Spring warmth brings renewed hope!

I am rejoicing that my friend, Iva's daughter has received GOOD news this week! The power of positive thought and prayer is a wonderful thing. Go Brianna, you are a brave soul! I can just visualize those white blood cells churning out.

Still no new camera for me, I am so sad that I cannot post my latest Spring inspired pieces here, or on my website. I hope to have a new digital soon.. I apologize that you are still seeing Christmas and Fall on my website, my camera was quite inconsiderate to die on me now :(.

Today was gorgeous, my children and I met my sister in law and niece at the Oakland Zoo.. it's now our weekly treat.. what fun! We were fortunate enough to have the river otter come and play with us on the other side of the glass, it was amazing!

I am off to finish a few orders, but I may have to take a few breaks to walk outside and enjoy this amazing weather.

Pray for Brianna

All of my thoughts today, and prayers are for the beautiful daughter of my dear friend, Iva. I pray that God heal her.. that they are able to cure her lung infection without surgery.. and that her bone marrow transplant is not rejected, for her white blood cells to grow and fight this infection. I ask all who read this, to please take a moment and pray for this family. You may visit Iva's blog by clicking on this link: http://iva-and-family.blogspot.com/.

Thank you and God Bless,

Kitty

Tuesday, March 20th

Well, today was no exception to my busy schedule as of late. I drove my daughter and two of her classmates to a wonderful dance performance called "People Like Me". It was held at The Performing Art's Center, at Holy Names College in Oakland. There were dancers performing traditional dances from across the globe, my daughter was on the edge of her seat the entire time.

These pictures have no bearing on my day.. but are from a recent trip to see the Monarch Butterflies at a local historic farm. This is my little guy getting a work-out pumping water into a large watering trough. I am reduced to posting old pics since my camera is no longer working.. but it gives me an excuse to show off my beautiful son :).

I have many ideas for new projects, Bunnies, Halloween hats, Easter Eggs.. where is my time going these days?? I wish I were two people at times.. know the feeling?? I hope to have a few new Spring pieces on my site soon, I'll let you know.

Happy first day of Spring to you all, enjoy!

Kitty

Sunday, March 18th

I know it's been a week since I've posted, my how time flies! It was a week of field trips, special projects for my 6 year old's class.. etc. The Leprechaun trap was fun to make, and the kids can't wait to get into class tomorrow to see what they've caught.. I'm a bit curious too!

My camera is still not working, which keeps me from listing things on ebay, as well as shooting my work for my website. I think I may have to bite the bullet and buy a new camera. I'm liking the Canon EOS Rebel, but ouch.. it's expensive! I'll have to get busy and get that Spring line done to pay for it!!

My hubby and I are taking the kids to the zoo today, we all need to get out and have some fun. I think we'll buy a membership, the zoo is so close and it's a great place to go on a regular basis. I want to start taking my daughter there to sketch the animals, it'll be a great mother-daughter experience, as well as an enriching one for her :).

I must run now and get everyone ready to go.. I'll do my best to get back soon!

Kitty

Sunday Evening

Happy Sunday evening to you all!

It was a busy day yesterday.. my kids and I stopped at a thrift shop on the way to a 4 year old's birthday party at Pump it Up (my son calls it Pump a Dump..) He's 4, we just laugh whenever he says it. Anyway.. we found a few fun items, I bought a large Tuscan Vase and the kids got a new (old) movie. By the time we were through with the birthday party, we were ready to come home and watch the movie.

Today, we had PBS on the entire day watching Rick Steve's travels through Italy. We plan on going to Tuscany next year for a full month so the timing was perfect! I cooked as I watched the shows, having fun with my new Tuscan cook book. I made Tuscan flat bread, and drunken pork chops for the first time, what fun! My 6 year old daughter helped knead the dough.. it was a great kid recipe. She was amazed to see the dough rise and double in size, though in her estimation it took far too long!

I listed a few of my vintage ornament finds on ebay today, I'll give you the link if you would like to see them: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=015&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=250093468507&rd=1&rd=1.

A few days ago I found a vintage pink quilt rack, my daughter fought me for it.. and now it's in her room, ha ha.. It was a great score.. maybe she'll share it with me sometime :). I have no new pics to share today.. I'll have to shoot a few things tomorrow if I get a chance. I really need to buckle down and get back to work. I have orders to fill, and my Fall ESC deadline end of next month.. and it is NOT too early to start creating pieces for my Fall and Winter shows. I do plan on creating Spring pieces for my website, so I will inform you as I am ready to launch an update.

Have a great Monday, remember to set those clocks ahead if you haven't done so already :).

Chat soon,

Kitty

A few more pics..

I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures once my camera was recharged.. enjoy! The bookends and crystal beaded swan, I purchased at Alameda Pt. for my daughter's room, and the bottle brush tree, I found at the White Elephant Sale, ooh la la!

Sunday Treasure Hunt

After my marathon day Saturday, I announced to my husband that there was "NO WAY" that I would make it to Alameda Pt. the following day.. my feet and legs were shot, and I was just done in overall. However, I awoke at 6:00 Sunday morning and decided that I couldn't stand to miss yet one more month of my favorite show so I rolled out of bed and was out the door by 7:00 once again!

I have a pretty good vision of how I want my living room to look now.. so I was in pursuit of garden antiques. My first score was a 5' white iron topiary.. absolutely perfect! The seller wanted me to take the matching 4' topiary.. but I had far too many other items on my list. I found a large glass apothecary jar to house my new collection of green mercury glass balls, then at Addison's booth, I bought a few Victorian ornaments, a vintage buckle, vintage crepe paper and more that I can't recall at the moment. A white shabby shelf was a find at $5.00, that will go in my studio. I also found a small white shabby table top display piece with a swivel mirror.. that will be great for product shots, as well as for my show tables. Later on I found the perfect antique urn to go under the topiary.. I'll plant it with a small leaf ivy. I already have a nice ivy plant, so I'll just start a new one from cuttings.

I stopped by the booth of my friend, Kimberlee Edgar and her wonderful Mom. I bought some cool beaded black ribbon, then Kimberlee unloaded some vintage crepe paper on me.. plus lots of fun things she wanted to clear out, I'll share with a few of my local girlie friends :). (Thanks Kimberlee).

I found too much to list.. but those are some of the highlights! That's all for now.. I'll post more pictures soon.

Saturday treasure hunt

This past weekend's treasure hunting was especially fruitful. Saturday, I was up at 6:00 and out the door by 6:30 to get in line for the Oakland Museum's annual White Elephant Sale. I was about 15th in line, and when the doors opened at 9:00 I was the first person in the bric a brack department. I bought every pink and green piece of mercury glass that I could find.. several vintage picks, beaded garlands, an entire lot of very unusual vintage ornaments made up of crepe paper and pussy willows (see pic)! Amazing, aren't they?

My favorite vintage find was a gorgeous bottle brush tree, on a stepped base covered in felt. The tree is decorated with all kinds of beautiful pieces.. children, angels, snowmen, etc.. amazing! I will be certain to post a pic once I get a chance. I found several glass lidded jars to display my mercury glass balls, a Pottery Barn rug for my son's room, several cars for him.. and for my daughter, a gorgeous salmon colored Italian wool suit and several darling tops. I also found a wonderful lighted display cabinet to house my collections. I had no moving blankets to get it home, so I had to buy a rug! I found a nice wool rug to put under my kitchen table, needed one anyway!

I found some vintage crepe paper in the craft's dept. and some cool trims in sewing. I'll never miss this sale again, it was fabulous!! Ohhhhh.. I nearly forgot my big basket! I found the biggest Easter basket that I have ever seen! It's 26" across and 28" to the top of the handle, $5.00!! I'll either line it with plastic, and plant it with bulbs and annuals, or use it for a special Easter basket.

I know that I am forgetting things.. I'll post pictures soon, sure I'll remember things as I scour my house. I'll post soon about my Sunday at Alameda Pt. WOW, what a great treasure hunting day there! That will take some time, so I'll pop back in as soon as I can to jot that all in :).

Talk to you all soon,

Kitty

Something new...

Here I am in the 21st century.. and find that I am out of touch. Though I do have a website, and check my email daily.. I had no blog! I plan to drop in several times a week and bring you up to date with my current projects, cool vintage finds, and fun events!

Thank you for joining me, and I hope that you will come back often :),

Kitty