pamgarrison

we found sea shells

We found seashells on the South Carolina sea shore. Here's what we found right on the beach where we were staying. Fun, because it's pretty rare that we find shells on our Southern California beaches. It's also usually illegal to collect them on the beaches that do have them here (like all the beaches in Laguna). We didn't have many chances to go looking, and we didn't find many whole shells, but that didn't stop us. My favorites are the plaid pieces outside the jar, they are so smooth and silky feeling, and the plaid is so pretty. We didn't find any shark's teeth, and seeing a fellow searcher's three she found that morning explained why; they were minuscule.

My friend Sally and I did make it to Fox & Hound and B&B Antiques, (thank you Paulette for the research and comment), and I came home with this tiny mum tin for my air sickness patches, and a cute hanky to add to some embroidery samplers. And this funky little handmade piggy bank box shown below.

And my favorite finds were these art books.  At $2.00 a piece they will be fantastic journal collage fodder.

And that was it, all for under $20.00. I'm home, they are unpacked, and I'm digging to cut into the art books, but laundry first, creating later.

As always, I'm happy to be home, and it looks like we brought some of the weather with us; we woke up to rain today!

greetings from the road

I got caught out in the rain yesterday and loved every minute of it. We're on the other side of the country and for us Californians, thunder and lightning and giant rainstorms that arise out of the blue are just plain fun. Of course, you know, the storm lost a little bit of it's luster when certain scheduled events were cancelled, but only a little bit. I started the morning searching for shark's teeth on the beach (no luck, ...yet) and finished it watching our gang of boys play baseball. A very different, yet surprisingly fun, vacation for us all.

So, anyone know any places we should be sure to shell hunt, sea glass/pottery chard hunt, junk shop, antique, eat, etc. in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina? Just in case any games get rained out due to unexpected lightning storms? ( That is when I'm not trying to catch the storm on video for pet/house sitter that hasn't seen lightning in years- I'm finding it really hard to capture the excitement of the storms. I won't even bore you with the video here. I guess there's no substitute for experiencing things for yourself, no matter how good technology gets; and there's something very comforting about that!)

journal love

Had myself a whole bunch of fun last night until 2am and more today...making a brand new journal. Oh how I LOVE a new journal!

This one is huge and full of all white fabriano uno hot press 140lb water color paper. A little bit of heaven in the form of a journal. I remembered to take a photo in progress:

For this journal I used a painting on an artist canvas pannel for the back and cut a piece of chipboard from the back of my giftwrap set produced by Papayaart.com. I will definitely be using that board again for a few journals, I love how thick and sturdy it is. Here I am getting ready to sew in the four signatures. It's my least favorite part, truth be told, but so worth all the hard work when done!

I had to take it outside to get a good shot, the daylight was waning.

I don't think this gives you a sense for the size, so I took this photo...pretty much goes from my hip to my collarbone.

          

{Definitely no daylight when shooting this inside; amazing what digital editing can do with an underexposed photo.} It's huge if you can't tell- 11x14. Here's a shot of the spine, nice and thick at 2".

I took a friend's advice and used my Uppercase magazines as collage fodder. I love that magazine. (It might be the only magazine I subscribe to, actually, that's how much I love it, but more on that another day.) That is where the "The recipe: genius + madness" came from among other things. The cute spring chicken card was a birthday card from Target.

If you will be in Malibu next month for my journaling classes, I'll have this baby with me. We'll be making journals on Saturday and playing in them all day Sunday. There are a couple of spaces open on Saturday, and one on Sunday, so it's not too late to join in the fun!

 

thanks ladies!

I had lots of fun teaching at Jenny's last weekend. Here are shots of the whole gang both Saturday and Sunday.

Many friends from previous classes, and lots of new ones too. I always love to spend time with artists. Each person is unique and to see all the different styles/thoughts/ideas show up in their work is so fun. As with most events, I didn't take one photo (thank you Jenny for sharing these)...I just feel like I forget to document, I'm so into the creating. Anyway, I wanted to thank each and every one of you that came to play. And a special thank you to Jenny and her family too, who were most generous to share their time and home with us so that we could play the day away. If you were there and posted your work anywhere we can see online, please leave a link in the comments. xop

helllloooo!

Please pardon my long absence! We've been very busy around here with all the events before during and after the celebration of our graduate! What a fun whirlwind it has been.

Turning the tassles....and then...tossing the caps into the air  Some of my shots aren't in focus, I was far, far away in the stands, but I love this shot just the same. Can you see my girl? She has a light blue sash on. The shot of her tossing her cap reminds of the Mary Tyler Moore show opening. I know, many of you never saw that show, it was before your time. Don't remind me of my age, having a daughter graduate high school is reminder enough ;).

 
She is posing for someone else's parents, I'm still too far away.

Yay! Captured her excitement pretty well as we found her right after.

Finding Daddy as she came off the field.

 

Aunt and cousin come from afar to celebrate.

Even Mom and brother feel like celebrating. Graduating felt like a family accomplishment. All for one and one for all, right?

Finding her friends. "We did it!"

   

More friends came to show their support (having already graduated last year).

Honorary Aunt and Uncle make the trek too.

I am so proud of our girl, she is such an amazing person.

We arrived home to dear friends bringing a feast for all. How kind is that?!? I must remember to do that for friends whose kids graduate! Seriously thoughtful. We were all starving too, and there was no time for dinner out before she had to rush out for grad night.

Another honorary Aunt shares the love.

Proud Papa.

A great time was had by all celebrating our girl. She is so lucky to have so much love in her life!

And shortly after this photo, (it was pitch black, edited so you can see their faces) Mom went to bed, too pooped to pip, but with the alarm set to pick her up from grad night bus at 5:30am...um, why? why can't they return back from their big night of fun at say, 7am? Oh well, one last parental act to conclude those years of education I suppose.