"City Girl" by Missy Trent

"Belinda" by Kat Baker

Here's a couple of artsy things I have completed. I found this beautiful purple picture entitled "City Girl" in the Somerset Studio January/February magazine. I immediately fell in love with it...maybe because I love purple so much. It makes my eyes happy. City Girl was created by Missy Trent. I found her website and once again fell in love with her style. I decided to do my own version of Missy's painting. I really like her. I decided to call her "Belinda". Good name for a City Girl.

"Reminisce"

This is a collage that began in Chris Cozen's class. Chris and my friend, Nina helped me with the layout a bit and I think she turned out great. The picture of the old women and the look on her face of retrospect is what really inspired me. I called it "Reminisce". The clock and the map represents the time and travel of her life. I sealed it with clear and white encaustic wax.

These other two pictures are my very first attempt at watercolor. I'm taking a watercolor class and I'm just kind of struggling my way through it. I don't think watercolor is my medium of choice, but I spent money on all the paints, etc., so I think I'll spend some more time on it. I am learning how to mix colors and and how much different watercolors react on the paper as opposed to acrylics. It truly is a whole new world. Our teacher is teaching us by doing actual scenes. I think I'll experiment on my own by just adding color to the paper and make backgrounds. Anyway, I'm not inspired to name these pics. I'll call them "Elephants" and "Barn". Ha Ha! That works.

At Play...

Learned a new way to make chunky jewelry. What a fun time I had at Elena's house with Miss Vicky. Vicky taught us how to make this awesome necklace. There were five of us, including Sheila and Pam, and every piece was completely different and beautiful. I loved them all. I've already scoured my stash for some cool chunky beads, buttons and trinkets to add to my next chunky necklace. If you ever get an opportunity to learn from Miss Vicky, take it...she's very talented and very fun.

Life has been so busy at my house, with my father-in-law moving into my small home and my hubby having major surgery on his right foot. My days are all about these two men. I love them and am happy that it's me taking care of them, but I also get on my pity pot sometimes just because my time is not my own anymore. It's hard to make plans. But...there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Dave should be driving in another three weeks. At that point, I have to make arrangements to go back up to my parents house in No. CA to testify at a trial against her crazy neighbor who continues to harass them. Then, maybe then I can go back to doing what I want to do...

Wait! What an epiphany! It's funny, as I wrote that last sentence, I realized that I am doing what I want to do. If I didn't want to take dad to his doctor appointments, or Dave to his doctor appointments, or go to the store to get dad new t-shirts and hankies, I wouldn't. I guess I am living the life I want to live. I just want to play more often. Playing seems to be very important to me these days. It's a childhood thing I think.

Moving dad into our home is truly the right thing to do and day by day, we are adapting. He is a pleasant, sweet, addition to our household. He's found the garden and it's Spring! Yey! Even though he can't see or hear, he manages to tinker around the yard for hours at a time. I'm thrilled that he's found something to do that he really enjoys. He also like to do the dishes! Yippee!

Speaking of fun, on Sunday, I went to the Emerald City Artist Pavilion at the Royalty Over the Rainbow Retreat. This was a wonderful 2-day, scrapbooking, charity event sponsored by Scrapbook Royalty. The money raised will be given to The Cancer coping Center and the Boys and Girls Club.

The Artist Pavilion was a treasure trove of art items created and donated by local artists such as, Alisa Burke, Suzi Blu, Cheryl Waters and Miss Vicky to name a few. I purchased this beautiful Suzi Blu painting. Suzi is a friend, a wonderful artist and teacher. Check out her blog and school. I love her work and am delighted to have this piece in my craft room. It's taking center stage right now...reminding me to "PLAY" whenever I can. Everything can feel like playing...when I remember to have fun at everything I do.

Become a Charter Member of Club Royalty

Launching Club Royalty!*

April 1st, 2010
Become a Charter Member now for $20 and receive a
special Club Royalty Couture T-shirt as a bonus!

Go to Scrapbook Royalty to Register:

It’s all about Charity, Crafting and Sharing and how we can use our love of Creativity to tie them all together!

What is Club Royalty?
This is a club just for Charitable Crafters! And you get to choose how involved you want to be.
Here is how it works:

Charity
Each 3 month cycle we will give you 3 Charitable Acts to do- one each month. The tasks will vary and can be something like:
Taking blankets to a homeless shelter.
Making handmade cards for the troops overseas.
Taking flowers to a nursing home to cheer up their lobby.

Crafting
You can stop there and feel great about giving of yourself once a month or take photos or journal about your experience then create something to document your charitable act.

It can be:
A Scrapbook Page, Quilt, Video, Collage, Painting, Book, Doll,
The Sky's the Limit!

Sharing
Creating is so therapeutic and for some people, it is just for them but if you want to share you can upload a photo of your creation to our gallery and each cycle we will have lots of special gifts to giveaway from the amazing manufacturers, artists, and scrapbook stores that support Scrapbook Royalty! We will randomly choose as many winners as we can!

There will be lots of other perks.
We will have special manufacturer discounts just for members.
Special video tutorials from amazing artists sharing their charitable acts and their creations.
An online forum on the SBR website just for Club Royalty members to connect, share their stories and encourage each other’s volunteer efforts. We will have special bonuses throughout the year. This club is bound to grow and you know we will keep adding more perks as it does!

The cost to join is just a small $20 donation per cycle.
There is no commitment, there are no requirements.
You can do as little or as much as you want.
If you just want to donate $20 per cycle,
we are grateful for that too!
It’s all about Charity, Crafting, Sharing and how we can use our love of Creativity to tie them all together!

Become a Charter Member and receive a free Club Royalty T-shirt CBY4SBR (Created by Yudu for Scrapbook Royalty!) with a beautiful logo created by Rhonna Ferrar from House of 3.
*Article taken from SBR Newsletter.

Growth is Painful --

Is that what is happening? Am I going through a growth spurt? Perhaps I have lived my life for this moment. I feel like I'm trapped on a roller coaster and life is taking me for a ride that I am not necessarily enjoying, but feel compelled to endure. There seems to be no other option. By staying on the roller coaster, other people's lives will be better and maybe that's the right thing to do. I don't want to complain, but I don't think I'm living the life that I wanted to live. All I can do is assume that God has other plans for me and go with it and perhaps learn to be happy with it.

I have created a couple of art pieces and taken a couple of classes in the past couple of months. That is why I started a blog...to write about those things. I want to share pictures with you and happy thoughts.

When I sit down to say something to you, the only things I can think about are the things that I'm fretting over...and I know you don't want to hear about that...and I don't want to use your time in that way.

I pray for the days that I can spend time writing about the fun things I'm doing and the creations I'm making and the wonderful people in my life. Then I will share...

World's Largest Crop

WooHoo, we are so excited! Scrapbook Royalty is doing it again. Scrapbook Royalty and the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) announces its attempt to set a world record on Jan. 23, 2010, during the CHA Craft SuperShow at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. CHA, in partnership with Scrapbook Royalty, will host the World’s Largest Crop event to raise money for the Kids In Need Foundation (KINF), which provides school supplies to students in need across the country. The World’s Largest Crop aims to bring together nearly 700 scrapbook enthusiasts to raise awareness of and donations for KINF.

If you are near Anaheim on Jan. 23, you don't want to miss this exciting event. Go to the website and purchase your tickets so you can be part of the World’s Largest Crop. We have arranged celebrity appearances, product giveaways, door prizes and a charity raffle benefiting KINF. Participants will have the opportunity to “crop” with their favorite crafting celebrities and create one-of-a-kind scrapbook projects. Celebrity scrapbookers who will attend the event include Heidi Swapp, Heidi Grace, Claudine Helmuth and many others, along with product donations from Provocraft, Canon, Wacom, Maya Road, Art Glitter, Flowersoft, Sakura and more.

Tribute to Marilyn

I had a chance to do a little art piece at Jackie's yesterday. We were not scheduled to have an art meetup this month, but Jackie's been working on her art studio and wanted a little advice. The studio looks awesome. She has a huge collection of Ephemera and she has managed to get it organized and easier to find. Everything has a home! June and I helped her with a little rearranging of furniture and still had some time for the business of art.

I made this little tribute to Marilyn all from Jackie's stash. I liked Marilyn and thought she died much too early in her life. She was in the middle of life's lessons and never had the chance to reap the benefits of learning the lessons.

The base of the piece is a tile sample. I added paper and some and embellies and of course a picture of Marilyn. I used my Copics markers to make her black and white feather boa, pink. Added the key just because I liked it. Ha Ha. Don't you just love art. It's so freeing! Thanks Jackie for a fun art time.

New Glimmer Glaze and Eduction Blog

New education blog from Tattered Angels. Go there now! Check out the new product. I can't wait to get my hands on the new Glimmer Glaze! Love any thing glimmer, but glaze and glimmer, let me at it!

Check out the list of ladies on the education team. They are going to have tips and techniques for us every other day. What a fun way to learn about these new products.

I had a blog post that I hadn't published because I kept adding to it. It was my previous post that encompassed the whole month of December simply because I didn't blog all month. December is over and I'm still trying to share about what I didn't share about at the time. It's crazy! Since I write this blog as more of an art journey for myself, or a bit of a diary if you will...I feel like I need to add every little detail of my art life or I might forget it happened. Again, it's crazy. Time to move on to 2010.

Here's what I'm into right now. My friend Nina introduced me to Christine Kane's blog and the idea of using one word as a way of setting intention for a whole year. This intrigued me because I have been struggling with my New Year's resolution. I don't have one! Every year, I want to get healthy and by that I mean lose weight, get off cholesterol meds, take better care of myself, have a physical, bla bla bla! Sometimes I'm successful and often it only lasts until February. This year, I don't even seem to care. I absolutely refuse to set myself up for disappointment, hence I'll do nothing! Makes sense right...not!

I like the idea of a word to focus on. For example if I want to stay on the same path, my word could be HEALTH. I don't know yet. Maybe I'll have two words...

I recommend Christine's blog if this is something you'd like to try. She has articles from other bloggers that describe their word of the year and why. She also has a helpful tool to figure out what your word is. I'm going to go use it right now.

A Month At A Glance

Happy!

Suzi, Sally & Gigi with some pretty angels

Elena with her gift

Gigi wanting some of Suzi's gift

Lots of fun events for me this month. Thought I'd get them on the blog before the end of the year. Book Club was a blast! Suzi Blu and Gigi were our guests. She shared her art and a little bit about herself with us. We all had lots of questions. Some of us, including me immediately signed up for her online Angel class. We are learning how to make pretty angels.

Dee's beautiful quilted letters

Brenda's gorgeous embellished letters

Presents!

We had a letter exchange and the ladies once again stepped up to the plate with some beautiful pieces. Gorgeous letters for your scrapbook page or mixed media piece. Of course, being December, we had a gift exchange that was a hoot. There were a couple of items, including a Suzi Blu print, that everyone kept stealing. No, I didn't get it. I tried though!

Hosted a birthday party for Elena at the Beach House in Solana Beach. It was the wettest, coldest day of the year and yet many ventured out to honor Elena. She received some amazing gifts and I think we all had a wonderful time. The Beach House sits right on the sand at the ocean. Due to the storm, the ocean was turbulent with white caps as far as the eye could see.

Jackie organized a fun trip to walk through and view the Christmas decorations in some of the homes in Fairbanks Ranch. It was a fundraiser for MHS Recovery Center in Oceanside. We went through seven homes and then ended up Jackie's sister's home, which was by far the most beautiful on the tour. There were about eight of us and I think each of us had a different favorite house. Jackie pre-instructed us to bring a couple of gifts that wanted to wrap. She brought all her vintage wrapping paper and decorations. We enjoyed lunch and wrapped beautiful presents to give to our family. It was a unique and fun way to spend the day with girlfriends in a beautiful atmosphere.

Hosted an ATC swap on Facebook. I'm new to ATC's, and to hosting so it was a learning experience. Everyone I met in the swap was talented and nice and I think I'll do it again one day in the future. The ATC's are fun to collect and I'm looking for a local ATC group to join.

I took a PMC class from Deborah Trusdell at Stamping Details. I have been intrigued with this art for years and after meeting Deborah and talking about it, it felt like it sort of fell into my lap and said, "It's time!" I am so delighted with what I learned. I left the class feeling like I can make silver jewelry on my own any time I want. That's pretty cool! I made a pair of earrings and a pendant. My next venture will be some small charms, which is an idea I am stealing from one of the ladies in my class. The small charms have words or symbols on them and are cute to add to an art piece.

Spent a couple of days with my beading friends and made some necklaces. Lauren taught me a new technique with micro crimp beads and chain. Also, made a funky little beaded heart with a wire wrapping technique.

And of course, spent a couple of days with my beloved art group at Sally's. Finished my Suzi Blu painting. I don't think Suzi would think I worked long enough on her but, I really wanted to start a pretty girl and learn the processes from beginning to end, which I did. I must admit Suzi played with her a little bit too. I think she is beautiful in a sort of non-proportionate way. I love her.

It was my anniversary this month so my hubby and I spent three days totally enmeshed with each other. It was so fun and sweet and intimate and loving and fun!!! I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such an awesome man.

Christmas was sort of quiet this year. We had a couple of gatherings at , the house with family. Actually, Christmas day, we had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with Dave's parents. We had a bigger celebration with our kids, grandkids and extended family. I catered Christmas dinner with Bucca de Pepbo this year. We had the big turkey dinner at Thanksgiving. I wanted something different for Christmas and we didn't want to cook! It wasn't worth it. The food was good but not worth the money. Live and learn. Went to my Sister's on Christmas day. Man, did she have all the trimmings. It was good too! All in all, Christmas was about family and friends, easy peasy and very enjoyable.

New goal for the year is to blog more than once a month.

It Was An Artful Day!

Today was one of those wonderful days that I love so much. Spent the day at Sally's with some of the girls. It was a small group today, just five of us, which is nice because it's just one conversation as opposed to several. Don't get me wrong, I love it when there's more of us, but I find that I want to be part of all of the conversations at one time and then I get confused. Anyway, we all created something different today. Sally was drawing her beautiful faces and waxing her paintings, Nina was working with alcohol inks and making gorgeous Christmas Cards. Suzi was painting and drawing and working with Copics in her new scrap/journal/photo book. Diane was cutting out pictures for a collage book. I was coloring, painting and waxing my first pretty Suzi Blu inspired girl. I love her. She's so pretty! I can't wait to learn more.

If you would like to learn more about how to make pretty girls go to world renowned artist Suzi Blu's Les Petit Academy and take a class. You get way more than just an art class. She is very hands on. It's like being taught one on one. The videos are yours to keep and you can watch them over and over.

Along with the art, we enjoyed scones and coffee for breakfast and yummy turkey soup and french bread for lunch. The colored pencils, paints, Copics, inks, papers, magazines, wax, irons, and stars were all over the place, and we were eating, creating, and yakking up a storm as girls do. It was a joyful time for me. I think my friends were pretty happy too. Maybe that's what makes it so great. We love to do what we do and we love to do it together! Being part of this artful group of ladies is a sincere blessing in my life. I'm just so darned happy!!!

3-DAY CROP

Crop room and kitchen before the guests arrived.

I was so spoiled and pampered this past weekend that I fear nothing will ever live up to the experience. The standards were set so high that many of us pondered and wondered if we'll ever experience an event as exceptional. I've been sitting here trying to put into words the delight of the 3-Day Crop. Words that keep coming into my mind are:

Awesome, Incredible Hostesses, Sheila and Elena.

Beautiful, Charming Scrap Retreat House in French Valley.

Wonderful, Giving Women, Elena, Cheryl, Jean, Shanna, Wendy, Terri, Carmena, Liz, Sheila, Bobbie, Eva.

Super Talented Teachers, Donna Salazar, Stephanie Ackerman, Elena Etcheverry, Cheryl.

Adorable Fairy, Tory.

Generous, Plethora of Presents all weekend long.

Scrumptious Food all weekend long.

Roller Coaster Feelings from sheer delight and happiness, to an emotional well of tears, to giddy thrill, back to being a ball bag again. And, then finally, sheer exhaustion from the awe of it all. My emotions ran the gambit over the entire weekend!

Wendy working into the wee hours.

The 3-Day Crop started Friday morning. We walked through the door and didn't have to worry about a thing. Everything was taken care of. Every whim was met. All we needed to do was set up our scrapbooking stuff and get started. If you wanted a drink or some food, Bobbie was there. If you wanted a tool, someone would get it and teach you how to use it. There were stamps and inks, computers and printers, Cricket, Slice, Big Shot, Papers, Flowers, Ribbons, and if it wasn't there, we could simply yell out, "Does anyone have a gold metallic pen?" and everyone would start looking for one to share.

Food was excellent and endless! For breakfast, we had fresh coffee, bacon and eggs made to order, cereal, fruit, pastries and more. For lunch, we had grilled gourmet cheese and ham sandwiches, yummy lima bean soup (I know, I don't like lima beans either, but this soup made by Jean, was extraordinary!), chips and salsa, veggies and more. For hors d oeuvres, we had spicy chicken wings, fresh vegetables, chips, crackers and homemade dips, not to mention wine and cocktails. For dinner, we had 4 different salads, chicken and spaghetti, pot roast and mashed potatoes, broccoli and more. Oh, did I mention midnight snacks...uh huh, we had pizza! And, for desserts, we had cupcakes, ice cream sundaes, all the chocolate candy imaginable, cheese cake and so much more. It was truly decadent!

Shanna and Kat

Crafting was a blast! Prior to the event, we each made a swap gift. We picked names and that was who we gave our gift to. Shanna received my gift, which was a Breast Cancer Awareness, Encaustic Wax Collage. She said she was thrilled to receive it, which of course, made me ecstatic! I received a set of Starbuck's ceramic teacups from Carmena and Tory

. My word was Courage!

Once we arrived, we worked on our own scrapbooks, but we also had projects. Once of those projects was to draw a word from a hat and then with that word, create a Breast Cancer Awareness Canvas. Everyone's word was different and each canvas was unique and beautiful.

Friday night Cheryl taught us how to make paper flowers. One little, cut-out, scalloped flower turned into a beautiful rose. I used Glimmer Mist on mine and it was gorgeous. I'll be making these flowers compulsively for days to come, I'm sure.

Donna Salazar arrived on Saturday night and taught us how to make her signature flowers with vintage dictionary pages, tissue paper and Smooch. The color combinations were fantastic. The flowers were made the same way, but each one was different and unique to the artist. I'm on the search for a round scallop punch.

Stephanie Ackerman also came Saturday armed with a kit for each of us. She taught us her signature doodling. That was so much fun and interesting. My doodling has taken on a whole new personality. In fact, I need to take time out to practice my doodling.

Saturday night, Carol, our wonderful masseuse set up shop in the giant upstairs master bedroom. The lights were low, the music was low and the massage was to die for. Personally, the muscles in my neck felt like huge rocks. A little Bag Balm and Carol's deep healing touch was just what was in order. We each signed up for a little peace of her heaven. It was just in time for a second wind to go back to crafting and scrapping.

Sunday, Elena Etcheverry of Scrapbook Royalty, taught us how to make her signature flower with fabrics and flame. Yes, you heard right...this flower requires a candle flame to help frame it's unique look. I've always loved chiffon and now I have a reason to use it. We were all oohing and awing over the fabrics and buttons and final creations. Wait till Prima sees this flower!

One of the ladies from Susan G. Komen came and talked to us about the recent, disturbing media reports that women don't have to do self-exam or mammograms. She said that has been corrected and that she doesn't think the insurance companies will stop paying for breast exam procedures. I was happy to hear how fast they were able to right this wrong!

Out of the original 12 ladies that stayed all weekend, we had 4 Breast Cancer Survivors! Each lady spoke a little bit and we were not only tearful, but so inspired by their strength and courage. Each one of them said, "self-exam" is what saved their lives. They were adamant about the importance of women doing their own exams even if they get regular mammograms.

Kat and her dolly Hope

Kat and one of many Fairy Flybys

Did I mention PRESENTS and FAIRY FLYBYS. They never stopped coming. Every time we turned around there was a new present. I went home with literally twice as much as I came with. Our first and exciting present was Hope, the most adorable doll handmade by Sheila. We received personalized pillow cases and a fabric bag of bath necessities. We had Tory, our own personal Fairy handing out scrapbooking papers, embellishments, boxes, flowers, kits, clips, totes, Susan G. Komen glass ornaments, the list goes on and on.

We had a T-Shirt contest and Terri won with her flower ta ta's. Our Queen of Philanthropy was Shanna who raised the most money and as it turned out, in the least amount of time. We took group pictures. Eva counted the Cards for Troops the final count was over 1,200 cards.


The cherry on top of this event goes to Bobbie and Eva who tirelessly took care of our every need. They wouldn't allow us to do anything for ourselves. Bobbie kept the food coming, the tea kettle hot and the kitchen in constant order. Eva counted cards, sprayed adhesive, even cutout letters on the Cricket for one of my projects.

Personally, I can't thank Sheila enough for her unbelievable attention to detail and her hard work. She has been working tirelessly on this project for absolutely months. Liz, Sheila's mother said, "Sheila would work for eight hours during the day, come home and take a nap and then begin her second job working on the 3-Day Crop for eight hours at nighttime." This was definitely her baby and she did it justice and more. It was the details that made this event special and her ability to keep the party flowing. She has a true gift for knowing just what a crafting girl wants and needs and she did the amazing work to make it happen.

Elena on the phone troubleshooting a computer problem.

Of course, the Princess of the weekend was Elena. She was our computer and printer geek, our photographer and naturally all questions were answered immediately or she was on the phone getting the answer. None of this would have happened for me personally if it hadn't been for my friend Elena. She absolutely took me under her wing and is the reason I was able to have this experience. Her philanthropic skills are unmatched and I truly admire her. She definitely goes the extra mile to make the right stuff happen! She's a natural teacher and artist and I love being with her.

Last but not least, the twelve 3-Day Croppers and the twelve 1-Day Croppers raised 12,000 for Susan G. Komen, For the Cure, Inland Empire. That exceeds the $7,000 goal by almost double. Three quarters of this money will stay in the Inland Empire area, which is wonderful news.


I have more pics that I will add later.

Johnny Depp - Sexiest Man Alive

People Magazine's choice for a 2nd year. Ok, so, I know this is probably violating some sort of copyright law and if it is, I'm so sorry, but...

Can I just say that this guy...

hmmmm...

I don't know what it is, but he's pretty dang hot!

Carol Murphy's Vintage Grunge Holiday Encaustic Class

These are the same picture. Different camera lighting.

This past weekend, again, I was very lucky to get into Carol Murphy's Vintage Grunge Holiday Encaustic class at Stamping Details. This was true Encaustic wax and completely new to me. What fun we had! Unfortunately my camera had no batteries in it so I don't have pictures of the class or of Carol. I did take a picture of my finished product. I really like it. I think I may have had a much heavier hand with color than I was suppose to, but I like it that way. Carol has a slide show on her website of some of her Encaustic creations. They are gorgeous! I loved learning this process. I want to do some ATC's using the wax.

Chris Cozen's Faux Encaustic Class

Chris spreading the Faux Encaustic on the picture.

So many great classes to choose from lately. On Halloween day, I was very lucky to get a seat in Chris Cozen's Faux Encaustic class at Stamping Details. We worked with the fabulous Golden products and as you know, it's a language in itself. Needless to say, when Chris was giving the formulas, I struggled to follow along. I tried to write them down, but didn't do so well, so gave up and just started slathering the paints on my canvas. Fortunately Nina wrote down the formulas and shared. Nina is so much more art savy than I and was a life saver for me in this class.

Nina and her beautiful creations.

We used soft gel medium to adhere collage images to the canvas. After the images were dry, we used a palette knife to add two colors of Golden Fluid Acrylic paint to the canvas. After that dried, we selected a third accent color and painted it on a rubber thing, which was then pressed onto the canvas. The checkerboard looking thing is used under carpet padding. I believe it can be purchased by the yard.

These are two of my creations...still very wet.

Chris gave us a few different formula's, including a base of acrylic ground for pastel or soft gel medium. The formula we decided to use dried the fastest, consisting of less than 1/4 cup Golden Fluid Matt Medium for each 8"x8" canvas, with a drop of Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold. Another formula substituted the gold for 3 drops of Interference blue and 2 drops of Iridescent gold to add a sheen to the finished look. You spread the mixture all over the canvas. It can be a finished piece at that point, or you can continue to add more layers of paint, stamping, collage, etc.

Jackie's Birthday Party

I bet the blogs are a buzzin' today! It was a very special day! It was Jackie's Birthday!

The girls, Jackie and her sister, Patti, along with June, Jeannie, Maryam, Bonnie, Elena, Bet, Sally and Miss Vicky had a blast at Jackie's Birthday Party Thrift Store Scavenger Hunt! We all met at the Beach Grass Cafe in Poway, and then with our pens and clues in hand, took off to hunt through the local thrift stores. The objective was to find little coin envelopes or pieces of paper or pictures of Jackie that were hidden among the thrift store merchandise. Each was worth a certain amount of points. We had clues to help us, such as Bearly There, Sock Hop, See Dick and Jane, Batter Up, Pink Peddle Pushers, etc. It was very interesting, competitive and fun! However, I must admit, this brain struggled a bit. I struggled with wanting to find the points and wanting to shop. I found it difficult to do both at the same time.

There were five winners, including yours truly! Yey! I won a beautiful, sort of Tuscan looking dipping set. Miss Vicky was the big winner with a box full of vintage jewelry. Sally came in second, June was third, and Elena took fifth place.

We definitely developed quite an appetite from all our hard work. Thankfully, the food was great and we spent some quality time gabbing. It was one of the most entertaining birthday party's I've had the pleasure of enjoying.

Next stop was Stamping Details for a quick visit and the purchase of a couple of "very necessary items". Ha! That's a joke! I need more necessary items like I need... There was a cute dress store next door and Elena found some "necessary items". And, then in another store, Sally and Vicky and I found a desert. What more can you ask for...everyone was happy! Super fun day with nice ladies!

Contest

Check out the new post on the Where Women Create blog. They are celebrating their anniversary by having a contest. If you haven't read this magazine, you are in for a treat. I scour it cover to cover. It's truly delicious!