My Weekend at the Hôtel de Glace

The Ice Hotel, St. Catherine, Québec, Canada
This past weekend I travelled to one of only two Ice Hotels in the world, The Hôtel de Glace. The first one was built in Sweden, and then some folks from Québec decided that they had the perfect climate to build one here in North America. It was cold, but lucky for us it was unseasonably WARM in Canada. We experienced temperatures in the mid to upper 20's, but the locals told us it really should have been about 30 degrees colder this time of year. They all had heard about Florida's cold weather on TV up there in Canada, they all mentioned it when we told them where we were from, "Oh! Florida!"

We had an incredible time appreciating this 37-room hand made snow and ice structure! it's absolutely beautiful. We stayed overnight in room 37, the biggest room, with three beds. We were tucked into thermal sleeping bags and we lay on a foam mattress on top of a piece of plywood, on top of a block of ice! Believe it or not, we were warm.

My husband is a professional photographer and if you have a minute, here is a link to his gallery of incredible photos.

Featured Gallery

Celebrations Gallery and Shoppes
(four paper paintings in the image with the fireplace)

The folks at Celebrations Gallery have been amazing to work with! Jackie gave my family the royal treatment when they went to visit the gallery to see my work on display there. My Dad said that the area of CT where they are located was amazingly picturesque, lots of nice shops and restaurants as well as plenty of antique shops and wonderful natural beauty. "It was a great day trip, and we'll be back" he said "And everyone who works at that gallery is incredibly helpful and nice!" My Dad is a hard one to please, I might add!  YANKEE Magazine has just listed them as the TOP CHOICE for New England Galleries for 2010.

Here's what others have to say about Celebrations:

•   One of Yankee Magazine's "Favorite Last Green Valley Spots" – March/April 2009
• "Best Places to Shop" – New England Travel, Best of New England 2009

Celebrations Gallery and Shoppes is located in Pomfret, Connecticut, a quaint New England town on National Scenic Byway Route 169 in the northeast corner of Connecticut (also known as the "Quiet Corner"). The setting is a lovingly restored 19th-century Queen Anne Victorian set amidst stately beech, maple and cherry trees and surrounded by lush and colorful gardens.


Click here to learn about all of the wonderful artists, in addition to myself, who display there work at Celebrations. If you live close, you might consider a visit to this charming New England gallery. And check out the Celebrations Gallery Blog!
Check our their Valentines Day upcoming event

NEW Flashbags Available

New Year, New Art, New Bags
The folks at Flashbags have added new images to my collection and you really should check them out. There are new cows, new roosters and lots of fun stuff available in bags, clutches, place mats, etc. Order directly from Flashbagsonline.com and tell them I sent you!

Collage Bangle Available for Purchase

Australian Stamps (left)
Much positive feedback on these! Offering the stamps first (my personal favorite) One of a kind. These bangles are coated inside and out with two layers of UV protective varnish (see previous post).

If you try to purchase and PayPal will not let you, that means it's already gone!

Collage Bangle with Australian Stamps
SOLD!

Cloth Paper Scissors STUDIOS Magazine

Spring 2010 Issue Available 2/23
The Studios edition of Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine which features my very own backyard art space will hit the newsstands the end of February. I am so fortunate to have a 2-page spread in this issue! This magazine features some great storage solutions for a studio of any size or shape, you might like to pick it up for some ideas for your own art space.

I showed the table of contents page to my husband and was going crazy over that little gingerbread house looking studio at the bottom of the page! I just love the flower boxes...."honey, how about building me some flower boxes?"

Collage Bangles

Collage in Another Dimension
This week I was looking for something I could do sitting at the kitchen table, I decided to mix it up a little bit and work on a project that I came up with while flipping through my favorite magazine, Cloth Paper Scissors. In the advertiser section, I saw an offer for unfinished wood bangles from DiyBangles.

Remember when I collaged the 3-D mannequin and said I'd never collage anything that wasn't a flat board again? Well, these bracelets were nowhere near as difficult as going around each and every one of that guy's fingers and toes...

Let me know what you think of my bracelets! They are varnished with two coats of UV inside and out, they are signed on the inside and created with all the same papers I use for collage. In fact, one might consider these another "scrap bag project" since I limited myself to the scraps from my large work to create them.

I have created on with Australian stamps, one with hand-painted sheet music, one with maps and one with tidbits from larger collages (including hand-painted and hand-made papers).

Workshops

Next Workshop, Altamonte Springs
Judy Segall and I are doing the two day paper making and paper collage workshop again at her studio in Altamonte Springs. If you are interested, there is one more week to sign up, click here for the PDF registration and information form.

If you are interested in workshops, keep an eye on the right hand bar of this blog, underneath where it says Upcoming Workshops, I've just added one in Atlanta in July that should be tons of fun at Binders Art Supply which is an amazing art store, I could spend hours in there, and tons of money!

Atlanta Workshop Dates:
The Art School at Binders
July 16/17/18 

Jacksonville Workshop Dates:
Society of Mixed Media Artists soMMA
May 1/2

Asheville Workshop Dates:
Grand Bohemian Gallery
May 22/23

Amelia Island Workshop Dates:
October 8-10
Amelia Island Artists Workshop, Inc.

If you do not see complete details at any of these links, it just means that they have not got things posted as of yet, check back later or check with me. I'd love to meet fellow collage artists!