A Beachy House tour and some Marie Love

I was going to end this post with my wonderful Marie Canvas from Heidi but was upside down in my uploading so Marie pretties it is!!!
Here are the packages waiting for me to open! (it was hard to stop and take a picture!)

Heidi used cute feather hair clips for decorations on the packages...very fun!
Here is my beautiful canvas:

I just love it! She has used vintage earrings and vintage scrap and the flower heart frame is made of celluloid, I love it all!!! Thank you so much Heidi! My mom wanted me to hang it immediately on the wall, no pictures for her, she wanted to enjoy it right then!

Here are the goodies in the second package:

A pretty notebook, vintage pink satin trim, a pretty matchbox with arting goodies, chandelier crystals (ooo la la!) and a wonderful shoe pincushion that is so Marie!

Here is another picture of everything together because I know you want a second look!

I was just so happy with everything. I hope she is just as happy with hers!
Onto another subject!
I wanted to take you on a little tour of some of the places in Redondo Beach, Ca. I work there and like that it is very diverse in its homes....some beach cottages, some new-builds and some mansions....I am more of a vintage girl so here is your first installment of homes!
Hope you have fun! Here are some beachy cottages...
I love the little cutouts on either side of the porch and the picket fence...love how nice that this has been preserved. I don't need a mansion, just a little beach cottage will do.....

This cottage is a little run down but look at that cute window in the old garage door.... It has possibilites! This baby is across the street from the first one....

And then we will walk next door, Now put on your sunglasses!......

I think this old girl is well loved also...definitely sunny!

Just down the block is this great old church. I know many of you live in communities that have many preserved historical homes and churches but the California mindset is often to teardown the old and build new and big! I appreciate when there is a history to a property and this cute church even has an old wooden bench :

Then on to my last house for this tour. This is a much bigger property and it is for sale. It is about 5 blocks from the last 3....

I dont know if it will get bigger if you click on it, but the door is awesome. And you too can own this beauty, because it is up for sale... Probably for about 1.2 million....or more....

Well, thanks for being patient! My hubby is a computer wiz and I am glad to be up and typing again!!!

karen......

My Internet is down....Boo! Hoo!

Hi Friends!
My internet is down right now, hubby is trying hard to fix the problem but so far....no luck!
I will post as soon as I can! Missing my blogging fun and friends... In the meantime I have been busy taking pictures and have gotten some really pretty things!
Hang in there and keep coming back! I will make it worth your wait!
Hugs! karen.....

A Gift,Gardening,and swapping, OH MY!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter or whatever special day you celebrate in the spring. Look what Jenny and Aaron sent me! I just love it! I love polka dots and who doesn't love bunnies??? It will be going up on the wall soon!
We need a little happy on our walls and she is it!

I just rediscovered this pretty little doll. I love her, I believe she has a fabric body but her face is painted so it looks like leather. She has hand-stitched leather shoes....she is just a sweet little southern belle. Can't believe I had forgotten her! I am looking forward to moving things around a bit and making way for her!

Here is my little veggie garden that I started from seed. I started earlier this year so we can enjoy the fresh veggies longer. The peas are doing beautifully and we have some zucchini, green onions and radishes coming up too!

I know this isn't too exciting for most but it astounds me because I am not known for my gardening skills! This weekend we bought some plants- tomatoes, more squash, basil, peppers and cukes.... yummy!

Well, right now my life is a little dull for blogging. Been taking care of the family and getting all the tests done for my mom so she can have her hip surgery on June 10th. The docs finally have given her some pain meds to help and she is much more comfortable! Yippee!

I am in 2 swaps so I will be back to share about those and whatever I can find that will be fun for all you cute blogging friends! hugs! karen....

The rest of my banner

I know I showed you this piece of the banner I made my swap partner Jerri :
But I wanted to show you the rest:

And here is a close up.... these babies are hard to photograph.....
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We had a nice one, quiet but fun! Now I am back to work and we are in the countdown to summer.... I dont really have anything exciting to share right now but hopefully something will inspire me and I will be back soon!

Happy Tuesday! karen....

Vignettes

Warning! These pictures may be a little blurry, I tried to take them in natural light in the house and when I first woke up and this is what happens when that happens!
The picture above is the rannaculas I bought at a flea a couple of weeks ago and a little vintage decoration from my childhood tucked in.

This is a little vignette I did yesterday.... we are not having a big ta-doo for Easter this year, my mom isn't up to it so I have been a little slow to decorate.

Here is a little village that I painted when I was little..... I have very few things from my childhood, including pictures because we had a fire when I was 8 and lost alot but somehow these made it....tucked amongst the linens....

Here are a couple more vintage decorations, a pretty bread basket linen my mom made years back and some little roosters made for me as a child....Oh and don't forget those chalkware lambs.... I will be putting these out today.

This is a pretty treat cone made for me by Jill. She and I swapped supplies and she sent me this....thank you Jill!

And here is my Pay it Forward gift from Kecia! A cute little journal layered with fabrics, papers and trims...I love it!

Well off to get rid of the clutter I didn't show you and start dyeing eggs!

Hope you have an egg-cellent day! karen......

A nest banner and meet daisy!

Here are a couple more Easter postcard images for you from my collection!

I got my package in the mail from Jerri, my spring banner swap partner. I told her I love birds and here is what she made me:

My pictures are not the best but it says nest and it is made up of 4 glittery nests and a glittery bird in the first nest. Very Sweet! Thank you Jerri!

This is a side view...she used tatted little flowery thingy's in the background and sewing pattern paper as a background paper, very pretty!

Now, meet Daisy!

Yes, this is actually Oreo, our little beagle but she became chewy about 3 days ago and about chewed off her hind side so we had to put on the cone!

She is getting lots of love and attention and I have been telling her she looks like a sweet daisy..... Well, Marissa my awnry I mean very honest daughter came up behind me and said " She looks more like a lightbulb!!!"

Now.....how can I not laugh at that???

We love you little lightbulb!!! hee! hee!

Have a great Thursday! karen....

Just Hopping all over the place

Warning! This post is all over the place and picture heavy but stay with me and hopefully it will be fun!

The first two images are from my postcard collection, please feel free to use them in your projects or decorate with them!

This has been a crazy spring break.... garage saling, migraine, swaps, dr. appt.for my mom....Good and not so good but lets look at the good!

First of all, hubby and I went garage saling on Sat. I usually don't go with him because he is a computer geek and looks for sales that have all the electronic stuff but he promised to go to any fun sales and we had a good time. The kids and mom snored away as we were on the lookout for treasures so we had some time to ourselves (:
Here is a pretty square cloth I got from a Brazillian family and I forgot to take a pic of a cool tote bag I got from them also. Also in the photo are 2 really pretty silver wine glasses with cherubs on them. I thought they would be pretty with a bouquet of flowers in them. I haven't decided if I will keep them or put them in my etsy.
Also in the pic is a pretty hand painted box to make an art kit out of and a powder box from my friend Bonnie....

Here are a stack of 3 nesting boxes. Cloth under the bed storage that have never been used $5! These are so needed as my bedroom is being taken over by my art supplies and collectibles and...and...... well, those of you who know me, I struggle with organizing!

Now, onto my new project! I love Pam Garrison's art style and have always wanted to take a class from her! Well, that hasn't happened, nor will happen soon so when she posted pics of some journals that she is teaching I just had to give it a try with some mini journals I bought! Here are my versions:

I love this little girl image, she came in a pack of vintage scrap I bought a few years ago! Here's the back side:

And here is the inside pocket:
I am really happy with them, they are tiny so they are not overwhelming either!

The last thing I wanted to tell you about is that I am participating in the Pay it Forward art project. If you haven't heard about it, I am a lucky recipient of Kecia's from Lemoncholy's flight of fancy. She will make me something over the next year and then I will reciprocate by paying it forward to 3 new people. This way we are sharing our art and spreading the inspiration around.

If you would like to be one of my recipients, I would love to have you! Just leave a comment on this post and I will take the first 3 people who are interested!

Well, I am off to go to Target to get the last of the easter goodies for the kids...because baskets are for kids of all ages!!!! I will be posting some more images this week so stop by! Happy Wednesday (this definitely couldn't be a wordless wed..... I told you I like to talk!!!)

Buttons and Polka dots!

Here are some really pretty images that you can use in your spring creations. I just love chicks!

This week was very busy, we had the end of the session craziness at the school, getting ready for spring break but the kids are adorable so it is so worth it! I am in Artsymama's spring banner swap. My partner, Jerri was sweet and said, " just make what you love to make."..after I sent her a 24 page questionaire of her likes and dislikes..(only kidding) She did tell me she loved turquoise and red and that she would like her name on it so she could hang it in her studio year round. So I have been working away on that and am happy with the results. Here is a little sneek peek:

It even goes with this month's theme of polka dots!

I also have made up some more button cards for my etsy. I just love making these and somebody already bought up a few so it gave me another reason to make more!

Well, that's all for now...hopefully I will have some fun things to post this week!

Happy Sunday! karen....