One of my favorite things...

Made by one of my favorite people...

Visit Donna O'Brien to see more of her amazing work
The hat is covered in old sheet music and it says "Colleen with the rose in her hair"

Watch for these...

I can't believe that we are already having thoughts of Fall, Back to School and Halloween. I have seen some stores already decorating for All Hallows Eve. Watch your favorite store for my new licensed designs available thru ESC Trading Company.

A Good Time

We are back and another water trip is in the past. The weather was perfect, the water warm and the beds were comfy!

Shane loves the wakeboard!
Shane and Trey taking on the waves!

Yes I DO realize I am getting too old for this...especially when I am sore 3 days later!!

Tyler and our friend Stephanie...

We are OUTTA here!!

It's time!!

It's time for those lazy days of summer...heading out to the lake for a looooong weekend. We are going to that "far away" lake that I will only go to if we have 3 or more days to spend. I refuse to "camp" since the sites have NO shade....so basically I refuse to fry in the campgrounds. We book a reservation at the ~ho-tel ~ mo-tel ~ holiday inn~ right down the road...can you say room service????? But this time we had some pour souls....I mean friends....that offered up their cabin. HELLLOOOOOO....do you not realize I have 3...count 'em ...one...Two...THREE.....growing...destructive.....PUBescent and Pre-Pubescent boys???? Taking your cabin into your own hands people!!!

We are hoping to get that big curly haired thing up on the wake board this time...check back later for the results on that one!!

Have a great weekend...

A Busy Time...

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to join Donna and Iva at Castle in the Air in Berkeley. We spent the day creating Fairytale altered books under the direction of the amazing Ulla. We were to dig thru the mounds of beautiful papers, unbelievable images, and fun magazines to find all

the bits and pieces we wanted to use to put our books together. It was overwhelming in the beginning but once we found a couple of inspiration pictures we went to work. First we covered the outside of the book with a favorite paper and then we went to work on the inside.


It was fun to see how Donna's book fit her style perfectly.

I think the same could be said for mine.

The "pink lady" Lorraine, came all the way from Washington DC to take Ulla's class. She shared with us that her home was featured on her friends blog, Inspire Co. I also learned that we will both be at Silver Bella in November which has fabulous teachers like Pam Garrison, Teresa McFayden, Kimberly Kwan and more.

I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of Iva's book. She was still working on it up until the very end but I absolutely adore the cover. It is a shoe being pulled by a bird. So whimsical.

Here is Donna and Ulla and you can see the rest of the classroom in the background. The classroom is upstairs and it looks down over the magic of Castle in the Air.

It was so great to get Iva out and doing something she loves. She got to have a few hours of art to help distract her. She created a gorgeous outdoor scene in her book. It had a door that opened and behind the door was a park bench and trees. Just lovely. Thanks for a great day girls!!

A Bewitching Halloween Fete

I have been trying to spend some time each day getting ready for a Halloween Open House I am participating in. It's called "A Bewitching Halloween Fete...A Gathering of Artists and Antiques"
The original date was September 15 but it has been moved to October 6 to give us all a little more time to prepare.

I thought I would drop a couple more photos in as I haven't been the best blogger lately! This is an Americana piece I created in June. It's a fun theatre with vintage crepe and old flags. My favorite part is the vintage parade pins I used as curtain tie backs. I have a great collection of these little pieces.

Tomorrow is it!

Tomorrow we wrap up the bidding for the Angels For Brianna auction. Please stop by and take a look. The artwork is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. We have raised almost $14,000!!! Bidding ends at 6:30 PST. See you there!

I had to steal!!

I found this on Christy's blog and I had to snatch it and have it also. I LOVE THIS!!

Pulling it all together...

This morning I went for a long walk to clear my head and prepare myself for the week ahead. The past two weeks have been spent organizing the Angels for Brianna Fundraising Auction. Since Brianna has left us, Sylvia, Kitty and I have been organizing this event. It has been very therapeutic, uplifting and touching in so many ways. Good things to help the heartache. All types of artists have come out of the woodwork to donate a piece of themselves...an angel in Brianna's memory. The process has been big. We had the vision of 20-25 artists jumping on board. We didn't realize the impact Brianna had made in our art community...we knew the impact she had made on us so looking back...we shouldn't have been surprised. So many people have been following Brianna's story thru her mom's blog. In the end, 70+ artists have rallied together to use this venue to help. These amazing women are making a difference.

The funds raised will go towards paying medical expenses, funeral expenses, a permanent memorial in Brianna's honor and a contribution to the National Art Honor Society.

Here are a couple of pictures of my angel. I truly enjoyed making her. I added some pink to her as that was one of Brianna's favorite colors. The bodice of her dress was made from vintage Millinery flowers. I cut the flowers into pieces and then laid the petals against her body. She has a gorgeous rhinestone earring along her chest. Her wings are made from old flowers and silver Dresden. The best part of her and I didn't get it in the picture, of course, is that her skirt is made from an old handkerchief and there is a gorgeous "B" embroidered on it. It's on the lower edge of the skirt. The embroidery is the same color of the handkerchief.

Please stop by and visit the auction. The artwork is INCREDIBLE and there are a vast array of styles and types of work. There are some beautiful collage pieces, angel dolls, paintings and more. The creativity and talent you will see will knock your socks off!

The Auction runs from Sunday, July 8 at 10am thru Saturday, July 14 at 6:30pm PST. All bidding is done thru the auction site, via email. Thank you!!

Angels for Brianna Fundraising Auction