Today was ....

... one of those magical days when I got to spend all day playing in my room. I had plans of getting sooo many things done, but I realize that I work very slowly ... but I enjoy every moment along the way. When I'm working in my room, I'm playing with colors, and digging for embellishments, and staring and looking and searching ... but to me thats all part of the fun and creation.

I managed to get five cards done today .... and I enjoyed every minute!!

All the cards have images on them colored with Copics, lots of Spica glitter, and touches of black soot distress ink.

The design of one of the cards came from this layout that Terri made for me after her last visit to Phoenix. She's great at layers and layers and layers ... and as I was admiring this today .... while I was staring and looking and searching ..... I decided to borrow an idea from this ....

Can you see where the idea came from? Ha ... I didn't realize its almost the same colors until just now ....

Then I had these cute Halloween stamp sets to play with ..... I used the spider web embossing folder and highlighted the "webs" with silver and clear Spica pens ..... I'm not a big Halloween person, but these were pretty fun to make!

I used to have a cool brown distressed background on the side panels of my blog ... it disappeared .... I don't know where it went .... hmmmmm .... plain brown is still brown, so until I can figure out where it went ..... guess that will do!

Enjoy your week!

A Bountiful Harvest ....

... in so many ways! Thank you Carol Wingert!!

The lucky girls that attended this event have been looking forward to it for a few months now ... and it didn't disappoint at all!! Everything about this event was about fall ... fall colors, decor, food ... and even though we broke a high heat record yesterday at 109, you could still feel the chill of fall everywhere ... it was grand!

Patty has attended the past events held at Carols, and offered to host one at her house. We arrived at Patty's around 8:30 Saturday morning and were shown upstairs to the loft, which comfortably seated 16 working areas.

Carol had a table filled with these darling "cupcakes", seated on a beatiful china pedestal ... she had made and personalized one for each of us. So "sweet" ... yes!

At our place setting was our kit ... housed in this fabulous rusted chest ....

Carol started around 9 with the introduction of what the day would hold ....

Shared with us the amazing technique filled heirloom book that we would be creating .... might I just add that she is incredibly talented!!!

After the introduction we headed to the kitchen for our first feast ... breakfast!

After feeding on croisants and quiche and fruit and all the other delectables we headed back upstairs. Carol presented each of us with our "cupcake" and we introduced ourselves.

Lots of sewing going on .... we each had our turns on the numerous sewing machines ....

The first 4 hours flew by and it was time to head back to the kitchen for lunch .... this is our grand hostess, Patty. She and her husband did all the cooking and cleaning ... what a delight!!

Each meal was presented with a complete menu listing .... lunch was turkey and pork and sweet potatoes with all the special trimmings .... a truly bountiful fall menu. So delicious!!

Patty's home is so pretty ... groups gathered here and there during meals. It was so easy to feel right at home.

Several more hours flew by ... and it was time for dessert! I can't say this was the highlight of the day because there were SO many highlights, but these were a favorite!! Those white balls are balls made of red velvet cake dipped in the perfect icing, held on a stick in the bouquet .. no one wanted to pull them out of the pot, but we all wanted to eat them!

After dessert it was back to the loft and time to start winding down .... the perfect end to a perfect day!!

Carol, you're the best!! I can't thank you enough for the efforts and energy that you put into making these days so special for us lucky ladies that get to enjoy this with you!

I'm off to unpack my goodies from yesterday and fondle my book a bit!

Enjoy your week!

Home again ...

.... from a week long trip to NY ... not the city, but the beautiful country outside the city.

After resting up from the dreadful "red-eye" flight ... we spent a couple days in Verplanck with Frank's parent. This is where Frank was born and raised .... about an hour outside the city, north I believe. Verplanck is so small, it hasn't made it on the map yet, you still go to the post office to pick up your mail ... but its a beautiful little town on the edge of the mighty Hudson River.

Saturday we joined brother Mike on his new 21' boat for a day on the Hudson. We had light clouds and cool weather when we started out, but by the end of the day, on our way back, we had dark clouds and white caps .... an exciting end to a great day!

Sunday was a family Labor Day picnic in brother John's backyard. Lots of food and family to celebrate Labor Day and Frank's birthday.

Sunday night, after the family gathering, we headed up north to Sleepy Hollow Lake to spend the evening and next day with sister Vicki.

This picture of the Hudson River is taken off the front porch of a historical sight call "Olana"

The property at Olana is gorgeous, perched upon the top of a mountain surrounded by gardens and picturesque views of the surrounding rivers, lakes and mountains.

On my visit to Michigan to visit Dawn and David, Dawn motivated me to start using my good SLR camera, instead of my tiny convenient pocket camera .... so I was playing with it on this trip attempting to capture some of the beauty around Olana.

Monday afternoon was spent at Sleepy Hollow Lake on sister Vicki's pontoon boat. Another beautiful place!

As many times as I've been to New York with Frank to visit his family, I've never spent anytime in the city. Someday I'll get there and enjoy Broadway and the food and all the sights the city has to offer .... but its hard to tear away from the beauty the rest of the state has to offer.

But now we're back home ... back to work ...... and hopefully back to some studio time.

Next Saturday is another day with Carol Wingert to make the latest heritage book ... i can't wait. Pictures, next weekend.

'till then ... enjoy every day!