Bliss filled days...

The first few days of my trip were spent with my sister and her family in San Diego. This was such a treat!! Chloe got to play with her cousins and I got to spend some quality time with my sister. Doesn't get much better than that. We had a blast! We had a girls outing to two of her favorite scrapbook stores. Loved the Pink Pineapple:) I also taught her my banner class to get warmed up for my class at Sweetpeas. Fun!Then Joe and I headed out to LA to the amazing store Sweetpeas and Snapshots to teach my class. The banner above is what we made. My extra kits are in my etsy shop now!

Banner kits are SOLD OUT- thank you!!

The outside of Sweetpeas is so inviting. Check out her window displays! Mary informed me that the store space was moving locations, so she was feeling a bit emotional (but excited) about the change.

What a welcoming spread!!
The lovely Mary Smilove was so kind and generous. Just check out this store...

The ladies that attended my class were fabulous! We had such a great time.

Valarie even spent her birthday with us!

As you can see, people made different words on their banners. The kits come with a full alphabet, so you can do whatever you'd like! After Sweetpeas, we then headed over to Brentwood for a *gorgeous* wedding.

What a day!

I am back!

What a trip. Wonderful, amazing, beautiful and fun! Those words hardly describe our little four day adventure in southern California. Then we came home to snow-snow-and more snow! So while I unpack my bags and re-live my memories of the last few days, I leave you with these gorgeous photos of the flower fields in Carlsbad.

Soaking up the warm California sun!

The ranunculus are absolutely breathtaking.

Chloe's first trip to the beach...ever!

More tomorrow on my class at Sweetpeas and information on the kits I have left.

Good to be home, but I sure hope the snow melts soon.

The time has come!

Tomorrow is the day....... I leave for California!

Lowell is staying home with Nana and Bobo. Miss Chloe, hubby and I are off to visit my sister and her family in San Diego for a few days:) Then we head to LA on Saturday for my class at Sweetpeas and a wedding that night! We get home late Sunday.
Here are my albums to fill up with memories!
See you in a week:)

Bringing color to my world...

Happy Spring???

Since it's still white and snowy in our world, Chloe and I decided to add some color.

Ta da.....Happy Easter!More inspiration journal pages dreaming about a spring palette.

Art Retreats galore!

So many retreats, so little time. Isn't it amazing how many retreats there are now for mixed media artists? It's fabulous...but hard to choose from. There's ArtFest, Art and Soul, Silver Bella, ArtNest and so many more across the country. In my opinion, not enough in the midwest. Hmm...hopefully that will change. My pick for this year is Art in Ashland

The teachers are Pam Garrison, Anahata Katkin and Amy Hanna. My good friends Cassondra, Michelle and Hope will be there. Hope to see you there too!

In other exciting news, I got an advanced copy of the Junk Market ladies new book Junk Beautiful and will be reviewing it here soon. Stay tuned for more. It's gorgeous!

Think spring...

Ok, not quite feeling like spring here yet, even though it officially starts today. It's been a pretty nice all week...in the 40's. However, tonight we're supposed to get about 4 inches of snow! It's supposed to melt by Sunday. I hope so, I don't want the kids having to hunt for eggs under snow drifts. I have such an egg fetish this time of year. Love all that eggs symbolize.

Enjoy the Vernal Equinox! What signs of spring are you seeing in your neck of the woods?

Boxes coming and going...

I received a box of my books from Blurb today. If you ordered one, hopefully it will be arriving at your doorstep shortly. I have heard from a few of you that have it in your hot little hands. I would love to hear what you think of the book. Is it what you expected? Do you like the amount of pictures? of writing? I would love to know your thoughts. It will be useful if I decide to do this again some day:) It truly was a labor of love and of course I already can find things that I would have changed, but overall I am very pleased. I hope you all enjoy it. I would LOVE any feedback (good or bad) at artsy_mama@hotmail.com

Thanks so much!
In the meantime, I am making up my kits for the upcoming banner class I'm teaching at Sweetpeas and Snapshots on March 29th. They are loaded with fun vintage goodies. This is a small portion of what is going into each kit. I hope to meet some of you for my class when I'm in LA!

Going green....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As you can see from my inspiration book pages, I have been feeling like I need a dose of green. The pages reflect my yearning for plants and growth. They are also a bit earthy and gritty. Just how I've been feeling.

After going to a local nursery, Chloe and I decided to get our hands dirty and plant a window herb garden in the kitchen in some of my tea cups. Love how they smell!

Also got these adorable little pink carnations and put them in one of my favorite mugs for the kitchen table.

Treasures found...

Since the last post was about the thrill of the hunt, I thought I'd share with you some of the fun finds that I've had recently. I mentioned that I was looking for something specific for my class at Sweetpeas. Below is a gem of a vintage hat that I found to "pluck" from that will do just the trick!I found this bright metal bookcase at an estate sale this weekend for $2. Yea, I know it looks like it shouldn't cost any more than that. What I love about it is it's the perfect height for Lowell to use as a little reading stand. Which is what he immediately did upon it's arrival in his bedroom. Too cute!
That same sale had tons of fabulous old cheap finds. Including the gnomes below. What better place to have singing gnomes than on your bran muffins?!

This mushroom girl was given to me last year during my spring swap. I just love woodland whimsies.
Finally a gift given to me recently is this wonderful box of spring treasures from Cassondra. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to take it apart and use these wonderful goodies. They just look too great together. There are oodles of vintage finds here. She sells many of them in her etsy shop. Love it all, Cassondra!

Hope you had a nice weekend!

Hunting for treasure...

In light of not having inspiration book pages done for today, I thought I'd take you along on a little stroll through an antique shop just outside the twin cities. I had a window of time on this gorgeous, sunny day while the kids were both in school and headed out to Buffalo, Minnesota to the Buffalo Nickel. I was searching for something in particular for my class at Sweetpeas in a couple weeks. I normally don't go to antique shops since I'm such an estate sale fiend and find that the prices can be a bit higher. But I was running out of time before my class. I found what I was looking for, along with tons of fun spring inspiration. I thought you'd enjoy:)