Well it's that time!  Christmas get togethers to celebrate the season and a new year coming up!  Tonight I am with my "Scrum Sisters" we're having a nice evening together at a restaurant.  I had purchased some small glass jars (among many other items during her sale!) with some 'enchanted' designs on them from Kate of Enchanted Shaman and filled each from my essential oils for anti-aging lotion (carrier oil Jojoba or Almond Oil, lavendar, geranium and rosemary). Put the cork back in and put them in pretty bags.  These are the jars;

Aren't they adorable?  One for each gal!

I also decided to make them a card too with the logo we use on our business card.  Turned out great.  These are the shots and the items I used to put it all together!

The stars were done with  white UTEE mixed with gold pigment powder, black UTEE and then heat embossed!

Completed front cover, I added a little Versa-mark on Star so I could add some UTEE to give it some dimension and sparkle!

Inside cover 

Let your Light Shine!

Yikes! December 12 already!  I haven't purchased many items for Christmas yet. Was relying on good sales to finance that. I am working on some "alpaca slippers" for some family members that live through the frigid Alberta winters!   (Mind you when they get the 'chinook' winds come through the temperatures can go up to 70 degrees!)  Anyway, it's pretty much going to be a handmade Christmas year, as money has been very tight the past two years since my 'downsizing' occurred.
I did secure a part-time position with Michaels, the Arts and Craft Store as one of their Jewelry Instructors!  Whoo hooo! I've done one class already and a couple of demos on the floor and I also applied for a part-time position in their framing department!  Might as well keep it all under the same creative roof!
I've also gone in to help them with face painting for the many birthday parties that they put on as I have years of experience painting lovely young faces!  I love being all around the artsy fartsy stuff!  I am in a happy place for sure when I am there!
All my shows are done for the year.  I have to say, that the most successful show I did was a "home" show.  A dear friend of mine that purchases jewelry pieces from me asked if I would bring some jewelry in as well as giving me specifics on a few pieces she was looking for and mentioned that she will invite other friends over to have a look if they were interested.  WOW. The sales there in one evening were more that the last three shows I did combined!  I was thanking the LORD all the way home for that blessing!  No wonder there are so many "jewelry" distributors doing those home parties!  I think that I too will offer some "hostess" incentives and  try to do more of them!  The best part is doing it this way is, I don't have to haul in tables and display items and then pack them all back in the truck etc.  I can use their kitchen table with minimal display items.

My back has been telling me to lay off the shows for a bit too. A lot of heavy hauling even though I am doing it safely (dolly's and pull-a-alongs) it's still a strain.  I own a vibrasizer that is fantastic for my sciatica issues and lower back problems.  They say ten minutes on one of these is equivalent to a one hour workout for muscular strength.  I love it and it helps that's all that matters to me!  I told my mum about it too because I read it was great for diabetics (circulation issues with them) and my dad is a diabetic.

Okay, I'm going to upload a video that I made showing one of my bead storage solutions that is very inexpensive to purchase!  Talk soon!

Occupy Wall St - The Revolution Is Love

The Single Most Important Robert Reich Clip You Can Share Today | MoveOn.Org

I know this page isn't focused on political issues, but I need to get this out and do what I can to get people to awaken. Even if it's just a few and they tell a few and so on! It's our future and our children's future on the line here.

The Single Most Important Robert Reich Clip You Can Share Today | MoveOn.Org

11-11-11

A lot has happened since I last posted!  I am not going to upload any art today, just wanted to log-in on this auspicious day and say that my plea is for all mankind to stop today and focus on love.  World love, Gaia, Mother Earth and envelope her with love and white ball of protection. We are moving faster and higher as a species and she is now evolving too! This next year will be interesting and I'm excited to see all the positive changes that will occur for each one of us. Age of Aquarius...something that I only thought of as a song when I was young and now understand. It is my hope at this stage in my life that I can contribute to my own growth as well as help others to attain/reach their potential.
In light and love,

Back at home and getting ready...

Well back at the homestead.  Will now focus on getting business cards ready, information cards on gemstone jewelry that I design specific for metaphysical purposes and get the 'display' items all put together!  This is just a short show coming up on Friday and the table costs go to charity, plus I donate one of my items for a raffle.  I don't think I will give a large one this time.  A moderate one will do!
I uploaded another quick video showing the two felted and embellished bracelets I completed over the weekend.
I have it posted for your perusal if you haven't see it already!

October days!

I believe that October is one of two of my favorite months of the year. The other being June.  Just as June gives us the fresh smell of early summer mornings and soft breezes, October blows a little harder with just a hint of "coolness" belying what's coming around the corner!  I love the temps today, I talked my sweetie into going for a brisk walk along the river and bay parkway.  We also strolled along the quiet streets of downtown looking into some of the 'potential' storefronts that I would love to open! Anyway, there were no shortage of the local fauna!  Ducks everywhere and these were walking towards us and very close!  I don't know if these are those that winter here or not, but next time we're bringing some corn niblets with us.  Here's some pic's!

Another gorgeous October day! Brought Truck to dealership to get a safety recall done and once it was done, I thought "It is way too nice to be in the house doing my creative work!" So, I took my activity bag (fiber art I brought to garage to keep busy while working on my truck) , magazines, coffee and myself and went down to our Bayside Park. It was sunny with a beautiful breeze lots of ducks and geese around looking for 'handouts' and I just soaked up the sun and got my daily dose of Vitamin D!  Anyway, here is a sampling of my latest felted pieces.  I am going to be making cellphone covers from these, only I am going to sew in a vinyl window, so that you can see who's calling before you take the phone out!  I'm also making up some art cards for Christmas giving.  They can be used as wall/shelf art after too!  I also have some new felted bracelets that I want to post too! That'll come when I get back home in a day or two! (I've been in the city at my honeys house for the last 4 days...Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada!)

October! Can you believe it? Has the collective conscious gone mad?? LOL

Blink! No kidding, it just seems that I was stressing over the upcoming summer Art Show and hoping to build up enough inventory...Whew!
Well, next week will be two years since I was downsized or "early retired" as the corporate world is now calling any lay-offs over the age of 50...damn. Even looking at that number seems foreign to me...I have lived off of my severance package so that I could take a sabbatical and become acquainted with new and build up my existing skill base as an artist.
I have dreamed for years of being able to just be an artist, to create and sell enough to be able to pay my bills and have some retirement too. There are people out there that are able to do that and I want to be able to tap into that too! My money is running out and it's imminent in the back of my mind that a lousy paying J.O.B is my only way out....I am crying inside and need some help! I want to become a bigger presence on the net and community so that there is a steady stream of income...networking is essential, so I need to do more of it. Will go to some of my forums and start to get my blog/website published more. We spend more time trying to market ourselves and little time to create!
Anyway...had my rant. I'm excited to start on some smaller projects to bring to the upcoming fall/Christmas sales. Went on a road trip two weeks ago to an Alpaca Farm with some Artist friends. Very enjoyable and the owner/operator also had a shop/mill there where they show their creations and sell their fleece by the roving/batts etc. I am inspired to continue my 'felting' process and make some functional pieces still, so I am designing/creating some cell phone holders with felt and free motion stitch. I have been adding some classic crewel stitching to my jewelry arm bands and really like the effect. I will be posting my lates pic's shortly so say tuned! I really hope that I can get some folks to stop by here and make some comments.
Stay sparkly!

Whew...struggling right now.

It's been a long couple of weeks. Working arse off to prepare for Art in the Park and took a couple of days off, to recoup and re-group. Will do two more shows this year, so hopefully they will bring in some much needed cash flow.
I need to market myself more. I wish it was easier than it is, so many talented hand craft artisans out there...how do you make yourself stand out? Been meditating on that without much success.
Decided to overhaul my studio and re-arrange everything to make it more productive? Always second guessing ourselves...Taking all week to do, never realized just how much 'stuff' I have and as a mixed-media artist we don't throw anything away! Perhaps I should focus on one thing?
I don't believe it's in my make-up for that so...too late! :-)
I need to look through my myriad of books to get inspired again, just feeling very melancholy these days...

A fun little diversion!

Been playing on Betabrand site where you can design your own striped socks! Since I like playing with colors...why not! So, I've signed up and created three new pairs of socks! Two of my socks had colors that have not been named yet! So, I've created some new 'color' choices for the company!

Betabrand Sock Contest | COLOURlovers :: COLOURlovers

Betabrand Sock Contest | COLOURlovers :: COLOURlovers: "

Cool Nippers by pateho
www.COLOURlovers.com

"

'via Blog this'

Pooped! Taking a couple of days to reflect...

The Art in the Park was an amazing day, the turn out was outstanding, I believe it was the best Art in the Park ever in my memory! I didn't realize the profits that I had hoped but I still made a small profit after booth costs were deducted. I met a lot of people and received a great amount of feedback for my works. Brought back my "Drifting Saints" after a long hiatus and there were people that came up to the booth specifically to tell me they bought one of my "Drifting Saints" about 18 years ago! I said yes! that's the last time I made public sales with them! The felted vessels made some rave reviews, but didn't sell. I thought if I focussed on 'functional' art they would sell, however, I believe I will focus on large wall art and go back to painting my watercolors for awhile before going back to the 'art to wear' items...
Right now, I'm spending time with my honey as he's been an 'art widow' for the last 3 months. Giving him some extra attention this week!
I will post pictures of the event. I didn't get all the pictures from the entire festivities as I didn't have time to see them all!

Latest Drifting Saints for upcoming Art Show (29)

Latest Drifting Saints for upcoming Art Show at Mike Weir Park, Sarnia Ontario (29):

'via Blog this'

felting-projects part 2 - YouTube

felting-projects part 2 - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

felting-projects part 1.MOV - YouTube

felting-projects part 1.MOV - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Felted Vases - YouTube

Felted Vases - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

So excited for upcoming Art in the Park festival!

This years Art in the Park is under new organization and I was fortunate enough to get in on a cancellation! I only have a week left to get inventory up to snuff in anticipation of the event. I have only about 5 nuno scarves on the go, plenty of scarf-lettes, some hats and I've recently been working on felted vessels and vase covers. Really nice....Drifting Saints are making a comeback as well, so we'll see what the next week brings. I've been experiencing RSI due to doing too much at once, so I'm giving myself lots of breaks and variations in my duties!
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3148131 This link is to a local paper advert for the upcoming show for those that aren't local to the event!
I'm going to upload my recent videos too!

Hot and busy Summer!

Wow! Can't believe August is coming to a close already! Crikey! I haven't blogged in awhile and I've been wanting to, but as usual, I get distracted! First show of the summer was very nice, not much in the way of sales, which part of the reason was I was not able to showcase/sell my jewelry line because of the over abundance of jewelry artists, so I had to build up my inventory on my hand painted silk scarves and felted items. I also re-purpose vintage wool blankets/cloth into hats and booties etc. so I made some of those up too. My hats were popular as were my scarves.
There was really good energy at this show and I met some fantastic artists! Good networking!

I had another show within two weeks of this one and this time I showcased my jewelry, but there were very few people that came through the venue! The crowd was congregated too far away to be drawn toward the vendors and such! Too bad because I had made up a good number of my chakra bracelets and necklaces along with some amazing POG's that I had made up too.(Positive Orgone Generators are based on the principal of orgone technology by Wilhelm Reich. Orgone energy is also known as chi, ki, prana, life force, is the energy present within all objects. It surrounds us and is within us.)
Right now I am getting ready for one the big annual Art in the Park that is held every year the weekend after labor day. Unfortunately because I was a late registrant, I cannot do jewelry again! Just too many jewelry artists! Can you blame us for loving the bling?? :-)
The only down side to all this is I have major repetitive strain in my left arm right now, so I'm in a lot of pain and I'm trying to wet felt scarves and slippers!
I will post some pictures of the last two shows...but you can see some photos at my Facebook page and hopefully you'll

like

it! :-)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patti-Cook-Mixed-Media-Arts/113872642030786?sk=photos Just click on the Art in the Park and that's the first show of the summer with my Scrum Sisters!

African Angels!

Well, not really, but I like to have titles with a ring to it, so this was fitting...who knows? I may end up calling them that anyway. Been wanting to make up some felted 'doll' pendants of a sort. I saw some really cute ones at a bead workshop and thought that I would do something a little different,I want my own artistic flair to it. So, I had sketched out some ideas and then thought of how much I love bright vibrant colors against a dark background, the way a lot of indigenous cultures do and then my thoughts went to traditional African kaftans and tribal dress. The women always look so beautiful and majestic in them, so, I am fashioning my doll pendants after various African attire! Here's a couple of pics I took prior to taking the video below it and a picture of my sketches I made of others based on some research I did regarding traditional African attire.