Gertie's Puppies

On Saturday Brook's dog Gertie gave birth to three little girl puppies. They weigh 5 - 6 ounces each. We have had a lot of pets and animal babies in our family but this is the first litter of puppies for us. I am going over to her house later so Brook can take a nap. This is Gertie's first litter and she had them Cesarean so she needs help.


For now their names are Geraldine, Olive and Laverne. I think they are adorable!

RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2008 ...continued

These are my treasures from the charm swap and trades at the retreat. Aren't they wonderful! Some of them came with names and personal contact information, which is great for remembering who they came from. I had made copper bird nests with fresh water pearls for eggs. I swapped them all so I want to make a couple more.


Finds from vendor night. Nick Naglor made the beautiful icon. The copper, wood, and turquoise journal plus charm was made by Jill K. Berry. Vintage papers from Joan Lawrence and fabric samples from Erin Mueller and Mary Welch of Pursue Your Art.


The Chunky Book hosted by Kathy Beringer is filled with beautiful art by the retreat Attendees. As you can see from the picture it is quite chunky! Another keepsake!

Kathy even had all the books bagged - what a great presentation!

RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2008

After a couple of years planning, RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat flew by this past weekend. I would like to thank my family, the Cedarburg Cultural Center, Washington House Inn, Stagecoach Inn, the instructors, the Alex Wilson Band and attendees who together made this a wonderful memorable event for all. Pictured above is my mom Joan Hollnagel and daughter Brook Berth who helped me throughout the event. My mom volunteers often at the Cedarburg Cultural Center so she was an invaluable resource for using the facility when the regular staff was not there. My daughter Brook is a graphic artist and responsible for the beautiful hip colors and helping me design the website for the retreat.

The Cedarburg Cultural Center provided us a beautiful place to host our venue. The staff was so supportive of my new-to-the-area idea, from suggestions on how I could best use their facility to setting up and taking down tables (several times) for different aspects of the venue. I would have never been able to host this retreat without their help. The Cedarburg Cultural Center offers events featuring performing artists and a variety of art classes for all ages and abilities.

Several of the retreat attendees stayed at the Washington House Inn, which was one of our host Inns. The Washington House Inn is a lovely Historic Bed and Breakfast. They also provided classroom space for us to use.

The Stagecoach Inn was our other host inn. Wednesday night Bernie Berlin, Jill Berry, Judy Wise and I visited together in one of their cozy rooms partially listening to the Presidential debates, sipping wine and eating chocolate.

Thursday night there was a live ATC swap organized by Sue Young. This years theme was Gothic Arch Vintage Halloween.

Thursday night featured the Alex Wilson Band. I have a great admiration for people with musical talent. Alex is currently playing with his brother Matt and uncle Marc and they are awesome. I predict in the near future they will be popular nationwide.

Bernie says "Spread your wings and learn to fly"! :)

Bernie Berlin's Friday Evening Resist This class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Laurie Mika's Friday Evening Ancient Amulets class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Michael deMeng's Friday Evening Matchbook Reliquaries class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Judy Wise's Friday Evening class Making Art a Business was cozy and informative in the Gathering Room of the Washington House Inn.


Jill Berry's Friday Evening class Copper Piano Hinge Book in the meeting room of the Washington House Inn.


Liz Brown enjoying Michael deMeng's Morpheus Box class. She is the innkeeper of the Stagecoach Inn along with her husband Brook. As a side note Brook Brown was my history teacher in High School. Isn't it wonderful how our lives are all interconnected. Who could have predicted my High School History Teacher's wife taking a class named Morpheus Box: A Transformation Chamber at a retreat that I had organized :)


Saturday was Vendor's night at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


We are looking forward to seeing you at RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2009!

Rufus' Insomnia

Awhile back I said I would post a picture of my third boston terrier. This is Rufus. I don't usually like to post our family tribulations on my blog but here goes...For some reason Rufus has Insomnia along with anxiety at bedtime. He can't sleep, he is so worried he gives himself digestive problems, which leaves him requesting multiple outside trips. Rufus isn't allowed to sleep with Mark & I. Ziggy & Valentine know the rules. If both Mark & I are in bed, they must sleep in their beds next to ours in our room. We often wake up with Rufus sleeping between both of us shoulder level. Putting him in a crate makes things worse. Last night Rufus could sleep with me but Mark was gone so he was worried about that. Poor Rufus is tired this morning, and so am I :)

Author Copy Arrived

I arrived home late on Friday, September 26, after spending another fun and inspiring day with my friend Jill Shulse in her studio. On the counter was a package which I assumed were some books that I had ordered from Amazon. Then I noticed F & W Publishing on the address label. I told Mark it must be the my book! He said "don't open it until I get my camera". It was my book Interactive Art Workshop: Set Your Mixed Media in Motion. Northlight did a wonderful job of designing and putting together this book. How exciting!!!! It won't be available in stores for another month. You can order an advance copy by clicking on the book on the side bar from Amazon. I have been a How-To-Book fan for years. Now I have authored one myself she said smiling :) There are also 24 other contributing artists to my book so there is a wonderful variety of styles included. If they have a website or a blog there is a link for them on the side bar under the title Amazing Artists.