projects from artfest

this is the project i did in Traci Bautista's class. we did lots of painting, stenciling, doodling and drawing. it was a great class and her knowledge of products was really amazing.



and this was my project from Karen O'brien's class. we collaged on a record album and then painted using golden paints. it was a really informative class on using golden paints and the different types that they carry and how to achieve a "layered" look.

Artfest 2010

Well, another successful and extremely fun art event under my belt. lots of laughs, shopping, eating good food, art, margarita's, antiquing, beauty, beach combing, photography and lastly, much friendship.

spring cleaning

i did some spring cleaning around the house the other day. moved some things around, dusted, swept, redress a manikin - you know fun stuff like that! but it's always good to freshen and change things up a bit.




here's a little vignette in my living room showcasing my Louis Sherry candy tins. Louis Sherry was a confectioner and hotelier during the Gilded Age. His name is typically associated with an upscale brand of candy and ice cream. my sister and i have been collecting them ever since i moved here and we found some at a flea market. i see them quite often at the flea markets still and they usually run a few bucks. i still have one more smaller size that sits on top, but it's in use right now. (they are great for holding crafty choctchkey stuff.) i also have one Louis Sherry tea tin. it is the only one i have ever seen; so his foray into tea must have been limited. (don't mind the blanket on the floor, it's my tacky draft dodger.)

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my "wallpaper people" art piece from Artfest 2 years ago. It was made in Anahata Katkin's class. it's been in a back room, kind of hidden away, since i couldn't find anywhere to display it. well as i started cleaning, i rearranged the stuff hanging on this wall to make room for it. i added a vintage spring hat to the top for fun. i also pimped it up a bit by sewing some sari silk into it and tying a bell at the end.

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don't you just love this boat? it reminds of Max's boat from "Where the wild things are". Stephanie Lee created it and i bought it at vendor night at Artnsoul in Las Vegas. it is so sweet and really adds even more charm to my house! i filled it with marbles to add more texture and color. i'm very glad it came home with me.

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here's the manikin that got a mini makeover. she was upstairs in my room and had been wearing the same outfit for a few years (how gauche!) so i changed her up a bit adding this awesome crinoline skirt (i use to wear it as it is funky and fun, but it is very fragile). i also topped her off with this vintage equestrian riding helmet that i got at the Country Living Fair in September. her necklace, by me, was made in a Sally Jean Alexander class.

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i have four spots left in Pamela Huntington's fabric journal class being held here at Lemoncholy's Studio on Saturday May 1st. email me for more details at keeshagirl4@aol.com or read the post here. this class promises to be a lot of fun, so hope you can join us! when i return from Artfest, i'll be posting my summer schedule of upcoming classes. i'm thinking of also doing some shorter classes, more in a make-in-take fashion, for those of you with busy schedules.

off to artfest tomorrow

tomorrow i head to West Chester, Pa to spend the night with my girlfriend, Leslie Marsh. her studio was recently in one of the studio mags (sorry, can't remember which one!) but i've been told it is gorgeous and can't wait to see it for myself! then tuesday morning, we are flying out together (that'll be fun!) to Seattle where we will meet up with friends keli and jen. (although, sadly, jen's beloved gram just passed away, so she might not be coming). We plan to take a little drive from Seattle to Sumner, Washington before hitting the town of Port Townsend. We check in for classes on Wednesday and classes begin on Thursday.

the necklace above was my attempt to bring some mosaic into my jewelry. i loved how it turned out. and since i have plenty of vintage china about - it'll be fun to experiment more after i return.

filigree soldered pendant - class photos

what a great class today! the weather was absolutely stunning, which in turn made us all happy! and when we are happy, creating and art is a win win situation! everyone made wonderful pendants and i just love the creativity everyone added to their own piece. i will be teaching this class again either mid may or early june - so keep your eyes on the schedule (see side bar, right side for class events).

Dames Ball

Dillon and his girlfriend, Alana, attended Wall High School's Dames Ball tonight. it was suppose to be held a few weeks ago, but got canceled due to yet another snow storm. i love the colors of her dress and how well me and him did picking out his shirt to coordinate! her mom special ordered these flowers for the corsage and boutonniere and i think they are fantastic!

new work and Paws for Charity 2010

i call her "pastry tip" girl. she's actually kind of big for a necklace, but i really wanted to use this really cool vintage pastry/cake decorating tip. it has a really cool patina to it. i used my engraver and engraved some design around it as well. i have some more in the works. not as big as her, but still big! i'll take them pics later!
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these are some earrings i am working on to sell at Art Opera, which is coming up in a few weeks. On Saturday, April 10, there is a vendor faire from 10-5 as part of the event. unfortunately i do not any more details than that, but as soon as i know, i'll post the location.
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i just wanted to show my submission for 2010's "Paws for Charity" book. i call it paper mosaics, which i used to do a lot of (along with mosaics). i use to paint wood toy chests and then do a paper mosaic on the top of them. they were cool. and i also used to do a lot of mosaics using shabby chic-ish vintage china, but i stopped doing them as they are hard to sell. (although i did sell all my big mosaic mirrors, so that was nice). i am working on incorporating some vintage china pieces into my jewelry and will be working on some mixed media mosaic pieces as well (just a few small things) to play around. it's fun to experiment.

finished projects from Vegas

this is my completed project from one of Stephanie Lee's class in Vegas. i made the birdhouse in class and then finished the rest of it at home.
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and this is what i made in one of Jane Wynn's classes. i had a bit of time getting the plexi glass into my bezel, which was a bit wonky - but i think it turned out ok, after jane worked some magic with her vise!

Learn how to solder class April 18th

save the date!

an intro on how to solder will be held here at Lemoncholy's Studio on Sunday, April 18th from 1:00-5:00. email me at keeshagirl4@aol.com for more information.

creativity at work

have you ever bought something just because you really liked it? no clue about what you would do with it once you got home, but it was just something that appealed to you? well i did that with this old wooden umbrella skeleton. it was $5 at the flea market and i just liked it. i figured for $5, what the heck. it sat around for a few weeks and then one day when i was organizing things i picked it up and started walking around my room with it. then for some reason i thought, well, i'll hang it upside and then put stuff on it. At first i added my hats to it, but they didn't stay up there very well. then i tried my headbands. again, not the right thing. and then all of a sudden, i knew - i'd hang my necklaces from it and it was perfect!
i wish the pictures were better - but it was kind of hard to really capture what the umbrella looks like (it's just a thin metal wire umbrella) - but anyway, you get the idea. i love the gypsy look of it and am going to tie one of my old chiffon scarves up a little higher on the wooden handle.
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if you missed yesterday's post, I posted a new class for my first guest artist, Pamela Huntington. you can read about it here. 4 seats have already been sold!

Guest Artist coming to Lemoncholy's Studio!

On Saturday, May 1st, Lemoncholy's Studio will be hosting its first guest artist. come meet the very talented, Pamela Huntington, who will be teaching her hugely popular Wonderland journal to us. I specifically sought out Pam to be my first guest artist as she is a wonderful teacher, her projects are so much fun to create and we will learn much! Pam is a very sweet and giving individual and I welcome her warmly to Lemoncholy's Studio. please email me at keeshagirl4@aol.com for more information.

date: Sat. May 1st
time: 11:30-5:00
cost: $85 plus a $15 kit fee
location: 1606 oxford lane
wall, nj 07719

A Wonderland Journal with Pamela Huntington

Did you ever wonder what Alice’s Journal of her
Wonderland Journey might have looked like? In this class we
will create a magical, whimsy filled fabric journal of her( or
your) adventures. “What is the use of a book, thought Alice,
without pictures or conversations”. We will create a book
filled with pictures and visual conversations. Stuffed with
adventure and lace. All sorts of ideas for creating a rich
layered page will be explored. Including stamping on velvet
and gel transfers onto different surfaces and using organza to
make an ethereal looking fabric collage on a page. To
embellish the cover we will create a resin filled bezel
containing a tiny collage and, or charm. This will be a day of
fun creating and adventure. And if the Alice theme is not your
pleasure, bring your own ideas and pictures for your journal.
The journal is approximately 5 x 7 and as stuffed with
fun as we can possibly make it!

a little more on Pam:

Pamela Huntington
Left New York City many years ago and landed
like Alice in a sort of strange wonderland deep in the
woods of Connecticut. Immediately, she began to
look for haunting flights of fancy, curious old recipes, vintage oddities and ephemeral pages stashed in old
cupboards. And that is where the folly began…mixed media, collage, handmade books, tiny theaters began to
fill the house in the woods… objects of everyday tucked
into shadowboxes taking on the patina of age, tiny
beeswax creations adorning the library of imagination and so on…to be continued.. In the meantime finished works available in various galleries and published in
Cloth Paper Scissors, Somerset Studio:

find more about Pam here:
http://www.pamelahuntington.typepad.com
http://www.pamelahuntington.com

the rest of Vegas

here's a pretty picture of Z overlooking Bellagio's water fountain with Paris behind her.

Pam, Z and i went to see "Love" one evening at The Mirage. what an amazing show! (the dark pics are my illegal camera use before the show. it didn't take long before i was told to stop!)

random photo shots around the event. Z and i bought souvenier Eiffel towers that held 64 oz of margarita's. yikes! they were heavy and it wasn't long before my hand was freezing from holding it like a baby!

More pics of Bellagio's garden area and fountain show when Z and i stopped by after seeing Love. (if you look closely, there is a rare photo of me wearing my glasses)

one evening, Pam and her husband, Ben, took Z and i to dinner at Bolero inside the Wynn hotel. what an incredible meal! it was such a lovely evening and then got better when we were handed free tickets to see La Reve (the dream). i had no clue what we were going to see and sort of thought we were walking into some comedy club scene (which i despise!). however, i was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a show very similar to "O". it was a beautiful show and i loved the whole aspect of their use of water. what a lucky night!

more from Vegas

ok, trying to catch up with my blogging! before vendor night at Artnsoul in Vegas, there was a tea party with games, festivities and a fashion show. the fashion show was themed "pocket skirt" - and a few of the girls whipped up their version of a pocket skirt and then modeled them for us. it was really fun and i admire their spirit! also, the doodad to decorate this year was a teapot, so there was a table outside where all participants had decorated their teapots. there was some really cool ones! i liked the cheshire cat especially. you could barely tell it was a teapot after she was done altering it!

weekend fun

this past weekend, my girlfriend, Jane and i, got together for some art fun. she was so sweet and really spoiled me! when i got there, she gave me my "kit" and told me we were making a tote! how cool is that? my kit was full of vintage materials, hoarded lace, bakelite buttons and more! you can follow the progress of the tote, by going left to right starting at the top left of the collage. (there also might be a visit or two with Gypsy the cat, or Pooter, her tiny little chihuahua). the second to the last photo is me trying to turn my tote from wrong side out to right side in. we were laughing because the instructions says, "now here comes the fun part" and i said, "i'm not sure this is very fun trying to get this whole bag thru the tiny opening!" the only issue i ended up having was one of the pockets that i worked so hard on - i ended up sewing it on upside down! typical kecia maneuver!

anyway, we had lots of fun. although, i can't say that i was very helpful, as following patterns or reading directions are not my strong suit!

next, i will be hosting jane here for some art fun. i've already got our project lined up and am putting her kit together!
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i still have more posting to do on my vegas/cali trip; but i've fallen a tad behind! after getting back from jane's, i went into full spring cleaning mode since i have badly neglected my housekeeping duties. i also did some major purging, reorganizing of my studio and moved my sewing area downstairs into the basement. (got a little motivated by jane's clean and spacious workspace!) i worked my buns off for two days and feel like this place is clean, my studio and sewing area are organized and i can move ahead. isn't that what spring is all about?

here's a bookcase i got at the flea market on Sunday. it was built by this guy Steve, whom i have bought a few pieces from before. he collects vintage wood and then combines them into potting tables, bookcases, etc. it was the perfect size for this space in my studio. the room is kind of narrow, so it is hard to get a good pic, but these will give you the idea.

Bellagio walking tour

after my dad left to go back home, i grabbed a cab from Luxor and headed over to Paris, where i was checking in for 5 days to attend the art retreat, Artnsoul. It was only 10am, but i got to check in - so i was happy about that. i dropped off all my stuff and then i saw our view. we had an incredible view of the Eiffel tower overlooking the pool. i thought it was really pretty.

so i headed over to the check in area for the retreat and ran into a few friends. they recommended that i head over to the Bellagio and check out the hotel lobby and garden area.

so that is what i did. it was a beautiful day, so i headed out in the sunshine and made the walk over to Bellagio. if you've never seen the Bellagio, you must someday! it is simply gorgeous and surrounded by a huge body of water, which is where the fountain show goes on every 15-30 minutes. i took zillions of photos over there and that was before even going inside.

inside the lobby, i was treated for an amazing display of glass flowers on the ceiling by artist Dale Chihuly. you want to talk about beautiful art! and to be displayed like that in such a grouping; it was breathtaking. also, since it was Chinese New Year, they had their garden area and front desk set up to celebrate Chinese new year. again, more beauty, creativity and much more! i enjoyed the quiet time of walking around and shooting pictures of all of it. there will be more pictures of it later, when i took my friend, Z to see it for herself.

home from Vegas

wow, i was gone for a long time! my first leg of the trip started out with spending a few days with my dad. he drove to Vegas from Fallon, Nevada (about an 8 hour ride). We stayed at the Luxor hotel and had a great time. mostly we walked around, seeing the sights in the area where we were staying. lots of walking around! it gets tiring after awhile and wears you out. also, the self parking was so far away, it was always a another long walk to get the car too! finally we found a little parking lot off to the side of our hotel that was so close to the elevators where we were getting off from our room, so we moved the car there. much better! we checked out MGM, New York, New York, Mandalay Bay (very pretty!) and Excalibur. we also walked down to check out the new city center area, but did not venture in.

while we were there, President Obama flew in and we got to see his motorcade cross the freeway. we watched the whole procession from our hotel window and counted 26 cars and motorcycles in the convoy!

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also, i'm having a class here at Lemoncholy's Studio on Saturday, March 20th. you can read about it here. two spots are sold already!

March class- filigree soldered pendant

Join me on Saturday, March 20th as we learn how to take vintage components such as filigree, tintype photos, rhinestones and iconic medallions to create a unique, one-of-a-kind necklace. We will be some light component soldering. We will also discover ways to attach different elements and embellishments and then i will demonstrate how to pour resin as the final step to your pieces. All items will be supplied for this class and seating is very limited. email me at keeshagirl4@aol.com with questions.