More Goodies in the Mailbox!

Love these cards from Lynne Perrella -
based on the art of Romare Beaden, 

and using photos taken by Lynne's husband
 John on a hospice visit to South Africa.

As always Lynne's use of design and 

colour shine through

 and make these very special little pieces of art.

In the same mail run, I also received this gorgeous vintage

 wall paper sample roll from 

a wonderful friend up in Los Gatos.

Here's the pattern up-close.

And she topped it off with these ever 

delightful retro sewing thread spools.

Life on the Coast

Spring's on it's way here on the Central Coast of California -

 fields of wild mustard along the Cambria shoreline.. 

Early poppies (our state flower) along Hwy 1.

And beautiful Scotch Broom on the hills above Morro Bay.

Frightening Toy Friday

 Not near as scary as Teddy Ruxpin - My Pet Monster!  My younger daughter Jenny wanted this and her Uncle Paul came through and gave it to her for Christmas one year.  Lots of blue plush, complete with horns, painted nails (!), lots of teeth and a bulbous nose - what's not to like?

Later it turned out she really wanted it for 

the handcuffs so she could play murder squad!

She still has him 30 years later,

 he sits on her closet shelf.

Postcards from Morocco

Found these 2 beauties on eBay last week.
 Morocco fascinates me - I don't ever plan to travel there
 but I love collecting ephemera, making faux travel journals
about it and reading about it.

I love these old '20's postcards, especially the ones that
 are hand tinted. Don't know where hey'll end up,
but I'll make good use of them, 

you can bet on that!

Affix, Attach and Assemble!

Spent a few happy hours in the studio - 

with heavy gel medium and matte medium.

Getting paper ephemera and heavier embellishments

 put down in the Cornwall Journal.

Have had this bit of patchwork for
 years waiting for the right project!

Clips help hold things over night til they're really dry.

Having fun doing multiple layers of

 journal entries, ephemera and scrap.

About a third of the way done - will keep you posted.

Bronwyn's Coming!

Older daughter Bronwyn is coming for a 10 day visit today!  Probably not dressed for Ren Faire, but I like this picture!  Can't wait; lots of chatting, thrift storing, ocean walks, and other fun stuff.
Hurry up plane and land!!

Progress - Slow, Sure

Progress is being made on the Cornwall Journal -

 my wonderful Margot volunteered to drill the holes 

through the cabinet cards and postcards.

She's great at this sort of thing, and it's not my forte

so I was glad to hand it off to her expertise.

It was quite a stack to get through!

Planning embellishments for the front,

and have everything for each spread in it's own envelope, 

so I wouldn't forget anything.

Tomorrow will start the affixing with

 heavy gel medium and matte medium.

Hope to have it finished sometime this weekend -

 not bad for a project that got started last November! LOL!

Nachos, Roses and Bakelite - Oh My!

As those of us with February birthday know, since it's a short month we get to celebrate our birthdays for 28 days - all month long.  This is pure logic, if you're February-born - to the rest of you it probably makes no sense, but we do it just the same.

Younger daughter Jenny, though born in October does realize the fact of the month long February birthday and she did her bit by coming over last week and helping me celebrate a couple of weeks after my actual birthday.

With a lunch of Taco Temple nachos,

two absolutely stunning pieces of Bakelite jewelry,

and beautiful flowers!  Thank you Jenny for a trifecta 

of fantastic birthday delights!

Older daughter Bronwyn will be coming out from Missouri to visit on the last day of the month and has purposely held on to my present to stretch my February birthday to the last possible moment.  Did I raise wonderful daughters?  You bet I did!

Life on the Coast

Fog on Morro Rock - now just send us some rain too!

Frightening Toy Friday!

A bit of a departure - not a beloved toy from my childhood, 

but one that ended up being rather scary from my daughters' generation. 

Remember Teddy Ruxpin?  How he was supposed to cuddly, and sweet and tell bedtime stories? And how in reality, the tape recorder in his torso made him painful to hug with all those sharp corners, and how the batteries would begin to run down and his bright cheerful voice suddenly sounded like Boris Karloff on crack?  It was the toy every kid wanted that Christmas in the mid '80's and then it went horribly wrong!  My little sister was so excited that she was able to purchase one for my girls and the girls were so excited.  Oh well, every toy can't be as cool as a civil war set, LOL!