If you need me

I'll be in my Garden.....

Wow! Doesn't the sun look like a heart?
Rose garden

Begonias

Hostas

Come back & Visit me tomorrow. I have to show you the package I sent to Ruby Begonia's for the Parasol, Pink Lemonade & Polka Dots Swap & I recieved a PACKED box of goodies for the Favorite Things Swap.

Can't wait to show ya!

To the Fathers in my life

The prettiest picture of a Rose I've ever seen. Taken by my Dad last week in his garden. Isn't it just gorgeous? I think it deserves to be on the cover of a magazine quick! The picture below it is of the rose plant growing on a fancy Arbor my Dad created in his mind and with his hands. After he built it it I knew right away I wanted to Marry under it which I did 3 years ago.

Because I was away from the computer around Father's Day I have to make a better- late- than- never post about the Wonderful Father's in my life. Here is my Daddy & I. One of my favorite old pictures .

My father's name is Rick & there is an infinite list of skills & talents he has. He could have been an actor, singer, professional baseball, basketball player, golfer. He practiced to be a vet & eventually went to school to be a paramedic which he graduated at the very top of his class. This past month he was featured in a local news story along with his partner for reviving a heart attack patient. The man he revived told the news station "And when I'm around them, I feel like I'm around good friends." I'm so proud of my Dad & every year I learn so many great things to better my character like kindness & respect or skills to use in every day life like gardening & cooking. I was so incredibly blessed to receive him as a Father.
My dad singing to me and letting me play with the strings. My favorite past times with him are watching the thunderstorms roll in, listening to him sing, cooking, learning to garden & especially talking about how you make it through life. Some of my most clear & happy memories I have are the yearly traditions he upheld like getting our bikes & yard ready for spring, Christmas cookies & ornament painting, putting the tree up & listening to bluegrass while gardening in the summer.

A special Thank you to him for always supporting the Artist in me by providing me with the tools, space & encouragement to keep creating. I'm sorry for the never ending messes I made & all of the unfinished projects probably still lingering in your house :) YOU ARE THE BEST! Now on to the other Father in my life being Daddy to my 3 little babies. This man who is quite young being only 22 has taken on Marriage, 3 kids, 1 or 2 full time jobs depending on the need & has gotten through it with an unlimited amount of patience & a sense of humor. I appreciate all of the hard work he does for our family. Working a ten hour day & still being able to make time & memories with the kids means everything to me. Thank you!

The day before Father's Day we made him a banner card. I drew letters spelling out "Happy Father's Day" & had them hold the letters while I took their pictures. I printed them out icon size and made a mini banner.

First ATCs & Summertime Favorites

Here are my set of completed Artist Trading Cards. I did a religious series because I received these beautiful clip art images from a friend. The theme of the ATC swap in Club Creative was buttons so I used an eclectic selection of Vintage buttons in a neutral color scheme.

I'm pleased with the results of the fronts of the cards but I will need to get an ATC stamp for the backs. I sent these to Marilyn Healey last week. The next adventure in ATCs in Club Creative is Phrases from books.
As I'm finishing up this button Atc swap it's time to start collecting things for this fun swap put on by the Sweet Goodness Girls. I think the reason their swaps are so fun may be the "goodness" they go into it with. Everything is so upbeat & kind. I happen to have a Very exciting partner named Monica who has a BEAUTIFUL boutique in Illinois. You can also purchase her items on her blog if you "have to have it". Which is necessary because otherwise she would be teasing us. Her boutique Ruby Begonia's is a must see! & just in case your into gardening a special shop for you. I 'm wondering if I shouldn't just drive there since I live in St. Louis. Hmmm..

Anyways I'm incredibly excited to be swapping with her. I know her package can not disappoint because she is a talented displays woman & she obviously has an eye for amazing pieces. Here is a quiz they sent us Swappin' girls about our favorites in the Summertime so here we go...

1. What is your favorite Summer Drink(s)? Lemon Ice Water

2. What is your favorite Summer Activity? Watching the Storms roll in.

3. If you could spend a lazy afternoon reading, what would be in your hands? Home Decorating Magazines.

4. What is your favorite type of craft/art medium? Altered Art, Multimedia, Paintings

5. What is one art/craft supply you absolutely have been dying to have or try? A stamp for the backs of Artist Trading Cards

6. What are your favorite colors in our 'rainbow sherbet' theme? Pink, lime green, yellow, orange, aqua (or blue) All of them together as a rainbow

7. What is your favorite sweet treat? Raspberry Ghiradelli chocolates

8. Are there any craft or art supplies you would NOT be interested in receiving? That's crazy talk :)

9. What is your favorite song today? "Lost" by Michael Buble

10. How do you 'pamper' yourself during the hot summer days? In bed with a cold drink and journal or book.

11. Do you have any kidlets or pets? 1 son & 2 daughters. Ages 4,2 & 1

12. What is your best potluck dish for summer get togethers? Brocolli casserole

13. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, where would it be? Florida Keys

14. Describe your decorating style. Does that say anything about your personality? I like Shabby chic, & I think I may like it because the mostly white pallet reminds me of a blank canvas or blank piece of paper waiting to be painted on. It keeps my mind uncluttered.

15. What are your initials? ANH

16. Why do you like to join swaps? My favorite 3 reasons are....1. They are like assignments I used to get on the board of art class everyday telling me what to draw in my journal that day. It gives me a theme of Art to be working on at the moment. 2. To meet new artists. 3. When you are in a Swap you receive things you probably wouldn't have been able to get at your local store. It feels like traveling.

17. You have 25 dollars to spend just on you for a little treat. What do you buy? ((you can list more than one thing) I would go to the Flea market or Thrift store & get as many large items for ridiculously low prices. I would really like the act of finding the items more than me wanting to put them in my house.

18. What's one craft supply or art supply you absolutely can not live without? Hot Glue

19. Who's the last person you hugged? My daughter Valoria (The baby)

20. What's your favorite number and why? 34. No reason.

FINALLY!

I finally made it to the Flea Market! Only the 2nd time this year. After a major bust the 1st time with about 10 vendors packing up in the rain. This one was busy & hot. I went alone & walked around for about 2 hours. So carrying these finds around while still shopping and eventually to my car through the hills of parking saved money I could have used on a personal trainer. :) I know many people like to get there early for best selection but I don't believe in that. I know the things I'm meant to have will be waiting for me when I get there and I get really good deals because I stick around until they start packing up and bringing out the half off everything signs. I'm never usually quoted more than $5 on anything when they are packing up. I left at noon and caught a picture of this shop I've been eyeing every time I go but I've never stopped in. I guess I figure I can't find any better deals in there than I just did at the Flea market. Cute name though. Here's another picture of the very cute main street in Wentzville where this Flea market is in Missouri.

I couldn't be happier with my wonderful finds. Because my husband just started teaching my 4 year old son how to play baseball I purchased 4 soft balls for .25 cents each. They are so much cooler and cheaper than new ones. When I first arrived this beautiful hand painted cabinet was one of the first things I saw but I only went with $20 so I couldn't spend $12 of it in the first 5 minutes. I knew It might not be there when I came back around but I was Amazed when it was & since they were packing up he sold it to me for $9. I'm very pleased with that sale considering I know I've seen something similar to this for $50 at Home goods or Marshalls. The next 2 finds were found at the vendor spot shown above. They had some really great shabby chic/country items for pretty cheap. I could have taken 1/2 of their things home for sure.

They were also getting ready to leave and although the jar of chandelier prisms were marked $6 and this pretty and heavy real wood mirror was marked $15 I bought them each for $5! So there it is. That is how I spent my $20 this Sunday. I was planning on participating in Show & tell Sunday but was not home to do so. I'll shoot for next week then. Sounds like fun. Oh yes & you know what else was fun? Working on my first ever series of ATCs. Which I will be sending out to Marilyn Healey tomorrow. I've already shown too much but I am happy to get some fine art on my page. I think I'm going to work on some mixed media fine art this week after seeing Altered Gypsy's page.

First ATC completed.

Right now as my girls are taking their naps my son Jaedin has been interrupting my blogging session by telling me many times he had made a "really big castle". I had no idea what he was talking about until I got up to go see & this is what he had made. Oh he's such a cute & talented little architect.

Ahhh

Ahh It's so nice to be back home! I had a beautiful Vacation in California that I can wait to tell you all about. I know it won't be hard for you to believe that I took over 630 photos over the 5 day period. My husband sometimes wonders if I'm enjoying myself or if I'm too busy taking pictures. I came to the conclusion that this is how I really savor the moment. I don't have a wonderful memory and when I look at pictures it's like reliving the moments, bringing scents & feelings back to you instantly. I had an absolutely wonderful time and I feel I could have gotton soo many more pictures.

Today I'm working on my Thank you gifts for all of the magical people in my life who made it possible to take a vacation. I collected smooth rocks from the San Simeon beach and painted on them during the kids nap time. I'm very happy with the outcome. Today I'll also be finishing my packaging for the Itty Bitty Swap. A great girl named Emily Rozell is putting on. She has created an artful recycling swap where we collect itty bitty art trinkets and put them in a Altoid tin or similar. In my case I used old sprinkle bottles. Now I just have to make them pretty enough to be kept out of a landfill somewhere. :) A refreshing idea. thanks Emily!

Vacation Day 3

Still in San Simeon. Now it's time to go on the Hearst Castle tour. A huge incredibly intricate castle on top of a small mountain overlooking the beaches of San Simeon. This first picture is a small portion of the gorgeous outdoor pool. The next picture is of the ceiling tiles of the columns going along side the pool.

Their garden was maintained as this castle has been listed as a museum. I still can't believe the different range of flowers California has compared to Missouri.

Although it was hard to pick a favorite thing here. I enjoyed the large quantity of Statues the most. They were everywhere. On the terrace, balconies, in all rooms of the house & the gardens. They had a few very small replicas of these statues in the gift shop that ran for about $50.

Because this castle is now considered a museum they will not allow flashes, so I don't have any indoor pictures worth showing but you can imagine how it might have been by looking at the detail that went into the first bedroom in the guest house.

Outside shot of the Main house

This is my handsome husband admiring his dream home. As I'm sure many of you can relate too. My husband would rather have a home with rich hues & red velvet curtains & mahogany bookshelves for his library but he settles with all white shabby chic because it makes me happy. Someday I will decorate him his dream den & I can use these photos as inspiration.

Oh yes, & this is the indoor pool made of hundreds of thousands or is it millions? of 1 inch tiles. Some covered with 22k gold flakes. All of the tiles were hand laid by artists in a pattern consisting of mermaids and sea creatures. & of course more statues.

The pool is where our tour ended. They offer 4 or 5 tours altogether to see the all of the house. It was so much more tiring then I thought it would be so we only did one.

Next we stopped in the closest town Cambria for some Antique shopping. This is where the majority of the tourists go so I couldn't find anything worth the price tag but I did see some beautiful displays.

One of my favorite shots of the 630 pictures we took this vacation is this one of my husband going into the ocean after he wrote me this sweet note in the sand.

I happen to really love this picture because I can remember exactly how I was feeling. I felt like I had it made & there was no other place in the world to be. I couldn't have been happier. I am waving my husband to come meet me down on the bluffs because I couldn't leave this spot.

My camera took the liberty of capturing this color I've never seen it take before. What a beautiful place.

And finally the last picture of the night. Getting ready to make a fire and settle into our room for the night. This is the view from our balcony at the Cavalier Resort.