Homegrown Hospitality

Random Creative...and a pre-sale discount!

our computer is fixed (Praise the Lord), videos are being uploaded, patterns are being scanned, spell check is checking and the first of many Random Creative Online Workshops is almost ready to launch.... 
The first one is calledScrapple Doodle.  I am having a super good time creating, video-ing and preparing this class, so I am pretty sure you will love it.

Tutorials and step by step photos on how to make something like this:

 
and this

 
 things like this:

 
and, well..I do not want to give it all away...but know this:

We are going to take our doodling to the next level or two and create on canvas, paper, muslin..even make stamps from styrofoam..we will add stitches, paint, ink, dimensional paints...shoot...who knows, there are no rules! yippee!

The supplies are basic, you can work in your own space at your own pace and it is again, just like the other online workshops...no frills. Just the basics, the facts, fun, a few random videos and a site that you can go back and forth to as long as you want!

Friday is the launch date for this class and the price is $35.00.  IF you sign up today or tomorrow....you save $8.00 and will pay $27.00 by clicking the button below:

 

 PLEASE READ THIS - when you sign up, PLEASE make sure that the email address you are using on Paypal is the one you would like all of the class information and correspondence to be sent to.  If it isn't, please email me to notify me of the correct email to use.  Thanks!

Corner!

I have never worked the job as a waitress, well wait, I mean "in a restaurant and with a paycheck".  I am a mom, so I have been and continue to be a sorta waitress...

anyways...my point is, I like the way they yell "corner" as they are buzzing around the, um...corners.  It is a great way to let people know what is coming so that they don't crash.

I wish GOD would yell "Corner" a bit louder so that we could know what was just around the corner..

or maybe we should just sit down...shut up and just listen, duh.

The fact is, we need to be quiet and just listen.  It is not going to be a thunder-and-lightning-clouds-streaming-across the sky-moment where we hear something...sometimes, it comes in the form of a beautiful rock that was hiding and buried under millions of other rocks, just waiting to be found and listened to.

                                        photo taken by blog reader & another sorta mom waitress, Kendyl
 

A Little Reminder....

 

School Supply Time

I am getting ready to send the kids back to school and launch the Random Creative Online class so it is school supply shopping time! 

I always advise using what you have (which we do with school supplies because I totally over buy except for the dang binders, shoot they are expensive!) but I always get emails wanting to know what I use...so here it all is..and the great thing is, just like school supplies, a ton of it is on sale..yahoo!

Today I am talking about markers....

I know there is an entire world of Copic Marker lovers out there but for me, the honest truth is I just do not like the barrel of the pen.  I love the colors and the option to refill, but I just am not comfortable with the way I hold the pen...Maybe someday I will get school'd in Copic, but for now..and for the past five years or so, I have been coloring away Prismacolor.

I use Prismacolor Markers and I am happy with them.   

 

They are a double-sided marker and the image below shows you how by just simply turning the tip, you can change the width of the stroke. If you click on that image BELOW, you will be taken right to the Dick Blick page where you can read more about the marker, see alllllll of the colors and even order them for, ready....$1.99 each. (retail of $4.19)

What are my favorite colors??? Because I know you are dying ti know, or just wondering.... 

Crimson Red        Brittney Blue        Light Olive Green        Avacado   Light Aqua 

Cinnamon Toast        Light Tan        Sand        Putty        Golden Rod

OH, and you cannot forget a couple, or six, Color Blending pens.  The blenders simply take the colors down a shade or two...I use them on everything and that is why I buy extra...and because we are talking about markers, we need to also talk about pens..as in liners for the outlines and details and I use a cornucopia of pens (even though whenever someone needs to borrow a pen, I NEVER have one..or I have 100)

Here is what I use:

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens for finer outlining, writing and details

Sharpie Fine Point Marker for thicker outlining, writing and detail

Zig Memory System Writers in Platinum for shading

I buy most of my art supplies at Dick Blick, which is an online source that has pretty much everything known to man...and then some

Blick Art Materials

 Now..should you find that you are spending $150.00 or more (gulp!), click the button below for a code on FREE shipping

As far as the other products I use, I will be posting an entire page here on the blog in the next week or so (whenever I get my dang computer back) so you can see alllll of the supplies I use and will be playing with in Random Creative.

oh, and hey..if you have a Borders Books near you, they are liquidating everything and it is allllll on sale..go see if you can pick up some blank journals, stamps, watercolors, etc! We use lots of things!

Live in the Moment

You know why Kamryn is smiling??? (besides the fact that she just turned 10) 
because Auntie Steph made her a birthday cake and let her eat it from the cake plate!

 
Today, create Joy and Live in the moment!

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it"Psalm 118:24..and eat cake from the plate!

Do you see what I see....

No, I am not singing a Christmas Carol (or maybe I am) but I believe this is the way God speaks to me (not in the thunder-and-lightning-deep-voice man)

All I was doing was trying to open a new bottle of paint...although, yes... I do kinda dork out and get silly happy when I get new bottles of paint (especially when they are on sale for like .59 cents!)

So hey...

When you experience Joy, feel a splash of happiness or hear something that makes you smile somewhere along the way during your busy day...

STOP and listen..pay attention...and live in the moment (and don't blame me if you find yourself singing Christmas songs today)

Cultivating Color & A Class

a little look at a project I am working on...

for the Fall.  A faith based-creative-community-connection-outreach women's ministry project I am working on with my friend Cheryl Waters.....but...it is also part of my RANDOM CREATIVE workshop and I will be at Pages From The Heart on Sunday, August 21 in Monrovia, CA. (DON'T get your nails done before class)  We get very creative with big honkin tags by painting them, inking them, decoupage-ing on them, stamping on them..you get the picture...make your nail appoint for Monday.

Personally, I have found a great amount of joy with enjoying the process of how I create these days and how I am cultivating my love for color.  100% different than back in the day when it took me $15.00 plus and four hours to layout a single scrapbook page and then another four hours deciding whether I liked it or not...ugghh! 

For me, this has been the year of cultivating and becoming more intentional with the way I create, work and  live...even with the occasional fork in the dang road. I guess those forks cause us to stop and refocus...and remember what we already know..just sometimes forget to remember..duh!

Why am I telling you all of this..again?  Well because all of those reminders are what is compiled on those big honkin tags up there in the photo.  Thoughts, quotes, verses, art, journaling...each one is different yet all have the same purpose of being a reminder so that when I do come across a fork..maybe when things get a little hazy, when the ol' coastal eddy fog rolls in or even when we have I have no batteries for a flashlight and it is REALLY dark.....I can grab my tags, all colorful and full of reminders..and reflect, remember and keep on truckin.

Whew!

That's all for now...don't wanna give the whole dang class away..come play, enjoy the process and get RANDOM CREATIVE with me...all you have to do is call the store, sign up, show up on the 21st and create...I hope to see you there!

Pages from the Heart (626) 358-5334

Sam & Olive

I am excited to introduce Sam & Olive... 

They are part of a little mid-release by me over at Purple Onion Designs TOMORROW and the sample shown above was created by PO Design Team Member, Jennifer Roach. I kinda really LOVE these two little bears..especially in the colors she used!!! Go over and check out the rest of the peeks by the team..the love bugs are also kinda super cute...

I guess the cuteness of  "Sam & Olive" eases my fussy-ness of not having a computer yet. I am "REALLLLLYYYYYYY" trying to find the "bless in the computer mess" and I think Sam & Olive are it!  Right now I am typing from my laptop (which is a blessing that I have one) but the thing is, it does not have ANYTHING on it, so while things could be wayyyyyyyyworse (meaning I did not even have a laptop) I sure would like my ol' trusted steed back.  I will continue to practice patience...and design new stamps (which, I have done this week without my attention being on the computer...hmmmm, what a concept!?)

P.S, this little "love bug" should be named Elliot.  He just looks like an Elliot to me...

                                                                                         Created by Jennifer Holmes 
Thanks again to the amazing team over at Purple Onion..you girls are amazing!!!

Did you hear that???

it was the sound of my computer crashing sometime late on Friday night.

uggh.

Luckily, it is under warranty and a nice little computer man will be coming out to fix'er all up...but probably not until Wednesday...

yikes.

so for now..hang tight..this too shall pass..and gives me a little extra uninterrupted time to finish up the last few projects for the upcoming Random Creative class. This is where I should be inserting a picture...

dang it!

Thank you for your understanding and your patience.

Breaking News

for my CREATIVE followers...I have been withholding something creatively exciting news for a week or so...eeeekkkk! and before I go on....NO...this is NOT about me.

So, let's see..WHO do you think of when you see silly little birds like this:

 
or sassy little friends like these:

 

or adorable little towns like these:

 
figured out who I am talking about yet?

I have a very CLEVER friend that I met several years back as I was taking some big creative steps.  SHE and I clicked instantly. 

It was one of "those times" where you just know.  I can remember as clear as day, sitting on the carpet, up against a wall in a hotel banquet room in San Antonio TX...listening to her, watching how she teaches and absorbing how she shares. SHE was animated...a bit CRAZY...super silly...OVERFLOWING with creative goodness and FULL of emotion (she still is all of these...)

SHE shares her loves, her losses..her emotion...her creativity and how to laugh at the knocks in life...the things you are probably going to laugh at later....maybe that is why we get along so well and why I can call her my friend and why I am harboring her creative comeback information...she was there for me when I was making big creative steps...and now I am right here for her as she .......

whoops...did you read that?

That is all I am going to say right now...just remember you heard it here first...HgK.

Let me make a suggestion...so that you are in the "know"

Go to her blog...sign up for the newsletter (upper right)...friend her on Facebook (paper airplane on left..stinkin cute!) and stay tuned here and on your local channels for breaking news.......

eek!