2012 GBK Golden Globes Gifting Suite Part Two

It is setup day!

We are lucky to have two members that happen to live in the L.A. area and we were grateful for the help. Both Rachel Leathers and Jean Roth came to the hotel to help unpack, put the risers and backdrop together and unwrap all the displays. There was a lot to do and they both made it smooth. Setup didn't take long and cleanup wasn't bad which left us plenty of time to make sure everything was perfect.

After bidding goodbye to Jean and Rachel, Valerie and I headed back to the room to get ready for the industry mixer. This is where agents, publicists, PR people and the like head in and look around at the vendors. It is also a chance to meet the other vendors.

When we came back to the roof where the event was to happen, we were once again blown away by how lovely the venue looked.

Looking from our table to the entrance

Photo wall for when the celebrities arrive

How gorgeous is this?

Yup, that is cake! Well, sort of, the outside was but the inside was not. It did have to be there for three days afterall.

The rest of the night was mingling, seeing the now familiar faces of the talent agents and hors d'oeuvres.

Stay tuned for Part Three!

.

2012 GBK Golden Globes Gifting Suite Part One

Yup, it is that time again, awards time and once again I flew out to California to represent the fabulous artists of The Artisan Group as well as myself.

The next few days will be behind the scenes, great photos and a few fun stories about my time there. So let us see, where to start? I guess the flight out would be a nice start. Last year at this time (if you happen read my blog at all) I was stuck for 10 hours in an airport because of a crazy snowstorm, not fun at all. This time the flight was smooth and I got to L.A. a day before set-up.

The beautiful L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills was to be the backdrop for the event and I must say, it was beautiful and I enjoyed my time looking around and having a hot apple cider with cookies while I waited for Valerie to arrive.

How beautiful is this room?

I didn't have to wait very long before Valerie pulled up, I saw her this time because the balcony overlooked the street.

Hi Val!

View of L.A. from the balcony

After we got settled we decided to take a walk up to the roof and see the pool and where the event was to take place. If you squint really hard you can see the Hollywood Sign up in the hills (I will save the pool picture for later)

Since we were all settled in we decided to have one nice dinner because the rest of the time would be hectic working (but a ton of fun too!)

Val saw Phyllis Diller, I saw the back of her head

Settled and full from a delicious dinner and excited for tomorrow we headed to bed.

Stay tuned for part two!

.

My Time At The Golden Globes Gift Lounge Day Three and Four

Ok, I am sorry this has been a little behind but we had the rare occasion of back to back shows. Only two days after I landed home from LA I had to turn around and head to Utah for Sundance. (more on that in later installments)

Well everything went off without a hitch the next morning and we were the first to arrive in our room so we had a chance to walk around to meet other vendors.

The first celebrity we met was Naveen Andrews. Val and I are such big LOST fans that it was a real treat. Naveen is a very soft spoken man, at least he was to us. We chatted for a minute or two and then he took a photo with one of our artist's paintings. Then he told me something that made me happy but I will get to that a little bit later.

The good thing was that The George Lopez Foundation was next to our table so even if certain celebrities did not walk around being gifted we at least got to see them. There were a few that stopped by only to do that. Katey Sagal, Jesse McCartney and Joe Montegna were a few that were there to only sign the guitar.

I guess I could pick a few of the names I met during the next two days and tell you a little bit about them since the event is such a fast paced blur. I have my list in front of me of who was scheduled to be there. Not all of them showed but I will try to remember the best I can.

Jennifer Love Hewitt: What a lovely woman and beautiful too. She was very interested in our work and asked a few questions which made my job easier. She took a liking to some of our artists work and was very interested in hearing how some of the pieces were created.

Handmade paper rose on my coffin jewelry box

Tiny bottle pendant necklace

Billy Gibbons: Both Billy and his lovely wife Gilligan arrived in the back way behind our table (there was as sliding door that we were next to) I needed no introduction and held out my hand to shake his. I talked to them for a little while. He was drawn to my handmade coffin jewelry box and I was rather intrigued by the mass amounts of skeleton keys hanging around his neck. I will be sending him a print of one of my versions of a skeleton key.

Billy and Gilligan Gibbons

Chelsea Traille: Got the best dressed award in my opinion and what a beautiful woman. She took a liking to my carousel horse pendant and chose that to hold for a photo. It is quite an honor when someone chooses your work and admires it.





Katherine O'Hara: A funny, funny woman, I always enjoyed her work and was honored that she liked mine. I was actually surprised that she chose my coffin to be photographed with but she really liked it.



Michael Clark Duncan: We had a great conversation about cats. He loves them and has a few and I rescue them and have many. He was drawn to Debbie's iPad cover and that is what started the conversation. I told him that "The Green Mile" made me cry. I said I was only able to watch it once and he said the same thing.

 

Grey Damon: Instead of posing with our artwork Grey decided to take a photo with the both of us and pulled us in. That is me in the red and Valerie in the pink



and last but not least (the thing Naveen told me about that made me happy): My favorite character from LOST...Terry O'Quinn. He came in from the back door behind our table as opposed to the regular door. I was on the other side of the table bending down with the bags when I looked up to tell Val something, as I did that Terry came in from behind her and I let out a gasp. I apologized for reacting that way but he really caught me off guard. Thankfully he was laughing at me and very sweet. He took some time to chat with us too and told us about a new show he is going to be in.





My Time At The Golden Globes Gift Lounge Day One and Two

Ok, first things did not start off good at all, a simple direct flight turned into many hours of nightmare. Originally I was supposed to fly out on Wednesday morning, fly directly from my airport to LAX and I was supposed to land at noon. Well that is not exactly how it happened. See we had the pleasure of another snowstorm and my flight was to leave smack dab in the middle of it. Great.

The day before I got a cancellation of my flight but they were kind enough to rebook it for me, only problem it was landing AFTER I was to take off to return home, well I am not sure if Continental has the knowledge to actually manipulate the time space continuum but I am guessing they do not. The only other option was to take a flight out of La Guardia and it would not be a direct flight (shudder) There goes a big taxi bill as there is not one person I know of that will go anywhere near that airport. I scrambled for a car and got one only to be told a few hours later that I am not guaranteed a ride in the morning because of the snow. Now I am pretty adaptable but this was really taxing every ounce of sanity, the only thing I could come up with was to go to the airport the night before and sleep there until my flight at 10:30 am. Yes 12 hours in an airport, on a cot, yay me.

Skip ahead to actually landing in LA. I was lucky as we were told that my flight was the only one going out before 6pm so I did make it, a bit ragged looking but here I was. I was supposed to have a shuttle take me to my hotel but when I called there wasn't one available, Thats just great until I found out it was a town car picking me up, finally something goes my way. Now never having the chance to ride in such a thing I did a silly thing. The car pulled up and I walked my luggage around the back of the car and was going to fling it in the trunk, Um yeah, apparently they don't want you to do that, nor do they want you to let yourself into the car either (well, now I know) The driver was nice though. I will say that I was in LA for about a half hour and I already had to dispel the myth that people from New Jersey DO NOT fist pump and we do not act like what you see on tv nor do we talk funny so stop it all of you (pointing my finger), it gets tiring defending my state, I had to do it the whole time.

Check in went smoothly and I walked to the drug store, no not the one that is four blocks away but the one that was about two and a half miles all because I can not seem to keep Willshire and Santa Monica straight.

After my five mile round trip walk I got ready for bed that is until Shannon and Valerie showed up. I finally got to meet my partner in this venture and one of our talented artists and we got along instantly. I was exhausted but they convinced me to head downstairs to the bar. I was already in my PJs, Shannon put hers on too so I figured what the hell and downstairs we went. Carlo was the bartender and he was making drinks for Val and Shannon while I admired the Absinthe decanter thing they had (The hotel is one of the few that serve Absinthe) The night went on and somehow it ended with Shannon and I eating pizza with Carlo and the concierge (Steve?) Carlo thought I was 28, bless his heart because he wasn't even close.

The next morning was set-up day and due to a bad GPS that thought it would be funny to take us to the right street at the wrong end we ended up just making it to the London Hotel at the last possible second. We rushed upstairs and quickly set up just in time for the press to show. We were in a room with the best people. There were five vendors with us. The Wine Chataeu (which I happen to drive by on my way to work, small world) An awesome Vegan Chocolate company called Chocalive, and let me tell you that their chocolate is absolutely delicious and a California cheese company called Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. There isn't a blue cheese on this planet that tastes that good. We also had The George Lopez Foundation which is such a worthy cause. We had the best room in the house as far as I was concerned (wine, cheese, chocolate, art and charity) and the other vendors were a blast to hang with.

A little later in the Meet And Greet we heard that George Lopez was around and he was making his way to our room. It took a while but he showed and Valerie is a big fan. She got him going and joking around and there was some photos of most of us doing a secret sign George taught us. He was also filming for his show I believe. After the Meet and Greet we had to bring up all of our gift bags with the help of Johnny who works at the London. We unloaded everything pretty quick and then it was time to rest because tomorrow was going to be an exciting busy day.

Stay tuned for Day Three and Four of my adventure at the Golden Globes awards show...

.

Getting Ready For The Golden Globes

A little more than a month away and I will be heading out to Los Angeles for the Golden Globes. The past few weeks have been very busy with putting together my submissions for the gift bags. I decided to go handmade for this event and made glass pendants featuring my work.

I had to make 100 of them which really meant 150 because I allowed for error since this is the first time I am making them. There were a few duds that have been tossed aside and only the good ones remain to be given. It was quite a learning process.

To present them I have small Kraft and Chocolate boxes in which I attached (alright hand-cut and glued) each label then closed with some raffia ribbon. Inside I included a necklace tucked in a small paper bag so it doesn't rattle around, my business card, a sample of my work and a coupon for OnceUponAPuzzle.com where I illustrate puzzles.

Two days after I get back from The Golden Globes I head out to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival and I am really looking forward to that. My only regret is that I won't be able to see any of the films while I am there but I will be sure to take note of them. The place it is being held at is absolutely stunning and I wonder if there is a broom closet I could stay in for I would happily do just that to wake up to the view the hotel looks over because it is simply stunning.

For Sundance I have chosen bottle cap pendants, or maybe I might do a mix for both events, I have not decided yet. The bottle caps will go on ribbon necklaces as opposed to the ball chain ones. I like the glass pendants better only because they are a little bit more low key and that is just my personal taste, The bottle caps are a bit more funky. Sundance sort of snuck up unexpectedly and had I had more time I would have made something completely different. I am saving that idea for the MTV Movie Awards, Emmy's or AMAs, as there are a few more events coming later in the year and I will be better prepared for it.

I am not sure who will show for either Sundance or the Golden Globes though I have heard some rumors. I have two people in mind I would love to meet, chances are slim but I know I will have a great time at both events. I will be sure to post photos as soon as I have them.



Getting Ready For...

Alright, I know, January is a way off but it will be here before you know it. I have begun to work on the gifts I am giving at the Golden Globes and the Oscars. This time I am stepping things up a bit and really putting thought into it. Ok so my computer has become a glorified Kindle that can only do simple basic things and answer email. I have had to find other creative outlets to occupy my time. The bad thing is that I have a ton of Halloween designs waiting to be put up on Zazzle.

Back to the awards shows...

I have been making some wonderful little pendants and necklaces that feature my artwork. Some of them will be little glass tiles, some on bottle caps and still others on mini dog tags (the dog tags to come later) I have also decided to sell them on Etsy for all of you to own too so stay tuned in to my Etsy shop. I will be taking photos of everything in the next two weeks and hope to have a friend post them for me very soon. In the meantime here is a little sneak peek:

.

Oh Well...An Update

Next weekend was to be the Emmy event I was participating in, then further down the line the AMAs. Unfortunately due to a contract dispute (which has just been settled) I will not be participating in either of them.

I do however have some events coming up in January and I am very excited about them. The first is to be the Golden Globes.

I ordered the supplies for the gift bags to one of the shows this afternoon. I have been sick the past three days and I slept off all of Sunday. I just can't bear to watch tv so I pulled up the computer to the couch and I surfed under the comfort of a soft blankie with a box of tissues and miscellaneous cats by my side. I ordered enough supplies to offer extra to anyone wanting to buy them. What is it you ask? Well can't tell that either in case it is a complete disaster and they do not come out right.  It is something new I am trying with my artwork, it is not a new technique by any means, just something new for me.

Some of you may be wondering when the next issue of Indie Arts And Illustration is coming out. Well Dorothy planned for it to hit the virtual stands in September but it may be delayed a bit. My 10 year old Dell XPS, the one I love so dearly is starting to show it's age and can not keep up anymore. It might be a while before I get a new one of have this one upgraded if that is possible. Since I am the one that does her layouts it is my fault the issue is backlogged. We do have a great lineup for the next issue, I can promise you that.

I think that will be it for now, whatever bug I have is really draining me and my whole body aches. It is time for some more rest.

.