obsession cleverly disguised as a hobby...

more peeks into the bohemian's retreat weekend: a slice view of the quilters' room. or. how to cram 40 crafty women into one room... (there were some paper scrappers in there, too...) the bohemian is NOT a quilter...she prefers her papers. BUT! she drools over the quilting material!!! look at this fabulous, crazy material!!! the bohemian got this glazed look in her eyes... here are the cards the bohemian taught her class to make. they learned to emboss, use ribbon to embellish, use security envelopes' insides (hot pink cards) and basic stamping. the bohemian had a blast teaching this class.... a pink layout the bohemian created. the right-hand side was waiting for this quote: "What the heart gives away is never lost. It is kept in the hearts of others." -Robin St. John another pink layout... the bird page's quote is: "Death twitches my ear. 'Live', he says, 'I am coming.'" -Virgil the girl with the pink flower got this quote added: "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere." -Vincent Van Gogh the yellow girl page now says this: "To love and be loved is like being warmed by the sun from both sides."(not sure of author) the lovely "yellow" bear doesn't have a quote yet. any suggestions? the curious little girl's quote says: "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." -dorothy parker the lovely Victorian lady's quote says: "Let us savor the fleeting delights of our most beautiful days." -Alphonse de Lamartine and an ORANGE page... the bohemian LOVES the color orange so much!!! she added the quote: "A man's life is dyed the color of his imagination" (also unsure of author) in the orange oval around the sitting girl...the bohemian and her roommate's messy space... but they got so much accomplished! and all of it was fun, fun, fun!!! hope you have an extremely fun time CREATING today! see you tomorrow for more retreat fun...(hint: costumes! tee hee!)

she made some magic....

ooooh! lights, camera, action... the bohhemian regrets she didn't take the prerequisite "before" picture. this is truly a bare and empty space...kind of like a grade school cafeteria stage in the olden days (back when the bohemian was in grade school in an old outdated wooden building). so they put up curtains and lights and glitz and glam and.... voila! they're in hollywood at an awards ceremony! our bohemian was given cardboard tubes and instructed to "make marble columns". uhhum. never having marbled anything but paper, which you lay into the marbling, our bohemian was a bit stumped. she painted the tubes with 3 tones of brown. yuck. so she layered on some beige glaze. better. and then the magic happened again... the gold! oh! the gold just made it happen! she was very happy with how they turned out. hollywood background plastic... a little glittery skirting... mmmmm. yes. it's all coming together! then look who showed up to show off her pearls!!! and look who ELSE showed up! oh, it was shagalicious!!! a favorite quote: "i love my life, that's why i decorate it". yep, that's true. i LOVE decorating and had a blast doing it. i hope you decorate your life with the things you love. more of the tale tomorrow... about the creating... and about the awards night... tee hee...

she retreated into craft world...

the bohemian awoke to an early day's dawning. 5am...where's her COFFEE?! her honey whisked her away in his car to a crafty friend's house where the two friends loaded down the friend's car to the rooftop with their craft STUFF and off they drove into the pink morning... when the road ran out, they drove straight onto the ferry boat... for a very rocky ride to the other side of the water... oh, a quick stop at the CLEVER gift store... and the crepery for MUCH needed java... while the quilters bought out the quilt shop... and then they arrived! let the crafting begin!!!!! oh but first there are things to be done. move in and make the dorm "homey"... that's our bohemian's digs there to the far right. sad, sad room, eh? oh but wait... wait for it... ah.... a little home-away-from-home! and... what a luxury to get out craft STUFF and just leave it out, strung all over, for 4 whole days!!!! our bohemian will show you how they "transformed" this place into a magic craftworld AND a HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.... tomorrow.... blessings upon you this fine day. have you crafted yet today? hope so! see you tomorrow...

it's a new day... a new year. our bohemian's craft retreat weekend is coming quickly! she is one excited bohemian... she agreed to teach a card-making class. hmmm... lots of planning, lots of organizing, lots of cutting to make kits... her dining room table has become an assembly line production workspace. here's a tri-fold card she made for her 17 yr old daughter: there sure has been wonderful morning sky shows around here lately!!! that's on the days its not raining here in the northwest. morning splendor. our bohemian can't stop smiling when she sees these skies. and she is definitely NOT a morning person!! but coffee and a brilliant sunrise, and VIOLA! she's like a morning person... a lovely orange daily journal page: and a fun bauble dangling in the window of her craft room: her stained glass snowflake catching light in the window (excuse the "party lights" in the picture...if she calls them "party lights", she can leave them up all year round, right? of course right!) happy january winter wishes to all... may you have your pleasure of snowflakes or sunshine, whichever you prefer. remember the golden rule and remember its our turn...

new pages...

changing to a new year. changing seasons. snowmen are slowly replacing the christmas decorations around here. the bohemian can't stand to take down the christmas decorations and find the cottage bare and undecorated. so her snowman collection comes out and softens the blow... goodbye 2009, hello 2010! new daily art journal... to play in. and a christmas faerie is added to the faerie book... wishing everyone new ideas, new inspiration, new eyes to see the magic in each moment . happy new year!