Miss Vicky's Fall Workshops: Fun at the Funny Pharm in California

My good friend, the inimitable Miss Vicky Breslin wants to help west coast crafters get their holiday projects done early, while holding to the "Handmade Pledge." So, she is offering a series of great workshops at her shop in Colfax, CA in her historic apothecary building, and in her home location, the gold-rush town of Dutch Flat, CA.


Her 'No Frill Fall Workshops' will be Nov. 18 -23, (Tuesday through Sunday), 9am-9pm at The Funny Pharm, 30 North Main Street, Colfax, CA and 32770 Main Street, Dutch Flat, CA. You can even stay for the week! Sleeping Arrangements: Tues, Wed or Thursday at the Dutch Flat Hotel next door to workshops.

Rooms are based on 2 people in a room 50.00 per night or 5 people in a room, 30.00 per night. Please call Vicky directly to book the rooms at 530 389-2233, or 530 220-4103. To keep the expenses down there will be a potluck breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dessert too!

No frill Class fees: $10.00 per class plus supplies.

Card Making Class: Use a hand printing press. It works with the vintage wood type. You can make all of the holiday cards you wish & have a fun time doing it! Vicky will show you how to set the type.....the rest is up to you. Black ink will be provided. This will be available all days!

5 Minute Collage: Learn how the experts make such amazing collages for their background art projects. It is a very fun, fast moving and a surprising hour of fun. Available every morning at 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Soldering Class: Vicky will bring a soldering iron & all supplies needed to make all kinds of glass hanging stuff!Like houses, ornaments, ovals, rectangle & squares.You can use your 5 minute collage paper too. Every day at 10:30 p.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Gift tags: Using Glimmer Mists & Stencils we will make tags that will dazzle. You can monogram them with the printer!Every day 12:30p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Altered Silverware: This is the most creative silverware possible. You can make a hanging piece of silverware, a rack for the kitchen, place card holder, pin or necklace.
Every day 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Image Transfer: Learn how to use the new Golden digital grounds to copy all kinds of images to all forms of materials. Paper, fabric, foil, gel skins, acetate etc. Every day 4:00 p.m. to 5:00p.m.

Image Transfer BookMake: a cloth book using the fabric transfers made in the image transfer class. 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Chart Your Path: Paint on a piece of wood. Learn how to measure it out & make compartments to house all kinds of ephemeraThis is a very fun class to do on a cutting board.5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Wednesday

Game Board: Make a game board using your family photos. We will use scrabble letters to spell out family names. You will need a vintage game board for this project. 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Thursday

Convex Glass: Use our vintage convex glass to house a fun moveable art piece.You can make it on a card. canvas or whatever your heart desires. These are all very old pieces. Learn how to drill holes in them and screw them into your piece. Friday 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Bracelet: Everyone loves the button stacking class! Vicky will teach you how to stack & add beads. We will then turn our pieces into a fabulous bracelet. Friday 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Resin Jewelry: Make fun jewelry out of resin. We will make a few charms & turn them into a fabulous necklace or a charm bracelet.Saturday 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Frozen Charlotta Jewelry: Using these very vintage dolls we will make a very unique piece of jewelry! Give her wings or a saltshaker hat. Guaranteed beauty.Sunday 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Cupcakes: Crochet the icing & then add a vintage flower to the top made out of vintage sheet musicSunday 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Wire Working: Using rebar you will create rustic looking ways to enhance old bottles. They make great hanging candle lightsTuesday. Wednesday and Thursday 11:00 to 1:00 p.m.

Initial Photo Necklace or Magnet: Make a fabulous initial & back it with a darling vintage hand tinted photo. Then solder it for the amazing finish. These make the most charming gifts. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday 2:00 p.m. to 4:00

Crown Making: Using cardstock we will make the most amusing crowns. We will add vintage jewels to bedazzle them. Tuesday 11:00 to 1:00 p.mSo let's have some fun & get our holidays started.

Remember to take the handmade pledge!

Please make your reservations now: Miss Vicky 530 389 2233 or email vicky@cut-it-up.com .
You will be given class supplies list when you register!

'By the Sea' Treasures from Art & Soul

I felt like a kid on Halloween night, dumping out all of my treasures from Art & Soul Portland; arranging, rearranging, mentally cataloging and slowly putting away all that I had collected in the way of supplies, trades, purchases and finished art.

It is tradition to bring small pieces of art to swap, such as charms and artist trading cards. Charms were very popular since many A&S attendees belong to a group called Charmsters, including my hostess Michelle. I swapped enough charms to make an entire bracelet, nicely full of handmade goodness (top). A few extra charms from Michelle made their way into my pile of goodies during our 1:1 swap (second photo). I also received two lovely 4 x 4 fat book pages from her for my 2008 book. The other pics/piles are more swap receipts, ephemera collected, class supplies, purchases from the on-site store, Collage, and vintage finds from around Portland.

The bottom three photos are my background papers completed in Traci Bautista's Doodling & Letters class. The will now be cut up for ATC or other backgrounds.

Portland Art & Soul Even More than Expected

Beautiful but soggy Portland was the site of another Art & Soul retreat, and I had a spectacular time staying with Michelle. She's shown above in her home studio which is much more like a store-make that a candy store for grown-ups. Cassondra joined us most of the time-what a cheerful, sweet person she is!

We shopped 'til we truly dropped on two different days. I'll be posting pics of my goodies. Portland is an amazing city, and there is such a hip, happening, vintage and artsy vibe. Every place we went was so cool. I walked nearly a mile up and down Alberta Street in heels because I just couldn't get enough of shops with names like Frock, Flutter, Collage, Imp, Bolt, Swoon, Red Bird and more. We ate at places called Hula Hands, Pizzicato, Picazzo's, and I went nuts over the New Seasons funky grocery we went to twice. Let's just say I got a finger puppet, heirloom tomatoes, 10 different kinds of Luna bars and $15 cookies at the green grocer.

Gas was even a bargain at $3.22 a gal for 87 with no self-service allowed to support entry-level jobs. I do think all the grown-up hippies have re-located there as I lost count of VW buses-seriously. We all agreed they needed lots of collage and painted daisies on them. There was a baby blue one right out of my 1970s teenage dreams.

Michelle and her family were fun to hang with. Even her cats were amazing!
Julie Collings and friends (Deb is fun!) also joined us one day. Julie has a new book out, Pretty Little Felts, which she signed for me. Just adorable projects! Julie also produces ArtNest in Utah. Oh yeah, and she has a family and four children and makes art. Nothin' to it.

Several other artists were on hand signing books, including LK Ludwig of Extreme Visual Journaling and Nature Journals, Kelly Rae Roberts of Taking Flight (I bought a journal from her), Sally Jean Alexander, whom I met at ZNE, Tonia Davenport of Plexi-Class and jewelry acquisitions editor for F+W Northlight and Mary Ann Hall of Quay/Quarry who is editing my friend Lisa Kettell's book Altered Art Circus that I am in and which comes out this winter. I missed seeing Dawn Devries Sokol of 1000 Artist Journals, whom I met at ZNE, but she had bookplates for everyone. So many great people! It was a joy to finally meet James and Helga Strauss of ArtChix Studio. They were selling collage sheets like mad. I haven't been as active lately but am still thrilled to say I have designs on their Pet Faux Post and Pink Faux Post sheets. Get yourself a bazillion copies! Helga's new mini pins are great, too, and the By The Sea and Mermaid collage products are super. I love the work of my IRL friend Jade Adams on them! It was also a joy to see Mike and Shosh of Hannah Grey again, although I was so exhausted by the end of vendor night Saturday, I was standing about one inch from Shosh and didn't even know it! We were shopping at the tres Francais Vintage Charmings booth of Kate and her sister. More hugs and love were shared in Lisa Kaus' darling booth. I'm so glad some friends bought originals.

I had two classes Friday: the Beachcomber with Beverly Gilbert of Gilbert Designs. I was almost dreading this class, having avoided seed beads like a disease. I didn't have a task light, didn't have beading needles, didn't even know why I picked the class. It must have been good karma, though, because I knew in the first five minutes I would love it. And I did. I didn't even leave the room for lunch or when class ended. I could have attached myself permanently to Beverly. She is so sweet and so enthusiastic about color and what she does. Her jewelry is amazing. Check out her Web site. I'll be posting more pics, and I can't wait to play with my 'bead soup' I bought from her for class. Pictured above are the two pendants I made, wrapping sead beads around found treasures like beach glass, with a mix of free-form peyote and netting stitches. That's me with Beverly. She has a great fashion sensibility as well. No surprise.

The goodies are still needing to be unpacked and photographed as well as my charms (enough for a bracelet) and other swap goodies. I also need to take pics of my work from Traci Bautista's class. It was all just an incredible experience! Can't wait to do it again.