Something new.

We're working on a brand new design of something for the household.  It's fun, it's shabby, it's functional, it's got a purpose, it's decorative, it's unique, it's our own design, it's top secret.  :)

Coming soon to Etsy.

Painting Day

We had Angelina and Aiden, our grandchildren, over for the afternoon.  Hired them to help us out by getting the goats painted and ready for the upcoming craft fair in Sacramento. 

Concentration

Loading up the brush

Working on the blue goats

Doing a very good job!  Thank you!!

Saturday's Adventure with the Metzger's

Sharyn and Greg arrive bright and early.  First stop, estate sale in Napa.  Not much there, ended up with a cute little ceramic rooster.  We didn't get far before we all decided that we're hungry.  Unscheduled stop, Buttercream Bakery for breakfast.   Everything was all decorated so pretty.

All dressed up with a tinsel bow on top.

Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes with swirls and sprinkles.

The cutest cupcakes.

Pink and Yellow with a Cherry on Top!

Fresh doughnuts, get your fresh doughnuts here.

Wait!!  Who's that I spy?

Is it???  Yes, is him.  Mr. Incognito

After our bellies were all full, we headed to the Petaluma Recycle Waste Station to hunt for treasures.  I found a very old Montgomery Ward table with an original price of $3.98 on the bottom.  It's solid wood.  I'm going to sand it down and repaint and make it shabby and cute.  Got a really cool chair and some other things as well.  Great stop!

Cannot come to Petaluma without stopping at Janet's place, The Find.  Michael has some things on consignment there and she's pretty much sold everything and needing us to bring her more goats, blue herons, potting tables and some other birds and things.  Janet is so talented and such a hard worker.  If you're ever in Petaluma, be sure to stop by The Find.  Just as we were leaving a man came walking down the street holding the reigns of two mules.  Aren't they so cute?

Back on the road and headed to our original destination for the day:  San Rafael.  Sharyn heard from a friend that the thrift stores over there are fabulous and we just had to check them out for ourselves.  Sure enough, they are pretty good stops.  Found a wonderful floor lamp, solid wood.  Missing a shade.  Not sure what I'm going to do to finish it off once I do my magic on it.  Still pondering....

Now I must say, it's way past noon by now, so what do we gotta do?

Sol Food, LOVE the decor!  That's old doors and shutters lined up along the walls.

Yep, that's them!  Sharyn and Greg.

And who's this girl?

The motley group.

If you're ever in San Rafael, stop by Sol Food.  It's good Caribbean food.  I must warn you, the line was out the door but it went fast and we got a table as soon as we placed our order.  Yes, you place your order and pay, then get a table.  They have a huge and attentive wait staff.  The decor is gorgeous, as are the colors.  Till our next adventure...now it's back to work.

Happy Friday!

I think this is one of our last days of really nice weather.  Gloriously warm and comfortable, able to have the doors and windows open for fresh air.  Supposed to start raining on Sunday.  I love the rain.  I love stormy weather.  I want some rain boots and this year I plan on getting a pair.  Just one pair.  Perhaps with polka dots.  Or flowers.  Something fun.  Gotta have a little fun, right?

Maybe I'll just go jump in some raked up leaves when I get my new rain boots.

Speaking of more serious things.  Someone I love has this dreadful disease called Alzheimer's.  It's truly frightening to see her go through this and I wish there was something I could do to make it go away.  It's changed my relationship forever with people that I love and care about.  I don't want to go into details because it's private and not pleasant to think about.  But I do think about it even though I try not to. 

And it hurts.

So...I keep myself busy because life must go on or it will drive you crazy and make you depressed thinking of the people and things you cannot fix.  So...I stay active.  Creating, doing, living, loving.  Always thinking and dreaming.  Brainstorming of new ideas and new things to try or make or do.   

We have a day of fun planned this weekend and after that, it's back to work.  I will be sure to bring my camera this time to get pictures.  Oh, I did get one of the things on my list done.  Made a huge batch of stew and put a bunch in the freezer.  I love having my freezer stocked full of soups, stews, chili, spaghetti sauce and such.  Makes it so easy to prepare a meal for when you don't feel like cooking.  Homemade chicken pot pies, too!

  Dandelion Weed Note Cards.
 

My to do list...

1.  Wash car
2.  Do a deep cleaning of the inside of trailer (has been on my list for some time now)
3.  Make big pot of chili beans to divide up for freezer
4.  Make big pot of spaghetti sauce to divide up for freezer
5.  Make big pot of soup to divide up for freezer
6.  Make new candle holders that are tucked away in my mind
7.  Take a new jewelry making class
8.  Work on some more jewelry boxes
9.  Make a big batch of cookies to eat!
10.  Still thinking...

I don't know when or how all these things will be completed, certainly not in this order if you know me.  ;)

What a gorgeous day! 

Impressionists in Winter

Part of my new series featuring original acrylic paintings by the great impressionists.  Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, etc..  Quick and loose sketches of winter scenes of bare trees and barns and meadows.

Getting ready to list some new paintings I've been working on based on my newest winter landscape ornaments.  They are turning out so darn pretty.  ;)

Yes, I'm still listening to Christmas music but throwing in some Mozart, Blues and Dean Martin as well.  What a mix, anything for inspiration to keep that fluid paint flowing...

Raining again!

I love rainy days.  Drinking hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music (I know, it's a little early in the season) while painting Christmas ornaments for upcoming holiday shows.  We have three that are sneaking up on us and we're not quite ready.  Every day we've been working till late in the evening about 8 pm, just barely enough time to get an hour of t.v. in to relax before bed.  We're both so tired that as soon as we hit the pillow, we're zonked for the night and awaken earlier than ever, 5 am or sometimes as late as 6 am.  That's sleeping in for us these days.  Here's a few samples of my pretty snowy winter landscape Christmas balls in the impressionistic style:

Camping in the Rain

 Look at these cute guys just staring at Michael with the camera.  "Whatcha got there in your hand, Mister?"

While wandering around we saw one of Michael's Blue Heron Weather Vanes someone bought at Janet's shop (The Find) in Petaluma where Michael's things are on consignment.  What a small world.  The couple bought it just two weeks ago!  Isn't that great?  Here we were, just out for a stroll on our wet and windy camping weekend and met a couple that had recently purchased one of his items.  Kind of cool when you think that they got to meet the artist that made it, too.

Dinking Day with Don

Yesterday we spent the day dinking with our friend, Don.  Pam (his wife) flew to Tennessee to visit her cousins for the week and left him home to feed the cats.  They collect stray cats, and have ten!  Perhaps more?

Spent the day in our favorite stomping grounds, Bezerkeley.  As we're driving down some narrow side street, we sighted some amazing creations out of junk.  Stumbled upon a couple of guys that create some pretty wild art.  Here's some pictures to share.  I just love surrounding myself with creative people and gleaning ideas for new things that perhaps I never would have dreamed of.  Wow!  These guys rock.

Some finished and some works in progress.  What's even more amazing is they actually make things that run.  Genius is what they are.  Taught Mike a few things as well that he can apply to his creations.  Welding 101.
It was a very successful day and we came away with some new (old) treasures (junk) from the salvage yards for our work.

Handmade on Etsy by CharmdimSur

Two Scoops Flower Ring by CharmdimSur

And a little bird, simply lovely.

Working

Mike's up early in the morning, he's out in the garage making some cool birdhouses.  I'll be finishing up some jewelry boxes today and starting on some hand painted Christmas ornaments. 

Getting ready for our upcoming shows! 

Apple Valley

We decided to take a Sunday drive to Apple Valley.  Neither of us had been there before and had heard so many good things about it.  First stop:  Black Oak for breakfast; and what a good breakfast it was!

Arrived at Apple Valley about 10:30 with lots of traffic taking off the same exit as us.  Saw some signs for the free shuttle bus, parked the car, signed up, got our brochure and mapped out a plan.  The weather was nice and warm, birds singing,  with lots of people and vendors at each stop.  Michael bought a pretty wind chime for me with different colored shells that make a nice tinkling in the wind.

Along the way on the bus I spied a man selling tin men beside the road.  I got only a quick glimpse but saw about five of them hanging on some apparatus in a neat little row.  Wasn't sure exactly how much further to the next stop it was but we decided to go for it and hike back to purchase a tin man.  Well, we got off at our stop and walked and walked and never spotted the guy.  We walked all the way back to the stop we had first got on which was about a half mile, in the heat.  So we waited for the next bus and as we're driving along slooooowly stuck in traffic I spotted a sign beside someone's driveway:  Tin Men For Sale

So...we asked the driver to drop us off right then and there, which he so nicely did.  :)

Long story short:  Got a tin man for our yard!


See the pretty wind chime?  So pretty!

Whew! We did it!

Spent today having a garage/craft sale at our house and what a fun day it was.  Very successful in that we got rid of a lot of stuff that was not used or needed any longer and also sold some of our crafty type things.

Some memorable events that took place:

We sold a goat and blue heron and two bird houses to a very nice couple, Mike and Carmen, thank you.

A young man came riding by on his bicycle and fell in love with my cow paintings.  He rode all the way home and then called me to see if I still had them.  He rode all the way back to our house and purchased one.  He even brought a towel and a bag to wrap it in.  Such a sweetheart.  Thank you, Everett. 

Our neighbor came by and bought all four of our metal flower sculptures for her yard.  Thank you, Bep.

The cutest brother and sister (young children) came by to look at our things.  They loved my paintings, my pendants and wanted to see my stamp collection.  They are the first people that ever took an interest in wanting to see my stamp collection.  The little boy is a big stamp collector and his sister collects Hot Wheels.  Just darling.    

Altogether, we're so very pleased with how the day turned out.  The weather co-operated as well, it was sunshiny warm.

  This was taken a couple of weeks ago in Tomales Bay.  These two were so cute with their new goats and we feel so happy and blessed when people fall in love with our things we've created and give them a good home.  That's how we feel about today, happy our things have found new homes and nice people to enjoy them.

An unlikely marriage

Here is an old box I found at a sale recently.  I took off the hardware, sanded it down and really wasn't certain what to do with it, just thought it a cool old box to store stuff.  Then, Michael and I were at an estate sale recently and found these antique legs.  The first thing that came to my mind was they'd help make my box a most perfect table.  Voila!  Here it is.  I've painted the box to go with the legs and hand painted a Fleur-de-lis and some swirly designs of my own around the edges.  Gilded the edges to match the legs and found a nice little latch for the table at the salvage yard in Berkeley.

Very happy with how this turned out and will make a nice storage table for a sewing or craft room.  A bedside table or even an end sofa table.

Big Big Day -New Treasures!

One of Mike's customers, Frank, invited us to come and search through his old barns, two of them, to look for old things, whatever we're interested in.  A little history about Frank.  He told me that he's lived on this same farm since he was three years old in 1939.  His family was in the grape growing business.  Wow!  What roots! 

When he opened up the barn doors and we saw what was inside, it was incredible.  I felt like those two guys on that t.v. show, American Pickers!  Stuff was piled on each other, everything jumbled up high we had to climb on who knows what to get a look at things.  We didn't plan very well because neither of us brought a flashlight. 

We came away with tons of old crates from the farm he had, an old lamp, a very old and needs some tender lovin' love seat that was his grandmother's, bunches of knick knacks, dishes, an old stool, an old dart board that needs some work, etc..

On top of all that, Frank picked some apples and tomatoes from his garden for us.  What a dear man he is.  I only wish that we could have met his wife.  She pulled up as we were heading down the driveway.  He did invite us to come back to get more whenever we want.  In fact he's holding onto some old cherry picking signs that wouldn't fit in the truck because we just had too much. 

Next time we go, I'm going to bring my camera and get a snapshot of Frank for you!  ;-)

Camping at Laguna Seca Raceway

Our first time camping at Laguna Seca Raceway.  On Friday night it was a little noisy upon arrival with the few race cars going round and round the track, vroom vroom!  They must quit after 5 pm because it suddenly got quiet.  We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, played cards and watched a movie.  Saturday morning we got an early start and hit some yard sales and thrift stores in Monterey then headed to Carmel by the Sea.  Had a wonderful day browsing shops and even several yard sales on Dolores Street.  Grabbed a deli sandwich and parked at the beach to eat them in the truck, a little too chilly to sit on the beach.  After satisfying ourselves we got out our bikes and rode around town snapping pictures of the pretty gates.  Here's a picture of old truck with a red door I spied that one day might paint a picture of, a gorgeous little tree with bright red leaves and a shot I captured of Michael riding down one of Carmel's lovely streets.   

   After all that, we said goodbye to Carmel by the Sea and drove to Del Monte Center to take in a new movie with Michael Douglas, Wall Street.  A very nice getaway weekend!

Stuff

Boy oh boy, the tacos were delicious as usual, this time I had the fresh Alaskan Salmon.  Yum!
http://finsmarket.com/

I just love this face mask made of leather.  Imagine the hours that must have gone into making this and don't you just wonder who made it and was it modeled after someone they knew?  I think she's lovely.

Spending on average four hours or more in front of the computer working on my new job.  Trying to remember to get up frequently for breaks, stretches, water and snacks, although there's not much in the house in the way of snacks.  Cupboards are as bare as Old Mother Hubbard and at times I feel like an Old Mother Hubbard, knees creaking when I stand up.  Crack, creak, crack.

Almost noon, Michael should be home in a bit.  Then we're heading up to Sacramento to visit my mother, meet our friends for an early dinner at our very favorite place to eat of course.  Fins!  Fish tacos, I might add, the BEST fish tacos you'll ever eat.  If you're ever in Sacramento, you'll want to go have some fresh fish tacos.  Whatever kind of fish you ask for, yes, you can get any kind of fish you want, all fresh, just be sure to order the fish grilled.  You're mouth will water when you take your first bite and you will be back to Fins again after that first bite of love, yes, love.  Guaranteed.

Here's our latest find and treasure, a vintage neon Coors beer sign.  How cool is that?