Need your assistance... NOW!

So exciting news, and the reason I can't talk long - the Bead order has arrived! So awesome! So because I have inevitably opened the packaging, and will be tinkering and plotting for the next while, I will be brief :)

Today I was on a mission to get in contact and plan out all other craft shows in the Lower Mainland for November and December. Many of the show’s submission dates had already passed, but there were still a few options. While they are still accepting the submissions, their deadlines are coming up fast.

I guess I kinda lied when I said we would need your assistance in voting late September, early October, as your help is needed now! Go, go, go!

Below is a list of items we currently have for sale as well as ones we are thinking about having. Let us know what you think we should sell at the shows, and what your top pick is.

- Canvas Paintings
- Matted Prints
- Cards
- Yoga Bags
- Knitting/Artist's Roll
- Hanging Hug Monster Set
- Hanging Uglies Set
- Earrings
- Coasters
- Candles
- Flasks
- Candle Holders
- Soap
- Napkin Rings

Didn't see what you were looking for? Please suggest it to us and we'll look into it!

The Phone Call

So does anyone know how to grow an extra set of arms? Or perhaps is aware how to freeze time? This month is about to get crazy, I smell it!

Currently the two main projects we are tackling are illustrations for a children’s book and a tattoo design. Recently it has been a battle of finding time to work on these projects, but that all changed this weekend, yay! And then…the phone rang. Some unexpected news was delivered to us. *Dramatic Music Plays* We were given an invitation to be a vendor in a craft show for November :O

After our last art show, we decided we would take a step back and take a little break from the shows. Our plan was to resume them next year in 2011, as we were planning to take a trip to the UK. Unfortunately we could not proceed with the Europe trip due to unforeseen circumstances, so we followed up with plan B. Spend the rest of this year researching, designing, and creating our new vendor look as well as pumping out numerous pieces to sell.

Prepping for Craft Shows is a dangerously good event for my creative side. I will take out a bunch of paper and just start to fill it up with ideas of products for the shows and drawing little images. I always like to experiment by bringing something new to the table (cheesy pun intended) to see if it is a hit or not. Problem in the end is choosing which ones to work into the shows, as I usually want to take them all on, ambitious I know. Having a blog now, I hope you will help us in this Journey of decision making. Feel free to play this in the background as you assist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6OTogk-s8

Late September, early October we will be including pictures and surveys to see what you would like us to showcase in November. Expect some crazy ones as we will be drinking LOTS of coffee, and of course Energy Drinks. Also feel free to post comments as well on the threads as we love hearing any detailed feedback you wish to provide.

Stay tuned! *Fade to Black*

Mix it up!

A long overdue post by the other half!

As you can probably tell, we have a lot of different projects going on all at the same time, and most of the time we jump to and from them in no particular order. Lately, our attention has been divided between children's story illustrations and detailed tattoo design. On the one hand they are similar in that we are doing lots of work withour trusty pencils, but on the other hand, it's a very different mindset. For me, it's a lot of:

"How is this going to look on a page?"

vs.

"How much detail can I fit into a small place on this person's arm?"

Last night, we were up very late (shocking, I know!) working on these drawing projects and I got a lot done on something I don't do very often; A very detailed and realistic pencil drawing of a human being! I am quite happy with how it turned out, especially as I'm not hugely confident in my pencil skills, at least when it comes to drawing anything that resembles reality.

That being said, when we had our good friends over today for an Art Day™, I decided it was time for a break from the meticulous drawing on 8" x 10" with a 2B, and mix things up by bringing out a long neglected 40" x 48" canvas.

Yeaaaah! That's more my style! But as I said, it's been long neglected and has looked like this for some time. But today was awesome for progress, and I was in a groove, so 7 hours later it looked like this:

There's still a lot left to do, but it was great to take a break from the scrutiny of pencil drawing that will one day permanently adorn someone's flesh to quite literaly getting my hands dirty and splattering my imagination onto canvas!

Tomorrow will likely bring me back to the 2B and a smaller scale, but it will be with a refreshed mind and eye, so I'm looking forward to it. Moral of the story - Mix it up!

Craft Night

Friday was the craft group’s first get together. As we have now expanded to a fair size group we decided to take advantage of Michael’s Craft Night. They offer out their facilities one a month for people to use. Registration is required as they only have so many open seats, but this was the perfect way to supply our group enough room for their crafting needs.

Michael’s also supplies some crafting materials for the evening which came of great use. Stamps, ink pads, embossing tools and more. But there was one tool in particular which took the spotlight and stole the hearts of all of the crafty-craftersons. The Cricut Expression Personal Electronic Cutter *tear…so beautiful*. I had seen this magnificent piece of machinery in the store before, but made sure not to step too close to it after seeing it’s price tag. Temptation was great for this machine. One of the member’s of our party went to go look at the different models in the store, we talked about applying a coupon, the fact it was on sale, all chipping in, making sure we come back each month to the Craft Night to get our fix…it was bad. But the machine oh so good!! *sigh* The machine did not leave with us, thank goodness.

In conclusion, the Michael's Craft Night with the crafting group was a huge success. We met new people, got new ideas and tips, got work done, and all around had a really fun time doing it. I will defiantly plan out better what to bring, as I brought many supplies I did not even use.

It must be Opened!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a problem, and I fully admit in having this problem. I can not for the life of me keep packaging closed. Remember when you were a kid, and someone just got you a new toy. You are super excited to open it and play with it!!! So you run to the car, cause sitting in a car somehow grants you permission to open the toy? That was me, time and time again, and I am pretty sure I never grew out of it. How do I know this? Oh! Let me tell you : ) Also, don’t worry. Once I got to the car, and attempted to open the toy my mom was sure to tell me “Wait until we are home!”

When I got home from work yesterday I noticed on the table a slip to pick up a package from the post office. I was informed “it must be your bead order” by my co-pilot. I was ecstatic! Probably more than words can describe. Bouncing up and down, scrambling to get my shoes back on, making sure I had my ID all while saying “I gotta go get the beads!! The beads!!!” I started to think of all the items which I would soon be able to get my hands on. Mwhahaha.

My partner in crime asked me if I was really going to go get the beads considering we were meeting up with his family for dinner plans shortly. Knowing full well of this, I said yes, and shot out the door. I did some serious speed walking, with a combination of running to get to the post office. I also warned him before my departure, that he may have to restrain me from bringing the beads to dinner….to oooo and aaawww at…

Standing in line, giddy and bead happy, I handed my paper to the post office worker, and waited eagerly as she went to the back to find the package. As she steps out from the back room, she carefully hands me a ….Avon box?! Awww man. Along side my regular 9-5 job, and The Living Room Studio, I also sell Avon, and I had completely forgot I would be picking up the orders this week.

So as mentioned, it is obvious that I am a little kid at Christmas when it comes to these things. But this goes for anything, not just “gift” items, and this was proven once again today. I went to Save-On in a quest to purchase munchies! As I left the store, the chip bag was opened and I began to consume them on the way home…

I am pretty sure I will never break out of this : )

Rock On

I have big news! This weekend I went camping for the first time…ever! Hard to believe I know, but I guess that is what happens when you are born and raised in a city. At least for me anyways.

The road we traveled on to get to our camping spot was an adventure and a half. I am pretty sure I don’t need to go for a massage for a year now. Also to my discovery, a collection of wrenches, canvas stretchers and cans do not make good wind chimes. While it took us 2 hours over a 37km distance to find our getaway location, but it turned out to be the perfect spot. Our closest neighbours were a 20minute drive away and there was nothing but us, trees and a river.

Saturday was baking hot! Oddly enough, the river was ice cold! My feet went numb after being in the water for about 20 seconds. Not able to swim, we had for find a different means of entertainment. We decided to make some art…but not of the typical kind. Our first attempt was at making a bridge, but after some ruptured structures, and some close calls with our toes, the idea was scraped. We began working on separate pieces. At the end of the day I made a cute little home. This home is structured from stone, complete with a slate roof top, hardwood floors, cobblestone walkway and stone lined garden bed. Listed price is at $1,000,000.00 (this is a steal of a deal for a waterfront property in BC).

My partner (often in various disguises) constructed a stone pillar, which he refers to as ET. His original piece shattered…all over his foot…and had to be remade, to what you see here :D

When the evening came upon us, we had to find a creative way to cook our steak as our cooking trays went up in flames. Literally. Even though this plan of attack failed, cooking steak in a pot did not! We also had numerous fights with bugs, and a combined scar count of 47 from that day:( At night, when we were all snug in bed, everything seemed well, until a rainstorm hit us. The noise of the rain woke us to leave us battling with our tent, as half of it was blown out of the ground due to the wind!

All in all I really enjoyed my first camping trip and I can’t wait to go again. Maybe this time I will remember to pack cups, a frying pan, more blankets and a whole lot of bug spray!!!

Fighting Cookies

Yesterday was a late night and not an intentional one either. A group of us local crafty-craftersons came together to place a huge bead order allowing us to make the best use of the shipping fee. Our ordering Guru called me in a bundle of frustration after hours of attempting to submit the order. After changing browsers, deleting history and the whole shebang, still no luck.

I offered to help and jumped on the website, stat! I carefully added bead, after bead, after bead. We had assembled 5 pages worth…..and half way through I started to get pop up messages regarding my cookies, unfortunately they were not the edible kind. I went to the website’s FAQ page hoping to find more information, and sure enough they had a tutorial, yay!

Did you know, being up for 16hours, adding 5 pages of beads to a virtual shopping cart and spending multiple hours attempting to submit and confirm a bead order MAY affect one’s actions? I do, and I learnt the hard way *sigh* While doing the tutorial, I deleted my cookies and had to re-enter the order to my shopping cart…in the drawing below the dinosaur represents me, while the egg is completion of the order…sad thing is before I deleted my cookies I said “But if I do this it will delete my order….”

 Not to worry! Around midnight I was able to complete the order only to find out that I forgot to add two beads to the shopping cart. I then placed a second order, and phoned head office at 7:30am today to see if they can combine the orders. They were able to, thank goodness :)

Well I know how to go about this come winter when I place a second order. I will also no longer be submitting an order when my system is exhausted. Trial and error I suppose, but please everyone keep your fingers crossed that there is no more error.

Glamorous Ears

About a month ago, Crafty Bunny contacted numerous crafty-craftersons about placing a bead order on ArtBeads.com. If you love doing beadwork I highly recommend that you don’t go to this website, as it is very dangerous for your wallet. It will also impact what you eat for the rest of the month :P

Last week, I put some time aside to go through the numerous pages of beads (and you can bet I did go through each and every single one) to assemble my order. My first total came to $109…OUCH! But after much thought about each piece, and determining if I did have a project in mind, or I was just adding it because it was shinny, I managed to bring it down to $22! Quite impressive if I say so myself! This means I no longer have to survive on KD this month!

The Bead order is going in this week and YES I am super excited. I will be crafting ten new pairs, mostly with Swarovski crystals, some charms, pearls, and wood beads.

There is one I am particularly excited for but I will have to keep it a secret for now J Our Facebook page (the Living Room Studio) showcases all the earrings we currently have for sale, so be sure to check it out! Once these new arrivals are crafted we will be updating Facebook with pictures of these pieces.

Until then (as I am not sure how long shipping will take) I pose a question to you about what earrings you love most? What style? What material? Small? Big? Simple? Complex? Myself I am a sucker for big, bold but simple jewelry, and wood is on the top of the list for materials. One of my favorite pairs are large wooden hoop earrings, to follow is a set of slim black wooden rectangles. My mom (aka earring guru) on the other hand loves abstract pieces, anything flashy and unusual she is sure to make the purchase!
Be sure to let us know what grabs you, and we may just have to craft something up inspired by you!

Eight Days of Sleep

These last few days have been pretty rough. My body has started to crash and it has been very difficult to even stay awake to get anything done out of work over these last two weeks. Not really the situation I wish to be in when we have so many art projects to wrap up. Explains why I have not been blogging recently.

Friday I decided I was going to crack down and just work! I got supplies which would keep me trucking on through the night, and Save-On was in full support of it considering Energy Drinks were on sale! Score! So I sat my toosh down, put everything I needed around me so I wouldn’t have to get up, and what do you know! I fell asleep, pencil in hand, 3 hours later. Not what I was looking to have happen. *Sigh*

Saturday was a get together with a bunch of friends to go bowling, as one of our friends, Anna, was out visiting from Quebec. Oddly enough I probably should have spent more time with her as she is a drawing nut!!! I am pretty she was born with a sketchbook (eep! Poor mother!).

Sunday has rolled around, and again my sleep caught up to me. I passed out at around 7:00pm and then work up at 10:15pm….it may have to do with the heat we are having? Not quite sure.

This week is going to be hectic! I have a funny feeling I will be seeing some overtime hours from work, and there is a lot of drawing I need to pump out. Any suggestions on how to keep moving, keep motivated and most importantly keep awake? Off to bed again, haha, oh man…I kinda remind myself of this cute little pup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zVCYdrw-1o

Dare to be Different?

‘Dare to be Different’ that was the headline of today’s 24Hour newspaper. I remember my younger years when being different meant one thing: get ready to be teased and made fun of! YAY! Sad but true! Being different was not fun as a kid, and I will never understand it. I much lacked the confidence to stand up to anyone who pointed out anything non conformist about me. I remember being called out for having tear away pants which were not brand name! It wasn’t enough that I was keeping up with the oh so trendy styles back in the day. *sigh* What ever happened to those pants…?

I have to thank my High School for not abiding by they rules of “normality”. I remember people coming to school with abstract designs painted on their face, pants made of bubble wrap, and grad dresses made of things found from a recycling bin! I finally had my own look myself, and was free to work it baby, work it! Haha.

Today’s paper article talked about how Japan’s very popular ‘Lolita’ (http://www.lolitafashion.org/) fashion is making its way to Vancouver. While some people are fanatics, others just can’t help but stare. This reminds me of a time when I went to visit some old friends at a different High School. I snuck my way in, and walked through a hallway of ‘Jocks’ and ‘Preps’ and OH how I got the most interesting reactions! I wasn’t sorry my jeans weren’t Rockin Republic but rather rocking with zippers, safety pins and holes. I wasn’t sorry that I was not wearing Gucci on my feat but rather some thick soled kicks. I wasn’t sorry that my shirt wasn’t Guess, but please  rather ‘Please guess if these rips and tears were on my baggy black hoodie before or after its purchase’. I wasn’t sorry, because it no longer phased me to think twice about they thought, as it didn’t matter.

 Whether it is clothes or art, just rock it. *Head Bangs*. Do what is you! Don’t be scared to go outside the box, it’s often the most fun place, and the best way to show your creative side.

A Garden of Art

Inspiration. It can come from anywhere. I mean heck, I have seen scuff marks on my wall and shouted out “Oh man! That looks like a dolphin eating a hamburger while riding on top of a train! Richard you need to draw that on paper!” And then it just confirms with people the fact that I am truly crazy….

One thing I can say for sure though, is I always get inspired and greatly motivated when going to an art or craft show. Numerous talented people, with such a wide array of ideas! It makes me want to plant myself in an empty vendor booth right then and there and just start arting it up! I have begun to start taking a note pad and paper to the shows to jot down any ingenious breakthroughs I have while there.
This last weekend, I went to ‘Art in the Garden’ for the first time, and without a doubt will be attending next year as well. Even though the weather was terrible, I was still blown away by the UBC Botanical Garden’s beauty and all the art pieces tucked away in its seclusion. It was the perfect venue with its bohemian atmosphere of live music, nature and art.

I made my rounds to all the displays, stuffed my pocket full of business cards (Typical of me), and inhaled a lot of lavender….Richard’s mom, Belinda Llewellyn, was one of the vendors, and just as me, she is indeed a lavender fan! While her focus is watercolour paintings of Celtic knotwork, she also frequently sells pens, rosaries, soaps, and the very dangerous but ever so good lavender bags!

November there will be a lot of noise on the blog about art shows. While there are ongoing shows throughout the year in spring in summer, fall has a tendency to be packed with them due to the winter holidays. Hopefully you get the chance to go and venture to them as well. If not, be sure to login and I will gladly keep you posted.

Light Sleep, Deep Dreamer

Sleep….hmmm…I have heard of this. Not sure how I go about acquiring it though. I think I did have a taste of it last night though, oh around the wee hours of 1am or so. Wouldn’t have been so bad if I knew I didn’t have to wake up in 5hours to go to work, and worry about hearing the alarm.

Sadly it is my own fault. My brain was racing, about everything art related.Well mostly. Not sure of a time when I am not thinking about bills or my next trip to Bench! Guilty. Seriously though, blogging, what to blog about, commissions, when to finish the commissions, general random art ideas…apparently I am very inspired at 1am in complete darkness?

So I had a thought, it came to me in a dream you see…and now I need your help. One of the biggest, yet simplest troubles I have run into with our craft shows is displaying our earrings. I came up with a nifty idea while trying to doze off and it would love your feedback. Drum Roll please!

Ta-da!

I also decided to turn our business card into a cute little sticker. Stick it on a book, wallet, card, locker, wall, desk, computer anywhere you want!

 
What are your thoughts on the earring card as well as the sticker? Do you LOVE IT! Or think my art ideas created in dreams should not enter reality?

Let the Magic Happen!

Well it is our first day here, blogging away, and I don’t know where to start! I guess by thanking Crafty Bunny for introducing this to us. If you are photography fanatic be sure to check out her blog and follow her 365 Day Project.

While the ‘The Living Room Studio’ has been up and running on Facebook for quite some time now, we decided to spread our wings and get acquainted with other social networks.

You can expect we will be pouring our heart our about our art, other’s art, opinions about, frustrations of art, art relating to art and its opinions of art with a side of art, but we hope to also capture your interest in our own process’ and crazy daily lives. If that doesn’t work, well hopefully our dry but witty humor will :)

If we ramble on too much, and blogs just isn’t your thing, look for us on twitter @sugarham, Sugarham at Etsy and of course Facebook. Our website www.tlrstudio.com is currently under construction, but we hope to have it up and running very soon!

It is great to be here! Now enough Jibber Jabber! Let there be art!