Babsarella's Pocketful of Sunshine

Heading West...

to Colorado (Breckenridge to be exact)...Woo Hoo!! (Photo is of Peak 9 just a few minutes ago).Tomorrow is the big day when we make the trek, so today is running around doing some last minute stuff and getting packed. It's always a challenge to figure out how much and what to bring. Of course, there are the main things like ski suits and turtlenecks, goggles and mittens, but what else??? It is pretty laid back, so nothing too fancy will be required. Looks like the weather should be quite nice too (no blizzards are predicted at this moment). Unfortunately, the cold I have been trying to fight off since last week finally hit. I have been taking my Airborn quite frequently and now I am on Tylenol Cold. If I don't get any worse, I should be good by Wednesday (our first day on the slopes). I do have a little concern about the flights, making sure my ears are ok, but I will continue with the Tylenol and hope for the best. I really don't look forward to the whole airplane/airport stuff (not that anyone does), but I will be keeping my fingers crossed that we will have less problems than we did going to and from New York back in January. I am not planning to bring the laptop, so unless I get some time on the hotel computer, I will be out of touch until next Sunday.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter. Since I was a bit under the weather, Miss B did all the cooking and it was SUPERB!! Honey-Baked ham, carrot souffle, green bean casserole (a new recipe using fresh green beans), home made mashed potatoes, and a super yummy flourless torte and carrot shaped sugar cookies (iced with orange and green icing). She finally got a chance to use our new food processor too, which made the souffle easy to whip up. Let me tell ya, that girl can cook!!! She might be cookin more often if dance and homework won't interfere.

Well, gotta get my travel journal in order and figure out what I'm gonna bring. Happy arting and hugs all around. Til the end of the week... (photos from ski trip 2007)

Happy Easter

Wishing you a most happy and blessed Easter.

Eggs, Movies, and Sunshine...

WOW, the weekend just literally went by in a flash, and what creative things do I have to show for it??? Zip...Nada. OK, so I have photos, but the eggs I finished last week, sigh...I don't know why, but it seems like I get way more accomplished in a few hours in the evening than I do on a weekend when I have nothing planned. Anyhow, here is the blue egg that I completed. If you look near the top, nestled in the flowers you will see an adorable bird. I almost forgot I had this, but it was just the perfect color (although in the photo you can hardly see it), so I had to include it.

Here is a better view of the top...lots of pretty flowers, and the little bird. It was actually attached to a stem with a few plastic flowers (which I have not used yet), and I can't even remember where I got this piece...but I am certainly glad I found it!

Here you can see a little better view of the back. I found that nesting them in some easter grass and flower rings solved the problem of having them stand on their own.

In addition to the blue egg, I also completed the yellow one....Here you can see the front

And here is the back. Some flowers are vintage, other are repro, and one is a fuzzy Prima. As you can see, this one has a little bee on top. He was originally attached to the golden plastic flower, but I was able to detach him and then stick him on top.

Sorry...Mr. Bunny would not be happy if he did not get a chance to say 'Hello'.

So, what did we end up doing??? We made the trek down to Key Biscayne to attend their art festival. It was a beautiful day and we just wanted to get outside and enjoy the weather. Unfortunately, the drive down was not so pleasant. TONS of traffic and it seemed to take forever to just get on the key. We were worried that the festival would be too packed, but luckily that was not the case. Ithink there were just lots of people going to the beach.

  We saw some interesting art and jewelry. Most of which were not really my style. I tried to convince Mark that we needed the huge hot pink metal pig (about 6 feet long by 3 feet high) for the backyard, but he was not convinced. Since our backyard faces the front entrance to our development, everyone would see it as they drove in. I can just imagine what the homeowners association would say (he he he)! Hey, I could have asked for the huge bull (now that baby was REALLY large...maybe 6 feet tall!).

We did find one artist that had some truly amazing collage/assemblage pieces. They were all created with vintage oriental pieces and the framing was wonderfully done. I especially loved 2 of her pieces, but alas we chose to hold off on any purchases since we have a vacation coming up.

We took a little rest before heading back, so of course, I pulled out the camera and tormented the family by taking photos. The lighting was pretty good...although I did do a bit of tweaking on these.

Mr. Mark has to make sure to stay out of the sun now, since he went to the dermatologist to get checked and they found a cancerous spot which had to be removed. He is being good and taking the doctors advice by wearing a hat and 70spf sun lotion (I didn't realize they had 70 level).

Yes, I know...put the camera away...

So, what else...We came home and did a quick change, then off to the movies to see Vantage Point. Interesting movie (I think I say that a lot). I liked how they show a given timeframe from each of the main characters points of view. It was also pretty high energy, and the car chase scene could make you feel like you are on a roller coaster ride! Overall..enjoyable, but not winning any awards. And, since we are on the subject of movies...I also watched Breakfast at Tiffany's (Miss B had never seen it, so we used our freebie older movie coupon from Blockbuster) and Gone Baby Gone. I thought Gone Baby Gone was well done, and had a lot of interesting twists and turns. Too bad it was such a downer in so many ways. I recommend it, but not if you are looking for something light or fun. 

Of course, I did many more odds and ends...which basically meant I finished the weekend doing nothing creative. bummer. But not to worry. I am back in the groove and started working on a birthday card for a certain niece who will be 21 very soon, so hopefully this will be a productive week.

So how was your St. Patrick's Day??? Ours was pretty uneventful. Had to take Miss B to the dr to get some meds to knock out that cough she can't seem to shake. Can't be takin a vaca in the snow with a nasty cough.

Well, gotta run..hope all is well with you and hope to catch you later in the week...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Sending you Irish blessings and wishing you a wonderful day!!!

A Gift from Across the Pond...

  Just wanted to share the lovely postcard I received from Miss Kristy (AKA Brayergirl). I loved this beauty when I saw it posted on her blog and left her a comment, so I was thrilled when she sent her on over to me. The layers and colors in this piece are so much richer and more beautiful than what you can see in the post, and Kristy truly has a gift when it comes to embossing. There is even a coat of sparkle mod podge on top to give it that extra magical look...it is utterly perfect!!! Thank you Kristy for thinking of me and sending me this precious gift!!

I've been working on a few more decorated eggs this week. I finished a blue one and a yellow one (no time to photograph yet). I also have an aqua and a light green ready for embellishments. Since there are layers of paint and glitter (each needing to dry), they take a bit of time to complete. Of course, that leaves me time to work on some of my other projects (or watch tv).

Miss B has her dance practice this evening, so that means a free weekend! WOO HOO!! Not sure what fun things we will find to do (have seen an art festival and an antique show in the paper), but I am pretty sure it will involve seeing at least 1 movie and some creativity for me (along with laundry).

Hope you have a happy and most delightful weekend! 

It's almost Easter...

Are you ready for Spring yet??? Here in South Florida we experience spring-like weather much sooner than most. In fact, a nice cool breeze is a wonderful change when it is frequently 80 or higher. Of course, the whole Spring feeling brings to mind bunnies, chicks, and pastel colors. I have been feeling so inspired lately looking at all the Springtime bloggity goodness. I was ESPECIALLY inspired by this post by the lovely Andrea over at Velvet Strawberries. Of course I had to give this a try. The big news is that I did it BEFORE Easter. I normally go get all the supplies, then do the creating AFTER said holiday.

One of the things I like to do, is figure out how to put my own spin on things. In this case, I had what I thought was the brilliant idea of using crackle paint on the outside. I could just imagine the cute little eggs looking like they were about to burst open. WRONG. I painted crackle on first and it was kinda thin. I painted acrylic over it. The paint flaked off. OK fine. I painted acrylic first, then crackle. The paint flaked off, exposing the white egg underneath. Poop. Well, not to worry. Paint those bad boys one more time with acrylic paint, and after they dried, cover with Martha's glitter glue and top with clear glass glitter. Now yer talkin.

It corrected all the paint problems and really softened the color of the paint. I actually thought about using mica flakes, but I would have to search for them in the office (AKA The Black Hole), and being the lazy butt that I am, I went with what was handy. After the glittering was complete, I got to do the fun part...decorating. I did have one other issue to solve though. How best to attach some trim over the lovely glitter. Hmmmm. My first option was the red wonder tape. So far, it seems to be working really well. All the pretties are attached with the ever-awesome E6000 (which I am always using for attaching this and that).

So, in case you were wondering...photo 1 is the front of the pink egg, photo 2 is the back of the pink egg, photo 3 is the front of the lilac egg, photo 4 is the top of the lilac egg, and photo 5

  is the back of the lilac egg. I only made these 2, but I started painting 2 more this morning before I left for work. They will be green and blue. yummy. Of course I am thinking that 4 will not be enough, so I headed lickety-split over to Michael's at lunch to pick up another 4-pack of the Martha eggs. Do I have other stuff I should be working on??? for sure, but I am having way too much fun with these. Oh, and one other tid bit I forgot to mention...the eggs are total round, so they do not stand nicely on their own (hence the cute bunny, chick, and birdie props). Well, I guess you can't have everything. So, that was the weekend craft-a-thon. In addition to making these eggs (I don't want you thinkin that was all I did), we hit the church carnival (the white elephant was not great, but I got a few books and little glass bowls for displaying and keeping the vintage jewels), I watched the movie Michael Clayton (FINALLY), and I cooked some uber-FIERCE strip steaks last evening (he he he...Project Runway speak).

This week Miss B has quarter finals, so she will be hittin the books to keep up that stellar average (right miz B?). Hope to work on a few other artsy projects in the evenings, along with my normal chauffier duties. So sad that I will have to wait months and months for Project Runway to start again...although I am lovin American Idol.

Hope all is well with you...stay safe and hope to catch ya later in the week.

Happy Tuesday to you...

Well, the weekend came and went, and I don't really have a whole lot of new and exciting things to show. However, I did finally do something that I have been putting off...writing up the info required for submissions. After working on the pc all day during the week, the last thing I want to do is come home and write up instructions and supply lists, so this had to be a weekend task. It took quite a bit of time, but I am happy to have it complete! I even attached a photo of the piece on each list. Hopefully this will help in the proper credit and return of my submissions. It feels good to get the box off to CA and clear a bit of space in the office (ok, so it barely made a dent, but we won't discuss that). I did manage to finish this tag last week. I just decided to use up some bits and pieces I still had on the desk. I figured it was better to just create something with them rather than toss them back in the box to be forgotten. Sometimes I find that fun to just use what is on the desk and see what I can come up with. How about you?

Of course not only do I still have holiday stuff hanging around, but now I also have Valentine stuff too. I really need to put it away, but I noticed that they already have calls posted for holiday items in the back of Stampers' Sampler! If I was a really smart girl, I would start making some Christmas cards now (but we all know that is not likely to happen). 

Anyhoo...I finished up a swap item (I think) and must get it photographed and sent on its merry way this week. I also started working on a little mini theater. Of course, that really means that I have gotten as far as applying some gesso to the box I am using for the base. This project has put me way out of my comfort zone, but I am pondering lots of ideas and trying to resolve a few open issues I have with how to make things work. In addition to this, I was asked to create a few cards for publication, but they need to be easy cards. Since I tend to tweak the heck out of my cards, this is a bit out of my comfort zone. BUT, I think this is a great challenge for me, and I am ready to give it a try. I should be able to do this...right..??? (she says nervously)

Now, I did not spend the whole weekend working on my write-ups. I managed to see 4 (FOUR...can you believe it??) movies...all the ones I mentioned in the previous post. A Love Song for Bobby Long was and interesting character study and was good, but not great. A very different role for John Travolta. Next up was There Will Be Blood. Interesting movie...very gritty and Daniel Day Lewis was excellent. I liked the contrast (and similarities) between the main characters. I liked the movie, but since I tend to prefer fluff with happy endings, it was not a favorite. On Saturday evening, we took Miss B and a friend to see Charlie Bartlett. I was a little worried about the R rating, but the girls are pretty mature, and the rating was more due to subject matter than other stuff I would rather they not see. We all enjoyed this quite a bit. The writing and characters were excellent. Kinda like a modern and more witty Ferris Bueller. I had not heard of it or remembered seeing the previews, but the trailer really pulled me in. Oh, and Robert Downey Jr. plays the principal who likes to drink more than he should. I recommend this if you are looking for a comedy. On Sunday, I watched Eagle vs Shark. Cute foreign film from Australia or New Zealand (not sure which). Quirky love story of two kinda nerdy people. I thought Miss B would like it, but she thought it the characters were too strange.

Last, but not least, Miss B had her second dance competition. The team scored gold on all three dances, which was good, but not as good as a diamond gold (love the names they give the awards). This weekend we get a break from practicing...YEAH! But, it is carnival weekend at the church, so we will probably go several times to wander around, eat (although I don't really like fair food), and I will visit the white elephant booth sleuthing for treasures. Mark and I will also be volunteering at the ticket booth on Saturday evening. Gotta do our part.

Hope all is well in your part of the world....catch ya soon.