Pegomh

Planning

2011-12-29T10:40:00.000-06:00

I am loving this week, working two days and then off for six... Its surprising but as you get older, you (meaning I) have less interest in work and want to be at the nest, crafting and just hanging out with the puppies. But it costs money to run the show so - I've been going off to work for 36 years, since 7-7-75. If I had stayed with the same company, oh, never mind - if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I'm listening to my music set on YouTube, drinking coffee from my new Anthro mug and planning for 2012.

I love planning trips. I used to do it quite a bit in my thirties. I'd search B&Bs and plot a course... through Connecticut or up the coast in California. Be wary of the map (no Garman for me) - quaint towns will draw you in and take you off course, such as in Solvang, CA on my way to the Hearst Castle, a place I have yet to visit. Anyway, I'm looking at the possibilities in 2012 of where I want to go, events I want to attend and how I want to spend my vacation. I learned a long time ago that things don't just happen, you have to make them happen - you have to plan it and make your own excitement. When my sister died, her two daughters were down about their birthdays so we packed up and went to DisneyWorld. No, it doesn't make the grief go away but we made a great memory, instead of sitting home moping. You have to make your own happiness. So, here are my plans for 2012 and what I'm considering.

Most of the scrapbook/craft events have gone by the wayside, Creative Escape, Inspired, Silver Bella, Scrap etc. I did attend The Creative Connection last year and fell in love so I will be attending 2012 - whereever it may be. Thanks to Lisa and Michelle, we went to Junk Bonanza that week also and it was awesomeness. The junk I love, inside and the prices were low. Those 2012 dates are September 13-15. Done. Here's what I made with the $4 cake pans I bought there...

I was watching HGTV the other day - (Property Brothers is my favorite) and they showed Ocean Park, Maine. It looked idyllic, I've never been to Maine and I think this is the year I should go... I may have to skip Destin in the summer but I'm thinking July or August would be a great time to get out of the Texas heat. Now to fine suitable lodging... Anyone want to join me?
But what craft events can I attend? If I had jumped on the $228 CO airfare I found last month, I would be going to Kaari Meng's event The Art of Craft in January, with Charlotte Lyons and Pam Garrison, not to mention Anna Corba. Maybe even play with some of Charlotte's new fabrics from Blend or just see The French General store. I would love that.
I could go to Atlanta in June for Haven, a new event by DIY-home decor bloggers. I haven't moved into furniture refinishing, although I dream about it.
I've also wanted to go to Portland so maybe I should consider Art & Soul? I have the choice of Virginia, Vegas or Portland. Two years ago they had some amazing teachers, now I'm thinking I would like to go to Pups on Wheels or a Lisa Kaus class - she is so kind and generous (learned that at Silver Bella 2010). Speaking of kind and generous souls, I'd love to find out where Cathe Holden is teaching this year. Met her at TCC and she embodies what I love about this craft world - she shares her projects for free, people. And its so cool because the universe is giving back to her. Unlike some, who want to charge $1.99 for a 3 inch printable... Okay, that was mean, sorry.
If Cathe isn't home in Petaluma... you could attend Art is You or on the East coast. In its 2nd or 3rd year, it looks like a good event. Would love to take a Dee Foust class.
I'll be checking Mary Engelbreit's blog for announcements of a 2012 event, either the small workshops she held in 2011 or large event like her 2010 workshop, which was a blast and where I met Kim Auman, a local crafter who ended up being my roomie at TCC.
I'm hoping to go to some awesome places for work this year - namely Aberdeen, Scotland and Australia in addition to London. A small group will be going to Paris for a week in April for a flea market site-seeing tour. I'm working on the finances because I definitely want to fit that in. Interested? Shoot me an email and I can hook you up. Ali Edwards and Karen Russell are going to Ireland, which would be awesome - I just really want to go to Paris.... The other French alternative is Kaari Meng's Chateau July trip, something she's done for a few years. Its sold out for two weeks, so they've added a third week. Lucky you.
This week I'm headed out for a couple days of free-styling in Louisiana, inspired by Mary Ann Moss. It's not Budapest or Mexico but baby steps... This old girl has to get her grove back. Photos when I return.
And speaking of making it happen, I'm thinking we need to plan a reunion event... for the fantastic women I've met over the years: Jeanne K and that entire Chicago gang - Kathleen, Melissa, Cathy D, Nan or my favorite Canadians Charleen and Heather or Megan and Mel and what about the Louisiana girls - Heather, Cori, Angel. Or Silver Bella glittergirls Debe, Julia, Linda and Virginia. Tell me. Where can we meet and how can we make it happen? Hmmmm, let's think about it.

Five Things

2011-12-01T20:40:00.001-06:00

You may not know that I

1) never went to college

2) deeply wish that I had had a baby,

3) wanted to be a singer,

4) sponsored a foreign exchange student,

5) cuss like a sailor.

I am really pretty knowledgeable about

1) how to make a good time

in a bad situation,

2) how to make a good meal,

3) how to help others,

4) getting it done/carrying the load

5) traveling domestically and internationally.

I know nothing about

1) motorcycles,

2) pools or how to clean them,

3) skiing or snow,

4) mountains -

I've been in the South all my life,

5) knitting.

And I believe

1) things happen for a reason

and its our purpose to figure out

why they are in front of us,

2) if you don't learn it now, it will come back around,

3) I am not in charge

4) you get what you give,

5) in miracles.

Your turn.

(in the comments or FB

if you don't have a blog)

Score! Black Friday Finds

2011-11-26T12:15:00.001-06:00

I love a day at home puttering, cleaning and just hanging out - drinking coffee; alternating between naps, crafting and cleaning out cupboards - doing that deep cleaning that you don't get a chance to do during the week. But after a while its time to get out and do something = shop. I headed out Friday around 4 and found all/most of what I've been looking for. My first stop was Texas Art Asylum, which is a fun, funky place on the edge of downtown. Ramona and Jennifer opened this place a little over a year ago and its so much fun to sift through all of the odd junk they collect. It's a place for artists and they have a good eye on finding just the little bits you'll need - now and later for stash. And the supply constantly changes, which is fun. Right now everything under $5 is 50% off - which was everything I bought - the rulers, black bolt of thread, little bottles (the real deal, not a Tim Holtz repro). I'm going to use the thread as a photo holder and I've looked all over for a pic of Jenni Bowlin's sample... can't find it. Oh well. One of the rulers says A Housewife will go out of her way for a yardstick. Wah? My last pic from there were to the two casters/wheels. Take a look at my Pinterest board - Mamie Jane did something awesome with them. She is my latest inspiration (all over my pinterest) - awesomesauce that girl.

Whenever I go to TAA, I usually stop at Salvation Army on Washington, which is where I found the Setwell pant hangers for $1.50. Yes, Setwell are vintage finest. Yeah! I can hang my piano paper collages and Charlotte Lyon's banner. Oh, wait. I have to finish them! Next I made my way down Yale with one stop at RF Antiques and then over to Heights Blvd. for August Antiques. I have a secret crush on the owner, shhhh - don't tell anyone. They have book room(s) and religious room(s) that are like no other. Seriously. And I finally found my scoop! back in the back of the second shop in a corner, covered by farm utensils. I was so happy with finding it and then the price - $10 (including a black door knob). It is going to be the background for a vinette (inside). When H and I went to Waco a couple weeks ago, they were marked $30 at an antique store along the way - and the guy would not negotiate even though we had our arms full of stuff.

Another project - creating the photo holders shown on the current Somerset Life issue. RF sold me the door knobs for $2 each (not $25/2 at Adkins Architecture. I was so pissed when she told me the price at AA, I left them on the counter. Tacky, I know but I couldn't help it. They had BINS of them upstairs - bins - in bad condition - $25/2 - givemeabreak.) RF is having a sale til 12/31 - 50% off everything and she showed me her back garage with has a ton of furniture. I also got the two little candy dishes - they will look cool holding white buttons or tidbits.

A couple of Saturdays ago, I made my way in time to The Guild on Dunlavy and found three things in the Half-Off Room. I found a Pottery Barn candlestick with nice lines, a cutting board and ah, something else that I can't remember now...The candlestick was gunked out with wax but after a good cleaning and a bit of sanding, here is how I'm going to use it. I was planning on spray painting with hammered or pewter color but I may leave it. I bought a ton of cake pans at Junk Bonanza in September - all different sizes for $4 each.

And then finally, here is a sneak of a current project, that is going to be a wedding gift. It is so yummy - I am having fun working on it but I will say, it is alot of work! So many cool buttons in my stash - I love looking at them. Oops, I see a hole! I'm going to use the ivory tone/tone ribbon I got at Crafty Scrapper around the edges - yummy! How can I get back there to get more?

Two last bits. You know about Pinterest, I assume? But of course. If you don't, its such a great inspiration place just remember to pin what inspires you! I forgot and wasted good time looking for it. And secondly, Shopgoodwill.com. I think I've told you about it before - I've found all kinds of goodies on there. Mostly quilts - for $5 plus $15 or so shipping. Yummy, beautiful soft quilts that a grandma has made and her family has dumped off at goodwill. She'll be happy to know you're enjoying it.

A Memory without a Photo?

2011-11-10T06:43:00.000-06:00

I read this post this morning at Cathy Zielski's blog and immediately reminded me of a scenario I have been playing over in my head the past few days. I'm trying to learn to let go (still) on several levels of taking care of my mother and also of pressuring my siblings to help out. It all started a few weeks ago, when my fabulous former neighbor, H stood in my foyer and told me how she realized her parents had to write the last chapter in their lives, that it wasn't up to her to script it as she saw fit. Those words hit me right between the eyes, as a year after placing my Mom into a nursing home has come to pass. There's alot of pride and self-worth received from taking care of someone. Sorry, I digress.

So I'm trying to visit my Mom more out of desire than guilt or pressure or "because I should" or because if I don't, they won't take good care of her... (hello, where's your faith?) And in doing so, I can listen to her and she has basically lost most of her ability to think or reason. Her mind is blank and yet, we can have the sweetest visits. It usually involves getting her ready for bed and when you take her shirt off (she gets confused on how to do it), she fights like crazy and even slaps you a bit. Last Sunday I felt so bad as I tugged on her head and neck while trying to remove it. So I threw the shirt away because the damn neck was too small. Once we get through the whole changing chore and sit back down on the bed is the sweet time. I bought her some uber soft pajamas with puppies on them and she loves them. seriously. And so we spend a little time looking at some photos on the wall and go over (several times) who the people are. One is of my puppy, Grace that my mother totally adored. My mother has never liked dogs but Grace was her companion for the five years she lived with me. She snuck food to her all day long and at night, Grace slept with Mom. It was so cute. Doesn't remember a thing about Grace. I usually brush her hair a bit and she loves it and I rubbed her neck slow and smooth and she really enjoyed that. It was so pure. And sometimes I lay on her bed and she brushes my hair with her hand and quietly I cry (with my face turned away). I don't know why, I just do - the whole thing is so overwhelming. And she screws her face up a bit and sort of cries and I soothe her and tell her it will all be okay. She is so appreciative of the visit and tells me so. several times. And then we recite the Our Father and Hail Mary, sometimes twice and I think she likes that she can remember the words. I truly feel His presence in the room. And after several hugs and I love yous, I go back home. to Grace.

Without a picture, it is a very good memory that I want to keep for a long time. I was never close to my mother and this time is so healing. Thank you for sharing my memory with me.

Urban Market

2011-11-06T09:54:00.001-06:00

Want to see what I found last week at Urban Market? When I saw this... I thought about it for a bit and then grabbed it! Surveyors pole. Half off. Its like 15' long. Wanted one, ever since I saw it on the cover of Holly Becker's book, Decor8. I can say Holly Becker, like I know her because I met her at The Creative Connection and I know she totally remembers me. out of the 2,000 people that came up to her there. For reals. Say hi to Junior, who's rocking the survey stick.

And I saw these kissing dutch kids and went back to get them and couldn't find the booth. How silly - the place (UM) is not very big but I just didn't see them. I thought they were cute and I love all things Dutch, including my old company.

This lady always has cool ironstone and I loved this display.

I did land at Kay's booth (again) -she has a shop at Memorial Antiques near the old Academy on Katy Freeway. Last time I picked up some black globes and large acorns from her. This time some 4" printers blocks. And when I professed my love for them, she seemed to think they should all go home with me and not her. And so for $30, they were mine. There are tons... and the font is cool. Looks like another mirror is in my future. Did I tell you what happened to the last one? In May I hauled it to Inspired in Charlotte, NC and when the sweet client gave me the cash, I put it in my pocket. or so I thought. It fell out. Some wait staff at that hotel was very happy that weekend. I wasn't. Still haven't figured out my lesson...

Several projects are in the hopper... I've finally figured out a project for all my hotel keys! I hope I can pull it off - combination of this design and a few modifications in my head. My dear friend, Cindy's husband, Greg made THAT board for me - is that too kind! I was so thrilled. Oheeee. I've also been making banners out of piano roll paper. I was trying to figure out what to do with it... I guess you could always cover something with it but I like using it as the foundation for a wall hanging. I've made but not finished a Christmas hanging and a pink/girl hanging. And then finally, I spotted this box at Goodwill for $3. It screamed for maps and I used an 8x8 page of Lille from 7Gypsies along with several embellies, like a flinch card, lace, dennison label, slide negative (thanks to Cathe Holden's TCC class - very cute idea - you remove the negative and replace it with a mini vintage photo).

I hope you have a good Sunday and a great week! Next week - can you say, ROAD TRIP...Waco for Debby Schuh's classes at Crop, Paper, Scissors and perhaps a stop in at The Craft Scrapper in Waxahachie. Yes! I have seen these books (Grace Notes totally speaks to me) and they are faaaa-buuuuu-lous!

Google Reader & Tortilla Soup

2011-10-16T11:59:00.002-05:00

While at TCC, a couple of the girls mentioned they weren't familiar with Google Reader and we ran out of time so I didn't get a chance to demonstrate. You may find it helpful, I do. Google Reader is a great way to have all the blogs you read in one spot AND it shows when there is a new post. The only down side is when you get behind and you see there are 150 posts open. I know, its stupid to allow blog posts to make you feel guilty, but what the hey, I haven't quite exorcised that Catholic guilt. Here is a great Youtube video that explains how to set it up. I've been using Google Reader for a couple of years now and I've pared my list of blogs down to 60, give or take.
Two tricks of interest: in the right hand corner is a button "Show: Expanded or List". I use Expanded. And if you want to know how many subscribers a blog has, click on show details. Its staggering to see how many some of the very popular blogs have. I don't know if that differs from followers. And I tried to post a list of the blogs I follow but wasted an hour trying to figure it out. Here are my top fifteen favorites: Ali Edwards, Creative Chaos, Dooce, Karen Russell, Scrap Scene, Inspireco, Funky Junk Interiors, Just Beachy, Just Something I Made (Cathe Holden), Mustard Seed Creations, Nester, susie Harris, One Lucky Day, Thirty Decor Chick and Holly Matthis.

Last night we had craft day at my house and I served this soup. There was a restaurant in the 1980s and 1990s on the west side of Houston called Rotissiere for Beef & Bird and the owner, Joe Mannke served this soup. Our local paper posts recipes on Wednesday and I have had it for 20 years and its a family favorite. I hope you enjoy it.

Tortilla Soup
from Joe Mannke's Rotissiere for Beef & Bird
2 to 4 T. butter

1/4 c oil
1/2 to 1 large onion, chopped
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 large carrots, diced
6 ribs celery, diced
1.5 lb. raw chicken meat, diced
1 t. each: ground cumin, chili powder, salt and lemon pepper
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 (10 1/2-ounce) cans chicken broth or equivalent homemade stock

Heat butter and oil in large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, jalapeño, garlic, carrots, celery and chicken; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, chili powder, salt, lemon pepper, pepper sauce and flour. Add tomatoes and chicken broth; stir well and simmer 1 hour.

You can garnish it with cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips or avocado.
Makes 6 to 8 servings. Final Note - if you like spicy, give it three shakes of tabasco when it is simmering - I'm not into spicy food.

The Creative Connection

2011-09-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

It's Monday night and I'm ready to drift off to sleep. My puppies were frightened by the thunder at 4:30 am and considering I didn't get into bed until after midnight. Yeah. So you see why. I had an amazing weekend in St. Paul - my first time to the city of 10,000 lakes. It was cold and I thoroughly enjoyed the weather. I had an awesome time and fruitful visit to the Junk Bonzana. A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I thoroughly enjoyed The Creative Connection and getting to know new peeps (Hello Sherri and Michelle) and seeing friends from Inspired and New York. Kim was my roommate and was so nice and relaxed - a real go with the flow type of girl. I enjoyed spending time with her.

Houston girls - Kim & Pam

Michelle of Scrappin Girlfriends

We arrived on Wednesday and after lunch and a brief nap, I headed to the Mall of America to meet the gang for dinner. For $2.25 you can take public transit to the mall (with a stop off at the airport - bonus!) - it was a trip, I tell ya! But I'm glad I did it. We had an amazing meal at Tucci Bennuch, thanks to Nancy. And plenty of laughs, thanks to Margie R-A and Mister Sister, our waiter. The baked spaghetti is to die for - the waiter gives you the recipe and its on their website. Yum-o.

On Thursday morning, we stopped in for breakfast at TCC and then off to Junk Bonanza where I proceeded to purchase the motherlode and yes, I got it ALL in my suitcase, including the 18" thread spool, wooden caddy and 40's suitcase. And I was WAY over 50 pounds. I was surprised that the prices were fairly reasonable at JB - lots of good prices. I found plenty and had a great time.

I'll write a separate post about TCC - there is just so much to remember. I will say this - yes, it had its growing pains but the Saturday morning breakfast panel discussion, with these brave women gave me the joy and bliss that creative women share with each other. It was a natural high, I tell you, people. Amazing and powerful and joyful. I loved every minute of it. I also won a Cricut Expression, thanks to Kathy Wilkins (who is co-founder of Brave Girls with sister, Melody Ross). She had the ticket and handed it to me. I'm going to give it to an elementary school that I'm mentoring at - they're going to teach me how to end sentences properly. Seriously, that's ANOTHER story for a different day. I will tell you all about these women.

My last class of the day was with Charlotte Lyons and making a HOME banner. Loved it - super relaxing and enjoyable. Every class had remarkable people - it was such a wide range of creatives, which made it so fun. Donna from A Gourmet Thyme Too shared some of her fabulous Cayenne Shortbread. I was so surprised by these yummy little delights. A shortbread and then about three seconds later, you get the cayenne kick. And being a person who doesn't like spicy food, surprisingly, I was hooked. Now, I have to figure out how to get a supplier in Houston! At the breakfast, Jo Packham told us about three 11-year olds who wrote and asked permission to attend (there must have been an age cut off). Two of the girls, Taylor and Hannah were in our stitching class with the birthday girl, Charlotte Lyons. They really were amazing - poised and enthusiastic about crafting. It was fun to spend time with them.

I'll be back this week with more on the amazing weekend.

Soldier Story

2011-08-11T07:14:00.000-05:00

I had a couple of encounters with soldiers recently, which made last weekend's tragedy in Afghanistan really hit home with me. I will admit - I am a person who tends to live in a cocoon and if it doesn't affect me directly, I don't pay much attention to it - things like politics or stuff that happens in the Middle East or even Europe. Part of me thinks, why get all worked up when its not going to affect you or there is nothing you can do about it. Its not admirable, I admit. Just being truthful. In the past I really didn't like when my husband would get all worked up about stuff like that - what's the point?

Anyway... so I went to a work conference two weeks ago in Chicago. Yes, the one where I got my face painted at the Museum of Science and Industry. The keynote speaker was Marcus Luttrell, a Navy seal who was injured in a mission called Operation Redwing. He wrote a book called Lone Survivor because the other three Seals with him were killed by those nasty bastards of the Taliban and 16 other servicemen were killed in a helicopter crash, trying to rescue them. Before this weekend, it was the worst accident during wartime. He wrote the book to memorialize his fellow Seals. Yes, I know. It happened in 2005 and I didn't know anything about it. The speaker, Marcus was, well, how can I put this. Adorable in a big hunky, Texas quick talking way. Engaging is probably a better description. He's 6'5 and has the power that comes from being a soldier and a Seal. And he explained all that he did to become a Frog and how many guys didn't make it through the program, which makes this weekend's event extremely painful to the U.S. We basically lost 10% of our Seals. And he talked all about the mission, in a way that was horrifying and interesting all in the same moment. Incredible bravery. I left the speech feeling proud and grateful with the hope that I would remind myself every day when I started whining about something to realize how I really have nothing to bitch about.

On the flight home from Chicago, we were packed and loaded on the plane - ready to take off and then taken off because of weather delays in Houston. Told three hours which actually only was two hours. Across the aisle ahead of me a guy threw an Army sack in the overhead, saw his name stitched on it. Somehow we started talking and I learned A.V. had just finished his third deployment 24 hours before and left Iraq to go to Kuwait, told he had to change into civilian clothes, gone to Frankfurt and then Chicago, on his way home to Pearland to see a waiting wife and daughter, mother and father and family. He was contained excitement. Third tour. First one was 16 months, second one 14 months and this one was "only a year". He has a four year old girl he barely knows but from Skype. I spent two hours listening about his experiences and it was truly fascinating. I really wanted to get on the P.A. and let everyone know we had a real soldier with us. The stewardess comp'ed his first beer, a Corona and then a second. He was so polite and yet he talked about the power of being a soldier, the difficulty of being a soldier. He had to hit a woman with the butt of his gun and it really bothered him. He fought every single day during his first deploymnet. No breaks, no days off. They drink Red Bull constantly just to keep going. He had trouble with anger management when he got back the first time. And guilt for surviving. This tour he lost 8 men from his battallion, including his commander. He talked about going to visit their wives. He is afraid but he knows he has to do it. How much packages from home, or anybody really means so much! Of course he didn't have a cell phone so he called his wife and mama using mine, several times while we were waiting - to tell her where he was, about the delays. And so when we arrived in Houston, we said our goodbyes but agreed to stay in touch. He wants to go to a Texans game and I have a friend with tickets. He invited me to go with them. He's called twice since then, just to chat. And introduce his wife. The Army helps them with counselors during re-entry. First 4 days at home, 4 at work, 10 at home, 10 at work - in Fort Hood. He's dealing with re-entry pretty well but its still all so new and vacation-like but he's ever so grateful for this chance to be alive. And I'm really grateful that I've gotten to get to know him. It's so interesting to me when God puts certain people in your path. Not really sure why or what they will teach you but I've finally learned to pay attention to it.

I'm going to Creative Escape (the last one) in a couple of weeks and then Creative Connection after that so I'll be back with lots of photos of projects and good times. I love Phoenix and very excited to be back but it also makes me miss the people who helped create such fun times there. These will be new fun times, different but still fun. Talk soon.

And in June I was in Banff, on a Sunday before a work trip in Calgary. I love Canada.

Lookie Look Look at what I found!

2011-04-03T22:24:00.002-05:00

Decisions, decisions. Early yesterday morning it was spitting (as the English like to say) when I left the house for Warrenton. I had a wretched sore throat. I decided to have breakfast at Newman's and if it looked bad, turn around and go home. I ignored the little drizzle and pushed on and oh-boy, oh-boy, oh-boy, am I glad I did. The day was fantastic and I had a blast. Before noon the place was deserted and when I left at two, it was packed. I found lots of smalls for very cheap prices. Wanna see?

Doesn't this wooden truck ($8) scream PAINT ME, put some cool graphics on me?
I adore that little booklet, baby shoe $2, doll heads $2

The zinc can is the sweetest shade of pink, creme puff will be a good
doll body. Fell for the sugar bowl ($4) and had a brilliant conversation
with a long haired hippie about NOLA food. The McCoy girl/boy were $11.

Debe, I found the cylinders! Bought the whole box.

Need to decorate these wooden shoes, like West End Salvage did...

I know he is broken in two places but
I fell in love with him. And he was $1.
He's like 8" tall.

My attempt at Subway Art.
I made this for my brother and will get it printed poster size.
Its the name of every street he's lived on on top of an
1878 map of New Orleans.

It was such a fabulous day in the fields, I picked out little bits here and there and for really good prices. I quit when I was tired and stopped at Nothing Ordinary in Brenham to get the little booklet and several other things above. Had a wonderful visit with the ladies there. So glad I took the chance, with the rain and had such a great second trip. I kept thinking this week, I want to go to Brimfield (in Mass) and then I realized, WHAT THE HELL, you have good stuff right in your own backyard - go! So, I did. The end.

Junking Bliss

2011-03-31T21:17:00.002-05:00

I don't know how else to describe my Wednesday in Warrenton other than to say blissful. A storm had blown through the night before and the weather was cool, and sunny - a perfect day for junking. I stopped at Newman's Bakery in Bellville and enjoyed breakfast. I have {former} friends who revealed a sweet antique mall down the street, Nothing Ordinary, so I made a stop. Want to see what I found there?

Do you not love these cats on wooden spools? I think they are so sweet! I want to make one.

Purple. His and Hers hand towels.
And the honking crystal - came from Warrenton.
Biggest crystal pendant I have.

I ask you, if your air quotes friends air quotes were holding out on you on a place like this, would you disown them? Around eleven I made my way to Warrenton And after walking around for 6 hours, I finally went home. With this.

Music Cylinders. $5 each. I saw today that
Cathe Holden is teaching a class using these at Silver Bella.

Some sugar molds. The duck was $5. A mail slot, sprinkler and hardware.

Some of what I saw in Warrenton

Probably my favorite is the map with "recalculating". She also owned that cute little camper that she used for her business cards. A-dor-a-ble. My favorite was meeting Karen from Birmingham. She had some gorgeous burlap curtains and lampshades. She has a bed in her display AND THEY SLEEP THERE AT night... What a fantastic idea! The cross was also at her booth - I wish I could have captured the vibe in her booth because it was inspirational. The doll heads, wooden shoe form and chandelier are from West End Architectural Salvage from Des Moines. Very hip. The cowboy visiting in the upper right - it was just so Texan.

I saw some dough bowls and chenille bedspreads and bought neither. Because. That's just how I am sometimes. I think I should go back Saturday morning. Whaddayathink?

The Day After

2011-03-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

It's a bit ironic that on the Saturday night that I invite friends over for crafting, that no one has a camera and although I have several, not one is pulled out to mark the evening. Argh! It still is a great evening and last night was another one where we spent more time talking than crafting and strangers arrived and friends left. Fills the heart, for sure.

I'm home from Bermuda (work, yes work) and happy to be home for a while until May and Inspired Artist. Here are a few pics from Portobello Road Market in London:

This booth of printers blocks is where I spent WAY too much money. I just couldn't help myself.

Several booths with old cameras. And many booths with silver pieces.

Down this road is Mike's Cafe, where I had a wonderful breakfast.

And here are a few photos of the loot I took across the pond, back to Texas.

I loved this set of Roger Bros. spoons plus the odd knife

Cath Kidson goodies, photos and spoons and printers blocks\

Wouldn't that oxo box make a good doll body!
Loved this stamp and there's some fabric below that looked interesting.

I spent last Sunday driving through Glenwood Cemetary and found about 25+ angels but I couldn't seem to get the right photo. Somewhere (of course I can't find it now), I saw someone had a poster of an angel over a bed. Loved it. Wanted to recreate it... I'll go back and try again on the photos.

And finally, I would like to share one of my favorite FLICKR accounts, someone I found quite a while ago, a pilot (Louis Vest) on the Houston ship channel, who is also an amazing photographer. Peruse this for a while, especially his Nautical, Maritime set - simply amazing work...you will be inspired.

London

2011-03-12T10:01:00.002-06:00

It's funny when you're in London, because the voices in your head talk with an English accent. Seriously. I came home yesterday (a day early!) after spending 10 days there - 4 for work, 4 for play and 2 for travel. I'm still unpacking and washing, getting groceries etc. so in the meantime I'll share some photos.

Fortnum & Mason

One of my favorite stores in London is Fortnum & Mason (thanks to Gerry Averitt for telling me about it years ago). It has fabulous window scenes and unique gifts - a bit like a smaller English version of Nordstrom. I bought a Royal Wedding "commemorative tankard" that I thought was pretty. I have a small collection of Queen Elizabeth 1953 coronation commemoratives that I've collected over the years.

F&M Window - love the English china patterns and tea! although I drank alotta lattes.

Graphics and Oak, what more can you want. I loved this display window.

Typical English scene on any work night except this was a bit early and there will be way more people later on. The Pub originated because the English have small homes and so in their "village" they congregate at the pub instead of their living room.

Green Park, near my hotel. The spring flowers like daffodils are beginning to bloom and will be goregous for the next few weeks. Its still cold though, coats/scarves & mittens were required all the time, but bonus - no rain! I scored on Priceline for my hotel - Intercontinental in Mayfair, which was fabulous.

Through Green Park, walking towards Buckingham Palace.

Walked past Clarence House (Prince Charles home) and four cars high tailed it out of there - didn't see who it was. As I walked further down the Mall, these guys came striding along.

Admiralty Arch, before Trafalgar Square

My biggest score in the flea markets were large printers blocks and some King Edward spoons. I'll try to take photos of my finds and post this weekend.

Re-entry

2011-02-27T22:29:00.003-06:00

is so difficult when you've spent a weekend in such a blissful state. We assembled again, most of us, at Las Brisas Farms in Fayetteville, TX. There wasn't the usual twenty of us but rather twelve, since this was a reschedule of an iced-in weekend three weeks prior. We had a newbie, Cindy join us and she was a wonderful tablemate. I spent most of the weekend making journals from books, playing a bit with an album made out of an album (as in LP - Cindy's project). Started a few other projects, such as a picture block, my New York album from a Henri Bendel bag and an envelope journal. On my drive back home, I stopped at a junk store right outside of Industry and found a few bits and bobs. It was a bit overpriced but it had alot of old small cans, which I want to use as a doll body... And how could I pass up the sweet little church. I'm going to paint the house blocks and the little cylinder thing is made of wood.

I've taken these roads several times now... to Round Top or Las Brisas and real or not, there is a washing away of stress when I leave Bellville. Whether its because of the great breakfast at Newman's bakery, I think it has something to do with being in that part of the world. It just slides to the floor and out the door and I am peaceful when I hit Industry and then on into Fayetteville.

I loved the patina of this wood

I also stopped several times to snap a few shots of rural Texas, focusing on abandoned buildings. I wanted very much to take some of the old barn wood but didn't, for two reasons. No one to ask if I could and my car was stuffed with half my crafts room so there was no place to "store it" in the vehicle. But it was fun to at least stop and appreciate it a few moments with a camera. You have to be still when you're on the road from Bellville to Fayetteville or Warrenton, its Texas Highway 159. But when you are still and listen, it's amazing the peace and comfort that rolls in.

Cyclists love the area too.

I'm taking my re-entry back into the real world slowly today. Loving on the pups alot and unpacking here and there. (there was alot to unpack). And preparing for a half week at work and a few days in London's flea markets (my first time to Borough, Covent Garden, Spittelfields, Portobello Market) and then a week at Lloyd's, a different kind of market. I hope it is a good week for you.

The Funniest Thing

2011-02-13T22:26:00.000-06:00

happened this morning. I told myself to get off the computer at 10 and start on my "to do" list. And precisely at 10, my computer froze up so I HAD to get off! I spent several hours going through boxes in my garage from my Mom's house and found a motherlode of old photos from the 50s - of my older brothers and sister. I'm thrilled to find them and loved looking at them. I also found a scrapbook my mother made of early Germany when she left Weirton, WV and eventually met my father. Who knew - my mother the scrapbooker!

I delivered some boxes to a local charity and they have this angel in the courtyard and I finallyr emembered to bring my camera.

I saw my neighbors for a few minutes today and they were dressed up so I snapped a few photos for them - they look great. And then I tried photographing my spoils from yesterday's Urban Market and blah. Just blah. I am trying not to whine but I really need to work on my styling abilities. They don't exist. Really. Does anyone have some suggestions on how I can improve? There's all kinds of blogging advice and tutorials but I need to find my inner Heather Bullard because she is nowhere to be found! Argh. Here goes..

I was looking for a taller basket after seeing one in a photo of Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa's) kitchen but I still like this one.

These are some of the linens I got ... there is one beautiful pillow that was in pristine condition and she sold them all for $5 each... The hankies were $3. Guess who they're for?!!

I found the silver basket thing at Pam & Sherry's booth - I think the wires are heart shaped! I want to make a gauzy silky pouch for it. The glass pieces are lamp parts and have holes in them! I was thinking of making frozen charlotte dolls with them?

I love anything to do with Holland and the two black toile plates just spoke to me.

Another pic of the glass lamp parts with a vintage divided dish.

And here is a pic of the gray bathroom. I'm very happy with it.

That's about all I've got. I do want to mention Egypt - it is so thrilling to see what is going on there and Saturday, when they were cleaning up - it just made my heart sing. Two months ago I knew nothing about it but I've learned alot at work and from my boss, who lived there for several years. It is so exciting to see change being made - I pray it stays peaceful. I hope it is a good week for you.

A Perfect Saturday

2011-02-12T22:11:00.001-06:00

It was, wasn't it? First of all, it is my former neighbor's birthday, H - so big shout out to H for her birthday. She's an amazingly funny and kind person and I have been fortunate to know her since 1986 when I moved in next door to her and her fabulous family. H has done an amazing job in raising three beautiful daughters, and lives f-a-m-i-l-y every day.

Okay so two great things happened today... Pedro came over and painted the guest bath a nice simple gray, SW Olympia Gray 6253. I really like it and I'm glad I have more gray in my house (my foyer is grey). And the other great thing was having a fun afternoon at Urban Market and going to dinner with Debe and Cindy. We went to Grappinos and the food was great - I was a bit surprised. I had a nice small tenderloin with arugala and some kind of Italian bean - it was yummy. I also happened to carry my camera with me to UM... want to see some images?

Yummy ironstone

There were 3 bottle dryers in the house - I wanted all three. And you can never have enough bobbins. This was High Fashion's booth.

Hot Peanuts, of course!

The Gaudy Sisters, Pam and Sherry have a booth in old town Katy and Sherry makes GORGEOUS pillows from old linens. I bought a pretty ornate container from them - I'll take a pic tomorrow.

From the Seed Box - they're in Round Top and always have fantastic displays.

You can never have enough ruby slippers.

This was at French Vanilla, Peg & Jon Van Dyne - I found several great glass pieces from vintage lamps. I enjoyed visiting with Peg - she has some great displays.
I bought a ton of stuff from one lady and I can't remember her name... two wooden shoe molds, several tart tins and linens - oh beautiful linens... She said her daughter bought a 40' container of french linens, sight unseen and it was stuffed to the rafters! Oh my.

And this is Tamara Moore, a local painter/muralist. She was recently featured on Holly Mathis' blog here.

I'm going to take pics of my stash tomorrow while the sun is shining. I always seem to find a few things at this show and they make me happy. I'm going to go look at the linens again. Because they are that pretty!

Rumble Tumble Jumble

2011-02-06T14:47:00.002-06:00

Lots of thoughts tumbled around in the noggin today. First of all, it is absolutely fabulous outside - breezy and warmish, that screams: take me to the park. But I'm too busy creating and getting ready to go see my Mom. And let me just say, I miss her so much these days. When she lived with me I didn't realize how much she was affected by the dementia but now when I see her, it is painfully clear. And I hate going to the "home" to see her. It's a nice place but I wish I could still take care of her and that she still lived with me.

Yesterday was spent watching my niece, Megan play her last home basketball game (Go Mustangs!) and a little crafting and shopping. I found these lovely tumblers at Pier 1 and I think I'm going back for two more. They have a vintage feel with pretty ribbon of hobnail pebbles on four sides and a scallop bottom. Lurve it, as Megan would say.

I really want to make a sampler/quilt type pillow and pulled out some vintage linens and lace but that's as far as I got. I keep telling myself I'm not a sewer or stitcher, but I really need to let that go and just do it. Like any of these crafts, my first one will not be perfect (or the second one) and I just need to let go and play. But I'm too afraid of "messing it up" or using the good stuff. Don't worry - I'm working through it. I did put together another Valentine block - I found this image on either Graphics Fairy (thanks, Karen) or Flickr. And I'm proud because on the red ribbon at the bottom, I did french knots on each side of the flowers. Those flowers are like 6 years old... I've loved them and never used them on a project. I layered the paint with 4 different colors, something I struggled with last Silver Bella but thanks to Lisa Kaus and Carolyn Peeler, I think I've found that groove. The heart on top is styrofoam packaging, with black Bazzil bling envelope and thats a glass bell that I found with Sandy in NYC last November. Remember, when she and Wendy dragged me out of the sketchy flea market so we could go to the real one!

I stopped creating on Fri nite to have dinner with the neighbors and ran back home for my camera when I realized the photo op before me! I don't know if the parents would want me to post the photos so I'm just showing this one. I got about 25 great shots individually. One of the little girls, Helen (in red) at 3 was a whirlwind of activity and nearly 85% of her photos were blurred. So cute but that momma needs alot of energy to keep up with those three for sure. I think socializing with the neighbors is one of my top 10 activities. My other neighbor went with me when I sold my car to a Craigslist buyer and this neighbor, Katie called on Thursday to tell me my sprinkler pipe busted. They shut off the water and saved me! I feel really blessed.

Okay, have you seen Pinterest.... AS IF we need another distraction but it is so so enticing. I saw Katie Bee Creative's pins and fell head over heels, with both the site and her pins. Love her style. My favorite today is: KARMA'S ONLY A BITCH IF YOU ARE. yep.
On Friday while floating through pinterest I saw these cupcake toppers from an etsy shop and decided I had to make a few... Reminded me of this stitching project. Looks like the purple/pink ribbon is coming apart - I'll need to replace it. And if this isn't the cutest idea for a party! Look at her blogmast - I love that dark paper in the center of the rolled paper wreath...

And don't forget next Sunday is Urban Market, at the new location of Smith and Elgin. I'm thinking I will pay a visit Saturday evening - why not, it's just money (as my Dad always said). Last Sunday when I stopped in at old town Katy I found two gym baskets for $15 each. One is in my new Tahoe, the other is waiting for its calling. And if you will, say a prayer for me for things to lighten up on the workfront - I'm having a really hard time with it and its worn me down to a frazzle. Let's hope its a good week for all of us!

Event Calendar Oh Eleven

2011-02-01T21:58:00.003-06:00

Long time, no speak. My bad. I'm getting ~~my ass kicked~~ acclimated at work and no energy at night. But its the first of the year and I promised an overview of craft-e events so I'm going to deliver. Even though there is packing for Las Brisas to do and a project laid out on my desk that is WAY over due. Because I love you guys so much...

Okay, so I'll give a rundown of (some of) the events that I know are happening in 2011 and I'll try to refrain from whining about events that aren't going to happen in 2011.

Inspired with Donna Downey in Concord, NC. I absolutely LURVE this event, because you can play and try (six) new art forms. Simple as that. Yes, it has its faults and I'm not always happy about certain things but overall, its an event that inspires me (no pun intended) to play and create. And there's nothing better than that. I am super thrilled that Suzi Blu will be teaching, I've "knew" her before she was famous and so excited to see what she offers. She teaches in the same theme as Donna - just play and "its perfect just the way you create". I went to an event in March 2007 in Vancouver that had 3 teachers - Donna, Ali Edwards and Claudine Hellmuth and remember Donna saying that over and over. That mindset is so freeing and inspiring. I fell in love with Susan Edmonton 2 years ago when she made a fabric scrapbook. Last year Sandy and I had such a blast at the French Bakery, Amelie and well, the whole weekend. Hopefully she still wants to room this year. The shopping is pretty damn good at the event too! I do miss Jeanne and the gang though.

I do know that Mary Engelbreit (St. Louis) loved doing her Home Companion Workshop in 2010 but its a big commitment and has said she might do a smaller, intimate one day events during this year. Nothing announced yet.

Creative Escape is happening for the last year. It's in Phoenix and I attended the first four events and met some of the best people on this planet earth at that event. The teachers this year are enticing - Ali Edwards, Vicki Boutin and Heidi Swapp always inspires me. And shopping is Phoenix is the best, next to NYC. I would go just for Mystic Paper, not to mention SAS and Creative Quest. Honestly, I love MP. The more I talk about it, I think I want to sign up!

Creative Connection (St. Paul) looked so interesting last year and I would have attended just to meet Pioneer Woman. They've posted the 2011 dates and information - its looking to be more of a Blogher themed event. I will say, Jo Packham impressed the hell out of me at Silver Bella. I could have listened to her for days and unfortunately, she was shut down way too early during her speech at that event. And the two Dallas girls from The Gilded Life are working on the event. They also have a weekend in June, the Art of Spring that they're hosting. I've heard rave reviews but I'm just not a jewelry maker, which is one of the classes.

I'll tell you what I really regret, is missing Kaari Meng's event last weekend, in Los Angeles. The Art of Craft. It looked exquisite. I know I would have loved Charlotte Lyon's class - isn't that banner beautiful! Let's hope there's another one this year. She also has a week in France - actually, I think it is two separate weeks. And she's done it for a couple of years now so you know it has got to be fabulous. And she's so down to earth and kind...

One or should I say two new events this year are the Art is You event, happening on the East Coast and West Coast. I would definitely go for Charlotte's classes and also to take a class from Dee Foust. I think she is amazing. She attended ME's event this year and wanted to get into teaching. Love her Bethany Lowe works. She'll also be teaching at Jen Hayslip's event in October in Asheville, NC. Jen is a bella and has hosted a couple of events and I've always heard good things. Most of the teachers attended Silver Bella.

And speaking of Bella - well she is gone and no more. Even though I complained about it last year, I still would have liked to have gone one more time... the classes were always fun and inspiring. All good things have to come to an end. Its a shame they ended badly in this case.

There are a couple other events, but I could spend my days writing about this stuff. Tim Holtz has an October cruise that's sold out. Debby Schuh has classes all over the country AND in Paris and those are always inspiring. I mean, c'mon, the girl invented the Anthro bag album! We had an incredible time in New York in November with her shopping trip and class at Tinsel Trading. Over the moon fantastic. I believe she's going to offer it again this year. You.should.go.

And the last event I know about it Art and Soul. I really wanted to check it out last October in Portland. Lisa Kaus is an awesome teacher and Liz Kettle looks very interesting... They've been held for several years, so it has to be a good formula. I hope to go one day soon.

I miss the good old days when a gang of us went to events like Scrap etc. or CE and yet, at the time you don't realize how fantastic it is and how much you will miss those people later. Scrap etc. was my first event ever, in 2006. My mother in law moved in with us on Easter weekend and the inaugural event was the following week. I lined up some help that week and I was off to Birmingham. Didn't know a soul, just knew I wanted to take a class from Heidi Swapp. So glad I started that journey...

Scrappin Saturday

2011-01-09T00:35:00.001-06:00

Look what we did today.... First of all, it was such a gorgeous sunny day in Houston today. I spent the morning making Spinach Bacon Roll Ups which Michelle had made at Christmas. I made them with cream cheese instead of sour cream, oh well. I put a pork tenderloin in the crockpot, something else Harriet & Michelle talk about all the time. Harriet was my neighbor for 18 years and Michelle is one of her 3 daughters. I also got them hooked on scrapping and for a while Michelle was a Creative Memories rep and now she's going to be a ~~doctor~~ nurse. She also raised three kids, who are now grown and out of the house... Both of these women make me laugh all.the.time. The pork tenderloin in the crockpot gig is simple. You should try it. Set it in the c/p, add some onion and garlic, salt and pepper it up and after 6 hours or so, tear it with a fork, add bbq sauce and let it warm up and its good to go. So yummy. We also had cole slaw (because I like it on the pork sandwich), edamame and some grapes. And then this lucious chocolate pound cake that Cindy V made. It has Kahlua in it and is to.die.for. And Michelle makes the best coffee and we drank a pot with the cake. Wish I had more of both...

Okay, am I talking about food too much? What is wrong with me? I started inviting people over about 4-5 months ago, on a Saturday from 2- 10 pm with crafting in mind. We try to make it very relaxed and no pressure and usually have a group project. Last time it was grapevine wreaths with fleece flowers. This time it was vintage Valentine decor - a project that Julia made at Halloween and we're going to do every single holiday from now on. ha. It is very simple, do you want to make one? First, go to Home Depot on a Monday and look at their miscut pile of wood - pick out a 1.5 x 8 (its 3" across) and ask the guy to cut it to 6 inches - you'll get a bunch and it will cost about a dollar. Yes, the miscuts are super cheap and you'll get about 20 pieces. For a buck. Sand it down on all sides and top/bottom and wipe it with a wet paper towel. Find a vintage design - Flickr is a really good place to look under Collage Images (Not for Sale). (search for Vintage Valentine) Suzee Q has posted some gorgeous images to use. I love generous artists! Graphics Fairy is another great place for vintage postcards to use.

I printed the images on cardstock and some of us added some patterned paper below the image. We painted the wood two thin coats of acrylic paint. This time we added some gold glaze too. We outlined the vintage image with a Krylon gold leafing pen. And then we spent about an hour trying out different embellishments, which to me is the best fun. I added a heart with some wire and some velvet ribbon. And it almost never fails but adding stickles in various colors to pump up the image - well its just brings it up a notch. When you're ready to add your image and/or paper, apply Mod Podge (and note - its NOT modge) below the image and on top of the image and on all sides of the wood. On the top we added some ribbon, a red glass leaf/heart and I added a pom pom. Harriet used tulle and a scalloped wooden heart and brad from Making Memories. She has some really cute My Minds Eye paper on the sides that say XOXOXO.

Michelle added a bell and a Tim Holtz tag (with white paint smeared to fill in the word/number). She popped the wooden scalloped heart with a piece of cardboard and this Martha Stewart pointed circle punch from a book page. She has some super cute paper on the sides and back, along with a gold cupid on the back.

Before I forget, I have two things to mention in my next post. Remind me to tell you about various scrapbook/art events. Its one thing I get asked alot, when I attend events. How do you know about all these things? I guess you just hear about them at different events. And secondly, I'd like to state my goals for 2011 - craft-wise just as a good baseline to work off of. We're going to Las Brisas in 3 weeks and I want to make sure I have projects lined up.

And finally, I was trolling and saw this post. Now go down to the fifth picture and look at that book. That book title is PERFECT for an altered journal. And look at the yummy color, kinda Tiffany-like, do you think? I'm off to Amazon to buy about 5 of them... I can't do anything singularly, right. Oh, and one last photo of my cleaned up studio.

Starting with Inspiration

2011-01-05T10:36:00.000-06:00

OMG OMG OMG. You know how when you find something new on TV or Oprah and you're all excited about it and you want to learn more and when you learn more... you learn that this person lives in your town? Have you watched TED speeches/interviews? I get the emails and don't watch very often. I mean of course, I've watched Randy Pausch's talk and Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity - but, really, who has the time? For some reason this morning (procrastination is your name) I clicked onto this talk and hello, when did they start having TED Houston? Apparently last summer. I found Brene Brown's talk interesting and inspiring. And hello, she lives in and teaches at U of H. Love it. I'm adding the authenticity badge. Still thinking about my Word for 2011. But I am going to work harder on being vulnerable and real and speaking my truth.

The Big House Reorg is continuing. Today is Wednesday, so its Room of Shame time, formerly known as Grandmas room. Selected only because there was no furniture in it which meant there was more room for stuff... I love first of the year time - it is so invigorating and exciting. I love to organize and clean up, taking it all out and rethinking the set up and seeing what happens. I also realize that I've jumped ahead on a few initiatives like having sofa/loveseat and chair recovered. I need to wait til I have the cash and that won't be for a couple of months.

Do we need a few photos before departure?

My new niece, Ray-Lynn born in San Diego.

My nephew, Kyle amid his constructed fort in the sunroom.

Junior and Killer went to the vet yesterday. They are both in great health, (yeah - Killer is 10.5 years old!) but it was pretty traumatic for Junior. He was tuckered out and still not really speaking to me after the fecal sample incident. Eewww.

Family Time

2011-01-02T20:16:00.000-06:00

What a great weekend ... and its not over! Last night my nieces and nephew came over for a sleepover. We've decided to do it regularly and definitely make it a New Years tradition. We had dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant (after driving by Pappy's which was closed!) and then a stop to Crave cupcakes because two of them had never been there. We also went over to Transco fountain and then home for a little craftiness. We picked two paintings from a local paint studio, which the girls completed today, we played a little Wii fit and did a bit of stitching. In the morning I made monkey bread with my nephew, which was fun to do and yummy - I'd never made it. I also clicked a few (hundred) photos of them today. I love the look of youth, with a few pups thrown in for good measure. It was so nice to have a houseful...

I also wanted to mention that the big house/studio cleanup will commence this week, while I'm off of work. And one of my first steps for 2011 was to backup my computer with Mozy. For $50 a year, I don't have to worry about losing my photos. So glad I can cross something off my todo list. I also returned 2 new purses to Coach (two years later) and used the gift card on a new little black number (Signature Tote). Now, if I could only get my car situation straightened out - I need to sell my old one, return my company car and buy a new one. I wasted Saturday talking to car dealers on the phone - hopefully tomorrow will work out swimmingly... say a prayer!

New Year, New Beginnings, New Baby

2011-01-01T11:57:00.001-06:00

There is so much to look forward to with this new year - I am giddy! We also welcomed the next generation into our family last night when my niece, Rachel had a baby girl, Ray-Lynn, 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She's a beauty and I am so happy for her and Nik. She was born to two sailors on the Navy base in San Diego. Oh possibility! Life is grand! And as she stated so apropos, there will always be fireworks on her birthday!

Little Bit

2010-12-21T02:47:00.000-06:00

While at Anthropologie in New York in November, I picked up three mercury glass votives. I have been wanting to decorate a bottle just a bit so this was a good place to start. The kind and generous Allison from Dishy Vintage shared a HUGE stash of vintage laces in a blog giveaway recently so I used that as background and made a rosette from music paper and added some glitter to the edges. I think rosettes are one of my favorite things. On Saturday I had a chance to stop at the Sunshine Resale shop in Bellaire and they had 25% off jewelry so I picked up a few pieces including this rhinestone cluster, which was part of an earring. I don't have much jewelry in my stash, but this stuff was $3/pair so I thought that was fair. I added some pale pink seam binding and called it done. Its in the kitchen now, holding sugar. One down, two to go.

I'm in the process of changing jobs - something that happened quickly and from out of the blue. But a nice shade of blue, that is for sure. I start Dec 29th. I've been at the same place for five years and boy, I've been riding the roller coaster of emotions. Especially when you have worked in your industry for 30+ years and have no children, your work is pretty darn important. Or at least you think it is! At our Christmas party this year, our President made mention of the various departments and said some very kind and nice things about me. It made my heart sing. And still has for days later. It is so nice to be appreciated, even if it is as you are walking out the door. I'm so looking forward to CHANGE in 2011. I'm giving up familiarity, not to mention some great business trips but who knows what will replace them. I can't wait to see.

Round and Round

2010-12-05T13:02:00.000-06:00

Lots of news happening on Northampton. I finished two projects - whoo hooo! Wanna see?

We started these last weekend on Black Friday during the scrapathon at my house and I finished during the week. You can see my map one turned out slightly different than the original creation, which was perfect. I'm not perfect and I didn't make "good" cones. Learn from me, people. I debated on the white one whether to add little bits of bling in the middle and decided to leave them as it. You could easily glitter/mica flake the edges... You can also make them from paper. For the map wreath I started with a cardboard circle and the white wreath was a twig wreath from Hob Lob and I had a flannel remnant so I used that. Improvise, thats what I say! I stapled the map cones to the cardboard and flattened them but that looked dumb so I stuck tissue paper inside the cones. The airmail stamp came from the Graphics Fairy.

Have you heard the news? Rachel is moving to Round Top...its true! According to Cote de Texas she bought this house and will be redoing it. What are the chances of staying in the abode? Thinking slim. none. but fun to dream!

After a sweet visit with my Mother, that hopefully will include a haircut, I'm going to be making Cream of Cilantro soup, which is one of her favorites. Its a very simple soup (and you don't have to chop the leaves, just throw them in the blender sans stems. I love it and the weather is perfect soup weather. I don't have my recipe book, someone who shall remain nameless packed it up with their stuff last weekend and so I'm resorting to online recipes, which I am thinking is the same one. And I'm cranky from battling a cold/sinus/sore throat bug even though I've stayed home 3 days and babied it. Can you tell?

While the soup is simmering, I'm hoping to make a few Christmas blocks ala Miz Juney... My last stop at Home Depot on a Monday night yielded 25 blocks from a $1 remnant. No joke.

I know I still have New York details to spill. One of my favorite things from the shopping on Saturday was these dolls that Molly Nay purchased (one) at Bergdorf Goodman. OH The Inspiration! I have found a couple of heads/feet in Glenflora and now I'm searching for the perfect vessels for the body or maybe a rhinestone lipstick case... Such fun.

Love at First Sight

2010-11-22T20:37:00.002-06:00

I fell in love this weekend. It was very exciting. And as a Southern girl, this is very hard to admit but I fell in love with New York. I know everyone else loves it but I just didn't see myself doing that. But I did and there is no going back.

For the past couple of years, Debby Schuh, a teacher in the scrapbook world would post on her blog about her weekends in NY (she lives in Buffalo) and we all marveled at the pics and places, and asking her repeatedly, to take me with you! Well, this weekend, she did. 26 of us and it was a blast and damn near perfection. I'm exhausted from walking 8000 miles this weekend and my camera was on the fritz so I only have a few hundred photos. Luckily, my pals Sandy and Wendy took photos and Marsha's hubby photographer came along with us. But don't think of Marsha as a good influence on me... first, telling me where the B&H Photo store was (near Macy's). I didn't even realize they were IN NY - I bought my Canon 40D from them, along with my lenses. Secondly, they convinced me to buy my Ipad this weekend (an apple in the big apple of course) - why wait? Made total sense, and I'm so glad I did. It is fantastic.

I'm still writing in my envelope journal and I haven't unpacked but I am going to share one of our site visits. Sunday morning we started off at Balthazar's in SOHO for brunch and it was fantastic. I split my breakfast with my new pal, Lisa - she had berry waffles and I had salmon and poached eggs. Afterwards, we made our way to the MoMA store, right across the street and to Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic. It was perfection... I fell in love with each little bit in the store and took a picture of all that I could... The frou frou prom dresses, the inspiration board, the petticoat light fixture, the large crucifix and sacred hearts. I could have stayed all day and I would love to own the Grand Chaise or large squishy chair. It just looked so comfortable, inviting and simply beautiful fabric. I bought a napkin with a silver crown - silly probably to some but I had to have it and I wanted the card and bags... to add to my scrapbook. Also in the store were several Coronation (Queen Elizabeth June 1953) mugs and memorabilia, which made me happy as I have several pieces myself. So many of our crew had gone into Sabon and purchased something, so we made our way over a couple of blocks to experience it ourselves. They have a beautiful large round ... er, guess you would call it a sink but you stand and wash your hands with their sweet smelling soap (Patchouli Lavender Vanilla) and scrub with sea salts from the Dead Sea and then of course, lotions to smooth it all out. Well, let me tell you, I have enough lotions and potions to sink a boat, I don't need any more so I thought, nice try - not going to buy into it. But it did make my hands super silky. So I picked up some soap shavings that smell just like my grandma's rose scent... That was all I was going to contribute to this hi-jinks. And now, I totally regret it and I'm calling up tomorrow to order the soap and scrub and lotion. And I may get some face cream too! It was just that amazing. I took a bath with the rose soap and it was so wonderful. I have to have some of that!
I'm going to go unpack a bit...I'm exhausted. Thanks for all the kind comments about Silver Bella. I am home for the next month and so looking forward to settling in. I will post more about the trip and Silver Bella after I've gotten some rest. Thanks for stopping by.

Bella Done

2010-11-17T07:33:00.002-06:00

From Teresa McFayden

During opening night, our project included a mat that was to be glittered. Well, I know well enough not to do that and place it in a suitcase, (plus I've become more of a mica flakes girl than a glitter girl). One girl did use some green/aqua glitter and didn't apply enough glue so she had gaps. Well, another girl had Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in a green chalkboard color, I think they call it mint chocolate chip. I am telling you, it filled in beautifully and looked fantastic plus the shimmer was so nice. I want some of this stuff...

I'm heading to New York City tomorrow - first time in a long time with 25 girls (rooming with Sandy Hoho and her daughter, Wendy) to shop with Debby Schuh. There is a class Saturday night at Tinsel Trading, Marcia Ceppos is closing the store for us. I think this is going to be heaven! For several years now, we've heard of Debby's NYC trips and said, I want to do that... and now we can! We're visiting Purl Soho, Kate's Paperie, The Ink Pad, Rachel Ashwell's store Shabby Chic and the major department stores that have the Christmas windows plus Friday on our own to enjoy and explore the city.

embroidery design by Allison at Dishy Vintage

I got my 16 x 20 canvas from Canvas on Demand yesterday - of the picture at Delfshaven (the blog mast) and I have to say, its beautiful and I love it. Wish I had ordered 3 more Groupon buys... I think it was $40 and included shipping... good stuff. For Christmas I want to make a canvas ala Red Letter Words since my 3 inchie swap name tags were so easy to do in Picasa... so I was thinking of taking a simple flat background of the hardwood floors or perhaps the street and doing the street names of all the houses we've lived (for my brother). Not original but sounds fun!

I realized this morning after I woke from a good sleep that I am grateful that this separation with my Mother happened to me at 53. I think I have the fortitude to face it with good grace. I'm lucky that it is happening now and not at 43 or 33. I'm going to try to focus on that thought all day. Sister visited Mom yesterday and she was (for the most part) enjoying herself. I know she will be happy, eventually. I look forward to being home all of December. And on Black Friday we're having a crafting day at my house. If you want to joins us, let me know!

Bella Time

2010-11-16T04:33:00.006-06:00

I've been up for an hour or so...and the bills are paid so I'll finish my Silver Bella review, part deaux. On the final day of Bellaness, I had the morning free, which was very nice - wake up relaxed and putter around. I finished up an envelope journal and ~~organizing~~ playing with my new swaps and small purchases. The next class was Secret in a Bottle with Lisa Kaus and this time, I was locked and loaded for a good class. I got into the watercolors and collage. Its not my strongest suit but I embraced it. And I have to say, I was blown away by Lisa's willingness to share her art. I mean, this is her livelihood and here she's showing us how its done. I love that kind of spirit. Blogger won't let me upload any photos, so please refer to my Picasa album.

There were alot of new bellas this year and some bellas from previous years that I missed... definitely the Houston crowd of Debe, Linda, Virginia and Julia. Kinda lost without them. Jodie from Louisiana. The new bellas were very enthusiastic about being there, which was so nice. Kerry Barrick was a happy redhead from Oklahoma that was fun to visit with. Nancy from {Scrap} St Louis was there and it was fun to visit again with her.

Last class was Sally Jean Alexander and Prize-alicious - soldering a two part pendant that was really beautiful. I'm not a jewelry maker or wearer but I did enjoy the class. It was a rectangle and then gothic window shape (that's all I can think of calling it - its 4 am). I did manage to put together a cool image - me at 2 circled in rhinestones and the word "twirl", with a meaning from this blog post. I embrace that thought several times a day (or at least try to). My taping was a bit thick but I also embraced it - it was mine and I created it. Perhaps I can incorporate it into another art piece. It was fun to make but I don't think I have the patience to solder as a craft. I sat with the Bella clique in that class, by accident and felt like I was back in high school and feeling very un-in. . It is probably why I won't go back to SB next year - there are so many nice people that share and play nice but that core group that just get, well, boring with their snootiness. Sorry, I got sidetracked - I wish it didn't bother me but it did. This year they held a closing dinner and the keynote was Jenny Doh. I sat with some awesome Dallas girls, Lisa and Susie and Suz and Donna and it was a nice ending for the weekend. This years classes were fun and enjoyable and I'm so glad I participated in all three swaps. I enjoyed my Bella time.
Still no pics allowed from Blogger. Paper boy drove by and I'm back to bed.

Edited to add: I wish I hadn't judged those girls so harshly. It was the last class and required alot of focus. I've apologized for the name calling and we've mended the fence. It is a good reminder of this quote: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Bella Ball

2010-11-15T21:25:00.001-06:00

Jill Sibbald's artwork - fantabulous!

I'm back from snow covered Omaha. It snowed a big heavy snow Friday night - pretty amazing. I took 200+ photos and have placed the majority on Picasa. Do you use Picasa? You should - it is pretty darn amazing and free! I've used it for years - I have PSE (that's photoshop elements) that I use for cloning but I use Picasa for all my photos. I'll make a collage for the month - just to look at and remember. Let me tell you about my third Bella experience. I loved the classes and yet, for whatever reason I didn't connect with alot of people, save a handful, with people like Laura of 52 Flea. We met on the shuttle and spent the better part of the afternoon together at lunch and Second Chances. It was fun - she's a flea market connoisseur and so while we shopped, each of us would say - I have that or I want that... it was fun. I'm hoping she will find some leather high top victorian baby shoes for me in her stash. Thursday night we had a buffet dinner, did a frame project and then... the swaps! I participated in three so I was very eager: vintage trims, banner and 3 inchie embroidery swap. For the vintage trims she placed them in decorated egg cartons, cute and cleaver. I received six beautiful laces/crocheted trims, and a couple of beautiful ribbons and a few I'm not so fond... I am happy I participated - the laces are just lovely so I'll focus on that. Both the banner and embroidery swap I just loved - beautiful artwork and its so fun to inspect all the details - I will take pics and post, I promise. Afterwards, I moved rooms (long story not worth telling) and came down for the crown, bra and necklace one-on-one swaps. I am telling you - it was amazing to watch. The work was off the charts and it was so fun to witness the joy and excitement between the participants. Way cool.

Friday we started classes and my first one was with Colette Copeland (of Toronto) called Project Runway - there was tons of photos in Picasa. We had three darling muslin dresses to decorate. Our table was filled with fun and inspiring women, all collaborating - Suz and Donna, Gretchen, and sweet Melissa. Colette was so kind and generous - I gave her part of some lace and she came back with an aqua doily - it was just a wonderful time - the energy in that room. My second class was the Teacup Fairy with Beth Quinn. I think everyone was thrilled with that class. I didn't realize under the teacup was a wire body and we attached fabric and trims. I want to redo mine and instead of tying, I'm thinking of either tiny attacher or french knotting... I think it will look cool. Take a look through Picasa, there were so many beautiful china cups. My final class on Friday was with Lisa Kaus and I have to say, I struggled and fought it. It was called Joy Within and I just wasn't feeling it. It was using watercolor crayons and smudging and I can't tell you why but I put some paper down but couldn't get my groove. I don't like getting dirty while making art. I also didn' t like that there was a $10 "lab fee". I don't get that kind of mentality... So we ended Friday with the Vendor Faire which I hit promptly at 6 pm. I mentally had decided not to buy much and I didn't. Of course, with Jenni Bowlin - there are always some things that need to go home with you. What I love is that she is fair with her pricing. I found some absolutely fabulous lace from Kim H that came from Mae West's estate - both for $6. Really beautiful stuff. And a few frozen charlotte doll head and I called it done for the night - onto the casino and out into the heavy snow. That snow was just crazy. And I left my coat sitting at the kitchen table. But I managed - by losing my shirt. But what the hell.

Shall I stop now and finish up tomorrow? Its been a long day. We moved my mother out of my home and into assisted living. I have been dreading it for a while now and it went as well as can be expected. She was really angry that we left her but I know it is the right choice and a good place for her. She will love all her new friends, hopefully very soon. Its funny but I feel as if she is my child now and I hope they will take good care of her. Tonight at home, though, I am so thrilled when I realize I can sleep through the night and that no care givers will be in my home tomorrow ... I can definitely get happy about that.

Silver Bella Bound

2010-11-08T22:55:00.000-06:00

You know how you futz around all night doing stuff you don't need to be doing, and avoiding what you really need to get done. Yeah. Well, that was tonight. I ordered a canvas print that I'd bought from Canvas on Demand through Groupon. Yeah, it should be pretty cool. And of course, I had to Wiki the location, Delfshaven. Well, you know why. And then I ordered 5 prints of a family photo I had photoshopped for my cousin...6 months ago. Because that really had to get done tonight. But most importantly, I did manage to get photos of my 3 inchie embroidery swap that I finished last night, that's going to Silver Bella in three sleeps. A week or so ago I had finished my banner swap and wondered what to do for the 3 inchie... Since I've never done embroidery, I didn't have an arsenal to chose from. One night while bloghopping, I saw this girl, and my heart went pitter patter when I saw this beautiful dress. Allison at Dishy Vintage lives right down the road from me and was kind enough to let me use her design. And so I made this:

There are 12 girls in the swap and I'm so excited to see what the others created. I swing between panic and pride at any given moment. I learned, though, three years ago - get in the swaps after seeing so many beautiful art pieces, especially Debe's recipe book that was amazing. I participated in three this year - vintage trims, banner and 3 inchie... Thanks, Allison for letting me use your design.

Along with stitching this weekend, I made time to go to Urban Market and found a few good things. An old fashioned white street sign that says, Magnolia & E. 11th. Three large acorns, two beautiful books with deep engravings of an atlas, two black globes and one regular globe and some vintage trims from the German lady. I don't know her name, she's just the lady at Cole's/Warrenton that has beautiful and expensive linens. I found the globes, books and acorns from Kay the book lady - very nice lady. Don't you want this little trophy... We missed you Megan and wish you were here. I hope you can reschedule.

Made a quick trip to Anthropologie tonight, looking for a teacup for my teacup fairy project. I know my mother has several beautiful dainty cups in one of the boxes in my garage but had no interest in searching. I did find this, with the scallop, I think will do just nicely. And just like Target, I can't get out of that store for less than $100 - too many pretties to buy. And a few pics to snap.

All Hallows Eve

2010-10-31T11:13:00.000-05:00

This history is written in Wikipedia for Halloween - I thought it was very interesting...

Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in).The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end". A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).

The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

I hope yours is filled with light, joy and good times. I'm going to run by the Quilt Show for a short bit, get a fabulous massage here and then work on some crafting... I am exhausted from working yesterday at the Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods booth at Quilt Market but I hope to post some photos later today...

The vintage image is from Flickr Group - Collage Images and thanks to Suzee Que. Here's a secret - it is a TREASURE-TROVE of free images of fine quality...

Draw Along Side

2010-10-21T22:32:00.001-05:00

I was walking out of work this week with a colleague and talking about what we were going to do for the evening. I was going to finish a banner for a Silver Bella banner swap and she said, oh, I'm not creative at all. I have to laugh when people say that to me. Because I'm not either. I always wanted to be but didn't have a grandma to show me sewing or embroidery (I know, poor pitiful me). The other comment that cracks me up is - oh, I don't have time for that... and I just realize, I'm gonna make time to do this because I love it. I am so happy when I'm crafting and I'm happiest when I'm crafting with friends. On Saturday, a friend stopped by and collaborate on my banner - well, that's damn near Bliss. I made 12 of these. I hope they meet expectations... I'm trying to improve my sewing skills, they are very rudamentary, as you can tell. I realized afterwards that we weren't suppose to sew up the sides... but oh well. I like it. We will get 11 other designs and they will be hung together on a ribbon. I had fun with it. I have one more swap - a 3" embroidery square I believe. Better get on it - SB is in less than a month!

Guess we should do some catch up. I had a wonderful time in Rotterdam. I feel like a princess there - my colleagues treat me very well. We have great dinners and lots of laughs. I learn some things and share some things and I'm always glad I go. I spent Saturday in Amsterdam and it was a bit frustrating. There was a small outdoor market and I picked up some great vintage cards but not much else. I found a bookstore with vintage books but it seems that 1/2 my order didn't make it into the bag or she overcharged me. Really bummed me out because there was so much cool stuff there.

The following weekend I went to my favorite place in the word, Las Brisas Farms which is out in the country about an hour and a half west of Houston. This couple has built nirvana there and with 18 other scrappers, we played with paper and stuff all weekend. And I sold some stuff! I made journals out of hardback books and Halloween blocks. I though... oh wait, I did take photos, wanna see? It felt so great that weekend because I accomplished alot... all these projects that I couldn't seem to get started at home... I finished! The Fairmont Whistler book is from Debby Schuh's Anthropologie bag class. The Halloween blocks Julia showed me how to make. The books are from Janet Hopkins CE class from a couple of years ago. I figured out a great way to finish them on the inside. I'll take pics this weekend and show you. I added a piece of foam, fabric and ribbon (on each side) under the binder mechanism. Looks cute. The envelope journals have lace on the front. I think I can actually take credit for them... Wow - that's a first.

I'm getting excited about the Quilt show in two weeks. A friend, Sue Gower has a booth with the most incredible trims ever. Her store is in Rhode Island, called Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. I fell in love with it last show. I'm going to work on Oct 30th and bonus, I get to go to the sampler spree next week. Manufacturers sell small packs of new fabric for super fantastic prices! Oh, good times! Susan has a new fabric line, called Vintage Art store. I can't wait to see it in person...

There's alot to look forward to in November. It is also the anniversary of my sister's death and I can feel the grief already. She died 3 years ago from colon cancer, very quickly (within three weeks). She suffered from schizophrenia since adolescence and I do mean suffered. I have acute hearing because of my sister. We were always listening to make sure she didn't walk out the door. One time she did and ended up in Omaha. No joke. At work they think I'm crazy because I hear every little sound around me. I can't help it. It started a long time ago. But how can I explain that?

When I think of her I try to remember the gorgeous 17 year old girl who went to prom with a boy name Joe back on Ingrid Lane in Metairie. She wore a powder blue dress and her hair was up and her smile was brilliant. She was beautiful. I don't want to paint some rosey picture - it wasn't. She was a great big sis back then. After that there were lots of unpleasant memories. Oh well, what can you do? Live and learn. What did I learn from her? I don't know, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Title = catch up

Wicky Sticky Warrenton

2010-09-26T22:15:00.003-05:00

See the banner photo? That's where I'll be this week - in Rotterdam. The photo is actually Delfshaven. I love saying that - Delfshaven - like a Dutch person. I'm real stressed out about going but I'm sure it will all work out in the end. Work is really busy and stressful right now and I have alot of things planned. Like Friday, when I went to Warrenton with one of my besties, H. H and I were neighbors for 18 years. We take 529 west and stop in Bellville for breakfast at Newman's Bakery (yummy plus I found a crocheted baby bonnet for $2). From there we take 159 and then a little right turn for Warrenton and we come in right at Cole's. Easy peasy drive and of course, we talked the entire way, so time flew. The parking lot at Cole's was muddy - apparently we'd just missed the rain but unfortunately, the humidity soon followed. And I'm tellin ya, it was just miserable. Hot and muggy and sticky and it was almost not fun. Almost. And yes, we found some goodies, wanna see? Oh, wait a second I'm getting a head of myself.

Oh, and I can't talk about this yet, either. That was found inside, at Cole's. at Wendell's booth. Let's stick to the stuff outside.

My first purchase was a Texas handkerchief for $5. It has the cities and just was cute and neat. I know it will come in handy one day. At the same booth as we were leaving, I spotted an Anagrams game for $20. She was happy to tell me that all the pieces were there. I was thrilled. I've been watching them on ebay and quit at $40. Yep. this was a good buy. I found the pink felt baby booties for $5. I don't know the names of these booths, I just recognize them and I usually find a goodie or two at this one. I found the wooden spools at the very end for $8. The trims we found at the booth in Cole's for $1/yard except for a scallop velvet which was $3 (and at another booth - its an older lady from California - she's always in the same spot - very sweet).

The westie was $3 at a junk booth and the letters were $1 near Wendell's booth at Cole's. I think that covers it. Except for Wendell's booth. He had that color gem cabinet marked $79, I got it for $65. It has small 2 x 2 plastic slots to hold things. Its not a fancy wood or construction, by any means but I love the staircase aspect. I may paint it white. I think its cool. When we were going to pick it up I saw the picture easel and let me tell you. I have always loved stars/moons. It was marked $48 and I was only willing to pay $15 really. He came down to $30 so I took it. It is just so unique. I turned the picture around so you can see it - and the picture isn't that great - I was too lazy to download from my camera so I used my iphone, which I switched to 4G this week. Last week Kathleen was whipping through hers and since mine crashed, the replacement is slow as molasses. Guess Apple's marketing ploy is to give you a piece of shit so you'll upgrade. Sorry for the negativity, my patience is really challenged these days with computers and hot water heaters. But thats a story for a different day.

I made this baby block this weekend for a baby shower. My Mom's caretaker needed a shower gift so I whipped this up. It was good practice. I had seen the paper shoes on blogs and tried them but still don't have it down pat. It was fun to put together. She mod podged and glued the buttons so she could say she made it. We used a paint pen to color the babies hair and I painted a bit on the face and then wiped it off to tint her color. She needed a to/from card so we added the diaper and she wrote a note. Those diapers from vellum were one of the first things I ever made - I found the pattern in a BH&G book and I bought all the pink/blue footprint vellum from Michael's. Remember how old that stuff is? We added pink and white buttons down the side. I spray painted the clip white and added a button in the center. We stuffed the baby shoe with kleenex - probably could have picked something better but that is all I can come up with. I hope, one day, to look back on this blog and look at my staging photos and think, man I've come a long way. I've learned alot of things with this scrapbooking craft but my staging skills are sad and lacking. One day I want to be in the Heather Bullard league. Really. I do. If you're going to aim, aim big.

Well, I have two chores left, three really and I don't think they are going to get done so I will close now. Hope it is a great week for you. Thanks for visiting..

Harley-town

2010-09-21T21:37:00.006-05:00

I want to blog about my weekend, before I forget the details. I had a workshop in Milwaukee for work and I thought. Yuck, that's just great. Who in the hell wants to go to Milwaukee. Well, let me tell you - I was in for a surprise. First of all, it was cool, which was super. And the workshop had an incredible keynote speaker, Jason Dorsey who talks about the differences by generation and how to communicate with each other. So funny, so true - watch his video. If you watched 60 minutes about a year ago - he was the guy talking about Gen X. Okay, back to Mwk - they have a casino. Uh, huh. Did you know it was the home of Harley-Davidson? Me neither. And they have some pretty nice architecture downtown. We stayed at the Hilton, which was built in 1924 and recently refurbished. The details in the elevator were amazing, on six different levels. I know, who'd a thunk - an elevator. Once the business was over, my CE/SE roomie, Jeanne picked me up and we headed out of Dodge for the greater parts of IL. We stopped at the Third Ward in Mwk (thanks for Design Sponge for the city guide). There were 3 stores in the area - Broadway Paper (so-so), The Home Market (super yummy but -spensive!) and Utrecht art (small but good). We passed a junk store and squeezed our way in. Ohmygosh, I felt bad for the owner. I don't know why other than she was a serious hoarder and we had to push our way through her store, through all the junk, there wasn't even a path hardly. Not complainin, just sayin. I found a couple of cool things - a glass/plastic owl (from Avon), a white "cold" hardware knob, some tiny 1" vases and a 2" princess and an old flower frog. We headed out of town and stopped at the Olive Pit and while we're waiting for our sandwich, scoped the antique store next door. It was set out very nicely so I equated that with expensive. I was w-r-o-n-g, thank goodness. I found several goodies: a large ledger for $16, a hotel spoon, 2 vintage books. There was another larger store close by but we were running late so we only did a quick recognizance and no purchase. Antioch was our destination and we met up with three former CE lovelies, Kathleen L, Shelley F and Kathy W. And Hannah's was having a garage sale. I only bought a couple of Tim Holtz supplies (those feet thingies) but had fun looking around. Hannah's is a true crafts store, not just scrapbooking. I was tempted by the latest collection from My Mind's Eye but didn't want to haul paper. We stopped for coffee and a fox ran down the road over yonder. Way cool. Then we were heading to Schaumburg for the Big Bowl and dinner with Cathy D, Nan G and Candi. It was fun to hear about their projects and Cathy's view on 2010 CE and just all the latest events. Then we headed to Crystal Lake and Jeanne's abode. I've never met her 3 old English sheepdogs and 2 border collies and so there was no time like the present. We had a nice visit with her hubs. She has such a comfortable house with alot of land - I could have spent days just visiting and relaxing. And what's not to love about a pile of pups in your lap/feet/floor/everywhere! On the way to the airport, we stopped at Woodstock and looked at one of Jeanne's haunts. Fun to see all the hardware and piles of printer drawers. I saw two women looking at a photo album (the type I collect) and they couldn't figure out why it was upside down. I couldn't either, I've seen several like that - I figure someone tried to repair it and put it in wrong... that's all I can figure. Anyone know? So they bought the album and gave it to me to fix. Hmmmm. Fate is an interesting visitor.

And to answer your question, Linda. Yes, I am taking off Friday and heading to Warrenton, hopefully with Miss Sandy and if not, we'll hook up while we're there. I love the idea of going for 3 days, you lucky duck. Looking forward to a day off, looking at junk albeit expensive junk - let's hope for cooler weather. What about you, Debe?

Oh, and one last thing. I tried priceline and I'm super happy. I wanted to stay at the Renaissance in Amsterdam because of its proximity to the train station but it was $215 or $240 or something so I pricelined it at $125 and got a 4 star... that happens to be the Renaissance. Interesting! Looking forward to their cooler weather next week.

Hey, would you mind leaving a comment? I'm feeling a bit lonely here...

15 days

2010-09-13T21:03:00.006-05:00

It's sizing up to be a nice month, the rest of September. I had a good weekend, starting Saturday morning when I headed up to Cypress for a craft fair at the Berry Center. I did my usual - parked on the side, entered and went straight for the back. I found a vintage linens booth with incredible piles of linens neatly ironed and stacked. I was first in and allowed myself a pillow case, table runner and pillow. Oh so pretty embroidery. I walked past a booth with Christmas decorations. You know the kind, it just speaks to you, personally and directly. I have been wanting mill spools. I know, I know, everybody bought mill spools in the 80s, okay maybe 90s. But I don't have a one and I wanted more than one. So I bought 5. One has a scalloped metal edge. Yummy. She also had a cool egg basket, in red. Across the way, she had plastic, kind of like oil cloth (but not)lunch bags. I got a Dick and Jane one and a Queen Elizabeth one, each $8. Did I ever tell you that I collect QE coronation memorabilia? Mostly because my brother loves royalty stuff but I also like it. I've picked up a few very cool items. I will photograph them one day. We also sent a birthday card to the queen one year and she wrote us back, thanking us. Of course, AFTER I bought all that stuff I realized I needed a baby gift for my Milwaukee trip this week. I hemmed and hawed and bought nothing but I saw cute stroller bags made from blue jeans skirts. So, of course I stopped by the Goodwill on the way home and bought two cute skirts. (Are you the kind that can't ever buy just one of something - you always have to buy two. or more? me too). I think I have it figured out - follow me. I will sew a lining to the bottom of the waistband and then sew the bottom of the skirt closed, with the fabric. I will put two grommets on each side (or maybe just one) and run some thick, maybe grosgrain ribbon through to tie it to the stroller. Oh, and add some decorative ribbon trim on the front and back, perhaps I should do that first, before the lining. Okay. I have two chances to get it right.

So Saturday afternoon, some girls came over for crafting goodness and we made decorative blocks ala Julia. We are kicking ourselves for not taking photos (I mean, really, what kinda scrapbookers are we? - okay, Julia isn't a s/b but I am). Because it was so much fun and no one wanted to quit, we made cute Halloween blocks too. Julia is such a talent. I love it because we all had a great time, and when everyone leaves they want to know when's the next time. It's just so much fun. Time to laugh and connect. And BONUS - I got to show off the room of shame! The empty room of shame, that is. (a spare bedroom, that now is truly spare). I still have more work to do for the garage sale, but we're making progress.
Sunday I headed over to Richmond for an auction, this auction. I was a bit surprised. It was smaller in person. It was a good day to attend, very small crowd and low low prices. But there was nothing that I had to have. So I bought a wooden iron board. Mainly because the vintage linens lady from Katy that I'd met the day before said she loved ironing on her wooden ironing board, that there was nothing like it. And I only paid $10. And then I realized when I was driving home. We HAVE an ironing board in our den, in the wall. My house is 50 years old and we left it in... I should go look and see if its wooden. I'm sure it is.

I'm headed up north for a couple of days for work. OMG, its 90 flippin degrees here this week. Disgusting. Its a high of 60 in Milwaukee. Saaaawwweeeeeeet. and yes, I will so enjoy it. Going to see my scrapping peeps and meet Jeanne's dogs. Can't wait. The following week is WARRENTON, can I get a hellyeah. And then to Rotterdam for some even cooler weather and hanging with my Dutch peeps. Okay. wait. I have Dutch colleagues, that's it, they're not peeps. Who am I kidding. I'll report back after Warrenton.

Thinking about 1899

2010-08-23T21:04:00.007-05:00

I thought I would share some photos of pretty things that arrived in my mailbox today. I bought a photo album on ebay. It really is lovely. I scanned a few of the keepsakes that were included with the album (which I have to say, is a kind gesture from the seller). This one is probably my favorite - a page from a book.

And a calling card from 1899. There is also a beautifully embossed graduation announcement for the West Point High School in Krause's Hall June 8th, 1899. Love it. 11th annual... I just did some research and WP is located in West Point, Nebraska. I love researching history - now I'm going to go back into the album and try to figure out the connection. On the outside of the announcement, it lists the 14 graduates, all but 3 were women. It includes program and announcements. Perhaps I should take it apart and scan it properly? I tell ya, I've had the worse luck electronically lately. My new Dell desktop is even acting up... so I have to scan through microsoft, which is kind of weird. So bear with me...

Do you know what Sapere Aude means? It's a Latin phrase meaning, dare to discern or dare to know. I <3 Wikipedia.

There are a couple of pieces of lace and probably part of a pillowcase with initials embroidered. I love that these were someone's keepsakes and I can cherish them for them. I wonder why someone in the family didn't keep them?

Now, are you ready for scandal? Look what I found in another photo album... Look closer. Yep. Isn't that just shocking? I mean, not now but back then - for it to be caught in photo. I love it. Brokeback Mountain.

That's all I've got for you today. It's a Monday.

Dorothy was right!

2010-08-01T09:52:00.010-05:00

There is no place like home. I was gone for eight days on a business trip with a weekend of fun included. The trip started off great when I was bumped to first class and a studio room at the hotel, Avia. I cannot rave enough about this place and look, they have a location in The Woodlands. Its modern (which isn't me) and fabulous - free computers with TV monitors. Interesting design details. The room is very well planned and elegant. I found myself comparing the subsequent hotels to it. The business worked out very well also. I did a presentation on Worker's Compensation (oh, fuN!) and we took a tour of the Port of Los Angeles and cleaned up Cabrillo beach as a community service project. Let me tell you - that is tough duty picking up cigarette butts (I was imagining large handfuls of trash) and traipsing through the sand in jeans (work-appropriate) gear. I mean, let's face it, are you going to get in a swimsuit around co-workers? No, think not. It was still a fun afternoon (we got to tour the aquarium and touch sea life - see photo) and a fabulous dinner at Trump National golf course. Our host asked an interesting question - what was your favorite concert? So fun to hear the answers and reminisce also. I asked the same question at a dinner the following week and talked to a guy who saw the Beatles in Toronto in 1964.

On Friday I headed over to Vancouver for the weekend and was blessed again with pristine weather. If you've never been to VC, you really should go in this lifetime. It is so clean, weather is fabulous, the people are nice all the time and there is so much to see and do. Okay, let me qualify that - the homeless people cuss you out when you don't give them money, serious.ly We went to Granville Island, Gastown and Stanley Park, shopped on Robson, saw the library (an architectural gem). On Sunday we headed up to Whistler for 3 days of meetings. Yeah, I know. On Monday we toured the area and saw the Olympic venues, which made me wish I had watched the Olympics. We saw the bobsled/luge track, the ski jump and the biathlon track. We took a gondola up to Blackcomb and peak to peak gondola across to Whistler mountain and then down on a chair lift. Yes, I was pushed through my fear of heights. It is so quiet you can hear the wind and we saw a bear on the way down. Payday. After the meetings on Tuesday we enjoyed an adult beverage and watched this entertainment. What a different world. We met a 35 year old French guy from Japan who was spending 5 days riding the mountain. I loved seeing the passion in these guys, doing what they love. You could feel it when they rode through an S curve - how natural it felt to them and how much they loved it. The meetings in Whistler were also great and we (meaning the operators who do all the work) won a safety award with our group. I was proud. With all that being said, I can tell you it felt so good to get back home, yes, to the Houston heat and cuddle with my pups and be at home. I finished 3 different projects last night and went to bed at 3 am! Yikers. Still feel good today and hope to finish a couple of large projects - a blackboard tray, another printer block mirror and a vintage page wreath. Here's hoping!

Weekend Goodness

2010-07-13T00:08:00.012-05:00

It feels so great to start a project. It feels even better to finish it... all in a weekend. I've had these printers blocks and mirror for over a year and finally put it together on Saturday. Turned out just how I had it pictured in my mind. I saw one in a shop in the Heights a couple of years ago and thought, I could make one of those. What's a little time and distance... I think I will sell it - great way to start off an etsy shop, although its heavy. I have another mirror and more blocks - but boy it is hard to find a flat one (mirror). I love anything having to do with wood and print... yummy. I have several small printers trays, I found two in London that have Fleet St or London on them. Really love those. You'll hear in a minute the connection with printing and this weekend. Pretty interesting and cool.

I was also going to show you a little stitching I did tonight. I need to learn this stuff, mainly because I want to but also because I don't want to embaress myself in the Silver Bella stitching swap that I joined. It's an Anthropologie kitchen towel and Julia asked if I made it, so I figured I should doll it up somehow... I really like how they did the swaps this year. There are 23 of them and you had to sign up for them, max of 5 and you gave your preference. I signed up for 3 (don't ask me about the other two - I've been fighting with my computer and camera tonight to upload and its after midnight - I'm too tired to look it up). Anyway, I got in all three and I'm really excited.

Wendy H from Silver Bella last year just did an Around the World swap and we submitted them before July 4th so I can't wait to get my package. I lucked out and got France and I even learned a few things about the country! I didn't know much about Marie Antoinette but it was fun to search for pictures of her. There were 20 participants.. can't wait to see the rest. I really enjoy doing swaps, it makes you stretch a bit and I enjoy the repetitiveness of putting things together - its happy crafting to me.

Want to see some of my treasures from Glenflora? I found these two german bisque dolls that are a nice size and include hands/feet that were originally marked $50 each, I got them for $12.50. I think one of my Silver Bella class involves these dolls... I also found a beautiful wooden drawer from a cash register that I really had to have ... so glad I treated myself. And 8 small bottles for 25 cents each. A few linens, okay several linens - you know I can't help myself when pretty fabric is around. And about 4 1/2 yds of black toile. Too pretty to pass up for $18. I'm really going to have to learn how to sew... (oh, by the way, I sewed on the France tag - to make a pocket for the Marie doll - do you love the french script laundry markers? totally, my favorite)

This is one (okay, maybe second) of my favorite finds... its a criminal courts docket from Matagorda County - I should have taken a picture of the ledger pages... awesome. All kinds of petty crimes and the fines. What was funny was it was laying on the floor in a back room - kind of tossed to the side and yet, it is so absolutely cool looking inside. It's another Glen Flora find. I have to thanks Ho Ho (who could update her blog) for the introduction to GF. It's past Sugarland but not all the way to Victoria on 59 and now there's a Bucee's at the exit. This time, Sandy was in Florida and so I went across the way to Wharton and looked at their shops. There were several on the town square, but one totally stood out. Let's see, if I can remember the name of it. Oh yes, I googled it - History's Hardware. This place was unbelievable - it was like stepping out of a sandstorm into an oasis. First of the all, the shop is filled with oak, gorgeous rich handsome oak, tiger sawn, whatever kind - it is rich and it is gorgeous. And then they have fabulous drawers filled with hardware. Drawers of hardware that they've salvaged and cleaned and restored. And every other kind of antique you can think of - if its wood or attaches to wood, or cabinet cards - just all kinds of lovely items. He was a lawyer and this was their retirement dream. Unfortunately, he was involved in a serious auto crash last year and their life has taken a different turn. And as much as I was awe-struck by the shop and all of its lovely contents, it broke my heart because their pricing is super super expensive. Like kinda crazy, expensive. Like maybe you're smoking something, expensive. $245 for a photo album with cabinet cards. Okay, I'll quit being mean but really, I felt so bad for them because there's only a couple of people maybe in California that would pay that kind of pricing. It is still so worth a look. I wanted to buy something, anything but I just couldn't, in good conscience. In these thrifty times... when I'm cruising the MAM or Salvation Army, can I pay that kind of money...
And I left the best for last... the event that placed a smile on my face the entire weekend. I received a message on Facebook asking if I was a Big Sister back in the 80s. And I was and it was a sweet boy named Harold that I befriended at DePelchin. It was so sweet that he remembered me, okay not sweet but amazing. We chatted a bit on line and yes, I'm going to hook up and see him - he has a little boy of his own now. Oh, and you know what he does for a living? Printing... I even looked up DePelchin today and they have several great volunteer opportunities. (their webmaster must be 18 - look at the size of that font...)

Okay, one last pic for good measure...

Weekend

2010-06-27T23:39:00.003-05:00

Let me tell you what is cool. You have some friends over on Saturday and today you see all these hook ups on Facebook of everybody friending everybody else. I really like that. We had 10 people over on Saturday for some crafting goodness and other than the usual, good food to eat (spaghetti pie, taco dip, fruit salad, better than sex cake), laughter, stories, super talented people creating all kinds of amazing stuff - yeah, it was just your usual awesomeness. I had a blast and everybody else did too, so we're doing it again in August. I really tried to be low key about it and not get worked up over the preparations or any of the food. I totally forgot to make coffee - dang! It's funny how people see your world, Julia blogged about it here. I love it when she says, stealing religious medals just screams bad karma. There was incredible inspiration flowing - Michelle wants to make a lamp out of a metal rounder that I have - so I bought a lamp kit today. I love how friends can inspire you and motivate you. Sandy and Kristin and Cindy were creating some awesome layouts. I love the sharing part - Cindy's going to get together with Michelle and Harriet to do an record album using an LP, which is sooo right for Michelle, who loves music. Julia, who has decorating skills galore was moving prints from Etsy artist, L. Young right. then. and there. You gotta love that! We had a newbie in the group and it was fun to offer up some stash for her wall art.

Here's the recipe for the Taco Dip b Jeanne Davis (I forgot who she is - it was on TV a long, long time ago - all my recipes are from a long, long time ago)
12 oz jar of salsa
15 oz can of Hormel chili (no beans, please)
8 oz of cream cheese
16 oz. sour cream
2 c cheese
small can of diced black olives (because I like them)

Mix the salsa and chili together. Mix the cream cheese and sour cream together. Then layer it, starting with white, red and cheese - do that twice and throw the black olives in whenever the mood strikes you. Microwave and serve with tortilla chips. I put it in a 8 x 8 glass pan.

Oh, and things like this happens alot when you're scrapping with friends...Michelle saw the book, the Four Agreements and mentioned she was reading it. I told her how I overheard an old guy at the airport talking to a young married couple, giving them advice (whether they wanted it or not) and he said, Happiness is an inside job. At the end of the flight, I mentioned it to him and so he told me about the book and how much he believed in it. In essence it tells you to: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't take anything personally, Don't make assumptions and Always Do Your Best. Good stuff to ponder and produce as often as you can. Anyway, I digress. So not but 5 minutes later, Julia comes into the sunroom and is trying to help Keisha find a quote for her project and tells her. Yep. you guessed it. Freaky!

I'm going to see Wicked on Thursday - should be great fun. And then starts a nice long weekend. Can't wait! Here's to a good week for all of us.

Choices

2010-05-18T19:23:00.006-05:00

These thoughts have been circling through my brain lately and I should be telling you all about Inspired in North Carolina, but bear with me while I clear this junk out. I'll insert crafty pictures, how's that for a compromise?

This is the table in our journal class with CD Muckosky. It was very free spirited and playful and dirty. I'm not a dirty artist but it was fun to use stuff that isn't meant for art, to make different designs. Pam Garrison's journal is second and Sandy (my roomie's) mosaic piece in infancy.

Anyway, back on point. I deal with accidents - in my regular job and so I read ALOT of reports about how things went wrong, to figure out whether we're liable,which means we have to settle and pay money. I also like "lessons learned", which I find helpful (but not everybody does). But I'm always astonished when learning about accidents how one choice, made differently would cause a different end result. One lane change not made = no accident. That one choice you make, in a split second, that if made differently can sometimes alter a life - alot of lives really. I know all this sounds so damn deep and its really not. You probably think about it too. I guess its on my mind because I'm reading alot about the BP blowout and wondering what could have been different. Did you know they were celebrating 7 years of no lost time on that rig on the day of the accident? So ironic. Okay, back to the point. I made a choice last week not to lock my car and someone else made a choice to take things that didn't belong to them. Not big or expensive things but it wasn't theirs to take. And it has really made me feel so vulnerable and afraid, ALOT of the time when I'm out in public. Like, okay, so what's going to happen next? What other shocker is going to happen to me. You go along swimmingly in your little life, little bubble and then, boom. Its sort of funny because - you know all the stuff you've been bitching about? Well, I'll give you something to stress over! And really - IT WAS NO BIG DEAL. They didn't steal money or keys or credit cards, for God's sake. But they stole a piece of my peaceful little life from me and I want it back. I stand at the front door now before I go to bed and wonder if they're walking around right now - can I catch them at it again?
Anyway, its just affected me in a profound way. When I think about it, I guess it is a good faith tester. Am I going to be negative and cynical and think of all the dishonesty in the world or will I believe in people's goodness? That's been my talk, so I guess I gotta walk it now.
And really its simple. I let down my guard and so now I just need to be careful. But when do I trust and when do I protect??? Good question.

Class-y ME

2010-05-05T21:39:00.007-05:00

I take two suitcases when I go to a scrap workshop or art retreat (whatever you want to call it). One for clothes and one for supplies and stuff I bought. That one is still stuffed, lying open on the chair waiting to be unburdened. I haven't taken pictures of what I bought either... I don't always get around to that timely, do I, Megan? I can do commentary, though, if you'd like. The Chase Park Plaza has everything you would expect from a grand dame hotel. I had breakfast in the cafe in the morning but it was fairly empty - only Kaari Meng and a few others. There was an upscale grocery next door with a fine deli for lunch. My first class was with Kaari of French General to make a Charmant Bracelet. I'm not a jewelry wearer or a jewelry maker but I enjoyed the class and learning the proper way to open the ring-things and thread the pin-things. I added a Mary medal from my religious medal collection. There were two choices of color - sea foam and pink. Here's a picture of Pam's blue rendition. Its funny to look at other photos of Mary's studio and seeing things for the first time. There was just SO MUCH TO SEE and take in. There was also some incredible talent in the joint. I mean raw, palpable talent like Debbie Dusenberry of Curious Sofa. I saw two of her projects and they were jaw dropping. It is not - oh lets think of something nice to say about someones project - its eye blinking - lets take it all in stuff.

The four classes were 3 hours in length and in between the two classes on Friday were 3 lectures of an hour each. You could attend two and have lunch during the off-hour. I went to a legal one about copyright and trademark given by Mary's former lawyer, Emmett. It was interesting and alot of people had questions - people who are starting businesses. The second lecture was given by a young art student, "Event Coordinator" for Renegade Fairs which is a big event in Chicago. I don't know anything about them but he was funny, in a comical kind of way but not being mean spirited. He was twenty something and said "like" about eight thousand times. Renegade Fairs seem like the Renaissance Festival meets Art Car Parade or something like that. Okay, now, don't anybody come back and say ... YOU DON"T KNOW RENEGADE? No. I don't. But its coming to Austin in a couple of weeks if you want to get to know it.

My second class of the day was Matthew Mead of the magazine, Flea Market Style, along with his wife, Jen. It was a cool idea for a class. He brought a bevy of props from his stash and we got to choose about 5 or so and set them up for camera shots. He then photoshopped them a bit (using mostly watercolor filter) and printed them and we placed them in a small jewelry boxes that you could attach in any kind of configuration.
I had two favorite props from this class. One is a vintage dachshund flower frog that I had seen in his magazine and fell in love and began feverishly googling "dachshund flower frog" to try to find one. Ha. No such luck. I offered my first born child for it and he said no, which is probably a good thing since there is no such beast. He did say that he may have some made... which would be cool. I also loved the little girl vase. Sweet.

There was a 20-something cutie in our class who made this... I liked the style of the set up and the newsprint. It was "out of the box", so to speak.

And then there was D Dusenberry's rendition of Printer Art. Do you see the difference? Its art, people, lets face it.

This is Lainey from Missouri, she works at Hallmark and she's kooky and fun and was in two of my classes. She kept calling me Mary's sister LOUDLY so that other people would hear and then later ask me, are you really Mary's sister? I do see a resemblence and actually later two other people asked me the same question. I need to email Lainey.

It was nice because you weren't whipped at the end of the day - with just two classes. It was relaxed, nobody was rushing around. There were 130 people at the event (or rather 130 students), which was nice. Some classes were almost filled but not packed. That evening we met up for dinner with my sweet friend, Barb R from St. Louis who attended Scrap Etc. with us a few years back and also Scrap St. Louis for the past two years. She is a good egg, as my Mother would say. Easy to be around, interesting to talk to and just downright nice. We walked to dinner at an Italian place with Carolyn from Atlanta and Debe from the Woodlands and enjoyed a relaxing evening, first with some wine in their room and this fabulous cheese from St. Louis called palermo or something... What was it called, Carolyn? We ended the evening, running through the rain from the Cupcakery, drenched but smiling. Justine and her sister in law, Claudia knocked on my door and we visited for an hour or so - delivering her set of Year of Tags from the swap, since she missed us the night before. It was better that way though - visiting with both of them and getting to know them better. I met some really great people at this event. I'm closing up shop for the night. Suitcase still needing to be unpacked and desk covered with junk. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get the photos taken. Oh and so, tomorrow, remind me to tell you about Dee Foust. Yes, THAT Dee Foust. There really is a person named Dee Foust. I didn't know there was a person named Mackenzie Childs!

Meeting ME in St. Louis

2010-05-03T22:40:00.010-05:00

Thursday morning I flew to St. Louis with Pam N and Debe L for the first Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Workshop. We stopped at the new Red L ead location after dropping Debe off at the hotel and shopped a bit. We ran into Shelly, Jemilla and Rene (who created the gorgeous January tag for our Year of Tags swap) at the store. It was so fun to finally meet Miss January or Miss June! The hotel, Chase Park Plaza is in a beautiful part of St. Louis, across from a park and within walking distance of little shops and cafes. Its old and grand and was such a nice treat. I went solo and didn't have to share a bed with a dog hog (Killer). It's the little things...

After the shopping, I hurried back to Maryland St so I could do my tour of Mary's studio with tag swappers, Alison, Jane and Catherine. The building is very unassuming and you have no idea where you are, except for the cute Anne Estelle dressed girl greeting you at the staircase. The offices have amazing natural light (but, of course!) and I managed to snag about 70 photos. You can see the rest of them on Picasa here.

This greets you at the reception desk.

Here is where Mary sits and creates.

Loved all the colored pencil options and copic markers. And did I mention the light... We got a full tour of the studio, no stone left unturned and were only politely asked not to take photos of the 2011 calendar markups. There is a small, side room with special lighting to check print colors. Amazing. Notes written on proofs to correct this bit of red or that shade of white. Loved it.

After about 45 minutes at the studio, it was back to the hotel for registration and then a cocktail reception from 6-8- with shopping! And visiting with Mary and the teachers. It was fun to find the rest of the swappers and they convinced me to get the tags ready to not wait until Friday - and let's swap Thursday night. Unfortunately, we missed one person - one sweet, adorable person, Justine Dennen who was a sweetheart and came to my room Friday night, along with her sister-in-law Claudia. All was not lost - we had a very nice visit. I really enjoyed meeting and visiting with everyone and felt like a dunce without a name tag. (no excuses) Without knowing it, there was a HUGE Texas contingent - we kept running into Texans like Kim from Katy or Donna Donna from Wimberley/Austin. Jen Duncan had a late arriving flight and I loved how she stepped off the elevator, Mary greeted her and I distinctly heard Mary say - Oh, Jen Duncan - I read your blog all the time! Wow - what a trip. And of course she does, because Jen is so uber talented. We had a nice dinner that night at the Blue Moon (okay, maybe it was called Bar Louie but there was a sign in the window that said Blue Moon - honest!). That was the end of day 1. Be back tomorrow for the first day of classes. And I have to take photos of the goodies I purchased.

New BFF

2010-05-02T21:35:00.004-05:00

After this weekend. Just saying....

Mary looks like the cat that ate the canary... did I say something goofy (again)?

Mary Engelbreit, me and Muffy

Will post full details with pictures tomorrow.

Come with Me

2010-04-05T21:40:00.009-05:00

Friday was a super day, spent in Warrenton with my gal pal, Vicky wandering the aisles at Cole's and beyond. Time was short spent junk shopping because there was a crawfish boil waiting... but I managed to drop a bit of cash and also act like a photog/artiste by taking these snaps at The Seed Box. Brian and wife, Meloney are super talented, a bit famous and set fabulous vinettes with their wares:

Check out the paint brushes...

Vicky would mention that I was drooling during my chat, but I couldn't help myself. The man is gorgeous. They will be at Urban Market next month. After that I picked up some beautiful lace and trims from a very sweet California lady, Dianne. We spent alot of time picking out pristine white lace shams and a regal grain sack from Anne Gebhard and her husband, Fred, the Germans. The grain sack has a red stripe and regal crown on top. LOVE it. They spoke German when they were wishing we'd just pay up and go... They come to Urban Market also. And while I had alot of laughs with Vicky, she made me sit down and eat... when I could be sifting through some junk. So not fair. But loads of fun.

At some point, I hope you get to go to Warrenton - perhaps next fall. I went to Round Top years ago and didn't like it. I didn't get the part about driving from tent to tent for some really expensive thousanddollar type expensive furniture and stuff. And then I found Warrenton and its junk. And I love looking through junk. If you could only get paid to do it...

I do have quite a stash of french monogram ribbon with initials or numbers, in red or black ribbon with white stitching. I'm thinking about bringing it to ME to sell or perhaps Inspired. I scored more on ebay today.

We found a lovely field of wildflowers right outside of Industry on 159. Unbelievable pinks and reds:

I found a few purple bottles and a then some handsome skeleton keys that I want to marry. I should take a photo of the bits of linen, lace and trims I found at Dianne's. Perhaps tomorrow, I'm working on my One Word Journal swap for Inspired and also my Year of Tags swap for Mary Engelbreit Home Companion workshop which is about 3 weeks away. Yeah!

Both

2010-03-05T22:49:00.004-06:00

It's been a tough week on a lot of different layers (or levels). I went in for a crown this morning and got two, but somehow I'm not feeling lucky minus the $1000 I handed over to the thief/dentist. I am grateful for dental insurance. Work has been super busy but I was able to hire a temp for 6 months and she started Thursday - she's super with a great imagination - she said, I want to help you get "caught up". What's that? I have a sort throat and congestion, the "crud" that everyone else has. It would have been nice to stay in bed for a couple of days. Remind me to enjoy that when I retire - being able to take care of yourself when you're sick. I've had some difficulties with my Mother's care lately. She's more confused and said she couldn't live with me anymore. When I asked for a reason, she assured me it was a very good one but she just couldn't tell me right then. Funny but sad. Last night I came home after dinner with friends and she was sitting on the couch waiting for me, not sure what to do with the dogs? So I've added hours to her care-givers schedule. I need help with this.

One of my favorite things to do is lay down on her bed and she strokes my hair and we talk about everything. My brother, her brothers. Last night she talked about how much she loved living in Washington, DC and how her brother, Joe (a policeman) didn't want her to move to Chicago, so she didn't. And how her boss, Mr. Fitch told her - Miss Brinsko, the President is going to be coming by the office building later in a parade and why don't you go outside and watch and wave. She just was so shocked that he suggested "goofing off" during work hours. She tells the story of the married man asking her to dinner. She was shocked! Life in the 40s with a good Catholic girl. She had alot of trouble finding words last night, mumbling and stumbling through the conversation. I knew what she meant or wanted to say, she just had trouble lining it up and letting it leave her mouth. But the conversations are oh so sweet and gentle. I love them so much. I'm afraid of the day when we don't have them anymore. Do you think like that? Wish I didn't waste today worrying about the future. I hate that old wart, worry.

I heard a guy at the airport proclaiming all kinds of answers about marriage and relationships on my last trip. He said, some people are looking for a husband or wife to make them feel happy. But happiness is an inside job. I was swimming in a sea of happiness last night.

How 'Bout Dem Saints

2010-02-08T21:11:00.003-06:00

Its good to boring and simple. Please note there will be no pictures of the fabulous finds I made at the Urban Market yesterday. Because I didn't go. Nope - didn't leave the house at 8:45 am to see what I could find... First time ever to miss one. I know, but I'm not bummed. I was sick Saturday. Now that did kind of bum me out a bit because the sun was shining and my boss claims it was the prettiest day of the entire year. (why do men say mean things like that?). Anyway, I laid in bed with a cold. No, not H1N1 or anything exotic, just a sucky cold. I couldn't drag myself out of the house and I missed a flea market in my own town.

Thought alot about my brother and my Dad last night after the Saints won. Good stuff. Wish they were still around - I know they were loving it. When my brother was in the hospital fighting the battle for his life, I asked the Saints for an autographed football and they sent one. Made my brother happy - he always believed in that team.

So the weekends gone and I have a few coins in my pocket. And I didn't run out of gas on the way to work or on the way home during the driving rainstorm that ensued this afternoon. That left my backyard damn near flooded. No kidding, I was shocked when I got home and worried a bit that more storms were really going to flood the dang house. With all this dreariness though, I'm pretty happy with my simple, boring life. Because if I was some kind of rockstar designing blogger, I would have had to gotten my happy ass out of the house and done all kinds of things I wouldn't have felt like doing. And while I was backing out of the driveway, something like this might have happened. It seems to happen alot to these Big Star Bloggers like Heather and Amy... Simple is good. I like simple. I think I'll go now and start selecting mini workshops for Inspired. Yep. That's just what I'm going to do. Sorry about no pictures of great stuff I bought this weekend. But we're boring like that.

Lots to Share

2010-01-30T08:02:00.005-06:00

Its a cold Saturday morning in Houston and I am just feeling so happy at the prospects of a weekend at home with nice little things to do, like a massage and pedicure and breakfast with a brother. I'm determined to get a little crafting in - maybe sew on my Susan Edmonton project from 2009 Inspired (thanks, Jeanne for the reminder!) And as I'm sitting here sipping my flavored coffee and I look down and see this.... Junior. Is he not the cutest? Do you think he minds as a boy - laying on a pink poodle blankie? I added this pillow and blankie next to my chair because he normally naps on a blue afghan in the sunroom. And its so far away and he's all lonely in there so I came up with this solution. Good stuff, huh! Junior has so much energy when I get home that I have to play with him for a bit. He really has energized Killer, who is going to be 11 in a few short months. I love my pups. I really don't understand how anyone can exist without them.

Okay, so want to see my Pam Garrison impression? I am using a little linen napkin I found at an estate sale last week and started a little bit of stitching, while on a plane! I am excited to get started and expand my horizons. Y'all, I don't even know how to do a french knot... okay - that is on my to do list today to look up... thank you, Internet. See those little red numbers... I bought a HUGE stash of that from a lady in Belgium on ebay. And then I found single initials... I have been searching the world over for double monograms but I am very happy with the singles - that will be a separate post. I really think this is all leading up to an etsy shop opening. Am I the only fool for French red script ribbon or tape as they call it?

Junior is snoring... One eye opened - as if he knew I was talking about him...

I took a break last week at lunch and popped into an estate sale. Well, actually two. On Friday we were driving to meet the Finance gang for lunch and I spotted a neon green ESTATE SALE sign on the corner. I talked it up enough to get our male driver to take a look-see. And YES, folks, we have converted another to the joys of estate sale shopping. And I think I should get 2 points because it's a male! Here is what I found - some linens and a pin cushion lady and blonde bisque doll head. I wanted those three birds because Jean Carey, (the lady that owned my house for 50 years before me) had one buried in her yard and it sits on my window sill. These must have been grocery store give-aways in the 50s. Or something like that...

The linens and books are from an estate sale and the old monopoly game pieces are from ebay. When I came home from St. Kitts this week there were 5 packages waiting to be opened - I love it! Imagine all the things you can make with those monopoly goodies.

Another package included all these bits and bobs of ribbon and laces. OH my word, it has some gorgeous embroidered ribbon included - total score. Is this silly but I have a hard time busting up a bag like this... I want to keep it in tact, to remember where I got it all. I think this was an ebay buy. I've also been buying here and there on shopgoodwill and I've collected about 6 or 8 vintage celluloid photo albums. A white creamy one arrived this week - no photos but gorgeous pages with flowers. I haven't figured out a display for all of them... But I love them. I will work on that and get back to you - maybe next weekend.

Is anyone have a birdie in the back of their brain thinking, damn, this girl has a shopping addiction? Well, go ahead. Think it. There are alot worse things to be addicted to, just ask Tiger. I'm Catholic and have lots of guilt on my own, don't you worry!

I met lots of nice people at the board meeting and dinners in St. Kitts. Its always a bit lonesome at first since I'm solo. I "had lunch" with the CFO of Anthropologie. Yes, that Anthropologie. Well, it was more like I stalked him and manuevered my way into his table at lunch, only to be trumped by another woman who took the seat in between us. I was trying not to be too overbearing... So much for that. The second night was a lovely restaurant, Beach House which was gorgeous place with great food but not alot of conversation. But the last night, I had a great time visiting with Natalie, who owns Stonewall Kitchen and Sheryl and Sandy from Cherry Hills, NJ. We discovered later that Sandy was a bone marrow donor for his brother, who also didn't make it.

I'm cold, perhaps a shower will warm me up... Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Sometimes You're a Jellyfish

2010-01-01T10:30:00.006-06:00

says my friend, Vicky. She's right. Right now I'm just floating along in life. I've taken steps towards freedom but not there yet. Soon enough. I started reading everyone's end of 2009 post and when I looked at my photos, I hadn't realized how 2009 was the year of Travel. If I don't make Elite status this year, I never will. Oh the Places You'll Go: Grand Cayman, New Orleans, ROMA, Netherlands, Chicago, Boston, Bahamas (twice), Long Beach - all for work. I fell in love with Rotterdam and Driehuis. That doesn't include our great summer vacation when we started in New Orleans and had the most fabulous grilled oysters at Dragos, lazed on the beach in Destin and Seaside and drove through antique stores in Mississippi, and shopped at Canton's First Monday. My kind of week, for sure. Some of the best things in life.

This great craft of scrapbooking took me to St. Louis for Scrap St. Louis. With some of the best peeps ever and great projects and teachers (Cheryl Mezzetti) - Jeanne, Nan, Cathy Doyle, Kathy N, soon-to-be momma Kathleen, Melissa, Barb, Julianne, Tanya. Oh, I love all those people. North Carolina for Inspired where I. fell. in.love. with Susan Edmonton's sewing. And Carol Wingert's project, not to mention spending time with more great friends, Ronda. For the fourth straight year, Phoenix was fantastic with my favorite Canadians, Heather and Charleen and non Canadians, Ronda and Tanya and Nancy. I can still feel the energy in the room when Tim Holtz's lamp went for $29k. It is so great to be a part of that experience. And rounding out the year with a fantastic Silver Bella and three of the best teachers, Rebecca Sower, Charlotte Lyons and Pam Garrison - what a trifecta! Spending time with some great people there - old friends and the serendipity of dinner with new friends. Good times. Oh and Swaps! I did my first swaps ever - Year of Tags, Saint Tags and Alphabet Tags - I was proud of what I created.

With shopping I had fun at Round Top, all 3 of the Urban Markets and Canton and got to go to the Long Beach flea for the first time ever - loved it, of course. Found some great stuff at MAM and the Guild also. Oh, and my new collection, which is vintage photo albums, thanks to shopgoodwill and ebay.

And Thanksgiving was so memorable because my sweet niece, Nancy made an incredible meal as good as any chef. We were blessed.

My favorite You Tube of the year was Pink Glove Dance. I watched it a gazillion times.

I want to hold on to all of those great memories because the year ended so badly. My marriage ended and that's not what I wanted. What can you do but live and learn? There were some great lessons and great experiences. So, I'm ready for 2010! Bring it.

Silver Bella Show-n-Tella

2009-11-16T13:36:00.005-06:00

I'm having my lunch and starting to ruminate over and relive the past four days in Omaha at Silver Bella. For these kinds of events I usually say, "its all good" and there may be a few things that don't necessarily suit me but overall, I find them worthwhile and enjoyable. And I can say that I don't try to "dollarize" the event, i.e. did I get my moneys worth or enough freebies. I don't do that about my travel either. It's the experience that I want and I got alot of it this year. Good times!

Like Julia's trip to London (we missed you, Julia!), I'm going to try to spend the week writing down my memories of Silver Bella. I'm not sure where to start, there's alot of ground to cover: vendor faire, projects, teachers, swaps, aprons, social life & Omaha, keynote speaker Jo Packham. Why don't I start there, with Jo. Yes, she makes you feel like you can just call her Jo, that she's your friend and she's a regular... well, you know. It was unfortunate that her speech was cut short (because of time) because we could have listened to her stories for hours. which she offered! She created the book and magazines, Where Women Create. She is just a downright lovely person even as we fretted over which Rebecca Sower journal to purchase at the vendor faire. And even with her kind personality, when she gave her keynote speech and talked about helping women and promoting women... I was all over that! Especially women that are young or less fortunate than us. Side story - I was at my bank drive-through one Saturday morning and saw two older hispanic women dumpster diving. It broke my heart. On the flip side, though I was proud of them because they weren't standing on the corner asking for a hand out. Typical of women, we are going to go - get it done - one way or the other. I'm sure they didn't understand a word of my rambling but I shared a small bit of cash I took out of the bank with them - because as women, we owe that to each other. Okay, sorry about the side track. Jo was just clear and pure in her message and it was great to meet her and get to know more about her. Corny but she had us all at "hello" and she spoke straight to the heart and had me reaching for a tissue when it was all said and done.

My favorite project was Rebecca Sower's cigar box because it had 3 elements: a top string of beads or buttons and middle section of 12 inchie blocks that were a bit funky and out of my comfort zone with their "ruffle" and a bottom vingette of stick and flowers. I love how she incorporates nature (with sticks) in her projects. And she is just a kind and down to earth person herself. I also loved her hodge podge journal.

The weather was cool and refreshing, especially at night when we walked to dinner. I loved the cooler than Houston temperatures and the downtown area near the hotel is quaint. Great restaurants and vibrancy. Friday night, we had an impromptu dinner at M's Pub, based on a passerby's recommendation. WOW. Fabulous, unusual menu (I had a steak). Debe and I were headed out and she added two friends (Sabrina and Janet) and then we ran into two Bellas (Betsy & Carol) that were stumped on where to eat... and it just turned into a great meal with fun conversation and laughs. Betsy's sister, Kelly joined us but please note I have to call her Becky (after her idol, R. Sower). They were all newbies so it was good to hear their experience and see if from a different vantage point.

I've run out of time today but I'll be back tomorrow. I have unpacked one suitcase, one to go. And need to take photos of my vendor purchases. Hmmmmmm. Yummmy!

I was Thrifty!

2009-10-18T22:58:00.008-05:00

What a fantastic weekend... With this kind of weather - it had to be good. Started off a bit rocky, but leveled out quite nicely. I had a chance to download some photos from Boston and thought I would share this one of Boston Harbor from my hotel. I resisted photoshopping this because I thought it was just spectacular the way it was. What do you think? I had the chance to cross the harbor in a water taxi every day - what a fun way to travel.

I also made it back to the International Quilt Show on Saturday for a couple of hours. I couldn't believe it because a sewing box that I saw on Wednesday night - was waiting for me! Now - how often does that happen - something you pass up is there when you go back to retrieve it! I also found some great twill ribbon - with the alphabet and icons. Cute stuff.

I do have a new obsession and I'm probably the last Bella on earth to know this... but I found Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. Susan Gower is from Rhode Island but goes to Brimfield and the quilt shows. Oh my word, I restrained myself from the $12 ribbon but I DID have to have a few other items. Look at that dachshund ribbon - I have never seen dachshund ribbon before. The cushion above (spool silks) is a lavender sachet that smells amazing. I've been keeping at my office and it is so relaxing and just beautiful to look at. Susan sells the image and you can make your own. I wish you could see the buttons she used - very unusual. Apparently - she's famous - just google her and you'll find an article in Country Living, on Kaari Meng's blog, she's at Brimfield. Oh my - her booth is all color coordinated and just amazing. I have been on a mad search for vintage French embroidered ribbon with monogram in red script. Yes, Susan had some but not my initials. Oh well - I'm not complaining - I found enough goodies to make me happy. Afterwards - DeWayne and I went to Mardi Gras for dinner and I took my bag into the restaurant just so I could touch, feel and play with it again...

Here are the fabrics I bought - not many - but I only make fabric pages for scrapbooks. I didn't look at alot of fabric at the show but loved what I found.

I am so thrilled - I've finished all three swaps for Silver Bella. And I loved two of them... No - really I loved all three but for some reason, the Year of Tags stumped me. I spent weeks working and reworking my tag until finally, Saturday night, it came together. And now I'm excited and proud of what I made... I can't wait to see the rest. I also participated in A to Z swap and Saint Tags. It's my first time to participate in a swap so I hope mine are up to par - especially, Silver Bella par... Here's a sneak peak. I got to use the new Stars embossing folder with my Cuttlebug - I found it on ebay where the shipping was reasonable.

Okay - past my bedtime. Good night! I'll be in southern California this week for a couple of days - if you need me. For work - quick trip, there and back. Thanks to the slow economy, I get to stay at the Fairmont Newport Beach. See, there's a bright side to everything.

Warrenton

2009-10-01T22:22:00.006-05:00

Okay, I have roughly 16 minutes before my bedtime... ha ha remember those days? Our parents were strict and we did chores during commercials and we had a bedtime... Anyhoo...Let me get this off my chest before I start. I really want this ~ No. ~ stamp that is in the Kenner Road kit this month. I really do - it looks cool. But as you can see it is limited edition KR so I'd have to pay the kit cost and I'm just not into it... vintage or not. Argh. I guess if that's the only thing I can bitch about, then I'm doing okay. But, I really want it...

I went to a post CE crop last weekend at By Design and I have to say I am just loving the direction that that store is moving in. She's known as the Heidi Swapp pink store... but she's really evolved and now she carries alot more one of a kind stuff from smaller providers. I enjoyed just taking my time and looking at all the goodies. She bags them up nice and small or prints House of 3 designs - so you don't have to mess with the digital stuff. And her displays are interesting - the kind that make me wish I had the stuff in my house. It's just nice to have a store thats a bit different. She said that some customers were not digging it at all but I sure am. The crop was nice but I felt a little out of place since I didn't hang with those girls at CE. I should spend more time with them next year... Cool creative stuff going on, especially Tove's Halloween banner.

So yesterday I decided to use my last vacation day and go up to Round Top. I'm glad I did because it wasn't crowded at all and there was no rain (its predicted to rain this weekend). Unfortunately it was blazing hot and I got a sunburn on the back of my neck! Is that crazy or what! The heat really wore me out... Round Top means different things to different people. You have the high end expensive stuff that designers like Cote de Texas shop. Lovely to look at thousands of dollars, not made for this girl. Then you have the vintage notions for crafters to actually use. There is one shop that is run by a young couple and they have BOXES and boxes of things - pick a subject and they have pounds of it. Scrabble letters, game pieces, typewriter keys, all kinds of alphabets... I just love rummaging through. I didn't buy alot and I'll take pics in the morning if I don't wake up too late. (you know, the bedtime thing). I found a cute small chalkboard for $2, crystal prisms including purple ones! I couldn't pass up two different bags of vintage white buttons for $5 and $10. The second is a quart size bag full - I'll take a pic next to my current stash... I really didn't need more but... just couldn't help myself. One of the first booths I hit was a guy who had paper goods from a Minnesota estate and - man, it was some good stuff... but you know how when you first arrive some place... you're all antsy and can't wait to SEE IT ALL. That was me - so I pick up a few pieces but I had to get moving... I don't know... I don't have any connection to Minnesota so it wasn't pulling at me. Ah well, what the hell. I was too tired to go back and get this house made from windows, similar to Linda Smith of Canton. They were much simpler but still pretty for $160. Wish I had taken one home...

My best find at RT was monogram embroidery ribbon with the initial P... at a european linen store at LaBahia... similar to this. (sold out) They only had a handful of choices and I was searching each one... thinking of friends! Oh, I have been on a mad search for this stuff but it cannot be found... (edited to add: OMG, I think the ribbon got left in the bag and thrown away and its garbage day! I've got to go see...)

Well, its the first of October so I'm going back on my no purchase diet. Wish me luck. I'm home for the entire month... can you believe that! I have two Silver Bella swaps to finish this weekend. Looking forward to it!

Guess Who's Going To See Mary!

2009-09-24T06:25:00.000-05:00

I am! in St. Louis next April! I'm so very excited to get in the classes that I wanted to take with Charlotte Lyons, Matthew Mead and Kaari Meng. Wendy Addison, Linda Solovic and Claudine Hellmuth are also teaching , plus a few others. I am so thrilled to be going to an event that has such diverse talent for teachers. Just the whole notion of the event gets me excited because I think it will be like no other. I thought it was interesting that they are offering two lectures also. I'm taking the Copyright class and Artistic License. I figure - why not! Mary was the keynote at last year's Silver Bella and this year's Scrap St. Louis. So, the thought of being able to tour her studio - and having been a fan for - forever - I'm just ecstatic. Can you tell? I've never stayed at the hotel, Chase Park Plaza. And by the way, they just reduced the room rates at the hotel - the new rate is $170 - whoo hoo! If you want to go too, you can sign up here. Drop me a note and let me know you're going.

We started a Yahoo! Group for the event, it can be found here. I'm hoping to participate in a swap or two before the event...

Bahhhhhstan

2009-09-21T22:31:00.004-05:00

I can't help myself when it comes to Paper Source. The quality and color of the envelopes are heaven to me and as I selected my colors - I had every intention of checking my inventory before I went to Boston, but it doesn't look like I have but one duplication of red envelope #9. I'm going to print this page and mark my inventory - really I am. I usually treat myself to a little prize and this time I picked up some chalkboard wallies. I love chalkboard. I still have a large mirror outside to convert to a chalk board. Lots of projects... always.

Boston weather was beautiful, as was the location of the Hyatt. I arrived Wednesday and left early Sunday morning and while it was a bit windy at times near the water, the weather was generally in the 60s. Hyatt Harborside has some great fire pits on the patio and we all sat outside one night, enjoying the fire and the evening. I took a water taxi to get to downtown and enjoyed some Italian food and then Mike's Pastries in the North End. OMG, they had some pistachio cookies that were amazing. I shopped on Newbury Street and on Charles Street and found some fantastic pens and turquoise embossing powder at Rugg Road. I walked around Copley Place and took the subway back to catch the water taxi. I had dinner one night at Union Oyster House, which was very touristy - you can skip that!

I'm getting very excited about Round Top in two weeks! Very. After looking at this schedule, I decided to take off Wednesday and spend the day there. I may go back on Saturday if I haven't spent all my money, errr, I mean - seen enough of the sites! Oh c'mon... we're talking about Round Top, twice-a-year-filled-with-the-good-stuff, Round Top not HL.

And Saturday we're having a post-Creative Escape crop at By Design - I won't be missing this one! I'm not too sure what I'll work on.. probably a Silver Bella swap or the beautiful canvas I won on Carol Wingert's blog. Yep! That was me! Lucky girl, me!

Sorry I have no pics... I looked at using one from Flickr but it just feels too creepy - like you're stealing... So until I get a memory card for my replacement Sony camera - we'll just have to use our imaginations.

The Unfamous

2009-08-31T21:34:00.005-05:00

It was another great time at Creative Escape in Arizona this year. I feel a bit jaded because I don't share the new love enthusiasm that I keep reading about. Instead its kind of like old married love - sure and steady and warm. That's good too. It was great to see my friends - it is so easy to be with them and laugh. We had dinner Thursday night at Macaroni Grill and laughed. Gosh, did we laugh. Wednesday we shopped like raving maniacs at Melrose Vintage, Creative Quest, then Mystic Paper (my new favorite), then SAS Fabrics. The ribbon is like $0.25 a yard at SAS... just unbelievable. I spent $11. We also went to Scrapbooks etc. - the flagship store for the event. On Thursday morning we went to ANOTHER SAS and Scrap Happy Sisters... Am I forgetting anything? No, I don't think so. I didn't really buy that much. Really, I didn't. It felt good too - to be choosy.

Thursday afternoon was the trunk show and technique boutique. It was alot simpler this year, thank heavens. I was intrigued with the chipboard number that we painted black and sanded, for Paula & Deb's 7 Gypsies class. With the 4 brads added and the swatch of _____ behind it (I can't think of the stuff - nubby heavy fabric) - anyway - it looks way cool. That wall art project turned out to be my fav. But not by much because Lynette Carroll's wall art was just my style. Loved it too.

Sorry for the interruption but I realized, before the night got any later, I needed to pick my classes for Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion workshop. Registration is tomorrow at lunch, so I wanted to have that all figured out. Looks so interesting - artist of fabulous caliber and different ranges. It will be quite nice to attend. It's going to be an expensive day tomorrow... Donna Downey's Inspired also registers... AND we were able to register for 2010 Creative Escape after the event closed on Saturday night. Whew. That's alot of workshops all at once!

Okay - back to the event at hand. Friday we started off with the 7 Gypsies wall art project and like I said - loved it. I really sucked at taking photos and I'm having a hard time finding photos from others so just bear with me. Our second class was a bird book with Heather Bailey. I was disappointed that she didn't do a fabric project. I think she really missed the mark here - but what can you do? After that we had Tim Holtz and of course, it was genius and fun and we learned something about Ranger products. And our last class for the day was Carol Wingert. Picture is blurry - my bad. I loved her explanation of how on Christmas morning her daughter made tea for her - the tea bag was this shape and she had just a couple of days to design her project and poof - there it was. I also liked the other ideas for the project - with feet or Christmas tree inside. I could definitely make another one - and will, once I finish these 8! I was kicking myself when I saw kits of hers that I haven't bought. Book of Lists. Oh, too cute. I wish there was a black market for Carol Wingert kits... ha. There was a nice sit down dinner Friday night and Tanya and I slipped off to the pool and jacuzzi for a relaxing bit.

Back at it again on Saturday with Lynette Carroll's black wall art, that I just loved. Loved her style and her teaching and the project. Nice surprise, because I knew nothing about her before the event. She's an Aussie living in Boston (where I'm going in two weeks!). Our next project was a cute CE book with lots of Debby in it. I made an Anthropologie album for my friend, Heather who celebrated a birthday a few days before mine. Fun stuff! In the afternoon we had Marah and even with her drill sargent manners, I liked her - she was take charge and bossy but charming. I slipped out of class to get some class kits that went on sale at 2:45. And I scored 5 Tim Holtz! Yikers... The Chicago girls needed them and I didn't want them to be disappointed. We missed you, Jeanne! Our final class was Heidi and it was cute and fun to make - easy too. I don't know if I'll make it but it was definitely cute!

And then it was time for dinner. With dessert first of course. And lots of free gifties - of which, my roomie, Ronda won one! Very nice scrapbook frame box - forgot who makes it but it was very cool and I thought about sneaking it into my suitcase, but didn't. I bought several raffle tickets for the lamps, especially Pam Blacks. Oh man oh man, did I want to win that lamp. Our new friend, Shelly Berg did, so I can't be too sad. I also bid on Tena Springers and Heather Bailey's - but no such luck. The auction for Heidi Swapp's lamp yieled $8200. Our gang thought for sure it would all be under $4,000 - what with the economy and all. Ha! fooled us! Tracy Keith from By Design was bidding heavily for it - I really wish she could have brought it to Houston. But it wasn't meant to be. The bidding for Tim Holtz's lamp started fast and furious and ended at $29,000. Wowza. I think the word was vahklemped - he was teary eyed and speechless. It was really magical to be in the room and witness it. Just like last year. A girl from SF Bay area bid it, Nicole, who we met Thursday morning during breakfast. There were 6 girls in their group, first timers - outgoing and friendly. So that's $45,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And as a person who lost a brother to Hodgkin's disease, I was glad for this! Sorry but I don't remember the Key Note speaker's name. She was pretty and funny and interesting but ... well, I just wasn't in the mood much. So, I'm glad she got off the couch and ran a 1/2 marathon for her friend and we'll leave it at that.

It was another great event, I'm glad I went, I'm glad I spent the bucks and I signed up for 2010. I feel lucky being a 5 timer! And now I'm a sleeping girl because I'm off to bed. Nighty night.

Birthday Celebration.

2009-08-31T21:14:00.005-05:00

I had a birthday... on the 24th... it was fun. I was surprised and had alot of nice people at my house that are also called family. And we ate alot of nice food called spaghetti pie that is an old family recipe. And I opened alot of nice presents. And then I went to CE. I didn't get any pictures because a) it was MY birthday b) I left my camera on the plane from Rome to London. Yeah. I suck. But so does the douchebag that didn't turn the camera in when they found it. I must be getting old because a while back the word "db" used to offend me. Oh well. I'm a year older.

I'm making this story short because I want to talk about CE... But I also want to remember the surprise. My husband woke me up at 8:45 am on Sunday with the offer of birthday breakfast at the Egg and I. Who can turn that down??? Not me, that's for sure. I love that place. We went to ACE Hardware and wasted an hour or so and then not one, but two Half-Priced Books. Right then and there I should have realized something was up - for my husband to say, let's go to another store - across town. But I was unsuspecting... And on the way home, I said, let me run into Lane Giant and get some unmentionables... I'll just be a minute - wait in the car. And when we pulled onto our street I noticed my brother's car still at my house. He visits my Mom on Sundays so I was excited that he was still there... And then I noticed Nancy's car and then my stepdaughter's car... and then it was Oh! duh! There's a party for me... Yipee. It was very nice to be waited on - and my sweet niece did all the work of preparing not one but TWO Spaghetti Pies and a cake and fixins... My husband surprised me with a gift card from Crate and Barrel for a kitchen table - whoot! and a baby Dell so I can sit on the sofa and read blogs. Secretly, I think he got the computer so he could look at gun stuff... but we'll just keep that to ourselves. Okay - birthday over... on to Phoenix! Oh, here's the only photo...

Fair is Fair

2009-08-09T08:42:00.007-05:00

I had several coffee-spitting laughs over Julia's blog post adventure of obtaining an acceptable passport photo (she's going to London this year). And in my haste, I said I would post my passport photo if she would post hers.

She did so now I will, being a girl of her word.

I get a bit of a pass though, since the holographic is on top of my face...

I'd rather post a photo of me when I was 6, so I will.

So Linda, its your turn. Have a good Sunday everybody! We're going to Mardi Gras Cafe on Shepherd for a birthday luncheon for my mother's 86th birthday. Only problem is I have to find something non-fried there to eat! Good luck.

R&R

2009-08-08T07:27:00.010-05:00

I just returned from a 10 day business trip to Roma and Rotterdam. Yeah. Sometimes even I can't believe my own luck. I handle insurance for a corporation and we join with others to buy certain types of insurance - that's called a captive. Our captive has board meetings twice a year, always outside of the US and 3 years ago they set the location as Roma. It was a smaller turnout with the downturned economy but my boss graciously allowed me to go and cancelled his spot. So, that's how I got to go to Roma for a business trip - I added on 3 days because you don't travel 10 hours in the plane and stay for 3 days... You just don't.

For some reason, over the past month various people felt it necessary to share their Italy gypsy horror stories which scared the socks off of me. My hubby doesn't like international travel so when I ran into my former neighbor, H two weeks before the trip, and I knew she had just gotten her passport, I offered an invitation and she accepted. And oh my gosh, did we ever laugh and talk the entire trip... til 2 and 3 am sometimes. We were neighbors for 18 years and her family was so good to my (single) self, always - including me on holidays when I didn't go home to NOLA. So, off we went, H and I on our Roma journey. After the first week, she stayed in London (to see her brother) while I went to Rotterdam for work - the scheduling worked out very well.

I wasn't quite prepared for the heat of Roma - it's just like Houston yet there we were expected to go trapsing around in it. Even the bus tour around the sights was exhausting since there was no a/c and scorching sun up top. We toured the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was totally amazing. We ate pasta and pizza and drank many cappacinos late in the evening. And talked.

The only unfortunately note is that I left my little Sony camera on the plane and just learned this morning that it hasn't been turned in, so half of my photos are gone. I don't know, maybe it will show up... I can always hope. When people do bad things, like not turn in lost property, do you ever wish bad things for them? I do. Don't they believe in karma?

The meetings went very well and we were treated like royalty. Every evening the dinner was spectacular, only to be exceeded by the next night's event. The ballroom of the Westin Excelsior was transformed with tromp loeil to Italian street scenes and a buffet that included a pig's head. I want to remember how sweet the canteloupe was in Italy. Monday night we had dinner at Piazza next door, Borghese at this restaurant. It was a fantastic evening, but unfortunately, very warm (while wearing elegant cocktail wear). And the final evening, topped it all when we had opera singers serenade us after a 7 course meal at the hotel. Unforgettable. I had never been in the room with an opera singer. They reach right in and touch your heart.

So anyway, Rome was interesting and hot and the food was very expensive. $7.50 for a Coke Light. But it was also amazing and fun and hot and I would go back, ... only during winter. I would have liked to go to Florence on the train, but you have to leave things to do for the next trip.

On Saturday we flew back through London (we flew British Airways) and Harriet stayed in London with her brother and I went on to Amsterdam and then Rotterdam by train. The weather was so nice and cool in Holland. I stayed twice at the Renaissance Hotel in Amsterdam and just loved it. BA delayed a bag so I had to wait around Sunday morning for it and the hotel staff was very helpful. I got a crappy iphone photo of the central train station in Amsterdam, which is an amazing site to see - bicycles in all directions. thousands of bicycles. everywhere. It is so cool how people of all ages use this mode of transportation.

Sunday I spent the afternoon with a colleague in den Hague (see, I can speak Dutch!) at Madurodam, which is a park with miniature replications of the various sights of Netherlands. With the economy, many folks are staying close to home so it was busy and the weather was sunny and cool. We then headed to the beach and had dinner, which was v. nice. Monday and Tuesday were meetings, which went very well. My Dutch colleagues are really good people and I am enjoying working with them more and more. Monday night I had an amazing dinner at the restaurant at Euromast, which is a needle that goes high above Rotterdam. The food was excellent and the views are expansive with a great look at the various canals of Rotterdam. It is within walking distance of our office with a gorgeous park next door. We had lunch both days at a restaurant in the park.

On Tuesday afternoon, I left to visit the northern part of Netherlands, the home of a colleague in the small village of Driehuis, which is just amazing. It is so green and peaceful and tranquil. I fell in love with it. It is near Ijmond and Velsen, which I visited earlier this decade when I worked for Reliant and we operated the power plant there. So funny how life evolves. Did I think that 10 years later I would be standing on the banks of that canal? Anyhoo, it is a magical town and I will have to go back and visit. We had a wonderful dinner overlooking a bluff, outside and by the last night of my trip, I was so done with food. Imagine that.

I'm over the jet lag and happy to be home, this weekend. It was a great trip and I have great memories and a few pictures.

Anthro

2009-07-18T10:19:00.006-05:00

A great place for inspiration is found at the local Anthropologie store in Highland Village. (pssss - here's a scoop - it looks like we will have one at Town and Country mall!) There are a couple of gorgeous cupboards in the store. I haven't seen the white one in a while - it may have gone on to another store.

My love of wood makes me drool every time I see this beauty. Its somewhere between a library card catalog and a map file. Just makes me happy.

The other thing I've noticed about this store is that they have a couple of skylights in it, that brings in such a light and airy feel to the space. It's probably a good thing that I don't fit into their clothes - age or size because I find enough good stuff for the home. And it looks like now, with the new clutter free manifesto that I'll be going for inspiration only! I'm serious about this clearing out bit... I really am.

Now I'm asking you: who has the job to update Anthropologie's Facebook page? How freakin awesome would that be? And they have now posted their Fall Windows which, of course, look fantastic. Did you know there is a whole following of Anthropologie displays on Flickr?

The fall windows remind me of the Art League house from last year - the inversion house. Did you see it? Pretty amazing, up close and personal. I wish they had left it up longer.

Oh well, I have a Saturday to tend to which includes cleaning up the scrap room and then going to see Phantom of the Opera tonight. And yes, a friend and I are dragging our husbands to it and hoping they will love it as much as we do!

And then its an early flight to Bahamas for work, but back on Tuesday. Wish me luck.

I wish the sunshine outside wasn't so dang hot. It sure looks pretty from inside air conditioning!

From Round Top to Rome

2009-07-16T22:20:00.005-05:00

I'm stressed out at work right now - and getting ready to make a quick trip to the Bahamas so that I can work. on Sunday. It's no luxury either - it's be hot, in the sun, in a nomex suit out on a jetty. And I have a fear about actually getting on the jetty in a basket. It's one of those times when you have to suck it up and be like the guys. And you know, these days I'm just not all that thrilled about doing that anymore. It will be a far cry from last weekend when I was scrapbooking in Round Top at this lovely place. And taking pictures of this lovely woman, Miss Barbara. I had such a great time - no chores, just playing with paper in my pjs. There is such a freedom in getting away and working on projects, and laughing and meeting really neat people. There is such a kinship with other scrapbookers. Sometimes it just amazes me.

The best thing that happened last weekend was that my neighbor said she would go to Rome with me in two weeks. Yep, just like that. I shake my head sometimes because the way it happened was really mystical. Boom - all of a sudden, I have a friend to go with me and besides that she's one of my favorite people, who is terrifically funny and so now it's all set. She's going to London to see her brother while I go to Rotterdam and finish business and then we fly home on the 5th. Easy peasy. About a month ago she got a strong urge to get her passport, worried about her grandson, Sonny Boy who is fighting over in Afghanistan. But the real reason now appears... it was to go to Rome this summer. We're going to have a great time.

I never did write about Carol Wingert's project for Inspired. Carol wow'd me in 2006 at the first Creative Escape when she took a file folder and folded it in half and made a travel portfolio. It just fascinates me when she designs such great books out of everyday office supplies. And this project was no different, but this time it was 3 projects in one, with lots of cool twists and turns (using aluminum tape from Home Depot) and glimmer mist - something I've not really been fond of - but with the parchment paper, it just pops! The project is two pieces of cardstock, folded to make a folder/book. Inside she added envelopes, folded accordian style, some canvas and her signature booklet that is "stitched". I'm sure there's some proper title for the style - saddle stitch or something... I don't know but it's a great addition to this project.

I also worked on Carol's Betwinchie kit and just had a blast with it - more book binding but what really appeals to me is the symetrical betwinches (1 and a half inch) on the cover. Very similar to Tim Holtz's project, Transparent Illusions. It's not finished yet, but I hope to soon.

My mind has been rumminating over the life cycle of buying, organizing but not scrapping - I've spent alot of time doing just that the past couple years and have two rooms that are crammed full of stuff. And I'm ready to change and do something different. I want to live a clutter free life and so I wrote a manifesto - it's only in draft form right now but it involves some serious change. No more aimless buying - at Michaels, or Hobby Lobby or local scrapbook stores or vintage or junk shops either. I want to narrow down the types of art that I do and haul off the stuff I'm not using. I'm concerned because I really don't do much stamping but I love stamps... that one is going to be hard to clear out. I've made a dent in my paper and gave away quite a bit in Round Top but I think I'm going to stack up the rest and sell it on ebay in lots. But if that becomes too much of a hassle, I'm just going to box it up and give it away. I'm just done with hoarding all this stuff that I couldn't use in a lifetime. It amazes me how many of us do that, part of me wants to understand why I do it (I think I know) and all of me wants to stop doing it or at least dial it down, way down. A real inspiration has been my friend, Tanya in New Mexico who has been working with Aby Garvey for inspiration and Peter Walsh from Oprah fame. And part of this change involves cutting down on emails and blog reading. I get emails from all kinds of sources about sales and I've already unsubscribed to 20 or so... and I delete plenty more now. It's such a drain on the brain - always trying to keep up with reading all this crap. Sure, it inspires me but I'm not spending my time making or creating, like I want. It's funny because with just these small changes I can feel a difference - I made 3 mini albums last week - poof! During the week... after work. It felt great. I'm ready for more of this. Bring it!

Oh and one last comment. I don't watch alot of TV but enough already about MJ. We really don't care. Just let him rest. Jeez Louise. I don't know how stay at homes tolerate it.

Travels

2009-06-28T19:06:00.008-05:00

Texas heat. What can you say about it ... my neighbor says its better than snow, you don't have to shovel hot. I can go with that but dang, it is just stiffling right now... I had a great trip to Long Beach and Chicago and the work part was good too. I stayed over the weekend in Long Beach and visited Fabric Barn - a great warehouse of ribbons, trims etc. that are cheap! I picked up some tulle also in lucious summer colors of melon, lemon and peach. I took a chance on the hotel and stayed here. Its a bit scary at first - on the roof is a sign that says BATH IN EVERY ROOM. The Varden is a historic building (thus the sign stays) that's been modernized in modern European style and I loved it. The staff treat you like family and it was quiet - I abhor slamming doors and noisy children. The room was like a comfy cocoon and everything had its place (plugs for cellphone). For a neat freak like me - that works! Saturday I spent at the Tall Mouse in Cerritos and downtown Orange which has lots of antiques include Country Roads. I found a few tidbits but was saving my $ for the Long Beach Flea and its a good thing because it was FANTASTIC. It was vintage and cheap from A-Z - I was in heaven for 5 hours plus the weather was nice and breezy. I found all kinds of goodies and my feet hurt more than my arms so I wouldn't make a trip back to the car to drop my stash. I found vintage children's books for $5, stitchery, linens, cream colored iron picture frame. What was fun was hearing the conversations - seems that everyone knows each other - dealers and customers. So interesting. I even ran into SB Mary Smilove from Sweetpeas and Snapshots. Small world. I would definitely recommend the LBF and hope to go back again. (I'm having trouble with Blogger now).

This weekend included two classes at By Design with Debby Schuh. You can always count on Debby to include some nifty pages and this time was no different. My favorite was the second class - a vintage travel album that started off with grungepaper. The end result is just too cool - with some paint and ink - voila! a vintage look. And it was nice to finish both of the projects the same day (a little bit at home). Bonus was spending time with Ronda, Cindy and seeing Gigi.

My friend, Laurel has been on my mind all day. Her husband died suddenly last Sunday and I am keeping her in my thoughts. So amazed at her strength and wisdom. She is so beautiful and keeps talking about how proud she was to be Mrs. Gregg Witwen. Lovely and graceful. I am at a loss for words.

Oh those Boys

2009-06-17T20:28:00.004-05:00

Forgive me for not being able to place this You Tube video in my blog. some people just can't!

Tell me if you can only watch THIS once... I couldn't. I think it's just the funniest - thanks to Silver Bella local, Linda for posting it on her blog. She always has clever stuff... pics, videos, projects... Love to read what she's doing. I'm off to Long Beach, CA and Chicago - both for work. I wrote my presentation for Chicago at 4:30 today... what can you do... I am staying over the weekend and going to the Long Beach flea on Sunday morning at 6:30 am! Looking forward to seeing what's out there in Cali. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Ketchup

2009-06-07T16:42:00.003-05:00

Here's a hint. Before you send that email... about some great Internet revelation or some awful thing that can happen if you wear your underwear backwards... go here first and type in a few words to see if it's real. or Internet fodder. It'll save you lots of time. and embarressment.

I'd also like to suggest that you consider Be The Match - the National Bone Marrow Donor program. I joined several years ago after being a stem cell donor for my brother, who had Hodgkins Disease. In the past, obtaining bone marrow was a painful process - it isn't anymore. For me it consisted of taking 5 shots to build up my stem cell count (we got it up to 9 million!) and then the transfer process is about 4 hours and it's easy peasy. The worst discomfort is that you're cold - I mean really cold - so they cover you with warm blankets. Hmmm. I keep hoping they will contact me - I would do it again in an instant.

I'll share a funny story that happened after I donated the cells to my brother. It was right before Thanksgiving and they run your blood through TONS of checks, of course, HIV. Mine came back Positive and it was just so comical (now). I had just gotten married and so thinking about HIV was the farthest thing from my mind. They treat it very seriously (at the VA) and they warn you TO TELL NO ONE. NOT EVER YOUR HUSBAND. As if. (I'm lousy at secrets). Their logic was powerful - you're damned either way - if you've positive, you've got a whole world of changes coming about and if you're negative - after the holiday, you'll have to call all those people and say - guess what, False Positive, folks! And it was a 3 hour drive back to Houston - alone so I could ponder the possibilities. But I didn't. What was the point. It is just funny - looking back on it. The good news was that they couldn't transfer the cells to my brother, so he got to come home for the holidays. and it was his last - and that guy enjoyed his food. So we were all together at Thanksgiving. Good stuff. On Saturday I got the call from the head of the BMT unit that I was not HIV positive. Such a nice doctor - to call me at home - during his holidays. Very cool dude.

Memorial Day was vacation week for me and my hubby in Destin, Florida. Well, actually it was a week long vacation that included my favorite places: New Orleans, Destin and Canton... how's that for a home run! We spent the night in NOLA at my cousin's and enjoyed some amazing charbroiled oysters at Dragos (best ever!) and then spent 4 days at the beach - exploring new beaches (Grayton, Santa Rosa, Seaside) and a bit of shopping (Zoo Gallery, Belks). We took our time driving to all 3 destinations - stopping at a casino or antique store, whatever struck our fancy - all the way across Mississippi and Louisiana. Good fun. And great meals in Destin - at Bonefish Grill and The Back Porch. We had fun rummaging through the junk in Canton but I think I'm maxing out on "stuff" right now - I really need to open an etsy shop and unload some of this stuff... So, on Saturday we headed over to the Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie. Man, I just love that store. And the Robin's Nest next door - both are just amazing places. (It's a good thing I received Karen Russell's online photography class book this weekend - all of my beach photos were overexposed. ugh.)

In my world, there is no such thing as a bad blogger. Blogging is optional. Guess I should put that on today's grateful list - since I'm not self-employed and it doesn't affect my livelihood - I can do it if I please. or not. Even though I am Catholic, I cannot go there - blogger's guilt. Nope.

So that's what I've been up to... All good stuff. I'm headed to Bahamas tomorrow for work. Wish me luck - last time didn't go so well so I'm hoping for a better outcome this week.

I was Inspired

2009-05-13T06:56:00.004-05:00

I participated in Donna Downey's event in Concord, NC last weekend - with some of my peeps... And even though it was the second event in 2 weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed it with my creative flame ignited. The event set up really worked for me - the hotel was luxurious without being expensive - just the right mix. I loved having 3 hours for each class (and somehow we didn't finish the painting class). The on site store was downright addicting and I knew well enough to get into Jenni Bowlin's booth first thing. She offers the best vintage goodies and AT A FAIR PRICE, which I just love. It is so nice and refreshing - its like she shares her stuff with you, with a little money involved. The other booth, Random Arts had very eclectic artsy things for sale - most I didn't understand but I knew a few good things when I saw them - blue bird ribbon and copper plates. Of course the fabric store was inviting and the trim/button store had some lovely goodness that I selected - a vintage yellow puppy dog ribbon. I haven't unpacked much nor downloaded my photos so I'm either going to have to steal from someone's gallery or you'll have to wait. Better wait.

I have to say I was put on fire with Susan Edmonson's sewing class. First of all, kudos to Donna for having a nice large room, and plenty of sewing machines, that all worked and a great TA who kept them threaded and fixed for us. It was a joy and a pleasure - I've been to events where the electrical issues weren't thought out so this was great appreciated. And the fabric journal that we made just makes my heart sing... after all its sewing - machine stitching and since Silver Bella anything sewing really is making my creative heart dance! We even skipped the next class so that we could go to the fabric store, Sew Much Fun and get more moda goodness. I selected pastel fabrics and sewed 3 "pages", that still need buttons and writing etc., but they're sewed! It really was soooo much fun - just like scrapbooking but with fabric. Its a whole new world! I've also been grappling a bit with my creativity lately because it seems I only create when I have an end in mind - I want to make a gift for someone - and this was more about just putting pretty fabrics together, er - creating. Its not perfect, its my first time out but I just kept going. It felt so good and light and happy. I want to do more of it. I will do more of it. I learned how to thread the machine by putting my two index fingers together and putting the thread through the needle and it works! Okay, I'll cut the exclamation points - are they getting annoying? I just can't say enough, how much I loved this class and want to incorporate it into my creativity.

My favorite workshop (I did 4) was right as I stepped off the plane, with a Stampin Up demonstrator, Anna Marie Still. She put together a bracketed mini book made from a Big Shot and already embossed with gorgeous sparkly SU embossing powder. It was pretty and delicate and made me want to buy the stuff - good marketing tool. We watercolored with crayons (SU of course) and a water pen. Lots of fun play time with different technics, small project which was just right for an hour workshop. And I loved the pink version (there were three colors to choose from - green, blue, pink). Look down a couple entries on her blog and she shows them being kitted. I promise to photo mine this weekend. Promise. I have to say I was really taken back by her because she seemed such a confusing combination of a person and I mean this in a good way. She has lots of tattooes, but she's an SU demonstrator, she had a baby strapped to the front of her and yet she was dressed young and hip and so-not-mom like... It just makes me laugh at me for thinking old and trying to pigeon hole someone into one category. People can surprise you and I enjoyed her individuality.

Right now I have a little girl that needs to go to the beauty shop (Grace) and a job that's calling my name. I'll talk more about Inspired this week. Especially the heavenly goodness like Carol Wingert's journal, which I can definitely make over and over again.

FKS SSL Project Pics

2009-04-27T22:24:00.008-05:00

Was that whiney enough for you? Sorry about that - it sure did feel good to sleep in my own bed. Late this afternoon we had a HUGE thunderstorm that knocked out electricity for a couple of hours. After IKE, I bought a large lantern that sure came in handy tonight. A little after eight, we were back on and I could start the unpacking process. Because I'm lazy, I'm stealing a couple of photos from other people to show some of the projects from this weekend. I loved the size and style of Cheryl Mezzetti's beautiful project - the colors from CI's Narratives line really resonated with me, along with a few fun techniques that she added. I knew nothing about her before the class, but with her BAWston accent and funny stories, it was a great class to close out the event. Loved the attention to detail.

I wish I had a photo available of the Clear Scraps Scrap St. Louis project that we made. It really is terrific - I loved making it and I love that it is so unique! Last year we made a cute Mickey Mouse album and this year was just as spectacular. I still haven't unpacked all of my goodies and my project was pretty close to finish. I'll take photos soon (don't you hate when people promise that kind of stuff - kind of like - let's do lunch).

Anyhoo, using Ten Seconds Studio metal, we made a very cool tag with Linda Cain. She was just delightful and so relaxed and easy to be around. I would definitely take another class from her. And like I suspected - I loved working with the metal.

Wendy Vecchi's project was cool - fun to play with grungepaper. I'm just a wee bit of a freak about getting all that ink on my fingers... I know - lame but thats just me. I liked the design of the project but I just wasn't firing on all cylinders for that class.

Okay, I was a total dweeb today. I saw this project on Layle Koncar's blog and went to Pier One at lunch and bought a bird stand. Also picked up a beautiful blue bird plate... not sure if I'll keep it on my desk at work or in my scrap room. I really wanted one of these beautiful pillows (it has embroidery on it), but I drew the line quickly. They had some very cute white patio furniture ...

Oh and one of the St. Louis ladies, Ann Caryl used a Mighty Bright light during class - spiffy and we all oooohhhed and aaaaahhhed over it. Think I just might need one myself. It uses LED bulbs and she says she's had it forever and never replaced one!

That's all I'm saying. Good night.

Home Again Home Again

2009-04-26T19:01:00.006-05:00

I'm dog tired and back from Scrap St. Louis. When I get back home I am so exhausted... I had a great time, hanging with Tanya and seeing all the Chicago girls(Jeanne, Cathy, Nan, Melissa and Kathleen and Finn), the local SL girls (Barb, Kathy, Julianne, & Kathy W) having a good time at Rock, Paper Scissors and dinner in St. Charles... and of course, all the classes at SSL. It is such an good easy time being there - the classes were fun and I got to try some metal work and some grunge paper flowers ... Lots of favorites: the St. Louis Clear Scraps album we made (way cool), Cheryl Mezzetti (who was a hoot) plus her project was all Karen Russell design - just gorgeous, the metal work we did with Linda Cain (who was just the nicest) and I fell in love with the spring line that Margie A's used in her project. It was all good and I'm just tired... What was so beautiful about St. Louis in spring was all the red bud and dogwood trees blooming. Just gorgeous. Tanya and I had a chance to walk through Missouri Botanical Gardens (my second year) and the tulips were phenomenal... Just lovely. Sorry I can't add much more - I'm just beat. I'll exit stage left through the tulips..

How Could I?

2009-04-17T07:14:00.008-05:00

forget... On Sunday I tried herding some squirrels, er puppy dogs and out of 200 photos got a couple of good ones... I would love to post some of the out takes because now I sympathize with all the moms when they're trying to get their kids to stand still, look at the camera, for a picture. Jeez Louise, these dogs were just as bad. They really aren't keen on me whipping out the camera. Look, even my angel, Killer boy is misbehaving! (click on the smaller picture and you can see the devil coming out) Can you believe! Anyway, it was fun to once again try to capture them all together on film. I had such a difficult time getting all three in focus, so I'm really looking forward to getting into Karen Russell's online photography class in June so I can fix it! Just fix it. I did take my Canon to a retirement party for our company president, which was hard to give up my easy point and shoot Canon for the manual mac-daddy. But its the only way you'll learn. So hard to give up that comfort zone.

And I am so happy to say that in November, I will be attending Silver Bella again. Absolutely thrilled. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed it until several months later but besides being a fantastic event (well organized, good people - like Scrap St Louis which is next week!), I thrive on those types of projects now. I didn't say I've been doing the stitching and glittering, but I love looking at them... Another great way to get out of your comfort zone and stretch... I will get there! I'm taking two Rebecca Sower classes, one Charlotte Lyons, one Pam Garrison and one Corba. It's too early to go look them up and I'm going to be late for work... Enjoy your weekend!

I {heart} Anthro

2009-04-16T22:36:00.011-05:00

Been doing some fun things lately. Created this for my hubby - an accordian album for his desk at work - b/w pics of his father, who died 30 years ago. I made this simple and sweet - I didn't want to over do it - confuse the focus. When we did the Donna Downey project in Vancouver in 07 of b/w photos on bazzill 3 x 5 cards - it crystalized in my mind the need to get old photos out into view... and I've made several versions as gifts.

Last night the downtown Central Library had a workshop about memoir writing, given by an author, Thomas Larson who wrote a book called Memoirs and the Memoirist. It was a fascinating talk and we spent about 45 minutes writing also. He explained that an autobiography is (drawing hands out like an accordian) is about a lifetime whereas a memoir can be like a vertical cylinder - about a specific person, passion or life event. It was thought-provoking, different group of people and a great way to spend an evening. Thanks HPL! I'm kicking myself for not buying his book. He hails from San Diego - not sure why he came to Texas, but glad he did.

Lunch today involved some inspiration, thanks to our favorite, Anthropologie. I mean - what a great store. The creativity just flows like a river when I enter the store. I realized today in the middle of it are several large box skylights - no wonder it is flooded with light and feels so nice. Okay, tell me this cabinet is not the yummiest?? A large concept library card catalog - too cool. I'm not thrilled with the rolled book "collage" but it is an interesting concept. The drawings are very mid century modern, (another way of saying 50s) - v. interesting. I picked up several cute things, but I can't show them to you because some of them might, just might be gifts for friends that I will see next week in St. Louis. St. Louis, rah! I can't wait... to see all those Chi town girls plus the STL girls - it will be just too much fun. In 6 wake ups, as they say on the Yahoo board.

And have you seen Tim Holtz's projects posted on his blog today? I am in love with the second project, Transparent Illusions. I'm pretty sure it is an IKEA mirror. It fits me to a T - I am dying to make one. How much fun to spend the day learning all those technics. Will he do something similar at CE? Who knows! I am so on the fence about taking his class at Ten Seconds Studio in June... I would just love to do it (bonus is hanging with Cheryl!) but first I have to make it through May, which is going to be brutal. Not for me, but the hubs, who isn't thrilled when I travel.

Texas Shopping

2009-03-30T06:56:00.006-05:00

I have seven minutes before I have to get ready for work. It was a gorgeous Texas weekend full of all good things but best of all, Texas Junk. And once you've had junk, you don't want anything else. I learned that this weekend. We made it to Warrenton on Friday and parked at the first entry way in. Silly us, we didn't realize it went on for MILES and MILES. We shopped and got SO MUCH COOL STUFF. This was a favorite find - this little pink elephant that I got at Uncommon Objects in Austin. I got to spend as long as I wanted there and it was fantastic. I didn't realize it is many different owners - the display is fantastic. Every nook is done so well. Okay, but back to W... We parked and our first booth was a tin man with gorgeous tins from a church in Comanche with fleur de lis. How lucky is that, oh and at $2 each. I will use it as a cover plate for a 6 x 6 book! What should I do with the other 9? These pillow cases are perfect, purple and cross stitched with Mr. and Mrs. We also hit a resale shop in Austin and I found a mirror for my printers blocks - for $6.50 and two boxes of envelopes (80 lb) for $1 each. I want to try this trick with them... Well, I can't find the tutorial on SCS but you slice off the top and use it as a gift card holder... I'm 8 minutes after 7 so I have to run. I still have LOTS to show and we're going back for the day next weekend. On our way back from Fredericksburg, we stopped in again from Round Top this time and laughed at how much there was... This is living!

I is Important

2009-03-26T07:16:00.004-05:00

I smile when I ride the two elevators at work with our sales guys. With each trip down they whip out their Blackberry, scrolling, reading emails, Oh so important. And I smile because I’m getting the same emails. They’re going to clean the carpet on Thursday night. Or pest control is coming on Wednesday. C’mon. Please. You’re not that important. Now when my husband is looking at his iphone while we're out or at a meal, he'll quietly say, Thursday. They're cleaning the carpet on Thursday.

I learned the Important lesson in 1984 when I was a pup, working a frenetic pace, (before Blackberrys) working late and weekends and thinking what I was doing was Oh so important. Please. It's insurance. It's not that important. I got sick and missed several weeks from work and that lesson got propped up right in my face, so I would get it. If you’re working in corporate America today, you are not that important. They will step over you if you think you need to lay down your life for the job.

I started going to scrapbook events around the country in 2006 and it has moved to a frenetic pace lately. I’ve added vintage and glitter and sewing to the party with events like Silver Bella. And I learned that I love it and its introduced me to a whole different group of gals, who are like me. Who get it. And I love seeing their art.

In the past week I’ve been inundated with some really mind-boggling messages – probably, because I read too many blogs. ha. But I am flabbergasted at how the cost for these events have gone through the proverbial roof. It is unfrigging-believable. I’ve attended Creative Escape for all 3 years and I hope to make it a fourth. They increased their price to $749 for a 3 day event. Locally for NSD, Heidi Swapp is teaching 2 days for $200, Junkie is having a two day event without a teacher for $100. In the vintage word, I found a whole schedule of weekend classes in 2009 for $500 or $750 – that’s a weekend with one teacher. Yes, they are AMAZING artists but damn. That’s a lot of smackeroos. I think there are some people that are confused about their importance.

I’m just shaking my head right now because I am one of the fortunate ones. Both my husband and I have great six figure jobs. And for the most part our chickies are out of the nest and on their own. Its all about us right now and if he wants to add to his gun collection, he does. If I want to attend an out of state workshop, I do. We’re one of the lucky ones... I just wonder though about all those gals trying to raise families or living on a tight budget. I just want to ask myself - who ARE these people that are paying these prices? Is it just another rung up the ladder, another tier up of society. But I also think that at some point, its will hit the wall, stop and come crashing down. It can’t sustain this frenetic pace. It will be burnout and then we’ll come back to a softer side of sharing art. For fun. For the art that we love. And those character figures with dollar sign eyes will disappear.

I look at it like the box stores. For a while its all about big stores and bagging your own stuff and pretty soon people will get tired of the vastness and then it will be all about ”personal service” and smaller stores and enjoying the experience. I get it - it’s a cycle. What comes around goes around. (okay, that's not the right metaphor but it sort of applies). Right now I’m just watching it swirl into its frenzy. While I wait to go to Scrap St. Louis and Inspired. And for the CE lottery ticket and the Silver Bella sign up to be announced. I still WANT to go but part of me is just shaking my head and saying, Wait. Slow down. Don't burn out. Enough is enough already.

Life

2009-03-19T07:41:00.004-05:00

I love calling my nieces and screaming into the phone, WHAT UP??? Life has been humming along at a steady pace and evening out quite nicely. I'm enjoying it and appreciating the many gifts that have been given to me. Trying to stay level and grateful. A quick trip to New Orleans for work and I enjoyed Friday night dinner at my cousins while I was there. Shrimp stew. My cousin grew up with my Dad so in a way it's like hanging out with my Dad - same mannerisms. Same deliberate movements, like me. I spent Friday afternoon walking in the quarter, picking up a few new fleur de lis objects. One beveled glass with etchings and one colored glass in purple and green and gold.

Work has been pretty intense lately but satisfying. I don't like getting all torqued up and stressed out, the way I did in my 30s. Life is just too short. It only got that way when I left for NOLA. Any time I leave the office, I feel this need to clear the stacks that may have been sitting there for months - all of a sudden, they need to go the day before I leave town. Crazy.

My husband gave me a 1980s photo album of hunting pictures that was falling apart. He is a scrapbooker. My husband. He wrote journals and titles with a dynamo label. How cool is that? I put it back together in a new album and saved the red labels. We actually had dinner with one of the guys 2 weeks ago - pretty cool. My husband, the scrapbooker.

We're going to Warrenton & Round Top next weekend and then on to Fredericksburg. Pretty fluid trip, I hope to stop in at Uncommon Objects in Austin. Looking forward to getting away with my man and hunting. That's about all I've got for right now. Life is good and I've got no complaints.

Looking Forward

2009-02-17T21:51:00.003-06:00

I'm home now for all of February, which allows for some great time to catch up on all the projects - I did clean up the spare bedroom and dropped off donations to Turning Point. We had a simple Valentine's Day. I made a board book for my husband, Ten Things I Love About You. I had a good time creating it. I have to say I am loving my Genesis trimmer - it really does cut like butter. So clean and crisp. And I managed to get into Karen Russell's photography class starting in June. Yipee! She's an amazing teacher - I can't wait to get some feedback. My photography skills lacking - here's a photo of the kids... I love them so much!

I'm looking forward to Saturday when I have breakfast with my brother and sister at the Egg & I. We started a monthly visit (last month). I am IN LOVE with the Egg & I - a franchise out of Colorado. They just serve breakfast and lunch, and the food is scrumptious - just the way you order it! Terrific orange juice, great flavored coffee. I highly recommend it, it's on Memorial near Kirkwood. Nothing makes me happier than flavored coffee and breakfast out! In the afternoon I'm heading to Elida's for our NW crop. After a handful of stores have closed in my old neighborhood, the customers have banded together and we have our own Yahoo group (Houston & Beyond) and monthly crops. I don't participate often but I enjoy this group every time I go. Not sure what project I'll work on... I still have Carol Wingert's white album to do!

I was thinking of doing the art journal for Scrap St. Louis, sign up deadline is February 28th. I said if I had a page designed by then, I would sign up. I would love to incorporate three different sections on the page, and an arch separating two of the sections, in the middle of the page. I can visualize it, now I just need to get it down on paper. I did sign up for Barb Reiniger's page swap. So many interesting teachers - Wendy Vecchi and Linda Cain. Really looking forward to this event. Two weeks later is Inspired in North Carolina. I am totally jazzed about the different vibe for that event - paint, canvas and TEN SECONDS STUDIO metal. Yes, Cheryl D will be teaching - so much to look forward to. But let's get back to the here and now... After watching an Oprah show about hormone replacement therapy, I'm thinking about signing up for it. I spend too many nights awake from 2-4 or 3-5, which seems to be a common problem. Anyone have experience with it? In any event, I'm going to lay my head down now. Good night.

Urban Market

2009-02-08T21:27:00.011-06:00

It was a nice day at Urban Market today and I found plenty to buy. Once again, the pricing has increased but what can you do? I didn't snap a picture of the quilted pillow from the Gaudy Sisters that says - Its never too late to live happily ever after! If that isn't so true for my life now... I had to get it. I really enjoyed visiting with Pam and Sherry - lots of fun. I plan on checking out their shop, Second St. Antiques in Katy. I also found this beautiful stool with china mosaic on top at their booth. Yummy. The legs are a dark brown but I'm going to paint them white. Matter of fact, they had alot of stuff I COULD have hauled home.

Next door to them are some sisters that do wholesale upholstery right in my neighborhood. I made a bee line for their booth when the doors opened. They have trims 5 for $1 and then fabric bits for $2, $3 or $5. There is so much possibility with these fabrics - I just love it.

Beautiful trims (sorry that my picture isn't fully in focus). When I saw the green trims, I thought of Rebecca Sower's Prayer Collage from Silver Bella - these would go beautifully with it.

The linen on the left reminds me of Anna Griffin paper. Great embroidery. Some other shoppers were convincing me to cut out the embroidered parts on the bottom piece... I had to make noise because
they kept calling me back to the stack to show me more pieces (all of which are below). Last weekend I picked up 10 pieces of quilted or cross stitched pieces at Canton - I washed them and they look gorgeous. I am set with fabric...

Next to the upholstery girls was this beautiful piece of WOOD. Yes, it is carved wood and I just love it. Painted in the lightest pastel colors. With a cherub. What more can you ask for?

These were vintage baby linens for $1 and $2 - from another booth.

Afterwards my friend, Theresa came over and we made a light box for her little niece, Jocelyn. It was all in pinks (pink toile for the interior) - and I used a pink crystal knob that I got in Chicago at Christmas - thanks Jeanne for showing them to me! It really was just the right touch! Only thing left to do is find a photo for the inside. I enjoyed today.

Weekend Hoopla

2009-02-07T07:47:00.006-06:00

I scanned four of my new cards and will post two for you, that I've cleaned up a little. Did you know that Picasa 3 now has a cloning tool that allows you to clean up an old photo. That is one thing I could do for hours - is blow up and clean up an old photo. I know it sounds monotonous but I love it. I'm a detailed girl at work so this makes natural sense. Call me simple.

This first one would make a sweet prayer card, with a little text added. and maybe a little shading.

My Genesis trimmer arrived and my honey is going to put it together later today (attach the light box). I can't wait! I need a flat surface to store it - not enough of that in my room so I'll need to do some moving around. Also, both library card catalogs, one 4 drawer and one 6 drawer arrived this week and they are already loaded up! I LOVE them. Got them on ebay and paid too much, but what the hell. They are gorgeous oak and now I see what a great organizer they can be. I want more!

I love these sisters, so cute and sweet. The cloning tool in Picasa isn't as good as PSE, so you'll have to clean up the two smudges on the side.

Have you ever heard of something called Destination Imagination? It's for kids in school, non profit organization that conducts tournaments where they learn teamwork and solving problems and presentations. Doesn't it sound amazing! I am going to a class this morning to learn how to judge a competition that happens at the end of this month. I'll miss Laurel's crop on that weekend, which is the biggest bummer but I haven't done much for my nephew lately, so I'm willing to sacrafice for him! He's 10. It is such a great tool to help prepare him for life later - I'm so glad he's interested in it.

OH and before I forget - Urban Market is tomorrow, starting at 9 am. I am going early this time. I've been a bit relaxed about it these past few times but it has become increasingly popular, so I'm going to head in with the crowd - why not! Sandy, Theresa and a bunch of the local girls are going... can't wait to see my peeps!