Cirque Du Noel!

Fresno Etsy Especial presented Cirque Du Noel on Thursday night at the Big Red Church. There were dozens of artists and makers there with some of the most fabulous handmade items for sale. The theme was a French circus, and the Etsy crowd was dressed in black berets, circus costumes, and moustaches.

The event was a great success, with DJ Jonny Q provided the musical entertainment for the holiday bazaar, and roller derby girls, french croissants, coffee, and of course....
iLoveToCreate!

Aleenes Collage Pauge was flying everywhere at the iLoveToCreate craft bar, and Alexa and I stayed busy all night setting up the shoppers with a glass ornament to decorate with glitter, a holiday greeting, tissue paper, and Traci Bautista collage papers.

Traci's papers can be downloaded and printed at iLoveToCreate.com for your very own collage art. They were perfect for our Cirgue Du Noel theme, and great for our craft bar.

The first step is to tear out a greeting and glue it face down with Aleenes Collage Pauge. Then tear up tissue paper and any other paper to continue the collage to the edge of the glass. You can sprinkle glitter in the glue as you go.

What's really fun is when you turn your glass ornament over to see how it looks. It dries clear, so the tissue becomes transparent, and beautiful when lights are behind it or when you hang it in a window. You can also use Tulip 3D Glitter Fashion Paint to embellish the front of the ornament for a little more pizzaaaaaaz.

I brought mine home and hung it in my front door wreath. I had a blast with all my Etsy friends, and I'm glad to be a part of the event, because we also contributed to the Fresno Westside Farmers Food Bank with donations and canned goods.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Pattiewack

You can go to Fresno Etsy Especial Blog to see what you missed, and to snag all of those last-minute gifts from some outrageously talented artists!

• Bizee Bodies
• Chebang
• Clean My Studio
• Dragonfly Designs by TH
• Green Meanies
• I Heart Paper Studio
• Knick Knack Patty Shak
• Make Pie Not War
• Paper Symphony
• Swell Shop
• The California Chi
• Tuscan Road Designs
• Ziggystitch
• Zobo's

iLoveToCreate Christmas Party!

Behind the scenes with Pattiewack is fabulous this month, because last night the Marketing and Communications departments at iLoveToCreate were invited to celebrate the holidays by our Creative Director, Michelle Martin.

Michelle is an outstanding Creative Director, and is always full of great ideas and imaginative ways to improve marketing, graphics, and the craft studio. She has been renovating a contemporary home in the beautiful area around Fig Garden in Fresno, and we could hardly wait to see the results of her hard work and artistic flair.

The crowd of party peeps were instantly impressed with these absolutely AMAZING works of EDIBLE ART. Would you believe, these are cookies?

A local baker was commissioned to make these beautiful baked goodies to resemble the ceramic discs on the front of our corporate headquarters!

Check out these pics of the iLoveToCreate Headquarters and see for yourself:

What a creative idea. I don't "see" cookies, but apparently Michelle did.

Of course there was live music, because Michelle's brother, John Martin III is a global percussionist with the Latin jazz band Cerro Negro, along with Dusty Brough and Frank Giordano. They were fabulous!

The home is huge, with granite, cement, teak, and pewter throughout and is built in a horseshoe design around a lanai.

One of the most amazing features is the stucco screens. Red up-lights turned them into instant holiday jewels.

Everyone was drawn to the ceviche in martini glasses, and rows of crudite's standing at attention in long ceremic serving dishes.

After stuffing ourselves with goodies, we walked through Christmas Tree Lane and enjoyed the spectacular lights. It was unbelievable! There were kids, dogs, musicians, caterers, and of course, Santa hanging out with no cars, lots of music and giggles.

Alexa (aka: Swell Designer) from the Graphics Department, had fun taking pics and posing...Too fun!

But then again, who can forget those cookies that look so much like ceramics??? They were as delicious as they were beautiful.

I found this pic from the '70's showing the installation by the ceramics artist, Stan Bitters. Now, when I look at the front of our headquarters, all I see are COOKIES!!

Thanks again Michelle, for a FABulous iLoveToCreate Christmas Party...

Happy Holidays!

Pattiewack

For more party pics, and Christmas crafts come to the Pattiewack Blog!