Just a quick note to remind people that ARTistry registration starts on Sunday Oct 1 at 8pm PST.

Here are some reminders about how to register for ARTistry:

• We accept Visa, Mastercard and Paypal payments only
• When registering for ARTistry ‘07 you are automatically registered for all 3 days of the event.
• As

  a registered participant, you will rotate through each instructor at

  our event by taking a FULL DAY workshop program with each instructor.

• The instructor rotation is called a CYCLE. Please visit our Registration Center today to preview your Cycle options.
• Please select a Cycle based on the schedule YOU want to have.
• Once all the seats in a Cycle are sold out you will have to select an alternate Cycle.
• Our mandate for ARTistry is to create an interactive, intimate educational experience; therefore, seating for each Cycle is limited. Please register early to avoid disappointment!
• PLEASE NOTE: each Cycle currently shows as being SOLD OUT. It is NOT

  sold out… it will look like this until the seats are populated in our

  online store on Sunday October 1 at 8pm PST.

We have created a special category in our ONLINE store to serve as the REGISTRATION CENTER for people signing-up for ARTistry using either a  Paypal payment, or credit

card payment.   Registration REMINDER: if using Paypal and CC payments through our store, you will be required to pay in full.  

For

individuals wishing to pay for ARTistry 2007 using the Paypal

Subscription Option [50% at registration with the balance 50% due

February 1, 2007] please select the Mail Payment option at check-out.

Upon receiving notification that you are registering by Mail Payment,

you will be contacted by an ARTistry organizer with an email

subscription link.  You are required to complete the subscription

information within 48 hours to secure your seat at ARTistry 2007. If you fail to complete your subscription registration within the allotted time, your seat will be released.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in March 2007!

I’m sick.
sick sick sick… woke up today with a wicked headcold, stuffed nose and sore throat. add to that my lovely sty and I am truly a mess.
I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say, if I’m absent from the blog for a few days, it’s because I’m comatose from cold meds and body aches.

Catch you in a few days…

I thought I had escaped the evil eye sty on the weekend, as things look much improved on Sunday evening. Well, that was far too good to be true. It’s back and very sore and looks ugly and red.

So, I went to the doc today to get drops - which sting like hell btw - and ‘hopefully’ things will get better in the next week. If it’s not significantly better in a week, I’ll probably have to return to the evil opthamologist [i’m now is shrieking in horror at the thought!] and have to have it surgically treated.

I had this problem with the same eye [lower lid last time] in January and had to have the resulting cyst removed. OUCH! First, imagine a needle in your eyelid! I have a really high pain threshold due to my chronic migraines, but that darn needle in the eyelid nearly made me pee my pants. Yup it’s that bad. Then the resulting ickiness and more gruesomeness [which I won’t share with you] from the surgery…  and 3 weeks of a black eye. Lovely.

So… if you visit us at Circle Craft in a month, and see me with a black and blue eye, it’s because I had to have eye surgery again and yay… just in time for CC. I’ll look like I’ve been beaten up again, just like I did at CHA. Charming [NOT!].

Wish me luck folks… this hurts and I dread that needle in the eyelid.

This post is for you E. You wanted to see the befores and afters, so here it is… [along with background info for you folks who haven’t seen the ‘red-menace‘ I called a kitchen in real life]

The Kitchen… it was hideous 3 years ago when we first viewed the house before buying. It was hideous the day that we moved in and up until last year, was hideous STILL. The entire kitchen had, are you ready, RED melamine doors and drawers, white counter tops [which I hate ’cause they stain like crazy!] and  blue/grey plaid floors. I think a blind person put this kitchen together LOL.

We hated it… Terry more so because he grew up in a house with a burnt orange melamine kitchen. But, we got used to it, or should I say - learned to live with it. It was always the plan to update it and last year, 2 years after moving in, we began the process…

I did some graphic work for a carpenter/woodworker and we decided to work it out in trade. My graphic design skills/time and he would do equivalent work for us in wood [the cost of the kitchen minus the $3000 free/trade value].

So it began… Operation Fix the Kitchen began with us deciding that the cabinetry itself [the structure and counters] were in good shape, so we were only going to replace the doors and drawers.  Our kitchen is huge, we’re lucky in that respect - loads of cupboards and counter space [a friend of mine is definitely jealous LOL!] so there was no need to remove the cabinet structure. But ALL the doors and drawers had to be removed for sizing [NONE of the cabinets were standard size - which means custom custom custom] and we lived in a Seinfeld like open-concept kitchen for weeks. I hated it. It looked so untidy all the time unless everything was ‘just so’.  [Terry’s washing dishes I think…]

Next, we decided on a door/drawer style [Shaker] and color [Wenge/Espresso stain], then the hardware [brushed stainless drawer pulls and a stainless wirerack pull-out pantry system]. Shortly after work with the carpenter began, the in-laws [thank you Barb and Ken] bought us a new stainless steel Kenmore refridgerator as an early Christmas present. Well, it was too big for the pantry as it stood, so we the pantry was demoed and rebuilt… we extended the short upper cabinets to the ceiling [got way more storage space], installed a gorgeous stainless pull-out pantry shelving unit [$700!!! ack!]. The entire job, once they really got going, took about 4 weeks.

The change in the kitchen from hideous red melamine to sophisticated espresso, shaker doors/drawers and pantry with stainless steel appliances is astonishing. Even the really ugly plaid vinyl flooring works in the space now, all because the dark cabinets bring out specks of espresso in the floor and the pale blue is a trend contrasting color with chocolate/espresso brown. Who knew this icky floor could look so much better by changing the cupboards?

Today… again thanks to the in-laws [love you B & K!], our new stainless steel, matching range/oven arrived just about completing the appliance update of Operation Fix the Kitchen. The only appliance left to replace is the dishwasher… Next year maybe??

I started off the weekend full of vavavoom for all the Circle Craft ’stuff’ I wanted to get done. Instead I answered a cry for help from my friend Elizabeth in Ontario [she needed graphic design help on a 23×25 double sided broadsheet ad flyer for Tuesday - GULP!], cleaned house, packed orders, went to a hockey game and messed about in my spare time.

I did manage to get some of my vavoom stuff done like the orders and cleaning [a bit LOL!] and we definitely went to the game [OT and finished with a shoot-out to win 4-3!]. I also finished E’s broadsheet and emailed a proof to her this evening [spent about 10 hours this weekend on it]… PLUS we also had to be home by 4ish today for the delivery dudes… My in-laws bought T and I a stainless steel Kenmore oven/range for our kitchen [to match the fridge they got us last year]. So suhweet! It was our early Christmas present and it’s a beauty.

So all in all a busy weekend and Monday, lots of stuff done… some planned, most unplanned, but satisfying nonetheless.

Yep… been MIA from the blog for a few days.  All kinds of stuff happening at home [business wise] and at the office. All adding up to a super tired Christina =(

So just leaving a quick HELLO! to my peeps to let you know all is well, if not sleepy, and that I’ll have a big post on the weekend updating the Circle Craft and ARTistry events coming up.

Oh and one annoying thing… that damn sty/cyst I had removed from my lower left eyelid [you know, that made me look like Terry had beaten me up, just before CHA with a blackened left eye]… well it keeps trying to come back! The upper eyelid is sore, slightly puffy and red. Geez… just in time for Circle Craft! I hope it goes away!

LOVE this idea… taking a cheapy composition book and turning it into a cool art journal, personal journal or place to keep ideas about art and inspiration. Using fabulous papers, stamps, chipboard alphabets, chipboard tags and paint, I’ve turned a hideous, sparkly junk journal into a funky and FUNCTIONAL work of art. How cool is that?!

Here is a sample of a journal I just finished. I’ll be making these available for sale on my Etsy.com store. Please visit the store to purchase this and other journals. Thanks for looking!

Here are the final spreads from the Wedding Album Kit. There will actually be MORE stuff in the Kit than I used in this album - because it hasn’t arrived yet from the mfg! So I just used what I had kicking around.

Thanks for looking!

This time I’m doing an album that <gasp!> features me and T in it. Yep… I’m actually designing something using our wedding photos from 6 years ago.

The album is another Kit for Circle Craft. Here are the sneak peeks at the album to give you an idea about what will be in the Kit:

Products used in mini-album include:

• Lazar StudioWERX paperWERX Vintage Rustica paper
• custom die-cut brackets
• Lazar StudioWERX digiWERX stamps
• Maya Road 6×6 Binder Album
• Heidie Swapp Chipboard Alphabets [RAW]
• Bazzill Basics cardstock

Enjoy and thanks for looking!
 

Hey peeps…

Just a quick note to say that the ARTistry 2007 pre-registration pages are now online and include class descriptions, workshop fees, how to register and more! Please visit the ARTistry pages before October 1, for complete information about the event.

We’re so pumped about the classes that our stellar artist/instructors Donna, Ali and Claudine submitted. They are each so cool and different from the other, making the weekend a really well-rounded educational experience. From album design and construction, to journalling your personal evolution and on to scrapbook collage with a whimsical slant… each of these remarkable ladies have lasting techniques and experiences to share with you over three days of education!

Registration begins October 1, 2006 at 8pm PST! Seating is limited so register early to avoid disappointment.