Category: Photography

Spending the day at Beautiful Palladio Shopping Center in Folsom!

Greetings Friends! It’s getting close to the weekend now! I hope you have some fun things planned for your Fall weekend. I’m here today with a different kind of post – a photo essay of the beautiful Palladio Shopping Center in Folsom, California. This shopping center is close to my house and it’s one of my favorite places to hang out with Mark and with my gal friends. I was invited recently to participate in their guest blogger program and I gladly accepted. Last Friday Mark and I spent the entire day at Palladio – shopping, dining, going to the movies, and generally enjoying the beautiful surroundings. I hope you saw my Instagram stories from our trip! Palladio is conveniently located right off Highway 50 at the Bidwell Street Exit.

Palladio is a gorgeous outdoor destination. It’s like walking through a European village. There are lots of benches and cozy places to sit down and chat while you’re exploring. In the Summer they have free concerts and we have enjoyed several of them in the past couple of years. The center offers free yoga on the plaza and now coming into Fall, family game nights. There is always something going on here! CLICK HERE to go to the center website!

I was happy that our shopping trip coincided with the change of the seasons. All the stores right now are stocked with wonderful Fall decorations and pretty things to buy for your home. The restaurants are all switching to their Fall menus too. The weather is perfect so now is the time to go! I love looking at all the home stores here – my favorites are Kirklands and Rod Works, but there are so many more! So today I’m doing a photo essay to share with you the shoppping center. I’ll share stories as we go along….

This is the beautiful main plaza area – complete with gorgeous metal sculptures and waterfalls and benches. The perfect place to meet up!

It was a beautiful day for our trip! Palm trees everywhere create a great vibe – so pretty.

The shopping center has TWO movie complexes! the Palladio 16 Cinemas and the Palladio Luxe Cinemas. I’ve been to both and they are fabulous and new and clean! Great place to catch a flick!

One of the views down the shopping area. VERY pretty and inviting!

This is the beautiful fountain in front of the Barnes and Noble store. This Barnes and Noble has a full coffee bar, but also a full service restaurant inside. It’s beautiful! It’s a great spot to meet a friend. I’ve even been to some of my photographer meet up groups here. It’s a busy hub with books and even vinyl records! Love that. I’m going to take a minute and share a story about one of the main reasons I love to come to Palladio. I consider this a great date destination – either for a day time date or an evening date. You can park your car one time and go to lunch or dinner, to a movie, grab a drink after, do some shopping. I love that!! Parking is free and plentiful and I always feel very safe here. Great place to meet with girl friends for the same reasons.

There are beautiful flowers everywhere you turn!

We started our day off at Barnes and Noble Cafe with tasty treats and lattes, and magazines! It’s a delicious way to begin your morning. The almond croissant was DEElicious! They have a big magazine section – and I love to read magazines!

Right around the corner from Barnes and Noble is the awesome Kirkland’s Store. ALLLL decked out for Fall! Pumpkins and leaves everywhere! I bought a cute pillow for our family room and some photo props for my upcoming assignments. They have beautiful farmhouse decor and even Rae Dunn items! Kirkland’s is one of my favorite stores in the entire center. Be sure to sign up for their emails – they have great sales!

I bought this beautiful wreath for our front door too! It’s never too early to start giving thanks.

This pillow is now on our couch!

A fan favorite is always See’s Candies! It’s right next door to Kirkland’s. We popped in and bought some candy treats decorated for Autumn. See’s is the best! It’s my favorite candy in the world. I love the Almond Buds especially. Mark is a fan of the Peanut Crunch.

Such pretty Fall packaging. Perfect to bring over to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving! And, they have awesome Halloween treats too – for all your ghosts and goblins!

The Painted Studio is soooooo cool! Pop in to create a painting and have a cocktail with your friends! What is better than that?? And, you can reserve the studio for your private events. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a birthday party here? They are so nice and friendly. You can choose which painting you want to make. Right now they have cool Fall crafting projects too. Totally a place to hang out and have a blast! The space is bright and fun and cheerful.

Another place I frequent at Palladio is the Whole Foods Market. Time for another story! Since the center is close to our house, it’s my go-to place for gift shopping. It’s so easy to pop in to Whole Foods and buy a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine – if you’re going over to someone’s house. They have cards too – in case you’re going to a party. Makes it so easy to accomplish your errands. See’s is next to Whole Foods too. Palladio is my gift destination! I can always find a special present here at one of the stores.

On our day trip, we definitely had to stop for a yummy lunch! We chose Panera as our lunch spot. They also just switched over to their Fall menu items. This Panera is huge! It has a fireplace and a pretty outdoor patio. Plenty of seating and fast service. Park in the adjoining parking lot and you’re right there! I meet my friends and work clients here often.

I had the Vegetarian Squash soup and the awesome Ancient Grain Salad. YUM. Mark had a delicious turkey sandwich. They also now have Mac and Cheese with Bacon! I’m going to get that next time. YUMMMY!

We continued our shopping spree at the beautiful Rod Works Store. This place is another of my favorites… Pretty, on trend, cheerful home decor sure to make you smile. This photo below…sigh… I want everything in this entire display!!! They have cool Halloween decorations out right now too. I bought a cute pumpkin spice coffee mug and a wooden tray for our living room. I could have bought the entire store! I can’t wait to come back at Christmas time.

We finished shopping by taking a peek into Chico’s. They always have the most unique and special accessories. (Another place I like to buy gifts)… This Chico’s is very large and so nicely merchandised. It’s a treat to stop in here.

By this time it was around 4pm and we decided it was time to catch a movie in the cool theaters. So we walked over to the Luxe Cinemas and finished out our date day. This post was sponsored by Palladio Shopping Center and I was compensated. All of my opinions and views are my own and my honest take on a place that I love! I hope that you will plan a day or evening trip over to Palladio and explore for yourself. I know you’re going to love it here too! Maybe we can meet up? Many thanks to Palladio for this fun opportunity to be the guest blogger for September!

September 13, 2018
Inspired by Sunflowers! You brighten my day!

Happy Friday! The summer is rolling right along…. It was HOT this week here. The only thing is…I can smell August coming… And then FALL! LOL. I’m not really a hot weather person so Summer for me is just a prelude to Autumn. Let’s get on with it! Hope you’ve had a great week. I’ve been crafting a lot and busy in the studio too. Lucky is growing like a weed (wish he would slow down and stay little!) He had his first doctor appointment check up and he’s doing great. He keeps me smiling all day with his crazy kitten antics.

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I went out for a beautiful Sunday drive to see the gorgeous sunflower fields here in Northern California. It really is a sight to behold. Miles and miles of the brightest yellow you’ve ever seen. They’re everywhere. About 30 minutes west of us and a bit north is Yolo County. And it’s A+ sunflower viewing. They’ve peeked now and are starting to wilt and turn brown. I think we caught them at the right time for some photographs. I put some of my favorite photos in this post to share with you!

I was so inspired by the pretty sunflowers that I decided I had to make a sunflower card! I used awesome stamps and dies from Honey Bee Stamps, and my Copic Markers, to create a sunflower scene. I had to put some bees on the card too, because there were tons of bees buzzing around the sunflowers we saw.

Here is one of my favorite sunflower photos from our day out!

I started with a white A2 card base and then layered pretty blue gingham paper. I was totally inspired by the golden yellow of the sunflowers and the bees against the beautiful blue summer sky. That’s what I tried to re-create on a card! I stamped and die cut out a bunch of sunflowers, leaves and bees. Then I colored them all in with my Copic Markers. I used a white gel pen to add dots and highlights after I was done coloring. The cute little fence die and all the stamps/dies are from Honey Bee. I used deeper shades of yellow and brown to make the sunflowers golden instead of bright lemon yellow.

The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder onto black paper. I hand cut the banner with my scissors. There are bits of Diamond Stickles on the bee wings and the leaves and flowers. This mimics the sun hitting the flowers!

I loooooove these little tiny bees!!!

The images and the sentiment banner were attached to the card using foam tape. I layered everything until I liked the way the composition looked.

Here are some of my sunflower photos! To see a map of where to find them go to VISITYOLO.COM website!

Have an amazing weekend! Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Lots of hugs! XOXO

July 20, 2018
Our Silver Jubilee! A personal post today!

Hi there my lovely creative friends! I am writing today to share something personal. No card or project today – but I do have some photos. From time to time, as you know, I like to write from my heart and write about my life. My blog is my personal journal too, in addition to being my creative outlet. I really like to read about my favorite bloggers and their lives. I’m hoping that you will enjoy learning a bit more about me today, and something really important to me. Today I’m blogging about Mark and Wanda’s Silver Jubilee Year – 2018! Yay! What is this you might ask? Well, my husband and I are celebrating 25 years together this year! Silver is the ‘present’ for 25 years so that’s why it’s our Silver Jubilee. Heck, the queen celebrates her jubilees for a whole year, why can’t we? I feel strongly that this is an accomplishment worth celebrating and honoring. So that’s what we’re doing.

My husband and I met on a blind date on June 4, 1993. A mutual friend introduced us and we had our first date at a local restaurant. I was worried, so I made it a lunch date so I could get back to work. LOL. Well….that lunch lasted THREE hours! I immediately knew that Mark was a good soul, a good person, a kind person. We talked and talked and talked. We had a lot in common already because of our jobs at that time. I went back to the office and told everyone about my date! The next day a huge bouquet of red roses showed up at work… So I became the talk of the cube farm. It was wonderful. Mark is a very thoughtful man and a true romantic at heart. Back in the day there were no computers and no cell phones (gasp!) We dated the old fashioned way. We went out every Saturday night, and during the week we talked for hours and hours on the phone. I remember laying on the floor in my apartment because I didn’t have a long phone cord back then. Ahhhh. Young love! We dated for 8 1/2 years before we were married in Fall of 2001. We always celebrate the date we met because we dated so long before actually getting married. We were married in a small ceremony on the beach in Cape Cod Massachusetts – a fairy tale just for us. Our wedding was perfect.

Anniversary Roses

I believe that it is SUPER important to honor our relationship and give recognition to this accomplishment. Life is hard. Life is crazy and scary and HARD. It is hard to be married in this day and age, don’t you think? There is so much stress and bad influences, and bad things that can break a couple apart. So the fact that we are still here, respecting and loving each other after 25 years is sort of a miracle. I give credit to God for being part of our marriage and for being the force that binds us at the core. We have been through a lot in 25 years…. Good and bad. In the good category, we’ve been on some awesome vacations together, we bought our house and have lived here 17 years, we were mom and dad to the greatest cat ever, we learn and laugh together, we have built a life together with a tight bond. We’ve been poor, not so poor, really poor… But it never mattered. In the not so good category, three of our four parents have died in that time, we’ve been through many moves, many jobs, illness, grief, drama, disappointments, tears… For five years we even lived in different cities because of my career. But we made it! Now we’re growing old together and beginning a new chapter of life.

We made it through so much! I’m proud of us. We stay together, we love each other, we protect each other. We still laugh together and there’s no one I would rather hang out with in the entire world. No one. We are far from perfect, but we are US. I’m very blessed indeed. Mark is the only person in my entire life to stick up for me, and I know without question he would lay down his life for mine. If you are lucky enough to have one person in your life like that you are a lucky person. I’m sure some of you have noticed that I never talk about my family. There’s a reason for that and it’s because all of that is just pain. Maybe some day I’ll share about that. God sent Mark to me to be my family. I’m certain of it. HE provides us what we need. Mark lets me be me, and loves me even though I’m quite quirky! What an abundant blessing. I thank God every day.

The past few years for me have been very hard. VERY hard. I’ve dealt with a lot of loss and really hurtful things, and it seemed like the bad stuff just kept coming. I felt like one of those bozo punching characters that we used to have as a kid. As soon as I righted myself, something else would happen and punch me back down. I really couldn’t even catch my breath. People really hurt me. Things happened. Things I felt I didn’t deserve and things that made me REALLY sad. I went to therapy for a while, and did some work and read my Bible and other books every day… I feel like I’m coming back around. Day by Day right? I don’t want to get way off track with this post, but it’s important to me to say something, lest anyone think my life is all pretty pictures and water color paints. It isn’t. Truly. My love of Jesus and my faith in what is meant to be is literally the only thing that keeps me afloat. And my loving best friend husband. Most days I am a hot mess. But some days I think to myself “you go girl” and I keep trucking along. So, because life is dirty and messy and hard, I think it’s extra important to honor the happy things – like my marriage. That’s how our Silver Jubilee came about. Let’s celebrate something positive! Don’t any of you for one minute compare yourself to anyone else. You are without rival. You were created perfectly to be you, because the world needs you and your specific unique combination of qualities. Social media can make us doubt ourselves and I hate that. This topic comes up a lot with my creative (and sensitive) friends. Encourage someone if you can. Tell people they matter to you before it’s too late. Do your art and don’t care if anyone likes it. Dye your hair blue and don’t care. Share something wonderful and don’t worry about the haters. Life is a miracle and it’s too damn short.

For our Silver Jubilee celebrations we are doing a bunch of fun things! On our anniversary date last week I received beautiful roses (photo above) and we exchanged pretty cards. Then we went out for a nice meal together and we talked about our history. We made up a secret 25 year handshake too. LOL. We are going to plant a tree in our front yard to be our 25 year tree. We’ll be picking that out soon! A Japanese Maple – our favorite tree. In the Fall I think we are going to take a long road trip up the coast through Oregon and Washington which will be really fun. We haven’t been on vacation in a long time. And, I received a very meaningful and thoughtful gift from Mark this week. A silver heart charm with our names and 25 engraved on it. Silver Jubilee continues! You know I love taking pictures of things..so here are some pictures of my present. It’s so shiny and perfect. Good things come in blue boxes for sure.

Thanks for reading my story of the most important thing to me (besides my faith). You are all always so supportive of me and I’m grateful for that. It feels good to write about and honor us. The world is so crazy. Sometimes I want to be connected and real and talk about meaningful special people and things. It’s been fun celebrating with the hubs the past few months. Talking about our relationship is making us closer these days. I would love to hear about YOUR love stories! Will you please leave me a comment and tell me how you fell in love? What keeps you together? How many years have you celebrated? Do you have a special tradition with your spouse? Please share! Let’s talk about love. Tell your person you love them. Tell them what they mean to you today. I’ll be back with a card soon! XOXOXO

June 15, 2018
Happy Thursday everyone!

Hi there! Oh gosh, I haven't blogged in a week! Can't remember the last time that happened! I've missed you guys, and missed sharing something crafty during the past week. Thought I would pop in and say hi and let you know I'm still here! How is your week going? It's another scorcher here in Sactown. Fall is 50 days away, but who's counting? (I totally am) You can tell by my last blog post that I'm already looking forward to Fall crafting. My favorite season of the year and my favorite time to get crafty!

What have I been up to? First of all, this past weekend was our annual Rubber Stamp Convention and I was working the show Friday night and all day Saturday. I LOOOVED seeing everyone and getting a million hugs and laughing all day. It was a great show and a great time. I look forward to it every year!

The main reason I haven't been blogging is that I have been busy busy busy with photography work! I'm so grateful to have had some awesome work assignments for my photography business, and it looks like there is more to come. I'm beyond thrilled and excited with the fun projects I've been hired to work on. Nothing I can share yet, but when I can, I will. Doing some work with another local blogger that I met through one of our professional groups. Over the past few months I have been showing up at everything and meeting all the people I can meet. God will put us together with the right people, but I believe it is our job to show up and be present and open to receive. I've met amazing creative people and looking forward to working with them! So that's what's been keeping me out of the craft studio for a bit. Yay!

I am going to try to get something crafty going today or tomorrow but I'm not sure yet. I am SURE that there is a brand new Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit launching on Monday and we are having a super fabulous blog hop for that! And, on Thursday next week I am part of another wonderful blog hop celebrating the birthday of Neat & Tangled! So, two fun things to look forward to!

If you want to follow along with me, I've been trying to post more Instagram Stories lately. Yesterday I posted a bit of behind the scenes from our photo shoot and location scouting. I love Instagram – it's my favorite social media platform. Here's the link to my page: @stampcatwg.

I have a SALE announcement for you too. I just ordered a bunch of new 6×6 paper pads for Fall, Halloween and Christmas! Scrapbook.com is have a storewide sale right now of 8% off your entire order – even things that are already on sale. Woot!! CLICK HERE to shop the sale!

August 3, 2017
Checking in and catching up! This post is from my heart today…

Hi everyone! Happy June! Happy Summer! No card today, only photographs and writing! It's been a long time since I sat down and wrote something meaningful here, and spoke from my heart about life and what's going on with me. Today seemed like the right day for that. I went to a great local blogger meet-up event a couple of weeks ago here in Sacramento and everyone was talking about writing. It struck me hard – how much I love to write and how much I've missed it. I've been caught up on posting lots and lots of cards but not really writing.

I've been going through a depression of sorts and when that happens to me, I tend to lay low and hibernate myself at home and isolate myself from people and places. I have been keeping to myself and watching too much TV. It's not the best thing, but it is my coping mechanism for times when I feel like I need to sort things out and regroup and mend myself. I've distanced myself away from people. Some things have happened to me in the past six months or so that have really thrown me for a loop. I'm having a hard time – there I admitted it. I have always been the person who says "I'm fine, I'm fine" when I'm just not. That's my past telling me that no one cares if I'm fine anyway, so just keep it in and don't risk it. I think it's so much a part of my personality that people don't even ask me how I am. The assumption is that I'm fine. The funny thing is, usually I am fine – great even. Mostly because of my strong faith. However, this time around I'm just struggling to boost myself back up and out into the world. It's taking me a lot longer than normal to reach my evening out point and it's been sort of scary. It's harder to be creative when I'm in this state and I've been struggling there too. So I've been organizing a lot and putting our house in order. This helps the chaos in my brain!!! I do love to organize. Heck, and now our house is clean. There's that.

I'm not sure I totally love working from home. I always used to tell people I didn't think it was for me, and turns out I was right! I am lonely here all day when my friends are at work or taking care of their kids. I miss the office life – even though that life was very hard at the end for me. I miss catching up with people and having someone stop by my office to say hey. I really miss working with other people as a team. Like really miss that. If you ask my former work friends they will say that I was the social butterfly of the office. And just like that after 30 years of being in a huge office full of people, I'm just sitting here by myself all day. It's weird! And I always feel like I'm bugging someone if I interrupt their day with a text or email while they are working. I think I'm still adjusting to this different life. I am super grateful for what I have…and it is an adjustment. Everything in life is about balance right? I'm definitely out of balance. Working on that as we speak – made some plans with a fellow blogger for next week to hang out. I love to share ideas with people. It's almost been two years since I left my corporate job and I'm not really making enough money yet being on my own. I'm trying not to panic yet. I have faith it will come. It takes time to build up enough clients and enough work.

What's up with me? A couple of things happened in close succession and knocked me down. Recently, for the first time in my entire life, I was bullied. I really do not want to talk about the specifics of what happened, but the results of that situation are astonishing me. I now realize how lucky I was to never have been through that as a child or young adult. Because it is awful. I'm an old girl, and I've been through a lot of tough times in my life. But this? Shook.me.up. Hard. You know how you have those moments in life where you know that after that moment you will be a different person? And there's no going back, nothing you can do about it? That. Shocking. My entire life has been a series of things in which I have had to overcome obstacles, and take care of myself. I am very proud of that. And through it all, I've stayed an optimistic and happy soul. I am fearful that part of my world view is gone and I will not be the same optimistic and happy soul. Maybe it will come back?? Time takes care of these things. But I've been through a lot of things and always managed to stay optimistic and it's hard for me right now – to not become cynical and jaded. I never want to be one of those people who is closed off, but man, I totally get it now. A lesson in compassion indeed.

I've also gone through something else at the same time – and it's something we don't really talk about – having your heart broken by a friend. I've had my heart broken. There, I said that out loud too. Has this happened to you? Someone you were so connected to, just waltzes right on out of the picture and you're just standing there. I feel like a cartoon – shaking my head with that weird wobbly noise. WH-ATTTT happened? So I tried to ask them in emails and even in person what happened and this friend just said – nothing – everything is fine. When it so obviously is not fine. OBVIOUSLY. It's one of two things: either I did something that hurt or bothered the person, or they just don't like me anymore. Either way is terrible!! What do you do with that? Especially when the person denies you the answer. I think that part is worse than the break up. Don't ever do that to someone – make them feel like they're crazy when they put their heart on the line to ask. Tell them. It was interesting (no coincidences) that right after this happened to me, not one, but two, of my friends from the past spoke to me about why we are not friends anymore. I was super honest with both of them and tried to ease their burden. I told them my side of the story in love and honesty. And now we all can have clear communication and healing. Best outcome. It is so hard to confront someone about this. I'm so so so sad. It has been just like a break up. Thinking about it every night before I go to sleep, wondering what I did. I'm so afraid I will never open up to another person in friendship like that. Like maybe that was the last time I will make a new friend. Sounds dramatic, to be sure, but I feel that wonky about it. I know with certainty that God has a plan and that each relationship has a specific purpose. Some people are friends and some people are lessons. Some are both. This whole situation has made me even more aware of how I treat people. Life is HARD. So if I can make someone's day easier I'm all about it.

Of course everything is not all negative!!! I'm just struggling. Finding my new me. I feel like I can't trust my judgement about people and I don't want to get hurt again (at least not any time soon). After things happen that change you it feels weird. Like trying on a new pair of shoes. They're gonna give you blisters for a while. Feel uncomfortable until they're broken in. I'm a different Wanda than I was a year ago. I don't know what to make of it all yet. Growth and change almost always equals pain and tribulation. I know that the master silversmith is refining me daily. It helps for me to write, that's for sure. I hope you can relate and I hope maybe it helps to know that whatever you're going through – you're not alone out there. If you ever want to talk to me, you email me or Facebook message me. I don't want anyone to be sad alone. I've been blogging for almost 8 years now and you guys lift me up all the time. ALL THE TIME. Your comments and your sweet words, and some of you have become friends. It's so wonderful. And I thank you!! You guys are the reason I blog – for the human connection we can all find here. If I can facilitate that, then I am super happy to do so. Crafting is very personal and can be such a great way to connect with others.

I have been blessed with a wonderful life partner and husband who takes care of me. THANK GOD. It's coming up on our 24 year anniversary and the hubs surprised me by buying us tickets to go see Theresa Caputo in person. I LOVE her. I cannot wait for that (the 24th) and I'll be sure to share all about it. Do you guys love that show too??? I cannot wait to see what happens live.

I've been hanging around with a group of fellow creatives here in town lately too – over the past few months. Sacramento is really starting to have a budding, organized creative community and it is so awesome. Most everyone is younger than me, and their energy and enthusiasm is infectious. We do meet ups, and lectures on topics that apply to business and creating. They are also non judgmental as a whole. No one cares what you wear, or how old you are, or what you're blogging about. No one is competing – we are all trying to network, to help each other be our best, and find work, get paid for our work, and make our city a better place.

Lots of you might not know that in addition to being a professional crafter/blogger, I am also a professional photographer. I have been a photographer since I was 15 years old (and that's a long time)! My first job was at a camera store and I worked there all through high school and during college breaks. I know how to develop B&W and color film and B&W and color photographs too, and slides!! Photography is in my blood!! I can't even remember a time when I didn't have a camera in my hand. My uncle owns a camera store, and my cousin is a cinematographer. Currently I take photos for websites, stores, shops and restaurants to use in their social media, their print ads, catalogs, and websites. I've wanted to be a professional photographer my entire life. It's finally happening. This is what I'm focusing on (pun intended) to get me through this difficult time I'm going through. My camera and my photos are how I interact with the world. It brings me great comfort.

Dreams can come true at any time in your life so stay ready. God will take care of it according to His perfect plan for your life. I believe that. That is where my strength comes from. Thanks for reading this post today. Thanks for supporting me.

So with all of that being said, I want to share some recent photographs I've taken of the beautiful place I call home. Spring and early Summer are gorgeous here in Northern California. The earth is in full blooming color and it is magic. Time to be outside in the fresh air, planting flowers, and eating delicious fresh food – straight from the farm. There is nothing like eating warm, juicy, strawberries that were picked five minutes ago and still smell like the earth. Enjoy!

Lake Tahoe at Emerald Bay – still snow in late May!!

Bridalveil Falls at Highway 50, El Dorado County.

Squaw Valley Meadow – early evening

These are my favorite Nikko Blue Hydrangeas that are planted in my front yard! One bush is already TEN feet tall this year and the other one is about six feet tall. There are hundreds of mopheads already. I love to bring them inside and have them all over the house and in my studio. We got married in Cape Cod and I had hydrangeas in my wedding bouquet. I planted these as a reminder of that time and place. I definitely left my heart there!

The most handsome cat in the world – just getting up from a nap! BUDDY!!

A favorite restaurant of mine – Selland's on Broadway in Sacramento.

Burgers & Brew on R Street in Sacramento

The rest of these photos are from local Farmstands, the Nursery, and the Farmer's Market!!

I will be back on Monday with a card for the new Hero Arts Monthly Card Kit! Thanks for coming by today! XOXO

June 1, 2017
Happy Christmas Week my friends!

Hello my sweet friends! Happy Christmas Week! Yes, it's only one week until Christmas day! It's been very cold here (California cold as we'll call it) and it even got down to 26 degrees last night! Too bad we didn't have any precipitation – we might have had snow! The cold weather makes it feel like Winter and Christmas to me, and I love it. The hubs has been lighting fires in the fireplace for Buddy to enjoy (LOL) and me too. I'm sort of nesting at this point and heaping on the blankets on the couch. Went to the awesome Christmas concert at church last weekend and it really put me in the mood to remember the reason for the season. Something about a full orchestra with a full choir in tuxedos, accompanied by the giant pipe organ… Man, that's wonderful stuff. Makes me tear up just thinking about it. It's time to get out of my "head space" about Christmas and get into my "heart space" about it. Time to put away all the Christmas crafty items and wrap the last presents…and be PRESENT in the season. The hubs and I have been making an effort to get out and enjoy the beauty of the season, and decorations and shopping and take it all in. Because he has accrued so much vacation time at his work he's been taking Fridays off, and we've been exploring and hanging out together. Yay!

This past Friday we went to one of our favorite quaint little towns in the California Foothills – Sutter Creek, CA. It's only about 20 miles from where we live, but it feels a world away. An adorable Main Street, a white steepled church, antique stores….It's so nice. During the week it's very quiet there. We spent the better part of the day walking around and talking to the shop owners, and then stopped in Placerville and Folsom on the way home. Lovely lovely day! I thought I would share a photo essay with you about our day. A little break from crafting! The light on Friday was perfection and it made for a great photo shoot day! Hope you enjoy this look at a little piece of my part of the world. I'll list all the places we went at the bottom of my post!

We ate lunch here at the Hotel Sutter (this is where we usually eat – it has the best hamburgers!) It was all decked out for Christmas with beautiful big star lights and a gorgeous tree in the lobby.

A view looking down the sidewalk on Main Street.

One of my favorite stores – The Antique Gardener. Aimee the shop owner is a delightful person and her eye for design is AMAZING! I was having a creative explosion inside my head in here! Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by beauty and ideas and sights!

Who doesn't want a sparkly silver deer wearing a fur muff??? How fun is that? This was spotted at the Unique Boutique!

The bartender at the Hotel Sutter shaking up some drinks! Yum!

This little vignette at the Antique Gardener about killed me! How pretty and creative and wonderful!!!

Very cool decoration spotted at Water Street Antiques. I think I need to create some version of this….help me remember!!

There is a brand new store on Main Street called Tigby Hill Antiques. I met the owner, Mary, and we had a nice conversation and I felt a very strong artistic connection to her right away. I hope I get to hang out with her some more. She just moved here and set up her wonderful shop a month ago. I spotted this wreath hanging on the wall and asked "did you make this" and she said "yes" and I knew I had to have it. It's made entirely of antique ornaments! It's very special to me already. One of a kind for sure. It's the only thing I bought on Friday. LOVE.

These were spotted at one of my all time fav shops called Tomorrow's Heirlooms. I have several pieces from this shop. I have a beautiful old paper church covered in glitter, ornaments and beautiful garlands all from this store. It's a treat to stop in here every time.

Even though it was freezing cold, there is still this one last tree holding on to Autumn! I've never seen the creek this full in all my years coming here! (we had a big rain storm on Thursday).

It was dark by the time we got over to Placerville. We were hoping for some more holiday spirit, but it wasn't as decorated as it usually is….We love to go to the amazing old timey Hardware Store. SO much to look at in there!

Our last stop of the day was the cool ice rink in Old Town Folsom. This is just a couple miles from our house and a good place to end the day. There is fun music blasting from the speakers, and a giant Christmas tree right in the center of the rink. Every once in a while they blast out some snow. It's super festive and everyone is having a good time. Also, no cell phones allowed! Isn't that nice?!

Thanks for coming along on our trip! I hope I have put you in the Christmas spirit too! What are your Christmas traditions where you live?? Where do you like to go?? Please share! Have a wonderful week everyone! Not sure if I'll be back here before Christmas. Love to you all! XOXO

SUTTER CREEK CALIFORNIA WEBSITE

THE ANTIQUE GARDENER

TOMORROW'S HEIRLOOMS

HOTEL SUTTER

UNIQUE BOUTIQUE FOR U

WATER STREET ANTIQUES

FOLSOM ICE RINK

December 18, 2016
A visit to Anthropologie & Co!

Hi friends! happy Sunday morning! When you read this, the hubs and I will be in the car headed back down to Southern California for another week. Seems like we just got back from San Diego! He's traveling for work again…. And I'm tagging along again! Got my laptop all packed and ready to go so I can write blog posts and do some work at the hotel. I have dinner plans with some friends. It's all good. Hope you're having a nice weekend! I've been taking A LOT of pictures lately and I LOVE to share pictures! (Imagine your crazy fun aunt with the slide projector full of vacation photos – yeah that's me).

Today's post is a photo essay about a visit I made to the amazing new Anthropologie & Co store in Walnut Creek California a couple of weeks ago. CLICK HERE to read more about this new concept from Anthropologie. The store in Walnut Creek is the first store of its kind in the United States. How lucky I am to live only about an hour away from it! When I heard that it was opening I made a mental note to go asap. But, then they announced on their Instagram page that they were having a Calligraphy event. I signed up right then and there…and visited the store on their fifth day open.

Let me just say that the place is MAGIC. Pure magic. The building is an old two story former Barnes & Noble store, so that will give you some sense of scale as to how big it is. Thousands of square feet of furniture, clothes, bridal, plants and flowers, shoes, makeup, jewelry, candles, dishes, paper goods, and home decor items. I thought my head was going to explode from all the wonderful sensory overload. They have created something so special. I went for the Calligraphy event, which was fantastic. CLICK HERE for information about the Calligrapher who taught us. I ended up staying about three hours! Walking around, taking it in, observing the millions of perfect details, taking pictures. I met so many of the lovely employees and talked to almost all of them! Everyone seemed so happy and excited about their new store. And they are also all beautiful and chic!

I get so totally inspired by going to beautiful, creative spaces. I believe that inspiration is everywhere and anywhere. Color, texture, light, design, styling, all of it. It gets into my head and keeps me engaged and ready to create. It's also such a nice mental break to be somewhere that beautiful. Just feels good, ya know? You need to go here. Stat. They are opening more locations too. I'll go ahead and start with the photos….

First up, this is the scene that greets you right when you walk in the door!

These first shots are general photos of the decor and the furniture vignettes… OH… And don't even get me started about all the wallpapers….

This is in the kitchen and dishware department. So lovely!

All these textures and colors!! Oh my.

A pink velvet couch? Yes, please! Don't mind if I do!

I wanted this gorgeous cabinet…. But it was too big to fit in my purse.

These next few photos are of the set up for our Calligraphy class! Beautiful and inspiring and festive all at the same time. It was a quiet time with lovely, happy women. We had a great time and learned a lot too. I definitely want to go back for more events here.

The way the light captures this little bottle and makes a gorgeous green shadow??? SIGH.

The next few photos are of some of the gorgeous clothing.

And bridal….

And shoes! What about this cool, funky, interesting, artsy light fixture?? WOW!!

Paper goods of course!

There is a full service beauty department that feels like a spa…. And the gorgeous 'tree' hanging down over it? Made of hand dyed PAPER! Swoon!

Last, but not least, is the garden and floral department. It's called Terrain. Yes, before you ask, all these flowers and plants are real, and they are all inside the store!!! I've never seen anything like it before. A feast for the senses.

This blue wall!!! ACK. Stunning and inspired.

So there you have it! I wanted you to feel as if you were there with me. As a photographer, I could have taken a lot more pictures here. It is a buffet of beautiful things just waiting to be photographed. They make it easy to imagine your own home decorated with beautiful objects. I cannot wait to see how they decorate for Christmas! I hope you have a great day. I'll be back on Wednesday with a super fun blog hop for one of our favorite companies. Until then, take care. XOXO

October 9, 2016
Sharing my trip to San Diego!

Hi everyone!! It's me!! STAMPtember projects have come to an end which is kinda sad… There was SO much going on! Whew – I was in a tornado of stamping fun and now I've been thrown out onto land again. Time to get caught up and get some other projects going. Before we move on from STAMPtember I want to remind you to enter the drawing for the Dream Craft Room Giveaway! No purchase necessary to win – and I want all my followers to make sure they have a chance at this amazing prize! CLICK HERE to see the rules and enter the drawing! Also, all of the new and limited edition stamp sets have now been released! Some of them have sold out already! In case you were waiting to see everything, now's the time! CLICK HERE to see everything from STAMPtember all in one place. One last announcement – Weekender with Wanda starts again this Saturday! YAY! I have really missed doing my weekly posts on the SSS Blog! Hope to see you over there this weekend.

About a month ago, my husband had to go to San Diego for a week for work. Well…now that I work from home, I get to tag along with him when he goes places. I jumped at the chance to go to the beautiful city of San Diego and explore. I have been all over this great country – Alaska, Hawaii, Key West Florida, Maine and everything in between. But…I had never been to San Diego! It was surprising to me even! LOL. I'm a Navy daughter so there was the added connection to this city. Since the hubs had to work all day that gave me time to do girl stuff and photography stuff and shopping stuff! Some friends gave me great tips on places to go and each day I would set out with a loose plan and just take my time. I am not much of a foodie, so I don't have good restaurant recommendations and I didn't take any photos of food. I'm pretty basic in that regard…. Give me a burger or a pizza and I'm good to go. The best thing about my trip was meeting so many kind, cool and creative people at all the places I went. I tend to be a very outgoing person when meeting new people and when I'm traveling alone it's nice to chit chat with the locals. Each place I went, someone would suggest somewhere else for me to go. It was wonderful. I would make it back to the hotel every night to meet the hubs for dinner together. I loved it! So I really wanted to share my photos with you! Hope you have some time, and a cuppa tea or coffee. Lots of pictures to come… I'll put links too, in case you are in the area and want to visit some of these places. There are also some different photos on my Instagram page! (@stampcatwg)

As an artist I think it's important to get out and see and touch and experience pretty things. I find that this process opens my mind and fills me with inspiration. Textures, colors, arrangements of things, beautiful scents, pretty books… All of it gets me excited and gets my brain spinning in new directions.

The first day we arrived, we got there early enough to explore Coronado Island together and go to the famous Hotel Del Coronado for an early dinner! It was so magical and soooo grand! It's a beautiful old lady! 128 years old actually! We were mesmerized by the stunning architecture and the gorgeous beach! I highly recommend a trip to the Island if you are anywhere near here. I wished we had more time for strolling the main street and hanging out some more. CLICK HERE to read about the Hotel.

This is the view looking at the back of the hotel from the beach.

At the other end of Coronado Island there is a park where you can get out and walk to a tiny beach that has a view of the entire city skyline of San Diego! Gorgeous!

This beautiful flower was in the park with the city view. To find it on the map – it's called Centennial Park!

It was unusually hot the week we were there so I headed to the ocean for some cool air! This is the famous Windansea Beach in La Jolla. SO beautiful!!

This is the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial – high on a hilltop with a view for 360 degrees!

This is an AMAZING place! Pigment in San Diego. One of my Sacramento friends told me about this store, and I LOVED it so much I went two days in a row! The employees were so friendly and fun and happy. They have the coolest mix of plants, and books and jewelry….and I could go on! I bought a few (a lot) of things here! I even saw Amy Tan there shopping! It has a funky vibe and a great collection of stuff. WOW. You have to go here, seriously. CLICK HERE to read more about PIGMENT.

So it's hard to even describe this FABULOUS living succulent wall on the side of their store! OMG. I stood there and stared at it for a long time! Who does this??? Right? Wow. Each plant is in it's own individual hanging pot and there is a watering system running behind the pots. Dang.

This is one of the beautiful succulent pots you can buy there. I really wanted to buy some plants but I knew they would die in the hot car when I was out driving around. Next time!

And this cool chair wall….The colors are so inspired.

This is a shot of most of the store!

I also had a great visit to Balboa Park! This is a giant park with museums and beautiful architecture and the renowned San Diego Zoo. I didn't have enough time to go to the zoo, but I managed to walk around quite a bit over by the museums and the conservatory. The next few photos are from the park. CLICK HERE to read more about Balboa Park.

My friend who told me about Pigment also told me about this cool place – The Liberty Public Market at Liberty Station! I came over here for lunch one day and I really liked it. I wish that the hubs had been with me so we could have enjoyed the scenery and sat around outside and talked. I had some DELICIOUS coffee ice cream here… And a simple and tasty ham and cheese sandwich. They took an old Navy Training Center with barracks and all, and turned it into this cool place with art, food, and drinks. I think they are going to have concert events there too. There is a big open green space in the center perfect for outdoor events. CLICK HERE to read more about Liberty Public Market.

The next awesome store I discovered is called Gold Leaf. Beautifully curated and styled…. Gorgeous things displayed just perfectly. The owner was very kind and we talked for quite a while in her lovely shop. I've been on a scarf and pin binge lately and I bought some cute enamel pins (flair) and a pretty scarf at Gold Leaf. CLICK HERE to read more about Gold Leaf San Diego.

The next day I ventured out for a gorgeous drive to the beach at Del Mar. I bought some bagels and coffee and drove out to Del Mar and sat by the ocean and had my breakfast. In the distance I could see the famed Del Mar Racetrack! The reason I came out this way was that Sonya, the owner of Gold Leaf, told me about this shopping/design area I had to see! She told me to go to Solo – she used to work there! Another gorgeous and beautiful place filled with happy, creative people. I think I was at Solo (it's in Solana Beach) for about three hours! Talking, taking pictures, buying stuff…. They have the best collection of art books I have ever seen in one place. Antiques, paper goods, soaps, etc. all together. I met this lovely woman, Ruby, who actually knows some of my creative friends here in Northern California! It's a small world for sure. CLICK HERE to read more about Solo in the Cedros Design District.

At Solo I bought this really cool metal tray for my desk at home and put some antique glass jars in it for my paint brushes and pens, etc. I love it and it's a nice reminder of the trip!

On our last evening in San Diego we decided to venture out into the touristy part of town. Hands down, the MOST touristy part of San Diego is the Gaslamp Quarter District. It's the old historic district right down by the bay and by the ball park too. Super crowded with lots of people. A million restaurants and shops. I have to say this was not really our scene, but I am glad we at least went and explored it. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed a good walk. It seems like a place more for younger people and party people! We are old and mellow! Hahaha. CLICK HERE to read more about the Gaslamp Quarter.

So there you have it….my trip to San Diego in a nutshell! And my recommendations for some fun and creative places to go! Next up I think the hubs is getting sent to Orange County for a week. I feel very comfortable there and I have friends there too, so I will probably tag along again. It seems like October 1st starts the 'busy season' for us. We will celebrate our wedding anniversary next week, and have lots of other fun things are happening. I LOVE FALL!!! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for following along with me here on my blog. It's a pleasure to share with you! XOXO

September 29, 2016
A lovely crafty weekend retreat! (And some prizes!)

UPDATED 5/7/16: THE LUCKY WINNER IS TRICIA BARBER! Thank you for all the lovely comments everyone!

Gosh, how is it Wednesday afternoon already? WOWZA! I was in a crafty time warp for a few days and it was wonderful! I spent four days at a lovely craft retreat hosted by my amazing friend Brenda Walton. She invited a few of her crafty friends for a marvelous time in her studio from Friday through Monday. I've never been to a retreat like that before. It was great to be able to slow down and know that we had plenty of time together…. We crafted, stayed up really late, ate great food, laughed, took lots of pictures, went on a road trip, laughed some more, crafted some more… It was really such a nice time. Brenda and her awesome husband are truly gracious hosts. They make you feel so welcome. I am so very grateful to have been invited. I really want to share photos of our time together with you. Each crafty gal brought a project, or projects to share and that was really fun. Somewhere along the way I stopped and thought to myself "how did I get so lucky?" It's now been ten months since Crafting and Blogging became my full time job. I am blessed well beyond what I deserve!

I brought my Idea-ology Charm Bracelet project to share with everyone and they loved it. All the bracelets came out pretty and unique. Tim Holtz supplied the products for us – huge shout out to Tim and Mario for that. And, they sent enough items so that I could share one of the bracelet kits with one of YOU as a prize! (Read to the end of my post to find out more). I'll just start with some photos and share more as I go along….

Sharyn brought Brenda some beautiful Lilacs from Washington – on the plane! The smell was divine…

Here we are so giddy to be at the beginning of our long weekend….waiting for everyone else to arrive. That's me in the back, Sharyn, Brenda and Debi.

This is how I packaged everyone's bracelet project kits. I got the gable boxes at The Container Store and stamped them using stamps from Simon Says Stamp and Concord & 9th. (Links below also) I added a bit of pink confetti in the bottom.

This is what the bracelet kits look like – and what is part of the prize giveaway! YAY!

Here we are making our bracelets. We used alcohol inks to dye the gumdrops gems and the stars, and then glued everything together with Glossy Accents. The charms were attached to the bracelets using Tim Holtz Jump Rings. I bought the chain part at Michael's in the jewelry section. This is a super fun project that doesn't take a lot of time. The links to everything I used are below in case you would like to make one! (Great group project!)

Here is my finished bracelet!

I loooooove this photo of all of our creative hands together!! These hands do a whole lot of crafting!!

Debi hand painted these amazing cookies for all of us! Personalized with our initials! They were very tasty, too….although it was hard to eat these little pieces of art.

The group got a little bigger on Saturday! Brenda, Me, Cathe, Sharyn, Gina, Vicki and Debi. Thanks to Brenda's husband for always taking such nice pictures of us silly girls!

Cathe brought a fantastic project so we could make boxes for our bracelets. We painted boxes and then used vintage stencils and texture paste to make them fancy and beautiful.

Some of Cathe's cool stamps she brought in her bag of tricks!

So, this is what our table looked like at MIDNIGHT as we thought it was a good idea to make pressed flower items! Sharyn brought all of these gorgeous pressed flowers from her garden. She also brought vintage music and book pages to put the flowers on. What a neat idea….ready for framing and so pretty.

My favorite were these pressed dogwood flowers. Sigh.

Then Brenda got out all the fabric, felt, suede, leather, thread…. buttons….and we made softies animals!

Did I mention what a fabulous hostess she is? Well, I'm going to mention it again. Look at this beautiful breakfast. How nice to sit down and eat meals as a group with no hurry or worry. It really hit me that this is something I do way too infrequently.

On Sunday we all piled in the 'party van' and went on a road trip to Port Costa to the Theatre of Dreams and then on to Berkeley. We wanted to take the out of town ladies to some of our favorite places! (See my previous posts on Theatre of Dreams HERE and HERE). It was fun to see these places through new eyes and it was a great day!

Some of Wendy Addison's amazing creations….

Debi, Sharyn and Brenda being adorable!

The hostess with the mostest!! In her lovely studio.

That's all! Somewhere along the way I put my camera down and just had fun! Sorry that some photos are missing of our finished projects! Sometimes I get too carried away! LOL. Debi works for Spellbinders and they were very nice and sent us some tote bags and awesome products. I'm including some of them in the prize package along with the bracelet kit.

In order to be eligible to win the prizes in the photo, please leave a comment on this blog post. Tell me what would be the project you would bring to share at a craft retreat! I think we can all have fun seeing everyone's ideas. Maybe you will be inspired to have your own craft day or weekend! I will draw one lucky winner on Saturday evening and notify you via email.

Thank you for following along with me today. Have an awesome day! XOXO I'll be back here on Sunday as part of a cool blog hop celebrating the birthday of one of my favorite stamp companies! I'll be on the SSS Blog on Sunday too, with a Mother's Day card! See you soon!

May 4, 2016
A little trip up North! Photo Essay – grab some coffee!

Hello there my sweet blogging friends! How are ya? I hope you've had a great week and that your weekend plans are shaping up to be fun ones too! This month turned out to be really busy – in a good way! April is usually pretty quiet, nothing going on….but not this April! I got called for jury duty (and luckily didn't get chosen), I had a ton of awesome blog projects to make, and the hubs and I took a mini getaway too! Most of my cards and projects are being shared over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog or on Instagram right at the moment, so I hope you are following along with me over there! I'll post some announcements at the end of this post!

Today I finally went through all the photos from our road trip and wanted to share some with you. I love it when my blogging friends share their travels, and the places they live. I hope you enjoy that too! I am sooooo lucky to live in such a beautiful part of America. I live just outside of Sacramento, California. Within two hours we can be in Napa, Lake Tahoe, The Ocean, San Francisco….. It's amazing. Ever since we started dating, we have loved to take car trips together. This particular trip started out with a Travelzoo deal I saw back in January. (I LOVE Travelzoo) There was a special mid week special at the hotel/resort where Mark and I got engaged many years ago. So….I booked a trip for us as a surprise treat for him for a Valentine's Day present. If you follow along with me on Instagram – you might have seen some of these photos already… Anyhoo, I hope you grab a cuppa coffee or tea and enjoy the scenery! XO

Here are some flowers and a pretty butterfly in downtown Mendocino, California.

Beautiful California Golden Poppies, our state flower!

I loved how peaceful this lady looked just sitting there on the grass looking out over the ocean. This is also Mendocino.

Downtown Mendocino.

I hope you like pictures of flowers! LOL.

This was the view from the patio of our hotel room!!! At night it was sooooo dark, we could see a billion stars! We left the sliding glass door open at night to listen to the waves…. There is nothing better than that.

The waves were really big the entire time we were there!

This is part of the big walking path along the cliffs – that is part of the hotel/resort property. It's so very very pretty!!

And this is exactly where the hubs asked me to marry him! On one knee and everything! It was so nice to come back here and remember that moment and think about all we've been through and what's happened to us since we were last here. Just awesome.

Mark took this picture and I LOVE it!

The sunset the first night we were there was so pretty!! Not really bright and vivid, just soft pastels and sweeping clouds….

One day we went to the beautiful Botanical Gardens in Ft. Bragg and walked almost the entire day. CLICK HERE to see their website! The trails start off out by the road and you keep walking and walking and walking until you end up at the ocean. It's lovely!!

The end of the trail gives you this reward! LOVE!

Out in front of the botanical gardens there is a giant pool of lily pads!

A BEAUTIFUL pink house! I think it would be amazing to have this as our craft hangout – what do you think?!

One of my favorite sights….the fog rolling in in the afternoon!

Sigh….that wisteria!!!!

This is Pt. Arena Light House!

We took the long and winding road home…actually several winding roads…. And we had to stop for some champagne with our lunch! This is the famous Korbel Champagne cellars. They have an awesome deli and beautiful grounds to enjoy and tour. This is in Guerneville, California.

You guessed it…more flowers! We have had a four year drought here in California. This year we had TONS of rain and all the flowers and plants are so happy. I can't really remember a time when everything was in bloom so much already in early April.

This was the last photo of the trip, at a winery, before it got dark. There were hundreds of these beautiful poppies and I said "STOP THE CAR!" They are so pretty!

Thank you so much for joining me on this photo journey today! I love to share with you guys – it makes me so happy. I have just a few announcements to tell you about today too!

This weekend I am going to a fun all-weekend-girls-crafty-event at my friend Brenda's house with some other cool crafty gals! YIPPPPEEEE! I feel so lucky to have been invited. We are going to create, laugh, stay up late, create some more, go to the bay….and laugh some more again! I am going to teach everyone how to make my Tim Holtz Ideaology Charm Bracelet project. Tim Holtz was so super generous and sponsored the project by giving me all the supplies! (THANK YOU TIM)! When I do my post next week wrapping up the weekend I'm going to give away one of the kits we'll be using – so you can make your very own bracelet! Stay tuned for that fun here on my blog!

My Weekender with Wanda post will feature My Favorite Things stamps this Saturday on the Simon Says Stamp Blog…A fun and bright floral Birthday card.

Monday I'll be sharing a project as part of the Hero Arts "My Monthly Hero" Card kit launch for May. Prizes then too! This is a great kit – can't wait for you to see it.

And, lastly, a bit of information and a big thank you! On some of my blog posts you will notice that I do link lists at the bottom of the post, with squares that have the products I've used and links to them in the Simon Says Stamp Store. I am an affiliate with Simon Says Stamp. This means that if you click on one of those links (or on the flashing SSS blinkie at the top right of my blog) and make a purchase, I receive a small percentage of your sale amount as a commission from SSS. Some of you have been using my links to make your purchases and I am so grateful for that. THANK YOU! Every little bit helps me make my income as a blogger…and helps me buy more stamping stuff too! (and coffee!) Some people had asked me questions about this so I wanted to bring it up. I am very thankful for your support – always. ALWAYS.

Okay, now that really is it for today! I'm glad you came by and wish you a lovely day – until we meet again. Happy Crafting! XOXO

Here is a video about one of the regular features I'm doing for Simon Says Stamp!

I hope you will sign up for #cardoftheweek!

April 28, 2016
Tales from a very creative weekend!

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted and I've been super busy as a little bee in my hive…making tons of cards and sharing a lot over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog! I hope you are keeping up with me over there!! SO much going on…and more to come this week too! A new SSS card kit is coming out and then another new stamp release soon after that. Besides that, I have been unusually busy with fun social activities! Most of the time my life is pretty quiet! But the way it seems to work is….no activities for weeks, and then everything all at once!! I had a very very nice and creative and inspiring weekend so I thought I would edit some photos and share all that with you! A project, some cupcakes, a visit to the museum, and a crafty girl day! It was so delightful and now it's midnight Sunday night and I'm wide awake from all the excitement! What better time to write a blog post!? Buddy is here too!

Friday the hubs and I went out for breakfast and then went to our local (and awesome) art museum. It's called the Crocker and it is actually right across the street from where I used to work! A few years ago they added an entire wing onto the old part of the building and now it is a cool mix of old and new. The reason for our visit was to see the Andy Warhol visiting exhibit and it was great. Here is a photo of the front of the old part of the museum.

Our museum now has a Chihuly sculpture! It's AMAZING! It's only been here about a month and the nice docent was telling us the story of the installation. All I can say is, I'm glad it wasn't my job to install this gorgeous glass piece!

In the courtyard of the museum are these gorgeous old dogwood trees. The blooms were about 80% gone, but I found a couple of pretty ones to photograph…

Mark caught me in action!

These gorgeous miniature roses are also right in front of the museum…sigh…

This was our tasty breakfast at The Mill Coffee….

So, we'll skip over Saturday because we did chores and laundry and grocery shopping…and I did some work…. But on Sunday I attended a lovely crafty girl get together at my friend Brenda's studio. So, I had to make some treats – right!? I never pass up the chance to make cupcakes! I made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I always love to make them pretty – and get crafty! I die cut some cupcake wrappers and then made butterfly toppers. The toppers were easy and quick – I die cut some woodgrain circles and then attached beautiful butterfly dimensional stickers. I hot glued the cake pop sticks to the circles! Then, when the cupcakes are frosted, you just stick them in the centers.

And I brought a pretty hostess gift and card!

Here we all are in Brenda's studio getting crafty and having a wonderful time! We watercolored Brenda Walton for Sizzix Dies and made fabulous cards! How the time flies when you are having fun. Really such a great group of women. Made my heart happy to laugh and create!

Here are all of our cards! Isn't this a great explosion of color? Everyone made something beautiful and unique! We used watercolor paper and watercolor paints and Brenda's Sizzix dies. We mixed and matched dies and colors to our hearts' content. I can't really think of a better way to spend a cloudy Spring afternoon!

Brenda's lovely husband took this group photo of the happy crafters!

Brenda made this card using her new Teacup Bouquet Die Set. Here is a photo of all of the pieces. It's so fun!!

Everything in her amazing garden is so pretty and healthy and green! I snapped a few quick pictures while she was showing us her gorgeous heirloom roses and other plants.

So if you're still reading…thanks for taking the time to hang out with me!! I know it's a lot of pictures, but I really do love to share with photos. I think photography is my language. I always feel like I can explain anything…if I can just show you a picture! I hope I've brightened your Monday just a little bit and I hope you have a fantastic week ahead of you. Thanks for stopping by here and many blessings to you friends! XOXO

April 11, 2016
Theatre of Dreams – at Christmas!

Hi crafty friends! Today I have a photo essay to share instead of a crafty project! You know how much I love to explore and take pictures…and meet exciting new creative people! Well, that's what this post is about! Do you remember when I posted this blog post in October? When I visited the Amazing Theatre of Dreams in Port Costa? I was lucky enough last weekend to return to the lovely and magical studio when it was decorated for Christmas! A sight to behold, truly! My friend Brenda and I made the trip down to Port Costa and had a really fun day together laughing and taking photos. (See Brenda's post here) We got the opportunity to talk with Wendy Addison, the amazing artist, about her work and about the studio. We also got to talk with Marcia Ceppos, the lovely owner of Tinsel Trading in Manhattan. Her store is on my bucket list for sure – I've always wanted to go there. It was so interesting to talk to her about the history of the store in her family. It was the most delightful day!! If you are in Northern California – you really need to go here and see this lovely place! There is one more weekend for the Christmas open house, this coming weekend. Click the photo below to go to Wendy's website for more information.

Here is the front of the studio decked out for Christmas!

Here is a lovely photo of Wendy and Marcia!

Sparkly, shiny, glitter ornaments hanging all in a row. These are made with antique German glitter and they are really lovely!

A gorgeous handmade crown of stars and a mannequin full of Paris banners, in tribute.

Each piece is beautifully and lovingly handmade….

The entire studio is filled with magical, glittery things hanging from the ceilings! Party lights, ornaments, stars, wreaths! It creates such a special environment. It feels so warm and Christmasy. The entire space is an artistic vision.

Here's a cute picture of Brenda as she's about to go inside. She had never been here before and it was really exciting to see her reaction and watch her oooh and aaah at all the beauty!

And a silly photo of me (taken by Brenda)!

Thanks for coming by to see my photo essay about the wonderful Theatre of Dreams! Have a great week!! Are you getting ready for Christmas? My shopping is all done now (I think) and I need to get busy on addressing cards now. That is such a big task! I have been putting that off….need to just do it! Talk to you soon. Be well and take care! XOXO

December 7, 2015
I love you California!

Hi everyone! We are back from our week at the ocean and I am refreshed and rejuvated (and older!) We celebrated my birthday this week with a trip to the central coast of California, my home state. It was wonderful! There were no crowds, we relaxed, we drove, we took a million pictures, we shopped, we ate some yummy food, we drank a lot of coffee, we walked, we wore sweaters, we breathed fresh air….. In other words, it was perfect! I had a really nice birthday!

I am most me, and most calm, when I am near the ocean. I crave it, actually. I need the air, and the sounds and the colors! I was born at the ocean and it has always held a special place in my heart. I am never far away from the majesty of the Pacific. There are so many wonderful memories for me when I think of the sea. I thought I would share some of my photos from our trip, in a photo essay today – to show you the place that I call home – my beautiful California! Land that I love. We traveled about 300 miles from home, southwest, to Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Cambria. I really love road trips! My hubs is a good driver, and I feel like a princess with my blanket and pillow on my lap and a Starbucks for the road. We always have a good time together when we travel like this.

We arrived at the beach in the afternoon and took some photos up to and including Sunset, on our first day…. These first few snaps are from Pismo Beach.

Who doesn't love crisp white chairs against a field of blue ocean and green grass?

Only God could make these gorgeous colors! These are my favorite hues….blue, teal, aqua, celadon…. It's a dream!

You've heard of Flock of Seagulls…. Well, what about Flock of Pelicans!!!??? This was crazy!

Incoming!!!

Looking North up Highway 1 from Pismo Beach, at sunset….

This couple was having some beautiful sunset portraits taken…

The next day we drove around Paso Robles to see some wineries and some scenery. We found this old chap guarding his sheep! Wh-what??!!

And these cool mossy trees covering the road. It rained in the morning and everything was wet and pretty and fresh…

Vineyards in Fall splendor!

Majestic Oaks standing guard over the grapes…

This is where we stayed – The Apple Farm Inn – in San Luis Obispo. It was a great place to stay! Beautiful gardens, great rooms, good food, nice gift shop! We loved it.

The gift shop was all decked out for the holidays. I bought A LOT of cute stuff!!

The gardens at the hotel…

On my birthday we drove South to Santa Barbara and Montecito. We stopped to look at the GIANT waves!!

We made a quick pit stop in Solvang for some tasty treats and to stretch our legs.

We took the back roads and saw these gorgeous clouds the entire day!

There is nothing more quintessentially California than a beautiful grove of Palm Trees! This is the waterfront in Santa Barbara.

When we were driving around, we found this jewel box of a church in Montecito. It was really so beautiful!!! Mt. Carmel Church.

This was the courtyard of the church – in front. Beautiful hibiscus flowers.

And the inside of the church…

The next day we drove North – up to Cambria. There is a large population of Elephant Seals and we stopped to check them out! These guys reeeeealllly know how to chill out! LOL. They were all laying on their backs soaking up the sunshine. Very cool.

"I Love You, California" — California State Song

I love you, California, you're the greatest state of all.
I love you in the winter, summer, spring and in the fall.
I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I adore.
I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged shore.

Chorus
When the snow crowned Golden Sierras
Keep their watch o'er the valleys bloom,
It is there I would be in our land by the sea,
Every breeze bearing rich perfume.
It is here nature gives of her rarest. It is Home Sweet Home to me,
And I know when I die I shall breathe my last sigh
For my sunny California.

I love your redwood forests – love your fields of yellow grain.
I love your summer breezes and I love your winter rain.
I love you, land of flowers; land of honey, fruit and wine.
I love you, California; you have won this heart of mine.

I love your old gray Missions – love your vineyards stretching far.
I love you, California, with your Golden Gate ajar.
I love your purple sun-sets, love your skies of azure blue.
I love you, California; I just can't help loving you.

I love you, Catalina, you are very dear to me.
I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite.
I love you, Land of Sunshine, half your beauties are untold.
I loved you in my childhood, and I'll love you when I'm old.

Thank you for letting me share part of my life with you!

Be sure to leave a comment on my last post for a chance to win a prize!

Also, my first Weekender feature will be live on the SSS Blog tomorrow!

November 6, 2015
A visit to a magical place!! Theatre of Dreams, Port Costa California

Good Afternoon everyone! One of the things I love about reading blogs is that my favorite bloggers take me along to places I would never be able to see, and show me wonderful things. Every once in a while I feel lucky enough to be able to do that too….to share something fabulous with all of you! To bring you along with me somewhere special! Today I'm sharing photos from a magical place I visited yesterday. It's called the Theatre of Dreams and it is in Port Costa, California. The amazing artist behind the Theatre of Dreams is Wendy Addison.

The Theatre of Dreams is not open all the time, so you have to plan ahead to able to shop, and be swept away in the spectacle of it all. It happened that this weekend was her open house for Fall and Halloween and I did not want to miss my opportunity. I am so glad I was finally able to see her shop because it has been on my bucket list for a long time. Wendy has products at Tinsel Trading and I have seen her appear on the Martha Stewart Show also. Her style is vintage inspired and beautiful. I have been a fan! How cool to meet someone you admire!

I have this thing that happens to me when I see something really special and creative. I get tears! I am actually moved to tears. There is something so wonderful about seeing another person's creative vision come to life. The talent, the hours of thought, the art, the artistry, all of it. Well, that happened here as soon as I walked in the door. I felt like crying. I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. Wendy and Ceil could not have been more gracious with me! Every last perfect detail creates a world you walk into…and you are transported to another time, another dimension of loveliness. I'm really having a hard time putting this into words right now. If you ever have the opportunity to come to this special place – do it.

It adds to the mystique that you have to go down a windy crazy road to get to Port Costa and then at the end of the road, you find this tiny village with just a few shops and restaurants, right on the water. The whole place is a movie set. Seriously. Magic.

They were kind enough to let me take photos to share with you. My photos do not come close to showing you everything there is to see. I tried to take photos that would capture the feeling I had there. That is what I want to share – the feeling. I hope you enjoy this photo essay. I'm not even going to put any photo captions, so you can use your imagination.

Please visit the Theatre of Dreams website to learn more about it!

Thank you for visiting today! XO

October 11, 2015
A Lovely Hello!

Inspiration is all around us! I get inspired by almost anything and everything and this weekend was a feast for my senses in so many ways. (more later) Friday I was stumped about what to create – a card, a 3D project, a tag… And what style? What images? Sometimes, in the studio, I get overwhelmed by the possibilities! Especially when I am making a project 'just because.' So I will search around my space for something to inspire me. Sometimes it's a paper pad, sometimes it's a color combination, or a stamp set.

The card I'm sharing today was inspired by all the wonderful PTI products I haven't used yet! LOL. So I got out the Nostalgic Notions kit and had a fun time creating a vintage floral card to share with you. Later in my post I'll show you some of our photos from a fun day yesterday.

On to the card! All the paper and stamps are from Papertrey Ink. I always LOVE the color combination of pink, red and light blue. It's just perfect.

I stamped a bunch of the flowers and leaves and cut them out with the matching dies, then just played around with the placement until I had it the way I wanted it. Here's a funny trick that I do… I get all the flowers laid out the way I want them, but then I have to move them to glue them down…. I take a quick photo with my iPhone for reference about how to put them back!

You can see the the flowers are popped up with foam tape for dimension…

I used the Sentiments Splits stamp set and matching dies to create the words and the opening for the words. The dies are shaped so that the words fit perfectly! Love this concept.

A lovely hello to you my craft friends!!

Yesterday we spent the day in San Francisco, walking, shopping and eating! It was a lovely, cool and foggy day just perfect for an outing. Here are some photos from our day!

First up is this beautiful florist/market. I couldn't help myself – and maybe I could have taken 100 photos, but I tried to restrain myself! The flowers were amazing, and displayed in such a gorgeous way. That's what I mean about a feast for the senses!

Then we had an ACTUAL feast for lunch! Super Duper Burgers…score! I've been wanting to try this place for a while and we finally made it here. Found a nice seat outside too. MMMMMMMMM.

Here we are, two goofballs, outside of ATT Park, which is where the San Francisco Giants play baseball. My friends totally laugh at me because I am selfie impaired. My selfies never come out right. I guess that's just me! Hahaha, and I laugh at myself too!

The reason we were at ATT Park was to hear Joel Osteen speak as part of his Night of Hope Tour. It was a completely uplifting and joyful evening. Great music, and a great message. I loved sitting outside in the cool evening weather. It is very wonderful to be in the company of thousands of people all worshipping at the same time.

And this is why I am sure that this is the most beautiful ball park in America! Awesome!

Okay, so that's what I got for today! What's up with you? What inspires you – and what are you working on in your studio? Have a wonderful week ahead! XOXOXO

August 9, 2015
A big announcement & a fabulous project too!

Hi friends! This is going to be a very long post! So I hope you have some time to sit down and visit with me. I have so much to show and tell you! I have a big announcement to talk about and I also have a wonderful project to share. I took an amazing creative workshop yesterday, and I took lots of pictures! You'll see why, later in my post. I am so super grateful to have this blogging forum and to have all of you as my friends and colleagues to share my life with.

I quit my job on Friday….I have to say it again because it doesn't seem real….I quit my job on Friday. I am super proud of myself for choosing happiness and peace over negativity and chaos on a daily basis. Like, wow, I did what??? Most of you might not even know that I had a full time job, because I have always kept that separate from blogging. I worked in the Insurance industry for 28 years…until Friday. It was a hard decision, months in the making. Planning, praying, brainstorming and generally freaking out. Trying to get up the courage to take that big leap of faith. I have had a job since I was 15 years old. 35 years of working with never more than two weeks off (our honeymoon). It is going to be very strange to not have to get up in the morning, and go to a workplace. I think I will get used to it though!

My Insurance career gave me so many wonderful opportunities. I got to travel a lot, I learned so much, and I met so many great people who have been my life long friends. I will always be grateful for the jobs I had and the people who helped me, and that I was able to help, along the way. It seems like the industry has changed…or maybe work in general is different now….or maybe I'm different. It is definitely the right time to make a change and follow a dream I've had for as long as I can remember. A creative life.

I have been a photographer since I was a freshman in high school – when I learned how to shoot on my Nikon FE using a light meter, how to develop film and how to develop photographs. My first job was at a camera store. It's in my blood to be creative! I am truly happiest when I am making something (anything!).

I am not a big risk taker by nature so the fact that I left the security of the 'known' shows just how much I've grown and changed over the past couple of years. SOOOO many lessons and trials. I am not afraid anymore. I feel so at peace with this decision.

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I have a husband who supports me, friends who believe in me (often more than I believe in myself), and a God who blesses me. Every single day.

I've pretty much been crying for a week – tears of gratitude. The tears keep sneaking up on me. When I see something beautiful. When I think about the fact that I no longer have to wake up at 5am and be completely exhausted on a daily basis. When I grasp for a fleeting moment that I am in charge of my life again and I can make it what I want. When my friends make me laugh so hard I snort. All of it.

So stay tuned for what's to come! I am going to be a creative professional living a creative life, and I will have much more to share with you. I will be so happy if you will support me in my new adventure! First, I am going to take some much needed time to rest, relax and regroup mentally. Then I am going to start my own business. I'll be off and running soon. I have at least ten notebooks full of ideas and projects and business stuff. Now I will sort it all out and make something happen. Some amazing things are already happening! Yay! Go me! I literally cannot even believe I'm typing this right now.

So, now I'm dying to share this project with you! Saturday I was so happy to be able to go to Cathe Holden's Inspired Barn Workshop Space and take an amazing class with two of my most favorite crafty friends (Brenda and May). I have been wanting to take one of Cathe's classes for so long, and have also wanted to see her beautiful space in person. The stars aligned and we were all free to go this weekend and take the Mason Jar Luminary Cloche Class! (There are still openings for her other dates for this class).

Well…. Cathe is just as fabulous and sweet as I thought she would be! And, her space is crafty girl heaven. Like, we literally died and went to heaven. OMG. For my first day of 'freedom' from work, it was the perfect thing to do! Brenda, May and I sat at a table together and laughed and laughed. My stomach actually hurt when I got home. Boy, is laughter good for the soul!! Laughter and Creativity filled my soul on Saturday. Thank you to these lovely and amazing women!

I'll show you my photos of her Inspired Barn workshop space first and then share my project photos after that. Hope you're still with me!

Here is a long shot of Cathe's workshop and there is sweet May smiling in the corner!

This is our most lovely hostess Cathe Holden. She made us feel so at home and so welcome. Her designer eye is AMAZING. Anyone who can envision space in this way is a complete genius in my book. Wow. Thank you Cathe, for such a fun day and a great project! XO

A sweet photo of Cathe and Brenda – looking so lovely!

Cathe's husband came in and took this photo of all of us with our projects! What a nice bunch of women! I say that you never meet a stranger when you go to a craft class! #craftygirlsrock

Here is my finished Mason Jar Luminary. I posed it next to some of Cathe's vintage beauties!

Don't we look so happy? Brenda, me and May at our crafting table!

The rest of these photos I took at home to give you some more details. The little house is mounted onto a cardboard ring and then it fits inside the mason jar. The top of the house is not sealed so you can turn on the tiny battery operated tea light inside. GENIUS. CLICK HERE TO BUY THE TEMPLATE FOR THE HOUSE from Cathe's Etsy Shop!

The whole house/base is glued to the lid of the mason jar and then the entire thing fits inside and you screw the ring on.

I couldn't resist adding vintage silver glitter to my house. The base is a kraft color, and I added white wash with a little acrylic paint. Here is the back of the house.

As part of the class, Cathe taught us how to make these teeny tiny bird nests out of wire and beads. OMG are you kidding me?? EEEEP.

There is even a tiny chimney that glues on top of the roof!

Whew! Okay, so that's enough blogging for one day! Thank you for hanging in there until the end and for coming by A Blog Called Wanda. I would absolutely LOVE to hear from you this week! I could use your encouragement and love and happy thoughts as I start this new path. Have a wonderful week! XO

July 12, 2015
Happy Friday – photos from the horse farm!

Happy Friday my creative friends! How was your week? I hope it was a good one, and Happy Spring! It's almost Easter and I'm loving all the beautiful weather and the flowers, and spring crafting. Life is good, right? So good. I am already feeling renewed with the spirit of the meaning of Easter. Did you enjoy all the new stamps from Newton's Nook release this week? That was a fun gig – I love guesting with new companies. Thanks again Jen!! I have one more card I made for NND and that will be posted on Monday (hint, it's sweeeeet!)

Remember last week when I said I was excited about going to my friends horse farm after work on Friday night? Well, it was magical! I left work a little bit early and the hubs picked me up at the office and we drove just about 25 miles, and ended up in a little piece of California paradise! Wow. I'm excited to share some photos with you so you can see what it looks like near where I live (I'm a suburbs girl though). CLICK HERE to read more about my friend's farm and horses. I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with BJB for over 20 years and I feel so lucky to have been invited for a peek into her life outside of work. She just happened to mention baby goats at work one day…..

Here is a beautiful vista looking out over the foothills. It is SO GREEN this time of year and just amazing. That tree is a giant California Live Oak and they are my favorite. This is such a quintessential Northern California photo….

Taking one of the beautiful horses for a stroll….

Grazing and hanging out under the oak trees…What a life!

DID SOMEONE SAY GOATS!!?? OMG they are SO cute and so funny! (they are also hard to take a photo of!) They make these silly noises and hop around and are just silly. I looooove them!! Look at their funny floppy ears. They are gentle too….

Say "cheese!" Or, I'm ready for my close up!! LOL.

This little guy was SOOOOOOOOO cute! See how he's sitting like a cat with his feet tucked in? He was so soft too.

This little baby guy was only two days old… That's his momma keeping an eye out. He was really soft and so tiny and adorable.

So I picked up that little guy and he just laid his head down on my shoulder and was making these little cooing noises. I carried him around for a while and he didn't seem to care at all. I busted out my iPhone and we did a #goatselfie !!

Every farm needs a cat!

These beautiful purple flowers were everywhere…

One last California landscape shot – taken as the sun was getting low. The only word that keeps coming to my mind is magical. It is truly a piece of heaven on earth. I'm so grateful to have been touched by this pretty place.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!

March 20, 2015
Brenda Walton Butterfly fold card…and a magical afternoon!

Yeah! I have something really cool to share today! Remember back when I posted that the lovely Brenda Walton featured one of my projects on her blog? Well, she and I got to emailing back and forth and she invited me to a lovely and magical afternoon at her home for a calligraphy lesson and lunch with her friends! OH my stars! She is really just as sweet and lovely as you imagine she would be. The most gracious and lovely hostess. So talented and generous with her time and her guidance. But, the very best part is her laugh and her smile. I love a girl who laughs all the time – don't you? Yes, I'm pretty much gushing, but I loved spending the day in her beautiful studio and home. It felt like some kind of crafty dream – the kind you don't want to wake up from!

I wanted to be a good guest and I wanted to hand-make her something. So, I made her a butterfly card using one of her amazing Sizzix dies, and brought her a little gift too. I'm sharing the card today, and a few photos from the event on Saturday. How lucky am I to have received such a nice invitation?? VERY.

Here is the card I made… The butterfly wings join together in the center and there are separate pieces for the top layer of wings. LOVE.

I used some letter stamps and Corduroy Distress Ink to put her name on a little banner. I coated the wings with some antique glass glitter I had in my stash. The pretty patterned paper is from Authentique.

I wrapped some pretty ribbon around the back and attached it under the wings in the front.

In this shot, you can see how the card folds together. Inside is a tiny flat note! Before I put the glitter on the wings, I sponged some distress ink around the edges.

Sorry with the photos….I love doing these glamour close up shots! 🙂

Below are a few photos that capture the mood and spirit of the day! First up, a wide shot of Brenda's amaaaaaazing studio! High ceilings with tons of natural light, and beautiful objets everywhere you turn! A feast for the eyes…

Brenda and her lovely and kind husband Doug.

That ceiling!!!

I adore this photo because it captures Brenda perfectly! I love a gal who will stand on her desk to take a photo!

Here we are all enjoying a beautiful lunch of soup, salad and quiche…followed by a big giant chocolate cake! Everyone was so lovely and fun. It was cool to hang out with a group of women who all grew up in my town. Often I am surrounded by people from all different places – but it was really nice to share stories with the knowledge of our shared history. Shared places and people…. I hope I get to hang out with them again.

Here is Brenda giving us a Calligraphy lesson after lunch. Can you see me reflected in the glass door? LOL. I am totally blown away by how effortless she makes it look to do calligraphy. True art.

So, me?? Not so great at this!! I gave it a really good try! I press very hard when I write and I'm very linear… I wish I could be good at this! Here is my practice paper.

One of the ladies had brought this pretty velvet bunny as a present for Brenda…

This paint palette could tell a million stories, don't you think? What a beautiful thing….

Love in a pail!

Thank you for letting me share with you today! Thanks for coming by to see me! Hope you are having a lovely weekend – and best wishes for a good week ahead. XOXOXO

March 8, 2015
The big 5-0

Hi sweet bloggy friends! This post doesn't have a card or a project, but I really felt the need to reach out to everyone today… Today is my 50th birthday! Wow. There, I said it out loud. I have been in the 'freak out' stage of this for a few months now, and with the day's arrival, I guess I will have to move into 'acceptance' mode. I don't feel 50 on the inside… Sometimes my bones feel 50, but I still feel like a crazy kid most of the time. It's only a number… That's what everyone keeps telling me. But this number is totally messing with my head! Am I having a mid-life crisis? Kinda feels like it. Well, at least I didn't buy a Corvette or anything yet. Maybe just a time of gratitude, planning and assessment.

I always get very introspective around my birthday each year, but more so this time around. Something about that 5-0 number makes me realize that I have more years behind me than in front of me. More than ever, I want my life to be meaningful and productive and fun and happy and all those positive things. I want to be closer to God and I want to be a better person. More patient, less worried. More relaxed, less control-freaky. More creative, less stressed. I saw this saying on Pinterest the other day that said "you're never too old to be what you might have been" and I like that. I'm ready to see what happens next!

For the past few years I have been growing so much and changing. Lots of trials and tests have come my way and I'm still here, plugging along. There is some confidence in that, seeing your own strength, and surviving things you didn't think you could. I like that part of being, ahem, older. My faith is stronger than ever and the relationships I'm choosing to maintain are better and more rewarding. Could it be that I am finally a grown-up? The jury is still out! I try to laugh at myself more…to be still, and trust God to fight my battles for me.

The hubs and I are staying in a big beautiful house right on the ocean in Oregon for a week for my birthday present. A glorious week of waves, sand, sleeping in, laughing, reading, taking pictures, and relaxing. Just what I wanted – the perfect getaway. I brought stamping stuff, and my Copics, and loads of books, and bubble bath and good food to cook, and of course, my camera. So far it's been amazing. Visual space in front of me with no buildings, and the clean fresh air that only comes from the sea. Time to rest my brain and just be. Yay for that!

Normally I would never solicit a comment (unless I had a prize to give away). But, I would so love it if you would leave me a comment today – a word of wisdom, an old lady joke, or just a howdy, to mark this occasion with me. That would be the best present! I really and truly appreciate the fact that you all follow along with my life and my journey and I would love to hear from you on this momentous occasion! Did you freak out on any of your milestone birthdays? Any advice for me? What are your thoughts on getting older?

My blogging journey is approaching the five year mark – wow. I'm so grateful for all the love and joy and friends that have come my way because of it. THANK you for making my life happier. All. The. Time. Thank you. I share my day with you today – all the strong, amazing people that are brave enough to put themselves out there and be kind to others. What a complete blessing. Thank you.

So, you know I have some photos to share! We drove from Sacramento, CA to Waldport, OR on Saturday. We stopped a lot on the way….lunch, photos, Starbucks, photos, stretching, photos… And it took the entire day to get here. It was so much fun though! I love doing road trips with my hubs. We have the best time. So some of the photos we took along the way, and some are from here in Oregon. Hope you enjoy!

Mt. Shasta with a brand new blanket of snow….

This is along the beautiful Umpqua River as you drive from I-5 towards the ocean…. It seemed like every time we turned a corner there was an even more magnificent view. Seriously.

Welcome sign!

Gorgeous Fall colors1

This is the house we're renting. We woke up super early Sunday morning and went for a walk. This is from the beach looking back at the house. It's so wonderful! Windows everywhere.

Some of our early morning friends looking for breakfast at the beach….

Finally the sun came blazing out – but just for a minute!

We came back inside and were having our coffee and this appeared out the front window! Directly in front of us! A miracle!

This is the view from our bedroom balcony.

My husband COMPLETELY surprised me with a beautiful diamond bracelet to celebrate my milestone. He kept the entire thing a secret and even hid the bag in the car. I really had no idea and wasn't expecting anything. OMG. More tears…Joyful tears. There have been many the past couple of days. I am so blessed beyond anything I deserve.

It's supposed to rain the next couple of days so I'm not sure if I'll get more pictures or not. Good thing I brought a lot of stamping stuff and ALL my Copics with me!! I just might have to sit by the window and color. Yay! Have a great week and thank you for coming by. XOXO

November 3, 2014
Scenes from a nice weekend!

Hi friends!! I had the most fabulous weekend and I thought I would share some photos with you from it! I don't have a card made and ready to post at the moment, so I hope you won't mind a little photo essay instead. I seriously have not had any quality time in the craft room…and I need to remedy that situation! I am not sure where my mojo is? Have you seen it??

Anyhoo…on about my weekend… Maybe you saw my post last Thursday where I posted a blue and white wedding ensemble for my bride-to-be friend? Well, she is no longer a bride-to-be! Now she is officially a wife! The hubs and I went to the beautiful wedding this weekend in Carmel and we made a weekend out of it. Cool ocean breezes and rest and relaxation. We drove down on Friday morning and came home Sunday night. I did not realize how much I needed a change of scenery. Sometimes I need the ocean so much I can feel it in my bones. It totally restores and renews me. Do you have a place that does that for you?

Here are my ocean pictures from Saturday and Sunday. The waves were HUGE! Maybe the biggest I've ever seen here in these parts. The photos are from Big Sur and also from Pacific Grove. Enjoy. Wish I could make it to where you could hear the waves too….

The wedding was so nice and genuine and plain old awesome. I loooooooove weddings! What's not to love? Happiness, loved ones, food, dancing, flowers…it's all good! I captured just a few photos at the wedding. You know, you don't want to be THAT girl that snaps photos the whole time, right?

My favorite moments at a wedding are always THE kiss… And the moment the bride and groom walk away from the aisle and they are just soooooo happy that they are married. What are your fav moments?

I was lucky enough to snap this one as the happy couple were walking away from the ceremony. So sweet. I think I'm tearing up again!

And one shot of the gorgeous (and yummy) cake! The colors were blue and white and there were pretty shells everywhere…and hydrangeas. Sigh.

Here are some more ocean photos I took on Easter morning! See what I mean about those waves? Yowza! They are not normally curling at this spot! So awesome.

Have a most beautiful week my beautiful bloggy friends!

April 22, 2014