I can't get enough of this.

Okay, this is too cool, I had to do one more - for now...more to come later, perhaps!

Put your mouse over the image and see what happens! (it's bouncy!)

Like a record, baby

I discovered some great slide show templates in Photobucket. Is this one not just absolutely perfect for my Mandala Records?

A couple of years ago I hung some of my work and led a mandala workshop for the Sustainable Community Convergence. They had a d.j. there who had a little fun spinning my records too.

Trillium Artisans and PDX Etsy in the Storque!

I wrote this article for the Storque, Etsy's new online magazine and blog.

Read the article here.

In case you didn't know, I am employed as the Program Coordinator for Trillium Artisans, a nonprofit organization that supports Portland crafters who use recycled and reclaimed materials. I am also one of the artisan members.

This Wednesday night is our monthly artisan meeting, and for our guest speaker we are having Ryan from Littleput Books, who will be sharing her tips and secrets for "How to Promote Yourself on Etsy." Ryan will be teaching this same class at the Etsy Labs next month, so we are super lucky to get a sneak preview!
I had a lot of fun choosing "related items" for the article. I tried to include items from Trillium's Etsy shop as well as items from various Trillium members who are Etsy sellers, and items from PDX Etsy members who are attending the workshop.

This project is funded by a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cutting records

This weekend I am cutting records. Makes me sound like a rock star, I know! Well, the band still hasn't made it into the studio, but I have a lot of Roman Record Cuffs to make for the holiday season, so I am working on slicing up some of the 6 cases of warped rap records I saved from the landfill about a year ago.

So, do you want to know my secrets?

Do you have any idea how long it took me to learn how to do this? Well, here it is: you gotta heat it up first. That's about it. I used to use the oven but now I have a HEAT GUN!
Blast it with some hot, hot heat and you can just cut it with regular scissors. So now you know! Have fun. Be safe. Wear protective gloves and a respirator. And if you can't manage to make your own cuff, just buy one from me!

The joy of new art supplies

There is nothing quite so fabulous as the feeling I get when purchasing high quality, expensive new art supplies.

Yesterday after picking Julius up from school, we headed into Portland's absolute BEST art supply store, I've Been Framed, so I could finally use the gift certificate that the Duniway art committee gave me last year.

I picked up a rainbow of the best, juiciest, most excellent Golden brand acrylics, a cool silver marker, and one of my favorite "F" style black artist pens by Faber-Castell. I also got some Pink Soap, which is simply awesome for cleaning and conditioning paint brushes.

While browsing, I ran into the amazing artist Alison O'Donoghue, who is also a former Duniway art committee member. I really love Alison's work.

The best part - I only used about half of my gift certificate, so I'll be going back to shop more soon!

Two treasuries today!

I'm still a little overwhelmed from all the excitement of yesterday's HGTV show, so I thought I would just post these two beautiful treasuries that indiaylaluna and unstrungsisters were kind enough to include my work in.

Many thanks to all of the wonderful, supportive Etsy people who commented on my show. It was so great to hear from all of you, thank you!

Tonight's the night!

This is what one of my murals looked like when it was illuminated by a big fancy light for our HGTV shoot two years ago.

Finally, TONIGHT, I will get to watch the show!

Please tune in to HGTV's "Look What I Did" tonight (Sept. 19) at 5:00 pm ET/PT.

This is a show about "homeowners who break the design mold." My segment is all about my master bedroom which is also my studio and home office. The walls and ceiling are all adorned with my original painted mandala designs. You can see more pictures on my website.
Here's Chuck posing with a couple of the guys from the crew - the lighting guy and the "grip." They made my husband wear a tie to help counteract all his tattoos. I don't think the collar fully covered up the one around his neck, but we'll see.
Above is our director, Renato, getting the camera set up in order to interview me in the kitchen. Renato was also the director for my "That's Clever!" shoot, which will air on HGTV some time this holiday season.

So tune in to my show! It's not every day that I invite the world into my bedroom...