Vintage Aleene's Creative Living Shrink Plastic Segments

I'm finally doing something I've wanted to do for years - I'm uploading vintage Aleene's Creative Living Television Show segments.  Check out the Aleene's Shrink-It Valentine's Centerpiece ideas on this video from 1999.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydzr8cAuUek

Joan Martin Fee and Pattie Wilkinson

Got in some Pattie hugs and yes, my necklace was made from shrink plastic!

Julianna Hudgins and Pattie Wilkinson

The ladies enjoying the party.

Past Meets Today

Seize the Day!!!  

 I took that challenge a couple of weeks ago and emailed my former boss at iLoveTocreate about a possible collaboration.  I was headed to Fresno to a Bon Jovi concert (awesome, BTW!) and thought, why not take the bull by the horns and see if I can meet with her. 

I pitched my idea, she loved it and now I'm trying to make the numbers work.  Cross your fingers we can make this work because as a creative person you're going to want to get in on this exciting idea! 

After the meeting, I got the tour of my former work environment (it's been five years since I left) and surprised some old friends who didn't know I was coming.  Wish I'd had time to catch up with my old Aleene's Creative Living friend, Pattie Donham Wilkinson AKA Pattiewack, but for this trip my dance card was full.  It's always great to see her smiling face!!!

Craft Wars

Here's a blast from my past.  My buddy Scott Wilkinson (hubby of Pattiewack and fab videographer) shared this link this morning from a taping of Craft TV we did over ten years ago at my home.

From Scott "This was the very first episode of Craft TV with our kick-off "Craft Wars" segment. We shot and produced this in June 2002 and sent this out to our subscriber list via snail mail. Can you believe it, 10 years later and our concept is still fun and relevant. Watch Pattiewack and Joan Fee battle off with berry baskets in the very first "Craft Wars". How fun! What could you make from berry baskets in 30 minutes? Stay tuned as we begin to upload over 300 crafting segments from our Craft TV series. Some of them are old and funky, but all of them are super fun. Crafts, crafts, and more crafts."

Check out who wins the crown! www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3_jslB-XrU

It's almost here!!!  MAYhem
 
That's what I called the month of May when I turned 50 and every weekend during that month I did something 'crazy'.  Well, this year I'm going to celebrate my friends and I'm getting the ball rolling with a handmade invitation to a weekend filled with fun activities. 

I started by gluing pieces of butterfly scrapbook paper on blank cards I got at Michaels then added some layered papers.  I wanted to get everyone excited about the event so I included a little butterfly charm that they'll bring to the weekend to craft with.

I scanned the image of the butterfly from the scrapbook paper and used it as a watermark on the inside.

I protected the charm with a light cardboard insert and I just couldn't leave it plain white so I added stickers and doodles - learned that from my friend, Pattie Donham Wilkinson years ago.

I added stickers to the outside of the envelopes too.  Can't wait for the RSVP's to come rolling in.

More details about the Slumber, Crafty, Celebration of our Lives Party soon - it's going to be so much fun!

True Confession Time

Craft Designer Reveals Secret

Remember that Bucket List everyone was talking about a while ago??? I made my list and occasionally check off an item. Well, it's time to check off another one of those items but also to confess to something that's been a struggle for me all my life. I CAN'T DRAW!!! My dad is great at it - I remember him sitting and doodling in meetings and he'd draw amazing cars. Not this kid - didn't get his genes on that front! When I was a designer for all those years at Aleene's, I would hide my lack of drawing talent - patterns - oh my gosh, no! A couple of years ago, I submitted some design ideas to my friend, Pattiewack and later she told me in a very kind manner that I should brush up on my drawing ability. We had a good laugh!

I remember the day in elementary school when we learned (or tried to) perspective. I didn't get it!!! Kind of like the song in A Chorus Line - I felt nothing....

So, I signed up today for a drawing class and I believe the teacher wrote the class description with me in mind - "Would you like to go beyond stick figures? Are you a novice's novice? Tackle your 'demons' around drawing abilities and learn how to really make it work."

I sure hope it works!

I agreed today to do something else on my Bucket List, but I'll save that for another day...it's a real YIKES! thing.

Challenge yourself today!!!

Joan

Craft and Hobby Association Highlights

I saw this posted on a booth and I liked what it had to say!


Paper butterflies - when I was a kid, everything was pink - pink bedroom, pink clothes, pink, pink, pink...

3D flowers on the side of a booth

I'm getting ready for my class reunion and was searching the trade show floor for ideas for decorations. Can you see this in purple and gold?

My dear friend, PattieWack.

My friend, Cheryl Ball, created with butterfly dress - love it, Cheryl!!! Can I borrow it for my class reunion?

It was old home week at the show. Crafty Chica AKA Kathy Cano-Murillo shows off cannon spray paints in the i love to create booth.

This girl was soooo getting into spraying on dye to make a cool scarf.

I had so much fun making a button pin in the Blumental Lansing booth - it was great to be a crafter and enjoy all of the make-it and take-its.

Can you tell what this dress is made from?

Purple and gold??? Hanging from the oak trees at my reunion?

Too cute, paper dress.

Paper booth display.

When my brother remodeled his house (the house I grew up in) he offered me an old lighting fixture from the hall. I'm thinking it would look great as the top of a mobile like this.

Kathy Ireland was on the floor showing her new trims.

Such a colorful display of afghans and hats.

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

Cookbooking

I FINALLY got a copy of my friend Pattie's book - Cookbooking. It is so awesome!!! I was acknowledged 'for her marvelous ideas'. I contributed some recipes, some party ideas and there are several pictures of Pattie, me and our friend, Lauren Johnston. It's great to see the Aleene's gals together again, even if it's only on the pages of a book. Love it!!! Get your copy at www.amazon.com and type in Cookbooking.

CHA Highlights!!!
There were all kinds of fun things hanging from this chandelier - at the bottom were old clock faces.


This stunning dress was in the Simplicity Creative Group's booth. Can you tell what it's made from??? The bottom is trash bags and the top is magazine images.

Remember two years ago (yes, two years) when I did the bra purses as a make-it and take-it? Well, here are several from a scrapbook booth. Looks like pink is in!

Here's my gal-pal PattieWack.

Be on the lookout for Duncan's new product Custom Dye Color Kit that comes with four dyes and a recipe book on how to make 150 custom colors from the kit - wow! I can't wait to get my hands on this kit!

This isn't a very good picture, but these are all crowns and they are very beautiful!

Happy Creativity!

Joan

Blast Off!

Change, Change, CHANGE! (and I'm not talking about the stuff in my pocket!)

















A HUGE opportunity presented itself and I jumped on it without hesitation or fear (totally unlike me!)

While on my vacation at the ocean a couple months ago I knew I absolutely belonged there - I felt at peace, relaxed and comfortable. Not too long after I got home from vacation I got an unexpected phone call from my parents - one of their rental houses became available on the Central Coast of California in a wonderful little city on the ocean. This is a cottage my dad built back in the early 1960's in panels at home in the San Joaquin Valley, loaded them up for the 3 hour trip in a U-Haul truck and finished putting the house together on site - I have a picture of me standing in front of the U-Haul truck (I can't find it at the moment, or I'd post it, but these pictures are from back in the 60's. The hill is now covered with homes and that's me second from the left and no, the house is no longer painted Flamingo). This house has many joyous kid memories - we spent a lot of time here in the summers and on weekends getting away from the summer heat of the Valley. But, with this new beginning, comes many farewells and thoughts of what of the last few years have encompassed.

I moved to Fresno 3 years and 9 months ago to work for Duncan Enterprises as the writer while my 25 year marriage was ending. My friends at Duncan have seen me at my worst (and best!) - they have been there as my cheerleaders, my friends, my teachers...

In the 3+ years, I have seen a lot of changes not only in myself but with my co-workers and friends - Patty has had 3 fabulous babies and two brain surgeries, my friend Frances got the courage to introduce herself to her neighbor when I asked her If Not Now, When? - this October they will have been married 2 years - you go Frances!!! Many people have come and gone, but I appreciate everyone who has come into my life and the valuable life lessons they have shown me.

My family, especially my brother and sister-in-law and their sons Justin and Brandon have been an awesome comfort to me - Brandon and Nicki even stayed with me one night a week for over a year while Nicki finished her college degree. Nicki invited me to many concerts and enlightened me on new music groups - their CD's grace my shelves to this day. BTW, Bon Jovi rocks!

One person who came into my life just a short year ago and who has guided me with her gentle care and outstanding knowledge through this last year is Lindy. Lindy and Doug became friends - we spent a wonderful day doing the zipline and enjoying the Gold Country and they came at the last minute to haul away stuff I no longer needed. We did a lot of lunches together and now we have a standing Wednesday lunch phone call. She goes out into the Duncan rec park and last Wednesday I went outside and weeded my yard while we talked.

My IT guy, Rocky, is fabulous! Rocky rescued me on many occasions and was there in the end to take a boat anchor of a computer away for me. He's been there when I yelled "help!". Thanks Rocky!!!

I think I better stop because I'd be up all night thanking everyone, so I'll do a blanket thank you to everyone at Duncan, my family, friends and to my off-site friends (oh, I just have to send a shout-out to Pattie Donham Wilkinson - PattieWack - she was the one who told me way back when that Fresno was my landing pad - after a couple months she changed and said it was my launching pad - I found a picture of a rocket blasting off that said 'blast off' on it that I saw every day when I walked out my door.) Thanks for being there (there has been several places the last 3+ years...)

So, for a month I frantically packed boxes, threw stuff away, worked full time, went to Goodwill with things I knew would no longer work in my life and last weekend my brother and I packed me up and moved me over to Paradise (my bro's word).

So, I have been painting and and making the cottage my new home. I have lots of things to fix and lots of things to do - after I painted, I noticed I got some light sage green paint on the cottage cheese ceiling - I got out my Aleene's True Snow and dabbed it over the green paint and it was gone! Love it!

I look forward to keeping you updated on my blog letting you in on the secrets to 'small space living', exciting crafts and life's little adventures.

Joan

It's almost time to leave for CHA...

Things keep piling up in front of my desk - unfortuantely, we're one of the last to leave for the trade show and we have a van, so that means we get stuck taking all the stuff people can't get in their cars or were forgotten. Check out all the fun we'll be having at the show http://duncancrafts.com/cha/

I'm in the process of writing a couple ads this afternoon, a friend is picking me up lunch at one of my favorite places - Japanese Kitchen, I'll load up the van and get outta here to pack up my bags, indulge in a 1-1/2 massage tonight and then get on the road early tomorrow morning for some awesome adventures.

I've lined up a couple of get togethers with old Aleene's friends - Lauren Johnston, Sharon Williamson, Julianna Hudgins and hopefully PattieWack will be able to squeeze me in for at least a hug.

Until next week - keep craftin' but, I have to share with you an email I received from a friend this morning...she knows me pretty well - I shared it with friends at work and thought you might like her insight.

Remember life is too short...take a minute and look around you wherever you are, THEN YOU WILL SEE 'your life is wonderful!' but YOU aren't letting YOURSELF SEE IT! Make it a HAPPY LIFE!!! - Love you Miss FS

PattieWack, Lauren, Me and Mupu!!!

What a great weekend!!! I got to spend time with three of my best friends!!!

I had a long breakfast on Saturday with my friend, Frances. We don't get to see each other often enough now that we don't work together so it was awesome to spend 2 hours of uninterrupted time chatting and catching up. Remember, she got married last October and I was in the wedding.

Then, it was on to Santa Paula to spend an entire afternoon and night with PattieWack!!! Loved it! It was just Pattie and me for the afternoon - it was girl chat catch up BIG time! We can email and talk on the phone, but we gotta have one of those hugs and talk face to face to really feel connected. Lauren arrived in the evening (more on that later).

Pattie sure knows how to make people feel special! Not only were we greeted with a sign on 'It' (what I call the decoupaged mannequin in their entryway), there was a sign along with a rose in the bathroom AND not only a sign in the guest bedroom but pictures of Lauren and me too!

So, it's a Saturday and three crafty ladies are together. What to do? CRAFT OF COURSE!!! But first, we went to Mupu's Grill and saw the sights and murals of Santa Paula. After dinner we got out tissue, yarn and paper and went to town (or Pattie's Studio in this case!)

Pattie got us started by fan folding two colors of tissue paper and showed us how to make incredible flowers. (here's how to make them) We then moved on to create beautiful tassels and circle books. Thanks, Pattie - you're the BEST!!! BTW, we saw Scott (PATTIE'S BRAND NEW HUSBAND) only for a quick hug that night and early the next morning.

Lauren and I kind of invited ourselves to Pattie and Scott's and we're so thankful for their hospitality - our mission was to get rid of a bunch of craft supplies we'd accumulated over the years! We decided we wanted them to go to good homes so we blew them out at $1 each. We got up super early Sunday morning and headed to Ventura to sell our wares. I was in charge of making our sign so I used Aleene's® Crystal Clear Tacky Spray™ to adhere cut out letters on foam core - it worked perfect! Notice that we used the tissue flowers we made the night before to decorate the pole.

This was truly a different experience - in the afternoon
the dreaded Santa Ana Winds came flying in and pop-up awnings and merchandise

was flying. A fire was raging in Malibu not too far away and the smoke flooded the sky along with ash as the afternoon progressed.

On my way home, the 2 o'clock in the afternoon sky was as dark as if it was midnight. Ash was everywhere. Just down the road from where Pattie and Scott live, I came within 10 feet of flames as a different fire had just started. Along the major freeway I took home, two additional fires were being worked on, the strong winds carrying the flames on to new territory. Keep the firefighters in your thoughts as all these fires continue to burn out of control.

Thanks Pattie, Lauren, Scott and Frances for being my friends and taking time from your hectic schedules to play and thank you to all the firefighters who are putting their lives on the line to protect us everyday!

Joan