Caged doll show at Indigo in Santa Barbara

 Here is my doll for the Caged Doll show at Indigo. I had fun creating her costume from my collection of vintage lace pieces. I raided my jewelry stash and made her some necklaces with pearls and beads and charms. The metal piece on her head was a recycled piece that has been in my garden for a few years. I broke off a piece, drilled a small hole in the top of her head (ouch!) and E6000 and some Liquid Nails made it permanent.

 She is quite tall. Here she stands on my messy table before taking her off to the gallery.

Another piece for Indigo is this bird piece made using a vintage lampshade. I used vintage kimono fabric for the bird and to cover the metal spokes. I did more work on this one after I took this photo-it got much more colorful. I will try and get another photo at the opening this Thursday plus all the other cool dolls in the show. It was really fun to see how everyone interpreted the theme and the materials they used.

Busy week..

 It's been a busy week around here for me. I am getting ready for a show here in Santa Barbara and hoped to have 3 "caged dolls" ready by Saturday. I have two almost done. This is my mystical owl mother doll. The bottom is a bamboo lampshade that I attached lots of odd things to. The other doll is more traditional...a Santobelli that I started at Artfest and have been working on all week. I am off to work at our store so I thought I would get in a quick post.

 This fun package arrived this week from Selvedge Drygoods store online. They were having a sale and I couldn't resist buying a fabric necklace from Sophie Digard. I wore it last night to the movies.

 Two hooked creatures that are on their way to New Hampshire for Patti.

 And the bluebird got some legs and went to Patty in the Bay area.

My husband took me to the Moody Blues concert for a special treat. Lots of fun, mostly old people like us enjoying some of our favorite music from times past.

New owls

 These three spotted owls are my latest creations. Sorry to have been away for so long, but I have been having some major computer issues. We were up in Berkeley for the weekend and somehow it seems the ole computer has healed itself, at least for the time being. So I thought I's better get a post in quickly in case things go astray again.
I got the last space in the Santa Barbara 4th of July Art show and sale and have sprung into action! Making some new pins, elephants, cats, owls, rabbits and cupcakes for starters. If you are in the area I hope you will come by and visit. Syd, Shelly and I will be there as well as lots of other local artists. Should be a fun day.

 I picked these elderflowers on my walk today. My son wants some of those elderflower fritters that I made a few weeks ago so these may get eaten soon. I bought the fun ceramic cup in Kyoto, Japan at a dollar store when my boys and I visited my brother who does research near Tokyo every year. He had a house for us to stay in and taught us how to manage the rail system and where all the cool stops are. We then spent a week with our rail pass and traveled all around Japan on our own. We got to see the Giant Buddha, the Hiroshima Peace memorial, the worlds fair and sample lots of delicious new dishes. The boys had a great time and want to go back someday.

 A few photos of the fun Katie Kendrick workshop at Gina Armfield's Malibu retreat. We all had a great time drawing, painting and playing with some new techniques. Here is Katie doing one of her demos for us.

 One of our first exercises was to make a banner page of intention and to loosen us up..I loved this "fly" one made by Minnie. We all picked different words and then hung them up together across the room.

 We then created a bunch of background pages to work on later. Also some fun doodling with sticks, pencils, and chopsticks.

I'm not finished with this yet, but here is what I painted at the workshop...
"A girl and her Owl"...

A wish fulfilled...

 I have been wanting a "Julie Whitmore" tea cup ever since I first saw one on Nina Bagley's blog years ago! A dear art friend just gave me this belated birthday present this week and I couldn't be happier! I love the painted rabbit, the little flower where you put your thumb, and the tiny bee tea tag. I had my first afternoon cup of tea on our porch today and it tasted so good in this special tea cup! Thank you, Colleen!

And here is Henry taking a nap on my pile of rug hooked pieces in a basket.
A group of us are heading down to Malibu for a 'Painting with Passion" workshop with Katie Kendrick, one of my favorite people and artists! Hoping to learn some new techniques and get painting again.
Hoping you all have a sweet Mother's Day on Sunday. We have a beach walk planned and that's all I want...well, a couple of handmade cards would be OK too!

Unfinished business

 This piece was started in Jude's online workshop last year. I am finally getting around to doing some stitching on it. Still a ways to go and I have a pile of other pieces that I wove and need to play with too.

 And because I seem to have about 10 projects going at once, I started this spotted owl the other night.

 A couple of primitive dolls in the beginning stages for another project that is due at the end of the month.

 On my daily walk I gathered these elderflowers to make some elderflower fritters! Inspired by fellow blogger Yael Eshkar from last Spring I went to "elderberries.com" and found some recipes and went for it. They were pretty good, especially with the fresh local strawberries from Lane Farms and a little powdered sugar!

I pulled this hooked flower piece out of my hooking basket where it has been sitting for over a year and it will now become a pillow for the living room. Feels good to finish up some of my unfinished work! And there is lots more where these came from!