catching up to christmas?

how (dare i ask) is it only 2 more weeks until christmas?!?!?!
i know i was just in an obsessive mode between work and work, but honestly, i think i am about one whole month behind schedule! yikes....*sigh*

in hind sight i did have a ton of fun in between all the chaos.
here are some highlights:

-halloween: we went to the city with chase and dennis to see a live sound effect/percussionists and an organist perform to 'Nosferatau'! Philip and I went as ghouls. at one point we were in the lobby hanging out waiting for our friends and had random people ask to take our photo. that was odd considering i saw 20 or so men dressed a lot like Philip...i highly recommend a night at the symphony on halloween-a great crowd indeed.

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-thanksgiving weekend we went to the zoo!! the oakland zoo to be precise. going to the zoo always has the paradox of so fun, yet so sad. i myself enjoyed the petting zoo in the kids area. meet my new friend balthazar the pigmy goat. i wish i could have stolen him! too cute.

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well that's the highlights. now i am just coming down off the high of the craft show trying to get into the joy of christmas. we managed to get the tree and ornaments out of storage today. next will be the trimming of the tree, cards, gifts, etc etc.
this year is a 99% handmade christmas. every year i aim for ALL handmade gifts to give and always end up at about half made, half bought. this year only one gift was actually purchased. amazing i tell you. i only have 5 more to make and i am DONE.
and for my next trick? trying not to gain any weight....

happy holiday bliss!
x

Richmond Art Festival!!

Oh dear friends, we had such an amazing time at the Richmond Arts Festival! Sylvia Min, Chase Clark and I shared a table and it was sooooo adorable. I am exhausted, but this experience was rewarding in many ways. The challenge of organizing this with my life was a great exercise in keeping inspiration and motivation while juggling the everyday. It was so worth it and I owe a great amount of thanks to Sylvia and Chase for being such hard working individuals who were as determined as I was to get our art out in the world!

We had such great response to our booth, which I must say was super fun to put together and as one board member said "charming". All of the people at the Richmond Art Center are just fabulous! SO kind and generous. I have had the pleasure of working with them recently which led to us doing this event. They have a wonderful community there and I am happy to be a part of it. We all walked away with some sales and wonderful trades with each other and fellow artist Jenn Brazelton and Bryan Higgins.

Apologies for the post-event blog....not too much time before hand to tell the world via blog.

I will be updating etsy with all new items this week and will post again soon!

enjoy the photos!

x

thankful

I love Thanksgiving....
My dearest and I have a made it a tradition to go on a beautiful hike through his childhood stomping ground at Briones Regional Park on Thanksgiving. Rolling hills and vast amounts of gorgeousness and yes, even cows and horses roaming about. It's a nice thing to do before the giant feast ensues. (last year we were up in Gualala which was a hike with seaside adventure!) What a lovely tradition....being THANKFUL and connecting with nature's bounty in more ways that just devouring food. The food was amazing of course, but I must say the hike was more satisfying.

I am deeply thankful for so many things.
I hope you all had a day filled with love and gratitude.
x

new beginnings

one word:

GRATITUDE

another word:

FINALLY

oktober film fest

during the best month ever, (well, my personal favorite at least and i am sure many, many others),the Ringler household enjoys a halloween film-fest all through October.

since we netflix our viewing pleasure, we set up the queue to send us a nice combination of classic horror, comedy, and thrasher movies. last year was the first annual oktober film-fest and proved to be an amazing idea. this year we are challenged by keeping things as exciting as last year. we have had some ups and downs, but overall it is still super fun!

here are some of our favorites:

• anything Boris Karloff, but especially Frankenstein, 1931 and
• Bride of Frankenstein, 1935
• Black Sunday, 1960

• House on Haunted Hill, 1958 original with Vincent Price
• Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, 1922
• Nightmare on Elm Street, 1983 and NES Part 3, 1987

• Children of the Corn, 1984
• Pet Semetary, 1989
• Sleepaway Camp III, Teenage Wasteland, 1989

• Anything by Dario Argento (Phil's personal favorite)
• House of Wax, 2005 remake

cartoons

• Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, 1998
• The Simpson's Tree House of Horror (I-XX)
• Billy an Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, 2006

comedy

• The Fearless Vampire Killer's, 1967 (Roman Polanski-Spoof)
• The Worst Witch, 1986
• Zombie Land, 2009
• Zombie Strippers, 2008
• Shaun of the Dead, 2004
• Fido, 2006
• Evil Dead II, 1987

Apparently we find Zombie movies to be funnier than most. I swear Zombie Strippers was one of the funniest things we've ever seen.

Isn't Autumn the best?

Happy October!

x

back in the saddle

with rain and cancelations on my side, i managed to extend my weekend into a craft filled fun day or two. et voilà! coasters were born....

i managed to make 8 sets of 4 with small swatches of fabric donated to me from a S&B pal. (sadly i have not been able to make S&B for several weeks due to an opportunity to TA in a class with a former professor of mine.) I followed no pattern or tutorial, I just used fusible interfacing for stiffness, cut some 5 inch squares, pressed and sewed away.

quite simple. quite satisfying. i am gearing up for possible craft booths this holiday season. if nothing works out i will have plenty of goods for etsy and maybe even some gifts for some loved ones. that gets tricky though because not everything i make is necessarily the style of those i love.

*sigh* it does feel good to make-make-make again. between this project and some spontaneous felting with a client i had a lovely week on the creative front. i have also started on some pendants made from buttons and old buckles. i am looking forward to another chunk of time to finish them and start on some more brooches.

maybe now is the time? yes, i think so!

x

a new adventure

dearest bees,
i am happy to report that after much consideration and hard work, my husband and i are joining forces as..."Ringler Studios"! hence the main reason i have been away from the blog and had no real time to craft. that is all about to change now that some of our to-dos, like getting new equipment and filing business forms, has been accomplished.

so what, dare you ask, IS Ringler Studios? is it a studio of art? well, no. it is a studio for artists and collectors to receive individualized services to assist with their careers or investments. mainly our goal is to help artists with their promotions by offering high quality photography (a must in the industry), ways to navigate the expensive task of promotion oneself, and staying organized in the process. There is also an opportunity for collectors to use our organization service to store and record their investments better. mostly, Ringler Studios is and extension of work that we have been doing for years on a more focused level.

feel free to visit our website for more details! my personal website has since been changed to a place for my art and craft projects-both past and current.
until the next adventure....
x