*a bit of serendipity*

Valentine's Day Fete

Rebecca from Sugar and Spice Art Confections is hosting a Valentine's Day Fete on her blog today.  There are other beautiful blogs participating as well, each of them having a special Valentine giveaway ~ all participants are listed on Rebecca's sidebar.  Valentine events and projects have kind of eluded me this year, so I'm happy to be participating with a giveaway for Rebecca's party.  The collage piece below will be given to one person randomly selected from the comments.

The collage is built on hand dyed vintage French sheet music, with vintage images and vintage silver glass glitter.

I hope you all have an amazing Valentine's Day weekend. XOXO

A Creative Woman

And she certainly is.  The lovely Sandra Evertson is having a giveaway on her blog, and I wanted to post about it here in case some of you haven't heard.  She is giving away a gorgeous print of a young lady from the 18th century that she's titled ~ A Creative Woman.  It's amazing.  I've included a few photos here, but check out her blog for more information, photos, and to enter.

While you're visiting her blog, be sure to check out her Etsy Shop, she has added some really unique and beautiful items.

Pre-Silver Bella So. Cal. Luncheon

I started to write a post about Silver Bella, then realized how painfully behind I am on my blogging.  I just couldn't do a SB post without first doing a post about a pre-SB event that was truly amazing.

Joy Campbell, Kim Caldwell and Gina Grable all planned a very special day for all of the Southern California girls going to Silver Bella this year.  Joy hosted the party at her gorgeous home...Kim planned an incredible project for us to make while we were there and Gina made us all the most touching, thoughtful gift.  Of course they all did much more than that, but those are the highlights.

I am disappointed I didn't take more photos, and none of actual people, except background shots (how does that happen?), but I do have a few photos to share.

The table Joy set was absolutely gorgeous...the food was amazing, the tea wonderful!

 

The table that was set to work on our project was just as beautiful, they put so much time and effort into every last detail, making it so special for all of us.

 

 

 

Joy made everyone this incredible needle holder, I can't tell you how much I love it and how often I used it at SB.

 

And this is my sample of the project part way through.  There were so many embellishments and other wonderful things in the kit, I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to do that day, so I kept it simple ~ I will show another photo when it's complete...

 

And last but not least, Gina made all of us the cutest bee pin, and wrote a poem to go along with it.  The idea was that we would all wear our pins at SB so those of us that just met, would remember the other girls at the event.  It was such a great idea ~ and I did wear my pin all weekend long.  Unfortunately my pin is still buried in my SB projects so I don't have a photo of it yet, but as soon as I can get to it, I will add a photo. 

And also a special thank you to Cheryl, who left a sweet package of Bath and Body Works goodness for everyone as well.

After my sister and I left, we talked about how really wonderful the day was ~ every bit of it ~ and especially the new friendships that were made.

Thank you Gina, Joy and Kim for a day we will always remember.

Vanessa's Halloween Party

There is nothing like a party hosted by Vanessa to get me in the spirit of things.  I always have such a hard time deciding what I'm going to do for these parties.  This time I decided to make a series of wall hangings.  I haven't strung them yet as I haven't decided if I want to hang them individually or all together as a banner.

I bought flowers like I usually do for the lovely hostess, but the pictures I took didn't turn out. I haven't given up, but I think I need a little nap. I will be back in a while to take more photos, and then I'm going to start making the rounds to all of the incredible Halloween parties going on today.

If you didn't come from there, be sure to stop by Vanessa's blog for the most amazing party, and links to all of the others participating today.

Thank you Vanessa for another incredible party!

See you soon!

Irving Penn

One of my favorites.

 

You will be missed.

Cuff Bracelet Swap

I just finished a really fun swap with a Mail Art Group I'm a member of.  Corinne was the hostess, and she decided to do a cuff bracelet swap.  I was a little bit nervous because I've never made a cuff bracelet, and more importantly, I don't sew ~ at all, but I really wanted to try something different.

It turned out to be so much fun.  Everyone was paired with a partner, but because there ended up being an uneven number of participants, three of us were grouped together.  Corinne was making a bracelet for Cassandra, Cassandra for me, and I was making Corinne's.

I wanted to show the GORGEOUS bracelet I received from Cassandra.  I gave her a few ideas of what I liked (colors, etc.), and I couldn't believe how perfectly she transformed them into the perfect cuff for me.  I LOVE it!

You can see how beautiful it is from these photos, but you all know what I mean when I say I wish I could show you exactly how gorgeous it is in person.  Thank you again Cassandra, you know how much I love it!!!

This is the cuff I made for Corinne.  She said she loves pink, girly, elegant ~ I tried to get it all!

Thank you Corinne and Cassandra...I had a great time!

And a special thank you to my mom, who spent an entire day explaining what needle and thread were, and how to use them together.  (okay, maybe not that bad, but almost.)

Fairy Tale Book Collaboration

I sometimes participate with a group that makes mini art books.  The hostess Mary Ann picks a theme and anyone interested can sign up.  Each person makes one altered page based on the theme, and then duplicates the page for the number of participants.  There usually seems to be between 20 to 30 participants.  All of the pages are sent to the hostess and she makes the cover, binds them and sends each participant a completed book with everyone's different pages.

I couldn't pass up the fairy tale book.  One of my favorites is Beauty and the Beast, so I went with that. 

The front and back of the page I made.  I tried to keep them fairly simple, I tend to over-do it sometimes, and making 20 to 30, even though you are making the same thing...takes quite a long time.

 

When I receive the completed book, I'll post more photos of everyone's pages.  Here's a link to the flickr group. 

A Special Thank You

I wanted to say a special thank you to Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist, for the unexpected package I received from her in the mail. 

A while back, she posed a question on her blog, and challenged everyone to guess the answer.  Well...I was surprised to find that I guessed the right answer, and even more surprised when she decided to send the person who guessed correctly, a little package.

The package I received included several of her cards made from her original artwork, all wrapped beautifully with ribbon...and an incredible rusty vintage metal key was tied to the ribbon as well.

Here are just a few photos of what I received from one of the most original artists around!

Thank you so much Vanessa!!! XOXO. 

The Sweetest Thing

I'm back from a little summer break, and am hoping everyone has been having a wonderful summer.

I wanted to share one of the sweetest things that happened to me.

I received an email from a woman I didn't know named Suz Reaney.  She introduced herself, and then told me she saw something at an estate sale that she thought I would love.  I guess she had seen on my blog that I do a lot of Marie themed projects.  She said she found this lamp and knew it was special, even though it wasn't really her style, but thought I would like it and she wanted to send it to me.  I'm not sure if this has ever happened to any of you, but it was a first for me, and I was completely blown away.  I can't begin to tell you how unbelievably touched I was by her gesture.

Here is the gorgeous lamp she sent me.

It needs to be rewired, and I need to figure out what kind of shade I want for it, so I'll show another picture when I'm finished with it.

Isn't it amazing?

In her email to me, she said she picked it up at the estate sale of the Princess of the St. Paul Winter Carnival.  I told her how cool that sounded, and it seemed like such an incredible event (being from Los Angeles, there obviously isn't anything like that here).

Well, when the lamp arrived, there was an envelope included in the box, and inside was a souvenir Winter Carnival magazine from 1946.  Ohhhhh, you can imagine what a surprise that was.  The photos and ads were amazing.  I took a few pictures of some of the ads...please forgive the photo quality...I am embarassed to admit this, but I took these photos from my bed, with horrible overhead lighting, yikes.  But you'll get the idea.

 

And the best part is...I will actually get to meet this wonderful lady, as we are both going to Silver Bella this year.

Suz....I absolutely ADORE the lamp and magazine, and CAN'T wait to meet you at Silver Bella...thank you so much!

Vanessa's Second Annual Mad Tea Party

Vanessa is hosting her Second Annual Mad Tea Party today.  Last year I started the party off with roses for Miss Vanessa, our wonderful hostess, so I thought I would do the same this year.

I had so many ideas for this tea party, but finally decided to go with a modern day Mad Tea Party.

The hostess is the Queen of Hearts.

This image I used is Cate Blanchett taken for a Vogue photo shoot.  The photographer is the amazing Irving Penn.  The incredible dress was designed by Nicolas Ghesquiere.

Cupcakes are being served.

I must add an enormous thank you to my mom and sister who helped me with the preparations.  My sister ended up decorating all of these cupcakes while I was working on my collages.

The two pictures below have a different top cupcake than the photos above.  My sister didn't think they were worthy of the top spot, but I love them, so I thought I'd share them with you.

You can tell that's a crown, right?

And the Mad Hatter is joining us.  

Alice is on her way, but she's not quite ready yet.

Have a little tea, and be sure to visit all of the other tea parties.

Links to all of the other participants can be found on Vanessa's blog.

Once again, thank you Vanessa for hosting such an incredible event.