economic recovery!!

Yes - it's true. Both the NASDAQ and the DOW were up today. You know why? Because Diane went shopping.
That's right -
S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.
All will be right with the world. Your 401k's will rebound. The Grinch can bring back Christmas. And i had fun.
Does this mean i got a job? Sadly, no. But i have sent many applications, so there are jobs out there. I just have to find the right one. In the meantime, look at all the cool stuff i bought! Wall Street will be so pleased.
I had not been to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in a long time.(pictured above) If you are looking for cool stuff - this is the place to find it CHEAP. (This is the store in Oakland, there is a similar place in San Francisco.) They had buckets of plastic letters, many fonts and sizes. How cool! I just grabbed them by the handful. Oddly i got home with everything but an "L" and a "V" and the numbers 3 and 4.
I also got these cool little images. UC Berkeley donated them to the store. not sure what they were - but they have hundreds of images, mostly architectural, sculptural or art images. fifty cents each. I selected some images of gothic churches and a couple of pastoral scenes.
They have thousands of rubber stamps - a close out, i imagine, from Hero Arts. I had to hold back and just get one set of four. I will be participating in a cookie swap this christmas, so i can stamp "enjoy" on the tags! I also got dozens of card blanks - they sell them by the inch!
In addition to paper and fabric and office supplies, there are boxes of just stuff. You have to dig through it to find perhaps some treasures. I found these little angels and some capiz shell coasters. I have a project in mind for these little angels - i'll share with you next week.
While on the east bay, i went to Tail of the Yak, a cool shop on Ashby in Berkeley i recently read about on someone's blog. I had never heard about it. Very cool place - they have fascinating architectural fragments, a huge birdcage (with a real bird) and dolls dressed in paper gowns. I bought a few silly things - just to get a taste of their cleverness. These metal bird and bug pins are so cute and colourful. And the paper bobeches could be used for all sorts of things, besides protecting the table from dripping wax, that is. Angel wings maybe? Halos?
So all in all some fun finds. I spent less than $30 for all of it.

Paper and Ribbons, oh my

Do you buy cards you never plan to actually send or give to anyone? I have been doing that for years. So when i discovered altered books about 6 years ago, it finally all made sense to me. I just love collecting paper. I bought all kinds - wrapping paper, tissue, note paper and cards - just because i liked the colours and patterns. I used to make a big fuss of having a theme for Christmas wrappings. One year i bought flocked wallpaper and made my own gift bags. This was at the very birth of the gift bag phenomenon - like late 80's. Few people had ever seen a gift bag before - and i gave out presents in burgundy velvety bags with gold braided handles and tassles. One year i did the Martha "brown paper with gold paint stamped with halved pears". Oh yeah -it looks easy, but what do you do when you have 12 feet of painted paper and no table or floor space big enough to let it dry?
Back then i didn't know i wanted to be a collage artist. I just knew i liked collecting things. Sure i was crafty. I did flower arranging, wreathmaking, made quilts, sewed all my own clothes. But it was that revelation 6 years ago when all this paper collecting made sense. Now i have a room full of it. Everything from cheesy store bought scrapbooking paper to i do believe is the entire line of Cavallini papers, to 1800's era periodicals and vintage photos and postcards.
This weekend i was in Toronto, Canada for a wedding. I wanted to hit Queen St. West - known for its funky artsy shops and cafes. I went into three stores in one block, bought something in each one, and was happy to head back to the hotel.
First one of those edgy novelty shops that sells risque novelty items. I bought 4 cards i will never give to anyone. But will definitely use for inspiration in my collage. Oh and they all have birds. Still a little bit obsessed with birds. In fact the name of the card line is lovebird by narelle craven. Check her out on line here. I think they are just wholesale - but you will certainly by inspired by her designs.
The next shop just sold ribbon, Mokuba. But not in a new york city garment district kind of way. More in a sleek modern our ribbon is too good for you kind of way. It was all stunning and expensive - so how to choose? Well i spotted some spools of multi hued silk ribbons in assorted colorways -only $1 a yard! Each of these bundles is 5 yards - so many colours in one piece of ribbon!
Next shop was a b-flat art supply store - you know, like you have everywhere. But perhaps there was a fun find. I picked up a collage pack of handmade papers for $2.99.
So equipped with new cards, ribbon and paper - it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. We jumped in a taxi and turned the corner and ran smack dab into china town. AARRGHGHH. OH how i would have loved to peruse the Asian import shops lining the streets for more paper treasures. Alas it was not to be.

So got back to the hotel and opened up all my packages - included the handmade papers. Everything in the pack was plain solid paper - not at all like the embroidered and flower petal strewn samples on the cover. oh well. I'll use it for something.

Shopping is Creative

I used to be a fashion buyer in my 20's. I loved choosing fabrics and designs and creating an assortment of merchandise that would be visually exciting in the stores and entice you to buy. Now i am in retail systems and operations, but i still have the urge to create assortments, pulling together colours and styles and objects that create a cohesive whole. So i shop. A lot. A few weeks ago it was all about my wardrobe for Cabo. 20 separate outfits and 7 pairs of shoes for 7 days.
This weekend i was in Toronto for a wedding. At the last minute i decided i did not like the dress i was planning to wear, so I hit all the plus size shops in my area looking for the ultimate wedding attire. I also ordered two new outfits on line, rush delivery, to arrive just before i left. So this meant i had to buy shoes and purses for two different dresses on the CHANCE that they fit and looked good and i intended to wear them for the wedding. You get it? Just IN CASE. I found an adorable green and turq flower shaped bag for the peridot green outfit. And at another store little green flats with rafia flowers on them. Here is the rayon crinkle skirt that went with it.
Here is the peridot green shawl front cardigan with matchin camisole i ordered to match the long skirt.

Here is a similar outfit in pink that was another choice i decided against. But it shows how luxurious the three pieces come together. All these pieces are from the Newport News catalog - available online as well.

I also bought silver flats with a cluster of petals to wear with the pale blue dress shown up above. (i already own a collection of vintage evening bags - so i didn't need one in silver).
Then just before the dresses arrived i found a perfect aubergine cocktail dress at Ross. Yeah - search high and low, pay hundreds of dollars and you find the perfect dress for $19.99.
Ok - so now i need shoes and a bag for this dress too. I still need all the others, because i haven't received them yet - and i might like one of them better. Are you seeing how fun and creative this whole process is? And freakishly extravagent and stupid? Did i mention i have a perfectly good, flattering dress at home already, worn it to two other wedings, but you know, it is a brown/orange paisley print. Not a nice spring wedding colour.
My friend at work catches wind of all this and runs home at lunch and returns with 15, i mean it 15 DIFFERENT pashmina shawls for me to choose from. And three evening bags. After work wednesday i find the perfect gold/silver braided leather shoes for the aubergine dress. They'll work great with the beaded evening bag from michelle. get home and great - the stuff i ordered on line has arrived. But it is stifling hot - can't bear to try anything on until after midnight. Can't even think about packing until the dress business is sorted out. Oh and we have to get up at like 4:00am to get to the airport.
In the end the aubergine cocktail dress, the beaded bag, the fuschia and purple pashmina and the metallic braided shoes went to the wedding.
Do you see how this was just like selecting elements for a collage? Finding the right background? the right focal point? the right accessories, i mean embellishments? Shopping feeds my creative soul. Maybe I should go back to being a fashion buyer before i bankrupt ourselves....