Taking Five Steps Back In Order To Catch Up To Myself....

... It's been an amazing, heartbreaking, interesting, eye opening past six months. Work, among my personal life had just been so overwhelming that I decided I needed to take a tiny hiatus from it all....oops!...I didn't mean to stay away for so long. What should have turned out to be a rejuvenating time off, lead to a road of self discovery, acceptance, denial, acceptance again, family loss, family gain, heartbreak and healing. So much in the last six months have changed in my life that I feel like I took 5 steps backwards in order to catch up with myself. Unfortunately all this roller coaster riding did have an impact on my creative flowing juices, and as much as I tried to hook or stitch, my well was dried up. With Fall here, and all the possibilities of great changes in the air, hooked creations have started surfacing their way out and inspiration is flowing again....thank you to everyone who's emailed me with concerns of my whereabouts, posts and upcoming creations.....It meant so much to know you cared.....I'm back.

Completed Butterfly Love & More...

...Butterfly Love is pretty much completed except for the binding. Between changing the design several times and me feeling yucky the last couple of weeks, I'm really surprised its finished. As I've mentioned before, I am really disappointed in my camera, it just does not pick up the true green colors in the rug and since I'm a huge fan of green, I was kinda hoping to show off all of the different green shades that are in this rug.

...between feeling yucky and hooking up a storm, I did a little beading here and there too, and have made some really cute bracelets. I am approaching my 100 post here on blogger soon and to follow tradition, I will be having a give away of a few spring beaded bracelets, will post more info on that later...

...Isn't this notebook just the cutest?....Dulcy of Dulcys Doorstep created it with the cutest ribbons & flowers and such...she is so creative, when you get the chance please stop by her blog and see her own hooked rug creations, she is so very talented...thank you Dulcy, and my treat to you will be on its way this week. Don't you just love this blogging community and all the people you meet who are so creative, kind and generous?...not to mention the friendships that are made. I appreciate all of you who pop in to visit and comment on my creations, it really means alot. :)

I Can't Eat Spaghetti Everyday...

...I decided to take a tiny breather from hooking, although I have been making progress with my rugs, I don't want to kill the enjoyment...don't get me wrong, I love creating hooked rugs, but its kind of like eating spaghetti everyday, I love spaghetti but sometimes you just want to have chicken! While shopping at my local Bead Shop I found the cutest spring beads and could not resist...teacups, bunnies, and alphabet beads, how cute are these huh?

A Tour de Art Treat & A Trip To Paris To The Moon...

...The weather called for overcast with a chance of rain this weekend, however my skies just lit up today when DeAna & I went into Costa Mesa to attend Earth Angels Tour de Art hosted by Paris To The Moon. Upon our arrival, I was in complete awe of these very talented women artist that I follow. I don't know if I was more excited to see their original creations up close in person or the fact that I was actually in the same room with Debbee Thibault, Nicol Sayre, Laurie Meseroll, Jennifer Lanne, Nicole Bowen, Debrina Pratt, Dara DiMagno and Jen O' Connor, all of Earth Angels...and did I mention that Jo Packham of "Where Women Create" was there too! Between all of the eye candy goodness over at Paris To The Moon and the Earth Angels Trunk Show....and all of these creative women together in person, I pretty much forgot I had my camera until I walked out of the gallery. :( But as we were leaving I did get a chance to meet the very down to earth Jen, as well as the very talented Jennifer Lanne.

...Jennifer Lanne & Jen O'Connor...It was a pleasure meeting you...

...Spring goodness over at Paris To The Moon...

...Of course DeAna's favorite eye candy was standing near the Diamond Tiaras...

...and more spring goodness...

This day was such a special treat and I do hope they will come out soon and visit us here in California again, and next time I won't forget to take more pictures!...have a safe trip back home ladies.

Feeling A Little Green...

...Just a quick post, I have not been feeling well lately, for the last week I have had that stomach flu thingy that has been going around, and I believe my household has been passing the little bug back and forth around here. Today I finally decided to stay home from work and treat myself to some R&R. Here are some pictures of my latest green treasures that I found last weekend. Of course I needed not one, but two dish racks (thank you Home Goods)!...when placed side by side they make one big heck of a dish shelf! I'll post pictures later when it's up, and here's more of the Butterfly Love hooked rug, almost finished, still have two more to go!

Butterfly Love...

...Butterfly Love in the works. I wish my camera could capture the true shades of green in this rug. I have used various shades of my most favorite greens and dark reds, with hints of pink, but my monitor shows a taupe background...maybe its just me...lol, oh well...this little piece is coming along quite well. With spring right around the corner, I am trying my hardest to get ready to participate in a spring exhibit that will be held in May but, the way I keep changing this pattern around I believe I will be setting myself back some. will I make it?....I'll let you know, I still have two more spring themed rugs to complete...no pressure here!

For Me?...

...Wow, what an honor! The lovely & very creative Jenny of Wonders of Whimsy & Art By Jenny bestowed to me this beautiful Kreativ Blogger Award...I am so thankful to receive it, it's just too pretty. Here are seven things about me that I am to list...here we go...

1. I love rainy weather...all the time.
2. Love long afternoon naps...must have one!
3. Have to have my daily Chai Latte at 190 degrees...super hot!
4. Love lemon pasta with capers...yummy!
5. Love the feel of my doggies ears...they feel like velvet petals.
6. I have hydrophobia...fear of water.
7. I am highly allergic to bunny rabbits!....I know weird huh?

Thank you Jenny!

My Three Tiers of Inspiraton & More...

...Just another "organizational storage" item I wanted to share with you (purchased at Target). It looks as though it belongs in a bakery holding delectable cookies or mini cakes. I swear it was screaming my name the minute I laid eyes on it...I knew right away what I would be using it for...ta da! Anyway, while I was out and about this weekend hunting for more treasures, I also found me some green dish towels, :) I don't know what it is about dish towels that appeal to me. I mean really, I'll find some really nice ones in my favorite fibers & shades and I won't use them to dry the dishes with, instead I'll use them to create tote bags, pillows or even pillow cases. These green ones will most likely be made out of pillows, weird I know. Lately I have been finding myself over at the paint shop collecting paint chips for my kitchen and living room, actually the whole inside of my home needs a good paint over, these are the colors I have decided on. My kitchen is already an off white with sage green accents, and that's pretty much it.
I really want to add some color to it, the only paint chip not showing here that adds to my color scheme is black. I really do like the color black, and have black country style furniture mostly in the living room and my bedroom, but I wanted to add more red shades in all of the rooms...what do you think? (Black country hutch above not mine, courtesy of Country Living Magazine, borrowed it just to give you the idea).

An Excuse To Get Organized...

...One of my resolutions this new year was to get my creative space in order. I think I put that on my list just to give me an excuse to go out and purchase cute little baskets like this to keep my goodies in. So far I have purchased quite a few "organizational storage" items for different areas of the house, not just for my creative space...a green wooden serving tray that I placed in my bathroom to hold pretty toiletries, a three tiered thingy that looks like it belongs in a bakery I'm using to store my trims, buttons, lace and such. I purchased a couple of more baskets for my yarn of course, and lets not forget the cute decorative boxes I purchased to store who knows what!...yeah you bet I'll be posting pictures to show them off too...lol...I just need to get them all organized first!

Yummy Yarns...

...It's been a while since I've paid a visit to my local yarn store...the damage I can do to my pocket book there is scary! You walk in this store and the walls are filled full of yarn from floor to ceiling, racks of books and magazines on knitting & crochet are everywhere. The coolest needles in a variety of styles and sizes are offered along with the cutest bags to store it all. Wish I could have shared pictures with you but I was too embarrassed to ask if I could take them...oh well, if your ever in the Upland California area, you'll definitely have to pay a visit to Needles & Niceties, you wont be sorry, I walked out with just ten skeins (oops) of the yummiest wools and mohair yarn. The picture does not begin to capture the true subtle shades of the greens, cream and rose, maybe a better picture later. More of the Bohemian Garden has been completed and is pretty much finished (more pictures to come), I really enjoyed hooking this rug, it is so vibrant with color and bohemian character, cannot wait until its completely finished as I have started on another one, phew!...working on two at one time is most challenging...lol, my hands are starting to go numb!

An Amazing Night With The Phantom...

...This past weekend DeAna and I went into Los Angeles to see the Phantom of the Opera at The Pantages Theater. The performance was amazing! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures of the theater, actors or their costumes...believe me, if I could have, I would have! The costumes were absolutely gorgeous, and the beautiful vocals these talented performers had were just out of this world...enough to bring tears to your eyes! If you ever get the opportunity to see this beautiful showing, I highly recommend it. If your like me and have a soft spot for a mushy love story, go for it. You won't regret it.

Making Progress On The Bohemian Garden...

...just wanted to share my progress on the Bohemian Garden. When I first designed it on monks cloth, I really just drew a free hand design without considering how the measurements would turn out, now I'm sorry I did that, because its really turning out very nice and I would have liked it to be a lot larger. The overall size will be about 25x25.

The Bohemian Garden...

...I am so loving these colors I'm using for the "Bohemian Garden" rug. I swear, whenever I walk out of Anthropologie my color palette expands, bursting with all the colors of the rainbow and beyond...that store is so inspirational! This year, I am making it a point to step out of my safe color box and go with what really inspires me, even if it's not really what I'm used to...with that being said, Gina has been nagging at me to paint her bedroom teal blue!...now, I know what I just said but, teal blue??? I think I'm gonna have to sit on that one for a bit!

Just Who Do We Think We're Kidding?....

...Yes, we have decided to downgrade our restaurant outings to fast food establishments, being that a member of our family is two and a half years young, we can no longer handle taking Lil Miss Violet to the fancier type of places...it goes like this...it all starts off well...

...food & company start getting a little boring...oh my, what's a girl to do?...

...a little dancing with auntie De sounds good, mommy seems a little too busy eating & chatting for me...

...but I still want to whisper a little something in her ear...

...and back to auntie De for some hugs and maybe some lunch?

Just who do we think we're kidding to even go out for fastfood!

A Little Treasure Hunting...

...The New Year has been off to a great start! Last month, I told my girls that we were going all out green this year...they knew I was not talking the eco friendly type of green but, home decor kind of green. Yes I know, I do get a little weak in the knees when I come upon a green treasure, and this past weekend, I hit the motherlode! I brought home some great finds, a green kitchen cabinet hutch (pictures later), I took the old knobs off and replaced them with green flowered knobs that I purchased from Anthropologie a while back. I also came upon this beautiful tea cup and saucer. I could not resist it, even if this was the only piece in the entire place....can you guess what my mission will be on future treasure hunts?? I tried looking this piece up and could not find anything on the creator of this beauty, Andy Garden, which is the only name underneith the cup...so if anyone recognizes this print, I'd appreciate a little help!