BABY TALK

Everyone says that twins have a special bond.  That they speak a language all their own.

Wonder what these babies are talking about?????

CHARLIE UPDATE!!

I am so happy to let you guys know that Charlie is doing WONDERFUL.   

The medication has totally changed his life so far!  He is working as a line chef (he studied at Cordon Bleu to be a chef) at a very high end (interpret as ridiculously expensive) restaurant here in the Keys and loves it.  He is happier and healthier than I have seen him in YEARS.

God is GOOD to me and my child!  Your prayers have been heard and for that I will always be grateful!

Of course you can't help being cautious - just waiting for the shoe to fall - but he is determined that he is done with that life.  All I know is that I am living one day at a time and am enjoying seeing the clarity in my sons eyes... the strength in his gait... the sincerity of his smile.  Yes.... it's all good.

BACK TO KEYS 4 ART!

A couple of months ago I was looking through one of the many Somerset Magazines I devour every month and I came across Julie's glamor girls.  I had seen them before but for some reason I was drawn to them this time.   At the first Keys 4 Art we all taught a little something so I thought I would give this a whirl.  I emailed Julie and told her about the retreat and that I would like, with her blessing, to teach the girls her technique.  She wrote me back right away and not only answered all my questions but offered to come teach us!!!  Well, to make a long story short, she came!!   Voila!  Julie Nutting!!! Can you believe that????

I tend to get easily sidetracked don't I?????  On Wednesday morning we started with Julie's workshop.  Ingrid had been on her feet the entire day the day before and she really wanted to take Julie's workshop so on Wednesday we did the glamor girls.

Lillian Mederak (Canada), Linda Davis (my buddy from Key Largo) and Sarah Walker (Australia).

My New York chicks!!  Teri Flemal and Eileen Bellomo

The beautiful and talented Daisy Cooper from right here in Florida.

Gina Goodling (Portland), Sue Young (Ohio) and Marita Kovalik (Portland).

Julie brought me this beautiful canvas as a gift!!!  Lucky me!

Ingrid Dijkers with her glamor girl.

My sister Jacquie Valdespino.

The gorgeous and precocious Jennifer Rogers-Daniels from California.

The next day, Thursday, we had another workshop day with Ingrid to continue work on our fabulous journals.  Everyone was so into these journals! The day went by incredibly fast!

On Friday we all piled into two vans and drove two hours to The Paper Niche for a WONDERFUL class with one of my best friends BEATRIZ GUZMAN.

The class used Donna Downey's 6x12 canvas journal.  We learned unique techniques from Bea that were all her own!  We painted, glued, gesso-ed, rubbed on....  wonderful!

Both Lillian and Sarah had birthdays during our retreat and we celebrated them with a cake at The Paper Niche.  I had bought each of them a 7 Gypsies receipt holder and everyone made tags for each of them to put onto their receipt holder.  The tags were gorgeous and they were thrilled with their gifts.

Each of us had a paint tray with paint and water and ... well, I can't remember what else!  We dunked our canvas pages in this and let them dry.

How GREAT is this picture!!??

It was so great to spend time with Tracy!  We are in daily contact on line but had not seen each other personally since the Teesha Moore Play Retreat two years ago!

This is Jacquie.  One of the most wonderful women I have ever met!  She is an incredible attorney but her greatest asset is her ability to love unconditionally.  I am truly blessed to call her my friend.

Sarah had a little meltdown when we sang her happy birthday.  But like she said, they were "happy tears" so it's ok!

Beatriz and Sue working on Bea's unique techniques!

Linda with one of her gorgeous pages!  This was done with a Donna Downey stamp that was part of our package.

We were at the Paper Niche from about 9:30 am until 10:00 pm!!!  We were all exhausted but happy by the end of the night.  Then, of course, a two hour drive back to Key Largo!

Beatriz made this as a gift for me!  Yep, I am a lucky girl!!!  This is made with chipboard and .... ready for it?..... air conditioning tape!!!!  Bea taught us how to do it and everyone went home looking for air conditioning tape!

A closer look!

My wonderful friend Bea.  She is happiest when she is covered in paint!

Gina and Marita really enjoyed the canvas page dunking technique!!

Our entire group!  Yes, the clock reflects PM!!!  

One day left of this wonderful retreat!

WHAT DO YOU MAKE?

My friend Jennifer Rogers-Daniels put this video on Facebook. I think it is AWESOME and wanted to share it!   My daughter Kristina is a teacher so I'm a LITTLE sensitive to this!!!



I am 50 years old and to this day am influenced by some wonderful teachers I had as a child.  Unfortunately they are not as appreciated as they should be.

KEYS 4 ART GROUP

I have received tons of emails (and I mean tons) regarding the Keys 4 Art retreat.  I am so thrilled that so many people find it as awesome as we do and would like to attend.

The Keys 4 Art retreat was born from a desire to meet "my girls".   I had hosted a few round robin journals (a never ending series of them actually) and the way I've done that is I initially invited about 12 women I had met online to participate in the first round robin journal (Through the Eyes of an Artist).  For every other journal after this one, I invited the same group of ladies.  If anyone decided they didn't want to participate in the next  project then I would invite someone else (from a group of ladies recommended by the group members).  Follow me?

Now, the ones invited to the Keys 4 Art are the ladies in my journals.  IF anyone decided they did not want to come, then that would leave a place open to invite someone else.  Last year I had 12 ladies invited - this year it was 16 which is the absolute maximum amount (remember this is hosted in my house!).  There are 16 because that has been the number of artists in our last journals.

So, basically, the only way to add someone new is if someone drops out and that has yet to happen.  I have never wanted to make this an "open" retreat.  The most beautiful part of it is that we are friends all year - connecting on a daily basis - and then get together for our big slumber party!

But I am so pleased that so many people feel this retreat is worth wanting to come to!!!  Thank you!

KEYS 4 ART: IT ONLY GETS BETTER IN DAY 2

After our first night of partying I figured my sisters would SLEEP in a little!!! WRONG!!  My husband nudges me at 6:30 AM and says "I think those crazy ladies are awake already!".  Yep! They were!!!  They were already drinking coffee, catching up on the gossip and setting up their "play stations"!

Wednesday was our first day of INGRID DIJKERS's workshop (SEE HER MARCH 15TH BLOG POST ABOUT OUR RETREAT FOR MORE PICTURES!)

 As a Zetti-addict and a fan of Teesha Moore's, I always loved Ingrid's work - it is "zetti-ish" without being zetti.  Know what I mean?  Anyway, one of the ladies in our retreat group, Sue Young, had taken a class with Ingrid and had suggested to me that I would really love her work.  Well, I went to her blog, perused her fabulous FABULOUS journals and Sue was right!  I totally fell in love with her work.

After emailing back and forth with Ingrid and coordinating dates for her to come and teach us, I suggested several of her journals to the group and we decided on OVER THE EDGE.  This was for a couple of reasons, mainly because it's just amazing, but also because our new round robin journal was all about working over the edge!   A no-brainer right!?

So, anyway, we started on Wednesday with the first day of Ingrid's workshop (there were two days total).  These are some of the pictures from that first day workshop:

When taking a workshop with Ingrid, I wasn't just impressed with her beautiful work  - but with her beautiful soul.  Ingrid is a quiet person (hell, I thought we had scared her off the first night!!!) but once she is comfortable with you she is a pleasure to be with!  Don't miss out on her classes if you are lucky enough to be able to take one!

Ingrid provided some beautiful collage sheets for us to work with.

Ingrid Dijkers.

My beautiful and talented friend Tracy was in her element with this beautiful project.

These are some of the wonderful pages from the Over the Edge project:

My new mentor!

Tomorrow.... Day 3 and Julie Nutting!

Sorry!

I didn't mean to scare you guys with the title to the last post! Charlie is doing FANTASTIC. He is done with detox and back home under the care of an addiction specialist for at least one year. This is the best addiction specialist in the country. The doctor is developing a long term plan for him to keep him straight and sober. He is very strong and determined to stay clean,

Thank you all so much for your prayers and for caring enough to ask!


-Posted from Elena's iPad