Goody, Goody, Birthday Goodies!

I recently celebrated a birthday and received many awesome things
of which some came under a tree wrapped in lovely nature embellishments! We went camping for my birthday and my sneaky friend Dez used what we had around to wrap these while I was away from camp! Imagine my surprise and delight when I stumbled upon these when walking to the tent!
within one of the packages was this adorable!!!! dog!
Embroidered turtle cocktail napkins!

I also received a birthday package in the mail that contained these items
This is one of Karin's masterpieces she created for me! What a lucky girl I am!
Sweet Karin purchased the above notebook at a store called bon in Tucson, AZ.

Not only did Karin's package arrive in the mail Amazon was there too!!
My cousin gifted me a hefty card and I spent it in a matter of 2 clicks with the mouse!

Now, the rule for birthdays is you always have to treat yourself right?
After taking Amy's class I had to find some tin types to make jewerly, however I don't have the patience to look through photographs and tin types.
I was delighted to find this old album at a antique store in Cloverdale when we stopped to get gas.

full of photographs and tin types!

Oh did I mention we went wine tasting on the way to camping?


"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not."
- Mark Twain

From Oregon to Pleasanton: My Adventure with ZNE

Oh my, this year has been so full of creative adventures...it makes my heart pitter patter! I spent last weekend in Pleasanton at the convenzione. Unfortunately, I did not get a whole lot of photos this time. I was too busy chit chatting and making new friends. Friday was registration and shopping day! It started with a yummy boxed lunch outdoors accompanied by great friends, music and the marriage of a cute Blythe couple! The wedding was a surprise and I was not camera ready! Afterwards was shopping time at American Harvest! I remember going to this quaint store a few years back but didn't realize how magical this place is!!! I think this is where I took the most photos.
I took this picture because I would love to paint, stencil or rub this quote onto a mirror for a fast craft project!
If anyone needs to get me a late birthday present just call the store and have them ship this necklace to me! Too adorable!
I love Nicol Sayre vignettes!
One person kept popping in my mind...ArtsyMama. She adores Halloween like the bunny adores Easter!

Friday evening was spent watching a film by Andrea Kreuzhage 1000 Journals film. I rarely use acronyms but OMG! First, have you heard of the 1000 Journals Project? If not, go to the website and check it out. I'm not going into detail about it in case you see the film! All I have to say is that there are a lot of unfound creative minds out there waiting to be set free!

Saturday was a class with lovely Sally Jean! I adore her! Here is what I attempted to make


And this is actually what I made

There is a lot of fine tuning still (like smoothing out my clumps of solder)
and polishing it.
After inserting a tea light it takes on a whole new look. Unfortunately it would be too hard to demonstrate here. I was happy to semi finish this piece! Saturday evening we had a delicious dinner at the gorgeous Blue Agave Club. I had great conversations with wonderful gals Lana, Pam and her daughter Allie, Sally, Michelle and Lisa.

Sunday was spent shopping more at Art Paperie Pleasantries Fair
Chel All hail the Queen of ZNE!

and who could forget Miss Vicky? For those I've met but didn't have a chance to talk to much ( Jill, Carmen, Nicole ) I hope we meet again in the future! maybe even next year!!!

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”
- Julia Cameron

The Return From Ashland :: Chapter 5 :: Results

The affects of Art In Ashland are beginning to wear off *sigh*. At least I have evidence of 3 days of pure art bliss. Here's my creation from Anahata's class
This lady started off as a "magazine girl" and became the centerpiece of my canvas.
The title of the piece "I'll Take You Home Again". No, I'm not that much of a planner! It was torn out of a music book last minute and glued on!

What is it that's she's staring at and taking home again anyway?
oh, her nest egg!

Here it is in the whole


My jewerly skills are very minimal, it took me the whole day to put this piece together!
It started off with a vintage rose pin and a fabulous old necklace links from Amy.
Then a smokey crystal flower pulled off a vintage earring.
another pin used as a closure.


Pam's class started with this new-old looking ledger.
Carving out the windows of the ledger took a lot of sweat and hard work! It was like cutting through metal!!! The windows were covered with mica (it's hard to tell in this photo).
Thanks to my neighbor Natalie she had the right color (platinum) stickles and I was able to smother the rough edges I cut out. She also provided me with the French definition card!
The binding was finished back at camp. I topped it off with a sugar coated button from Mama J.
I made the mistake by not covering the inside center binding with linen binding tape and had huge gaps in between the signatures. So, I covered it with a baby blue velvet ribbon to act as a "bookmark" . As Anahata said "happy mistakes", that holds true with this project!

Towards the end Pam gave us a huge ledger page to collage on and be free with
This is supposed to go in the journal we created, but I haven't had the heart yet to cut it up!

Oh, as promised here's the stone lithograph I received from Jen
Isn't that dress to die for? Thanks Jen!

"When I work, I work very fast, but preparing to work can take any length of time."
-Cy Twombly

The Return From Ashland :: Chapter 4 :: Friends

As mentioned before, I met sooo many great artists and friends. Here's the hostess with the mostess Anahata!
Adorable Patrice with her fun pieces!
This is Miss Cassondra and I'm so glad to finally meet her. This talented lady needs a blog! But until then check out here Flickr.
Here's Miss Texas (AKA Dana) with her awesome paintings from Anahata's class.
Here's my partner in crime for 2 days, Kelly. I hope to see her at future adventures! She makes the most adorable figurine boxes!
Many of you know this sweet gal Kari (AKA Artsy Mama)
Here's Amy Hanna. She is too nice!
I was excited to met Hope because she is the mastermind behind PaperRelics and Hope Wallace Design Services (recently collaborated with Andrea in the redesign of One Hundred Wishes)
Last but diffinitely not least is Jennifer. She is the proprietress of gorgeous antique stone lithograhs. I was lucky enough to be able to choose one (I will take pictures and include it in the next post).
I met so many more new friends (Christina of Dollybelle, Natalie, Michelle, Sally) but was not able to photograph all of them.
It was so nice to actually meet blogger friends in person too! Stayed tuned for the last post!

"What is a friend? I will tell you...it is someone with whom you dare to be yourself."
~ Frank Crane