Artfest is almost here

I leave for Seattle in two weeks for Artfest, so i've been busy packing supplies, clothes, stuff for vendor night. I'm always so paranoid i'm going to forget something important. I put a message out in the yahoo group if someone locally would loan me a vintage suitcase for vendor night and i ended up hooking up with this sweet girl, Michelle, who is driving her camper to Artfest and is bringing me not only a suitcase or two, but a table top manikin (for vendor night) and some extension cords for my class. how cool is that? i made her a necklace to say thank you. I love how people are always so willing to pitch in. So that's what i have been up to.

here are some pictures of things i've created to sell vendor night, along with some jewelry and junk:

Tomorrow is Dillon's 18th birthday. I am almost speechless that he is turning 18. where has the time gone?

also, Jane is coming down on Friday and we are going to play and then go see Dillon perform as Kinicki in Wall High's version of Grease. can't wait to see his "Grease Lightening" number! i'm excited to share my sons talents with Jane!

p.s.
i'm 20 followers away from hitting 500. i think i should do something special. what do you think? any cause for celebration, i always say!

Speaking of classes - Wings of Love

This was one of my projects from Jen Cushman's book, Resinate. So come spend the day with me at Art in The Garden in West Chester, New York as we recreate these in our own fashion.

date: Sunday, July 17th

Soldered metal book class with Leslie Marsh

Next Month, Leslie is on her way to California to teach at Gilding the Lily and after staying with her a few weeks ago, I said, "well, while you're at it, why don't you come back to NJ, to my house to teach us more book binding". Happily she has agreed! We had a wonderful time with her last summer (despite of the rain), so if you missed out before, here's your chance!

The Art of Coptic Bound Metal Books Mixed-media artist Leslie Marsh will guide an intimate class through the process of coating (with solder) metal plates, then adding other elements (i.e. metal findings, chain, bezels) to create small (2”x3”), one-of-a-kind works of art, to be bound — using a timeless Coptic technique — as the covers of exquisite blank books. These little gems will constitute the basis of photo albums or journals. Or perhaps the book will stand alone as an object d’art!

• Supplied for the class are: metal for covers, solder, flux, antiquing solution, paper and waxed linen thread, needles, head pins, jump rings, chain and clasp for closure, eyelets and beads. • If you have them, please bring a butane (kitchen) torch, tile or solderite pad to solder on, eyelet setting tool, jewelers hammer, jewelry pliers and bench block. If you don’t have any of these items, don’t worry. I’ll bring some to share. *I will have available for purchase ($10) the exact filigree elements used in the sample. If you don’t want to purchase these two pieces, please bring your own embellishments, keeping in mind that they cannot be made from pewter and that the covers are 2” by 3”.

Bio: Mixed-media artist Leslie Marsh binds color, paper, metal, and well, anything into a framework of personal expression. Using centuries-old binding techniques, her books become repositories for memories, snapshots, and inner thoughts. Her passion for books includes an extensive personal collection of current and antique titles.

details:

date: Saturday July 9th
time: 11:00-5:00
fee: $75
location: 1606 Oxford Lane
Wall, NJ 07719
**limited seating**

you can email me at : keeshagirl4@aol.com

Silver Sunday

Whoops, i'm a day behind for Silver Sunday, but that's okay. And actually i don't even have any silver to show you this week. But i have a couple of funny pictures to show you from when i met Beth (the host of Silver Sunday) at the flea market and we were fighting over a vintage goblet. We decided a little old vintage goblet wasn't worth fighting over.

**so who got the goblet? neither- we both decided to walk away. however, i went back a few minutes later and it was "gone" - hmmmmm, wonder who bought it?**

new to blogging?

I appreciate those of you who take the time to comment or email me with your questions. I'm glad you feel that you can confide in me or that I have somehow inspired you. Frequently I am asked a lot of blogging questions, so today I thought i'd share some resources I found on the net. These resources are full of information, more sources, tips, secrets and tutorials.

You can either put together your blog by yourself or you can pay someone to help you add columns, with design and more. Originally when I started my blog, my blog was on yahoo. Then as my blogging skills grew and my blog got bigger, I realized that I needed to move it. The biggest choices are between Blogger and Typepad; although I know there are many other blogging platforms. I decided to go with Blogger as I felt it was a littler more user friendly.

So once you chose your platform, I suggest, as I did, to go to yahoo or google and start putting in all sort of search words and see what comes up. you can search things like: Blogger + tips and secrets, or Blogger Tips or Blogger Secrets. Even things like: free Blogger templates. You will be amazed at what you can find. Then start yourself a little notebook and jot down things that you like or copy/paste things into a file to reference later.

Another thing to consider is what you want to call your blog. It can be your business name, your name or something that catches your fancy. In hindsight now, I wish I had called my blog with my name. But for now it will remain as is as I feel consistency is extremely important and Lemoncholy's is definitely associated immediately with my name.

To me one of the biggest things that I enjoy in a blog are the photos and in big size. If photos are tiny and the font is tiny, I feel like I can't really appreciate what it is I am looking at (remember at our age, for the eyes, bigger is indeed better!) I think most people are more visual and grabbing them with a pretty or interesting photo is key. If you aren't sure how to bring a photo into your blog, again, hit the net and search: uploading a photo into Blogger. trust me the information is out there. Another key resource is Youtube. whenever I need to figure out how to do something, I search youtube for a video and usually there is a few out there. So take advantage of these resources!

** another thing I recommend is that if you see a blog that you like, take a second to figure out what is it that you find appealing. Is it her graphics, her layout, her template, photography, 3 columns, 2 columns, etc. often times if it was designed by someone, the designer will have a button somewhere on the blog. this might help you formulate a starting place for your ideas.

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here are some cool resources i found for you:

Blogger Tips -

this one even has a great section on the right side for FAQ's.

Building Beautiful Blogs-

Karen Valentine, who hosts, "Where Bloggers Create" also does blog design. I've had her do a couple of things for me and she does great work. She's also created a wonderful book that shares all her tips, tricks and information to help the new blogger navigate through Blogger. I'm looking forward to receiving my copy because I bet you anything there are things in there that i didn't even know!

Cozy Little House-
blog tips on Mondays and tutorials

Jodie R. LeJeune
starting a blog 101

photo blogging tips

Gail Schmidt -
custom graphics. Gail is a friend of mine and is amazing to work with (and very patient!). She helps you get your idea into words!

Itkupilli-
fun and funky free backgrounds- great eye candy!

so that's a start! also, if anyone has any super great blogging tips, why don't you share them with a comment here for us to read!