FLOWER POWER

Sofia stopped over to our house yesterday and was so excited to see all the new headbands that I had made and she insisted on trying a couple on. She really liked this great big pink one. She thinks she looks quit Springy in it. Mommy and I thought she had the cutest little baby face with it on.
But then she came across this new one with the feathers and she just had to have it. Sofia said that she loves the bling on the flower petals and the way the feather floats up and down when she moves her head. Now she needs to go shopping for just the right outfit to match it!

She is hoping I won't sell all of them since there are several more that she needs. But she has to ask mommy first!





Today I decorated the edges of these flowers that Hanna and I will use to decorate her straw hat that her pre-school teacher gave each of the girls in her class. They are to decorate their hats which they will wear at their pre-school graduation ceremony next week.


I have spent the whole week working in my studio filling orders. It is a total disaster in there as you can see by these pictures.

I only have a few more days to work in there and then I HAVE to get it cleaned up and organized as it will be transformed into our grandson's bedroom on Saturday for a month's visit. I think I am going to have to be a magician in order to find places for all of the new stuff I have acquired.

This morning our WA son-in-law, Kyle, flew to Germany for two months for a mission for the Air Force. He will be flying in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Please pray for his safety. We are thrilled that Bre and the boys will get to spend a month of his abscence with us.

I want to wish all of the wonderful MOMS out there a very special Mother's Day. I hope all of you get to be surrounded by the ones you love. I will be going to church with my family, then out to breakfast and then all of us will be in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. I plan on relaxing and letting my husband and son-in-law take care of BBQ'ing dinner. So no blogging tomorrow!

I think these next pictures are a perfect tribute to motherhood. Just goes to show that it doesn't matter what species you are.....A Mom Is A Mom No Matter What!




God's blessings to all of you Mom's and your families. Rest, Relax and Refresh!
XOXO Nancy

Pretty Petals

My kitchen counter looks like a flower garden! That's what happens when I run out of room in my studio and have to find another surface to create on. My headband supply had diminished to almost "nil" so I figured I better get on the stick and build up my reserve. Tomorrow I will attach the 100's of teeny little crystals to all the petals. Boy, will it feel good to get all done.
Meanwhile, my poor studio looks like a tornado hit it. I just seem to make the biggest messes when I am in the middle of projects. Seriously, I wish I could afford to hire an organizer who would come in every evening and clean up the studio, putting all my supplies neatly away. My daughter and grandsons arrive in 10 days for a month and I promised myself I will be all done with my special orders and even be a little ahead.
I delivered a couple more canvas to Designer Blvd. this morning and below are two other large canvas that I am starting to create for their store.

Tonight I drug this old tired body up to Frank's Balance and Flexibility exercise class. I found out I am fairly flexible but I am sure I am going to be sore tomorrow. My favorite part was when we got to lay down on our mats! I HATE exercising!!!! Always have and probably always will. The problem is that I know I need it and I am doing something good for my body. But what I would give for a magic pill that took care of it!
So with that said, I think I will go have some desert! That would be a NutriSystem desert! Ha!
Good night all, have a great Thursday. XOXO

BUSY AS A BEE!

Spent this morning at Art Group. Just love this group and the relaxing time I get to spend with them...just painting. Today I tried something new. This paper is called Upo and is so cool. You use watercolor on it but you can wipe off what you don't like, let it dry and work on it some more and still wipe it off. I like being able to get rid of my mistakes so easily. The only problem is that I'm not sure when I have made a mistake....it all looks pretty "beginner" to me. This is my 4th attempt at painting and first on Upo and I am really happy with the outcome. I love this paper cause it makes your painting look more abstract so I don't have to work so hard to be so precise.

I just ran a copy of a picture of this dog off on my printer and copied it in paint. The original was a black and white. I think everyone should try painting on Upo....you would surprise yourself at how great your picture will look. Try it sometime.


Yesterday I spent all day in my studio working on filling canvas art orders. I still have more to do, but here is what I finished up this morning before going to paint. Good thing my phone alarm went off at 5:30 (by accidcent) or I would not have gotten all this done! I really meant it when I say I was busy as a bee.

Had to run 40 minutes away to get more supplies for the rest of my orders..UGH! On the way I got a voicemail from my niece in WA ordering 2 headbands. Now I am out of headbands and need to make more of them!
Meanwhile, Jami and Mike dropped of Sofia for Frank to babysit while they took Hanna bowling. I was home for about a 1/2 hour and was able to get a few pics of her. She is changing so quickly. Now she can roll from her stomach to her back, laughs at everything and tries to talk to us. She just melts my heart!

Hanna popped in for some pics too!
Check out those tattoos. Hope they rub off before her dance recital next week.

I was even able to get a ton of ironing done this afternoon and now we are getting ready to go to a Cinco de Mayo party at the neighbors. Our house smells yummy as I just baked a cake to take to the party. Gosh, I haven't baked a cake in forever. Boy, does it look good. I won't be resisting it tonight! Man, I have NO discipline!!!
Haircut tomorrow...HURRAY!!! And back into the studio for more work.
HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO EVERYONE......I will be sure to drink a margarita in your honor tonight! XOXO

TEA TIME

This morning Jami and I headed to Cornerstone Christian to set-up our table for the Women's Spring Tea. Our table turned out really nice and we even won "most elegant table" award. All the table were beautiful and it was fun to see how different all 25 tables were decorated. One lady's table had china that was over 80 years old! We were entertained by "Crimson Bridge" who is a female duet with absolutely beautiful voices and incredible life stories. It was a really great way to spend our morning.
Here's a few more pic's from our day:
Jami is helping me get everything set on the table. We got half way through our set-up when I realized I had forgotten two of the clear plates at my house and Jami had forgotten the canvas art which I donated for a door prize at her house! So we called Frank and asked a big favor of him to drive everything over to the church......he wasn't real happy about having to drive all the way in to church, but being the kind man he is, he did it anyway. Thankgoodness!!
This is our pretty lavender bird with her glitter highlights that was perched on the very top of our May pole centerpiece.
Some more tables...............


A grand time was had by all and I am now home with my feet up and relaxing with my husband. Since Frank injured his back he has been laying around the house for the past couple days. I like it cause he keeps me company.
Oh, and my BIG NEWS is that Designer Blvd (a lovely home decor store on our corner) just bought a ton of my canvas art and headbands and placed and order for more! All because my daughter, Jami, who could sell ice to Eskimos, was having a tizzy over the idea that I was making all this stuff and not going out and selling it. So she took it over to them and the owner loved it and wanted it all!!! I am very excited about it and sure hope it sells well for her.
SOOOOoooooo, with that said I am signing off for the night and going to see if my hubby wants to go out for dinner (since I have nothing prepared). Have a good Sunday! Adios~XOXO

SHOW AND TELL

I have so much to tell you and even more to show you. It's been a fun five days since I last posted. (I think it's been 5 days anyway!) Frank and I returned early this evening from 3 days in Prescott and Jerome, AZ with three other couples. The guys golfed, the girls shopped, we all took a train ride, ate delicious food, drank margaritas and had a wonderful time hanging out together.
So let's start with the important stuff........SHOPPING!!!! Here is the jewelry that I purchased at two different art galleries in Jerome from local artists. This necklace and earring are made by Christy Fisher from recycled glass. So colorful and I love the bent wire chain she has made.
I had a hard time deciding on the next purchase. At one point I had three different pair of earrings at the cash register until Frank finally helped me make up my mind. These clay earrings are made by artist Kim Caisse of Bee Design. I wear a lot of orange so opted for these. I just love the whimsical design of each being a little different.
Here we all are enjoying a scrumptious breakfast at The Prescott Resort. The view was amazing.
The second day we took the Verde Canyon 4 hr. train ride. The restored train rambled along at about 12 miles per hour which allowed us to sit outside in the warm air and take in all the landscape. Here's my dear friend Rosie taking in the beauty of the Verde River.
We spotted eagles, a fox, hawks, the red rock, old farm buildings from the early 1900's and much more. Here is the back half of our train. You can see the open cars where you can come out and sit.
Here's some of the gang enjoying the sights. We went in the first-class car and were served tons of yummy appetizers along with champagne!
This morning we headed to Jerome and spent the day going through all the shops in the VERY OLD mining town built right into the hillside. So cool!
So I promised to show you the results of my glass fusion class, so here they are.
This is the dish I made for myself. I think it came out pretty good. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the actual color of the light reddish-looking rectangle between the two black stripes. But it is really an iridescent white and really pretty.
Then there is the ACCIDENT DISH!!!! I was bummed as this is the dish I was making for my mom and I guess unbeknowest to me, there must have been a hairline fracture in the lavender piece of glass, since it broke during firing.


Then to make matters worse, the lady who was firing it accidentally dropped it on the way out to the car and broke a big piece out of it that shattered all over the ground. So now what do I do with this??? Good thing she is allowing me to come make another one at no cost to me!!
The night before we left for Prescott I had a few gals over for a lipstick party. Through a friend I came across this lipstick that literally stays on all day! It comes in a tube in liquid form.
Here's Pam showing a couple of the girls how it works. It's called Lip Sense. Of course, we all bought it.
On Saturday Jami and I are hosting a table for our church's Women's Ministry Tea. I thought the hostess information pamphlets were so cute that I had to show you.
Here's what's leftover from my packing some gifts for our guests!
Oh, and the first half of Monday, I spent several hours in my studio filling some special orders for my canvas art.
And finally, my sweet little granddaughter, Hanna, gave me her treasured Tinkerbell outfit to sew up an accidental tear while dressing up. I hate to admit that she asked me to fix this several weeks ago and I finally took care of it. She will be so happy to get it back, I just hope it still fits her!!
So that's the last few days in a nutshell. Tomorrow I will put the finishing touches on our table decorations, work on laundry, stop by the grocery store, eat dinner with our daughter and her family, love on our little granddaughters and hopefully get to talk to our favorite (and only) grandsons..................and life continues to be good!!

CREEPED OUT!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so today Frank and I were driving home from church and turned the corner onto Recker and right there laying in the street (on the road right beside our development) was a big, long, FAT, SNAKE....EEEEEEEK! We weren't sure if it was a rattlesnake or a bullsnake, but it didn't matter as I was completely CREEPED OUT!! I absolutely HATE snakes. Even writing about them makes the hair on my arms stick straight up. Frank suggested we turn around and go back to see what kind of snake it was. Is he crazy??? What was he thinking. NO WAY! I can only hope that a coyote or a big dog finds him and drags him off out of sight since I drive that street atleast twice or more a day.
Meanwhile, I got to go to my first fused glass class today. Other then the place being completely crammed with everything imaginable for ceramics and glass (and totally unorganized) we had a great time and I was able to make two dishes. They still need to be fired so I won't get them until the end of the week. I can see myself wanting to do a lot of more this. Yikes, another craft to add to my already overloaded cache of hobbies. The bummer part is that I took my camera and then forgot to take pictures. Next time.
Frank and I enjoyed a BBQ chicken dinner on the patio tonight. The weather was perfect. We are excited to leave with three other couples on Tuesday for 3 days in Prescott and Jerome and taking the Verde Canyon Railroad trip.
Time to watch my Sunday night shows. Hope your weekend was wonderful.
XOXO

Oh, Happy Day!

I'm sewing again!! Ya-hooo!! It's been forever since I have used my sewing machine and made a piece of clothing. When I saw that Blissful Living Studio had added Minnie's A-line skirt class to their calendar I was so excited. Figured here was a good opportunity for me to get back into the swing of things. Besides, I'll find any excuse to take a class at Blissful....it's one of my most favorite places to create. So last night about 8 girls were in attendance for Minnie's class. She showed us how easy it was to make our own pattern for this cute little A-line skirt. The only hard part for me was having to measure my wait and hip size...UGH!!! My skirt looked like it was huge when I cute it out, sadly, it fit.
Anywho...here's a picture of darling, smiley Minnie giving us some instruction. She is as sweet as she is talented.
I decided to adorn the bottom of mine with ruffled tulle. I think I got a little carried away since Minnie gave me three strips to put on and I ended up needing 6 strips to finish. It's a little foofee on the bottom, but I figure that will help to draw your eye downward away from my large bunners.
And here it is finished!

I had so much fun making it (except for the hour it took to sew the ruffled tulle on) that I had Minnie cut another piece of material for my next skirt.

I finally got all my Easter decoration taken down and put away and some Mother's Day decor up.
These soft pink chiffon gloves belonged to my grandmother. I just love them and display them every Mother's Day. They are in perfect condition and look so cute laying next to Frank's grandmother's sterling silver mesh purse.
I'm not really sure what she could manage to fit into this little tiny purse. Maybe her calling card and smelling salts....cause there wouldn't be room for much more. This little purse is a perfect example of how simple purse life was back then. No space needed for a cellphone, sunglasses, checkbook, credit cards, planner, etc.
This morning I finally took myself to the CVS Minute Clinic for a sinus infection and ear infections. I caught a lousy cold 2 weeks ago and couldn't shake the sinuitis. Sure enough, I had it. I was in and out of there in 15 minutes with a prescription called into my pharmacy. Then I ran to Tempe to Jerry's Art Arama to pick up some watercolor supplies. Meanwhile, Jami and the girls stopped by the house. Hanna found some leftover fabric and decided to create a scarf. Didn't she do a great job. So original!
I couldn't close this post without squeezing some pictures of Sofia and Hanna in. Our little baby granddaughter is growing so fast. She is such a good baby. All you have to do is look at her and she smiles.
My two Sweetie Pies.
So this has been a Happy Day! Tomorrow is church and then I am going with a new friend to try a class in fused glass. Can hardly wait! Have a wonderful weekend.
XOXXO