The ZNE FUN FIND!

WOO-HOO!

Well, I am tired and cranky and behind in shipping and Zine production... SO - sounds like it is time for something fun!

THE ZNE FUN FIND!

"What's that" you say? Well, if you look back a few posts - you'll find the first Fun Find, but no explanation of just exactly HOW FUN they can be. Here's the full deal:

Visit my blog and every now and again (with emphasis on the again and again and again) I'll add new FUN FINDS.

When you indulge yourself in a shopping spree at The ZNE Store - and you purchase an item that qualifies as a FUN FIND - then, you will get 10% of your product total for that shopping spree. That's right - off the entire shopping spree - so long as one of your purchases is a FUN FIND! In many cases, you can pay for your fun find ++ outright, by participating.

Here is the important part: YOU MUST INDICATE "FUN FIND" on your request for a combined invoice! You must you must you must! FUN FIND!

And, I'll then deduct the 10% from your combined item total, for that invoice.

Other FUN stuff about the FUN FIND: No dates, deadlines, or other details. So long as there are still FUN FINDS for sale, purchase one or more and your entire product subtotal will be 10% off. WOWEE! How fun is THAT?

OK, so now that we have the fun details, let's refresh. As per my first FUN FIND post, a few days ago - if you buy any of the items in this category (click to see!) and indicate FUN FIND on your request for a combined invoice - then you will receive 10% off!


AND, without further adieu - I'll add another FUN FIND - here it is!:




Just think of the assemblage art and art doll fun you can have with these!

Some say spool, but I see manequin forms, doll bodies, stools, tables, big funky beads... and more!

What do you see? Make your visions come to life by getting yourself a pair of these funky fresh brightly colored wooden spools. I am offering them in multiple colors and will be offering more soon! Best yet - they are an official ZNE FUN FIND!

Click HERE to see more!



Wow! I feel less cranky already. Hope you all have a funtabulous day!

xoxo - Chel

Coloring Outside the Lines!

This is a picture I drew / collage I made, for my mom - when I was 11 years old. Tee-Hee!

Oh! This is so fun!

Writing writing writing … that click click click… I LOVE IT.

My mother was a writer. Click click click. Mama mama mama.

Three things bring me back to her, sitting in her lap, looking up at her through smokey misty lovely wonderful child’s mama-I-love-you eyes. Consistently, always there – and I surround myself with all three of them, often, sometimes it’s a good thing… sometimes, perhaps not.

Menthol smoke.

Collage.

And the clickety clack clickety clack of writing typing writing typing.

Mama.

El Collie Kress, 11/4/47 ~ 4/17/02

Here is a poem she wrote, 7 years ago:

A WORK IN PROGRESS, by El Collie

"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)" -- Walt Whitman

We want things in halves, easy to comprehend, but it's not that simple when everything contains its own opposite.

It's taken me a lifetime to discern an iota of my confounding complexity. No wonder I've been misunderstood from whatever sundry corners of the Universe took notice of me.

How can I blame them for being blind? I who was witnessing myself most closely of all barely knew who I was. It takes eons to circle from the circumference to the center.

The further in we get, the more difficult it becomes to pinpoint exactly where we are on the spiral of countless revolutions and revelations.

No matter how far we go,the journey's end remains elusive... It takes many, many turns around before we come to realize that incompletion is an integral part of the Complete.

* * *

I was checking out my wonderful friend Cinda’s blog yesterday and in a roundabout way I ended up on this fabulous Mama Says OM site! Their theme this past week was "20 Things."

So, I’ll go ahead and list my own 20 things. Who knew?

1. I wear pajamas, all day long.

2. My belly button is pierced.

3. So is my nose.

4. I have 4 tattoos. But you can only see three – because one is a “cover up.”

5. I love buffalo, cherries, spiders, art dolls, polka dots, and miniature chairs. Among other things.

6. My best friends-siblings-mustabeen-seperated-at-birth peoples are Jenna and Marc.

7. I’ve gone sky diving.

8. I’ve performed stand up comedy, in front of a live audience. Twice.

9. I don’t like San Francisco.

10. I love the San Francisco Bay Area more than any other place in the world.

11. I once dated a man with blue hair.

12. My son rocks my world. My step-daughter is a star in my sky!

13. I am constantly surprised at how snarky and cruel people can be when they are relating to each other via online forums.

14. I can not believe the number of incredible friends and loving giving people that have come into my life, through online forums.

15. My primary fear, when I was child – was of spiders. I was more afraid of spiders than any other thing in the world, and had more screaming hysterical fits over spiderly visits - than over any other thing.

16. I am not afraid of spiders, anymore. I once read that spiders were like artists. They pulled from what was inside of them, and created something sturdy, beautiful, their art which became their home, all around them. Nothing like affinity to soften your heart…

17. I don’t like to talk too much about my faith – because my calling has never been to preach. I do however believe in God, Creator of all. The One. I also believe that God can and does have many other names, most importantly LOVE and COMPASSION, and that ONE can only be completely expressed in a multiplicity of ways – a multiplicity that may appear separate ~ but if you get caught up in separation, between yourself and another, your ideas and someone else’s, your choices and someone else’s right to make their own (choices), or – assume that any worldly way or belief is the only way – then you are missing out on something very important. Love is the only way. That’s what I believe.

18. I like to color outside the lines.

19. I find that cleaning my ears with a q-tip is nearly orgasmic.

20. I believe in ghosts but not ghouls.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

xoxo - Chel

My Secrets...

Shhhhh!

Do you have Secrets? Of course you do. We all do. Do you want to hear one of mine? Ok. Here it is:

I CAN NOT TAKE A FOCUSED PICTURE WITH MY DIGITAL CAMERA, TO SAVE MY LIFE!

Case in point, above you'll find a picture that Krissy Chadwick (yup, that's her teddy!) took of a box I altered - a box for keeping (what else?) secrets in.

Granted, not a close up - but the picture is nice and focused and sharp and, just generally easy on the eyes.

NOW, we move on to a photo I took of Maxie, my Madame Alexander doll (actually, she was my mother's doll, but I inherited her, so...)



YIKES!

Now, WHY is it mine looks like it was taken during the midst of a sand storm?

I suppose this means I need to actually read my instruction manual and figure out what all those little buttons on the camera do, since the ones I am pushing don't seem to indicate "take a focused shot." SIGH!

Maxie's cute though, eh? How do you like those cherries she painted? She's like me. She loves cherries!

(Ok, Ok, the Cherry mini pic was actually a RAK from Krissy. THANK YOU Krissy! xxoo ~ Your RAK ROCKS!)

Speaking of RAK's that ROCK - check out what rocked my mailbox today!!! WOO HOO!

Ok, ok, not the hand, that's MY hand. But the gorgeous gold brocade cloth, and that (that's right!) SPIDER ON A WEB ring! And it is a little box even! Have you ever seen anything so spiderrific!?

I am gonna fill it with ZNE Pixie Dust!

THANKS JOANNA! You are THE BEST!!

Well, everyone have a great weekend. It's sunny in Northern California. The daffodils are blooming in my front yard, and I have art to create and shipments to make.

xoxo - Chel

Good Morning!

Oh what a busy day today. I'll be on the computer pretty much all day long, which is why I decided to post Web Mistress. I made that ATC just about a year ago. It's one of my favorites.

Today's a "ship" day which means I'll be mailing out goodies and Zines and store orders. Plus I have SO many goodies to add to The ZNE Store - so I'll be listing and scanning like a mad woman. I was talking to my dear friend JoAnnA about this on the phone the other day - but I just LOVE the stock in the store. It is quite literally stuff that I myself would pick up, pick out, and choose to have on hand for my own art making exploits. Not to mention all the delicious artwork that I need to list. (Not my own, mind you - but I have a treasure trove of goodies to be listed by artists such as Lani Kent, Izabella, Bruce Miller, Tiffany Marshall, Val Lasure, and more!!!

Here is my fun find for the day:

Aren't these CUTE! I got a whole big lot of these little plastic charms. I have toucans, monkeys and butterflies too! They come in all kinds of fun colors and I am selling them in pairs. Ok, here's the kicker - I got them from someone who was selling them as BIRD TOYS! That's right, if you add them to your art or a charm bracelet - watch out for those pidgeons! They may just land on you to have a playdate! Actually I found a whole bunch of cool things meant for bird toys that I picked up for altered art play things. I'll be listing drilled dice bits, colored wooden spools, and more little charming beads soon - too! Hmmm... I suppose next time someone calls me "bird brained" I won't be able to argue with them, now will I? !

Hope you all have a fabulous day!!

xoxo - Chel

NEVER LAST AND NEVER LEAST:

Thanks to Krissy Chadwick for mentioning The ZNE Zine in her own blog. She is a contributing artist to this issue, and her contribution was much appreciated:

ATC By Kristin Chadwick

And... Big big hugs going out to Stacie Rife. An incredible artist and very sweet woman. I was SO sad to learn that her beloved doggie, Bailey - passed away this past week. Many good wishes to you Stacie, hon. I hugged my Butter boy extra close last night, painfully reminded of how lucky we are to have the time we do - with our fabulous furry family members.

ATC By Stacie Rife

Yeah, yeah. I've been putting this off for way too long. I don't know why. I'm a writer. I journal. I have that same exhibitionist gene that so many artists share... I don't know. I think the reason why I love LOVE love my ZNE so much is because I get to live vicariously through so many other artists who are so much more talented than I am. People who actually have something to say!

Still, I guess the time has come. The ZNE Zine has just been made available to the 'public'. "Embark on New Beginnings." Good advice. So here I go! I like this quote - I think it is a good one for this first entry:

Stop talking. Start walking. -L.M. Heroux