Octopi and wildflowers...

Here's a little sneak peek at something I am working on for the Artfest gallery....
The top of our mountain...a hillside with "shooting stars' in the background.
I love the beautiful old oaks on the way home....

more wild flowers on Painted Cave Road...

Thanks, Gail!

Runner Gurl, Gail sent me the most wonderful "art gurl" softie with my 5 year old face on it!
I love it, Gail! And I am still cutting my own bangs...see below....


hooked doll ready for the next step....arms, legs and stitching up.

new doll...

this is a rug hooked doll that I started last night.....and below is the cat that I finished up last week.

These are my five mushrooms from the swap I was in. I love them all! One of the best swaps I've ever been involved in...

Where I live....

I decided to take my morning walk here at Arroyo Burro or Hendry's beach along with many others. It was a beautiful Spring day with temperatures in the 80's. I spotted dolphins jumping out of the water and a whale spouting.
This is a community mosaic project that is on display near the beach. Last year my son and I put a few pieces somewhere on it when it was being worked on at Art From Scrap. It's fun to see it all completed.
This is the other end of the mosaic.
And on the sidewalk, they have made a mosaic of the Channel Islands. I used to sail out there every weekend when we had a large sailboat..(150 foot two masted schooner)....
A cool rock wall made from beach rocks going up to an overlook of the ocean.
Still being worked on...more of the rock wall and stairs....
The Santa Barbara harbour with all its fishing and pleasure boats.
Had to go and take a look at this wonderful fountain made by Marge Dunlap from pieces donated from the community. It's called "It's Raining".... Marge made the faces and put it all together. One of my favorite art pieces in our city. It is right across from the Bird Refuge near the ocean.



This is the Bird Refuge....the ocean is right across the street and the SB zoo is to the right.
A little local color near the Bird Refuge...

Creativity abounds!

I just love this mobile that turned into a birthday hat! You just never know what will turn up when you do a kids workshop at Art From Scrap! We had at least 25 kids plus moms and dads for the 2 hour class. So many fun creations came into being...check out the jelly fish below....all made from recycled products donated from local businesses and supporters.


" I think I'd rather make a robot instead of a mobile." And that's cool with me!

This is the upstairs gallery and workshop space.

Mobile samples for Art From Scrap workshop

Here is one idea for the workshop tomorrow...this one made mostly with felt and fabric.
Two samples tangled in the wind....it gets breezy here as the sun goes down....
Took this shot today on the way down the mountain to town....
And here are some of my ATC's for this year's Artfest. Theme is sea monsters. I have another trade that I am working on.....a little banner of sorts...more like Tibetan prayer flags, but for ARtfest 2009.

more mushrooms....

Here's a little group shot of some of the current crop of fabric mushrooms in the Stanley garden.

And the mobile for Art From Scrap is mostly finished. I want to add some more flower shapes to the top part.

Paper charms

I forgot how much I love to work with paper! I made these little paper charms to hang from the Spring Mobile for Art From Scrap. I will tie some string to the top of each one and hang them from a fabric covered hoop.
It really feels like Spring here on the West Coast. We had a few good rains and now the hills are all green and wildflowers are covering the roadsides. My son says it looks like "Ireland" on the way home from school.

cat eyes

I'm almost over this flu thing, I hope. At least I can still sew and get a few crafty things worked on while I rest. I HAVE to get better! I am teaching a "Spring Mobile" workshop at Art From Scrap this upcoming Saturday! I need to make some simple samples for the kids this week.

And Thank You for all your Get Well wishes....I do appreciate all your kind comments and am so happy to have your visits! A big Thank You to Rane in Illinois, who has been sending me nurturing recipes and remedies all week!

Life with Boys! Ooops!

This is what happens when you have a basketball hoop in your driveway. This morning a soft voice said, "Mom, I broke you sunroof." The ball must have hit just right((or just wrong) because I know its bounced off the top of my car before. Now I have a REAL sunroof!
Glass everywhere! Do not sit in drivers seat! see below. ouch!
The boys cleaned it all up and hopefully I'll be getting a new sunroof window soon...and please, no rain, for a few days!

Funny Face....and other things...

I've been sick with the flu this week and haven't gotten too much done, however I did manage to hook this funny face that I drew last year to put on my child mannequin. I will use this for displaying my fiber jewelry at upcoming art shows. I bought the mannequin from a thrift store that was going out of business. He tried to tell me that the figure never had a head on it...but there is a screw on top where I'm sure that once was a cute little child's head. I still wanted it and decided I'd just have to make my own head on top and that's the funny little face that showed up.
And I was excited to see that I have my fiber valentine in the new Fiberarts magazine! I sent in my felt inlay piece that is also a sample for a class I'm teaching with Barbara Carr at ARtfiberfest. That's my little piece in the upper right corner...I called it "The Power of Love"...
Loved seeing some of the other fiber valentines that were sent in. The four below mine on the page above were the "winners" and received prizes from different sponsors.
Back to bed.

New bird and mushroom cap..

Hooked this little bird over the weekend and just got him sewed up and stuffed. Still needs some legs.

And there was room on the burlap for a mushroom cap, so I hooked up this little guy too. Still need to do a stem.