prepping for c.h.a.

first of all, sorry for the delay in getting more projects posted this week. it's been HECTIC. i'm going to try and get some up tomorrow.

last sunday, npr ran that feature and can you believe my CraftyChica.com site received more than 280,000 hits in one day? our online store was very busy as well and patrick and i have been working around the clock to get everything shipped out.

i've also been busy prepping for the craft and hobby show in anaheim. i leave saturday morning and don't come back until next thursday. half of me is excited and anxious because i'm a speaker on two panels, plus i'm doing a day long matchbox shrine make-and-take for duncan crafts. this event is like the super bowl of the craft industry. all the manufacturers present thier new products for the coming year. it's every crafters dream. i've made 100 press kits, 150 shrine kits, art samples, two other projects for a photo shoot, plus a bunch of other stuff. for anyone who has sent me an email in the past week, i promise i'll answer before i leave!!

the other half of me is wimpy because i get homesick soooo easy. seriously, i love all my crafty adventures, but late at night when i'm all alone (wow, that sounds like a selena song...), it takes all my might not to cry because i miss my family so much. most of the time at least one them (either patrick, my sister theresa or one of the kids) will join me and i'm cool. this time the kids couldn't miss school, theresa couldn't miss work and patrick had to stay to take care of the kids. i invited my sister-in-law and she is coming to help and hang out!!! and i'm very happy about that because she is an uber-crafter just like me!!! honestly, i think it worked out for the best. i could not imagine patrick, theresa, or either of the kids getting off on walking a million square feet just to see and try out craft supplies. for me, i live for that stuff!

i'll do my best to update from the show, maybe even post some snapshots. for any of you who are going, here is info on where i will be!

craft and hobby world's fair
anaheim convention center
sunday-wednesday

sunday: booth 4001, duncan crafts
come make a matchbox shrine! all day

monday
11:00 - 12:15 PM
Seminar S127:
Capturing Your Share of the Hispanic Craft Market
Speaker(s): Kathy Cano Murillo, Crafty Chica; Michele Valdovinos, Vice President of Research & Marketing, Phoenix Cultural Access Group; Sharmila Fowler, Managing Director, Strategy & Consulting, Phoenix Cultural Access Group
Who Should Attend: Retailers
Room: 207AB
This comprehensive session covers the key opportunities for retailers to leverage the potential of the growing Hispanic craft consumer. Learn the key triggers for shopping and crafting occasions as well as the drivers of purchase decision and product selection. Cultural insights can help you create a powerful relationship with this important customer segment.

tuesday
10:00AM – 11:15AM
(eminar S133:
In-Culture Design: How to Optimize Your Creativity for the Hispanic Retail Market
Speaker(s): Kathy Cano Murillo, Crafty Chica; Michele Valdovinos, Vice President of Research & Marketing, Phoenix Cultural Access Group
Who Should Attend: Manufacturers
Room: 207CD
Designing products for the Hispanic consumer calls for a solid understanding of the cultural nuances that drive product preference and shopping occasion. Discover how intelligent design goes beyond language and icons to reach this consumer segment with an in-culture model to optimize your product portfolio. Kathy Cano Murillo, the "Crafty Chica," will be on hand to demonstrate how cultural insights become successful products for the Hispanic consumer.
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Thank you to NPR and James Garcia

I'm super giddy today!!

This morning NPR ran a segment on my web site and crafty outlook. The story first ran in AZ the beginning of January. The national desk picked it up and ran it on today's Sunday Weekend Edition. Thank you to reporter James Garcia for doing this feature and for taking an interest in my crafty world and listenig to my sermon about glitter and glue guns!

If you missed it, you can hear the segment on the official NPR web site. At the top of the page is a little red "listen" button.

OK, I'm off to hem my nana's pants. Have a super high-shine glossy day!
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Ugly Betty Dress Contest

You all know by now how much I *heart* Ugly Betty. More than Lucy, more than Raymond. Betty Suarez is the ultimate Crafty Chica in my book! I even made a necklace like the one Betty wears! Here are the directions, by the way


So anyway...there is a contest going on to design a dress for the show!

Forget Project Runway. If any of you have an inkling for design, sewing - or want to try - I highly encourage you to give this contest a shot! What the heck? Sometimes the things we think that are out of our reach, are actually easier to acheive than we think. Isn't that what Betty is all about, and why we love her so much? So chop-chop - pull out the sketchpad, pen, measuring tape and pinking shears and get to work!

Here is the text from the official contest page.
Have you got the skills to design a fabulous couture dress? Do you have the creativity to blow past obstacles? Here's your chance to prove it! Create a dress that will appear in an episode of ABC's Golden Globe-winning series Ugly Betty!

Here's the deal: Christina, Mode magazine's resident keeper of "the closet," is commissioned by a prominent celebrity to design a dress to be worn at a formal public event-- but she's snowed in at the office! With twelve hours to execute her design and no fabric to work with, Christina is forced to the use everyday office supplies to make her creation.

That's where you come in. Help Christina make the formal dress!

Submit drawing(s) or sketch(es) of your Design, showing both the back and front of the garment, along with instructions on how to construct it (i.e. materials used, shape, form and color) only using office supplies such as tape, bubble wrap, shopping bags, calendars, shoe boxes, hole punchers, paper clips or newspaper, just to name a few. Also, submit an original Essay in 100 words or less, discussing the underlying concept for the Design.

A dress based on the winning design will appear in an upcoming episode of the show! The winning "designer" will receive a trip for two (2) to Los Angeles, CA for the taping of the Ugly Betty television show scheduled to take place on 02/02/2007, where a dress based upon the winner's Design will be incorporated in the Show.

What are you waiting for?

It's time to REALLY make it work!

Click here for the Official Rules & Grant of Rights for a full list of acceptable design materials, additional submission guidelines, rights granted, eligibility conditions and prize restrictions.

No Purchase Necessary To Enter or Win.Internet access and valid e-mail address required. Open only to legal U.S. residents, 18 years of age or older.Void where prohibited. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm ET on 01/28/2007.

***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Valentine's Day Projects

Valentine’s Day Projects
Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday of the year. All that red glitter...Hope you like these ideas!


Flirty Word Heart Lights
Lovely Vintage Hangbag
Soldered Heart Necklace
Sweetly Simple Valentines
Soldered Heart Necklace

Heart of Glass Ornaments
Valentine Granny Bag
Chocolate Box Valentine
Mighty Mosaic Magnets
Embossed Heart Pillow
Conversation Candy Heart Coasters
Glittered Love Box
Bejeweled Champagne Flutes
Queen of Hearts Window Box
Sweetheart Candy Box
Waxed Roses
Cigar Box Love Shrine
Valentine Collage Shadow Box



***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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I drank too much iced tea today

and now I cannot fall asleep! So I'm just blogging away. I overloaded myself on free form art this week (I'm on vacation from work) and now I just feel like doing nothing but sitting here, refreshing the home pages on celebrity gossip blogs. Lord help me! I did complete productive task today. There is a lovely group of crafty chicas from the mid-west who want to buy some of my shirts to wear to a scrapbooking event, but can't decide which design to get. So I went ahead and made them this:


Later in the day, I helped my nana move into her new apartment at this swanky retirement resort, came home and took a picture of the multi-talented Margot Potter on QVC. She is living proof that a person can truly live a crafty life. She taps into so many different avenues of the industry. Anyway, here she is - live and in color (on the right)!!!


Alrighty then, it is almost 2 a.m. and I just yawned. I think maybe I can konk out now. Actually, I have one more post and then I'm going to crash...aw, heck I'll post it tomorrow. Adios for now.

***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Wedding giveaways on the cheap

Here are three more ideas for inexpensive wedding projects. These are little giveaways that you can whip up in a snap while downing a pitcher of margaritas. They'll still come out stylin'.

First up: Glittered centerpiece



One hurricane lamp filled with fairy dust glitter (everyone uses sand or marbles, boring!), and then it has a glass votive holder inside with more fairy dust glitter. For this project, I used a battery-operated tea light. These are brilliant because they last for 100 hours and are very inexpensive. They work great for churches or banquet halls that do not allow lit candles. You can find these at most craft stores. Here in Phoenix, you can get them at Diane Ribbon and Notions.




Next: Letter box



This is just a simple jewelry box from the gift wrap aisle at the craft store. I covered the top in pretty scrapbook paper and then stuck on a glittered initial.

And last: Treat bag



You can buy these small colored bags in bulk. Insert a gift or baked goods, fold the top over, punch two holes and add some tule and a charm.

See? Easy!

***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Craft Zine 02: Crafty Chica Earrings!

I have a project in the new issue of Craft Magazine, it hits newsstands on Tuesday. I guess I got a little too excited about the assignment because not only did I submit instructions for two pairs of earrings, I also turned in a written Lifetime special of how I came of with the idea for them. It was so long, there wasn't room to print it! So, what the heck? I'll post it here. Although, those of you who know me well have heard this story a thousand times. But hey, it is a scar I wear proudly!

By the way, here is the picture of the earrings, but you will have to buy a copy of the magazine to get the directions. I really, really, really want this publication to thrive, it is has so many crazy and cool ideas from crafty minds all across the globe. So splurge and pick up a copy!!



Sometimes the best crafty ideas come out of desperation. In my case, watercolor paper earrings were my salvation.

Back in the day, my husband and I scored $2,000 at our wedding dollar dance. For two blissfully in love, unemployed, wannabe artists, it may as well have been $2 million. We giggled in disbelief at our unexpected windfall as we neatly stacked the bills inside a wood cigar box. On a whim, we ditched our hometown of Phoenix for an indefinite romantic honeymoon in Tucson. Our goal was for him to perform music, and me to create artwork. Three months into our stay at the Maranatha Haven apartment complex, we turned the box upside and tapped it - just to verify that all funds had,
indeed, been depleted. Not happy news, considering we had just received a turn-off notice from the electric company. Between the two of us (soon-to-be-three), we scrounged up $20 and vowed to spin some gold. Fast.

We ventured to the craft store and examined the options and settled on a pad of watercolor paper, 4 bottles of craft paints, fish hook earrings and super glue. Always thinking about the presentation, we kissed the last $5 and spent it on a blank canvas to display the finished pieces.

My theory? Make a dozen earrings, hang them on the canvas and sell the entire batch to a boutique owner on city’s artsy 4th Avenue area. We sat at our tiny kitchen table, and grooved to Ziggy Marley on the boombox as we sketched, cut and painted through the night. In between bumping elbows and critiquing each other’s work, we prayed for these earrings to sell. We prayed so hard, in fact, that our eyes hurt from squinting.

The next morning we suited up and headed out to wheel and deal. However, the stores were a bust. Buyers deemed our Mexicali color palate blindingly bright, the concept of paper earrings a bit too innovative, or maybe they just didn’t want to invest in the whole tamale. Just like in the movies, we were in the middle of a drama-filled, hopeless situation, tears and all. But with one store left, we weren’t about to throw in the paint towel.

The crafty gods must have been smiling down on us. The owner of that last store found the idea of a canvas full of colorful earrings brilliant. There was one glitch. Because it was summer and we had walked so far, the varnish we used caused the earrings to melt into to the painted canvas, which was also varnished. Sweat began to race down my head as I watched the meticulous store owner rip apart the pieces that we had worked so hard on the evening before. She bought them, but only if we agreed to fix them. She kept her word and eventually placed a larger order. We had pulled it off.

That was 16 years ago, and my husband and I nod our heads and then wink when we think back to that time. Not only did we pay our light bill, we also planted the seeds of what would become a fruitful career in arts and crafts.

I love sharing this story because it’s our proof that even when you think you’ve reached the end of the line, whether financially or creatively, there is always room to push a little harder. Fancy tools, or expensive paints or papers aren’t necessary to carry out a decent plan. Even now, when our studio is stocked full of killer supplies, we force ourselves to look beyond the obvious for other sources that are clever and best of all – cheap.

Here are two ideas from those early days that always came in handy. One uses the inside of a disposable cookie sheet as a substitute for craft tin, and the other is the crafty recipe for those infamous paper earrings. Because we all have an electricity bill to pay, right?


***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Chihuahua embroidery patterns!

I was just on Sublime Stitching and saw Jenny's new (to me, at least) patterns.

My jaw dropped when i saw the name "Chi Chi Fever".

"Could it be?" I thought? "No. Way."

YES WAY!

Chihuahua embroidery patterns!!!



Aren't these just the most adorable patterns ever? Can't you just visualize stitching them on a doggie shirt or on a pet bed pillow? A beagle's bandana? My crafty amiga never ceases to amaze me. Oh...and her new book has a pattern for a Rhumba Girl too!!

And wouldn't this letter set go oh-so-well with the little yappers?


I also adore this one:



My novel that has the glittery love shrine, also has roller derby girls!!

Here is the link to buy a copy of Jenny's new book that is crammed with oodles of patterns for just about any topic you can think of.
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Crafts with Sue Teller

Yo, check it.

***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Time to pimp

(Lucha Love by Patrick Murillo)

I spend so much time coming up with craft ideas to share, that I hardly ever have time to make items to sell at our online store. So I'm devoting one whole week to jamming in the art room as much as I can (in between playing taxi to the kids and such). Patrick has been cranking out some killer pieces too. Just wait until you see the purse he is whipping up!

So I'm going to post pictures of what I've made because I worked so hard on it, I want to show it off!!

First up - Patrick did some super cute illos for Valentine's Day. In fact, we have a whole section for it. All year round, our top selling items are his muertos paintings. These are available as frmaed prints at our store OR as t-shirts and other goodies at our Cafe Press shop.







And then I put together the Naughty Novela Love Shrine Kit. As I've mentioned before, I wrote a novel that has a love shrine in it and it kinda looks like this, except bigger, shinier and with magical powers!!! Maybe this little love shrine I made today will bring me good luck for getting that book published. We shall see...


And I made another purse:


Ok, enough of that. soon I will have more crafty ideas posted for you. This is how I clean out the art supply cabinet in my brain. I have to make a gob of stuff, just because and then while I'm doing that, I can think about new projects to share. Have a happy Thursday. Don't forget to watch Ugly Betty at 7 p.m.!

-Kathy :-)
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Party at the art table!

I'm in ultimate bliss right now. No, I'm not at a spa, on an exotic vacation or sitting across from a studly Clive Owen at a fancy London eatery.

I'm at home! I'm talking two weeks of vacay from my day job, and then a week in Cali for the Craft and Hobby Show. I don't go back in the office until February 5th! I can stay up late and sleep in (8:30 a.m.!)

As of right now, all orders are sent out. Three fleshed out books pitches/manuscripts are in my agent's hands. The house is pretty much clean. So that means I get to make art like crazy. And not super speedy art, like when we prep for festivals. I'm talking sitting down with a strong cuppa joe and actually sketching designs and jotting down ideas and goals for the new year.

Actually...I'm not a big sketcher. I'm a dive-in-and-do-it kind of chica. One of my missions for 2007 was to revamp our store web site and well, I did it last weekend. Take a peek here! I've learned over the years that to have a successful site, you have to keep it fresh. Trends and tastes change constantly, so as artists, we always have to think ahead of the game and try to come up with something squeal-worthy. So...I changed the look of our store web site (ChicanoPopArt.com) and have been making and adding new items every day, like these Flashy Fiesta Rings


and these:
Loca Latina Earrings. This pair I sewed into teeny pillows, accented with glitter! They are muy sexy and perfect for Valentine's Day!


Today I've been sewing purses. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, maybe thrown some paint on a canvas. Speaking of artists, check out my friend Maria's site dedicated to Latina artists!

Need an oil cloth tote? Check out All-Pop.com

And last...it is American Idol season again! For my day gig as an entertainment reporter, I write a weekly column wth a co-worker and we blog about it. Here is the link to that.
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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PROJECT: Candy Wedding Soaps

This project goes out to Dana from Tucson who wrote me about my lack of wedding crafts. I have one, The Wedding Cake Card Box - so yuppers, I agree I'm lacking. So I'm adding a few wedding themed ideas tonight.

This soap is super easy. It's made from Melt N Pour soap, candy sprinkles and packing tape. You can leave these sweet little babies around the wedding recpetion bathrooms. Unless you are having a Godfather-sized wedding, I don't think they will get worn down enough for the candy to come out. The idea is to insert an image or phrase, or the wedding date info. If you are worried about them getting used, just give them as party favors, people will want to preserve the memory and won't dare use them at home. Unless later on at home, they run out of Caress Body Wash or something...

Supplies:
Printed phrases or photos
Clear packing tape
Candy sprinkles
Scissors
Butter knife
2 pounds of clear glycerin soap, fragrance optional
Plastic pitcher and spoon
Rubbing alcohol
Soap coloring (optional)
Soap mold trays (smooth tops only)
Small spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Clear plastic wrap

Directions:
1. Create messages by writing or printing them from a computer. Cut to fit in the molds. Cover each picture with packing tape, make sure edges are sealed.

2. Chop the block of glycerin into 1-inch cubes. Separate the cubes into piles if you are going to color them (see note). Put a handful of cubes in the plastic pitcher and melt in microwave according to directions. Remove pitcher and stir contents until completely liquefied. Stir in desired amount of fragrance drops.

3. Pour a super thin layer into each of the molds. If tiny bubbles appear, spray with rubbing alcohol.
Next, *carefully* set a message facedown on the layer. If it falls crooked, do not lift or move it or your soap will become cloudy. Add another super thin layer of melted soap. Sprinkle on a thin layer of the candy sprinkles. Top off the rest of it with more melted soap.

4. Let the soap harden for an hour. Remove and pop soaps out by twisting the tray. Wrap each bar in clear plastic wrap. Use a colorful sticker on the bottom to seal the ends.

Note: To color and scent the soap, add desired number of drops to liquid after removing from microwave and stir. Don't use too dark a color, because you want to see the messages clearly.

***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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Rough week.

Last week at this time, I was jumping for joy at the thought of another fun, exciting year ahead of me.
Today I need a shot of Hornitos to erase the Nascar ride of emotions I went through in the past few days. Granted, there was no severe tragedy or anything like that, so in the long run, it's all bueno.

OK, let me start with Tuesday of last week. Awesome. Woke up at 6:30 a.m. to hear my NPR segment. Thank you James Garcia! All weekend I rushed to get my site revamped for the (hopefully) onslaught of new visitors. Later in the day, my epsiode of Craft Lab aired on HGTV. Thank you HGTV!!

That night before I rested my head on my fluffy feather pillow, I dabbed my eyes from the tears of joy of how 2007 started off with such a positive bang.

And then the other shoe drops. OK, back up again. My two-week holiday vacation was anything but. I have one manuscript and two proposals to turn into my agent this Monday, plus art orders, workshop samples, more completed samples for a huge bridal show that is this weekend. And a surprise craft column that I didn't know I had to do. Anyway, it all caught up with me when, in a crafty panic, I had a lapse of good judgment due to miscommunication at my day job - and I unintentionally hurt a very dear friend's of mines feelings in my manic attempt to keep my head above water. Poor thing had been simmering on it for days while I cluelessly sang and shimmied around my craft room. My heart sank when I realized the mess I made, and it sucked all my energy out for the next two days, I'm talking major tear flow and beating myself up for this. All is better than well now and cleared up, thank God. I am blessed to have such a kind, and forgiving friend! Thank you Margot!

Just when I began to feel sunny again, Friday happens. Yes, lovely Friday.

Here's what went down: At work we are all moving to a different desk. We were instructed to "box our items and have the movers move them on Saturday". But the desk I'm moving to is right across the way from me and every time I'm at work it is empty. I assumed no one sat there. Busy body, always well-intentioned me decides to save time for the movers. So for the past week, every day I went by the desk and cleaned it up - got rid of old newspaper clippings, put the orphan coffee mug in the work kitchen cabinet, put the stapler and tape dispenser on the "free" shelf for other employees to take. I then set up my Plaster-of-Paris chihuahua shrine in the corner.

Yesterday morning, I removed a small cookie sheet sized tray from my current desk and was walking, practically skipping, to my new (next week new) desk and lo and friggin' behold - there was a man sitting there!

My jaw drops because he GLARED at me like the devil who had lost his pitchfork. IT WAS HIS DESK ALL ALONG and I was just busted red handed. He works the night shift, duh! I took for granted that since there were no decorations, I assumed no one sat there. Realizing once AGAIN for days I have totally ruined someone's otherwise happy week with my airheadedness.

My hands began to shake because I felt his anger shoot through my body. I spun around, spilling some stuff out of the tray, and hot tailed back to my desk. I packed up my stuff and left! I've never met him in person and don't know what to do. I so suck!!! I feel like Goldilocks on crack. To make matters worse, I accidentally printed Jennifer Connelly's age as 45 (she is 36) in yesterday's paper for her new movie and got written up on the correction spreadsheet for my stupid mistake.

Can you imagine going into work and having your personal items disappear - and then coming in the next day to see a Plaster of Paris Chihuaha shrine? Come Tuesday I will be bestowing fits of office supplies upon my helpless victim.

Now, today. Saturday. The BIG bridal show. I was invited to do a 20-minute demo on bridal crafts following a fashion show. Maybe it is my low expectations of myself, but when I got there I expected a stage the size of a stick of gum. Like off to the side of the real action.

Um, no.

The stage I was to demo on was big enough for a Rolling Stones Super Bowl half-time performance. Apprantly, I wasn't the only one who was surprised. The people running the stage didn't seem to believe me when I told them I was the next presenter. Two different people sent me to the exhibitor check-in booth, and those people sent me back to the stage manager people.

Finally, I found a pleasant man with a clipboard who knew about my gig and sent me back to the stage. They didn't have a table for me, so I waited until they brought me one, and then I set up. Weird vibe though. Total Ugly Betty moment. I'm standing there, a plus-sized crafty mamacita holding my glue, while stick-thin 20-something Miss America lookalikes primp and pose in these expensive designer wedding gowns just before they are to hit the runway. I can see I totally do not fit in here and am wondering how my 13-year-old daughter and I are going to hoist a heavy 6 foot craft table up to the stage, which is high enough to touch my nose.

Just as the show host is ready to walk up the stairs to the stage for the closing announcements, I hand him a piece of paper with my name and afflilation so the crowd of 500 will know what is coming up next. I then step back and chew my nails out of anxiety because of my wafer-thin confidence. "It's because I'm chubby," I think. I always think that when I feel out of place.

I heard him shout - "Coming up next - Kathy Cano Murillo of The Arizona Republic!"

The crowd ROARS! Woo-hoo! They cheer like I'm a rock star and goose bumps shoot up my spine. "Ha! Take that all you pretty wedding people! They like me, they really like me!" Even my daughter smiles at me as to say, "Right on, Moms - you bad!"

Beaming, I peek through the curtain to see the crowd, only to discover that what they were hollering for - was a bouqet of flowers thrown out by one of the hottie male models.

No mad props for me. The nice show host jogs back down the stairs and senses my pain and helps me lift the table up on the very end of the runway catwalk, but by then all the crowd has dispersed. A few people come by to see my table that is too high for them to actually look at any of the projects. The first person, I don't even give her a chance to leave - I go through my whole demo and then find out she does not understand English.

The next two people were nice and listened, the last one wanted to know if any of my samples were free for the taking. Next thing I know, the next act begins - a pretty blond wedding singer. My time is up. Maya and I clear the table and go for breakfast.

I'm so glad this week is over. But I can't leave this post without posting the positive. No matter how dark things may seem, there is always positive. I have an awesome family. My friend Margot is happy again. I got to interview Hilary Swank about a really inspiring movie that I loved, Freedom Writers. Tonight I will finish my novel manuscript in time to have it in my agent's in box by the time she comes into work Monday! In the other room, Patrick is playing his keyboards and singing these lyrics:

Live and love
If you really love to live
You will always give
And never, ever want
***
Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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PROJECT: Crafty Time Capsule

January is the time to think about all the great events of the past year. You can ponder the memories over a cup of coffee, or you really can get into it and put together a time capsule. First, find a roomy box and decorate it. Next, collect as many items from 2006 that define the period - basically anything that would conjure up funny comments on a VH1 I Love the (fill in the decade) show. Once the box is filled, you can choose what to do with it: bury it in the backyard or store it.

The most important aspect of this project is to write a letter that chronicles that year from your life. Put the letter in an envelope and seal it. Someday you can pull the box out and present it to your grandkids to show what life was like "back in the day."

NOTE: The box in the photo was made by the ultimate Mistress of the Bead herself, Margot Potter!! She is a dear friend of mine and was kind enough to make it as a purse for me. During Christmas week, I was in a time pinch for my craft column (I thought I had a week off) I used the box to hold the contents of the time capsule and did not credit her. It was a totally unintentional oversight on my always-in-a-rush disorganized self and I wanted to make sure you know that is her artwork!! I've always credited people, websites, authors, etc, properly on this site and in my column and wanted to apologize to Margot for this one falling through the cracks. I work really hard to keep everything running, keep people happy and this time I tripped and am taking full responsibility! Thank you Margot for being so kind about my mistake. I'd like to think I don't make them often, but when I do, they are big ones :-(
I'll post a full picture of the gorgeous purse very soon (my kids used up the batteries in my camera today!).

Click here for the directions.
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Author of Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul: Glittery Ideas to Liven Up Your Life ($19.95, Rayo Books, an imprint of Harper Collins).
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