Tuesday, September 28, 2010

One amazing Home

Quaint kichen

Magic staircase
AMAZING studio
Rooms filled with art
Backyard with ocean view
photos by Beth Livesay
Unbelievable givaway! These photos are of Summerland Cottage Studio in Laguna Beach, Ca. Paulette Adams (owner) and I had workshops here last Sat. Visit her blog, follow, amd leave a comment and you could win a night in her guest cottage that is just as amazing as her house in the above photos. Now mind you, there is an ocean view and the beach is just across the street! Just blocks from the village, you will never have to get in your car for shopping and dinner! For a wonderful description of this home go to http://coutureovercoffee.blogspot.com/ Beth descibes it beautifully. To see Paulette's delightful art and participate in this givaway, just go to http://summerlandcottagestudio.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 27, 2010

A Magical Day


Goodie Bags in the quaint little courtyard


Bottles filled with bath salts for the girls. Paulette made the exquisite ceramic bottle stoppers and shell "necklaces"


Charming lunch boxes. Yummy sandwiches from the Cheese Cave in Claremont


Te
ahhh, painting is such hard work!

Voila! Cathy's finished projects

The weather was perfect! 106 degrees inland and just mid 80's at the beach. We had a delightful group of women including Beth from Stampington. Beth brought a bag of papers for us to play with which made me very happy. It's like searching through your Christmas stocking for all the wonderful little goodies! After a tour of Paulette's amazing beach cottage, we settled into our first project; a collaged mermaid. There was so much chatter, learning all about one another's lives and creative journeys. I felt like I did little teaching! I am amazed at watching women get in their zones while creating. We all sat down to work on the same project and yet every piece comes out so different. We had pink mermaids, yellow mermaids and even green mermaids. How great is that? We had shy mermaids and mermaids with well...lets just say, a lot of cleavage! They all turned out so whimsically wonderful! We broke for lunch on yet another  charming patio overlooking the ocean. More chatting, ocean breezes and great food. After lunch we started our second project...watercoloring on a bisque plate. Again, I was amazed at the skill of these women and how quickly they learned. I was even happy with my little water colors of seashells and starfish and I've never really painted before. Before we knew it, it was 5:00 and I really believed we would have stayed well into the night had Jenelle not had plans that evening. Jenelle summed it up, leaving..."It was a magical day and one I'll never forget." Ditto for me. There is nothing quite like the magic that happens between creative female souls.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Playshop in Laguna Beach

Ouch! mt picture taking abilities could sure use some improvement! As I get readdy for Chateau de Fleurs this Fri/Sat I thought I would get one more post up about the upcoming Laguna workshop on Sat, Sept. 25. There's still some room so if you are interested please email me or message me on facebook to make arrangements. I will be doing a class where we will make this darling mermaid collage and Paulette Adams will be teaching a class, doing a seashell watercolor on bisque. I was intimidated by her painting until she showed me how and I loved learning the technique. Believe me, I can make a cute girl but a nature artist I'm not. I can happily say I can now paint seashells! This sweet goodie bag will be filled with your projects as well as oodles of other goodies...handmade journals, shells, bookmarks....hmmm, what else can we put in them!

This will take place at Summerland Cottage Studio, an adorable historic cocttage overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach. The time will be from 10 - 5 with lunch served between classes. The cost is $200. Stop by and see me this weekend if you're planning to go to Chateau de Fleurs...link is on my sidebar for location and info. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

All Dressed Up And Lots of Places to Go!


Trick or Treaters soon to be in my Etsy shop



I've been busy, busy, busy! Getting ready for 2 big shows; Chateau de Fleurs this Fri/Sat and Glitterfest, Oct.2. Also I am getting ready for a class featuring my mermaid art in between those weekends! Once again I find myself drawn to making paper doll cuties. For these upcoming shows, I've made these little trick-or-treater  banners as well as a couple of others. I love the way they turned out!
I've also made some little wooden plaques that will be featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Somerset Studio. Of course there will be lots of my girls in all their girly glory. I will have originals; framed and unframed, lots of prints and sweet little journals that would make a great gift. If you're local, please stop by and I'll see you there!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Saving Lives


I know it's silly, but it's tradition. A lot of our vacations have been to Utah or Canada, winter and summer. Since our son was little we have gone on outings looking for moose. And so the tradition continues. In Park City this week, my husband and I decided to take a couple of days to look for the moose. Our first day took us to a beautiful area a bit too perfect. We spotted many men and even a couple of ladies dressed in their hunting gear. Helloooo ladies, aren't we the sensitive ones? Did you not cry during Bambi!! Anyway, on this particular gorgeous drive, we did not see any mooses. I actually get a stiff neck from looking out the window searching thru all the trees! We did see many, many deer families near the road feeding. We knew we had hunters behind us, so with every deer we saw we stopped and yelled run! out the window. We made an adventure of it, silly I know, but fun. But seriously, how could anyone hunt these beautiful creatures? It's the end of the week now and we did not see one moose. We've only seen 2 before and they were both here. So much for the moose hunt...I'm off on  the shopping hunt on my last day.