Un Giorno Molto Speciale - A Special Day at Rita Reade's!

Soldering with Rita

Objects of beauty made with Rita's instruction

 What an incredible day!

 My good friend Raylene and I headed down to bucolic Rainbow for a soldering class with Rita Reade.

I learned a tremendous amount and had such a great time. Everyone created unique and beautiful vintage bottles, we had a wonderful lunch alfresco by the pool --it was such a creative day filled with inspiration. I can't wait to do it all over again!

Goodie Bags and Orange Glaze Cupcakes greeted us

Rita and I (before class starts - my make up is still on!)

Into Rita's darling kitchen where she whips up cappuccino's for everyone

Eye Candy in Every Corner

Raylene and Liz

A delicious lunch

A Special Group of Ladies having a blast!

Block Printing at The French General

I've been a fan of all things Kaari Meng for quite awhile. So, whenever I need a little creative inspiration, I hit the French General website https://www.frenchgeneral.com/. During my last creative cyber foray,  I discovered a Block Printing class taught by Laura Palm at The French General. Block Printing? French General? What a perfect combination! 

Kaari Meng introduces the class

Artist Laura Palm demonstrates how to create your own stamping block

Kim creates a beautiful plant design then followed it up with the birds in next pic.
Gorgeous!

Kick and Kathy creating.

more amazing creations

Looking to the right of my table - Jeweler's Paradise!

Everywhere objects of beauty

Kaari's Inspiration boards

Teaching at Whimzy

I'm so excited to be teaching at Whimzy!

Saturday, June 18th 12-4pm Mixed Media Coptic Journal  $75.00

Create Mixed Media Coptic Journals

Learn to create beautiful coptic journals from start to finish using vintage bookcovers, papers, fabric, millinery and paint. Students will learn the basics of bookbinding, create their own covers using various mixed media layering techniques, and receive a booklet of instructions so they can recreate their own journals at home. All supplies included.

Register at http://www.vintagewhimzy.com/

Hope you'll join us!

Beauty Abounds at the Flower Fields

Beauty Abounds at the Flower Fields

Rita's booth - Lovely!

This rose is  called "Whisper" - how apropos!

In the Artist's Garden

Fragrant Sweet Peas in front of the fields

Julia Child rose

 Sunday Hubby and I went to see the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. Soul feeding colors stretched as far as the eye could see. Stopped by Rita Reade & Christy Repasy's booth and picked up a beautiful sign for my flower bed. A magical day.

A corny picture of Mike :)

My "find" from Rita Reade's booth

more of Rita/Christie's booth

Launch Your Creativity Sneak Peek

The picture below is a sneak peek 

at "goodies"

 I've been creating for 

Launch Your Creativity

 

Sharon Hughes of Pansy Cottage, posted the following:

What is it? Who could this be for? 

I know I'm teasing you.......
this is something special for each of the ladies that attend

Launch Your Creativity.

It is handmade by artist and special guest speaker 
Jenelle Van de Mortel! 
Do you want to know what it is? I can't tell you yet!

Join us!

My Life at Pansy Cottage & Garden: Just a Peek!

pansycottagegarden.blogspot.com

Getting Ready for Spring

My studio mannequin--Edith Head
dons her March outfit 

Spring cleaning studio. Baseboards, books and bottles - everything cleaned and reorganized. Putting away the last leftover boxes from the Knotts Berry Farm gig, class project palettes, paints. How does all this stuff accumulate so quickly?

Had a great conversation with Diane at Whimzy about "letting go". It is difficult to say goodbye to a stack of charger plates, paper mache boxes, wooden garden shapes --all initially sparked creative ideas that simply haven't come to fruition. At a certain point, keeping all these "idea" items (some for years) seems selfish and counterproductive. My storage space needs to be relatively clutterfree - climbing over "schtuff" or moving boxes to get to the "schtuff" beneath is time consuming and frustrating. So I cleared out the excess.

Took left over items to class and offered them as a "Thank You for Painting with Me" to my students. They were thrilled. It was extremely rewarding to watch my old, unused items find new homes. Ideas flew around the room. My students came up with great project ideas and immediately scheduled class time to launch their creativity into reality.

Returned to my studio inspired. Ready to create. Ready for Spring.

CHA

I never tire of beautiful objects. At CHA, I tarried over picture perfect displays swirling with bouquets of velvet roses delicately sprinkled with crystalina. There were birdcages and vintage dress forms adorned with paper ruffles, baby chicks and feathers along with ice resined journals in magenta, lime green and azure blue palettes...the day was a moveable feast of delicious eye candy.

Saturday evening, the Water Grill provided the perfect ambience to reunite with dear friends Sue Scheewe, Stan Brown, Camille and Kimberly.  We lingered over delectable food and delightful conversation - Stan and Mike told stories that left everyone's cheeks aching from laughter. Alas, the night was over too soon. Synchronicities were in play - Sunday morning I turned on PBS to find Sue painting away on her watercolor show. What an icon!

I toured Plaid's booth with engaging designer Angela Anderson. New products and fresh ideas abounded. I met Angela in 2005, when I first picked up a paintbrush. She's been a source of inspiration as I've watched her talent and career blossom.

Cupcakes, steampunkery and glitter were the order of the day. Picked up Lisa Kettell's amazing Altered Art Circus, the latest by Creative Tonic's Christi Friesen and Cyththia Thornton's Enchanted Adornments. Favorite artists Pam Carriker, Rita Rae, Traci Bautista were also in attendance.

I left the show inspired and seeped in artistic possibilities. I hope the pics below capture some of that for you.

Plaid's Angela Anderson