Mosaic Shoe Class

The inspiration for my mosaic shoe was my grandparent's broken China.  It was broken when it fell off a shelf in my parents garage and my dad drove over it many, many years ago.  I ran across it last week and was excited to finally have a vision for the mosaic shoe class I was taking from Heidi Borchers. I ran out of time and can't wait to finish the inside and be able to grout next week.

Queen of the Day

Here she is...not only the Queen of the Day but she's the Queen of Crafts.  We gathered to celebrate the 90th birthday of this amazing lady, ALEENE!  

Aleene's Family

Here's the fam minus daughter Candace.  

Butterfly Party Activities

I took the ladies on a kind of mystery day of celebrating.  We went to Heidi Borchers' studio and had a great afternoon of mosaic making.

Even Aleene and Tiffany Windsor showed up to say 'hi!'

 Here's my heart before the grout.

 Working....working...working...

 Taaaadaaaa...

 After I got home, I just had to add some swirls with a permanent pen.  I hung my mosaic on a quilt I have hanging on the wall.















After we were done with our mosaic projects, we journeyed to a dear friends house for a proper English tea prepared by another dear friend and her significant other. My friend's WONDERFUL home overlooks the bay and everywhere you look it is adorned with her amazing watercolor creations.  We all loved checking out her 900 square foot studio.  We had tons of little sandwiches, sausage rolls, sweets and lovely teas. 

 More edible butterflies

After the tea, some of the ladies went back to my house for a slumber party.  Denise owns a beauty shop and brought along the latest in nail polish - it was magnetic and so cool.  She brushed it on and while it was still wet placed a special magnet over the paint that made a design.  She said she could actually see it move.

Magic of Christmas

Aleene's Magic of Christmas Book

I received a request last week from a reader wanting to locate the Aleene's The Magic of Christmas book from 1998. Well, I dug around a little in my craft room and found three copies. Looking through the 120 pages brought back amazing memories (I was the Editor on the project) of stunning ornaments, centerpieces, stocking ideas and tons more terrific holiday ideas. Anyone else looking for a copy??? There are only two left! Send me an email for details at craftproducts@yahoo.com

Aleene and PattieWack at CHA

I so missed seeing Aleene at CHA. Here's a picture of Aleene and PattieWack in the i love to create booth. I learned so much from Aleene during my eight years at Creative Living and am thankful for each and every one of the hats / experiences I had there.

Craft and Hobby Association Craft SuperShow Day 2

It has been an exciting day! I had breakfast with the very talented designer, Cheryl Ball and chatted with Kathy Cano Murillo, The Crafty Chica. I helped Kathy launch her product line a couple of years ago - I wrote all of the packaging and edited her instructions for the projects. She offered me a copy of her new book, so I will meet up with her tomorrow to get my copy!

I went to the convention center to pick up my badge this morning for the trade show tomorrow and decided to peek into the show. I'm so glad I did! I stumbled into a presentation by Deborah Norville - yes, the former Today Show host. She was so entertaining and I held her needle while she demonstrated a new casting-on technique for knitting! I will have to find some yarn and needles to try it out! Very inspiring!

I saw Pattie Donham, Aleene, Tiffany Windsor, Joann Pearson from Michaels, Julianna Hudgins, Maria Nerius - it was old Aleene's Creative Living days all over again! Loved it!!!!

The most exciting part of the day was that I sat down and did some make-it and take-its!!! Sometimes when you're 'in the biz' crafting because a job. For the first time in a long time, I was a Crafter - I made a beautiful bracelet using Blue Moon Beads and several other projects. I think I got my Craft Back!

Tomorrow's all business - you never know who you'll run into on the show floor.

Happy Crafting!
Joan

Craft and Hobby Association Craft SuperShow

Fabulous day at CHA!!! Had a blast teaching at the Craft Academy! Crafters are amazing! I had seriously thought about cancelling my make-it and take-its because of the weather. We saw several overturned cars along the freeway and the weather was something else! I dropped a friend off in Manhattan Beach and would love to go back sometime to do some window-shopping - fantastic looking home decor stores!

Tomorrow is a 'free' day - I'm thinking the show floor will be crazy with crafters!!! I might take a watercolor class. I'm having breakfast with Cheryl Ball!!! and will meet up with some more former Aleene's friends the next few days.

From Crafter's Heaven,
Joan

Craft and Hobby Association Celebrities Appearances

CHA Celebrities

My friend, Cheryl Ball, sent me this link today - geeee...I had no idea!!! I'm among celebs like Deborah Norville, Carol Duvall, Dee Greunig, Vickie Howell, DIY Gurus - Cathie Filian & Steve Piacenza, Aleene Jackson, Jo Pearson and Heidi Borchers!!!

http://www.craftsupershow.com/eweb/dynamicPage.aspx?WebCode=celebrities

Inspired at Home

In case you missed The Crafty Chica and ME talking about my new ebook Guide to Shrink Plastic on the Inspired at Home blog radio show tonight, check it out at www.blogtalkradio.com/inspiredathome listed under "On-Demand Episodes".