vintage paper/collage art – Page 23

Pixies and Pixels

fairies, holiday decor, how-to projects, magazine pictures or articles, Sugarwings, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 20, 2010

Getting ready for this online tutorial has kept me hoppin! But between counting pixels and trying learn how to make pdfs, I took some time off to make a pixie too.

This one is on its way to Somerset, but in it, you can see two tricks that will be taught in my Romantic Gothic Ghost class…. Actually, there are 4 separate things in this picture that I will be giving how-to's for.

The technique I used in this Sugarwings creation is one of them.

She is also going to Somerset Life today. I'm always honored to hear from them.

All of my projects for the class involve a Gothic arch, moody colors, and NO ORANGE! Oh, what a pretty Halloween it will be this year!

Okay, now back to the hard part. I can make things like crazy, I actually made a book, a tag book with 6 original tags, a wall hanging, and a banner with five 8-1/2 x 11 collages for the classes yesterday. Plus two collages to send to Somerset Life.

When I'm on a roll, I can whip stuff out.

Its the pixels that kill me. Everything I used in all the projects has to be available to the students to click on and print to use themselves. Now, that is a spooky Halloween for me.

Oh, the horror of it all!

August Giveaway announcement and some ghosts drifting by

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, paintings, Tutorials, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 18, 2010

Beth came over yesterday for a craft day, and brought Button.

He and Agnes Rosebud were thrilled to see each other, and it was wrestle mania for most of the day. They had some ferocious growling too. Well at least, they thought they sounded pretty fierce, I kind of thought they sounded like a sewing machine.

Beth also brought her projects for our upcoming classes for me to photograph. Yep, we have decided to do some online tutorials!

Romantic Gothic Ghosts, for all of us who would love to decorate our homes for Halloween but don't want to put up with orange, purple and black! We will focus on the moody, flowing, dark style of old Gothic romance novels. Think Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and did I mention, moody?

Details coming- I hope you'll join us. I've been BUSY scanning and editing tons of illustrations, backgrounds and portraits that we'll provide for you to copy and print to use in our projects. And I have a feeling that you'll find lots of uses for all these images!

Now, I just need to get busy and come up with some projects myself. I'm behind! Beth had a boxful of great stuff she'd been doing, and all I've done is prep work so far. Now that Sugarwings' birthday bash is behind me, I can get to work on my dark and dreamy creations for the classes.

Can you take one more mermaid from me? I've been on a siren of the sea kick for months, haven't I? But this is something special for my pal, Majia.

Its her 50th, and Jessi gathered up 50 artists to each do a page in a scrap book as a gift for her. My page is a watercolor of her as a mermaid "holding court" in the lounge of the hotel we stayed at during Kim's event last month. Happy Birthday, Majia!!

Now, I'd better go brainstorm and make some stuff for our upcoming classes. I have some ideas brewing and my fingers are itching to get started.

Please leave a comment if you'd like to enter my August Giveaway. I'll be giving away one of those upcoming projects. One that is still in my head, so I can't show you any photos yet!

Picnic baskets, puppies, pigtails, and poppies

Books, how to's, paintings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2010

The covers for our Dorothy tag book swap are in process!

I used a page from the old, old book that I had as a background, and added poppies from a vintage greeting card to the bottom, and also used it for the oval shape at the top too. To the oval, I added "Dorothy", cut from the book too. And an emerald. Or a stone that looks like an emerald, at least.

The little girl herself was painted onto water color paper, cut out and glued to the tag, then I did the same with the picnic basket.

(Oh, the hats are from my lastest score, all under $10 each, at my last junking trip!)

After that, I cut Toto from a page in the book, glued him to some words from the story, and used marker on the text to make the dog stand out more, and glued him to a tag. I used a handful of markers to make the background look like a rainbow, and then cut a slit into the basket with an exacto knife to slide the tag into.

Next, the tags went to the copy store, where I had them put onto ivory card stock.

I guess I got ahead of myself when I said that I was all done with my tags and was sad to be finished. I've still got a bit to do….

Since these are on ivory, I had to brighten the whites with white ink.

Then, I used a clear, glimmer ink on all the blue checked gowns.

I outlined the "Dorothy" banner in brown so it would stand out a bit.

The basket had to have a slit cut into each one to fit the Toto tag into.

After that, I glued an "emerald" under each banner, and sparkled Dorothy's slippers with ruby glitter.

They need to be cut out, and I still haven't found the perfect paper to use for the back of the tags, and the backs do need to be covered, to create a pocket for the Toto tag to be slipped into. I also need to find the perfect ribbon to tie the books together and to add to the dog tag.

Whew! But the project does go fast. And I enjoy doing them all.

Since I couldn't find enough ruby slipper charms for everyone in the swap, I decided to try to make lollipop charms.

So far, so good. I'll have to see how they dry and how they look painted. I'm making them from paper clay, rolled out into a snake, then twirled into a sucker shape and poked onto a vintage swizzle stick, cut into pieces.

After the clay dries, the sticks will be pulled out, dotted with glue and stuck back in. I'll paint them and tie them to the front of the books with ribbon. Well, I hope it goes well, they might be fragile. That's why I've only made these few to see how it goes before I make dozens.

You have no idea how hard it is for me to be practical and stop, to wait and see if it works! I tend to go over board and keep going and going and going. I'm kind of proud of myself for letting this batch dry before filling the world with lollipop charms!

Okay, back to the land of Oz, I have tags to trim and glitz!

Details about the swap are on the side of my blog, click on the button if you are interested in more details and want to join!

Blowing it all away, plus some Oz images and a tag swap deadline extension

Books, celebrations, family, housework, paintings, parties, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 12, 2010

Look what I found on Etsy! I bought all the little plastic shoe charms that I could find, even though they weren't the right colors. I fixed them by using red glitter spray to get them wet and sticky, then tossed them into a bowl of red glitter.

I mean "ruby red" glitter.

The first 50 people in our Dorothy Tag Swap will get one on their tag book. For the rest, I need to come up with something else….

The swap is still open, and I've had a lot of people say that because of Back To School, they are swamped. So…. we are extending the deadline. Instead of Sept. 15th, lets go for the end of the month. You get a couple more weeks to work on them!

Also, we have a flickr group, please join!

Personally, I'm glad to have the extra couple of weeks too! I've been trying to get ready for Sugarwing's Under the Sea Birthday Splash Party.

Yesterday, I painted this mural onto a canvas drop cloth cut down to fit the wall above the bed in her big girl room at her Hippy Chic Mommy's house.

For the party, the mural will be nailed to the side of the house. I'm setting up a tent for kid's crafts and this will be the decor behind it.

Years ago, I used to paint murals for a living. It was a goooood living. But hard. When I'd paint hotels and bars, it usually involved a lot of scaffolding, and that is heavy to move around, plus I have a fear of heights and really detested being up 20 feet high. The worst thing ever is to be on a LADDER on top of SCAFFOLDING! It gave me the willies.

Plus, not a lot of Kansans were open to murals. But gosh, other states love them! When I was painting a public space in Florida, I'd get a ton of job offers and ended up working nights in private homes as well as days on the job I had traveled there for.

My favorite thing to paint was kid's murals. One thing I always did was to make sure that each character in the painting had a buddy. Lots of conversational groupings make the picture more interesting for kids.

Painting "murals to go" sure is easier than doing it directly onto a wall! I liked using the drop cloth, I could work at my own pace, in my own home while playing with the dogs, snacking, watering the garden and taking breaks!

I thumb tacked plastic to the wall of the garage, and then tacked up the canvas over it so the paint wouldn't seep through to the wall behind it. I worked on the scene through out the day and was able to get other stuff done too.

Sugarwings loves Mermaids, I hope she likes this birthday gift from me!

While I was taking breaks from the mural, I repainted this hutch in my studio. Since I am the one who painted it in the first place, I knew that the top coat on it was water based poly. So, it didn't need any pretreatment of priming or sanding. I was able to simply dry brush a couple coats of white satin paint over the existing taupe glazed with brown.

After it dried, I lightly sanded it all for a distressed look. Silly me, I was too lazy to run to the store to get a coarse sandpaper, and now have a sore arm from sanding with with a fine paper. It took way too much work and too many sheets to rough up the hutch! I have a bad habit of not stopping until I am done, and really should have just quit yesterday, until I had a chance to pick up another pack of sandpaper.

Another thing I got done for the party was to get a start on cleaning the studio. Its such a mess and this is spider web season. Why does my home get so cob webby every single July and August??? This year, it is so bad, I am tempted to leave them, let them spread a couple months and just throw a Halloween party.

While I had the garage cleared out to do the mural on the wall, I used the leaf blower to clean the room. I dreamed of being able to use that to just blow all the cob webs away in the house too. If I were a minimalist, it wouldn't be so bad, but as a collector of junk, I have too many things that would blow away along with the mess.

I did clean the stair way that goes up to my husband's office with the leaf blower. There was nothing that could be ruined or blown away, and I have to tell you, it was a magnificent thing to do. What a great idea! I cleaned the breezeway and my car while I was at it.

Are you wondering what the pictures of poppies have to do with cleaning my house with a leaf blower? Nothing at all.

I just thought that you might like these. I used a lot of these vintage greeting cards with poppies in my Oz tags.

I've also scanned more pages from my 1920s Oz book for you. You don't have to be in the swap to use them, help yourself if you want some.

All you need to do is click on the picture for it to pop up in a larger size,save, and print it.

Some of these are edited into sepia for you, too.

Silver

celebrations, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 10, 2010

Today was special, its my 25th wedding anniversary! But my true love had to be out of town. That's okay, we celebrated for a week in California last month, it was quite the trip.

Yep, 25 pounds ago, I mean years, my buddy and I got married. We are very different people,He is a businessman and I am an artist. We look at the world from opposite viewpoints, but share a love of laughing and of family and of each other. What more do you need?

I'm pretty lucky.

I thought I'd celebrate by playing dress up with the pup. She turned out much cuter than me.

These little tiaras didn't stay in their silky hair for very long, so I put it in my summer-time frizz bomb of a hair do and it stayed just fine.

See why I call my Yorkshire Terriers "Dorkies"? What goofy looks they get on their little faces. They have the funniest personalities, and are such dorks.

Today I saw that I've done my 800th post! Wow, I do seem to think I have a lot to say, huh?

Also today, I had my 25,900th comment! On the 800th post. I figured that was worth a prize, so I will come up with a little giftie to send to #25,9000, Vivian.

Since this is my silver anniversary, I'll have to send her something silver colored. Or silver itself. I'll look through my jewelry creations and see what I can come up with.

I'm also still flying high on my zone day yesterday. There is nothing like a day of NO interruptions whatsoever in the studio!! I finished up this vintage wallpaper journal (its in the Boutique now)

But mostly I made tags for the Dorothy tag book swap. I only needed 6 plus a cover, but made about 20, both sides.

This one is an old envelope that has a flap I tie shut with ribbons. It has a flying monkey theme, and inside is a Wicked Witch of the West tag.

Honestly, I thought I'd be making pretty tags. Like Glenda and Dorothy and ruby slippers, all just lovely and sweet. But I surprised myself and got really interested in all of the old illustrations in the book that I had, even though the pictures were far from lovely.

Most were in black and white with maybe one color, so I tinted them with markers and ink. It was like being a kid and coloring again. Maybe that is why I was able to ignore all my obligations and play at my desk all day, I was being very juvenile!

The illustrations are very different than the movie. Hollywood varies quite a bit from literature, doesn't it? Even True Blood, my favorite TV show is veering away from the book series quite a bit. But I still think its successful in keeping the characters and emotions in the story accurate, so that's okay.

I'm expecting a range of tag styles from all of the entrants. They don't have to be just Dorothy, of course, I think the whole Oz theme will be explored.

The twister was especially fun to do. I drew it in 3 metallic inks, then used glittery silver Stickles over it. At first, I tried making one with wire. Notice that you aren't seeing pictures of that one?

This buckle is new in the shop.

Now that I am done, and overly done, with 20 tags created instead of 6, I'm a bit sad. I was just getting on a roll with these!!! And in one day, I'm finished. Its a bit of a let down.

Oh well, I'll start having a blast when all of your tags start filling my mail box. I just can't wait, its so exciting to check the mail everyday.

And please remember, if you haven't signed up yet, its not too late. I look forward to seeing what you make!

Plus, Beth and I are working on a little sumpthin-sumpthin together for you. I'll get my fill of lovely and moody and romantic with that one. Plus GHOSTLY-hint hint. More details when we get them…

That elusive ZONE

celebrations, paintings, swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 9, 2010

Today, I was in The Zone. I was at my desk for about 12 hours with no interruptions and nothing to do but make stuff. While still in my jammies. Dogs at my feet, a box of Cliff bars nearby, a stack of ephemera to sift through and create with, what could be better?

These kind of days don't come along often. The kind where you think you might need to get up to turn down the air conditioner and never get around to it. The kind of day when you think that maybe you need to get up for a glass of water, and two hours later realize that you forgot and are thirsty enough to drink glue. The kind of day when you know you have a million errands to run and that you figure you'll make just one more thing before you do them…. and a few hours later, you just admit that the chores are going to wait till tomorrow.

These are the kind of days that I treasure because I know they are rare. Usually life gets in the way of slipping into the zone, dinner needs to be fixed, or laundry folded, appointments kept. Not today.

Today, I made stuff.

I felt like I sat down to work about 3 hours ago, not 12. That is what The Zone is all about. Losing yourself in your work. It doesn't matter what you make, its just making it.

Tonight, I'm stiff and tired and I think I might stink (remember the air conditioner that I never turned down?). But what a day!!

Dorothy Tag Book Swap plus free images

swaps, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 4, 2010

We're on! I've had plenty of interest in doing a Dorothy Tag Book Swap, so I hope that

you will join us and play along!

Here is a button that you can add to your blog to show that you are participating.

Please EMAIL ME here: karlanathan@sbcglobal.net, if you are joining and include:

1- your name

2- your email address

3- your blog address (if you have one)

If you write all this out for me, I just have to copy it and add it to my list. I'd like to publish the list of participant's blogs, if you do not want me to publish yours, please say so.

We are quite Oz crazy around here at the cottage, so this is right up my alley. Please join me in celebrating the 71st anniversary of this magical movie by making a collaborative tag book with other Wizard of Oz loving artists!

I'll have some images and text from my 1903 edition of the book if you'd like to use them, as well as some sheet music that could be of use for you.

To use the images from this old book, just click on the links at the end of this post. One PDF is to be printed full size, another PDF is set to print 4" x 6", and the last is set at wallet size.

Please help your self! Even if you are not in the swap, you are welcome to use the images for your artwork.

Guidelines for the Dorothy Tag Book Swap:

For this swap, you will create SIX tags with the theme of "Dorothy". Your tags can be inspired by Frank L. Baum's original book, or from the 1939 movie.

Please make your tags approximately 4-1/2 x 2-1/2". You don't have to be exact, variety of size and shape is nice. But please stay about that size, an inch or so either way will work.

Also, feel free to cut your tag from any material you chose, fabric, card stock, metal, chipboard, etc.

You have the option of finishing both sides of the tags as elaborately as you'd like, or leaving the back side blank.

PLEASE SIGN YOUR TAG!! If you have a blog, please include the address. You DO NOT need to be a blogger to join.

Once the tags arrive at my cottage, by September 30th- I'll sort them into piles that look cute together and assemble the books with a cover that I make myself, along with some sort of charm (I've been eying some ruby slippers…or maybe Totos?) and pretty ribbons.

You might get your own tag back in your book.

Please send the tags to:

Karla Nathan

1754 E 1200 Road

Lawrence, KS 66049

by September 30 and include $6 for postage, packaging and supplies. $8 for overseas, $7 for Canada

Include a separate piece of paper with your address on it.

Please add photos of your tags to our Flickr Group for everyone to see.

I've scanned some images for you from the book, available HERE

Plus in these PDF files:

Download 4 x 6 in Dorothy Images

Download Full page Dorothy images

Download Wallet size Dorothy images

3 Dorothys

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), give away, swaps, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / August 2, 2010

What a nice weekend we had. Of course, any weekend when Sugarwings comes to stay is a good one. We spent as much of it as possible out on the lake, and I have no pictures from there because my pocket camera is MISSING. I've turned the house and studio upside down searching for it.

I bought the handy little thing so I could take it with me to places where I don't want to haul out the big guns. That Rebel is wonderful, but heavy and I also don't want to get it wet on the boat or beach. I always kept the little Cannon (seems like they have the best lenses for a small camera) in my bag so I could always be ready to snap a shot if something interesting popped up.

I miss it!

And since Sugarwings was mostly naked while we were at home, I didn't take any pictures of her with the big camera. She seems to be in a stage where it is awfully hard to keep her dressed. But the weather is so hot, that I really don't blame her.

When she is here, she is either outside being filthy dirty in the mud and dirt and jumping in the little pool or sprinkler, or else smearing paint and clay all over herself. Not exactly a dainty girl. So naked isn't bad for her, it sure saves on laundry. But I don't think I should post pics of a little muddy girl smeared with neon orange paint running around in her panties.

So here is a dog picture instead!

And here is a naked dog picture.

This is Twinkle's pup, Dorothy. Her name is Josie now, I gave her to my niece and Josie is named after my mom, Martha Josephine.

All yorkies are born black and then start to change colors as the puppy fur grows out. The baby fur is so fine, that it gets all matted up and nasty, and has to be shaved off to let the silky adult fur grow in.

I haven't shaved my little Agnes Rosebud yet, because I'll miss that fuzzy, floppy puppy look. But after seeing how silvery and pretty her sis is, I just might get out the clippers.

This morning, I have been adding goodies to the Boutique.

At a recent flea market, I was lucky enough to find a big box of old flowers. ALL ROSES!

Yes, these are the flowers that the puppy has been laying on in the big bowl.

One more tidbit about Yorky fur, these guys don't shed. So the flowers aren't hairy.

What do you think of this one? Its lovely, but is it old? It seems so perfect. I usually buy hats to take apart, so can date the flowers by the hat itself. These flowers were mostly corsages and single flowers, all in a big box. The others were old, but I'm iffy on this one. Either way, its nice!

I've been going through some of my jewelry supplies too, and bagged up some vintage glass beads and findings to add to the shop.

Along with an assortment of some other fun stuff.

I'll show you some pictures of what's new (well, old- but new in the Boutique) while I ask you about something else.

At the flea where I found the flowers, I also picked up a ragged Wizard of Oz book from 1920. This year is the 75th anniversary of the movie, and the story is a big favorite around my house.

Am I the only Dorothy fan, or would any of you be interested in doing a tag swap similar to the Alice tag book swap that we did earlier this year?

If there is enough interest, I'd enjoy putting one together and scanning some pages from the book for you to use, like I did with the old Alice in Wonderland book that I had.

There are just soooooo many ideas that could be cute tags with a Dorothy theme!! Witches, picnic baskets, Toto, slippers –ruby or silver like the original-, rainbows, gingham, greens, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my- I could go on and on.

What do you think?

I hope there are enough of you who would enjoy making Dorothy tags as much as I would! Let me know, and I'll come up with guidelines and some scans of the book.

Before I go get to work for the day, I need to announce the winner of the July giveaway. The pearl earrings go all the way across the ocean to another Dorothy- Dorthe.

Air clay vs paper clay and some more mermaidy goodness

celebrations, collections, show and tell, Silver Bella, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 30, 2010

I appreciate all your input on my Silver Bella worries about clique-ishness. My reason for bringing it up, is that I LOVE that event and would hate to see it develop any kind of bad rep. I always find such a happy, creative atmosphere when I am there, that I feel sad to think others might not see it that way.

Thanks for joining in on the conversation. I hope that you will consider coming to Omaha in November and see for yourself just how magical the weekend is.

My life is finally getting back to normal from my trip out to CA. I'm listing some new things in the Boutique and getting back to work. The first few days back, I had a horrible time trying to focus on doing anything constructive. I just wanted to water flower beds, play with Sugarwings and Agnes Rosebud, and keep reading. My mind didn't want to switch out of vacation mode!

After a week of having plenty of time to enjoy reading good books, it wasn't easy to put them down. Especially when I was in the middle of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I just had to finish it before I started back up with real life.

Yesterday, I was able to combine playing with Sugarwings and working. She and I got some clay out and made mermaids.

This one is still a bit rough. I used cheapo air clay by Crayola instead of getting the good stuff, the paper clay recommended by teachers at my Mermaid getaway in CA. I found this harder to work with, it gets really goopy and easily messed up. The paper clay is easier to use, is lighter weight and dries faster.

It feels like it will be days before this one is dry enough to paint. Before I do, I'll get out some fine sandpaper and clean up the facial features, since I was simply smearing them around with my fingers dipped in water. I must have wiped her poor little nose clear off her face three times. This clay got so mushy, it just washes away.

Paper Clay works wonderfully with wet finger tips as a smoothing tool. So, I ordered some online from the site that Jenny suggested, Creative Paper Clay Company

The site had kind of high prices, ($11.99) but offered a wholesale price too ($6) . So, I clicked on the wholesale button, and got the packages of clay half price. With no minimum order and no questions about whether you were a business or not. Odd. But I was happy they told me that I could buy it for less if I left their retail site! How nice of them to let us know.

One of the teachers I especially enjoyed in CA was Julie Haymaker

Her class was a crown/headband, but she encouraged mixing it up and trying something different. Knowing I wouldn't be comfortable in a head band (they give me headaches) I decided to use her ideas on a collage instead.

There was an itinerary on the table in front of each of us, conveniently printed on sturdy card stock. So, I flipped it over, covered it in vintage papers and turned it into this. I liked using that, because this piece becomes even more of a souvenir of the event, with the time table on the back.

Charlene gave me the transfer of a mermaid that she made from instructions by Lisa from a class at Paper Cowgirls. It was exactly what I needed.

Julie provided us with star fish made from Paper Clay, and head pins with beads to make the sprays coming out of the shell.

I added a frozen Charlotte mermaid and some rhinestone sparklies.

Our last class of the weekend was this journal/album taught by Melissa Phillips. It has a canvas cover that we embellished with Glimmer Mist and stenciled shapes.

I brought some old wallpaper and paper dolls with a summer time feel, and used those instead of the papers provided. The papers were interesting and I'll save them for a photo album. I use scrap book papers in scrapbooks, but for art projects I prefer old things.

I'm saving space in this little book for some photos of my buddies at the event. Its full of pockets that I've already tucked business cards and mementos into.

And I don't think I've shown you won of my lucky wins, have I? This art doll mermaid is from Jennifer Norman

I was lucky to get Jenn Hayslip as a swap partner in Jessi's art bottle swap. She found sheet music featuring a fairy boat and made the cutest pink bottle with this little baby fairy on it for me. Yep, it was my lucky week!

You still have today and tomorrow to enter the drawing for my mermaid inspired pearl earrings. Where did July go, anyway???

Is Silver Bella Cliquey?

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Silver Bella, the Boutique at Karla's Cottage, vintage paper/collage art, yorkies

By Karla Nathan / July 28, 2010

There are still some pictures to share from my marvelous mermaid adventures, but I'm going to take a break from scales and tails to talk about something that has been on my mind lately. Its a topic that came up a lot during my arty trip to California, and I've also had the discussion with blog friends online.

Then, yesterday I had a craft day with friends, and was reminded again. Spending time with other artists while creating is a very satisfying thing. We may all be doing something different, like on craft days in my studio, or it might be a class like at Kim's event. Either way, the shared experience is a boost to my soul.

Even though I have these guys to keep me company while I work in the studio, art can be a very solitary profession. Not that I mind, I'm perfectly comfortable on my own and can get quite lost in what ever project I have going.

But, having a friend around is a nice break. Sharing tips, opinions, or just a laugh is good for inspiration.

That is why going to an event like the one I just returned from is so important to me. The first one I went to was Silver Bella, and I fell head over heels in love with the whole idea of shared art time and mingling over mixed media, even though I've never considered myself much of a class taker- I've always been self taught.

Its the companionship that means so much to me. The friendships that form, the ideas I hear, the excitement in the air from so many creative women gathering together.

Sadly, I've been hearing a LOT of people saying that these things can be cliquey, especially Silver Bella. It seems like this event is getting a reputation for that. I hate to hear that people feel that way and that it stops them from signing up.

I've never seen it myself. I hope that doesn't mean that I am cliquey and didn't even know I was doing it?

One reason might be that if you've been to multiple events, you start to get to know attendees as friends and enjoy hanging out with them when you meet up at the next art get away. Maybe that looks like a clique from the outside, but honestly, its just friends catching up.

And remember, those friends were once first timers who met at a previous event themselves.

Another thought I had was, you know how when you read someone's blog, you feel like you know them?

And when two bloggers read each other's blogs, they have a big head start in a friendship when they meet in person because they have "talked" online or followed each other. Its a huge short cut to making friends.

Its always so fun to look forward to meeting up with people you've spent time with at one of these, but only see once or twice a year.

But that doesn't mean there isn't room for new friends. One thing I've tried to do, is sit with a different group for each of the 5 classes offered at Silver Bella. I've also not been shy of just walking up to a fellow Bella and butting in joining in on their conversations.

I've never seen anyone rude or snubbing anyone, except in one circumstance, and you know, those kind of people are just everywhere you go. You don't have to hang out with someone like that, no matter where you are!

A friend and I co-host the Glitter Lounge to kick off the event and we invited people we knew, and tried to include a lot of ladies. But, its held in our hotel room and only so many fit without becoming unbearably crowded and hot.

Other groups have formed that have their own kick off parties too. Its a fun way to get your glitter on and get geared up, I hope it doesn't seem "clique-ish". I certainly didn't mean it that way. We would never turn away someone who wanted to come, but its too small of a space to invite the whole group.

I'd be sad if I found out that the Glitter Lounge was one of the reasons that the event has been called cliquey.

Every year, I look more and more forward to my big Omaha trip in November. I've met some great friends, and actually had phone calls from two of them this week. Some have come to stay with me at my home. I hope more come to visit too.

And I can't wait to see who I meet and what friendships I form this year! I hope that you will be one of them. Please don't feel intimidated by the event. There are some spaces left, I hope you'll sign up and meet me there.

Don't worry if the classes you wanted most are already taken. The classes, and teachers, as wonderful as they are, are just a part of the event. I've taken classes that aren't my favorite, and still loved being in them. You learn something from each class.

There is a program for "big sisses" and "little sisses" at Silver Bella too. This is for veterans of the event to help out newbies. I've offered to take on two "sisses" this year. But if you need an unofficial "auntie" just let me know and I'll be there for whoever needs one. Even if you've attended in the past, but still could use a boost of buddy time.

Just email me with any questions, and maybe we can plan a breakfast together the first day before we all get rolling.

And if I've seemed to be unfriendly in the past at these events, please forgive me, it was totally unintentional.

I hope to see you there.

Oh, all the things shown here are in my boutique now, (except the pets!).

Also the earrings in the last picture. Just leave a comment if you want to enter the giveaway for these earrings.