Oh Me, Oh My, What did I buy?

The funny thing about going to estate sales looking for jewelry is that everyone else is looking for the same thing. Throwing elbows in the front room standing above the glass jewelery case...I usually don't have enough will to fight on a Saturday morning and I don't take it personally. So I tend to give up however, this payed off last weekend. I headed for the back room of the residence and upon my arrival, I found stacks of shoe boxes full of tangled up jewelry waiting to be sorted through. This is what I found:
These jewels must of adorned a very classy lady!

For some reason this necklace/earring set really called out to me (how spiritual huh?) I don't think I'll be sporting the earrings (they will be used though) but I adore the necklace pendent!


This necklace should be worn by a Roman Goddess...
OK, maybe not a Roman Goddess but it's still cool though!

I have some kind of fetish with lockets, pockets and sprockets and looking afar, I thought this ring was an old fashioned locket or poison ring. So I grabbed it up without giving a second thought. It wasn't until I got home that I discovered it included my next fetish for watches!
The clock is not working but I'm hoping to get it looked at. Gotta go Project Runway is on! Hope you all are having a nice mid week!

"My husband gave me a necklace. It's fake. I requested fake. Maybe I'm paranoid, but in this day and age, I don't want something around my neck that's worth more than my head."
~Rita Rudner

10 things i forgot i love...

1 :: puppy breath

2 :: slurpees

3 :: sweet pickles

4:: sleeping in a hammock

5 :: argyle socks

6 :: the smell of tomato plants

7 :: drive in the hills

8 :: old records playing on the turntable

9 :: finger combing my hair

10 :: idlewild (the movie)

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."
-Helen Keller

Cute As A Button!

Thanks to Mama J, I have many cute buttons to add to my collection!
I love the fact that they are still on their original cards.
They look like bits of candy! Yum!

A few weeks ago, I won this jewelry box on ebay! It's funny to me when I say "won" because technically you pay for what you win.
The outside is pretty in pink, stamped with gold rosettes and protected with this gold lock. You ready to see more?
The inside is lined with plush pink velvet and cotton candy pink satin.
Yes, most of the jewelry came with the box. A couple of
pieces was purchased separately. I don' know if this happens with anybody else but, I get so obsessed with ebay (this also happens with youtube). Once I'm in, I find myself 2 hours later bidding on about half a dozen items I REALLY don't need. I think it's the challange that's so appealing.

"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
- Aristotle

We're Jammin...

This is the first summer we've had such an abundance of fruit offered to us and I'm loving it! Especially, now that I'm jam obsessed. It has become a new craft for me! K walked in to the kitchen last night and said " it looks like a chemistry project in here". In fact I have been trying to get the exact science of combining fruit, sugar and pectin! Here is what we've been trying to gobble up:
oh, how I love that blush of pink!
My dear friend Carolyn has a great selection of fruit trees in her yard. Check out these gorgeous fruits we picked!
Flavor Supreme Pluots! These are delicious and the inside is a deep magenta! I had to try very hard not to eat them all before turning it into jam! I haven't tasted it yet but I have a feeling the pluot jam is the best tasting!
Did somebody say white peaches? oh yeah! Peaches are one of my favorite fruits!

Before and after shots of golden plums. Yum! I had to blanch them to peel the skins off before mushing them into jam! I think I'm pretty well stocked as far as jam goes, don't you think?

"When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mounatin too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome."
-Wilma Rudolph

P.S. A couple of Thanks to Carolyn for the yummy fruits! and Thanks to Lavern for the book of great quotes!

I Really Really Want To Blog...

but I'm having a heck of a time loading pictures! Hopefully it's a temporary problem. I will post ASAP with gorgeous pictures! I promise. Please hang tight!

10 Wonderful things achieved this Weekend...

1. Spoke with my dear friend Nate #1 (it's been about a year since we've spoken, last seen...way longer).

2. Got my Comcast fixed (again, long story don't want to get fired up writing about it).

3. Visited Farmer's Market bought organic strawberries and made more jelly (I'm obsessed and yes Karin you will be getting some).

4. Drank refreshing Mojitos (need I say more)!

5. Got the car washed (and I didn't do any of the work, got free lemonade and popcorn)!

6. Found gorgeous peonies at Safeway (I couldn't even find them at the Farmer's Market).

7. Went to the beach and had a little R&R (unfortunately, the sun didn't make an appearance).

8. Surprise visit with Nate #2 (I adore this guy)!

9. Went to eat at a Mexican restaurant and I actually stuck to my diet and had a delicious grilled chicken salad!

10. Discovered Amy Hanna has finally started a blog!

Hope you've had a great weekend!

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself."
- Amelia Earhart

Strawberry fields forever...

K and I spent our 12 year anniversary (yes 12 years!) picking strawberries!

Here's our bounty, all for 12 bucks!

and the berries became this for some lucky recipients! It was my first time making jam and I was worried that I put to much sugar but it came out pretty good...especially on sourdough!

Oh and anybody who knows my neighborhood wouldn't expect to see this in the lawn
I didn't know what a wuss I am until I met this California King Snake. Thankfully, it's a good guy and Animal Control said to let him go and he will devour rats, mice and even a rattle snake (let's hope we won't find one of those)! After contemplating on where to set him free I found that he had vanished from his cooler enclosure! eek! I hope he slithered into a deep dark hole and won't visit me indoors!

The hot weather made my garden burst with an early harvest of veggies + herbs



“Chandler: If I'm gonna be an old, lonely man, I'm gonna need a thing, you know, a hook, like that guy on the subway who eats his own face. So I figure I'll be Crazy Man with a Snake, y'know. Crazy Snake Man. And I'll get more snakes, call them my babies, kids will walk past my place, they will run. "Run away from Crazy Snake Man, " they'll shout!”
-Chandler from Friends

For Shizzle my Izzle

I have a wee bit of a cold (I know...again!) I work at a health clinic I can't help it! So I will leave you with a video of Mochi's buddy Izzy starring in her own movie!

And she's still a puppy!

Thanks B & D for the awesome flick!

"Inside every Newfoundland, Mastiff, Boxer, Elkhound and Great Dane is a puppy longing to climb on to your lap."
-Helen Thomson

Wink : Wink :

I don't know what was with me and my eyes or eye always being closed in photos, maybe it's the pirate in me-but I thought this one was pretty funny. I "borrowed" this from my Dad's collection and had to share. This one may replace my current youngster picture.

In other news, I've received some great stuff in the mail lately! I love coming home to find packages brimming my mailbox!
Sweet Karin of Blossom Shop has sent along these treasures! Love the crown key chain, as you know I would! With the gifts she also sent some of her new business cards she had printed from Zazzle.
Make your way to her blog and store when you have a moment!

Postmark LA also arrived

It's a collaboration between Pam Garrison, Amy Hanna (no blog yet :),Teresa McFayden, Charlotte Lyons, Carolyn Peeler and Rebecca Sower. I won't give away too much but it's very inspirational. Makes me want to round up my crafty girls and have a serious craft session. Anyone down? If not...get the book and you will be.

Last but never least I received this book


I first read about in an Art magazine a few years ago, I waited and waited for it to be released on Amazon. It never was available then recently I noticed I could order it used, so I did. I have not started to read it yet but it will be fun to. It's a story and a piece of work

The whole book is put together with snippets of newspaper, mags and such. Man, I admire the ambition of this Author and Artist!

"I get mail; therefore I am."
-Scott Adams

Show & Tell Sunday

Hi folks! Welcome to Pixie Paper Arts blog spot (if you are new here). Glad you could stop in. I love this show and tell Little Pink Studio is hosting (please check her wonderful blog out) because like I've have mentioned in previous posts...I spend more time organizing than crafting! So here it is!

I found this printmaking box at a hobby store and found it to be perfect to hold all my scrapbook supplies:

Some close ups:




Here's all my bits and baubles (buttons, pom poms, sequins, etc.):



I adore the colors! I organize them in plastic containers and stack them in another box! Whew!

Paints, markers, pastels and such are arranged in plastic box photo frames...yes frames. They fit perfectly under my work desk needing little room.


Balls of yarn and roving are thrown into a vintage wire basket:




Luscious ribbons are in these fat jars (a little organization is in need here):


My favorite forms of organizing is vintage suitcases:

These house my craft and art work

and my millinery



My vintage jewels:
check this post for more photos!

Other random shots:





To see how my embroidery threads are stashed away check out this post!

Whew! That's only a part of the tour I will have to do part 2 some other day...when it's more organized!

Thanks for coming to visit! Please keep visiting and leaving comments! Now I'm off to visit other blog studios.

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
-Unknown