A Denver retreat

family, paintings, Travel
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We had a family get together in Denver at a relaxing resort.  While there, I spent some time painting.  Mostly in the room between times when we had plans.

But do you know what was even better?  It was when the sisters-in-law gathered poolside to craft and chat about what is going on in our lives.  We simply do not see each other nearly enough for as much as we enjoy being together.

The hotel had a spa and a golf course.  And I actually spent some time out on the greens!  Ha, NOT golfing, nope, never ever.  At sunset, when the players left, we used the course as our private walking trails.

That delightful spa got used too.  The three of us met there for treatments, then kicked back a couple hours in the lounge to sip tea and crunch on some snacks.

I cannot picture a more relaxing time.

Our visit was filled with love and laughter.  Stories, jokes, family updates, and delicious meals too.

Throw in a few minutes here and there to dabble around with my paint brush, and it was an ideal vacation.

Thanks for working your travel planning  magic, Terry.  You are the best.

Embellished birdies

Uncategorized
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I’ve been trying something new.  Here is the finished project.

This is the before.

First step is to squirt silicone into scrolly type molds, let that dry, and use more silicone to glue the pieces onto a figurine.

After it dries, I mixed plaster of Paris into paint and coated the piece.

When the paint dries, I glaze over the figure with a sepia tone and wipe it off, leaving deeper color in the crevices.

When done, I crafted a crown from some filigree metal and embellished the base.

I enjoyed the outcome and process so much that I’ve already begun a few more creatures.

4th of July First Friday Weekend

Good JuJu
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Meet Mandy, a new guest in my space.

She adds some class to the joint, doesn’t she?

I’m so glad she came to visit.

One side of my space is mostly neutrals.


The back wall is some seaside stuff.

Around the corner is some cuties.

This will be my first weekend back to work full time since my surgery, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Finally, a big redo

Good JuJu, jewelry
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Being able to use both arms again makes me so thrilled!  I loved every minute of the hard job of redoing my space.

Head to toe.

I started with the ceiling and hung some paper parasols with tulle and blooms.

Every single shelf got emptied, wiped off and rearranged.

New inventory was added, including these extremely sparkly, heavy silver rings with CZs.

And a brand new craft was brought in too, some bag charms.

The pole in the front of my space got a mini redo, I took down the necklaces and magnet hooks, and rearranged the jewelry that hangs there.   It’s not a big change, bout it freshened the entrance.  A vertical, narrow,  slice of space next to pole became my 4th of July display, since the sale on actually on the 4th, I wanted to honor the date with a bit of patriotism, even though we are probably past the time for red, white, and blue purchases by then.

Not only did I feel up to the turnover, I had nice weather to enjoy the time inside that old warehouse while changing the look.  I’ll show you more in the next post.

Good friends

friends
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In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been lucky to spend some time with specials people.

Both gatherings were celebrations of spring birthdays.

So I packed up some tidbits to share.  These are spray bottles of steeped marshmallow root hair conditioner.

And the earrings are the birthstones for June.  Pearls and moonstones.  And I found peach moonstones and floral silver findings for my rose loving friends.

My pals brought lovely treats, here is a small bit of the pretties I got.

As wonderful as it is the share gifts, the true gift ( and I know it sounds corny, but this is sincere) is the years of friendship I have with these ladies.

Our days out mean a lot to me.

I have been blessed with so many lovely friends.

A staycation with a mini getaway

family
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My boy and his sweetheart were here for most of two weeks to celebrate his dad’s birthday.


We’d talked about many ideas for a trip, but decided to hang out at home, going to lots of restaurants and getting out like we would if we’d traveled after all.

We used three of the days to drive down to the Ozarks, but the rest of the time, we were pretty laid back.

Downtown Lawrence was extra festive due to the Algerian World Cup guys staying in town.   Storefronts had welcoming window displays and banners.

We also picked up a couple of baby chicks, thinking we’d slip them under our broody hen, but she wasn’t having it.  Which was a disappointment for me.  On the other hand, it meant I had tiny babies to snuggle instead of the adopted mama doing all the work.  So that kinda worked out.

Of course, it I wouldn’t be a visit from my son if we didn’t have a major household repair to deal with.   I asked him to look at a small bad spot under  the eave of the roof,  just to find out the entire boards needed replaced. It was rotted out all around that section of the cottage. Thank goodness. He was here to fix it, it was pretty bad.

Thanks, Adam!   You saved the house yet again!  And we had a lovely time with the visit.

An Ozark float trip on the wrong river

family, Travel
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There were some glitches on our trip to the Current River, but moments like this-

And peaceful mornings enjoying the scenery more than made up for it.


Our first issue?  The rental home we got was cancelled, no communication, no notice, a few days before the adventure was set to begin.  We scurried to find an overpriced replacement that had some major issues (lights that wouldn’t stay on, doors that fell off track, washer unhooked, stove wouldn’t heat up, well you get the idea) but fantastic views and private beach.   I think what we paid for was location, not the home itself.

We also booked a six hour float on my son’s favorite river, the Current, up river from where we were staying.

But oops!  After a couple hours of my boy being confused about landmarks, he realized we’d been dropped onto the Jacks Fork instead.

Again, beautiful scenery.  But here is the issue.  This river runs mostly east/west, while the Current is the opposite.  Doesn’t sound like a problem until you figure in the shade which is non existent for much of the one we were on until our last stretch back to the truck.

So it was hotter than expected, and the six hours on the water seemed long at times.  But it was broken up with picnics and swims.

We also hiked over to some spring heads where the air is as crisp and clear as the mineral laden, blue water.  The water rushes from the ground ice cold and tempers the heat, plus they were nestled back into the shade.

All in all, it was a delight.

At the Cake Bake Shop

family, flowers, Food and Drink
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When I first saw photos of the Cake Bake Shoppe at Christmas time at Disneyworld, I knew I had to get there.

At the time, I did not know there was TWO more of them in Indiana, where the owner is based.

I’ve heard getting reservations at the theme park location is almost impossible, and I don’t see the possibility of any visits there in the near or even distant future.

So I was beyond my thrill limit when my Indiana family offered to go with me to this location in Carmel.

Delightful company, amazing food, and darling surroundings.

I’ve heard they redecorate seasonally, so of course, I’ll need to get back to see the new designs.  For spring, there were blue butterflies and twinkle lights everywhere.

We sat by the open window and I was infatuated with all the princesses of all ages   posing in front of the building.   Including this cutie.

When I go back (and I WILL!) I want to check out the neighboring stores.

Not just the one inside the restaurant.

It was tempting to buy all of the delicious foods and  pretty things.   And I really, really wanted the pink hoodie.  But I’m also really, really too cheap to pay that much.

  1. I did buy sweet, pastel cake sprinkles.  Two little bottles are in this big bag.  One was for my Sissy, the other for Sugarwings, in their favorite colors.

    I’m already looking forward to my next trip.

A 50 year reunion

friends
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My high school was celebrating 50 years since graduation.  how could I miss that?

With family still living in my hometown, it was the perfect excuse for a visit.

And a fun night to reconnect with old friends.

Actually, an entire weekend of catch ups.  There was a picnic on Friday, party on Saturday and a day to gossip about, I mean recap the dinner, on Sunday morning with a good friend I do not get to see enough.

There were yearbooks at the gathering and I do not own one myself, so enjoyed flipping through them.

As a member of the yearbook committee way back in the day, I remember working on the pages.  My art class buddy, Matt Golden, and I drew illustrations of the coaches.  I did the heads, he added bodies.

Back in olden times, I loved to doodle faces.  This is a page full of friends that I found tucked into a photo album.

Out of a class of 330, we have lost almost 50 members.  From the remainder, about 90 came to celebrate.   That was a pretty good turn out, and I was pleased to see each and every one.  

It was a lovely evening.  And I’ll be reminded over my morning coffee while using my souvenir mug.  Thanks to everyone there who took the time to plan the bash, and to those who came to visit.

Door prizes

Books, flowers, paintings
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I offered to make a door prize for my class reunion.  Then ended up making two necklaces,  three bracelets, and three hand painted bookmarks.

They are packaged on old book covers, with a note about being inspired by my love of our high school art and literature classes, and my friends from there.  Each includes jewelry and a bookmark.

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