Arte du Blythe Fat Book Auction Live Now for A Place to Bark

The "Blythe and Friends" book, pictured above, contains 25 hand-made, front and back, 4" x 4" original mixed media art pages as well as handmade front and back covers, from artists in nine states and three countries. The book was created by the Arte du Blythe group on Yahoo, which was founded by Shoshanah Jennings of Hannah Grey Curiosities & Drygoods (http://www.hannahgrey.com/) and Heather Simpson-Bluhm of Bluhm Studios (http://www.bluhmstudios.com/), both based in California. The book was hosted by me, the group administrator, here in Indiana. It features work by well-known and published artists such as Vicky Breslin, Debbie Metti, Angela Hoffman, Chelise Stroud-Hery (founder of ZNE), Shelly Mundel, Maija Lepore, Heather Simpson-Bluhm, and Shoshanah Jennings. Artists from the United States, Canada, and Israel sent submissions.The book is a paper arts lover's dream or is perfect for a lover of Blythe, animals, dolls and/or good deeds.A Place to Bark and Meow is mixed media artist Bernie Berlin's no-kill animal rescue in Tennessee. Bernie Berlin's blog is http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/. As she herself says, "I run a full-time dog rescue, taking in the dogs that have been abandoned, abused or police confiscated. I foster, retrain, transport & adopt. Cats are also welcome at my rescue. I am drawn to the unwanted, unloved and misunderstood. I am hoping to educate and effect change for the animals that do not have a voice of their own."

A Place to Bark and Meow was one of the five top national finalists in last year's Parade magazine charity profile/fund-raiser. To date 2,453 people have donated $44,527 to AP2B, but the needs are constant as Bernie travels to other states to rescue abandoned, abused and injured animals, rehabilitating them (often with costly veterinary bills and medicines) and then placing them in loving homes. Bernie currently specializes in Faberge-style eggs and is the author of the popular Artist Trading Card Workshop. She will send a special surprise to be enclosed with the 'fat book' for the winner.

To bid, simply leave a comment at this link or click on the headline above.

Special thanks to Scrapbook Royalty and its head tiara, the darling Elena Etcheverry, Traveling Princess, for hosting this auction.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Here are some pics of pages from myself and other artists and of the collating process of the fat books I volunteered to bind and distribute for two groups: ZNE Artists and Poets http://www.znepoetry.com/ and Arte Du Blythe http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Arte_du_Blythe/.

I talked about the Blythe book here http://bly-me.blogspot.com/2008/05/blythe-and-animals-for-cause.html. It is progressing nicely. After all of the pages have arrived, the books will be wire bound and within, a full set of pages between handmade covers returned to each participant. So, that's 392 pages to collate plus covers! The final books also include embellishments, beads, yarn, fibers etc for the spine, pages and covers, so it has been quite a project for everyone- not to mention everyone who wished to participate created 28 or more original pages. That was a daunting task in itself. But as you will soon see when the finished book is shown in a future post, it will have been well worth it.

Why is it called a 'fat book'? The books are a chunky four inches by four inches square and each page is very textural. Embellishments to the edges may dangle off, raise up, etc., making the book a three-dimensional piece of amazement.

Even more exciting is the fact that one book will be auctioned off to benefit A Place to Bark http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/, a no-kill animal rescue facility in Tennessee run by the very capable Bernie Berlin, herself a published artist.
I will be taking a class from Bernie in August in California at http://www.znecon.com/ and plan to ask Bernie to sign the book for the lucky auction winner. Watch for more info right here about that auction.

The ZNE Artists and Poets book is a collection of self-portraits from nine artists, plus handmade covers of Mulberry paper by Laurie Blau-Marshall, Washington, of Living Out Loud http://loudlife-laurieblaumarshall.blogspot.com/; Cathy Minerva of Georgia and also embellishments by Stacey Merrill and Jodi Barone of Vines, http://www.wildvines.blogspot.com/, the group moderator. Allison Berringer of http://musingsofnosilla.blogspot.com/ and Hope/Harvestorm also created group logos or blog buttons that are featured in the book.

So, as you can see, it was truly a collaborative effort. That explains why I was glad to spend tonight in my kitchen with 535 four inch squares spread all over everywhere during the collating process! I'll probably be seeing them in my sleep.

Be There, or Be a 4 x 4

It was kind of a weekend for squares, as I spent most of my time making 4 x 4 book pages for The Artists of Chubbyville on Yahoo! All Originals Page Swaps for February and March. I also contemplated my covers for my 2007 Fat Book of all original pages by me and other artists. The book looks great with all the danglies, and I can't wait to photograph it. I found some cool pink paper beads on etsy that will be just perfect for spine danglers. I have been saving them for about six months for the perfect project, and this is it.

My page at top, entitled "Chaos," pretty much represents me trying to cram all of my projects into two-day weekends (whose idea was a two-day weekend anyway? Oh, yeah, well....). I mean, geez, how can one possibly sleep in, cook those good weekends meals, go out a bit too, shop, clean, pack for the coming week, tend to ebay and etsy (both buying and selling), get caught up on reading (just finished Sue Grafton's 'T'-excellent), read all the latest art, fashion and gossip mags, email, blog and have any time left to breathe? Eep!

The birdy page is "Birds of a Feather should Feather Their Nests Together." I could elaborate, but I won't!

The two top and the bottom pics are a self portrait for the ZNE Artists and Poets group http://www.znepoetry.com/. I'm likin' the front, and its zentangle-ish feel. I HATE writing descriptive stuff about myself, which anyone who knows me will not believe. But, it's true. So there's my words for all the world to see, in no particular order, mix and match.

If there is enough interest we will make a fat book out of our 4 x 4 self portraits.

And speaking of fat books, which I guess I am in depth, The Arte du Blythe group on Yahoo, which I now moderate, is fixin' to do a Blythe fat book swap as well as an auction copy for charity to support artist Bernie Berlin's no-kill animal sanctuary, A Place to Bark (see blog badge at right) http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/.

Not one of these fat books is top secret, proprietary or closed; just give me a shout if you want more info to join! You can be square, too!

Time for some New Eye Candy. Yum!

I promised I would blog about the DH's famous chili, created after years of experimentation. It is so nice to have someone else cook!

Paul's No Longer a Secret Chili

1 lb. lean ground chuck, cooked with onion and drained

1/2 of a medium yellow onion, minced

Into a greased crock pot, add the above along with:

1 16 oz. can stewed tomatoes, seasoned for chili

1 16 oz. can tomato sauce

1 16 oz. can Brooks mild chili beans

1 16 oz. can water

1/2 pkt. chili seasoning (any)

Cook on low three hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so.

I also offer up on a different eye candy front one brunette Blythe who needs a name. She did manage to get out of her night shirt, robe, bunny slippers and rollers and into this outfit which includes a tiny knitted cardigan and matching hairclip from Feltland on etsy.com. Beautiful miniature work. Names in the hopper are Ainsley, Afton, Greta, Grace, Maggie/Maggy, Lisle. She is Lilly London's sister, as if that helps any!

Also: inspiration, found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12448123@N07/favorites/. I love looking at all the various photos on Flickr. In fact, there's a group for Flickrclickritis, and I am afraid I have it. But I am not alone, and it's a pretty clean vice. In fact, according to http://www.flickr.com/ home page, there were 3,396 photos uploaded in the minute it took me to type this sentence. That is incredible. Whatever you like, you'll find it there.

You can also find a little ego stroking within the amateur photographer community. In fact, I've had two photos invited to exclusive groups, one for all pink, all the time. Actually the group is Top 20 Pink, and for one brief moment, one of my photos was allegedly among the top 20 of the millions of pink photos there. The other award was for my front door holiday wreath, which was invited to Fabulous Holiday Trees, Wreaths and Garlands.

Meanwhile, on another e-front, I was invited to serve as a moderator for ZNE or VariaZioNE, http://zneiscrafty.ning.com/ where I will be manning the ZNE Verses- group poetry efforts pulled together and set to music and art. I can't wait! My other duty will be to somehow tie in the monthly ZNE Book Club assignments to the ZNE verses. We start in January with The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery by Karen Michel. Book club membership fees benefit Bernie Berlin's A Place to Bark (see badge and updated ticker at right). A good cause.

Lastly, I did not know it was Cyber Monday (until about 8 p.m.), but I did my fair share, having visited Lands End and ebay today. It was definitely Mail Mania Monday with great swaps arriving from Miss Mary Isabella of the snowman swap and super Magic and Mayhem ATC's from Faerie Zine http://thefaeriezine.blogspot.com/ members Julie Baxley, Catriona Allen-Bryce, Nichole Pennington and Brendalea as well as founder Lisa Kettell http://www.moonfairesworld.com/. Thank you girls! Lucky me!

ZNE Book Club for a Good Cause

I am so excited to be joining the ZNE book club for August. We are studying Sally Jean Alexander's Pretty Little Things http://www.sallyjean.com, already one of MY favorite books! I already have assignments in reading, writing about my studio space, posting a photo and have a collage assignment to create and post. Sheesh! Just like school- only better!
Even nicer is that the book club fee goes to support an animal rescue farm site, a Place to Bark (see the right side of my blog), run by Bernie Berlin, a collage and ATC artist.
Besides this little bit of work, my ATC/ACEO group on ebay has given out individual dares for an ACEO to complete and post, and I am waiting to get my assignment. ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals and ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.
An example of another dare was "What would Medusa look like if snakes didn't exist." So, you get the idea...
As well, my ebay "Respect-Artists who Love Art" group has a challenge due tomorrow based on the word "rock"- any interpretation/any medium. I have a couple of ideas but nothing done yet, plus I am off to Michigan for the cancer walk. Sheesh again!