SuzeBlogz

Hairdos and Dragons and singing !

So, just a few days ago my fun loving girlfriend Connie decided she wanted to buy a wig......not just any wig.....a good wig...and off we galavanted to a wig store.

Yes...she wound up with a nice brunette 'hairdo' but I drove the owners crazy asking to try on everything in sight just for the fun of it.

now don't start telling me which one I should have bought cause I wasn't buying any....I was there just to ham it up!! Connie bought the one on the left top! I have to admit...I liked it too (I'm wearing it lower R). It even made me think I might want to go back to my 'real' color.....but...as of right this minute...I'm still 'me'!

This was a laugh a minute !!

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Later that same night The Lenster, Jennifer, Jared and I went  to see the show production of "How To Train Your Dragon" based on the movie.

WOW....it was spectacular.

The musical score was tremendous. The sets were spectacular and the flying dragons were absolutely amazing.

if it comes to your city BUY TICKETS !!!

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then today I went to a really interesting luncheon.

The guest speaker was John Scalamonte.

John talked about his journey from training to be an ordained Catholic priest to becoming an Othodox Jew.

Now I'm not here to express any opinion... so... this is not a blog about what anyone should believe or convert to....just reporting on what an amazing talk he gave and then how he took any and all questions from the audience of about 200 people.

His book may be out of print but I think you can still get it on Amazon.

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In keeping with Judaism....tonight begins the Jewish festival of Sukkot (Sue-coat)

 is a biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (late September to late October).

Sukkot lasts a week. There are certain symbols that we have for this holiday....one is called a Sukkah...the picture below shows what the top of the Sukkah can look like. The photo comes off the internet & was taken in Israel.

The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites lived during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt.

The walls of a sukkah can be constructed of any material (wood, canvas, aluminum siding, sheets). The walls can be free-standing or include the sides of a building or porch. The roof must be of organic material, such as leafy tree overgrowth or palm fronds. It is customary to decorate the interior of the sukkah with hanging decorations.

we also use special plant species in the Sukkot ceremony. Called the Lulav and the Etrog, we wave them in the direction in which they grow

everyone gets a chance

Kids love this holiday!

 

and there's lots of singing. 

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This coming week will be pretty busy...I'll be off for Connecticut on Thursday for ART IS.....YOU.

I'm super excited to be taking classes from Andrea Matus DeMeng. This is an example of her work below.

if you live in the NY-NJ-PA or CT area....you're gonna want to come to this retreat!!!

Comic Con

I've never been to a Comic Con before.

Today Jen, Jared, The Lenster and I stopped by our big Monmouth County Library for their first ever Comic Con event.

Well...it was exciting...Even the Batmobile (*or facsimile thereof !!) was there !!

 

and so were the Super Heros

I mean...could a kid (big or little) ask for anything more !

Meanwhile...INSIDE the library the excitement was mounting...

Lots of folks dressed in costumes

and lots of very talented comic book artists

I fell in love with Frank and his bride...so..I bought copies of them from the artist.

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after a very full afternoon we rambled over to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and a stop in the HUGE Halloween shop next door.

Of course the Halloween shop was Jared's great idea !!

some things are just way too creepy in the Halloween store !!

Oh My...it's time to END !!

I'm being completely cut off.....!!!

Art in the Garden

 

 

                                                                            
              Calgo Gardens had their annual 'Art in the Garden' show today and, as always with anything Calgo does, it was a beautiful event.

The weather was perfect. The vendors had terrific stuff.

they had musicians

Our friends Lynda (l) and Jodi (r) were there too

and inside the gift shop things were hopping as well !

the evening ended with 2 purchases on my end..... and then we were off to a party....

with everyone whipping out their new (and not so new) iPhones and comparing them. OK..I get it folks..I am part of that techie geek phenomenah as well...My IPhone 5 arrives this week !!!!!

In the meantime we can just gorge ourselves on all the homemade food AND pasteries

I'm so hungry I could die.....!

squeezing everything in

Going back about a week...

Sept 15th was our 49th Anniversary. FORTY NINE years....now this can't be because I am not (in MY mind) even 49 years old....BUT...alas..it is true!! The fabulous Lenster has booked us a cruise which we'll be going on Dec. 31st (yes..New Years Eve!) through January 9th

The Eastern Caribbean: San Juan, PR, Philipsburg, Dutch Antilles, St Thomas, Virgin Islands and Samana, Dominican Republic

am I excited...WELL !!!

I am doing the happy, happy, happy dance!

and then, 2 days later I'll be on a plane for winter CHA

like I said...squeezing it all in....

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In the meantime....

The Jewish New Year  (Rosh Hashana) began this past Sunday night. We celebrate 5773, and, on Tuesday, as part of the holiday, we celebrated "Tashlich".

The word "tashlich" means "casting off" in Hebrew and involves symbolically casting off the sins of the previous year by tossing pieces of bread (or another food) into a body of flowing water.

First we had a brief service where we sound the shofar (rams horn) and read from the Torah. If you follow my facebook page I posted some short videos of the shofar being sounded.

 after the service we walk to the water (in this case a lovely brook)

The weather was very iffy that day...Rabbi Susman checks in with God to be sure we don't get rained on (LOL)

and we start tossing in the bread !!

In some communities people will also pull out their pockets and shake them to make sure any lingering sins are cast off. We just stick to bread !!

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Now, this Tuesday night, Sept 25 begins the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. This is a very culturally significant holy day......the day when Jewish people fast for 24 hours & spend most of the day in synagogue....yikes...what a way to diet !! 

BUT...the fun part comes after sundown when we all eat like crazy !!

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Took a quick trip to ANTHROPOLOGIE during the week. They were having a rescue pet day

we weren't interested in getting any more pets...our one cat Mollie is a handful enough...but you know I can find ANY excuse to visit this store!! The Lenster found a friend too !

I just found great STUFF !! Notice I didn't say I BOUGHT any great stuff...just found it !!

I think it's their displays that really blow me away

like using yarn as a ceiling hanging...seriously!!

Okay..perhaps I wasn't telling the whole truth...I did find something I fell for

these beveled mirrors were AMAZING...they ARE now hanging in our house !!! Just moved a few things around and voila.....!!!

and here's a great idea.....I'm sure we all have some old books we can hang !! I'm looking for just the right wall as we speak !!!

catch ya later !!

aaaah, Ver-Day

and so...it's off to class at Ten Seconds Studio..

one of the first things you see as you enter the lobby is this wall of books that Cheryl found on one of her trips and brought back. GREAT TASTE CHERYL !!

and, as you enter the classroom you realize that Megans been a busy little camper the day before setting up the whole shebang while Cheryl and I have been galavanting all over town !

the classroom is FILLED...overflowing...with lots of art

and gorgeous things that Cheryl and Megan have made using their TenSecondsStudio metals

some samples have a combination of the metal and the Ver-Day paints

these paints work on ALL surfaces...like ceramic tiles for example. The patina spray is what gives it the all out rusted appearance...all depending on what color Ver-Day paint you applied underneath.

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we are soooooo ready to use our TSS Ver-Day paints and Patina.

Cheryl demonstrates...we follow !

 

first we are going to do a frame.

She shows us how to lay down the metallic paints, spray (while wet) using a LOT of Ver-Day Patina then lay down things like plastic wrap or bubble wrap for texture.

Cheryl shares more of her samples. 

Then we get busy creating a tote bag

for mine,  I used a cork dipped in the various colors of Ver-Day metallic paints, touched cork to the bag, and sprayed heavily with the Patina.

everyone gets mighty busy...

the paints stuck to this gourd!!

now...in order to rust anything that is made of metal you do have to prime it first with a barrier spray...any home improvement store will carry primer sprays.

then, as I did on this Ranger Memory Frame,...spray prime it, paint it with the Ver-Day paints then spray while wet with Ver-Day patina.

here's a mask that Cheryl did. Hard to believe it isn't iron!!

they sell this in a kit !!

and this amazing necklace made from their Ver-Day Cloth !

YES....we worked on the BRAND NEW VER-DAY CLOTH

This is NOT a canvas cloth. This goes through any die cutting machine. We made cuff bracelets. It deeply etches on a die cutting macihne like never before !

in addition to the new Ver-Day cloth...they also have these completely fabulous and new  Arty-Farty Fibers

they come in 5 yard increments or by the skein. They are made from all kinds of repurposed material, including silk.

they made a marvelous bracelet using them

I got myself 4 diffrent colors so I could try 'looming' them...see..I bought a little loom!!

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and this (below) is actually my favorite picture from the day...when Cheryl showed us this 'experiment' I saw a man right away...do you?

his head, white shirt, his outstretched arms, his pants and shoes...??

spooky, huh!!

Wuv your Wubbers !

 

First you need to see the view from Cheryls lake house

we ate dinner out on the porch and watched the egrets fly over and the ducks swim by and it was the most delightful, peaceful, stress free environment.

Cheryl holds workshops there so you all need to come on down and take one. It's amazing ! She calls them Bra Free Weekends...Hilarious...just like all of Cheryls humor !

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I had totally forgotten that "Wired Up Beads" was not far from where Cheryl lives and I LOVE their products...SO...when we discovered it was a short car ride away off we went.

Wired Up Beads sells the amazing jewelry tools called "Wubbers" (and, they have lots of tutorials)

Wired Up Beads is owned by Patti Bullard

and she has fabulous employees who are so knowledgeable and happy to demo and explain everything.

Lisa showed us how to use their new square pliers

Lisa demonstrated the pliers that make perfect loops..like for earrings

they have a wonderful classroom

stocked with great stuff !

a big warehouse

a whole room dedicated to working with glass using state of the art ventilation

and, did you know that Wired Up Beads also sells the most WONDERFUL jewelry/craft storage.

I know how wonderful they are because I have them in MY own craft room !!

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Lisa shared some of the beautiful samples that she and others have made

and showed us the bracelets that inspired us big time

so, we bought all the necessary parts to make one...

and when we got back to the lake house we got bizzzzzzie...

Cheryl got bizzie too but I managed to finish mine..and, I added my own touch..rhinestones from Industrial Chic (available at Michaels) .

she's still workin' on it !! LOL

...of course we havent even covered the class day at Ten Seconds Studio...so...come back tomorrow !!

antiquing we will go

I did so much stuff with Cheryl while in Dallas that I'm gonna have to blog it out over several days.

Let start by taking a little trip to one of her happy places !!

Holy moley...if I lived in the area and didn't have to end each sentence with "Do You Ship" I'd have loaded up a truck full of goodies from this way cool place. It was brightly lit, very clean, organized and no old musty smell.

now, I grant you....certainly NOT everything was old or antique, but what did that matter....

I mean...just the gathering of ideas from what other artists have made was wonderful!

I loved these wall plates...bought a bunch

I

 

Just this wonderful little jar was so inspiring !

going up and down the aisles !!

what a great purse !

I'll take it ALL !!!

 

an amazing morning...

In the afternoon we visited Wired Up Beads....wait till I get home and tomorrow I'll tell you all about it...

I hear them calling my plane...gotta run now...

Visiting

Lucky me! I'm out here in Eagle Mt. Lake in Azle, Texas visiting Cheryl Darrow at her lake house (pix R). Cheryl and I have known each other for probably 30 years. We both began as calligraphers and thats how we met.

When Cheryl opened her original rubber stamp store in Dallas umpteen years ago I came and taught for her.

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It's gonna be a wonderful weekend...today and Monday Cheryl and I are having 'girl days'...shopping, yacking, browsing and maybe even playing with a bunch of different products...

Cheryl...as you know...is the co-owner of Ten Seconds Studio

her lake house is chock-a-block full of artsy stuff like this bird that Cheryl has covered in metal and done her magic on.

the wall on the far right is so interesting

Cheryl collects mailboxes and very cool signs

and, she finds neat stuff in antique shops...so..thats where we're heading first thing tomorrow..of course!

Can't wait till Tuesday when we have our big VerDay paint class at the studio...

right now Cheryls got me 'somewhat' hooked on a reality show called 'My Fair Wedding'...it's a lot weird, but I can't stop laughing! Some very strange bride wants a burlesque wedding and it's waaaaaay over the top.

Catch up with us tomorrow...find out what we're up to !

 

does this really mean no more white?

every year the groovy town of Ocean Grove (NJ) holds its end of season craft show the Saturday right before Labor Day

Lots and lots of vendors and, of course, my friend Michelle always has her booth there

I've talked about Ocean Grove many times before. Thats where we went a few weeks ago to see Neil Sedaka...remember?

What began in 1869 as a Victorian-era camp meeting site has become one of the Jersey Shore's finest year-round seaside resorts. Known as "The Jewel of the Jersey Shore," Ocean Grove has the highest concentration of authentic Victorian architecture in the country.

yup..it's way cool there. And so were some of the goodies I found at todays show (but did NOT buy !!)

Even the doggies were happy to be there

Oh...and BTW... ALL the pix were taken with my IPhone 4S

recycled bottle tabs...

I shoulda bought this !!

but The Lenster got air plants instead !!!

Yup...it was another glorious day at the Jersey shore

Have a great holiday weekend.