After the Rain

~ I just wanted to share with you some photo's I took last Sept/29th. I came home from dropping Dyllan off at Pre-School and proceeded to work in the studio a bit.
A sudden roar of thunder made me jump out of my chair in fright and then I rushed to find my umbrella and grabbed the camera for some fun!

~ I Love the rain. The pitter patter, how fresh it smells and how clean and sparkely it makes everything look afterwards.

~ This is one of my most cherished posessions. My $10 curved wooden handle Victoria's Secret Umbrella. I've had it for 15 plus years and love it.

~ In front of our house I have a wild and untamely purple Salvia growing. It seems to be a favorite of a hummingbird couple. I take photo's of them every chance I get!


~ Look at those magnigicent clouds.

~ In the back yard...my Margarita limes... almost ready.

~ A dewey delight from my "Angel Wings" plant.

~ Please go here to see more "Angel Wings"

~ New growth after a hot summer.

~ As of today I have one Artichoke growing. I usually get up to 5 per stalk twice a year. Yum!

~ Ahhh, Plumeria. I will often clip one to my hair with a barette and smell naturally lovely all day.

~ Waiting to feed some birds...



~ A Mothers Day Gift.

~ Garden signs scattered about.

~ One of my favorite pots holding wild Oregano I found growing near the garden gate.

~ ~ My "rock garden" soon to replanted after the spring.

~

The lighthouse is magicaly nestled in some winter vine that will turn a fabulous shade of red when the cold snap settles in. I have this print availible for sale Here.

~ The rain has stopped. The little bird is taking a break.

~ Same bird, different angle.

~ Love his tiny feet! I have him for sale here!

~ whoops. He flew a little bit higher!

~ Thanks for looking! I long for rain again. It was very cold and windy here in Southern CA, today then got warm and windy. We are expected to hit another hot spell but I'll keep my fingers crossed for more rain...

Scrapbook Retreat 2008!

~ So here are the long awaited photo's and re-cap from the Scrapbook Retreat I went on at the end of September! It was hosted by Croppin' Away and held at the Breathtaking
La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs, CA.!

Please click on any photo for a better view!
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Here's what I packed. My suitcase and trusty pillow. A small cooler with Margarita fixins and my decorated rolling tote that had my Cricut and cartridges.

Everyone that came contributed to our groups goodie bags, and let me tell you, they were stuffed FULL!

~ here's what I brought which may seem like alot but definately pared down from last year which was my first craft retreat.


Teresa's car was packed full of her's , mine and Anne's stuff. Good thing we did not have a fourth person and good thing we did not have to fly!

Having a early Friday lunch with all the girls but one at a pizza place in Palm Desert.

~ all the goodies we gave each other plus some from the retreat organizers!

Friday night out, we had dinner at Hogs breath inn and all wore the mini tiara's I put in the goodie bags. The resteraunt people thought we were part of a bridal shower while back in the crop hall, all the lady's gushed over our tiara's and acted like we were royalty! It made us feel like true craft diva's.

`Here's a overall view of the crop hall. lot's of creative women having a blast!


~ this is my creative station.

~here's the pool by our room and here's are beds that we shared.

~ This was our bungalow. If it were cooler, I'd have gone swimming, but it was so hot, like someone left the oven open, all day , even up till 11pm!

Sunday morning breakfast.

Myself, Jaymie, Teresa and Anne


OMG! I actually scrapped! Been awhile though, as I'm always working on side projects!

I'm in LOVE with Costco's new photo upload process that allows me to upload 30 pics to a 12x16 sheet and it makes my pics diffrent sizes which allows me to 1.- fit them all on one Lay Out and 2.- have a more interesting story to tell!




-group pic in the crop hall.
Kimber, Anne, Jaymie, Teresa, Me , and Kathy.

`made this desk caddy as a demo for a free class for the group, be we never got around to making it. So I gave this to the retreat organizer. The actual caddy is made from one 12x12 sheet of card stock and decorated with scraps. I'll post the tuitorial soon!

~ I also made up all the scrapboxes you see in my shop, minus the stampin decorations.

~ Here's a craft apron I made for myself from a tea towel. I made it by hand as my sewing machine needed cleaning and I could not take it in to be serviced in time before the retreat.

~ On the way home, Teresa, Anne and I stopped off to see the "Worlds Largest Dinosaurs" a treat I look forward to when coming back from any Palms Springs Retreat!

Yes, the eye is really glowing red!

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So that's it! I showed a few out of the 133 photo's that "I" took!

Can't wait till next year!