Daily Courage

It’s sure fun to be in popular company! News of a new quilt book from Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston sparked a great response. Neither of them are wired, so I will print out the nice comments and send them off. It’s sure to make them smile.  Speaking of smiles, here is something to chuckle over from Freddy and Gwen. Someone gave Gwen this fabric, and the two of them used it in one of their new quilts. We giggled trying to come up with captions for the images. (Disclaimer: these were taken with my phone camera. A far cry from the professional work of Gregory Case.)

We decided this must be the Booby Hatch. Have any other funny ideas?

Don’t know about you, but I am battling a little Spring Fever. It’s Good Friday and I am trying to  finish up in the office so I can observe the rest of the day in contemplation of this important day. The work of author Teena Flanner comes to mind just prior to this weekend holiday. Teena’s work has been featured in many magazines, and we have always admired her wonderful paper mache figures. 

Teena uses vintage chocolate molds to form her figures. This bunny is a beauty, and I love this glittered egg.

Teena’s book has many wonderful ideas for other holidays too. If you like these you will love it.

Happy Easter!

Toodles… 

Many creative souls are fans of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I was introduced to the book and the author’s philosophy in 2002 by one of the most colorful people to inhabit the wonderful world of quilting.  Freddy Moran lives in Technicolor and has as vivid a personality as you will ever meet.  

We were photographing Freddy’s home for a feature story, and I was there to be sure the cover shot was just right. Freddy, sensing I had a little creative conflict going on, suggested I read the book. I did, and it gave me the courage to make some changes in my life. That change became Red Lips 4 Courage Communications, Inc.

Out of that first meeting, with a little help from The Artist’s Way, came Collaborative Quilting by Freddy and Gwen Marston. Gwen is a quilting guru of great reknown. The quilts were photographed by Gregory Case, who has emerged as great talent in getting the color just right. He took the candids I am sharing here.

The book has been a hit.

Freddy and Gwen play off each other so well because their styles are so different. If they ever decide to stop quilting, they can tour the world as comedians. They can work a crowd better than any professional performers I have ever seen. 

Don’t these two look like fun, fun, fun?! 

I am delighted that we are working on a second book with Freddy and Gwen. It is going to be filled with design tips and strategies for making wonderful quilts guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of even the most color. There will be over 70 quilts featured, and its going to pop and sizzle in blazing color! Along the way, I learned to have courage, creative courage…the kind that gives you the strength to take a leap of faith and go for it. Thank you Freddy. And thank you to both Freddy and Gwen for working with us and keeping us in literal stitches. Toodles

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…

We know that on some browsers the blog is looking like it is in the fun zone. (Stretched photos and the like) We are working on the bugs and hope to be better  viewed on all browsers.Toodles! 

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!