A MODERN FAMILY Red Carpet Hit!

I just love "Modern Family" and I am so thrilled that it will be coming back tonight!  Such a great show that manages to be both hilarious and heartwarming. (I have to admit that Cam is my favorite character)

I was so happy that "Modern Family" did so well at the Emmys.  Despite Sofia Vergara's wardrob malfunction, the whole cast looked great.  Especially Aubrey Anderson-Emmons! Wasn't she adorable?

I was thrilled to find out that her dress was custom-made by Tea Collection!  Tea has decided to make this limited edition dress available to the public. If I had a little girl, I'd snap it up for the holidays!  The little bubble skirt is adorable and age-appropriate.  If you are interested, the dress ships in November.  Just in time for all the holiday parties!!!

(I am a Tea affiliate and all opinions are my own)

Cronies

My friend Charles has been hard at work creating cronies for the upcoming Halloween and Vine show.  He posted some sneak peeks on his blog and I can't decide which was is my favorite. 

I think it might be Winnie:

(photo borrowed from and owned by Charles Batte)

These adorable cronies will be available this weekend at the Halloween and Vine show along with hundreds of other Halloween treasures.  Hope to see you there!!!

ART IS YOU Day Three

My class for today was cancelled but I still got to do a brief one-hour activity called "Wild Wrist Action."  We made bracelets from gift cards!!!

In case you can't read it, mine says "Love." 

I am going to be looking for interesting giftcards to steal acquire so I can make more of these babies as stocking stuffers!!!  It looks so cute on my wrist!!!

Thanks to Ellen and Sallianne for another wonderful ART IS YOU West Coast retreat. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they come back next year.  I would love to do the East Coast retreat as well but, for now, I'm just happy there is one in my backyard.

ART IS YOU Day Two

Today, I took Jennifer Whitmer's "Impromptu Millinery" class.  When Jennifer showed us our "hoods," which are the starting point of each hat, I was a little intimidated.

I couldn't imagine what I would be able to make from one of those.  Jennifer took us through the process step by step and we all gained confidence.  Here is my work in progress:

Most of us had our basic hat finished by lunchtime.  We then spent the afternoon creating flowers by hand with which to decorate our creations.  Here is my finished product:

I elected to pin my flowers and leaves on so that I would have the option of moving them or REmoving them depending on the occasion.  I loved the fact that each person's hat was different:

(Jennifer is second from left)

 I hope she comes back next year so I can make a DIFFERENT hat.  It was so fun!!!

ART IS YOU Day One

Today was my first day at the ART IS YOU West Coast art retreat.  I was so happy to see organizers Ellen and Sallianne again!  Today was my class with Cathe Holden. Cathe has an AMAZING blog full of wonderful inspiration and freebies!  The fact that she lives in my town is an added bonus.  I was thrilled to hear that she was teaching at ART IS YOU this year.  Cathe's class with a Collage Components cabinet and she spoiled us with goodies.

When I arrived at ART IS YOU this morning, I was greeted with this amazing nametag:

The theme this year is "Weird, Wild and Wonderful" and I decided to be "weird:"

When I walked into Cathe's fully-stocked classroom, I couldn't believe the goodies that were waiting at my spot:

  

We were going to be collaging a cabinet to store ephemera and collage goodies in.  And Cathe was going to help us fill those cabinets!!!  I felt as if she brought a large part of her studio with her.  There was a table with nothing but stamps and stamp pads.  (and custom-made stamps by Cathe at that!)  She brought a sewing machine for us to use as well as a vintage typewriter.  There was one table with nothing but cutting supplies including dozens of fancy punches.  And then, there was the amazing baker's twine table.  Oh my stars!!!

Cathe's aesthetic is similar to mine. I love how she incorporates vintage style into everything. We got so many goodies from Jenni Bowlin that I ended up using many of them to cover my cabinet.  I also swooned when I saw the fabric from Charlotte Lyons.  It was as if Charlotte had made fabric just for me!  I immediately cut out a piece of fabric with a candle on it.  Crafting by Candlelight!!!

 I didn't quite finish my cabinet but here is the front:

Aren't those drawer pulls amazing?  I'm going to add a bit more to the little drawers at home.

Here is the top. I had to put the Charlotte Lyons fabric piece in a place of honor:

Here is a side view:

And another side. See that adorable bunting?  I used a fantastic pennant punch from Jenni Bowlin along with Jenni Bowlin paper and then sewed it into bunting.

Such a fun class and I came home with so many goodies to use in other projects.  Plus, the added bonus of getting to spend time with Cathe.  She is such a wonderful and creative person.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she gets her barn studio/classroom finished soon so I can start taking regular classes with her!!!

I also managed to get 20 trades finished and I'm pretty happy with the result:

Looking forward to Day Two!!!  Wish you were here!!!

(PS....the adorable Jenni Bowlin punch that I used for the pennant bunting is on sale today at Overstock.com for $13.87 shipped!  I had to order one!)

ART IS YOU!!!!

Last year was my first time to attend any sort of an art retreat.  And I was thrilled that it happened right in my own backyard.  I got to spend time with Amy Powers and Shelly Massey and it was wonderful!  This year, I am going back for more!

This weekend will be the second ART IS YOU art retreat in Petaluma.  (Yep...that's me on the poster above)  I will be taking a class with Cathe Holden on Friday and a class with Jennifer Whitmer on Saturday.   Saturday evening is also the open-to-the-public ART TRUNK show.  I had planned on taking a class with Tina Haller on Sunday but it was cancelled.  Boo. 

I would love to sit down and make a bunch of trades to take with me but I'm not sure I'm going to have the time.  It's going to be a busy week.  I can hardly wait to reconnect with old friends and spend some time being creative!!!

A Nordic Vacation AND a Tea Gift Certificate?!!!

I absolutely love to travel.  Since I was a little girl, I have always loved learning about other lands and cultures.  This is probably why I ended up with a master's degree in Anthropology.  I take pleasure not only in the diversity of other lands and peoples but also in the fact that we are all so alike at a fundamental level.

One of the things that has always appealed to me about Tea Collection's clothing is how they draw their inspiration from other cultures.  I am always so excited to see what influences the next collection will draw upon.  It gives me the opportunity to have my son wear a globally-inspired wardrobe that truly emphasizes his status a a little citizen of the world.

Tea has partnered with Jetsetter for a very special contest. You can win a Nordic getaway PLUS a gift certificate from Tea Collection to fill that suitcase with a new wardrobe.  It couldn't be easier to sign up.  I chose Sweden as my potential destination because I've always wanted to go there AND I have some friends that live there.  Win win!!!  I also think Noodlebug would look great in this collection:



Click on the contest graphic at the top of the post for your chance to win a Nordic vacation and gift certificate.  If I don't win, I hope YOU do!!!

(I am a Tea Collection affiliate)

Grandparents Day

Sunday is Grandparents Day.  I know some people would say that this is a "Hallmark" holiday. Maybe it is. But I think we all need little reminders some time about showing others how much they mean to us.  Noodlebug and I spent a little time yesterday painting some pictures for his Grandmother.  I bought a package of canvas boards at Michael's with a 40% off coupon and had the idea of doing a Fall tree. Noodle enjoyed it so much that we decided to do the other seasons as well.  We had mixed results but it was a fun project.

His forearm and hand made the tree trunks and then we used the eraser end of a pencil to dip in paint and "dot" on the leaves.  I later went in and added a few embellishments that he requested:  a fox for Fall, a redbird and some footprints for winter, a bluebird and some flowers for Spring and a swing for Summer.  The work was a little messy but we had fun and now Noodle's grandmother will have a painting to display for each season. Or all at once!!!


I'm linking with the Southern Institute at Creative Me Monday!!!

ABC Learning Toy

I have been wanting to make Amy Powers' ABC Learning Toy that was featured in one of her Inspired Ideas ezines for a long time.  I gathered a variety of wooden spools and a spool holder and printed out Amy's letter template. I realized pretty quickly that I needed cardstock for the letters.  Since the spools can't go all the way down the spindles once the end is covered, you need a pretty hardy piece of paper or else it will punch through.  I also hunted down paper that depicted items starting with each letter and wrapped them around the appropriate spools.

I involved Noodlebug in the selection of the papers and stickers we used so that he could connect the idea of the letter and the image.  He really enjoys mixing up the letters and putting them back in order on the spools.  Later, I'll make some extra vowels and he can start making words. Thanks to Amy for a great idea!!!

**UPDATE** We have had a little trouble with the dowels punching through the paper on the end of the spools since the dowels are slightly longer than the spools.  My solution was to put a dab of glue gun glue in the hole and then recover it with the paper.  Problem solved!!!