Waking up late.....but just in time....

So I woke up late today....

but

just in time

to

catch

a glimpse of the happy couple...

Then off to Art and Soul Day 2...

Today was Event Journaling

This was one of my first pages...

I'm going to leave the photos at this

because I'm waaay far from a finished page

it was a lot more time consuming than I realised

So I will show some of the finished pages at a later date...

Instead

I thought I'd share some of my ATC's

Been very busy nightly with these

These are just are just a few

of what I have left

need to whip up some more...

Tomorrow is Vendor Night!

Woot Woot!

I should be broke by the end of this weekend...

I'd normally have a hard time getting to sleep

because of the excitement

but my allergies are KILLIN' my mojo...

But what a sweet morning

Prince Wills had such a grin on his face today..

you could really tell he loves his Kate...

So did you wear your tiara today?

Happy Friday!

Art and Soul Day One.....Tornado warnings and a mess of paint!

SO

Today was the first day at Art and Soul..

Met some great ladies...

Had a lot of fun letting the creativity flow..or swirl..

sort of like the sky outside

 as we sat under a tornado watch pretty much all day....

Basically an Acrylics class for beginners

Now,

I have to say

watercolor is my paint of choice.

I decided to step out of my comfort zone

and use up all those tiny sample acrylics I've had in a box for

a hundred years or more and give it a try.

What I was not expecting was to end up loving

a palette knife!

Of course we had to start with a still life...

Here are my first 2 attempts

Fruit snatching from the breakfast bar preceded the class...

since so many folks got stuck in airports due to the CRAZY weather!

Here is the palette knife work in progress..

My first...

Here is the finished product...

Not bad for a first try, eh?

Very fun,

I used to hate "abstract" art

I guess this resembles more of the "Impressionists" movement

and I always used to be baffled at how they achieved what they did

without "details"

Funny how a decade or so can change you...

but I absolutely am in LUUURVE with this now!

The very next thing I purchase is going to be a smaller palette knife!

Here is the portrait "copy" I started..

FAR from done and the photo doesn't do it justice

I'm thinking I should have picked a more abstract one like many of my classmates...

Here are some of the gals

and their works

all photos taken with their permission

My tablemate came all the way from California to create this

again the photo doesn't do it justice..

The apple was so bright the undertones were amazing...

This is unfinished but it was her FIRST time using this medium!

Can't imagine what her works will look like when she gets into her groove!

Another Virgin...

This lovely lady usually works with metals in jewelry making...

This was her first painting class as well.

She is a local too

so the attempt at having a locals group to get together with

should definitely be in the works now...

This cutie pa-tootie has the sweetest little voice...

all the way from N.Y.

this is in progress as well

but she put her "stamp" on what she painted

a sort of softness to what she sees...

Hope to see more of these ladies this week.

So what do you think?

Check out our teacher at

Serena Barton

she is featured in the very latest issue of

Cloth Paper Scissors

I meant to photograph all my ATC's before I started giving them out

but OOOps!

I've photographed what I still have

and will post later

Anyone getting up before the chickens to watch

the Royal Youngsters get hitched?

I guess I will while I'm getting myself together for my class...

Happy Thursday!

Bust out your tiara...

Keep Calm and Get your Wedding On!

Art and Soul....

I wanted to let everyone know

later in the week..

I'm off to

Art and Soul

this Thursday

in Hampton, Va

I'm lucky enough to live in the neighboring city

This is my 2nd year attending.

SOOO excited!

Anyone else going to be there?

Let me know and we can meet!

More to come from my classes...

Acrylics - which I have never really seriously tried

Sally Jean Alexander - Soldering a reliquary type box

Cathy Taylor - her unique Citra-Solv / National Geographic class (Google it)

Linda and Opie O'Brien - travelling to imaginary realms

and an Event Journal class.

I've been working late into the night on ATC's and other trades

and trying to decide if I should buy groceries

or use the money at vendor night!

Seriously kidding...

but

vendor night is like a bunch of crafty crack addicts

in my opinion...

We all have the Junk sweats as some of us call it...

as we are waiting to get in...

All looking for unique finds, supplies, and pouring over ephemera

meeting some of your favourite artists

and looking for new dealers.

I'll get photos and copies of my ATC's on before I give them out

so you can see them.

Can't wait to share what I create...

Back from the Road....

After a long week of family visiting us

and then Easter weekend in WVA

I'm finally back home.

It was so wonderful to get out of the city...

I thought I'd share a bit of our trip.

First of all let me get my sarcasm out of the way...

Really VDOT of Richmond!

Usually going through Richmond takes maybe 20 minutes...

BUT...

Can you see right under the 64/95 sign?

(just barely I know)

There are 3 work trucks and a state trooper

This was 12 something on Good Friday

Just as one of the busy holiday weekend and lunch hour folks are getting on the road...

and VDOT decides to patch tiny cracks in the road

they weren't really potholes and I couldn't see why they chose

certain ones and not others

They stopped all lanes of traffic in order to let the crews

jump out

 fill the hole

and then move up to the next one!

We sat for literally over an hour for this barely a mile!

Now for the good stuff

On the way to WVA

McDowell VA

It was drizzly the whole way

but even the  fog is beautiful

What a great view

Spring was springing up!

Early buds which a day later covered the tulip tree...

View of the barn...

Rolling in the dandelions...

These dogwoods reminded me of a LC Tiffany window I've seen...

Love that blue sky...

Cherry Blossoms in Staunton, Va...

little waterfalls everywhere..

On our way back home we made our usual stop at the park

for a break from the long ride

(mainly to let a 3 year old burn off some energy)

Feeding the Koi at Gypsy Hill Park

I have never seen so many in one place and they are HUGE!

Holy Koi!

Overall it was a great trip!

Even though I still live in the city I was born in

I have those country roots in my family..

Now with my husbands family in the mountains

I long for the small town...

letting your child play in a yard where you don't have to worry

about being run over by a car because you can't have a fence

which would throw off the "look" of your neighborhood...

Being able to drive and not sit in traffic

Even though a store is a "trip"

you don't have to wait a half hour in line...

Being able to sit on your front porch and watch a storm roll in

or actually SEE the stars at night

hear the frogs chirp in the rain

have everyone you love drop in for a meal

or to talk and it isn't a big production

Come as you are.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

What do you long for?

Hope you all had a great

Funny Bunny.....

Tidbit during a busy week....

Think this bunny had one too many Reese's Eggs?

Happy Friday!

Birthday Thriftshare.....

This Sunday was my birthday!

Woot Woot!

Finally got that IPOD to use those

awesome photo apps!

Other than birthday awesomeness in general

and a very close call with a tornado...

I did have time to find a few things

at a church sale

and a stop at The Goodwill

fashion was the theme for the weekend...

Found this great traditional Mexican style dress

$4.00

Lovely hand embroidery

Dilemma however...

Belt or no?

The thing with some of these dresses is they

look like sacks sometimes.

I think it would even look great with jeans...

see the two little birds?

love the little mushrooms...

The bunch of violets is faded and a bit chippy but that's why I like it...

$3.00

The large cameo is a piece of 1928 mother and child design

$2.00

The locket is real sterling/marcasite with mother of pearl

$3.95

Few yards of this cute fabric...

I'm thinking it is from the 70's

for .99  cents!

Would probably make a nice light blanket material...

any ideas?

So what did you find?
Head on over to ATG
to see what other great finds were out there...

Happy Monday!

Feelin' Birthdaylike.....

Would love a girlie party like this.....

Would love to give these as favors....

Would love to share

Sally Bell's upside down iced cupcake...

you get more icing that way!

Yuuummmm....

Frappucino cupcakes....

(Cupcake overload I know!)

Would love to have a set of these again...

I love tiny things...

Would love for this to show up from my birthday somewhere in the 80's....

Would love to drive this to my party....

and ride the Sanrio Ferris wheel....

on my birthday trip to Sanrio Puroland in Japan....

(I just found out this existed and even as an adult am not ashamed to say I would go!)

and even though all this would be nice...

I would settle for a yard full of these and a tub of buttercream icing!

Wednesdays Child......

Last year I took a class from the Queen of the Soldered charm

http://www.sallyjean.typepad.com/

Forgive me I cannot get this pic to rotate! Ughhh!

There will be no pics of my charms

until I finish my 2nd class with her in two weeks from now...

Lets just say right now my charms are "rustic" in quality!

 on to

Today's Etsy Spotlight 

TickleMePinkBoutique

The charms are in the basic style Sally Jean teaches

I just find this seller has some funny

captions for her collages

and they are super cute as well!

Added bonus she is having a sale right now!

Ummmm...if you know me....

Ummm....if you know my sister and I

Ummmm...if you know me and most of my friends.....

Definitely if you know me....

Me and my pal Esta.....

Great message...

For all my photographic friends...

There are many more charms to browse

Check them out

and

don't forget about the sale!