Emma is doing her state report on Wisconsin. I found this great picture on one of the websites as we were looking for information about the state. We have learned so much so far. Did you know that the Ringling Bros. started the circus in their backyard in Wisconsin. Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Caddy Woodlong, and Orson Wells are all from Wisconsin. Oh, and they make cheese there too. If anyone is from Wisconsin let me know. The more info the better.

sale stuff

Okay, now I am beginning to feel like Kari/Artsy Mama, cuz I am hitting the estate sales and garages sales like a maniac and can't wait to post pics to show ya what I found. I swear I need to start and etsy shop, but I also toy with the idea with getting a space at an antique mall, after all I live here in Orange, one of the hottest antique cities around. What to do? Any ideas, suggestions, first hand knowledge?

Spring Swap Items

My Spring Swap items came from Christina. Thank you so much. I love the little hand painted holder and chick and the cards, postcards and plaque for our house. Oh and the paperclip with a vintage earring on it. I am so excited for all this fun stuff. The "Bless Our Home" plaque fits perfect on our front door. It's the perfect color too.

Drawing Winner

Bling your Birdhouse Day was so much fun. Thanks to the Hosts Karla and Beth. Well today was the drawing to give away my birdhouse and I drew Lolly's name from lollysnestegg. Congrats to you. Thank you everyone for stopping by and commenting. Hope to do a giveaway again soon.

Also, I wanted to share these. The mother/daughter tea is coming up at the school and we have goodie bags for the girls. I wanted to decorate the bags with cute little vintage sachets, so these are what I came up with. The bags look amazing and are filled with all kinds of good things for the girls. We had fun putting the bags together and decorating. The game of baby pictures is going to be displayed on vintage aprons. I'll be sure to get a picture, and I saw the slideshow yesterday. It is amazing. Well, off to an estate sale. Let me know what you are creating.....

Bling Your Birdhouse Day

Today is Bling your birdhouse day, so here is mine. I got it at the Goodwill for a couple bucks. I papered it with a Traci Bautista paper and added trim and bling and pink paint on the roof. I will give it away in a drawing. Leave your name and link and I'll pick a winner late tonight. Happy Bling your Birdhouse Day!

A Day in LA

Since the kids are on Easter vacation, we decided to take a day and go into LosAngeles and see the town. We started at the Pantages box office to see if there were any tickets left for that night and there were so we scooped them up. Next, we headed off to LACMA to see their new building and modern art exhibit. After, seeing real art by Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, Warhol, Klee, Lichtenstein, Miro, and Rothko, just to name a few, we headed up Fairfax to the American Girl store and the Farmer's market. From there we cruised by Sweepeas & Snapshots (scrapbooking store), but they were closed so we made our way back up fairfax to Melrose and checked out Aardvarks and a few other clothing and accessories shops. To top off the evening we went back to the Pantages and saw Wicked. The kids really loved it. Henry's main concern was that they were going to kiss and they did. All in all, it was an amazing day. Sometimes, you just have to be unlimited, and get out there and have fun, and we did....

Easter

Bloggin about Easter. It was nice to get away for a couple of days. The weather at the cabin was beautiful. The kids climbed on rocks and we walked into town for ice cream. We even went to the movies and saw Horton Hears a Who, which was really cute. Back at home we colored eggs at Merrilee and Stan's and on Easter Sunday went to church and had a ham dinner. I made deviled eggs from the colored eggs. I love Easter because of the reminder of new beginnings and the hope that it brings for the future. Plus, the weather has been awesome, and we have a week off. What are you doing this week?

Like my new bracelet? It is so me and it's magnetic too. But the coolest part about it is, Preston gave it to me. After 12 years of marriage, he knows me and knows what I like. Yeah!


Just some thrift store finds I had to share. We went to Idylwild for a couple of days and I hit the thrift stores while we were there. Aren't these buttons cool? and this book too and of course vintage ribbon and lace is a must have.
Also, I wanted to share the St. Pat's day tags that I received in the swap. I also got some vintage wall paper from Karla. Thanks so much. Happy Spring. Back to share about Easter.

Sweet

You are so sweet! Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment, it keeps me blogging.

Spring

I've been sick with than nasty cold that is going around, and haven't felt very inspired lately, but I have found some cute things for the spring swap I am participating in, so I wanted to share. I've been on a nest kick lately, and can't wait to find some real nest with eggs in them. Usually we get doves in the back yard that will make a nest and lay some eggs. It's fun to keep an eye on the eggs and look for baby birds. So glad that it is spring. I stayed home from work yesterday to rest, and I sat out in the sun for a little while, it felt so good. The lamb of March is finally here, yet the windy lion is still trying to roar a bit.

{spring}

Well, I need to take down the Valentine's decor, so I can put up this. Got inspired by all the cute spring things I am seeing on everyone's blog. This is an 8X10 canvas covered with papers and a copy of a vintage easter postcard and some ribbon and a few embellishments and of course those glitter letters, I love. Thanks for the inspiration. Time to decorate.

atcs

Just posting a scan from the other day. I got these back from a display at the store. These are some of my favorite atcs from 2007. Working on Spring things, will post soon. I need to get out the Easter decorations, sadly Valentine's Day is still up at my house.

my grandmother

oh, I got these scanned along with some of my atcs I'll share later. These are my grandparents. My grandmother's name was Michelene (after the angel Michael). I think she looks like an angel here. Thanks Mom for the pics, I'll have some copies made after I photoshop them a bit.

Paper Mache & Picasso

In art we are working on paper mache sculptures of our initials in jr. high and in elementary we are looking at Picasso's cubism style and painting his daughter Maya holding a sailboat. This is where I got some inspiration for my monsters from Picasso.

Just sharing this book that I love, by Traci Bautista. Not feeling very inspired so I think I am going to go shopping.

these are monster chunky book pages for a swap. I think I am not really inspired by monsters, so I struggled with this one. Glad that they are just about done and I can pack them up and send them off, because I dreaded doing them yet I wanted to get them done and get past them. I think I am all caught up on swaps for now, except the vintage indie swap and I need to find something spriny and tangeriny and vintagy for my swap partner.

thrift finds

I popped into the new thriftstore lastnight while Emma was at practice and I found these beautiful blue soap eggs, couldn't pass them up. They smell great too.
I also found these for $4 each. They still have their anthropologie tags on them for $20, so I think I got a deal. Not sure where I am going to put them yet
and I couldn't pass up this little blue vase. I'm a sucker for ceramics. I love the Goodwill.

layout inspiration

These are from Sunday also. I scrapped with Maureen and Doreen at the Bee. I was so inspired by Donna Salazar's use of corrigated cardboard, that I just had to try it. You should see the texture that it creates on your scrap page. Thanks for the inspiration Donna. You should see her layout. Not sure that it is acid free, but as we say in art, "break the rules, be creative."