NGANTOK: July 2008

headed to DC!

We're almost ready to go. Still lots of packing that needs to be done, and lots of racing around, touch-up painting and things like that for the renters!

We head off officially on Saturday AM. Paul will drive the UHaul and I'll follow in our Honda with my Mom and Stanley, Mable and Toby! We'll spend one night on the road with all 3 pets, should be a fun experience. I hope they don't get too freaked out!

We don't have Internet anymore at home and won't be online again until Wednesday, if all goes well.

I'll be updating my Twitter from my cell phone. Follow my adventure via Twitter here. Or in the sidebar right here on my blog!

In my next post, I'll be a DC resident! See you soon!

faux batik technique

A quick technique post to keep things interesting before I head off in my Uhaul to DC!

Craft Critique Blog filmed this short video while I was demoing at CHA.

Here, I'm using the Sticky Back Canvas, Multi Medium, + the acrylic paints and brushes from my new line with Ranger! By doing this resist technique you get beautiful adhesive canvas that really look like batik! I'll have a project up on the Ranger site soon using this technique!

Imelda V. Abano

Imelda Visaya-Abaño

1st Filipina journalist to be awarded the United Nations Correspondent Association (UNCA) Awards for excellence in reporting on humanitarian and development affairs sponsored by the UN Foundation (2008)

QUOTE
"Hunger is the most crucial manifestation of poverty. In many parts of the world, the soaring prices of food, fuel and other basic goods have triggered social unrest and a growing sense of urgency."

USEFUL LINKS

RP reporter wins UN Journalism award for report on Haiti
Baguio girl wins UN gold medal
Poverty and Food Crisis: from the Philippines to Haiti

still packing!

Paul's safely in DC and his first day of work is tomorrow. Sending good vibes his way!

I'm here holding down the fort and cleaning and packing up all the rest of the goodies. I have SO many books. Like crazy amounts of books. I have even started pairing down the ones that I thought were keepers. There is no way we can (or that I even want to!)move all this stuff so some more things just have to go. Getting down to the last 3 days of packing is a big motivator to get rid of more!

I think I'll have to buy one of those Amazon Kindle things so I don't end up with many more books for the next move. That way they are all digital and the real keepers are the art books anyway!

I am going to have a really early night so I can be up early and back at packing. Nighty night!

boxes boxes everywhere

Still packing up boxes here at the Hellmuth-Lester household. Paul is only here tomorrow and then he goes to DC on Saturday. The rest is up to me to get packed and ready. So everything I need him to do gets done tomorrow.

I finished up my last set of custom artwork orders today before the move, everything gets shipped tomorrow and then I can start packing up the studio. That will be a big undertaking! That is the last room that we haven't touched and it's up to me to wade through all the art supplies and figure out what gets donated, and what comes along with me. Decisions! Decisions!

Sarah Geronimo

Sarah Geronimo
AKA Sarah Asher Tua Geronimo

1st Filipina artist to receive Platinum awards for her concert DVDs "Sarah Geronimo: The Other Side" and "Sarah Geronimo In Motion" (2008)
1st Filipina artist to perform at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA (2006)
1st Filipina Grand Champion of Star For A Night singing competition (2003)

QUOTE
"When I was younger, I really wanted to act. But now that I am given the opportunity to achieve my dream of being an actress, I found out that it was not that easy at all. I learn to appreciate my work most especially the things I've done as a singer."

ALIAS
"Pop Princess"

DATE OF BIRTH
July 25, 1988

BIRTHPLACE
Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines

FATHER: Delfin Geronimo
MOTHER: Divina Tua

USEFUL LINKS

sarahgeronimo.com

VIVA Concert/Artist Bio: Sarah Geronimo
Sarah a hit in the US
The other side of Sarah Geronimo
Sarah and Mark are proud Jollibee endorsers
Wikipedia Article on Sarah Geronimo

getting things done!

It's packing and organizing here almost 24/7 as we get ready for this move! Paul will leave Saturday and then I will follow the next Saturday. So that means we have to have everything in this house packed and ready to go in 9 days!!!

Today we moved a bunch of furniture that we can't take with us to my Mom and Dad's house. Did another run with stuff to Good Will. Then went and sold my car at CarMax. My car was 7+ years old and only had 32,600 miles on it. But we can't bring it with us to DC. Only one parking spot for us and no way are we paying for another one! Paul's car is a Honda which will last forever and it's only a couple years old. So I said goodbye to my 2001 Yellow Beetle. I was sad. I couldn't look at it as we left.

I have to say though, all this getting rid of stuff does get easier and easier. With the exception of my car, I look around the house and there's nothing that I feel that tied to. I am half tempted to get rid of everything and start over again. Would almost be cheaper than what we are paying to move it all!

I am starting to feel pretty tired tonight. Just have a couple custom orders to pack up to ship out and then off to bed. I need to wrap these up so I can start packing up my studio!

CHA last day!

It was the last day of the show! I did another round of demos and only had time to see the show for about 40 minutes at my lunch break. There was so much that I missed but maybe I'll have more time at the winter show. (yeah right!) I heard that the next CHA Summer show will be Orlando!! That is too funny. At least I'll be able to come down and visit my parents and maybe my Mom and Dad can even come and see the show too. That would be fun!

Got a couple pix today to share with you!

Here's me and the amazing Crafty Chica! And I just read on her blog that she won the Innovations award for CHA Best New Product. Go Kathy!!!

And another with the incredible Ali Edwards! She was also demoing at the Ranger booth, so great to see her, even it was only for a little bit!

Carmi took some pix of me doing a demo with my new Sticky Back canvas, I'll upload those tomorrow once I get back to Orlando. Can't wait to get home to start packing for our move. Two weeks from today everything will be off the UHaul and we'll be living in our new place!

China Vogue August 2008

Countdown has started: 20 days until the 2008 Beijing Olympics! The gymnastics, swimming, diving and some of the track events will draw me in, as usual, and I am so glad its held in China this time. None of that staying-up-all-night-to-watch-it business which is usually what happens. And so, in lieu of this grand sporting tradition, it seems only suiting that I post a dynamic editorial from China Vogue. Just look at the great sense of movement captured!

"Trendy Ceremony" as photographed by KT Auleta and styled by Brian Molloy. Featuring Qing Shupei, Karlie Kloss (read: the rising model star with the rather unique walk), Karmen Pedaru, Katya Shun and Hanne Gaby Odiele.

The second double spread reminds me of that Balenciaga ad campaign from a few seasons back- it's the graphic use of black and white I think, the girl on the left in the tartan photo- Karmen- has the most arresting expression and is a complete posing extraordinaire. Oh, and all that hosiery in the fourth picture is to die for!
Photo cred: Aja Mok of TFS

first day of CHA show!

Today was the first day of the CHA show and I demoed all day at the Ranger booth. I did take some pics to share with you!

Ranger booth display of product!

Giant flowers made with Sticky Back canvas and paints + wire. Thanks to Lori for helping me make the flowers in my frantic rush to get ready for CHA!!!

Technique boards showing fun things to do with the products!!

I promise lots of blog techniques and fun videos to come. As soon as I get this move to DC done!

Header 2.0

From the AW08 Jil Sander campaign. The structural (sculptural?) design of those shoes make such a bold statement, non? Black and white photography in all its wonder and its ability to capture that lovely feeling- such je ne sais quoi!

Photo cred: TFS

Top 25 Most Fashionable Cities in the World

"The list was compiled by the Global Language Monitor, a non-profit group that tracks the frequency of words and phrases in the media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere." Check it out!

1.→ New York
2.→ Rome
3.→ Paris
4.↑ Milan (5)
5.↓ London (4)
6.→ Los Angeles
7.↑ Sydney (12)
8.↑ Las Vegas (9)
9.↑ Berlin (11)
10.↓ Tokyo (6)
11.↓ Hong Kong (8)
12.↑ Dubai (24)
13.↑ Shanghai (14)
14.↓ Singapore (10)
15. Madrid (new!)
16.→ Moscow
17.↑ Santiago (19)
18.↓ Melbourne (15)
19. Stockholm (new!)
20.↑ Buenos Aires (22)
21.↑ Johannesburg (23)
22.↓ Mumbai (18)
23. Cape Town (new!)
24. New Delhi (new!)
25.↓ Barcelona (13)

Sydney and Hong Kong (my hometown and place of birth) represent! And surprise surprise... I'm like a proud mama!! Is your stylish city on the list?
Cred: Reuters

claudine hellmuth studio product line!

I am excited to announce my new product line with Ranger Industries! It's a full program of artist quality products made for every day crafting. Here's what you'll find available in stores this September:

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Semi-Gloss Paint is a collection of 15 highly pigmented, artist quality acrylic paints in my favorite colors. Creamy in consistency, they can be mixed together for an endless palette of colors without becoming muddy. (2oz. jars)

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium – in Matte and Gloss finishes – is an art quality gel medium used for gluing, image transfers, sealing art, creating glazes and extending Studio acrylic paints.Milky in the jar, it dries clear. (4oz. jars)

Turn any surface into a craft surface with Gesso.A base coat with slight texture, it is ideal for priming canvas, wood, metal, plastic, chipboard,paper and fabric prior to painting. (4oz. jars)

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Brushes are a collection of 7 artist quality brushes with synthetic bristles that have a luxurious feel and excellent resiliency. With 4 round and 3 flat brushes in the set, they’re great for painting, crafting and mixed media.

Create backgrounds and embellishments with Sticky- Back Canvas – in 8-1/2” x 11” and 12” x 12” sizes. It’s a self-adhesive canvas sheet that you can decorate with paints, inks and dyes, then cut out and stick onto canvasses, cards, scrapbook pages and more.Works with manual die cutting systems too!

Stay tuned for how-to videos, tutorials and more!! For more information, visit the Ranger Industries web site!

Enjoy it while it lasts...

Project Runway Season 5! It's started and my internet bandwidth is working overtime to download the first episode as I write this now. I am so excited about Project Runway ever since Christian Siriano. He might be arrogant, but you can't deny that he is so young, talented and incredible!

But as much as I love the show (what a great fashion reality show: I may be a hypocrite but I'm saying it's a whole lot better than Tyra's how-to-smile-with-your-eyes comments), I grow more and more concerned with Season 6 as I read that the Lifetime execs are relocating the show from NYC aka fashion capital to L.A. (aka celebrity central). Heidi is indifferent but Nina, faithful to fashion, says nay and is "saddened by the move"! What does the network say? The CEO believes this move will open a whole new avenue for the designers as "L.A. gives us Hollywood, red-carpet fashion, and more context for our challenges involving celebrity culture."

There's nothing wrong with L.A. per se- it's a glamorous city- but to move a fashion show out of the fashion capital does not seem entirely logical to me. So, my verdict? I say that while the world may grow a whole lot more interested in Project Runway because they're dressing more celebs, this gets point deductions from me and dare I say, the fashion world?
Cred: Allie is Wired, nymag

headed to chicago!

I'm off in the morning to Chicago for the CHA show and the launch of my new product line with Ranger!

I'll be posting about the product line here on Thursday so stay tuned for updates :) I can't wait to finally share it with you!

Also, I'll be Twittering from the road, follow me on Twitter or in my blog sidebar to the right.

I'm going to try and focus on the show and now think about all that has to be done to move our house when I get back. Ready or not, here I come!! Should be an exciting show!

whirlwind weekend

Of course as usual the weekend sped by. Paul was in Cleveland for our Nephew's high school graduation and I held down the fort here. Working on the long list of things to do. I got pretty far and the load is starting to feel lighter!

I got 19 (yes NINETEEN!!) custom Sitting Pretty Poppets® all glued down, now I just have to cut them out and add trims and drawing etc. But the hardest part is behind me. Then I finished up both of my CHA Power Point presentations. One for my class and the other for a lecture I am giving.

On Friday our property manager let us know that a couple put in an application to rent our house! yay! great news! But the crazy part is we will have to be out of here sooner than we thought. Like in TWO weeks! Akk!

On Saturday, I called the DC Police to find out about this permit we need for our moving truck to park in front of our building. Apparently you need to physically post the signs yourself 72 hours before the movers arrive. I didn't even bother to ask what happens if you weren't in DC when you needed to post the signs.

This also poses a problem because the moving company told us they only give us 24 hours notice that our stuff is going to be delivered. All our stuff will be on a big truck with other people's stuff which is why they have a window of 3-13 days for delivery. yes, THIRTEEN DAYS!! This is "high season" for moving so it's a longer window.

Tomorrow I will call and see if they can work with us on the delivery notification. I also found out that the regular 53ft semi that they use is too big. They will have to decant our stuff onto a smaller city truck. Will be interesting to find out how much that would be.

So UHauling it is starting to look better and better for ease of dealing with these DC City permits. I'll have to see what the movers say when I call them tomorrow. Lots of logistics to work out!

Project Runway Australia Season 1

It has finally started! I've been looking forward to this show since it starting filming and you know what? One of the contestants, Mark Antonio, reminds me of a certain famous fashion blogger we all know.

Yes or no? Just a bit of resemblance?
Bryanboy, is that you?

Photo cred: Bryanboy, thevine.com.au

Go Marketing!

You either love it or you're not into it, but I- for one- love going to growers markets on Saturdays. It always feel so authentic, the food is incredible, lots or organic and gourmet goodies to both buy and eat! The idea of spending a sunny Saturday morning enjoying a cup of Toby's Estate coffee (quite frankly the best I've had in Sydney) whilst browsing through the stalls wins over the supermarket experience every time! There are two which I frequent:
1. The Good Living Growers Market: at Pyrmont Bay Park, on the lawn opposite the Star City casinos, first Saturday of every month. If you've never gone marketing before, I would definitely recommend this for your first time- one of the biggest of its kind in Sydney I believe. Opens 7am to 11am, but get there early-ish to buy the good stuff! Strolling by at 10am means half the stores are packing up since they've sold out already. Trust me, I know from experience...
2. Northside Produce Market: at North Sydney on Miller Street- between Ridge and McLaren Streets. From 8 to 12noon every third Saturday of the month. This one is similar to Pyrmont- you'll find that a lot of the stalls trade at both venues- just smaller in scale.

There's a new store on the scene that I want to make a special mention about since I happen to have a sweet tooth. Accordingly named Sweetness The Patisserie, I first saw them set up stall at the Northside produce market in mid May and their goods are heavenly! The marshmallows (in the picture the white ones are passionfruit and the purple are berry flavored!) are a dreamy fluffy concoution, and their shortbread is delicious. I also recommend the lime flavored marshmallows. Their retail store is at 10/53 Brisbane Road, Castle Hill and while I haven't been in there, I suggest you check out the shop if you're in the Hills area!

Cred: buyorganic, myself

open crafty call for Vickie Howell's new book!

Vickie Howell is writing a new book titled "Craft Corps" focusing on the crafting community and the people who help create it.

Vickie is including 50-60 profiles of crafters of all ages and skill levels in her book.

Here's a quote from her blog:

"As part of the content, I’m hoping to include 50-60 short profiles of crafters of all types. If you knit, crochet, embroider, decoupage, paint, sew, bead, tat, work with ceramics, collage, etc.---I want to hear from you! Whether you’ve found success selling your handmade sock monkeys on Etsy or you crochet chemo caps for charity, I want to know who you are, what you craft and why you do it. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PROFESSIONAL CRAFTERS (in fact, it's preferable as the book's other content will focus on that)!"

All you have to do is fill out a form and email it to her! (all info is here on Vickie's Blog!)

Deadline to send in your profile is August 15th!!

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light at the end of the tunnel

Just when I thought I was almost done with prepping stuff for CHA. I talked to Tim and we figured out that I had 2 more sample boards that I need to make art for. Akkkk! Spent all day today racing around working on those. I worked so fast I don't even remember what I created even though I just finished!

Friday I'll be back at it with the CHA class Power Point presentations and then also working on a segment for Fiskars TV that we will film at CHA. Then hopefully getting to a custom order that I have of FIFTEEN Sitting Pretty Poppets. Wondering if I can teach Stanley and Mabel how to make these and then maybe I can get everything done!

I think by the time I get to CHA and demo at the Ranger booth, I'll have to be propped up at the table and will be barely coherent! Should make for fun demos!
night night!

Montreal - DP

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http://www.montreal-capitale.com/

stressed out beyond belief

I am so stressed out with this move and then getting everything ready for CHA. I can't believe the CHA show is next week. NEXT WEEK PEOPLE!!! AKKKK!!!!

I have been working in a frenzy on custom artwork orders, as well as getting artwork done for the Ranger booth for CHA, my CHA classes (two of them WITH power point presentations!!) and primping the house to show to possible renters. I have never cleaned this much OR made this much art in such a short period of time in my life!

We had a very sweet couple who was interested in renting our house today but that fell through when it was discovered they had a German Shepherd. The property management company we hired doesn't allow a certain list of dogs for liability reasons so we are stuck. My heart ached for them because we got turned away from a place we liked in DC because of having 3 pets.

That was a major upset. We would have felt so happy to rent to these people. They were super nice and I imagine we could have even become friends. Maybe there's another nice couple out there with a small dog like Toby?? One can hope!

Ontario

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weekend's over

The weekend's over and I spent almost all of it working on CHA samples. Big giant thanks to Lori who came over and helped me with part of the display. You are amazing! thank you!

I still have lots more work to do this week for CHA and then also some custom artwork orders to work on too. These are my last orders until after the move. All new orders will be started in September. I hate to put everything on hold like that but I have to get this move done and then I can concentrate!

Paul cleaned out the garage, we posted a bunch of stuff on freecycle and gave some away to the Salvation Army. Still tons and tons more stuff to go through but we are getting there.

Tomorrow the handyman comes to hang some new bathroom lighting and also re-grout the showers. Lots of things that we meant to do and now wish we had done earlier to enjoy them. oh well. next house!

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