antiquing escapades and inspire lovely...

Ginger and I went antiquing in Lodi on Saturday and left uninspired and without a single vintage treasure.

Luckily, our friend Marie was home in Stockton and invited us down for a bit of antiquing at some of her favorite haunts.

Wow. What can I say but she has some lovely shops in her neighborhood. We all left with a little something! Thanks, Marie, for having us and sharing your shops with us!

Speaking of treasures, you know I've been eyeing lots of fun things on Etsy of late.

One very talented gal by the name of Debee Campos has a boatload of goodies in her Etsy shop right now. These are just a few of the goodies I am enamored with:

{lovely dearie paper kit}

{felt flower embellishments}

{Daisy Dear Embellishment Love}

{crochet flowers}

Go check out her store, Inspire Lovely, because it is, indeed, lovely!

slowly coming together

Here are a few peeks of my new craft space.

When I found this old hutch on clearance - oh happy day!

I love the old libarary drawers tucked away in here.

I found this lovely wall piece at the Paris Flea Market in Livermore. I can't wait to fill it up with little bits and bobbles I find along the way.

I filled up this cute vintage heart-shaped tin with all of my vintage buttons.

As soon as my other work table is brought over {Thank you Mr. Ginger!} I can start crafting like a mad woman. 

First thing on the list: 

to make this found on the JBS blog:

Happy Monday! 

Don't forget to join in on this:

Thank you!

{all things red}

I've been browsing Etsy again of late and in light of Valentine's Day I've found tons of inspiration:

{bookity}

{Viola's Boutique}

{New Moon Crochet}

{lesboxboutique}

{jane says}

{william dohman}

{noblegnome's shop}

What are you handing out to your children's classmates for Valentine's Day? I was thinking about printing out these cute tags from Elle's Studio to put on lollipops:

But then I saw these adorable {downloadable} color-yourself Valentine's Day cards from Shabby Chic Crafts:

I love the idea of including a few crayons as the "treat" in lieu of sweets. 

What do you think?

Travel Tuesday: Siena, Italy

Yesterday's holiday totally threw me off and I just now realized that today is Tuesday!

This is going to be a short but sweet travel post.

Siena, Italy is a city located in Tuscany. We took a day trip here while we were in Florence. The 4 of us traveling together agreed that this quaint town was hands down the most beautiful and friendly place we had visited in Italy. 

Again, I must remind you that these photos were taken 20 years ago with a cheap camera and a 20-something gal lacking any sort of photography skills at the time. ;-P

This duomo {church} is stunning on both the outside and inside.

Unfortunately, my camera took useless interior photos. Here are some I found through a google search because the interior is not to be missed:

Incredible. Yes?

the Town Square

If I ever get back to Italy I would definitely make an effort to spend a few days here. Just the few hours I spent here walking around in wonder has stayed with me all of these years. Plus, it's a great place to visit to get away from the hustle and bustle of the major tourist cities.

hitting the road

On Saturday I drove my parents up to Grass Valley to pick up their new motorhome. I tried to get them to display some form of excitement over this momentous occasion and all they managed was one arm up in the air. Oh well, they are retired so I suppose they're entitled to just take life easy!

 I'm so excited for them to go out and see the country and visit family and friends. They worked hard to raise 4 kids and send us all to a private college. They deserve this more than anyone I know and I only hope to follow in their footsteps one day!

My little guy had a basketball game yesterday and played his best game yet. He is 6 for 6 on his free throws and his coach called him a free throw machine. :-P

My sister and her husband came by to root Darren on since they were in town. Darren can't wait to meet his new cousins! She's at the 5-month mark and the wait is already killing me!

I've managed to move into my new scrap space and can't wait to share photos when everything is finally unpacked. I also have a list of projects I want to work on before Valentine's Day. I still have a hallway of boxes and things to move and unpack so wish me luck!

On a serious note, in honor of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday holiday observance today, please take the time to listen to his words of wisdom and hope. He would have turned 82 on Saturday. Who knows what the world be like now were he still alive.

Blog Love

Do you find yourself lurking on a lot of blogs but have not once or very often bothered to comment on them? I'm definitely guilty of it but after a brief blog/text discussion with my friend Marie we decided we wanted to do something about it. 

Would you please join us in a little grassroots effort to get fellow bloggers to leave a little love on other blogs they follow or even happen-upon? All you need to do is leave a brief comment on blogs you visit. Now, I know, some of you {like me} probably follow or find a dozen or more a day. No worries! Comment on 3-5 blogs and do your best to comment on the other blogs when you view them again. 

The idea is to hope that they, in return, check out your blog and leave a little love in return. Who doesn't love a little warm fuzzy?

If you'd like to join our effort you can feel free to add this badge to your blog and go for it!

badge from Free Pretty Things for You

I'm off to leave some blog love now!

Travel Tuesday: Tahiti

All of this freezing cold weather is making me wish for warm tropical days so I thought a trip down memory lane to Bora Bora and Moorea in Tahiti would bring us all a little sunshine. 

Disclaimer: Please excuse the horrible photo quality. Seriously! These photos were taken back in 1991 probably with a disposable camera. Photoshop could only do so much.

First off let me explain that this 7-day cruise was a freebie. I know! Crazy, huh? I had a college friend who was working for a medical supply company and all of the sales reps were invited to take a "business trip" to Tahiti all expenses paid...for 2!

Niiice!

Again, since this cruise was 20 years ago the ship we were on wasn't anything like the cities-on-the-sea of this day and age. We were on a ship called the Wind Song {which as I posted the Wikipedia link I read this ship had an engine room fire a year after I was on it and was a total loss! Wow!}

The Wind Song

After flying 9 hours from L.A. to Papeete, Tahiti, we stayed at some resort with this view. Gorgeous, I know!

We first stopped on the island of Moorea. We rented mopeds and toured the island. The views were phenomenal.

Our next stop was Bora Bora. 

Talk about heaven on Earth.

There was a bar called Bloody Mary's that is literally on a beach and the floor is the sand on the beach. If you ever go there beware of the bathroom situation:

Yeah. I took a picture of it. The toilet is out back with no door. No privacy whatsoever. Lovely. 

I wish I had taken more pictures of this island. I'll never forget their water. It is pure turquoise. I did not photoshop this picture. That's how crystal clear and amazing the water is.

I'd have to say that my biggest thrill was happening upon the rehearsals for Tahiti Fete. It's a little known secret that back in the day I used to dance hula and tahitian. I've danced on and off since the age of about 9. So to see these performers just in costume rehearsal was a complete thrill for me.

Do you all feel a bit warmer and relaxed now?

things are progressing...

in my world of crafting! Although I have not yet moved from my dark dungeon of a room I'm currently crafting in to a larger and sunnier room in my house I have been busy collecting fun antique furniture and other goodies to furnish and decorate it. Buying all of these fun goodies are giving me motivation to actually start the packing and moving process but talk about a cumbersome move...{sigh}

Ginger and I made our first joint investment in a crafting machine. We have succeeded in avoiding getting sucked into these nifty machines that come out every year but we just had to get Tim Holtz's Vagabond:

Oh what fun! The layered flowers and the caged bird die cut...lovely!

I've managed to get through Dec. 16th in my December Daily. Yeah, I'm still behind. What's new. Here are a few pages but the rest can be seen on my Flickr photostream here.

I also made these towels for a fellow Duranie friend for Christmas. I loved making the first set with apothecary labels so much I couldn't resist making more. I simply downloaded the album covers off of the web and put them in a blank word document and printed out the page on fabric paper. Sew them on and viola! 

I almost wanted to keep them for myself but I'm sure hubby would roll his eyes if these were seen on my towel hanger:

See you tomorrow for Travel Tuesday!