pink saturday

Do you remember playing under blankets or sheets when you were young? My brother and I would take one of my mom's old sheets or curtains and drape it over the dinning table. We would bring our toys and books and snacks under there. Sometimes we would hang the sheet under a tree, build a makeshift tent and stay in our own little world for hours. I never grew out of my  love for tents and canopies. Maybe that's why I love tent camping which to me is alot like playing house.

There's just something about being enclosed

in a cozy little space that appeals to me. I feel the same

way about old attics!

If I had one of these when I was a kid I would never come out.

Who am I kidding? If I had one now I would never come out!

Here's a grownup one I'd love to hang under my nectarine

tree in our backyard. Can you imagine sleeping

under the stars surrounded by this

cascade of pink?

Or maybe something more luxurious like this?

And this is just absolutely magical! The gypsy

in me is hopelessly in love.

How about a candlelight tea party under this pretty tent?

I even love this bright pink Moroccan style netting

which reminds me of those French gypsy caravans again.

Can't forget your furry babies!

How precious is this?

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Happy Pink Saturday!

Visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for more pinks.

the gift of friendship

When I started blogging in January I had no idea what I was doing or how long I'd even be able to stick with this new blogging adventure. I knew I wanted to explore and expand my creative skills. I slowly started finding blogs that never failed to inspire me or just give me a great big smile. Behind those words were wonderful women going through their lives, creating art, working, raising families, changing litter boxes, shopping, cleaning, laughing out loud and sometimes crying, just like I was. And they also started to find me. Before I knew it I had a warm circle of friends to share these things with. This was the biggest and nicest surprise blogging brought me. I can sit at my computer and in a few clicks I'm at a lovely tea party with all of you. Dreaming, creating and sharing bits of our lives for a moment or two.

This week I received 2 awards from 2 of these lovely ladies.

This came from Justina at La Boheme Magique.

In the short time since we popped into each other's Mad Tea Party post

we found so much we had in common that we quickly got to be friends.

And because one of the things we shared was a love for the movie Practical Magic

in only made sense that we cohost a blog party together! She's a lovely creative

spirit with a gypsy soul that shines through her blog.

Thank you dear Justina.

And this sweet award came from someone whose blog I've always loved.

If you haven't been to Do These Shoes Match This Purse you simply must!

What a treat to get one from her! Maggie is amazingly witty, creative and frank and

she should really be writing a book about her life. She was also one of the

first people to comment on my posts when I was starting out and

always her encouraging words puts a big smile on my face.

Thank you sweet Maggie.

I have some fun things to share and a few people I'd like to pass these

awards to which I will in just a bit. Right now I have a 13 year old asking

to go to the library which is a request I never turn down. I might not get

to pass these out till after the weekend but I definitely will.

Have a sweet and creative weekend everyone!

♥

oasis

A very dear old friend of mine is going through a rough period. She just moved back to California from Boston for a new job and her mom's been in the hospital recovering from a stroke. We use to work together, were also roomates and she was my first crafting buddy and maid of honor. I can't go see her so I'm sending this to her. Sort of a protrait of us with our cats doing what we use to love to do back in the day. We were both makeup artists and after a long day we would go dancing at a place called the Oasis. I thought she could use an oasis right now. (She hasn't seen this blog so it'll be a surprise!)

3 muses art challenge 'odd bird'

The theme for this week's collage challenge at The Three Muses is 'ODD BIRD". For some reason I was really excited to do this one and I had it done a week ago. Maybe it's because I think I'm a bit of an odd bird myself! I found a vintage family photo and really just had fun with it. Here's my ODD BIRD.

surprise sunflowers and a summer breeze

Sometimes I feel like I live in a different time zone in the summer. My son and I sleep in so we always end up staying up much later. Meals are later too. While I was doing the dishes after a late Sunday dinner I looked out the window and saw these over the fence popping out of my neighbor's yard.

I think I actually squealed. I dried my hands, grabbed my camera and took a quick pic. Sorry it's a bit blurry but I had to use the zoom and I was already standing on my tippy toes. Sunflowers! It look like these were over 10 feet tall! That's their patio umbrella on the right.I never knew these delightful things were growing in my neighborhood! I can't believe I never noticed them before.

Then I noticed something that hadn't been around in a while. It was cool and refreshing. Crisp with a hint of the scent of over dried grass. So welcome after another 100 degree day. It teased me a little and if I close my eyes I can pretend Fall is just around the corner.

The Delta breeze. A cool wind that sweeps in from the American River about a 1/2 mile from my house. Sacramento is known for very hot summers. We get consecutive 100+ temps that doesn't let up for over 2 weeks sometimes. But this year is unusually cooler. It actually cools down in the evening and tonight we got an extra special treat with the lovely Delta breeze. I love to listen to all my windchimes when they catch a good gust here and there. My poor mini Japanese maple tree isn't too happy about the heat either and I think I almost heard a sigh when the breeze rolled in.

LaLou, our neighbor's kitty always comes running when she hears me out here. She's such a sweetheart though she doesn't care much for my Luna. LaLou holds a special place in my heart because she was the one who helped me through my sadness after I lost my sweet Kushka last December. We got Luna a little later. I always wished I could keep LaLou but she has her own human next door and she practically lives in my yard anyway. BTW, her real name is Buddy. I call her LaLou because when she meows it sounds like 'laaalooo'!

It's too nice out here to go back into the house so I visit my little garden in front. I planted this rosemary when we moved here 10 years ago. It's by my 'garden gate' so to speak. I don't really have a gate but it's at the end of the walkway going up to my front door. I was thinking of the line from the movie Practical Magic,  'keep rosemary by your garden gate', when I planted it. It was a tiny little thing. One of those little pots you could get for $2 at Rite Aid. Now it's huge and when I brush up against it I dream of pumpkins and cider, Halloween and Renaissance Faires.

I also have Lambs Ear spreading everywhere. My son and I planted it together when he was around 5. He loves the soft fuzzy texture and every now and then I still catch him playing with the  leaves. I used to find them in his pockets when he was younger whenever I did the laundry which always made me smile.

I have a project waiting on my table so I let the Delta breeze cool me one more time and then back in I go to finish those silly dishes! Maybe Mr. Petunia might surprise me and finish them instead! :)

I found all of these great books at the library last week. I love libraries, don't you? The ones where my mom lives are better than ours and I found all these during my visit. Now I'm inspired to try all sorts of new things. I just decided to try an altered book project for the first time.

I had this old hardcover book and I started gluing a few pages together a few nights ago.

Here's one of the pages I finished which was inspired by an altered book from the Artful Storybook. I also joined a Journaling in July challenge so I'll post the rest of it this week when I'm done.

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I hope you're enjoying lovely summer evenings where you are. How hot does it get in your neck of the woods? Are you a Summer person or do you count down the days to Autumn like I do?

I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow to catch the first batch of apricots at the farmer's market! They've been super sweet this season. Maybe summer's not so bad after all.

pink saturday

Happy Pink Saturday and thank you to our hostess Beverly
at How Sweet the Sound.

Come shopping with me at Home Goods and see the fun pinks I found.

How can I not take a picture of this pink 'A'?

I'm always tempted to get something like this and

then I think 'Do I really need it?'

The bedding behind it was very pretty though. This was in the little

girl's section where the entire aisle was an explosion of pink.

How now pink cow?

I thought this little cow was too adorable.

And this cuddly pink piggy is actually a dog toy.

I couldn't stand the thought of her being chewed up by a dog so I

bought her and took her home and named her Prudence!

 

Here's a pair of fancy pink earrings from Aurora Bijoux

(not from Home Goods) to go along with  a comment I read recently.

A woman's friend was telling her she could still fit into her high school jeans

so she quickly replied 'Well I still fit into my high school earrings!'

I thought that was cute.

Finally, I was out of town for a few days this week and I really

missed my Luna. When I got home she wouldn't stop

following me everywhere. She has the cutest

little pink nose so I thought I could sneak her in here!

♥

Have a great weekend everyone and be sure

to visit Beverly for lots more pink!

three muses challenge "mail art"

Here's my "Mail Art" themed piece for The Three Muses. I used actual items I made. The envelope mail art was made with items I found while visiting my mom this week and the ATC card is one I already traded earlier. I also used one of my vintage postcards and made that the background. Finally I added a few digital elements to finish the collage.

Under The Same Moon

Decided to branch out and do 2 of my girls. This one was inspired by 2 things. One is a song by Julianne and Derek Hough, 'Dreaming Under the Same Moon'. And the other is by a group of sisters I grew up with and just got back in touch with through the magic of Facebook. They've really been encouraging me to create so I did this in honor of them and all sisters and sister-friends.

magnolia pearl

The current issue of Romantic Homes has a feature on one of my favorite companies. Magnolia Pearl. I've been following them for a few years. Since I first saw an article about them in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion (around '04 I think). If you love vintage lace, tapestries, velvet and rich embellishments Magnolia Pearl has plenty of it. They also have a decorating book out, A Bit of Velvet and a Dash of Lace with lots of excellent photos of their clothing and home decor designs.

Romantic Homes is featuring the custom Airstream trailer owners Robin and John take to their annual antique show. They've completely outfitted it to reflect their very unique style and to me it looks like a modern gypsy wagon. Complete with handmade bed, chandelier and clawfoot bathtub. I did a post a few months ago on Les Verdines, the gypsy wagons by French designer Jeanne Bayol, and how I dream of having my own one day.

Since I also love Airstreams I couldn't help but drool over this one. You can see more at Magnolia Pearl.

Of course you gotta have the matching Rolls Royce to tow it with!

snail mail enthusiast challenge at sinderella's studio

(If you're visiting for Pink Saturday please scroll down to the previous post.)

Here's my project for the Snail Mail Enthusiast Challenge at Sinderella's Studio. The objective was to create a notecard and envelope to swap. I had so much fun making mine. I just went with a very whimsical theme with a bit of a vintage twist using all the colors I love. I used a cutout vintage photo and then just started adding and layering different elements.

I had a pretty floral napkin so I crumpled it up and glued it on after I gave the card a wash of blues and greens. After I added everything I grabbed a copy of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (this was a used one that I use for my projects) and the first page I turned to had this sentence which made me smile and I thought it was perfect because of the riot of colors I used.

I made the envelope from colorful scrapbook paper that I really love. Again I added different vintage elements and text from the same book.

What I really liked about making this was being able to chanel my inner child. I had fun playing with paper, paint, glue and glitter.

Thank you for the challenge Dana! Hope you like it.

pink saturday bags

Happy Pink Saturday! Thank you again to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting. Don't forget to visit her for more pinks.

Last week I posted one of my favorite (blue) bags so this week I'm going back to pink. These bags are ones I don't have but are on my wishful list!

I love Mary Frances bags. They're highly embelished and look like vintage Victorian and turn of the century bags. They're like little works of art. Most of her bags are little evening ones like this one but she recently started a line of bigger more practical bags. This one is from Victorian Trading Company. I love the crushed velvet and all the rose, mauve and amber hues. Don't know where I would use it right now but I would love to own one.

This Isabella Fiore fairy bag is in my favorite shape. A framed stachel. Again another little work of art. I think this has been discontinued but you can still 'borrow' it from Avelle.

You know how much I love Alice in Wonderland and here is a Madhatter tote from a line of bags from the movie. I've seen this one in person along with a few other designs I couldn't find online. They're very sturdy and well made heavy canvas. I just thought they would be so much fun to carry around.

Finally there's this pink cut velvet satchel from Petunia Picklebottom (of course I love the name). And believe it or not this is a diaper bag! A very fancy and rather pricey one ($350). Now they didn't have diaper bags like this when my son was a baby and if the price was a little more affordable I would actually use this as a regular bag. I love big bags with lots of compartments and this would be perfect. This color has been discontinued but there are lots more yummy ones from their Cake line over at their site. 

Happy Pink Saturday!

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Calling all Practical Magic fans!

If any of you lovely ladies are fans of the movie Practical Magic I'd like to invite you to join me and my friend Justina from La Boheme Magique for a Practical Magic Blog Party this fall. We just put up the site and we're really excited with the response we're getting. You can visit here or click on the button at the top of my page. Come and join us!