Mirror, mirror on the wall

Yes, I will be the fairest of them all when my lovely new pendent arrives from Remarkably Red!





It looks gorgeous in this picture but I've seen it in person and it is even more fair. And if that wasn't reason enough for me to be happy, Charlisa now has her own blog! Check out Through the Clouded Glass.

Oh what fun!

When I picked up supplies Friday, Beth told me we were the first to have a Splatters Platters party. Both Tiffany and Beth are waiting to see how things went for us. I am very happy to report that the party was a big success! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did painting, talking, and eating. The only sad note for the day is that Anne was not able to stay with us. Our love and thoughts are with you and your family, Anne! I am glad you are still able to paint a platter so you don't feel left out. I'm posting results from this morning's efforts. Well, the painting that is. The efforts that went into the delicious potluck are sadly not shown but were very yummy! Thank each and every one of you for making this a successful fundraiser for the Centers and for contributing to a wonderful Saturday for me! It was an awesome day. : )

We need a few more painters to benefit the Center for Youth and Families

If I counted correctly, we have 6 potential participants for our Splatters Platters party (Lisa, Denise, Anne, Janna, Bethany, and me) but we still need at least 4 more to schedule a party. Does anyone know someone they'd like to invite to participate? I'm looking at Saturday, August 2, if we can find a few more painters in time to get the party on their calendar. I'll plan to pick things up at the Firefly Studio and make something good for us to eat while we have a fun day painting.

I checked with Tiffany and she said painting platters for our party would be fine. She also explained the auction:

The pottery painted from our Splatters Platters Parties are not included in the auction at Splatters. Since it costs $35 per person, this includes the cost of the pottery, glazing, firing and each person keeps their piece of painted pottery. However, if someone wants to participate in the auction part of Splatters, then they will complete the Artist Information Form and return to me. They can go to the Firefly Studio and choose between 2 styles of platters (styles were chosen by the Art & Auction Chairs) to paint. Since the artist is donating their time to provide something to our auction at Splatters, there is no cost to the artist. All these platters painted by the
artists are included in the silent auction.

Let's plan a party

How does early August look for a Splatters Platters party? I received a follow up e-mail from Tiffany with details about scheduling a party at the Firefly Studio.

Here's the highlights

• Parties should be scheduled 3 to 4 weeks in advance to assure supplies are available.
• We need 10 to 16 participants who agree to have all proceeds from the party directed to The Centers for Youth and Families.
• The cost to participate is $35/person
• There can be no parties on Saturday at the Firefly Studio.
• The Centers will send a thank you letter stating the charitable portion of their gift to each person who participates.
• Each guest keeps the piece they paint. They may pick it up from The Firefly Studio once it has gone through the firing process.

The party can actually be held somewhere other than Firefly Studio if the host picks up the pieces, paints, and tools and returns them to be fired. Since we’ll need a large group to participate and this could be a messy endeavor, I figure it's easier to go to Firefly unless we need the party to be on a Saturday. In that case, I’ll make arrangements to pick things up and we can plan to paint at my house.

Tiffany recommends having a theme for the party and suggested several really good ones. We can do one of these, think of our own, or keep it simple and just enjoying talking while we paint. We would provide the refreshments and other goodies for our party.

Ideas they recommend:

• Wine and Cheese Party – personalize your own wine glass or paint a cheese platter. Invite a wine expert to come and talk about wine. Serve wine and cheese.
• Beer Party – paint a beer stein and have a demonstration by Diamond Bear Brewery. Serve Beer and Pretzels.
• Garden Party – paint a planter and invite your garden club and a master gardener to speak. Serve fun snacks.
• Holiday Party – paint a holiday ornament, plate for Santa, etc. Use red, green and white paint. Serve holiday food.
• Ice Cream Party – paint an ice cream cone or bowl and serve/build your own sundaes.
• Tea Party – paint a tea pot. Host your own tea party.
• Popcorn Party – paint a bowl for popcorn, serve popcorn and sodas, show a movie.
• Princess Party – paint a princess crown. Have guests wear crowns and they can be a princess for a day.

Let me know how August looks for you and if you have any ideas for our party.

Hope you each enjoy a celebration of our independence today. May our troops be blessed and safe until they are home at last.

I've been tagged!

Six unimportant things about me:

• I hate to back up files. Being OCD, I'm always anxious something will be left out, won't work later, etc.
• I am a terrible procrastinator especially if I don't feel I have time to do things the way I want them done.
• I wear my retainer almost every night since I paid for braces and suffered through wearing them as an adult.
• Mascara makes my eyes itch.
• My work space is currently in a mess which makes me feel uncreative.
• My contacts decided to self destruct today, which made the commute home very interesting. I'm happy to report I did arrive safely, though.

Model Magic

Have you seen this stuff from Crayola? My sister gave me left-overs from my niece's school project. It's cheap, comes in different colors, and air dries quickly. When dry, it is very light weight. It holds details pretty well, too. I know it can be colored with markers but I haven't experimented with paints yet. The problem with marker ink is slow drying time.

The little piece I colored red left smudges on my fingers and the table. Once dried, Model Magic feels kinda like foamies. It doesn't break if you drop it but it was no match for Gunner the Pomeranian's teeth. (Note the gash above the lip of this little devil, who is also missing a horn after his run in with the dog. He faired better than his model magic brethren who were all eaten.) It's non-toxic but as dogs seem to like to eat it, I'd store it high if you have pets. Create sheets with a pasta roller and it can be stamped. I'm not sure super fine details would stamp but the chunky one I used worked just fine.

Forget Me Not

I stumbled across an interesting site called photomuse from a link on the ICP Web site, which I found on The Frontal Cortex blog. I came across images from a 2005 exhibit called Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance. Take a look at some photos from the collection:

Makers unknown (American),
Portrait of a young woman with wax flower wreath,
c.1890
Albumen print, copper plate with impressed words “At Rest”, wax flowers and butterflies, woven human hair, wooden frame with glass
87.2 x 82.0 x 19.0 cm
Private Collection

Makers unknown (American),
Portrait of husband and wife on their wedding day,
c.1890
Albumen print on card (cabinet card), rosette, veil, wooden frame with glass
40.0 x 31.5 cm
Private Collection

These remind me of Denise's collages--only without witty stories or funny punchlines. See the press release from this exhibit. I really wish I could have seen this exhibit in person but the catalog will have to suffice. I can hardly wait until it arrives.