Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Free ConvenZioNE Spending Spree with ZNE

The summer is whizzing by and before I know it, it'll be time to head to Pleasanton, CA for the ZNE ConvenZioNE 2008. I've been asked to help out with some of the hosting/emcee duties on August 21-24 and you have no idea how excited I am to be a part of this fabulous event, especially for it's first year. This 3-day event promises to be jam packed with creative festivities, an amazing roster of guests (including the inspiring SARK), a film screening (1,000 Journals), and some sweet tunes by musician Jon Troast (one of the newest additions to my music library and someone I'm really looking forward to seeing perform live!)  It's going to be an extraordinary weekend and I encourage all of you who are interested to join us! You can peruse a full rundown of all the creative happenings that will be taking place at the event, below. Check it out and take action my friends, because at the bottom of the rundown, there's a link that takes you right to the ZNE site for all the details on how to register as well as the opportunity for a chance to win the "FREE ConvenZioNE Spending Spree".  Good Luck & I look forward to seeing you there! 

  • "For our first year event, we will have a fun registration and lunch on Friday August 22.  Afterwards, we will adjourn to attend Bella Galleria, a very special Gallery and Boutique walk in downtown Pleasanton - complete with gift certificates, special receptions, book signings, and more. That evening we will all meet again at the Amador Theatre for The ZNE ConvenZioNE Show - a very special evening hosted by Michele Beschen, creator of the series B. Original for DIY Network and HGTV, with a program that will include songs, special presentations, and a screening of the documentary - 1,000 Journals.
  • On Saturday August 23rd, we will start our day with a light breakfast and inspirational keynote by the incredible artisan and motivational speaker/writer - SARK. Following breakfast, registrants will have the option of attending either one full day or two half day workshops with an extraordinary array of workshop leaders. That night, everyone will gather for a delightful meal at the Blue Agave Club in downtown Pleasanton.
  • On Sunday, August 24, we will have a day long sales event - Art Paperie and Pleasantries- with 30+ hand selected artists, craftspersons, and purveyers of vintage goodies and fine art supplies. All event registrants will be invited to attend a special VIP Admission Hour prior to the general public, and during which time all vendors will offer all their items for a minimum of 10% off the regular sales prices.
  • We are also very excited to announce that the incredible folk-rock singer Jon Troast will be our musician in residence during the entirety of ZNE ConvenZioNE 2008. He will be providing a lovely live music backdrop during our opening luncheon, and group dinner on Saturday night - as well as performing selected songs during the ZNE ConvenZioNE Show on Friday and at Art, Paperie and Pleasantries on Sunday. Wow!
To score the skinny on the "FREE ConvenZioNE Spending Spree", click here: www.znecon.citymax.com/FreeRegistration 

Deadline to enter:    August 15, 2008

Cheers!
michele




pAinT YouRseLf PreTtY!







Rain, Rain Go Away! For those of us in the Midwest…a reprieve from storms and heavy rains would be most welcome. However, a rained out shoot day means I have a moment to carve out a creative morsel for the blog! We’ve been hammering out a lot of segments over the past few weeks, including a bundle of goodies using pAInT! What I wear while we’re shooting is usually the last thing I concern myself with because my focus is always on the projects and how they look, not to mention, everything I wear when I'm shooting ends up covered in stains, paints, glues…whatever I’m working with, anyway, so I usually just grab something I have at the last minute and go. Same holds true for this round of shooting, BUT I did have a bit of fun with my wearables right before we started shooting the paint series and what I thought was going to be more or less “props and toss” turned out to be some pretty cool stuff that I will continue to wear (and make more of) long after the paint series dries.
I took my plain tanks and pairs of not so good jeans and splattered, dripped, spilled, and sprayed paint here and there. It's kind of addictive...I started looking through my closet and pulled out all kinds of things to toss paint on! I did belts, bracelets, whatever I thought could use a 'splash of color'. Once I get excited about something like that, it's hard to know when to stop!!
The belt and buckle are my favorite…..(the other belts in my drawer look very dull and boring next to this one now!)
I used whatever paints were on hand, including my house paints, but most of them that I used were the liquitex artist acrylics. They adhered beautifully to everything from the leather belt and buckles to the denim and t’s. (Everything has washed up nice and worn well, too!) For the necklace charm, I just took one of those cloth hangers you find with all the picture hanging hardware and treated it like a mini canvas and hung it on one of my necklaces. Great fun!
I love it when stuff you’re just screwing around with turns out to be something ‘more’!
Try it….and Wear it…my friends! A splatter of paint makes everything look better!
Cheers!
michele.

Monday, June 2, 2008

diY InNovaTioN beHinD ThE sCenEs

Ever since I started this business, I’ve always believed that what goes into things behind the scenes should be as playful and unpredictable as what takes place in front of the camera. The production is just as much an art as the projects themselves. And, what I’ve witnessed inside our studio walls over the past few weeks has been creative, do-it-yourself production innovation at its’ finest! We’re in the midst of shooting and everyone has been working hard at experimenting with new things on the production side. So much so that I now know what other people are thinking when I’m trying to explain a quirky project I’m working on…(you know…those ideas that are so very clear and cool in our heads, but when we try to explain them, everyone gazes at you with that perplexed, confused look. Basically, they need to see it to get what you’re talking about). That’s pretty much where my head is when the guys are babbling on and on about how this contraption is going to do this or that, or if we rig it up like this, it’ll do this…I just nod my head in excitement and walk away wondering what the heck they were talking about! “I’m sure it’ll be cool, but I don’t fully get it!” I too need to see things sometimes to understand how it’s all going to work, so it has been great fun seeing the team take their production concepts and ideas and bring them to life. They are doing just as much cutting, building and experimenting in pre-production as I am pulling together the projects. I love being surrounded by people who aren’t afraid to come up with new and different ways of doing things, and actually have the wherewithal to make the ideas happen. That is what it's all about my friends!
(sneak a peek below and enjoy a sweet tune by our friend Dick Prall from Authentic Records titled "The Cornflake Song")
Cheers to fearless innovation everywhere!
michele.


.