pamgarrison

art in ashland

Getting back into the swing of things after Art in Ashland. The trip was my first venture out in the world since surgery and my back was very kind to me. Although I must really thank Amy and Anahata for lifting everything for me; without their support it would have been a different story I am sure.

It was a great retreat. Anahata and the Papaya peeps did an amazing job. Close up it's so much more involved than it looks to arrange/host these types of events. I know all the attendees like me send big kisses and hugs to Anahata et al for the wonderful time.

{At left is a close up of the piece I was working on in Anahata's class. Full size below.}

Here's a shot of the beautiful view from Anahata's home. Her home is every bit the hip, cool, creative pad you'd expect it to be. She really lives such an artistic life. I wish I had more shots to share, but as you can see the sun was setting. How gorgeous is this view?

Here's a photo of class in full swing: 

It was really fun to all be together in the same room for all three class days, everybody working on the same type of project.

I wish I had more class photos, but I seem to bring my camera to these events yet fail to use it.

there were pretty flowers throughout the room. 

Papaya girls Ana and her Mama on opening night, sweet gals through and through and fun to boot.

My table top during Amy's class. Obviously, I had a hard time paring down before I came...I just didn't know what kind of necklace I'd feel like making. Here's the one I did make, a copy of one of Amy's:

Here's the piece I worked on during Anahata's class: It's not done, more doodling to come, a word needing re-doing, and an ink spill to incorporate.

Here's a quick overview of the final night party at Prize, a yummy yummy store. You can see how we were all signing each others' journals. I just had to get the chandelier and light strands in too. 

No, it's not your eyes, this picture's blurry. Wouldn't it have been nice if I'd had my camera setting correct?

Ahh, that's better. Sally Jean, Amy Hanna, Anahata Katkin and me. At this point we were all getting a little punch drunk, the retreat being over and having little sleep.

It was a great event and a pleasure to create alongside old friends and new. If any of you have a link to photos from the event feel free to post it in the comments.

.......

a little pom pom trim sample board found at the flea market last year

Hi all. Hope you've been having a lovely summer. Me, not so much due to my back. I was being soooooo good, and only doing the very minimum required of me, letting time pass to heal. I pretty much lay on the floor all day on an ice pack or hot pad, trying to avoid the recommended discectomy and laminectomy recommended by 4 different doctors that read my MRI (I kept trying to find one that would say what I wanted to hear :) ) It's just that the surgery did have a couple risks to my spine and nerves, and having the  surgery did not mean that I wouldn't stop the same thing (ruptured hernia) from occurring again anyway. And really, I just didn't want to open the Pandora's box of back issues if I didn't have to.

My Dr. was kind enough to consistently recommend surgery, but support my decision to try to let it heal on it's own.  Bulges shrink back, and fragments (the piece embedded in my sciatic nerve ) "reabsorb", usually in 3-6 months.  Unfortunately, I had to miss a scheduled vacation with my kids and my Dad, and also a girlfriend's creative vacation. Boo hoo. Anyway, healing without surgical intervention was not to be the case. After being good for over 2 months, something snapped and I found myself in a new kind of excruciating pain two weeks ago tomorrow. The next day,  Saturday, when I was admitted into the ER, my new MRI showed "record setting" herniation. Super. Not exactly the records I'd like to be setting. Due to possible permanent problems with my nerve being pinched as it was, they gave me no choice and operated as soon as the neuro surgeon could get in. It all went wonderfully, and I went home completely out of pain for the first time in months. The doctor said that if I'm good (no bending, lifting, twisting, carrying or sitting for more than 20 minutes at a time), I should be feeling great and back at full speed within 6 weeks. I sure am looking forward to that. For now though, I am trying to follow those rules as much as possible, and I am thrilled to be out of constant pain.

I've been off the blog forever, so I just wanted to give you an update. I had my post surgery check up today, and everything is looking great. The Dr. begrudgingly gave me the ok to fly to Oregon, but I must promise to walk around every 20 or 30 minutes of sitting on the plane, and lift absolutely nothing. I'll be seeing some of you in Ashland, for anyone else popping by, I return home late Wednesday night.

Again, thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. The creative community on these art blogs is so very supportive and it's very encouraging to me to hear that no matter what I'm experiencing, I am not alone.

And as for my husband? He's doing great. His never got too bad after the first month or so...although I tell him (much to his displeasure) every day that he's doing too much and asking for trouble...hope not.

Have a good  week...

convenZioNE!

I wanted to let you know that I am looking forward to teaching at ConvenZioNE this August in Pleasanton, California. I love NorCal, there seems to be such a great amount of creativity up there, and both my brothers live there as well, so how could I not love going there? Anyway, my class is called "Homecomings", a mixed media wall hanging, samples shown above. As a little thank you to my sweet students, there will be 3 prizes given out per class...think wallpaper or kits...that's all I'm sayin'!

There are so many other great classes offered by teachers like Jennifer Murphy, Sally Jean, Lisa Kaus, and I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. Check them out yourself here.

There are some other special treats in store as well:
a keynote by SARK, appearance by Michele Beschen of HGTV, 1000 Journal Pages and Crowns and Tiaras book signings, etc. etc. If you have a group interested, there are discounts to be had, and there is a scholarship program as well.  You can read all about the event here. I hope to meet some of you there, it promises to be a good, creative time!

it's almost time...

Teresa has been hard at work making exciting plans for this years Silver Bella. You can head on over to the Silver Bella Blog to see some of what's in store for participants. It's such a great holiday event. I am especially excited because this year, after returning home, I'll be able to stay in holiday mode. I get so in the mood at the event, but last year, after returning home, I had to pack the house and move. It kinda blew the whole holiday vibe as I'm sure you can imagine. But not this year! Teresa's got me started already with her sneak peeks and hints at special secrets. I only know one and it's got me super excited and singing  songs from the season. Seriously, my daughter just asked from a room away, "Mom, why are you singing Christmas songs?"

And a big welcome to  Sally Jean and Jenni B! I love both these artists, and not just for their style and talent, but also because they are super sweet. You are gonna love them too... I just don't know how participants are going to even decide which 5 classes to take. Oh my. A good problem, no? Well, you've got the weekend to mull it over...

another friend joins the blog world

{Trader Joes's Tulip as found on the kitchen counter}

I'm happy to report that Amy has thrown in the towel and started a blog... you know how much her creativity inspires me, and now you'll get to see more of the world through her eyes and be inspired as well. You are probably familiar with her jewelry often shown here on my blog, but her creative gifts hardly stop there. Visit her and you'll soon see what I mean.

Also wanted to let you know that Paris to the Moon, the magical little shop that I have blogged about here and here, now has a website. They are having another of their flea markets this weekend, and I was so looking forward to offering some of my many many art supplies (yep, the move confirmed it, I have gathered more than I need (and then some), but the back won't permit it. If you go, take some photos and show me what I missed.

good news & bad news

Remember when I posted here about my little adventure with Amy and Jenny Doh? It was one of the most creatively inspiring trips I've ever had. It was a dream indeed when we entered into Wendy Addison's magical world "Theatre of Dreams", and I long to go back. Well guess what? We can all visit quite regularly because Wendy has started a blog!!!  And just as exciting? Wendy is self publishing a  book of her own. There will only be 350 copies made. Of course, I've ordered mine. To find out more, go to her blog. I've seen some of these journal pages in person, and they are even more amazing than in the photos.

The bad news? I've gotten the results from my MRI. Looks like I'm going to have this back issue a bit longer. I have a big bulging disc, which we all assumed, but I didn't know that it had fractured and a "big piece" is embedded in my nerve. Damnit! Not what I wanted to hear. Going to a spine specialist later in the week. Finding it hard to feel like creating when I can't sit, stand, or lay comfortably. To top it all off though...Friday my husband called and said, "When I was getting out of my car, I think I did something to my back", and he's been walking funny every since. He had an MRI yesterday, and he has the same thing! Unbelievable. So he'll be going to the spine Dr. too.What are the chances? Can you imagine the two of us around here this weekend? Pretty funny if you can step back from it a bit. I am farther along then he, so I'm a bit more resolved to it. I guess I really should have had an MRI last year. They say 90% of people incur back injuries during their lifetime, and it can be from the simplest movement, So BE CAREFUL!!!  Ok, off my soapbox, and on to the last day of school BBQ (slowly) and physical therapy.

you guys are so sweet

Thank you for all your super kind words of empathy and advice. I really appreciate every single one. I am happy to report that I am doing much better. I was up last weekend actually, but overdid it and learned yet another lesson: slow down and let things heal, don't push it. But really, now, I am moving about well. I'm still learning that this is a life long issue, and working on getting back to normal, but it I'm so grateful to be so far from where I was a couple weeks ago. Yuk!

Happy to be doing a little crafting as well. These two flowers are bits of an embroidery project I suddenly had time to work on :). Love the rick rack one below. I bet some of you even remember the Martha issue where they made flowers out of rick rack trim (am I spelling that wrong?). It's been in my head for years, and gave me yet another reason to love rick rack.

I also did a little etsy shopping while I was down for the count.

I bought these above from Rebecca. And these below from Melissa.

And when I purchased this below from Donna...

she sent along a super sweet box that she made just for me. I love the velvet flowers, Swarovski crystals and oval labels inside and the "wallpaper is smart" paper piece (a girl after my own heart). But even better is the hand made box  she put them in. She used  the paper that I made for Somerset long ago and mixed it oh so cleverly with vintage wallpaper. Thank you Donna for the kind sentiment too.

She's even  selling some  cute vintage ledgers on her etsy site. If you are in my Art in Ashland class, these would be perfect!

Is it just me, or has etsy gone back to it's really cute indie-craft style that it was in the beginning? There were so many items I wanted to purchase.

Ok, enough rambling for now. Back soon. And really, thanks again for the companionship and camaraderie,  xoxop

i guess i'm a slow learner

I hurt my back again! I am so mad at myself. You'd think after doing that last year with all the pain and lost time which led to real depression, I'd make sure to never do anything that might hurt my back again. Like I said: slow learner. For two weeks now, I have been either on the floor (four days...no kidding, couldn't get off the floor) or in my bed. It happened the weekend before my little giveaway ended, so I had to call my brother and dictate the post that announced the kit recipients. Since then, I've been pretty much out of commission, trying to heal enough to get to physical therapy (starts next week). Finally, two days ago, I was able to get up and come downstairs. I was so happy to be among the living, that I went to my son's baseball game, his open house concert, and my daughter's lacrosse game. (Tells you how guilty I was feeling about being a nonexistent mommy.) Of course,that proved to be too much. I repeat: slow learner. Back to the bed again. It's the pain that  bothers me the most. I guess I'm a wimp.  Today will be spent in the bed again. ArGh!!! That song "Stupid Girl" keeps repeating in my head.

I just wanted to tell you what's up so you don't get disappointed that my blog never changes. Also, I wanted to let you know that I can receive emails, but not send them (unless they are dictated to my dauaghter), just so you know.  I have accepted the fact that this is going to be a lifelong thing; to strengthen my back and not abuse it. I don't want to ever post about back pain again! (Just as I'm sure you'd prefer not to hear that- after all, this is a craft blog). I'll be back next week talking creativity.

Just for fun, here are some pretties.

Bits of new projects and future classes, roses on my nightstand and in the garden. Doesn't it look like you could nap on those roses? So soft and fluffy.

Hope this finds you in good health, and I'll be back next week. xo p

and the winners are...

Kathy Hansen
auntiesisy@aol.com
“Wow, what a wonderful giveaway, I would love to be entered. Thanks so much for all you do for the art community, I cannot wait till my copy of the books arrives. I know you will a have a huge success on your hands what a gift to us all. Kathy H.”

Anita Anderson
ama1@cableone.net
“This book looks GREAT! When I grow up I wanna be just like you!”

michelleb.
mblaise29@yahoo.com
“How wonderful of all of you to share something so wonderful with all of us! Thanks!”

dawn
dawnpagano@yahoo.com
ohsopretty.typepad.com
“How lovely!! Please enter my name in the drawing.”

---

Wow, it’s so great to see there are so many kit-loving crafters out there. I’m sorry there can only be four winners, but I promise there'll be more giveaways in regards to Postmark: LA.

We are all so grateful and excited about your enthusiasm for our little project. If you’re one of the lucky winners, please send me an email at pmdgarrison@cox.net with your home address so I can send your package.

With much appreciation, Pam.

(Winners were chosen using a random number generator from random.org.)

finally!

Update: here's a photo of the kits I'm giving away. To be fair to those with computer access on weekends only, I'm going to close the contest tomorrow (Sunday) at 6pm pacific time. That way everyone will have a chance to put their name in the hat so to speak. I'll announce the 4 winners in a post Monday .  Any comments left on this post before then are eligible for one of the 4 kits I'm giving out in celebration of Postmark L.A. finally being available. My attempt at a little thank you for your patience and excitement and support. Always so grateful for this wonderful online creative community. Have a great weekend and good luck!

It's ready! Postmark: LA , the fun "petite livre" by Teresa McFayden, Rebecca Sower, Amy Hanna, Charlotte Lyons, Carolyn Peeler and myself. We are all so excited that we can finally share it with you! It has been so much fun creating, and the fun isn't stopping there...we've got lots of things up our sleeves for you in the next coming weeks (think give-aways).  You can get your copy and join us in the fun here.

We are starting the celebrating today, with little giveaways on our blogs. Be sure to visit Charlotte, Teresa, Carolyn and Rebecca (no blog yet for Amy) for their giveaways, and leave a comment here on my blog if you want to be in the drawing for one of my 4 "kit" giveaways which are based on a project I made in the book (which was based on a gift from Rebecca, so you know it's good).

Hope you will all play along, this is going to be fun fun fun.