Enchanted Affaire

I have been so fortunate to attend another great art event in Manhattan Beach, California. 

Enchanted Affaire, hosted by the talented and gracious, Kim Caldwell. 

Beautiful personalized gifts were made for each of us. 

The table decor was out of this world. 

The beautiful weather allowed us to dine outside

I participated in 3 Swaps, this is the Necklace/Locket and the sweet Charlotte from Washington that I made this necklace for. 

All of our classes were in one room that was lavishly decorated in banners, florals and paintings to the theme of the eventWe went shopping in the Venice Beach Area

The trip was truly enchanting. Best of all...I shared it with a wonderful group of artist from around the United States and Canada.

Signs of Spring

What a wonderful Easter weekend in the garden

Featured Blogger: Donney Downey

Donna Downey

There are 3 blogs that stand strong in my mind, that inspired me to find my creative side that I had lost over the years. I remember reading these blogs...all were young women taking their passion and making a career of it

Ali Edwards

Alicia Paulson

 I am going to feature them in the next few weeks.

I would like to start with Donna Downey...her blog is entitled "Simply Me".  I met Donna a week ago for the first time. I attended three classes taught by her. She is talented beyond words,  down to earth, and a great teacher. 

My favorite thing on her blog is the Inspiration Wednesday. There she paints a page in her journal every week. So inspiring! Here is a recent example.

I have been following her since she was a scrapbooker. Bought a couple of her books on crafting with photos. Seems like I have watched her children grow up, watch Donna grow as an worldwide known artist, and watched her & her adorable husband form a strong business team.

Be sure to follow Donna on her blog and every Wednesday for Inspiration Wednesday videos. The great thing about her online workshops is that there is not time limit and you can continue to use this forever at your own pace.

She also does Collage Mondays. Lots going on at her blog, website, online store, and studio in North Carolina. Check it out! And keep an eye on her class schedule to see when she'll be in your area. If you never taken one of her classes in person, you really should treat yourself to as many as you can. You won't be sorry.

I cannot say enough good things about Donna.  She is a wonderful teacher, sharing her skills with everyone she encounters.  Now, please take some time and go check out her blog.

“The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.”

- Vincent van Gogh

This past weekend I took classes from the famous Donna Downey. I have followed this gal for years on her blog and felt like I knew her personally. She was an absolute joy, Great teacher, down to earth, and totally fun to be around.

The classes were held at My Heart's Fancy a wonderful store in Oklahoma City. This was my first visit to the shop, it is packed full of great stamps, stencils and paint supplies. If you are in the area you should check it out. 

The first class I took was Paint like an Artist. This was a canvas painting strictly using stencils. Using stencils (lots and lots of them) and acrylic paints I learned how to use color to create depth and texture.  Then the class learned how to isolate pieces of your background design to build your design in the foreground. Here is my painting below with the stencil of the lotus flower in the middle.  

Next class was using pan pastels. we learned about the tools, as well as how to sketch, draw and transform simple designs into dynamic and colorful pieces of art. This was my first time to try using pan pastels. They were a little intimidating, but I am going to continue playing with them. 

My favorite class was the last one...the class was entitled, "she is strength" poppy collage. It consisted of creating a beautiful, textural piece of artwork celebrating strength and beauty.

It was a great weekend with my traveling buddy, my art sister, Sheryl.  So glad we went, it was a great escape for the weekend.

Kadee Willow

You will love the heart felt stories that Kadee post about everyday life, art projects, sewing, decorating, and so much more. She describes herself as an empty-nester, traveling and exploring what she is meant to do in this lifetime. Her talent for writing makes it a read you never get bored with. I was so fortunate to meet this wonderful soul at an art event a couple years ago. 

One of her most recent post, was about how she had decorated the walls of her studio with vintage clothing. How cool is that? And then to top it off, she shows a creative way of making those ugly 3M stickable hooks look great for hanging her clothing. 

Check it out for yourself & see what she came up with. Go over and look around her wonderful blog....Kadee Willow. I promise you will be glad you did!

Blogs I Love

Down the right side of my blog is a list of blogs that I follow.  I must be truthful....my list is much longer than this. I have followed blogs for several years. I love decorating, art and the knowledge I gain from reading these blogs.  And then the creation of Pinterest came along and I could quit printing off articles and putting them in books. I love technology. Always have, Always will. Thats another story that I'll share one day.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to start featuring some of these blogs and I hope it will make you want to hop over and read their stories.  

Have a great day my friends!

Wine Tasting Party

Life is good when we make time to be with friends. This weekend we hosted a casual wine tasting party for a small group of friends. I love wine, but don't know a lot about it. I can tell good from terrible, but that doesn't make me a connoisseur. Since I learn best through the immersion method, throwing a wine tasting party is the best way to get friendly with more labels and add to my short list of reliable wines.

My friend, Becky is a wonderful cook as well as an expert on pairings. I provided my home and she provided all the prepared foods and organized the pairings. Below is a pic of our group.  The photo  is missing our neighbor, he is taking the photo. 

Our neighbor was given a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Russian government, for the work he did for the United States government. It is the same wine that the Queen of England & Steven Segal orders by the cases.  It was a 2007 vintage.  The 2006 vintage sold for $3200 a bottle. I would be curious what this sold for. 

I am not much of a red wine drinker, but I must admit it was quite a good wine. I guess this is what good wine taste like. And it was amazing sampling the food with the wine and how the flavor truly complimented each other.  Below is a copy of our menu.

It was a great evening with good wine, conversation and friendship.