Hot Summer Jazz and Art

I'm busy as a bumble bee, getting ready for my booth at the Art and Jazz show tomorrow night.
Here's the scoop from the
Santa Paula Times:

Experience an al fresco evening of classic jazz in tandem with local art Friday, August 17, 2007 from 5 pm - 8 pm in Downtown Santa Paula in front of the South Paseo at 926 E. Main Street. The Santa Paula Downtown Merchants Association is sponsoring “Hot Summer Jazz and Art” featuring Bryan McCann’s The GrooveHead Band and a select myriad of local artists with resident celebrity and artist, Pattie Wack. All art will be for sale through the Santa Paula Society of Art. Each artist will be on hand for commentary. The event is free to the public.

Main Street in front of the South Paseo will be closed and transformed into a courtyard environment. Linen covered tables with umbrellas will be available for dinning and surrounded by art. Patrons are encouraged to bring a boxed dinner from the participating downtown restaurants: Chili Hut, Vince’s, Santa Paula Coffee Company, Mupu Grill, Los Arcos, La Terraza, The Grove, Pamela’s, and Tlaquepaque.For more information, please contact Debbie Johnson - (805) 525-1890 or Rochelle Margolin - (805) 525-2873.




The canopy arrived last night and I could hardly wait to get it up this morning and start working. Here’s Scott after he put up the canopy. Pretty funny. He’s between a double Pattie. I got so tickled I almost dropped the camera. I think the art walk is gonna be tons of fun! I hope there are lots of people there.



My letters turned out so WACKY! I covered them with silver glitter after spraying them with glue, then hot glued old jewelry and junk to them.



I got glitter EVERYWHERE. I might have to invest in a better vacuum cleaner, just because of glitter. Yikes! But I love the Wrights appliqués, and used a ton of them on the letters, and just hot glued them on. Plus, I had to add pompoms to the bottoms of the letters with dangles. Woohoo!



I hung the letters on the front of the canopy with heavy upholstery trim. I was going for a kitschy kewl look, and I think I got it. Now, it’s back to pricing pieces and figuring out where I’m going to display everything. I'll see you all there tomorrow!

PomPom Jewelry

I am going through all of my crates today to pull things out and sell at the art walk tomorrow, and saw my pompom jewelry. These just scream summer! I made itsy bitsy pompoms on my Pattiewack Pom Pom Tool that is sold through Coats & Clark. There are 2 sizes of the tools, and I used the smaller one.



I had so much fun creating the packaging for these tools, because I drew super heros to go with them and then designed comic books that have tons of cartoons with the projects inside. You get a comic book FREE inside each tool. On the covers are the Tassel Temptress and Pompom Pam. They both tell their stories on the back of the comic books. I love pompoms and tassels!

Coootie or Cutie Catchers

I ran across these darling party favors at Cox & Cox, and thought how cute! We made "cootie catchers" when we were in gradeschool, but these are toooo cute. And how easy to make with all the great papers we have available, too. These would be fun for any party, and you could make them ahead to place at each plate, filled with goodies. Luuuuv it.

Craft Fair on QVC

Don't forget that the QVC Craft Fair is today, and our fave paper crafting diva, Joy Macdonell will be showing fab products from EK Success tonight in the 6 to 9 o'clock (Pacific Time) Craft Finale. I can't wait to see her demonstrate the 123D Papercrafting System, and my little projects on the show.




I think you'll flip over the Mary Jane paper shoes. I am going to set my alarm clock to remind me to watch. I've got to get busy on my art show booth, and will be in my studio cranking out price tags and pulling designs out of crates for us to load up. Busy, busy, busy....love it!

Workin' It!

Life is CRAZY right now! That's me in the living room floor, cutting out letters to spell Pattie Wack that I'm going to cover with silver glitter. We just waved goodbye to Scott's parents this morning and I've been working like a crazy-coffee-drinking-craft-binger on THREE huge things. Number one....my booth at the Jazz and Art Show in Santa Paula this Friday, Number two....a brochure for my Creativity Workshop that I'm hosting with Professor James Bethel here at the Glen Tavern Inn real soon, and Number three....a QVC segment that's on tomorrow night featuring our 123D Papercrafting system. Not to mention, laundry, guests, just getting back from Tulsa, and Oh! I've been pouring over the contract for the "secret something" that I can hardly wait to tell you! Whew!

I woke up at 3 a.m. this morning and never really went back to sleep because there is just tooo much on my brain. I had to spend time with my graphics dude today (Scott-poo) to get brochures finished about the workshop because I want to pass them out at the art show on Friday. I had to miss a chance to hang out with a bunch of decorative painters in Camarillo tonight, because there is just too much to do. I want to make about a dozen more necklaces before Friday, too!



I got a call from from my gal pals that CRAFT DAY on QVC is tomorrow and the 123D Papercrafting System is going to be demonstrated by Joy MacDonell from EK Success....YES! So, I scurried around and made a bunch of cute projects for her to show on her segment. I made 2 pairs of Mary Jane shoes with matching purses, a pair of chairs, and these boxes with curves that make them fit into each other. I promise to get the templates up on the EK Success site soon. Just cross your fingers that the QVC segment sells out...wouldn't that be crazy cool? Oh, I almost forgot, you can watch the segment tomorrow night sometime between 6 and 9 o'clock Pacific time. Please watch!

Okay, gotta get off my blog and go over this contract so I can get it nailed down tomorrow and keep my momentum....and sleep soundly tonight...zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Saturday in Santa Paula

We had a glorious morning in Santa Paula on Saturday, with the dedication of another mural, depicting the aviation history of this cute community. I made a few new friends as usual, and this gal, Joyce Carlson, was absolutely a ton of fun! She is the founder of the murals society, and was so refreshing in her presentation of this stunning new mural. We heard funny and heartwarming stories about how that Ralph Dickenson and other aviators built the Santa Paula air strip in the 1930’s, as well as their mishaps like flying a glider into a pepper tree, and flying helicopters upside down!



















Here I am chatting with the incredible artist, Wendell Dowling, who spent several months painstakingly painting the images of historical aircrafts and famous people. I was amazed at how he was able to do such an incredible job of turning a cement block wall with deep joints, into a work of art. What an honor to meet such a cool guy, and someone with so much fabulous creativity and imagination.




This mural is just one of several in Santa Paula. If you get the chance to visit, you must go on the tour, and also take a ride on the train. I feel like I live in Mayberry, USA. I love it here!



Our evening ended perfectly at the Mupu Grill on Main Street with Scott's parents who are visiting us from Washington state. Chuck & Shirley Wilkinson loved the small town atmosphere and folks, as well as the yummy food. It was a perfect Saturday in Santa Paula.

If you can’t GLUE it, I don't DO it!

Channel Six was a hoot last Monday with LeAnne Taylor. We did a live CBS segment on the Six in the Morning show, all about my new book, “The Crafter’s Guide to Glue.” As you can see, I brought books for everyone, and tons of glue projects. My demo was gluing aqua blue melamine cups to black wooden candlesticks, and then gluing on little black buttons and tying a polka dotted ribbon around the finished candlesticks. The one I did on the segment was for LeAnne, so I wrote her name with a black permanent marker. She said that she was going to put it on her desk for her M&Ms stash. (yummmies)



Out of the 73 projects in my book, I brought about a dozen. After all, I had to pack them in a suitcase in California and put them on the plane to Tulsa.



I showed how to cut out a grocery sack and turn it into a circle book, since the pattern is in the book. One of my fave projects is the weeeeeeener dog messenger bag. That pattern is in there, too.



The set-up goes fast at the station, and their kitchen set is just perfect, plus it’s large enough to hold all the projects and the demo. They also have an overhead camera that gets the close-ups for the step-outs.



Casey Norton, one of the news anchors there at KOTV had to leave early that morning, and I hate it that I missed my hug, but it was great to see the crew, and get miked by Kevin. Man, I miss everyone since we moved, but I’m glad that they keep running my segments every Monday morning.



















Scott and I got to the station at 8:20, for the 8:40 segment, which gives me just the right amount of time to get set up for my demo and get hugs from everyone.

Vintage Compact Belts

Compacts turned into belt buckles, who knew? Don't these just make you want to play dress up, and powder your nose? At the FreePeople.com site, I found these adorable belts, with vintage compacts for buckles. Of course, I've been wracking my brain to think of ways to make one myself, but don't want to get out my rivet gun that bad. Instead, I think I'll just have to order one. Sometimes a girl just wants to buy it instead of crafting it. This is one of those days....

Glue Books!

Did you hear me squeal? I am so excited I'm nearly running around in circles! I heard a knock on the door, went to answer it and got the best surprise, ever. A big box of my new books! Yipppeeeee! They are just wonderful, and cram-packed full of craft projects. Okay, I have to get off my blog and go look at them.

Pattiewack-n-Crafts Hiatus

If you were watching KOTV, Six In the Morning, in Tulsa today, I'm sure you noticed that I wasn't there. Yes, I am on hiatus for a couple of months to work on my "secret" project this summer. BUT, I will be there next Monday, LIVE for Pattiewack-n-Crafts, for the 8:30 time slot and you better believe I will have some fun and crafty projects to share with you. I plan to show off my new book, and hang out with Casey Norton and LeAnne Taylor there at the CBS news station. I can't wait!

Picnics & Rubberstamps

What do rubberstamps and picnics have in common? Answer: a cute & chic fold-up carry-all for your little plate and utensils. I took a canvas square and rubberstamped green vines onto the fabric. (Don't forget to add textile medium if you're using acrylic paint.) Then I sewed ribbon around the edges and left at least 20 inches at each corner to tie it all together for our picnic. All you have to do is add the wine and cheeeeeeeese :-)

The Crafters Guide to Glue

I forgot to say that you can order my new book! It's at BarnesandNoble.com and you'll see all the info you need to know about ordering it there. I would love and appreciate any good things you could put on the comments area for me!

Projects Everywhere!

Well, today I decided to open up the boxes of projects from my book, The Crafters Guide To Glue. I forgot how many there were! I believe there are at least 75 designs, and they all came back after being photographed for the book. I think I am going to put some of the best pieces in the art walk next month in Santa Paula, since they invited me to participate. Whew! I better get back to my boxes and get this stuff organized before Scott gets home....

Yoga for a headache...

It's been a headache-eee day, and this is the pose that helps. Ice packs, that new head-on stuff, and gatorade. errrrrr.... I guess a gal just can't be perky 24/7, right?

Trade Show Heaven

I’m freaking out because I didn’t get to see EVERYONE and EVERYTHING at the CHA trade show in Chicago. Can you say Game Plan? I had one, but there were almost 500 booths, and there are over 5,000 buyers in the $30 Billion craft and hobby industry, so forget about it!















My class was a huge success, if you figure that every crafty store owner got to make 5 projects with their 123D Papercrafting System. We had an evil gremlin trying to keep us from using the projector, but the gallant gals from EK Success took over and soon we were all gazing upward at the power point for the happy how-tos.











I wasn’t flying a motorcycle over 15 buses, or saving the planet, but we were in a papercrafting frenzy, as the swag started to fly. There were fab new papers, stickers, brads, labels, and scrapbook bling everywhere.





















Gloria and Joy were the cutest Vannas I could ask for, and Susan kept the powerpoint humming, while Shane was spreading the love.
















I was still wiping the sleepies out of my eyes, since the class was at 8 o’clock, but these gals were ready! As store owners, they’ve got game, and when they get back home they will be stoked about crafting some serious papercraft bling.














Of course, trade shows are the perfect time to catch up with old friends, and Lauren Johnston made sure we scarfed up some yummo pizza in Chicago style. She’s an amazing designer who’s a riot to work with.















Hanging out at the Hyatt was great, since we got to run into the coolest peeps and even CEOs, like Larry Duncan.





Even Scott can relax sometimes, and sit around without a camera on his shoulder.
















Back on the floor the next day, the Wrights booth was one of the coolest there. The contrast of the architectural grunge against the feminine trims of beading, lace and ribbons was a fashionista’s dream world. Their new bobbin winder was the cutest and a must-have on my tools list.














Speaking of must-haves, you will flip when you get your hands on the Creative Options organizers and totes. Scott shot a video of their fresh new storage products. I’ll let you know when the clip is up for you to check out.







Traci and Alexis were the cutest and craftiest chickies you’ll ever see, and the Duncan booth was buzzing with activity over the new glues and paint products.

After 2 days of craft overload, Scott was delirious at the Hyatt lounge. Yeppers, those are tables, and we did an intervention before the hotel security took Scott away. Just another trade show casualty, I’m afraid. But don’t worry, we made it home just fine, and no animals were hurt or injured in the process. (giggle, giggle)

Bags are packed...

It's a little past midnight and my bags are packed, and I finished my pretty little project for my book. Yeah! It felt so good to put it in the FedEx box and lay it by my bags. Now I'll be able to focus on the CHA Trade Show in Chicago for the next few days. Scott and I will be busy taking craft videos to manufacturers and I'll be on the hunt for the latest greatest craft goodies. I have some outrageous things coming up, and I want just the right things to design and share with everyone. Okay, I'm heading to bed so I can get to LAX before the plane takes off. I'll be back to posting next week, and let you in on my trip to Chicago. TTFN!

Thank you Barbara!

Flower Wow! Barbara Winkler sent me the most amazingly gorgeous box of fresh gerbera daisies! Awww, they are on fire with color, and look spectacular on my little kitchen table next to a rose from my front yard. She is an angel, and they make me smile every time I walk by. It is so fascinating to me that she is in New York City, and I'm in Southern California, and the flowers came from MarthaStewart.com!

Barbara and I are working on a book together for Soho Publishing (shhhhhh...I can't tell you about it, yet) and we are on our very last project. This has been fun, and I am so excited about the fabulous designs I created, and can't wait for you to see them. I'll keep you posted about the publishing date.

Thank you Barbara....

What Not To Wear?

Ok, here's my wardrobe for the trade show in Chicago. I had to lay it all out on my bed to get an idea whether it works, or not. Gone are the days when Darsee and I used to walk the floor in high heels. But, boy did we have GREAT calves! (giggle) Now I have to decide what not to wear, since I've got tooooo much laying there, as you can see. I love wearing skirts, so I think the painted skirt on the left has to go with me, and the plaid shorts on the right are just way cute. Hmmmmm..... I leave Wednesday morning, so I have to get with it and decide!

Big Secrets!

I am so excited, I can't stand it! I have a HUGE SECRET to tell you, and it has to do with videos, webisodes, crafts, and a fabulous cable network. After a major conference call this week, I have barely been touching the ground. All I can say is you better buckle your seat belts or grab some duct tape, because I have some fantastic things to reveal, that will rock your plaid socks off!



I don't think I've ever been so busy in my entire life. And, I don't think I've ever gotten SO much crafting done in my entire life, either! These are the sample projects I just finished for the class at the CHA trade show next week, demonstrating the 123D Papercrafting System with EK Success. Susan Levin was kind enough to provide the beautiful wedding pics, which simply MAKE the projects, don't you think? The papers and stickers are from the Inspirables collection, and I love them. We are only going to have 2 hours to make 5 projects, and I'm hoping that we can get them all done in that length of time. I think the class is already booked up, and I think it will be a ton of fun.



We did a photo shoot yesterday for a super fantastic project for a magazine ad that is due this week. Ah....deadlines. Scott made it fun, as usual, and I went through 3 wardrobe changes. It's for the holidays, and I wanted to wear this crazy cute halter dress, and he humored me by shooting that, plus a sweater outfit, and then a brilliant blue silky cropped jacket. After I saw the test shots, I had to let go of the halter dress idea, of course. (sigh) But the brilliant blue jacket was spectacular. Thanks, Scott! It's TOP SECRET right now, or I would show you everything. Don't worry, it will be out soon!




I've also been working on some new products ideas, and spent 4 or 5 days with hardly any sleep, getting the prototypes ready, and then making storyboards. What fun, but how exhausting! I feel like I did the blood, sweat and tears thing over them, because they were really what I love, and would love to see come to market for all of you to craft and play with. I mean, if you could get your hands on these cool crafty tools, you'd sprain your brain thinking of all the things you could make!





As if that's not enough, I have to say that I am on my LAST project for the latest book designs with Barbara Winkler for Soho Publishing. She has been phenomenal to work with, and the 2 of us have had to make up for some of the work that was supposed to be done by another designer, but I am loving this last project, and think it will be the best, ever. Alas, it is ANOTHER top secret, that I am dying to reveal. This book is going to be amazing, because it will make you look at your recipes in a brand new way, baybee!

On Location

We're busy as bees with our production company right now. Scott and I just finished shooting a ceramics instructional video for CCSA in Fresno. The talented artists in the ceramics community are so extreme in their techniques. It just blows me away! I saw everything from how to draw designs onto unfired bisque, to blowing bubbles of paint onto a plate. David and Kelly were the stars, and Angie Verburg, Executive Director for Contemporary Ceramic Studios Association put the whole thing together.




I love this piece I found Yessy.com of a male torso by Gino Dominic Nardo. If only I had time to learn EVERY kind of craft in the world. I think I'm well on my way, but ceramics sound so overwhelming. I wish I had a personal sized kiln. Then I could try my hand at glass fusion and ceramic jewelry.