This year I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel, attend some absolutely FabUlous art events and meet some of the most amazingly talented and kind-hearted women imaginable. Thank you so much for all your kindness and willingness to share. Blogland is truly a magical place.
May 2011 bring you the joys of family and friends, creative endeavors and laughter.
Yikes, I’ve done quite a few swaps in the last couple of months and am WAY behind in posting about them so here goes . . .
September . . . I participated in Sara’s Charmed Heart Swap. I had posted here about the heart I made for my secret partner and then I found out she was my secret partner! I can’t tell you how excited I was to find out that we had been paired. Robin’s heart is one of my most cherished swap pieces.
October . . . Miss Jodie suggested that I come up with a fall-themed swap so I created a fat book called Fall’in for Vintage Gloves. We had 8 participants and each were required to use a vintage glove on their page. I love how the books came together and how each girl’s page was so unique. Yes, that’s me at age 7. I asked each participant to send me a childhood photo so I could personalize each book.
Inside cover & my page -- Back of mine /Charlene Gray
Charlene Gray /Sandy Moritti -- Back – Sandy Moritti/Pam Kern
Pam Kern / Jodie LeJeune -- Jodie LeJeune / Sarah Huckman
Sarah Huckman/ Joy Campbell -- Joy Campbell / Karen DeCapite
Karen DeCapite / Inside back cover
November . . . I had come up with an idea for a Silver Bella swap but was not able to attend this year. I shared my idea with another Bella and she co-hosted it and represented me at this year’s event where the Vintage Bling Charm Swap was born. The bracelets were absolutely FabUlous and have now become popular at other upcoming events.
I’m on break for the holidays, but I’m hosting a FabUlous Vintage Pocket Pillow swap for Moulin Rouge next March and it’s gonna be here before you know it.
I just love it when the local radio stations start playing Christmas music all day. It’s puts you in such a festive mood. In between eating, shopping, cleaning and decorating this weekend I’ve been playing with the new blogger templates with a little help from Susie Jefferson of 1st Floor Flat Blog0logy. She has the most FabUlous free blog backgrounds, button & blinkies and amazingly thorough DIY tutorials to help you get it done. She also has an etsy site where you can commission custom designs. So, how do you like my new holiday look? I’m hoping to have a new blog logo and design by the first of the year, but I couldn’t resist Susie’s holiday freebies.
Hope you’re enjoying the season!
I spent an amazing week in Texas at the home of my dear friend, Charlene.
Remember in my last post, she asked me to stay for a week? Let me just say that
Miss Charlene is a fine representative of some MAJOR Texas hospitality. She
spoiled me rotten and I almost canceled my ticket home.
“Sweet Cheeks” was waiting to welcome me upon my arrival to her beautiful home - WOA, baby!
Each morning there was a knock on my door and then a sweet southern drawl said
"Morn'in Sunshine." Charlene even had a laptop on my side table just for little 'ol
me. We went everywhere and saw & ATE everything. I think she put about
700 miles on her car runn'in me all over Dallas, Ft. Worth and McKinney just to name a few of our destinations. *Note: There will be NO calories counted for this trip! Charlene's hubby even made us dinner one night. He looks and feels great after having open-heart surgery only 3 mos ago. I'm going to break down our adventures day-by-day so I don't miss anything.
Thursday - Charlene & Hubby scooped me up from Love Field and took me to a restaurant called Celebration, a quaint family-style place where I had Cajun shrimp over gouda grits; I know! And I'm not a big fan of grits, but they were FabUlous!
Friday - we headed to A Gilded Life's church for class and then Charlene
insisted on treating me to a night at the Adolphus Hotel. It's a beautiful hotel in downtown Dallas established in 1912 by the Busch beer family. It turns out that the registration clerk may be a long lost relative of Hubby's. You see Miss Charlene is a true Southern charmer & chatted it up with the guy who shares her last name only spelled differently. He upgraded us to a suite on the 21st floor - Saweeeeet!
Saturday - After an all day class, we headed back to the house to pick up Hubby
& then it was off to Cleburne for an amazing Italian dinner at the Purple Turnip.
Sunday - After the last day of our classes we headed home to a delicious grilled chicken dinner cooked by Hubby.
Monday – With classes over, we headed out to Hobby Lobby & Michael’s for some “supplies” and then my hosts & very well informed tour guides treated me to the famous Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ in the historic stockyards in Ft Worth – simply amazing brisket- YUM! Then we walked around downtown old town Ft. Worth.
Tuesday – Shopping day, well they were all shopping days, but we went to Sam Moon & Sam Mi. They have everything known to man; it’s kind of like an upscale version of downtown LA shopping in one huge store. Dinner was Mexican food at Fresco’s where they make fresh guacamole tableside!
Wednesday - We headed out to McKinney to meet the FabUoulsy talented Lisa McIlvaine. We shopped at some of the antique stores and had lunch at Patina Green. Lisa had posted about their "Le Toilette" and I think we could just all live in there - FabUlous!
On our way home, we swung by Cindy Craine's home and she shared her amazing studio with us – look at all the goodies; so much fun!
Thursday - We headed to Dallas for the afternoon and had lunch at Dodie’s Cajun restaurant where I felt like I was in New Orleans. I had their version of a muffaletta, called a "frenchaletta" and the most amazing bread pudding with bourbon sauce I've ever had! Then is was time to head to the airport and I so didn't want to say so long to my sweet friend.
It took me quite some time to come down from my Texas adventures high.
The good news is, Charlene's headed out to CA in March for Moulin Rouge where we'll pick up where we left off and then a week later, I'll be meeting up with her at
Round Top! YEE HA!
It all started with a phone call at work from my Texas gal pal, Charlene. “Did ya see? Can ya come AND stay for a week??” Are you kidding? I was so IN! This post will be about the Gilded Gathering event and the next will be about our adventures in Texas. WAY too much to tell all in one post & some of it is gonna stay in Texas!
A Gilded Gathering was another FabUlous event in Dallas. Three amazing days of creativity and communion held in the amazing former church/home of Shea Fragoso & Debbie Murray of A Gilded Life. They really know how to put on an event. We were spoiled from the minute we walked in the doors of this truly inspiring venue from gorgeous name tags to beautiful table settings and FabUlous friends.
Charlene and I met at the Gilded Life event last February and were instant friends. LOVE this pic of us. I had on 5 inch wedge platforms and with my BIG hair was just about eyeball-to-eyeball with this beautiful tall drink of Texas water. Not sure what it is about Texas, but every time I go, I have some quite FabUlous Texas-size hair days!
Our first day was spent making one of their signature crowns - beyond FabUlous!
This is the adorable Cindy Craine; check out her blog Lilly’s Lace. Charlene had just recently met Cindy and let me tell you, she’s a doll! I’ll be talking more about her amazing studio in my next post. And this is the yummy food display they had waiting for us each day.
On Saturday, we made their twist on the crown, the Crown-delier. On the left is the class sample; on the right, a close up of my creation. It still needs some finishing touches but you can see where I’m headed with the feathers. Love it!
Sunday was spent learning a new layered glass, soldered box technique that we turned into a pendant and then finished with a beautiful, delicately embellished necklace. The top layer of glass is beveled so it’s a bit hard to see. The scarf in the background was our gift as part of the kit!
A FabUlous time was had by all and I came home with 2 out of 3 projects completely finished! Can’t wait to see what they have in store for next year.
Have you seen Vicki from 2 bags full autumn nests? They are so me and she’s giving one of these amazing nests away! You’ve got to head over to her blog to see all of her amazing work. I know I’m throwing my name in the “nest” for this FabUlous giveaway!
This was the view on my drive home tonight! I’ve never seen a double rainbow. It stretched across the entire freeway. We had a hot muggy day (not the norm for So Cal). It was about 6:30 and I was headed east on the 91 at the 71. It looked so weird; I took my sunglasses off and it was really bright, almost glowing, but the sky was covered in clouds and then it rained for a few minutes.
Disclaimer: For those of you who don’t know the 91, it is ALWAYS bumper-to-bumper, so taking these pics while at a dead stop was not a problem! LOL
I'll be headed to Arizona at the end of October to teach La Maison Rocco
Masquerade. This project is perfect for display and will definitely be
an inspiration for the season’s upcoming masquerade events. Vintage European masquerade balls are the theme for this mixed media project.
We will create a 6x6 mini book housed in its own box with a coordinating hand mask.
Opulent fabrics & trims, vintage beads and extravagant feathers all in rich
colors are just some of the elements used to create this project. You’ll learn
lots of techniques using some of my favorite products including Glimmer Mist,
Distress Ink, embossing powder, vintage glass glitter and even some jewelry
making. Each kit will also include an exclusive, hand-made mini masquerade
charm.
This will be an all day class held at Mystic Paper in Mesa, AZ on Saturday,
October 30. You can sign up by calling the store at 480-834-0286 to reserve your
spot. Hope you to see you there.
The FabUlous Gypsy Mermaid, Sarah, is hosting a swap where we are to make a customized hanging heart and 15 charms. The heart is for an unnamed partner; we were only given their answers to a short questionnaire. So, here’s what’s on it’s way to Louisiana tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I got all of this girl’s likes incorporated onto this little pillow. The body of the doll is a chandelier crystal, although its a little hard to see.
Since the front of the heart was seriously overloaded with goodies, I thought the back should be simple. I decided to make the charms neutral and ya just gotta have some bling go’in on!
Can’t wait to see if my mystery partner likes her heart and what Ms. Sarah has done to combine the charms and hearts. Thanks, girl, for a FabUlous swap!
WOW! I was absolutely wowed when I received my rosette package from my secret partner, Lisa. This was her first swap and let me tell you, anyone would be overjoyed to have her as a swap partner. She went WAY above and beyond a simple rosette. From the box with the beautiful rose to the tons of various rosettes, vintage trims, book pages, buttons and even chandelier crystals she sent, they are all absolutely FabUlous!
Thanks Lisa for such a beautiful gift.
This is the rosette I sent to my partner Jenny. It turns out that we knew each other from a scrapbook kit club we both belonged to a few years ago – how cool is that!
The rosette pin is quite large; about 8 inches. I started by making the trio of rosettes out of chiffon, added some coordinating beads for the centers and then finished it with a ruffle all the way around. I though it would be good for a bag or if you’re like me (go BIG or go home), for a jacket lapel.
Thanks Jill for hosting a FabUlous swap!
When I joined the Bloggerette Sorority I had no idea the creator, Karen, from Some Days are Diamonds, was practically one of my neighbors! We’ve been emailing for a while when we realized we were just a few minutes apart. Then the brainstorming began and we made a date to meet for lunch at an outdoor mall, Victoria Gardens.
Today was the day and we talked for almost 3 hours! We have so much in common and know so many of the same people. What an amazing world we live in where we can talk to & meet people from all over the world only to find someone who lives only a few minutes away. We almost forgot to get a picture when we were outside of California Pizza Kitchen (aka “CPK”) when we snagged a guy to snap the shot. Remember this was a “guy” and he didn’t think about the shadow on my forehead. It’s already the size of Texas, so what’s a few shade marks when you’re with a new found friend. So FabUlous to meet you, Karen and we will definitely be doing lots of things together in the future!
Karen from Some Days are Diamonds is having a give away on August 15!
Click on the button to check out the details for your chance(s) to win. Good luck!
As a continuation of French Cupboard's Rosette Blog Party, Jill, from Gypsy Brocante, is hosting a rosette swap, how FabUlous is that!
Click on the button above to get all the details and join in.
My pal Jodie posted last week about a huge bling score she made at a local yard sale and as I read it with great jealously, I realized she had a few hints in it and she was sending some of it to ME for my birthday! Anyone who receives anything from Jodie is in for some true FabUlousness! This is what I found waiting at my door Saturday night . . .
And the goodies inside, beyond FabUlous! Thank you so much Miss Jodie for my birthday bling and vintage lace – I Love it! Think I might be wearing those hoops as is! I said it before and I’ll say it again, I LOVE me some Jodie!
And, did you notice that I’ve started using the watermark feature in Windows Live Writer? You can find Jodie’s tutorial here.
In honor of Karen Valentine’s feature on the new site Blog Guidebook, she hosted a give away for a set of custom sidebar tags. I thought the winner had already been chosen, but when I stopped by her site, there it was . . . I won! I’ve been thinking about a new design and feel for my blog and now is the perfect opportunity to work with an expert! Please stop by Karen’s site for your blog design needs. You’ll find lots of samples of her work as well as free tips & tricks.
Thanks so much Karen, I can’t wait to get started!
My Texas gal pal, Charlene was in town for Kim Caldwell’s Artistic Affaire Les Sirenes event last week. I wasn’t able to attend, but I made sure I was able to scoop up her up and have a very long dinner so we could catch up. We met last February at Art & Communion in Dallas and we instantly hit it off. It felt so good to give her a big HUG. And if you know Charlene, you know that here signature always says HUGS!
She is such a doll and brought me the most FabUlous birthday gifts. How cute is this Lolita glass; it has the “Wild Thing” cocktail recipe on the bottom of the glass!
Then she made me this adorable fairy princess box that barely made it through airport security. I totally lost my mind when I saw the FabUlous vintage tiara inside! This was one of her purchases at Paper Cowgirls; think I might need to go next year!
Ok, I’ll admit it . . . I did try it on when I got home and it fits perfectly, of course! Can’t wait til we meet next March at Round Top. Love ya, girlfriend!
