Who stole my blog name???

Having robinpickensblog.blogspot seems a little redundant, doesn't it? I couldn't register for robinpickens.blogspot because it was already taken. Finally one day I thought I'd go to the address and see who had beat me to registering my name...

and do you know what I found?

it was me.

oh. 

A whole year earlier, I had registered the name and not done anything with it. There sat a simple white page with my name and short description (so I knew it was me). I'm the one who scooped up the address. Now I had to figure out through which email, what password, etc (because really, don't you just think you'll remember- don't write it down- and then DON'T remember...)

So now I am all moved over to my shorter, less redundant blog address of robinpickens.blogspot.com.  From now on, I'll only be posting to that location. So come visit me there and sorry for the confusion!

Best,

Robin

Big Bear Camping

Summer vacation. Camping. Kids singing, running, riding bikes and making s'mores. We went camping with a mixture of friends, some of whom we know well, others we met for the first time as friends of friends. Late discussions around the fire. Seeing night sky so dark and deep that the stars come alive in symphony. Birds squawking and tweating and mocking. Squirrels who scope out the scene then zig zag up to steal food. Sunshine making lace patterns on the ground. The pace of life just slows down.

One of the families brought up art supplies and the kids drew and painted in their "ladybug club." They hung their masterpieces along clothesline strung through the trees. They had an Open House to show us the art one night when it was dark, the pictures illuminated by lanterns and flashlights. It was magical and beautiful.

How nice to be a couple hours drive to the mountains. A lovely break. I must admit it feels good to now be back home, clean and showered, well rested in my own bed. Laundry buzzing, clothes to put away, activities to get back to...

Deco Park Quilt Challenge Sighting!

Wow! Exciting moment for me to see my Deco Park fabrics used for the pattern pdf and video example for the Quarterly Quilt Challenge by Quilts and More! My heart started beating a mile a minute when I saw this. I love the fall colors in bands on the journal cover and I am so inspired to try one of my own. You can download the pdf of the free pattern and enter your own great journal covers at www.allpeoplequilt.com. Watch the video for more great ideas on how to embellish your covers with decorative stitching, etc. 

If you make something with Deco Park, send me pictures and I'll be happy to post them for others to see!

Birthday wishes

Michelle Giraud created these cards using one of my birthday cake stamps from American Art Stamp. The pink card uses paper from K&Company with smooth metallic paint. I love the pink scalloped edge and ribbon with buckle. On the yellow card Michelle popped up the cake portion for more dimension. Check out more great ideas at the American Art Stamp blog.

Namaste

I think the yoga girls are my favorite stamps. I did the poses showing flowers and vines flowing out with the direction of movement. I love taking yoga classes. When I leave I am truly peaceful and I have such great energy. I think of breathing beauty in and out when stretching and I wanted to capture that radiant feeling through the flowers. I look forward to adding more poses to this group of illustrations. Gives me motivation to do more yoga!

Amy Rohl and Michelle Giraud did these cards with the yoga girl stamps. Amy's card uses a blender pen for coloring in the girl. Michelle paper pieced the outfit together out of a cute polka dot paper for hers. Wouldn't it be clever to use theses stamps to make identification tags for your yoga mat carrying bag? Or to encourage your exercise partner in an inspirational way?

Namaste!

Halloween Stamping Fun

Thanks to Amy Rohl and Janine Orchard at the American Art Stamp blog for coming up with these cute halloween treats using my stamps!!! Janine's card is stamped with Memento black ink and colored with Copics. She embellished with glitter and sparklers for a really cute halloween card. Amy's treat bag uses the cat trick-or-treater on green cardstock, matted and button-secured to this bag and decorated with ribbon and ric rac. Halloween trick-or-treaters are available through American Art Stamp.

Thanks Amy and Janine!

American Art Stamp

I have samples of my new stamps with American Art Stamp! They are rubber stamps available mounted on wood block or as clings for acrylic stamping blocks. I am so excited! I just got back from the craft store and buying some clear blocks so I can try the clings. 

American Art Stamp makes all their stamps here in the USA, in California. They've been making stamps for about 30 years and have great lines with artists including Emerson Quillin, Karen Stolper and Marsha McCarthy. I am thrilled to be included with their group of creative artists.  Currently there are about 25 different Robin Pickens designs available including my yoga girls, Halloween images, birthday cakes and Christmas birds. You can order them directly from American Art Stamp. 

Robin Pickens Stamps:   http://tiny.cc/PFE1Y

And check out their blog with talented designers showing you great cards and ideas with stamps

http://americanartstamp.blogspot.com/

Happy stamping!!!

Surreal Day

What a crazy mixture life is. Yesterday I took my kids to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. As we sat outside the police cars went roaring by with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Pretty soon helicopters were circling not far away. After getting our groceries at Trader Joe's the traffic was backed up for miles so we took the back route towards home. Turns out there was a bank robbery not far away and the robbers left behind a suspicious package. The police had to bring in the bomb squad robot. Freeway entrances/exits closed. On the way home we stopped to pay for my daughter's quilt-making class she will do next month at the Quilt Emporium. It is one of the weekends of the Quilt Run when carloads of adventurous, fabric-lovin' ladies drive all around Southern California- Los Angeles down to San Diego- visiting quilt shops and getting their "passports" stamped. Well with the freeway exits being closed, there were a number of frustrated quilters who had to figure out alternative ways to the store. As luck would have it, we arrived when it was time to start a game in the back class room and we were invited to join (because aren't quilters a friendly and welcoming group that way?). It was LCR, or Left Center Right, played with special dice and we all got baggies of 5" fabric squares to play with. Even my 6 year old son got into rolling the dice. We sat at the table with all the Quilters Run ladies and laughed and clapped and I ALMOST won (but didn't- the woman next to me got the pot of fabric!) Of course then I realized my groceries were in the trunk and I'd better get home to get things into the fridge. We left to helicopters still circling and buzzing up in the sky. 

Wow, this is the best summer so far!

Life is a blur

Where has time gone? It's been a while. Awhile since I posted. Awhile since I had fun like this dancing and laughing at blurred pictures the next day. This is how my life feels- active, colorful, fast-moving- moments of time rushing by...

Life has been very busy. I'm working with an agent now, Julie Newman of Jewel Branding and Licensing, and yes, she is in these blurry pictures out on the dance floor. These pictures were taken in Las Vegas, after the Licensing Expo, on our last night. It was a fun time and a needed celebration after the long hours, the stress, and work of getting ready and exhibiting at the show. It is exciting for me to be working with Julie. I have another person to bounce things off of, she sees things with a fresh set of eyes and thinks of areas for my work that I never considered. She has strengths in different areas than I do and I am able to focus more on doing my creative work. Julie had a booth at Licensing Expo and it was great to meet new companies as well as see people from other companies that I already enjoy working with. I've exhibited at Surtex in NY for the past three years and this was my first year at the Licensing Show. Just being there was exhilarating and left me filled with enthusiasm. Since I've returned home the pace hasn't changed too much. Only now the kids are out of school and I am finally, finally, finally getting a full night of sleep. And I have some exciting new projects I am working on. Stay tuned...

It's good to be back!

Right-brained quiltmaking

I have a variety of projects in various stages of progress. I'm a great starter but a bit more challenged in the completion part of the process. Ah, but part of creativity is the DOING, the joy of the activity. And with quilting I love the piecing. Being a right-brained, intuitive kind of designer, I like to randomly cut and put together and cut some more, replace, lay it out and see how it feels. I don't follow a pattern because my life has enough logical rules and instructions. For me, this is a time to be free and play with color and blocks and pattern. This grouping of blocks (and I don't know if there is a name for such a rectangular pattern/random piecing as this) I started in the hopes of making a quilt for our king sized bed. I'm scaling down my vision a bit because I would like to get to the sewing part someday. So a bit smaller but probably big enough to wrap up in while watching tv. I usually spread my pieces out on the floor to get some perspective and see how I am balancing the composition overall. Of course the downside to this method...my dogs. I believe Roxy thinks I'm making this for her.

MomDesk Syndrome

I think there is a requirement for being a mom and working from home. Your desk must look like a garage sale of kids toys and books and homework at all times. It doesn't matter if you have a deadline or you had everything organized exactly the way you needed it to be. It is now chaos. Your desk becomes their desk. Yes, they have their own desks in their own rooms as well as the kitchen counter, table, etc. But my desk is where they are drawn like little clutter magnets. My colored pencils and paper and computer are so much more intriguing than theirs, but really it is because they want to be with me. And seeing as how much time I am at my computer and my work, it is the most efficient way to help with homework, to connect after school, to spend a little time together.

I remember a year ago as my friend Susan helped me prepare materials for an exhibit. Our husbands were watching the Super Bowl and the kids were running around on foot and on scooters in the house, screaming and eating pizza and little meatballs. Susan and I sat in my office, drinking red wine, drowning in doublestick tape, printouts and folders as kids came in and taped notes on us. Ah, just another work day and we laughed at how ridiculous we must have looked with little pieces of paper stuck to us and how ludicrous it sometimes seems to work in such chaos.

I am so very lucky to have children that want to spend time with me (teen years have not hit yet) and want to set up shop next to me. And even luckier that they are creative, curious and full of great ideas. So I will remember that this is a gift and a fleeting moment in time as I work around the Hello Kitty sewing machine and Lego contraptions.

Spring in the air

I was walking the other morning and rounded the corner to these flowers covering the bushes across someone's front lawn. Same block I am on every day but today it was splendid and announcing itself in color and glory. Did I not see this yesterday because my mind was too busy thinking about getting my tax paperwork together (yes, I know, a little late for that thought)? Or did all of these blooms really come out, perfectly timed, to greet me today? I'm not sure how long they have been blooming, how many days I missed seeing them, but I guess what matters is I saw them today and it stopped me in my tracks. Bright, happy, full of life and color...dancing in the sun, perky in the morning crispness. Any worries seem to melt away when you see something as lovely and simple as that. I know they won't stay forever, so enjoy now. Take a moment, slow down, and enjoy.

Colorways

So here are snippets from two of the other colorways of my Deco Park fabrics for Robert Kaufman. It's impossible for me to pick a favorite color group because, just like children, they are each unique and beautiful in their own ways. I think I will first work up some projects with the Autumn-toned group. There is something warm and calming about them. Perhaps it is because I love Fall and its crisp woody smell. I am imagining a table runner since I have some great green and black dishes and a lovely Walnut dining room table. I can picture candles softly picking up the glint of the gold. Today I'm off to look at some patterns and imagine what could be...

Gloriously Happy.

Gloriously happy is how I feel when I get new product samples of my designs. I take the samples out of the box and rub my fingers over the smooth new surface, smell the fresh printing ink and lovingly  inspect the items. It is such an exhilarating feeling to have your work out there in the world. Sometimes I'm so thrilled that I do a little happy dance. I'm glad no one is here at the time to see it other than the dogs because I'm not the most coordinated, but the dogs get excited, jump and bark and think they are getting a treat. So when I opened up my box from Robert Kaufman Fabrics I expected to be happy, but was surprised at how truly emotional it felt. My fabrics, 7 designs in 3 different colorways, took my breath away. They did a beautiful job taking my designs and crafting them into colorful repeats, glinting with gold metallic ink and saturated with color. The quality is excellent and I am so proud to have my name on them. My line is Deco Park and it will be shipping in July. Thank you Robert Kaufman Fabrics!