The Amazing Sandi of Blythephotos Wins Fund-Raiser Fat Book for A Place to Bark

Here are just a few of the incredible room vignettes, Blythe dolls and fashions by the incomparable Sandi Kayat of Blythephotos on Flickr and I'm Real on Etsy. Sandi is well-known in the Blythe community for her love of Blythe and her unique style. She has many customized Blythes-in fact, an entire Alien family! She also has Wonder Frogs, Peteena, Living Dead dolls and many other popular collectibles.

Sandi enjoys the support of her family, and her husband often gets credit for the Blythe sets he has built for her, including some pictured here. She literally has dozens and dozens of room scenes.

Arte du Blythe thanks Sandi for buying the one-of-a-kind Blythe fat book called "Blythe and Friends," which was a group fund-raiser for A Place to Bark and Meow, fellow artist Bernie Berlin's no-kill animal rescue, rehab and shelter for cats and dogs.

Arte du Blythe Fat Book Auction Live Now for A Place to Bark Through October 15!

The "Blythe and Friends" book, pictured above, contains 25 hand-made, front and back, 4" x 4" original mixed media art pages as well as handmade front and back covers, from artists in nine states and three countries. The book was created by the Arte du Blythe group on Yahoo, which was founded by Shoshanah Jennings of Hannah Grey Curiosities & Drygoods (http://www.hannahgrey.com/) and Heather Simpson-Bluhm of Bluhm Studios (http://www.bluhmstudios.com/), both based in California. The book was hosted by me as group administrator, in Indiana. It features work by well-known and published artists such as Vicky Breslin, Debbie Metti, Angela Hoffman, Chelise Stroud-Hery (founder of ZNE), Shelly Mundel, Maija Lepore, Heather Simpson-Bluhm, and Shoshanah Jennings. Artists from the United States, Canada, and Israel sent submissions.The book is a paper arts lover's dream or is perfect for a lover of Blythe, animals, dolls and/or good deeds.A Place to Bark and Meow is mixed media artist Bernie Berlin's no-kill animal rescue in Tennessee. Bernie Berlin's blog is http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/. As she herself says, "I run a full-time dog rescue, taking in the dogs that have been abandoned, abused or police confiscated. I foster, retrain, transport & adopt. Cats are also welcome at my rescue. I am drawn to the unwanted, unloved and misunderstood. I am hoping to educate and effect change for the animals that do not have a voice of their own."
A Place to Bark and Meow was one of the five top national finalists in last year's Parade magazine charity profile/fund-raiser. To date 2,453 people have donated $44,527 to AP2B, but the needs are constant as Bernie travels to other states to rescue abandoned, abused and injured animals, rehabilitating them (often with costly veterinary bills and medicines) and then placing them in loving homes.Bernie currently specializes in Faberge-style eggs and is the author of the popular Artist Trading Card Workshop. She will send a special surprise to be enclosed with the 'fat book' for the winner.
To bid, simply leave a comment at the following link. Special thanks to Scrapbook Royalty and its head tiara, the darling Elena Etcheverry, Traveling Princess, for hosting this auction.

Kind Comments from Bernie Berlin

Although anyone can read blog comments, and these are posted on the post below, I want to share the lovely comments Ms. Bernie Berlin of A Place to Bark http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com no-kill animal rescue and shelter, made about our "Blythe and Friends" fat book project http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arte_du_blythe.

She says, "The book looks fabulous!!Thanks so much for doing this for the animals:) Whatever you need just send me an e-mail or call me. Blessings and Light to you, Bernie."

How wonderful and kind is this? I won't get to meet Bernie this week at the ZNE Convenzione http://www.znecon.com or take her class as I had planned because she has to remain home to take care of family. I hope to be able to meet her at another art venue some day. I love her book, Artist Trading Card Workshop (search Amazon). I missed her at CHA when she was signing her book there.

I'll keep everyone posted when we put this great piece of original art up for auction (soon). I leave Thursday for ZNE, and I will get to meet two of the other Blythe artists, Shoshanah Jennings of Hannah Grey http://www.hannahgrey.com and Miss Vicky of Cut-It-Up http://www.cut-it-up.com.

Miss Vicky is coordinating a Pullip wedding on Aug. 22 in Pleasanton, CA. It is the union of Edward and Eternia, and you can read more about that on ZNE Dollz http://www.znedolls.com or on their very own blog at Edward and Eternia http://edwardandeternia.blogspot.com. Oh, those crazy kids!

Blythe Fat Book Update

Here are some pics of pages from myself and other artists and of the collating process of the fat book I talked about here http://bly-me.blogspot.com/2008/05/blythe-and-animals-for-cause.html. It is progressing nicely. After all of the pages have arrived, the books will be wire bound and within, a full set of pages between handmade covers returned to each participant. So, that's 392 pages to collate plus covers! The final books also include embellishments, beads, yarn, fibers etc for the spine, pages and covers, so it has been quite a project for everyone- not to mention everyone who wished to participate created 28 or more original pages. That was a daunting task in itself. But as you will soon see when the finished book is shown in a future post, it will have been well worth it.
Why is it called a 'fat book'? The books are a chunky four inches by four inches square and each page is very textural. Embellishments to the edges may dangle off, raise up, etc., making the book a three-dimensional piece of amazement.

Even more exciting is the fact that one book will be auctioned off to benefit A Place to Bark http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/, a no-kill animal rescue facility in Tennessee run by the very capable Bernie Berlin, herself a published artist.

I will be taking a class from Bernie in August in California at http://www.znecon.com/ and plan to ask Bernie to sign the book for the lucky auction winner. Watch for more info right here about that auction.

Blythe and Animals for a Cause

Since I have been a little lax in posting here due to all my art goings-on (see my other blog http://lillysoflondonish.blogspot.com) Zena (above) was giving me a lecture about keeping my blog fresh. And, she put on her new froggy dress by H Loves R on etsy to do so. Whether animal or amphibian, the theme of her attire is appropriate since Zena and her siblings grace my pages for the Arte du Blythe Yahoo! Group fat book http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/Arte_du_Blythe.

Thirteen artists are creating 28 original 4" x 4" pages, fronts and backs, to be assembled into 'fat books.' Each artist will receive back a completed, bound book with original front and back covers by group founders, Heather Simpson Bluhm of Bluhm Studios and Shoshannah Jennings of Hannah Grey. As group administrator, I am coordinating the efforts and binding the books.

Perhaps the best part of the project, and where Larry the Cat (shamelessly posing above) comes in, is that one extra book will be auctioned off for charity later this year, likely on ebay. The beneficiary of this sale will be fellow artist, Bernie Berlin, who is equally well-known for her dedicated, tender and grueling work with her no-kill animal shelter, A Place to Bark in Tennesee http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com.

Bernie's work has been the subject of much fund-raising, including her finish in the top five of Parade Magazine's reader-voted charities recently, which netted her enough funds to construct a new building on her site. But, the costs of medicines, spaying and neutering, food and adoption travel keep the need for funds high at all times.

Blythes like Zena and Arte du Blythe want to do their part because, like Bernie, we love all animals. And, although her place is called A Place to Bark, she often finds herself rescuing kittens and all sorts of animals. Yes, Zena, maybe even a frog.

The fat book pages shown above, in clockwise order, are from Arte du Blythe members Miss Vicky, Dolly Mommy/Sandbeech, Debbiesh, Cheldoll/ZNEart and me.