Wishing....

I was right here again! It's been a very busy couple of weeks! OK...a whirlwind! We moved my mom unexpectedly into a retirement community. It is a good thing but I under-estimated how difficult it would be to go through all of my parents things. She is downsizing so there are many things that have to go. We are so grateful that all the things that she truly loves she gets to take with her. Yahoo!!! Already in the 3 days since her actual move we have her all set up...pictures hung, everything put away! Amazing! Now on to the garage sale & then sale of their place.

I realize it is a process and a very good move but still an emotional one. So for now I am going to take a little break & dream of being back here on this beach!!!
See you again soon! (wink, wink)

a little therapy with friends

Once a month on a Tuesday I get a chance to break-away with some new friends and enjoy a little art therapy. I never really accomplish much but so enjoy the time chatting and creating with some very talented ladies!
Above are a few things that I purchased yesterday. Always fun to have some new toys to play with, right!

I also purchased this book recently. I was so pleased to see that many of my friends are published in this edition! How fun is that!!!

This has been an extremely busy month with lots of emotional things going on so the chance to get away was so worthwhile. Thanks to Samie Kira for introducing me to this very fun adventure!!! I am loving it!!

return to sender

Don't you just love this Roman Shade! I stumbled upon this photo and thought I would share it with you. And the best part is that it comes with a free tutorial! How cool is that!
It is from The Brooklyn Limestone. She provides the tutorial and also the download of the elements you need to create this shade yourself.
So many possibilities....

 Here are a few of the steps...

Stages of Playing!

At the Mixed Media Art Group on Tuesday there were a couple of ladies that were watercolor painting. Their journals were beautiful. I decided to try it out. I have done it a little in the past but not a lot. I checked out two of the artists that they referred me to. Laure Ferlita and Jane LaFazio

Laure offers online classes that look amazing. She takes you on imaginary travels and teaches you to draw & paint. Her blog alone is gorgeous. Jane does quite a few different mixed media crafts. I didn't spend nearly enough time looking through all of her endeavors. Check them both out!

I just kept adding a few things to my page.
I finished it off with a verse...first one that came to mind when I looked at the flowers. Luke 12:27&28

Do something new & fun this weekend! Enjoy!

Supporting Friends

Isn't this beautiful! A friend Samantha Kira put a call out to come to the aid of Japan. She put some of her art up for sale and 75% of the profit went to Japan. I jumped on the opportunity to have some of my new friend's artwork and help out all at once.

It is proudly displayed in my craft room now. I just love it! Thanks so much Samie Kira!

Sharing Art

Last night was the Art Group get-together. What fun it was!! Dina Wakley organizes it all!
There are such fun and talented ladies that attend! I am absolutely thrilled to be included.

Samantha Kira and I rode over together again & I always enjoy chatting about the art world with her. Of course Dina was there along with two special guests...Jaime from Crafters Workshop. And also the talented Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.

Samie Kira and I sat with Penney and April and April's adorable 7 week old baby boy Dylan. Oh my goodness he was cute! And he seemed to love being there...he was so good all evening long. Penney does some amazing journals too...check her out!
April was carving some stamps...they turned out great!

At the table behind us was Kay, Karla, Krista and Julie K. Kay & Karla both do amazing watercolor work! Wow! They are taking some online classes and their journals were just gorgeous! I didn't get a chance to talk much with Julie K, she was working on some sketches. And Krista was working with her copics. She is a Rep in the Valley and so I knew her from my previous job. She was always the enthusiastic Rep that followed through with her ideas. Love that!

And of course I have to throw in the pic with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. It was so nice to meet her and watch her work. She was extremely nice and you can tell she just loves what she does!
Thanks for a wonderful evening ladies!!!

Repurpose & Reuse!

Remember this frame? It is the display that I made a year ago (wow...has it been that long already!) for my son's wedding here at our home. The wedding was held outside so there was no means to show a video. This is the option I came up with for sharing their photos.

And here it is now!

I decided to change it up and reuse it. After all it was a great big frame. Why waste it. I spray painted the frame and then added chalkboard paint to the background. I love it! It is a fun way to leave notes.

I do have to say that I used the chalkboard spray paint and I was not thrilled with that. If I do another project I will try the actual paint so I can compare them.

So far I have changed quite a few of the items from the wedding to everyday items in my home. How fun is that!

Here are a few more:

See the centerpiece...inside the bowl is a flower frog. Those along with the votives and the little white cups the bridesmaids decorated their house with got changed to this:

I spray painted the frogs platinum, added jewels and used them for place cards on my Thanksgiving day table. The little cups were filled with nuts, candy and goodies for snacking on before dinner and the votives...well who can't reuse votives, right.

And finally I used this "wish tree" that I made for the wedding...

To create this:

It's all for fun! Look around and see what you can repurpose in your home. You might surprise yourself! :)