Fun For Me

Prior to Christmas, I made two paintings that I liked quite a bit.  They were both created as white elephant gifts for the two creative book clubs I participate in.  The parameters of the white elephant swap was that the gifts had to be handmade and they had to be something I would want to keep.  I think I accomplished that.  I had a lot of fun painting them and I really wanted to keep both of these paintings. 

I was so excited that at both clubs the paintings were very well received.  My girlfriend affectionately calls them my "big head girls."  

By the end of the swaps, the paintings went to two lovely ladies that I feel confident are happy with them.  If I couldn't keep them, I am happy that they went to good homes and will be well loved.

Firsts

Here they are!  My first tomatoes this year.  What's cool about the small cluster of tomatoes is that they came from a rogue plant that just showed up in my yard.  Plus, this particular plant is growing in the shade, which unusual for tomatoes.  I couldn't wait for the last green one to ripen.  I had to pick them.

I have my first illness of the year.  Hope it's my last for years to come.  I've been sick for three weeks.  My poor husband has had a fever for three days.  He's taking antibiotics.  Being the rebel, I never went to the doctor, so still struggling a bit.  Getting better though!

Last night, I managed to drag myself to

    Kat & Elena

Book Club.  I'm so glad I did because we had lots of fun and it was the shot in the arm that I needed.  It was good to laugh and be with friends. 

Can't think of anymore firsts because I haven't done anything in three weeks.

Technorati Tags: Book Club,Elena

Out of the Box Book Club at Urban Barn

Here we are at the Urban Barn in Escondido. What a fun backdrop for our Out of the Box Book Club. The Urban Barn is an incredibly inspiring, artsy, consignment store. It is very vintage and a true experience. Next weekend, they are having their monthly Street Faire, which is a real treat and a great place to buy gifts.

Tonight we celebrated the holidays with hord'oeuvres, desserts and a white elephant exchange. The only criteria for our exchange is that it must be handmade with love. Everyone rose to the occasion and we had a blast.

Glenna, Pam, Kat, Elena, Nancy, Ivy, Sheila, Maureen

Elena multi-tasking as usual

Linda, Urban Barn Owner and Donna

Nancy went home with one of Elena's gorgeous buttons and baubles bracelet

Danette was so happy with the little girl, made by Nancy. The sad face is because she only got to keep her for minutes. It seems that in a white elephant exchange, you can steal other already opened gifts. And, that's just what Glenna did. Awe, poor Danette!

Ooops! Another robber came along and stole the little girl from Glenna.

Awe ha...Guess who went home with the little girl!

Out of The Box at Urban Barn

What’s more fun than a group of girlfriends getting together and sharing art. It’s definitely one of my favorite things. Tonight our Out of the Box Book Club gathered at the Urban Barn in Escondido. What an awesome, inspirational place. It’s a store in a warehouse setting with tons of fun vignettes of vintage and shabby chic. I don’t think there’s another place in San Diego that comes close to matching the unique experience this store offers. We are so thrilled that Urban Barn owner, Linda, decided to move into our neighbor hood from Temecula.

We just set up a couple of tables and chairs right in the front of the store. The doors were up, the sun was setting and it couldn't have been a more beautiful night.

Glenna's gorgeous banner

Kat's Happy Girl painting - taught by Suzi Blu

Pam went to the CREATE Retreat in Chicago and learned the techniques for this custom book.

Pam also shared this beautiful collage.

Each cycle we do an art exchange. This cycle it was birds.

Here are Bonnie's fabulous soldered charm birds.

Kat's chipboard birds with butterfly hanger

Elena's creative magnetic boards with a little birdie magnet.

Allison's sweet paper piecing birds

Danette's cute little fat birds all made with circles.

Sheila's awesome embellished birds using items that she currently had on hand.

Pam's gorgeous smooch birdies.

Judy took an example from our book and added her own flair, which turned out adorable.

Glenna's lovely vintage bird tag.

We each took home quite a collection of pretty birds.

We couldn't end the night without a tune from our lovely Book Club leader, Elena.

Art Bar With Miss Vicky

The Crew with their bottles

The Carlsbad Book Club ladies have been trying to think of a fun place to go on a field trip. Elena came up with the idea of going to the Art Bar, which is located in Orange County, or Santa Ana to be precise. If you want to go somewhere really cool for a class or just to visit and shop, the Art Bar is the place to go. It's an art store, but I found the allure to be the ambiance. It is truly designed for people to go there and make art. This fun store is heaped with wonderful art supplies to play with and a whole bunch of unusual items to purchase. You feel totally comfortable just digging in and getting your hands dirty. There's something so unique and quaint about the Art Bar that you are truly inspired to create.

Kat & Pam

My Sister and I drove up to OC last Saturday and met up with 10 girlfriends, including Miss Vicky. Miss Vicky brought all the supplies and instructed us on how to make beautiful soldered bottles. We had crystals, beads, shells, and various other embellies to add to the inside of our bottles. Then we learned how to embellish the outside of the bottle and solder it all together. Once soldered, we added a patina that gave the bottle an old-world sort of look.

Kat & Pam

I loved it so much that I've already been on the hunt for bottles and I believe I have found my next beautiful creation.

Miss Vicky

Then we went into downtown Santa Ana, which is full of European stores and antique shops. We had a delicious lunch, went shopping, but most of all we laughed and giggled and really did have a hoot of a time. It was a great day. Good idea Elena!

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.

What a Great Birthday!

Yesterday I had an awesome birthday. MB and Lauren took me to lunch at Buster's in Seaport Village. We had a delicious lunch and then shared in a birthday Creme Brulee that was sooo yummy. It was the most beautiful day down on the embarcadero. Walked around a bit and took a couple of pictures. MB gave me a plate that has three beautiful, large, cone-shaped candles atop. She also made me a gorgeous handmade beaded potpourri pillow, but I can't have it yet because it's not quite finished. I'll be buggin' her for that because it's so pretty that I want it now. Lauren gave me a super cool kitty bed for Parker and Kirby. I've been wanting one like this for awhile...waiting for them to go on sale somewhere. Well, wait no more!

Last night was Book Club and Elena surprised me with a handmade present, dinner and a Starbucks. My present was a Kat doll that she made. She said, "I tried to put her hair up and make it messy like yours"...ha ha. She has glitter glass on her blouse, lots of bling, wings, and the sweetest face...just like mine...hee hee. The little word charms say "Kat Artista". I love her! She's the best present ever. Sandy and Allyson joined us for dinner, which was outside under the grass hut trees at Rubios. It was a pleasant evening for dinner outside, the food was yummy and the company was delightful.

Book Club was tons of fun as always. We started a new book, which is a handwriting book. The challenge is to bring something we made that includes journaling. This is a good thing for me because I typically type everything and seldom use my own handwriting...so it's truly a challenge for me. Our kit this month included the Tim Holts Tiny Attacher, which is a stapler that makes .25'' staples. The staples are cute if you want them to show, but they are also so small that you could hide them under a flower or button. We also got a mechanical pencil, which is something I use all the time, plus it's purple, so I love it, and a great Hi-polymer eraser. Oh, and we got a tent style nametag that we are suppose to journal our name on...good thing we have an eraser.

Jennifer made cupcakes and Lisa brought cupcakes so Brenda and I shared a birthday wish. It was fun that we had our birthday on the same day and it just happened to be Book Club day. Bonnie gave me a darling handmade Washie that she knitted herself. It's pink with intricate knitting detail. I was so surprised! Everyone wished me Happy Birthday all night. I felt so special.

Book Club is a Hoot!

Some of the fabulous ladies at Book Club

Lorene and me muggin' for the camera

Have I mentioned that I love Book Club at the Pink Pineapple. Last night our guest speaker was Lorene Yost, an independent sales person for many scrapbooking lines. She demonstrated the Glue Glider, which was our make and take for the evening. She is also an author and has published several articles in magazines. She shared some of her zany experiences and suggested that if we want to write a book...do it and don't give up! I love her spirit and enjoyed her stories.

Elena showing Lisa's embellished toaster.

Christine's wall Collage.

Is this the cutest, pink, fairy doll...thanks Sally.

I feel completely honored!

My favorite part of the evening is everyone sharing what they have created. I absolutely loved the fairy dolls that Sally and Elena's swap group made. Lisa's toaster was so incredible...who would have thought a toaster could be so fabulous. Christine from Scrap Retreat House made this wall collage that absolutely spoke to me. I want it on my wall! That's just to name a few items because I could go on and on. What a talented and lovely group of women to be associated with.

Coin Envelope Swap

Last night was also coin envelope swap night. All I can say is Woot Woot! Look at all the beautifully decorated envelopes. I don't even know what's inside yet. I'm still getting so much pleasure from the envelopes.

Check out the kit that we received from Elena, our Book Club hostess from Scrapbook Royalty. The totally cool Glue Glider was our make and take. I was so busy running around having fun that I didn't get to finish embellishing mine...add it to the list! Tied together in royalty style, is a package of ephemera that I can't wait to play with. Yey! Thanks Elena.