever purchased; not to mention the rich coloured papers.

Thanks go to my wonderful friend Janice who pointed me in the right direction and encouraged me to put in a submission! You're the best, BC!

Emails were flying back and forth today as those of us chosen for the team introduced ourselves. This is going to be so great!

I am adding a special listing for the blogs of my new DT gang. Mosey on over and have a peek.

Special thanks to Christina and Becky for giving me this fabio opportunity!

published!!

Oh my gosh! I am soooo excited! Our quiltlets from the Artfest 2006 swap, hosted by Shari Beaubien have been published in the May/June issue of Cloth Paper Scissors! The best part is that they featured four quiltlets and one of them was MINE!! Woo hoo! Yup...I consider this a very significant moment in my art journey!



Many thanks to Shari for all of the hard work that was put into the swap itself and everything involved in getting them published. Thank you, dear friend!!

weekend with nick bantock

What can I say... Nick is incredible!

I was fortunate to spend this past weekend with Nick in his 'Urgent 2nd Class' Collage workshop. My lovely art friend Nadine and I headed over to Victoria where we stayed with another of our fabulous art friends, Mary and her hubby, Don. The three of us were in the class together, which was terrific. Thank you again, to our wonderful hosts.

Nick's teaching was centred around process rather than technique and I learned a ton.

We started with 2"x2" illustration board doing several exercises within set amounts of time to force us to not think too much about what we were doing.

This is Mary's 2"x2". After we worked on our squares for about 30 mins, Nick had us pass them to the person on the right, so I had a chance to work on this piece as well. It was a great exercise.


We eventually worked our way up to 16"x16". I thought I would be intimidated by that size, but as Nick says "getting rid of the white" right away with pastel chalks, makes it much easier to jump in.





Here is the start of my 16"x16" with a quick coating of chalk pastels.






Nick would give us prompts every 30 mins or so...(i.e. "two figures", "gold") which we could then choose to incorporate into our collages.

This is about two hours in.

Here it is after about four hours. Nadine and I decided to continue working on them during the ferry ride home. Doesn't look like much yet, but you can really see the different textures.


Nick said that we needed to be prepared to put in 10 times as much time as we had (approx. four hours), so there is much more work to do before the piece is completed. I will post it as it progresses.

The class size was perfect with just eight of us...the three of us as well as Pat, Patti, Jill, Rose and Olga. After the first day of class we had a pot luck dinner with Nick, Joyce and our hosts Lori and Allen. We played a really fun game which allowed us to get to know a bit more about each other [I would tell you about it, but our friends Janice and Mo are taking the same workshop this weekend]. At the end of the second day, Nick said we produced some of the best work he has seen in a workshop and acknowledged that there was no competition and the group was very supportive. Wow!

Thank you to Lori for hosting the workshops at her amazing home.

If you are interested, Nick has a series of upcoming workshops in his studio on Salt Spring Island. Here is a link to his website. You can find out more about the workshops by contacting his partner and web curator, Joyce.

Another wonderful art experience!

mother's day countdown

Lisa Vollrath is offering up more goodies in her countdown to Mother's Day. Check it out here.

puzzle swap

Here is the end result of the Ruby Dog's puzzle swap I participated in back in February. Fun project.

round 2...here we come!!

Woo Hoo!

The last few days have been rough with the Canucks up 3-1 and then letting the Dallas Stars back into the series by losing games 5 and 6 to force a game 7. It was tough, but I never lost faith.

My beloved Vancouver Canucks came through and won game 7 against the Stars by a score of 4-1 this evening in Vancouver!!

Bring on the Anaheim Ducks!

the scribbler

After adding Carla's new blog to my list, I checked out a website she had found. Very cool.

This is my scribble.