Sweet Tweet reminder

Tweeeeeet Tweeeeeeeeet Tweeeeeeet
Like it?

Yes, I am putting a little "tweet" in your ear to remind you that your journal

page is due on Feb 14th. Quite a few of you have already responded and sent
in your pages but there are those that have not.... Not to worry, you have time
and we have time but sometimes we all need a little nudge. tee hee. (me included)
As a little "tweet", I am sharing one of our entries from Lea Nickless.

Lea lives in Miami and frequents her little cabin in the mountains here in Saluda and creates
out of her studio here as well. She has such a light hearted, easy going artistic
spirit and it is always a joy to be around her. Her journal page definitely reflects
the clarity of her colors in which she works.
Remember to sign your page and include your blog or facebook so we can all
be connected.

Preparing for Patti Digh

Come in, come in, come in and visit us at Random Arts....
Take the full tour of all that we offer. Take a creative workshop, play for a day,
learn a new technique,
soak up the creative juices,
hear inspiring words from
highly creative instructors & authors
listen. . . . . .

Enter Here

Ooooooooops

I am feeling a little red faced after my dear friend Denise told me that
I had the incorrect link to Arts for Life. You can click here for the correct
link for this worthy non profit organization. My apologies to
everyone involved and for inserting the wrong link. Gosh, if it's not
one thing it's another.

Smile! You're on face book!

Yes, do it! Be a facebook friend
with ME.
How artistic can you get?
Each day you can be someone else, or crazier than the last day.
How about it?
wanna join?

Flower Power

FLOWER Power?
You bet, just ask Doni Jordan what power she
has when she uses her "hippie" sewing machine
to create art.

See those original hippie flowers
painted on her sewing machine?

After laughing hysterically about the kind of sewing machines that we used for this class, our theme became " we don't need no stinkin' Bernina". No offense Bernina, we love you but our type of sewing was far less complicated than anyone who uses a Bernina could ever imagine.

Janette Grassi chose a neutral color palette
of heavy weight fabrics for a "one of a kind"
woven book. We had such a great time with Janette
as she tried & tried to make that ancient sewing machine work.
I think it needs oil. Funny how that makes all the difference.
Here is Janette's finished cover. Isn't it wonderful?



Mary Reeves thought that her old singer wouldn't do
the job but the "old Singer gal" did just fine. Mary
persevered and decided that she enjoyed making
this book so much that she wanted to make more
but not before she had her machine serviced for
additional "active duty".

Now, Doni Jordan, she's quite a seamstress when
it comes to papers, scrap fabrics and creating works of art.
Her sewing machine was a graduation present from high school
and it even has yellow and orange flowers on it. Yes! It was
made that way. How cool is that?

Jean used my little Kenmore $75. portable machine
that I can carry anywhere. She started off a little timid
but after I told her it was like riding a bike, she carried on
and finished quite a nice book cover.

Betsy Libbey used her refurbished "feather weight"
to sew her book cover together. Adorning the cover
with an Extravorganza photo transfer of herself
at 3 yrs old.

New Year ! New Winner! New Challenge!

We have a winner......for following my blog

And the lucky winner from the month of December is...
Alicia Griswold from Atlanta.

Not only is she a follower from a far off place (?), she has come to shop with us
and blogged about that experience. Thanks so much Alicia, for following and
being a part of our mixed up, mixed media, randomly altered artists. Be sure
to check out Alicia's blog, "Sending pages out to dry".

A surprise package will be heading off to Alicia shortly...



NEW Collaborative Journal Page begins now.... How about this theme "Sweet Tweets"
and our completed book filled with pages will be auctioned off on my eBay site.
Everyone gets a chance to bid on the book and the proceeds will be donated to
another good cause, to be announced later. Here's a clue... it involves the "arts".


Size 5.5" x 7"
Leave a .5" blank space along the left side for binding
Vertical please, 5.5" side to side
7 inches top to bottom
Feeling artsy? do both sides or not -it's up to you.
You can journal, draw, paste, paint, stamp, sew, rust
alter, wax, doodle, etc etc etc. Remember my rule from
the very beginning? There are no rules. (well maybe a few)
Please sign your page and maybe include your email if you want "praise".
Deadline Feb 14th, 2009

I will be sending out a "sweet tweet" to everyone interested in being
a part of this.
Remember, request a packet ONLY if you plan to follow through with
sending in a journal page & I will need your mailing address.

Our last response was almost 95% which is unbelievable, so let's keep
up the great track record and follow through with your page.
It's only one (1) page and I cannot wait to send out my "sweet tweet" to you.

FRIDAYS "UNFINISHED" FOR FREE
Each Friday during January and February we will be offering
an all day, first come first serve, (by reservation only) limited to 6,
"finish a project play day".Contact me by email to reserve your space.

Home for the holidays

Home is not Hawaii or anywhere else that's really warm....
It's Chicago.
So, don't be envious of my holidays away from Saluda.
I don't even know if I have enough warm clothes to
deal with this anymore.

Don't you just love the way the AT&T Cloud looks with snow?
There is something to be said about seeing all
these wondrous, white, powdery flakes ... from afar.
Up close and personal - it's cold & wet & blustery & freezing.
It's only 6 above here today, with
wind chills of -20.

There must be some indoor activities somewhere in
this big big city.
Shopping anyone?
Eating Chicago Pizza at, let's say Lou Malnottis?

How about watching the Chicago Bears football
at a sports bar, just like the olden days?
Warming up with some irish coffee?
Now you can get envious. GO BEARS!

Holiday Schedule & more

Happy Holidays from all of us
at
Random Arts in Saluda

We will be closed from Wed. Dec. 24th through Friday, Jan 2nd.
Re-opening on Sat. Jan. 3rd, 2009.
Have a wonderful holiday & many thanks
to all of you who have continued to support us
throughout the years.

Best wishes to everyone
for a peaceful, healthy and prosperous new year.



Now, check this out!

Coming Soon...
Jan/Feb issue of Cloth Paper Scissors
In this next issue, you will find -

• Projects that incorporate paper, fabric, and hand and machine stitching, plus collage, painting, journaling, encaustic art, and a "green" approach (with recycled items).

• Painted quilts—an intriguing and strikingly successful method for readers interested in a shortcut to making quilts.

• A how-to article on making charms that includes hints for hosting a charm swap

• Special Valentine's projects including painted and collaged heart magnets, embroidered and collaged mail art, and a wonderfully creative yet simple fabric book (the pages are pockets for holding tiny treasures).

• An Artist Profile introducing readers to an artist from Australia who wet felts a delightful array of projects in glorious color combinations.
Details about the next reader challenge "Life's a Beach!"

Patti Brady's new book is here!

Acrylic can mimic oil paint, watercolor, gouache and encaustic; it can be applied in

subtle transparent washes, or troweled as a heavy thick impasto; it can be as

transparent as glass or as dense and black as tar. Because of its ever-changing state,

Patti Brady is covering the most popular techniques for acrylic, making them

accessible to the contemporary artist through a variety of mini-demonstrations

followed by full demonstrations that show how to transform those techniques into

finished paintings.

Want a copy of your own?
Available here and shipping is FREE.

An amazing body of work

One of our favorite customers, talented artist and friend, Lea Nickless of Miami, FL and of Saluda,opened at a one woman show at Freedom Tower in Miami.
Her body of work focuses on
"the book, as art" and can be seen there through January 31st, 2009.

One of my favorite pieces is Angst which can be seen on her blog,
Bound Unbound
Check it out and tell us what you think.

Here are few pictures of her work at it is shown at the gallery. Doesn't it look amazing?

2 RANDOM WINNERS

Thanks to all of you who commented about your
journaling experience & inspiration on my blog.

I'm sure that each and everyone of us has
gained some insight as to what we can do
to continue our journey with pen in hand.

Unfortunately, only 2 journals are
available which means only 2 winners.
So, with that said.....

The drum roll please.........................ratatatatatat
After adding all the names to the hat
2 were chosen at random and the winners are:
Debbie Crane
and
Patti Edmon.

Congrats to both of them. Now all I need is a mailing
address and your journal will be mailed
out to you. Included in each journal
is a questionnaire that each of you need to
read and complete after you have, of course, done some sketching
and journaling.
Any questions, let me know.

Holiday Gift Ideas

The Holidays are just around the corner
and we can help you decide on the right
gift for all the creative friends or family in your life.
We have lots of books just waiting for
you to choose from including
more. . .

Tim Holtz Grungeboard is 50% off




The shop is festively decorated and waiting for
your visit. We're ready for you with
new products, new ideas and inspiration for
last minute gifts, holiday cards, tags & wrapping.

Don't forget that Friday Dec 12th from 6-8 is
Saluda Hometown Christmas.

Inside scoop on the $500. book

Yes, it is now called the $500. book,
but it wouldn't even be a book now if it weren't
for my good friend, fabulous artist and book binder,
Meg Fowler.

It starts with looking at all the journal pages
came in to us - 75 in all.

Here you can see where we began to sew
all the pages together using tyvek
and the sewing machine.

Meg's thought process had to include
all the pages needed to be bound, including
the pages that were double sided and those that
were created in a horizontal manner.


Then there were those that were bigger
than the 5 x 7 size. That led to other
issues... like what kind of binding
does one use on a book this big?
How about, what kind of
cover do we put on this book?
Here's Jen creating the cover with
strips of coordinated cotton fabrics,
that were woven, attached to fusible web,
covered with organdy and then distressed.
Meg added her own upholstery fabric
sandwich for the spine and 14 hours
later it became a book with hand sewn
signatures, completely bound.

So, why is it called the $500 book?

Because some random person was bidding against me
at the Senior Center Silent Auction and there
was nothing left for me to do but... bid on & on & on!
and to support a really really really good organization.
The Saluda Senior/Community Center

The GIVE-A-WAY continues...

Win a journal from a national
manufacturer of art supplies!!!

Do you Doodle?
Draw?
Sketch?
Journal?
Do you do all of the above?
Read on to win. . .

You still have the opportunity to leave a comment on why you journal, what you journal, when you journal etc etc etc. .Why do this? Simply because you might win a brand new hard cover journal from us.

Journal page found here

Here's another one....
We are doing some market research for an international corporation/ manufacturer of art supplies and THEY want to know what we think of their new product.

So, in order to do that we are going to offer 2 journals to 2 lucky winners who respond.
We will do a general drawing, picking 2 names out of the "proverbial bag".
Here is the plan. . .
Comment on our blog why you like to journal, what inspires you to journal, what books you
have read to energize and inspire you and what changes journaling has made in your life.
You have until Dec. 10th to comment on this "call for journal keepers"

This one is mine... I love this one with the white pen, the stamped roof, the black border.

It's a Give-a-way

Do you journal, sketch, draw, watercolor,
paint or just plain doodle?

We are doing some market research for an international corporation/ manufacturer of art supplies and THEY want to know what we think of their new product.

So, in order to do that we are going to offer 2 journals to 2 lucky winners who respond.
We will do a general drawing, picking 2 names out of the "proverbial bag".
Here is the plan. . .
Comment on our blog why you like to journal, what inspires you to journal, what books you
have read to energize and inspire you and what changes journaling has made in your life.
You have until Dec. 10th to comment on this "call for journal keepers".

( I found this interesting journal page by starrgirlsworld.blogspot.com)

There is one rule, and one rule only if you are the lucky winners:

After you do your daily journaling/sketching/etc

in this journal, you are going to complete the questionnaire that is included in the journal
The manufacturer wants your feedback on what you think of their product. If you are willing to
do this then this is the right project for you.

Want to try some "online" doodling?
or
here?

Stop!
It's time to comment on your personal journaling experience and
win a Free hardcover unlined journal.

Comment now . . .