What's a Convenzione without a little Shopping and Swapping and Selling?

The ZNE Convenzione http://www.znecon.com/ last weekend had so much eye candy that I don't think my glasses fit anymore! Naturally, I had to come home with a "few" treasures. Few is a relative term when your suitcase gets weighed. In the top photo is a little nestie I got at Miss Vicky's Cut-it-Up store in Colfax, CA. It is by blog friend Karyn Gartel, so that is even cooler. The batty girl is by Lori Mitchell, and I got it at American Harvest, an unbelievable store in Pleasanton, CA., where you can buy works from Lisa Kaus, Ingrid Pomeroy, Iva Wilcox, Colleen Moody, Sally Jean Alexander and many more artists from our little circle. The dolly box is by Iva, and I got it at the ZNE vendor fair. The bracelet is by Miss Vicky herself-talk about eye candy-her bracelets are good enough to eat. More about her store later. The birdy is a Lisa Kaus original and is a 6 x 6 chunky canvas, which she signed for me.

Next up are darling ATCs I got in our swaps. Pictured are cards by Gina Gabriell, Nadine Johnson, Gina Halle, Jackie Baxted, and Lani Kent. The cards I made are here http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com/2008/08/on-zne-convenzione-countdown.html. Finally, we also did a chunky or 'zaftig' book swap. I made the cake pages here http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com/2008/06/sunday-storms-sweets-siblings-and-swaps.html and in return, received this book chock-full of 4 x 4 pages by other artists. The cover is by Donna Cook, but each book was entirely different. It was fun to get a page by Nadine Johnson that nearly matched the ATC she gave me! It was also fun to see pages from friends who were not there like Mary Ann http://firstborn.wordpress.com/ and her sister Jo http://labouroflovex3.blogspot.com/. Extra books were sold as a fundraiser by ZNE We Care Coordinator Elena Etcheverry of Scrapbook Royalty http://www.elena.travelingprincess.com/ and proceeds benefitted Bernie Berlin's A Place to Bark http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/ and the Pink Sky project http://chelise.typepad.com/stevie_brianna/

Sugar and spice and everything nice!

Yep, that's what all these little girls are made of, including the instructor and students. Especially the instructor. And her girls. I had the privilege of learning how to make one of these adorable paper clay music box figurines at the ZNE Convenzione last weekend in Pleasanton, CA. My class was taught by the so-sweet Gina Gabriell in her newly-renovated and soon-to-be-opened shop Tangerine in Dublin, CA. Gina http://www.elevenmorning.com/ is such a kind, supportive and generous instructor. Within eight hours every student had a darling girl all done, and each and every one was unique and sweet and well done, as demonstrated in the second photo. There's a lot of sweetness in the student photo too, and thanks to Deena, aka scrappydeena and roomie, for the finger tiara for me!

The next photo are our little girls, formed out of paper clay and styrofoam, drying in the heat box while we went out for Chinese at lunch. The last photo, immediately above, is of Gina Gabriell's materpieces, which she had out on Sunday at the ZNE vendor fair. Gina also had mixed media packets, ATCs, other dolls and the book "Pink Sky," which she wrote and illustrated and of which copies are being donated by ZNE to children's hospitals and hospices around the country. You can read more about Gina and another classmate, Pink Sky graphic artist and watercolorist Iva Wilcox and the book here http://chelise.typepad.com/stevie_brianna/.

The class was just a charmed day and a perfect gathering of like-minded souls that doesn't happen all that often. There was a lot of love in the room on Saturday.

I posted a picture of one of Gina's girls in the post below this one to announce I was heading off to class, and now that I look at my girl above, I know I learned something I will use again. I am pretty proud of my music box (though don't ask about all our striped stockings), and I definitely love her and hope to play with paper clay again soon.

ZNE Convenzione http://www.znecon.com/ was almost a once-in-a-lifetime event since it was the first-ever convention. But since it will be offered again in 2009, everyone gets a second chance. I highly recommend it, and I will be posting more pics soon.