A Bunny Book Goes Full Circle!

Last year I was invited to join a collaborative book project on Beatrix Potter. The theme was her art and of course, Peter Rabbit. Everyone knows my fondness for bunnies so this was a definite yes.We could use a purchased book or bind our own. We had several months to put our books together, design the cover and our first page with an atc. There had to be a pocket to hold a removable atc and a second page, layout style. Originally there were 10 of us in the round robin and we had one month to complete each entry then pass it to the next person on the list. I really enjoyed seeing all the different books and how each artist customized their design for each entry. I especially loved the atc component, some were held in with little picket fences, vines, library pockets, ribbon and even flowers! The project took over a year and we had two artists drop out, one became terribly ill and a mother/daughter team that kept the books for too long. At one point one artist had five of the ten books! Well, we were able to get it back on track and the finished projects were a true delight.

A Blog Makeover and A farmer's Market Find

Well, after visiting Karen Valentine's Where Artists Create blog party I decided it was time for a makeover of my studio and of my blog. The studio will have to wait but with the help of my daughter Kaitlyn, my friend Lisa, and her husband, today was the day. I love the cleaner color palette and three column format!

In addition, I changed the name of my blog, well sort of...I translated Creative Chaos to French. I know it all sounds very continental but fact is there is another artist with the same name for her blog. ..So what do you think?

This week at the Farmers Market where I shop on Sunday I found this wonderful basket. It is amazingly light and holds everything, The leather handle makes carrying even the heaviest load comfortable. I bought it from a man who told me he imported them from Madagascar, how cool is that. It is round but he demonstrated that by soaking it with water it could be reshaped into any shape. He made all types of shapes from the basket, even a heart. I was sold and had to have one! As I was carrying it to my car filled with my edible bounty, I visualized filling it with vintage treasure at my next visit to the Alameda Flea Market September 6th. I can't wait!

A Fun Family Vacation times two!

We spent a wonderful week in San Diego and had the most perfect weather! My husband had a conference so we all hitched a ride with him to Southern California. We walked all over town and had a suite overlooking the bay. All day long ships of all sorts cruised passed our window, battleships, freighters, cruise ships and even a paddle boat in the evening.
The day we arrived home we had family visiting from Southern California and where did they want to go: San Francisco, of course. So we packed everyone up and went to the city, tourist style. I had not done so in many, many years so we worked down my sister-in-laws list: Drive down Lombard St, check, ride a trolley, check, harbor cruise, check, Pier 39, check, Chocolate sundae at Giradelli, double check...and the list went on. It was a blast and for the kids a real treat to do everything all in one day! Did you know that Angel Island was the Ellis Island of the Pacific for immigrants of long ago. Or that the Golden Gate Bridge is called such not because of it's color but because it was thought to be the golden gates to paradise by early visitors arriving by sea.