Daily Courage

The glory of Easter Sunday lies ahead, but before we get to it, there is a quiet Friday pondering the meaning of the celebration. Blessed with a large extended family, it means over 30 people at our house on Sunday. It’s not exactly intimate, which is why I’ll need to some quiet time between now and then. I love the feeling this shot gives and and how tempted I am to sit right down in one of these chairs and enjoy a quiet corner of the room. Layering  several tablecloth adds color variation and warmth to s small round table. In fact, I think I’ll set a couple of tables dressed like these and put then in some of the main rooms of the house to encourage small,quality conversations among our guests on Sunday. 

Whatever you celebrate at this springtime season, we wish you calm, relaxation, and quiet time with those you love.

(Photo courtesy of April Cornell)

We have long been fans of author Kaari Meng and her wonderful store and product line – French General. Kaari and her husband Jon are a dynamic team and have a very rare gift for creating and expressing an aesthetic that few can match. Kaari will be at Remnants of the Past on April 25th in the central California coast town of Nipomo. She’ll be signing her wonderful books that also includes her wonderful new sewing book with Chronicle. 

It’s sure to be a fabulous spring day, and is a great opportunity to escape from the worries of world and wander among treasures gathered and offered by some of the most interesting dealers you will ever find. 

Shutting down the national news and getting out into the fresh air in a beautiful setting needs to be part of each of our personal stimulus package. Nourishing the creative spirit is part of survival these days. It’s off a long country road in a darling barn and pasture surrounded be rolling hills. Hope to see you there!

Artist Anna Corba showed her array of work at Remnants of the Past last spring.

A basket full of treasure.

Vintage glitter beautifully bottled.

Years ago when the team at Red Lips 4 Courage was with Romantic Homes magazine, I had the good fortune to meet Judy Watkins at the San Francisco Gift Market. At the time, Judy and a partner owned a small shop in Shell Beach, CA named “Well La De Da!” Since then Judy has had several successful retail stores in the San Luis Obispo area. She has become a dear friend. 

Judy is now producing a little gem of a show, Remnants of the Past  twice a year in a wonderful barn and pasture in Nipomo, CA. It is the best thing this side of Round Top and Marburger. The spring show is April 25th. If you are anywhere within driving distance, give yourself a treat.

From Beautiful Button Jewelry by Susan Davis

The team at Red Lips 4 Courage Communications has been together for many years. We have met and shared kindred times with some very amazing women. One of them is Jessie Walker. When the team was together at Romantic Homes and Victorian Homes magazines, we relied heavily on Jessie for beautifully photographed design houses and for her incredibly captivating monthly feature “Collections.”  Jessie is an avid collector of many, many things. And what she may not collect herself, she knows countless people who have collections that would have never crossed your mind. We held off on making a big splash with this book in the spring because we had been told Country Living was going to be giving it a very nice debut. Unfortunately, the promised ink never hit the page.

Ah, its why we long for small towns and a quaint collecting life. No one is too busy to miss a good thing, and if they did, they’d certainly remember to make good on their word.  If you yearn for a simpler life and the dream of being able to poke around barn sales and tag sales looking for the perfect thing to collect, you will  love Jessie’s book, ” The Curious Collector: A Lively Little Tour of 101 Collectibles.”

I was talking to an author yesterday who lives in another part of the country. We discussed how we know when the season is about to change. Since moving to California many years ago, I have had to learn to look for subtle changes to announce the new season. When living in Upstate New York and New England, the signs were obvious, and often welcome. But here in the west, we have to be keen and alert. Yesterday was the first day the light seemed different. Fall is around the corner.  

I don’t know anyone who loves each season like April Cornell. She cherishes each one and shares its unique color palettes and images in the fabrics she designs. 

I have had the opportunity to enjoy fall with her on a lake in Quebec, summer in Oregon, and spring in Vermont. I think it counts as winter that we were together in New Delhi in November! I see her innate color sense and artist eye take in every detail around her so that it can be translated into the lovely linens, clothing and accessories she designs.

Her fabric line for Moda is very popular and its easy to see why. Quilters love her color palettes and  her gift for bringing colors together in unexpected combinations. Today I got a peek at her new line of home linens for Danica, and it’s made me commit to having a few more lovely dinners outdoors before we bid farewell to summer.

Oh, and I am happy to share that her quilting book in underway! It’s going to be a beauty.

It takes courage to stick together. Today I had some time to be thankful for the courage girls… My experience in publishing has covered many diverse topics, my favorite of which was the material I worked with at Romantic Homes

and Victorian Homes magazines.  I was happily in the height of my mommy days when a chance phone call pulled me back into the magazine world. Next thing I knew, Romantic Homes had been acquired, moved to the west coast, and there I was in the middle of it all. For over six years a wonderful team of editors and designers nurtured the magazine from six times a year to monthly, and nearly doubled its circulation. 

Those years were filled with many wonderful experiences, and even better, introduced us to many of the creative friends we have today. Cathy Yarnovich Risling was the first to join the team, and today she is our director of editorial for all the books we produce.(That’s Cathy on the right and me on the left) Rebecca Ittner (on the left in the shot on the right, at her birthday party) joined the gang not too soon afterward, and today is our mistress of styling, photography and book editing. 

(Rebecca on the left, Cathy on the right, celebrating Rebecca’s birthday a few years back. Sometimes the photo editing stumps me, can’t figure out how not  to cut her in half!)

Erika Kotite was the editor of Victorian Homes, and she has worked with us in this new venture too. I had a long talk with Erika today. (Erika with her beautiful family in the loft of their barn, below.) Despite her now living in New Jersey, we can easily foresee creating more projects together. It reminds me that even though communications and information delivery is changing so fast it is confusing, the technology has kept us working together, doing what we love.

All these ladies are an integral part of the Red Lips 4 Courage team that now provides creative communications services to book and magazine publishers, among other the other things we do. 

Romantic Homes had a few hiccups awhile back, but under the direction of Jacqueline deMontravel working with Hillary Black and a talented team, it is once again in full bloom. Check it out…

Many of the creative souls I know are great fans of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and so am I. One of the suggestions the author makes is that in order to inspire ourselves we need to make a regular Artist’s Date. She tells us it doesn’t matter where we go, we need to take the time to do something curious and give ourselves little creative breaks. Susan Rios is one of the creative faithful. You know Susan from her beautiful paintings of wonderfully romantic places and children, and from her many books with Harvest House. By the way, that is her work on the banner of the Crlog. Remember, this is a CReativebLOG (Crlog)

Partners in Play by Susan Rios

Harbour Roses by Susan Rios

We have talked for two years about going on an Artist Date together. Yesterday was the day! I drove from the OC to her home and off we went to the Getty Museum. Perfect place for an Artist Date, don’t you think? We had lunch in the wonderful restaurant, and splurged by having a Blood Orange Margarita. It was as good as it looks! And, it almost made it worth the 4 1/2 hour drive home. I hit the SigAlert jackpot coming home on the 405 freeway. Cheers!!

After lunch we wandered into a fabulous exhibit of Illuminated Manuscripts. These works were done from the 1100’s to the late 1500’s. Unbelievable. If you are even the tiniest bit of a paperholic, you will love seeing the wonderful manuscripts. Here is a peek:

We marveled at how the scribes and artists could have done such intricate gold leaf. There is no doubt it is the real deal because it is still shining after all these years. Knowing Susan, she’ll have it figured out. She did some very unique and wonderful things with texture and dimension in her book Designer Scrapbooks with Susan Rios.

An all around wonderful day!! None of us think we have the time. Maybe we don’t have the time NOT to take a little break to be inspired.

Toodles!

Life has slowed a bit, and I am delightedly getting around to one of last year’s resolutions… Getting the blog section of the Red Lips 4 Courage website up and running. A few failed attempts discouraged me, but that’s it, I am jumping in. Covered in red lipstick for courage – here goes…

I am going to nickname this my crlog instead of calling it a blog. It’s the corralling of creative endeavors, mostly related to the books we produce. We have been blessed to have worked, and continue to work with, some of the most amazingly gifted artists and designers of our time. It is my hope to weave together these women, the readers of our books, and all creatively inclined souls.

A brief visit to Barnes & Noble the other day resulted in a few sightings of our current books for Lark and Sterling Publishing. French-Inspired Jewelry by Kaari Meng of French General fame www.frenchgeneral.com was face out on an eye-level shelf. It saved me from pulling the trick from my magazine days when I’d pull the publication from where it had become hidden behind all others and put it up front. French-Inspired Jewelry was right up front where it belongs.

French-Inspired Jewelry received a wonderful review in the February/March issue of BEADWORK magazine. Check it out on page 17 of the current issue.

Two weekends ago my husband and I had the pleasure of taking our daughter to New York City to celebrate her 16th birthday. I promised not to work while we were there. (I did sneak into the Sterling offices while they were still in bed Monday a.m.) I didn’t make calls or attempt to make stops anywhere that might constitute trying to work. I managed to get them into ABC Home and Carpet under the auspices that we need decorating ideas for home. I was delighted to come upon a Tinsel Trading boutique on the first floor. Check it out if you are in the city. Be sure to go by the main store and The Store Across the Street. If you can’t make the trip, visit the website. Tinsel Trading: Beautiful Bedrooms With Ribbons & Trims is the delightful work of owner Marcia Ceppos, her friend Rosemary Warren, and photographer Art Gray. You can order a personal copy on the Tinsel Trading site. www.tinseltrading.com

Images from the book will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Romantic Country.

As Monday comes to a close, I may have mastered a few of the buttons and gizmos on WordPress. I must thank Cory O’Connor for assuring me that this can be done, and be lots of fun! Cory is a lifelong friend. He is currently a professor at Chapman University and among the classes he teaches is one on blogging.