Off To Shores Of A Different Kind

This may be my last post for a week or so, Saturday I will be driving to Ocean Grove, NJ to meet up with my amazing friends from high school, we've got a house that sleeps 12 plus an apartment directly behind it that sleeps 6,  it's been more than 30 years since we wandered the streets of Mannheim, Germany. Some of us met up last year for a wedding reception, you can see my post about that here It was the first time many of us saw each other in 30 years! Ahhh...a week long party on the beach with amazing friends - does it get any better than that?

I am trying to get out a couple custom orders before I leave, my latest is a tennis themed journal for my fabulous friend Lisa (also from high school) to give to her mother, why the A, B, C on the spine? They are her mother's initials! Neat, huh? Her mother loves flowers so I used a pretty floral watercolor paper for the endpages.

One more to go! Of course I left the hardest for last, it is a 2 book set to include a slipcase.

Oh, and as for that show last weekend? Not great, I sold 2 books, but the venue was not really the best for shopping traffic.

Also, I believe my PopTart has lost the race for an online shop for life contest - I think I am too far behind to catch up, the voting ends on Sunday. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those that took the time to vote. XOX

In honor of the ties that have bound the friendships all these years and since we will be directly next to Asbury Park where Springsteen got his start (the song itself it not exactly referring to friendships but the title does at any rate!)

You can't forsake the ties that bind.....at the Shores

Spontaneity? Procrastination?

Ribbon bound abstract fabric action

I must say, I am not really a person that needs to plan things. Our yearly 4th of July bash menu wasn't even thought about until a couple days before everyone began arriving. Packing for trips normally happens just a couple hours before leaving the house. I have no qualms with a girlfriend phoning with the suggestion of hitting the road for an overnight trip somewhere fun. And my latest folly...a small show to have a table for my books in. Someone locally found me on Facebook yesterday (Friday) and asked if I would be interested in showing on.......SUNDAY! Hahaha. Really? Two days? Guess who is going? Yep, why not. If I hadn't just done one in June and already had a table set-up I definitely would have had to pass. We'll see how it goes, even getting my business cards out would make the 3 hours worth it I suppose : )
I guess being if I'm honest with myself, I have a crazy mix of a little spontaneity and a lot of procrastination!

Still looking for votes on my PopTart journal, still running in second place. Every time I get to within one vote (like last night) that brownie shoots ahead by 12. Share the link with your friends & family, I need all the help I can get!! And thank you if you already have.

Here's a little upbeat "Sound of Sunshine" for you (it's VERY hot here) PS Did you know Michael Franti has not worn shoes in 10 years, with the exception of occasional flip flops when heading to the airport - he says it's for all the children in the world that have never owned a pair of shoes...I must say, I'm barefoot EVERY chance I get. 

Listening to the sounds of sunshine.....at the Shores

Garden and Book Update

I've just finished another custom order, I have used the fabric once before on a large sketchbook but it looks just as gorgeous on a regular sized one...the colors are simply amazing. I use the straight stitch binding method so often because as a left handed artist (and writer) it has always been a pain to use books that may be bound otherwise, this allows the book to lie more flat when open and there is very little "gutter" for my hand to fight...I think a fellow lefty might know better about what I'm talking about!

Above is a picture of my veggie garden, it has been a month since I planted it and they are finally starting to take off (this is how it began). I have a ton of blossoms on my tomatoes, the yellow and green squash are looking verrry good (they are just in flower right now), the 6 different varieties of pepper plants are all set and my beans just may be ok but I had only one cucumber plant that survived the cucumber beetles, then as I was weeding the other night.........I stepped on it! Whaaa - how sad, it's gone, no cukes for me! My cantaloupe and watermelon are sort of straggling behind but may be ok. The bad thing about having my garden here is the only water source is a well and I've got to lug buckets from there to my plot. I've given up trying to keep the grass from growing between the rows!

So - I am still in second place in this contest, I'd love your vote for my PopTart if you haven't already (psst...vote from your computer AND phone if it is internet capable and recruit your friends too!) It would be wonderful to win a free online shop for life, I'd be so very grateful for your vote!
 

Lastly, this song choice is called "Shame" because that's how I feel after tossing 1/3 of a chocolate cake and 10 cupcakes leftover from a get together I had Saturday into the ...*gasp* trash :(

Shame, boatloads of shame.....at the Shores

Sending Sun to Virginia

A quick post on a new custom journal made for a customer in Virginia, it's the first time I used different color threads to bind with (I had a hard time deciding which one so I used them all!) It's straight stitched like the one a couple posts below.

I am still running in second place in this contest with my PopTart journal - PLEASE vote (a free lifetime online shop for me for life if I win!)

I've got 5 custom orders and one for my shop(s) ready to be bound, all but one pictured here, the bottom two with the roses will be getting a slipcase to hold them both:

If you've read my blog for a bit you know my taste in music seems to hover between the 60's-80's (and definitely no hip hop or rap) but here again a song in a TV commercial made me take a better listen to something much newer..I kinda like it ;o)

 
Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all.......at the Shores

I Need Your Votes!

Ok, as I mentioned in an earlier post I have entered a journal I did for the Handmade Artists' Forum "Iron Chef Challenge" and the voting has begun, I am presently running second to a polymer clay brownie charm so I am asking begging for your (click) vote . If I win I will get a lifetime HAF shop for free (which if you sell online you know you can be beat to death with all the fees and commissions) below is my entry - you will find the voting buttons between the entries and the comments sections. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help!

Vote for the PopTart!!

PS If you comment you can win prizes too!

Below is another book I've just finished, it has been ribbon bound and contains 80# drawing paper.


That's all I got today! I have a ton of pictures to finish editing for my mom's new shop "Knit So Ordinary" that I am setting up for her, she makes THE best market bags (and I don't just say this because I'm her kid), they hold a TON, I'll keep you posted on the progress of that...you know, in case you're in the market for one! ; )


No relevance for this video..except I'm feeling a little country comfortable today 

It's good old country comforts in my bones......at the Shores

Sure Is Quiet....

We made it through another romping good time here at the Shores. The last one left was my mom, she went home this morning - I still cry when I have to say goodbye to her, I sort of feel like a little kid being left behind!

My beautiful mother

Yesterday I took her to Geneva-on-the-Lake, on the shores of Lake Erie. It boasts as Ohio's "First Summer Resort". Though the fun started in 1869 when the first carnival park "Sturgeon Point" was built  the early 1900's it was a popular getaway to the Midwest "gentry" like John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. There are old style arcades, restaurants (Eddie's Grill is pretty much the same as it was in the 50's), lots of tiny cottages and Lake Erie wineries, one of which is where we had lunch, the Old Firehouse Winery (pictured above). When we got home the house was empty so we threw on some shorts and I took her out on the boat.

I love playing Captain!

It was a tough time being home and not at my work table, I thought I should be binding a book or at least doing a little marketing...so I have no new books to show but have begun 3, plus I have several custom orders to get going on too.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I'll be back wielding binding needles in a matter of hours.....and missing my mom (and other family member too, of course!)

Summer breeze makes me feel fine..........at the Shores