London Calling

Exactly one month from today, I'll be hopping on one of these

And going here

And I'm so excited I could pretty much wet my pants!

You see, 12 years ago I spent a semester in London doing Study Abroad when I was in college. I absolutely fell in love with the city (whole country, really) and have been yearning to go back ever since. My mom has to be there for business for a few days in the first week of November so we'd thrown about the idea of me possibly going, and in the past week or so we finally decided to do it and I bought my airplane ticket last night! And you can think me a sap if you wish, but I actually got a little bit teary-eyed when I pressed the "Confirm" button on the BA website (and not just because of the price of the ticket--youch).

Thing is, even thought it's been 12 years, I still have dreams that I'm in London. It's weird because in my dreams it never looks like it actually did in real life, but somehow I always know that's where I am. I'm anxious to see if the London in my memories and my dreams is the real thing.

In 1998 we didn't have digital cameras so all of the pictures I took were on film and they're still sitting mostly un-scrapbooked in a box in my office. I think it might be time to get them out and look at them again--I'm feeling a serious nostalgia trip coming on. I actually pulled out my journal from that time and I can tell you that on October 7, 1998, I was on a ferry going from Wales to Ireland and trying very hard not to toss my cookies from seasickness! I've got a lot to do over the next month to plan our trip and first on my list is finding us a place to stay. It's been a long time since I was there so if any of you have suggestions for me, please let me know! And now, I'm off to the bookstore to buy an updated guidebook!

My new vintage dress: June Cleaver edition

I adore vintage clothing but I've always had a difficult time finding pieces that fit me, so I don't have much of it in my closet. I'm of average weight and only slightly taller than average height (at least for a 2010 woman) but whenever I find vintage clothing or shoes at estate sales it seems to all be for short ladies with teeny-tiny waists and little bitty feet. I suspect the tiny waist issue is girdle-related, but the length and shoe size is frustrating.

I was so excited when I found this great dress with a "tall" label because I thought it might actually have a chance of fitting me, and even more thrilled when it actually did! The sleeves were long enough and I didn't even have to wear a girdle for the waist to fit. And the best part--it was only $12! The one drawback was that it was missing all of the buttons.

Replacing the buttons? Probably not going to be an issue.

I used some pretty red glass vintage buttons down the front and a pair of large decorative red plastic buttons on the sleeve detail. The dress was missing its original belt or sash, so I found a cute skinny red belt to match the buttons. I wore it with bright red lipstick, a pair of red patent leather peep-toe pumps, and a foofy underskirt. Add a string of pearls and one of my vintage apron collection, and I'm all ready to welcome The Beav home from school with a plate of freshly baked cookies.

I do need to find a bigger crinoline; the skirt has yards of fabric and could definitely support an extra layer of poof. I'm not sure if I can buy one locally--do any of my vintage-wearing readers know of a good online source?

In which I finally use my wedding china

And the winner of the Spark goodies is:

True Random Number Generator
  Min: Max:  
Result: 4 

Commenter #4 was April, who said:

April said...
Organizing my craft stashes. I have enough stuff- just going through it gets me excited about working on a project. Collecting too- being at the beach or hiking and finding nature's treasures.
:)

9:11 PM

So hooray, April! Email me your address (there's a link over there to the left) and I'll pop your package in the mail! Thank you all for your comments.

I had a busy but productive weekend! I didn't get the Halloween decorations out yet (still waiting for a few more messes to be cleaned up first) but I did manage to makeover two cardigans, two tank tops, made five flower pins, a headband, a cuff bracelet, remade necklace, painted a chair and recovered the chair cushion. Whew! I was totally on a roll yesterday; I haven't finished that many projects in weeks so this was a big accomplishment for me. I'll share pictures later this week.

When I got married, like many of you I registered for a set of beautiful china. It is displayed in my china hutch and although I've mused about using it more often, I've still only pulled it out for holidays and special occasions. Last week I found a fun new use for my china: I hung some of it on my wall. Plates on a wall--very original, right?


It all started when I got these darling silhouette coasters designed by John Derian for Target:

I've been looking for some silhouettes to complete a wall grouping in my front room and these were inexpensive so I bought them with big plans. When I got them home, I realized they were really too small on their own and they got lost on the big wall.

I was pondering what to do when my eye caught on a stack of plates in my china cabinet. I pulled out four of the saucers (pieces I will never, EVER use since I don't drink tea or coffee) and found that they are the perfect size to act as frames for my silhouette coasters! Even though I'll never use the saucers, I didn't want to mar them so I used poster tack to adhere the melamine coasters to the plates.

I purchased four plate holders from JoAnn's but I accidentally bought white and I didn't want to go all the way back to exchange them, so I used a can of silver spray paint to spray the tips silver so they would disappear into the platinum band around the edge of the dishes.

To hang the plates, I wanted to try a trick I read about somewhere to avoid making numerous nail holes in my wall and to avoid measuring because I'm lazy. :) I made a little roll of masking tape and stuck it to the hanger where the nail would be, then I just pressed the plate to the wall. The tape came off the plate and stuck to the wall and I hammered the nail right through the center. It worked like a charm! And then I realized that I was going to have to measure anyway if I wanted the plates on both sides to be symmetrical. Drat!

I managed to get them up with only one erroneous nail hole in the wall and I like how they look (although now that I see this photo I think I need to move that top oyster plate up a scooch--one more nail hole in my wall, sigh). They fill up the space well, I like the glint of silver on the rims of the plates and I finally got some more use out of my wedding china--a successful project all around!

Sharing my Spark

At Spark No. 2, there was an abundance of sharing. My fellow Spark sisters shared tools, materials, ideas, praise, conversation, inspiration and friendship. The Sparkettes (Rhonna, Margie & Elizabeth) shared their time and talents with all of us when they put everything together. Teachers shared inspiration and stories and techniques. Manufacturers shared goodies, and now I have something to share with you!

 

In the spirit of Spark, I'd like to share a few of the fun treats I brought home with one of you! There are two sets of clear stamps, cool fabric stickers, funky Halloween rub-ons and a packet of cute tags. If you'd like to enter, leave a comment on this post with something that ~SPARKS~ your creativity when you need a lift! You can leave comments all weekend long and I'll draw a winner on Monday!

SPARK No. 2--everything else

More of what I loved about Spark No. 2:

I've shown you some of the eye candy that surrounded us, but we were surrounded by actual candy as well: there were THREE separate candy buffets at Spark!

 

AMAZING Candy Buffet in the Spark snack lounge

Candy buffet #2 brought by the photobooth girl

Candy buffet #3 in the Dear Lizzie boutique

Who can resist huge jars full of as much candy as you can stuff yourself with? Not this sugar fiend, anyway. Seeing all of those beautiful shapes and colors and just the feeling of abundance and luxury and whimsy that they give was just a really fun added touch at Spark.

In addition to candy, there were plenty of other sweets (this was an event for women, planned by women--we know what we like!):

Fortune cookies with one end dipped in white chocolate and coated with bright sugar sprinkles.
Darling and they tasted really yummy too!

There were dessert buffets with dinner both nights

Incredible dessert setup from Saturday dinner

which included some of the most incredible cupcakes I've ever seen!

These were jumbo-sized cupcakes topped with 3" tall shimmery frosting roses and sparkly sugar glitter.
They were SPECTACULAR. And probably gave everyone who ate one instant diabetes.

I've been to other art retreat events (CKU, Silver Bella) but what really set Spark apart for me was the good feeling there. All around the venue were huge posters that had inspirational messages and quotes about creativity. They were pretty to look at, but I loved the uplifting words on them as well! (If you want to print them for yourself, you can purchase this printable kit over at House of 3.)

I was there with my mom so I always sat with her, but even if I had been on my own I would have had no worries about feeling lonely--everyone was so friendly and outgoing and generous and fun! The first day, I kept feeling like I recognized people. I didn't actually know anyone else but for some reason I just felt like I was seeing familiar faces. I figured it out later in the day--even though I didn't actually know any of these ladies, they looked familiar to me because they were the kind of people I wanted to be friends with. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone but me. But people were just so nice and genuine and fun to be around. There was such a great vibe everywhere and that really made the experience special and memorable.

I'm so thankful we chose Spark for our Girls' Weekend this year--we definitely made the right choice! The event itself was fun and inspiring and uplifting and it was even better to be able to share it with my sweet Mom!

SPARK No. 2--classes

It was hard to know how to describe Spark when I was telling people where I was going. It wasn't strictly a scrapbooking or or paper arts retreat, so I usually called it an art retreat. Now I think calling it a creativity retreat is the closest I can come to describing what we did there.

At Spark, there were four core classes and four mini classes and we all got to experience each class. The first one we enjoyed was this darling project taught by Margie:

We were asked to bring a lampshade with "good bones" and a selection of wallet-sized photos so we could construct our own chandelier like Margie's example above. We stripped the lampshades and then used cute fabric to wind around the wires, then used all kinds of cute stuff to make the hanging strings below. I don't have mine to show you because it's not finished, but when I get around to doing it I'll be sure to post it.

The second class was this beautiful flowery clip taught by Janet Hopkins:

We used beautiful fabric flowers from the Parisian Anthology line, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, tulle, seam binding, vintage tickets, and rubber stamped die cut fabrics to make a gorgeous flowery creation that can be worn as a brooch or a hair clip.

The third class was taught by Elizabeth Kartchner and used products from her Dear Lizzy line for American Crafts:

We only had an hour for this class so mine isn't done but it's a darling little pennant flag-shaped album that's bound on a colored dowel.

Next was a class from Rhonna Farrer that taught us some basics on how to use digital elements to create images in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Rhonna is an amazing digital designer and she used digi images in our class kits to create all of these huge posters that were hanging around the venue. I have Photoshop Elements but haven't been able to figure it out on my own so I was really looking forward to this class! Unfortunately I don't have a laptop so I couldn't practice along with her but I took detailed notes so I need to get playing before I forget everything.

After dinner that night we all went up to the rooftop, where there were make & takes from several different manufacturers. I made a cute headband from Miss Ruby Sue and a really pretty necklace using the new Vintage Groove line by Making Memories.

And then, the crowning event to a fantastic day: we all went down to the garden outside the venue, wrapped up in coats and blankets (it was freezing!) for a private acoustic performance by the charming Mindy Gledhill!

You may not have heard of Mindy Gledhill yet, but trust me--you should remedy that quick. :) She is an indie singer/songwriter who has a distinctive and charming voice and style. If you click over to her website you can preview a few of the songs on her new album, Anchor (which is available through Mindy's website or iTunes). She performed a few of the songs from Anchor, including the song "All About Your Heart," which she wrote for her friend nie nie. In between songs, Mindy shared with us about how she dealt with roadblocks and how to push through them to find your creativity. It was so, so delightful, and we drove home in a cloud of happy. :)

Saturday morning our first class was with Emily Falconbridge.

She taught us to use beautifully-dyed wool roving to make wet-felted wool scarves and beads. I opted for the beads, which you make by wetting the wool in soapy water and then rolling them between your palms to compress them into balls. Sounded easy, but it was a lot harder than I expected and I'm still not finished!

Our last "project" class was taught by April Meeker, an artist that I was unacquainted with prior to Spark, but who does all kinds of wonderful things from drawing to sewing to sculpting and jewelry-making. (I bought one of these at Spark and can't wait to wear it if it will ever quit being 85 degrees.) I don't have a photo of our project from this class because I was racing to try and make it! We used all kinds of paper and ephemera to collage a square canvas. This one was hard for me because we only had an hour and I'm not very speedy, so I didn't get much done. Someday when I've finished all of my Spark projects I'll post them.

The last class of the event was taught by the talented photographer Wendy Whitacre (who coincidentally did the photography for Mindy Gledhill's Anchor album!).

She was such a great teacher and taught us the basics of using our DSLR cameras. We practiced taking photos of cupcakes and a few other still lifes and trying to freeze/show action of the blue Powerade being poured into the vase. Thanks to Wendy, I've actually ventured beyond the "auto" setting and I can't wait to practice using my new knowledge!

At Spark, even the classrooms were pretty places!

The classes at Spark were truly inspiring. I love the projects we did and the techniques and skills we learned.

SPARK No. 2--decor

Thank you all for your lovely kind words about my grandpa. I appreciate them! Things are starting to feel like normal again around here. The suitcases are put away, the laundry is clean, and there is food in the pantry. Phew! I want to get my Halloween decorations out on October 1, so the next big task is getting the front room cleaned up because I can't let myself make a new mess with the Halloween boxes until the current mess is cleaned up. But before it gets any later, I do want to share with you one of the main reasons I went to Utah a few weeks ago.

Last year, I was intrigued when I heard about Spark, a creativity retreat of sorts that was held in my hometown of Salt Lake City. It was the brainchild of Rhonna Farrer, Elizabeth Kartchner and Margie Ronmey-Aslett, three creative ladies who have their roots in the scrapbooking and papercrafting world but who do lots of other creative things as well. I didn't attend last year but once I saw the photos and video of the event, I wished that I had and hoped that they'd do it again for 2010.

When the announcement came earlier this spring that there would indeed be a Spark No. 2, I was ready! My mom and I decided to make it our annual Girls' Weekend, with the added benefit that we wouldn't have to spend money on a hotel, rental car or airfare since it was being held about 20 minuted from my parents' home. It was a weekend that The Mister had to be out of town but my sweet dad agreed to watch the kids for me and as it turned out, Maren was off-track (a three-week break between trimesters for year-round school) for the first three weeks of September, so we all packed up and headed to Utah for a while.

We didn't know much what to expect heading into Spark but we were excited to find out! As we neared the building on Friday morning, we spotted huge balloons rising from the roof, waterfalls of pink twinkle lights cascading down the side of the building, posts wrapped with colorful buntings and more pink lights--and that was just what we could see before even pulling into the parking lot!

As we walked up to the building, we were greeted by this guy (and his turquoise twin)

who appeared to be guarding this wall, which was filled with beautiful chalk drawings done by Rhonna.

The entrance to the building was hung with streamers and colorful banners and rosettes--and that was when we knew we had made the right choice in coming! :)

We went through registration and onto the Main Hall, where I think my jaw fell open when I walked through the doorway:

The huge room was filled with beautiful things everywhere I looked! Those big white grids hanging from the ceiling can actually be raised and lowered by a switch, and the Spark ladies had them hung with all kinds of fanciful things: banners made of Monopoly money and playing cards, birdcages, dress forms, paper parasols, frames, chandeliers, paper lanterns, butterflies, and even a bright pink bicycle!

I'm not kidding, it was breathtaking! And that was when I was REALLY sure we were in the right place. :) After I managed to tear my eyes away from the ceiling, we looked at the tables that filled the room. Each one had an amazing centerpiece made up of cool vintage junque, more game pieces, and cute handmade Spark flags.

I'm pretty sure I NEED a vintage pink typewriter now! It was like this throughout the whole venue--Spark took up the entire building, and on tables and in little nooks all over there were beautiful, interesting bits of eye candy! Some of it came from a junk shop in SLC and some of it was from the Spark girls' own collections.

Walking into that Main Hall was inspiring just by itself, before we even did anything else. I've been on the hunt for a large butterfly punch so I can make strings of butterfly garland for Maren's bedroom, and I wish I could figure out a way to suspend huge grids from my living room ceiling so I could capture the feeling of the Main Hall in my home.

I have lots more to share but I'll divide it up into a few posts because this one is already really long.

Book Page Leaf Wreath

I made it 32 years, one month and 16 days before losing my first grandparent--I think that's a pretty good run, don't you?  My paternal grandfather passed away last Wednesday as we were driving home from our visit to Utah. I'm so lucky that I had 32 years, one month and 16 days of my life to know him. Monday morning we loaded up the car again (didn't even bother to put the suitcases away from the Utah trip) and drove four hours to southern Colorado for the funeral events.

My Papa with a teeny-tiny newborn Maren

His passing was bittersweet for us all: I'm sad at the knowledge that I won't get to see my Papa Morgan again in this life--it will feel strange to go to my grandparent's house and not find him there with a big hug, smile and kind words for me. At the same time, he lived nearly 87 years, has children, grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren; he lived a long, full life and he deserved to rest. His viewing was Monday evening and the funeral services were Tuesday around mid-day. Every single one of his descendants was there, and I can think of no greater way to honor him than the fact that we had a genuinely good time being together, despite the circumstances.

The Mister had to be back for work on Wednesday morning, so unfortunately our trip was a quick one and we returned home late Tuesday night--there wasn't even time for small-town thrifting at my favorite haunts or a guacamole tostada & tall Dr. Pepper at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall Mexican food joint. Yesterday I ignored the piles of laundry & suitcases and met some friends at the science museum for several hours so the kids could play, which meant today I finally had time to begin to get this house back into some semblance of order. I've still got work to do but I think I can finally think about blogging again now that we have some clean clothes and the kitchen table isn't piled six inches deep with mail and newspapers.

All the long hours in the car recently means that I've gotten to read a lot of magazines. In the October Martha Stewart Living there was an ad for this wreath:

It was created by Emily Morris and is the winning entry in a contest put on by Martha & The UPS Store and honestly, I thought it was the most interesting thing in the whole magazine! (Usually the October MSL is my favorite but this one was a total snooze). There are step-by-step instructions over here on Martha's website, as well as a leaf template so you can make your own. I've already made two different book page wreaths this year and this one might have to be #3! I'm going to be good and make myself wait until the rest of the laundry is done and we have some groceries, though!

Porter at 1 year

Somebaby has a birthday today!

My gosh, a year has gone quickly for this little boy. His hair certainly has improved with time, hasn't it?

I guess you don't seem like a baby for long when you learn to crawl at 6 months...

And walk at 9 months...

It's funny now that people used to remark on how mellow Porter seemed. He sat happily in his little bouncy seat, quiet and watchful.

Now we realize he was merely biding his time and plotting, because "mellow" and "quiet" are pretty much the last adjectives you might use to describe him. He is still happy, however.

He's also determined and persistent, a good problem solver, and strong-willed. Any thoughts I entertained of him being my "quiet" baby; the one I earned after dealing with Maren's toddler years? Gone, baby, gone. He's a lot more like this:

Short, speaks in a series of grunts and gurgles and leaves a trail of destruction in his wake.

 Not a fan of chocolate cake, it appears

Maren was...shall we say...challenging as a toddler. We adored her, but there was a real reason that we waited four years to have another baby. Porter is on track to outpace her in the "challenging toddler" department. Pray for me.

 All those people who told me when I was pregnant that boys are just SO different from girls? I scoffed at them. Now, I believe them! But those brown curls, kissy lips and pretty eyes have this mama smitten, even if I do have to follow him with a broom & dustpan. I look forward to getting to know Porter more as he grows and shows us more of his personality.

Happy Happy Birthday, Baby!