Good show overall…

• Patrice was ok, but I still don’t think she’s Supernova material.
• Ryan "Dark Horse" Star [as Navarro calls him now] was very good… still surprising me every week but his intensity is a little frightening [psychotic looking sometimes LOL!]
• Magni - LOOSE THE TOQUE!! He sang great, but man… embrace the baldness and loose the toque. It looked ridiculous. [Maybe he has a really badly sun-burned head and he’s afraid to show the blistering?! Or MAYBE that’s where he got his tattoo…]
• Storm killed Crying by Aerosmith. She nailed it perfectly and was funny about the corset she was wearing LOL, as usual.
• Toby was good… he tweaked Layla and rearranged it for Supernova. The guys didn’t love the rearrangement, but did love the vocal.
• Lukas did a great job with one of my favorite Killers songs All These Things that I Have Done… but he did the back to the audience thing again! It’s not going to fly too well if he keeps that up. The boys seemed to love the performance again, but Gilby questioned the back-thing. He better watch that.
• Dilana sang Sting’s I’ll be Watching You. It was good. Not her best performance but definitely better than some of the others last night…

B3 predictions: Patrice, Magni and Lukas [because of the back-turning]
Who’s the victim of the "Hatchet man": Patrice - Buh Bye!

Well… yesterday was a great day of cultural shopping for Carmi.
We hit Ruby Dog’s Arthouse, Little India and the sari shopping district and of course, my favorite, Daiso in Aberdeen Centre in Richmond.

The saris were amazing and when you’re paying between $10-20 for 6m of gorgeous fabric how can you go wrong. Carmi’s eyes glazed over looking at the amazing fabrics and embroidery! But it was Daiso that really got her going LOL!

Daiso is the first Japanese $2 store outside of Japan, and currently the Richmond store is the only one in North America [looks like they may be expanding into the USA - Seattle market]. It’s a store filled with cute packaging; great, fun color and tons of crazy cool stuff you’d expect to find only in Japan. She had a blast, and would have bought a ton more if she wasn’t flying back to Toronto! I’m thinking there will be a shipped FEDEX box in her future tomorrow LOL.

Anyways… we’re just sorting ourselves out for the daytrip to Whistler. Terry is groggily drinking his morning cuppa’ Joe, Carmi is in the shower and I’m scanning my artwork from last night [waiting for my turn in the shower].

Looking forward to a great day!

Well… the divine Ms. C arrived safely yesterday [WITH embroidery needle in her carry-on bag no less!] and last night was a blur of dinner, chat and sleepiness.

Started out today relatively early, considering that we’re on vacation LOL, about 9:15am we left the house for Part 1 of our shopping day. We hit the usual haunts: Treasure Mart Wholesaler, Paper Ya on Granville Island, Maiwa Handprints on GIsland and a new haunt for Carmi - Capilano Rock and Gem.

Who knew Carmi, lover of paper and fiber, would turn into such a ‘rock hound’?? She’s a rock tumbling fool [in the best sense of the word]. She hunted down rocks from King Paulie Paulie’s special request list and we dug through two HUGE bins o’ rocks for more treasures. We were able to use my Wholesaler discount [thank goodness!] and left with a good haul of gem stones, wire, findings and assorted other fun stuff.

Had a great late Indian lunch at Granville Island, then were off to East Vancouver [yes I detoured through Vancouver’s seedy underbelly!] to pick up a large order of Lazertran. I’m going to be starting limited edition canvas reproductions of my original paintings… and the lazertran will be part of the finished product.

We got home at about 4pm in time for a little rest, now dinner is on the BBQ [mmm… roasting carrots smell soooooo good through the window]. Chicken is marinating, salad being tossed.

Part II of the shopping will commence soon and we’ll be heading of to Clipper Street in Langley for a good shop, then home for an evening of ATC’s and my Alphabet Journal [recently on hold due to a thumb chopping incident].

Tomorrow will provide Flying Beaver Brunch of my favorite Perogies [yum!], a long and leisurely trip to Ruby Dog’s plus a few other stops I’m sure.

Three words some up the day thus far: FUN HOLIDAY FRIENDS

Hey everyone!
Two things are happening today in my little world:

1. Ruby Dog’s Art House is having a 2nd Anniversary Celebration!
   Ruby Dog’s Art House is THE place to find authentic
   period ephemera, collage sheets, books for all art mediums, cool found
   and recycled goods, bits and bobs you can’t get anywhere else PLUS they
   offer some of the best mixed media workshops in the Greater Vancouver
   area! Get the best supplies at Ruby Dog’s for altered books, ATC’s, artist journals,
   mixed media collages and more…

   The big ‘partay’ happens on Sunday August 20th from 12:00 to 6:00pm
   at the store. All kinds of super fun and cool stuff will be happening,
   including:

   • Arts and Crafts Supplies Flea Market from 12-3pm
   • FREE Arts and Crafts demonstrations from 1-5pm
     [I’ll be demoing how to create cool faux postage from 4-4:45pm!]
   • Hourly door prize
   • Silent Art Auction of Works by local Vancouver artists [myself included!]

   Where is the party?
   The store is located at 4738 Main Street, Vancouver BC [1 1/2 blocks north of 33rd Avenue]

2. Carmi is arriving today! So what does that mean for me?
   • Lots of cleaning up
   • organizing [Carmi does this sooooo much better than me, but she’ll be proud of my revamped studio!]
   • stocked refridgerator
   • checking the air mattress for leaks [found 2 and patched them last night! damn those cats LOL!]
   • ‘fluffing’ HER bathroom with art and a little summer love
   • finishing off the bathroom mini-reno from last week
   • and just generally running around until I leave to demo at Ruby Dog’s

   The OTHER thing that means for me is that one of my dearest friends it arriving for almost a full week of fun, art and more fun! I’m so lucky to have met Carmi [through stamping of all things!] and I treasure what time we get to spend together.
   This living on opposite sides of the country will have to be addressed someday… Here are some points for consideration:

   1. our weather is better [less humidity than TO and cooler in the summer/warmer in the winter]
   2. the environment is gorgeous and lush
   3. the people are arty and downright easy-going, friendly folk
   4. she could buy agricultural land in the urban city [yes! here in Richmond] and still have loads of room for the boys [Mr.’s Shadow and Shamus]
   5. on her Ag. Land she build her dream ‘bunker’ and we’d be able to visit each other whenever we wanted
   6. Marissa and Wallace and baby Aidan will move here eventually [M you KNOW you want too!!]

Anyways… it’s a big day today full of fun, art and most of all friends. Can’t wait til you get here Carmi!! Woooo Hoooo…

Who’s Up Next: Becky arriving in 3 months from Utah for 1 week of fun at Circle Craft!

Found this silly animated gif movie on techie blog I read all the time. Since I’m a cat person I find them absolutely hilarious - maybe you will too!

This just kills me too… I stumbled across it the other day and Terry and I laughed so hard we were crying. The more we watched it, the more we laughed. So happy Friday and have a giggle on me!

This one is so good too… Ever watch the Family Guy cartoon [very NON-PC and really really funny], well watch what happens when Chris goes to the grocery store. Start the 80’s montage music please…

Just thinking about the fact that my dear friend Carmi is winging her way to Vancouver in a mere 48 hours is making me happy and anxious to leave work for the day.

You see… not only is Carmi one of my dearest friends, but it also signals the beginning of a FULL WEEK off work! With all the overtime I did in June, I accumulated enough OT to get an extra week of paid holiday time - suhweet! And for the first time in a very long time, we [Carmi and I] do NOT have an event, workshop, agenda as a cause for the visit - she is visiting ‘just because’. Love that!
Just a FUN week with no commitments to anything other than shopping, art, food and did I mention shopping?

There will probably be an excursion to Whistler BC mid-week, and hubby Terry will tag along with us. [He needs a break too!] So there will be time for fresh, cool mountain air, a gorgeous drive up the coast and a breathtaking gondola ride to the top of Whistler Mountain. It’s about 90 minutes from Vancouver, so a daytrip to the mountains will be a great mid-week diversion.

So Carmi… if you’re reading this [and I KNOW you do - since I made it up to the daily read blogs on your list] the studio is ready for you, bathroom prepped, fridge stocked [sort of LOL!] and there will be a lovely surprise for dinner on Sunday night after you arrive. Can’t wait for you to get here!

p.s. I spoke with Ruby Dog’s mom Leanne… and she’ll keep the store open after 6pm if you feel like going on Sunday night.

Just realized I neglected to post on Thursday about the Rockstar bootage! How shameful I feel… just goes to show that work ALWAYS get in the way of true obsession and fun.

Rockstar SuperNova - Week 7: Zayra booted. ‘Nuff said!

Good show last night. Everyone did really well… It’s tough to know who gets the boot tonight.

Here’s my take on last night…

• Zayra did the original song and sang in Spanish. She was really good, but it’s just not SuperNova type stuff. My guess is that she is in the bottom 3.
• 
  Lukas… loved the naughty priest look he had goin’ on. He total rocked Hero by Nickelback and was suitably praised by the boys and Navarro.
• Dilana sang Cats in the Cradle, which is a song I really don’t love… but she did it, very very well. Good for you D!
• Toby fought to sing with Gilby, to the point of running around naked on TV for Dilana. He did a favorite song of mine, Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. It was good, but not great. I don’t think he’ll be B3 but it is a possibility.
• Magni was great again, as usual, and sang a David Bowie tune Starman. He looked pretty hot too in a white suit.
• Ryan Starr sang In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins and up until Dilana sang, it was the best performance of the night. He was great and keeps improving weekly. To be honest I didn’t think he’d make it this far, but he’s doing well. He’ll probably be in the top 4.
• Patrice… she’s my pick to go home tonight. She received the most criticism and looks stressed about how she’s doing in the competition. She’s got talent, it’s just a little vanilla for the boys, with no sparkle and shine. Too bad, but I’m seeing her going home tonight.
• Storm Large got stuck with an iconic disco song and did the best she could with it. I think it’s going to drop her into the B3 tonight, but there’s no way she’s going home… not yet  anyways. I Will Survive could have been the death of Storm if she got it a few weeks down the road!

Final predictions… Storm, Patrice and Zayra in the B3
Going home: Patrice - buh bye!

It amazes me how much effort a 5′x8′ bathroom requires for a little freshening up and painting…

1. remove everything from the bathroom - ugh!
2. remove all screws, nails and other sticky-outty things from your wall surfaces
3. spackle/plaster over any holes, gouged, damaged wall area - let dry
4. sand and re-patch any areas that need more plaster
5. sand and prep ENTIRE painting surface [thank GOD we have two palm sanders… makes life much easier
6. wash ceiling of room if it’s not going to be painted
7. tack-cloth all sanded wall to remove sanding dust/debris
8. now CLEAN the bathroom so that you’re not adding dust texturizer or cat hairs to your freshly painted walls
9. tape off the areas NOT to be painted… surprisingly a lot of area in a small bathroom!
10. THEN you can start painting…
11. cut-in around all corners and edges with a good brush
12. roll on the large paint area with a foam/fleece roller
13. let dry 2 hours - repeat
14. touch up and re-paint trim areas as required…
15. put up NEW towel bars [such a big improvement with new chrome bars!]
16. re-assemble all your bathroom gear and replace everything in the bathroom that was removed

Voila… in two days you’re done! Geesh… at least it looks nice and fresh =)
Just for you Carmi… We’re always inspired to do new home improvements in time for your arrival.

Rockstar tonight at 9:00pm… can’t wait! I need a dose of T. Lee this week.
Recap will be posted tomorrow morning. Have a good night all!

So, I’m designing Kits for sale at Circle Craft… they will contain paperWERX papers, albums, themed rubberstamps, chipboard pieces and other cool stuff.

Here is an example of what you’ll be able to do with one of our 8×8 Album Kits. Let me know what you think…