Road Trip...Arizona, New Mexico, Texas

 Greetings from Oklahoma!!! The road trip is off to a great start, so I thought I would share just a few of the pics so far!  The photo above is right around Payson, Arizona. We are heading up toward the Mogollon Rim.

 Northern Arizona has lots of Pine trees and you can smell them in the air.

There are also some great rock formations here in the Southwest.

Just across the New Mexico border there in a very long mountain range the parallels the highway. This photo doesn't do the colors justice at all. They are really a lovely red like the red rocks of Sedona.

 There were also some very cool rock formations here. Isn't it it cool how this one is so smooth?

 The rest of New Mexico along I40 was pretty barren. (Lack of water will do that to a landscape!!)

 When we entered Texas I gave a big ol' mental shout out to all my Texas girls!!

This is what most of the panhandle of Texas looked like.  (Plus a few cows)

 Have you guys ever heard of Cadillac Ranch?? Back in the 60's the owner of this land buried several Cadillacs nose first in the ground. There are just off the highway and have become a huge tourist attraction. Visitors are encouraged to channel there inner graffiti artist and leave their mark on the "sculptures"

Here I am after leaving my mark! Can you tell what I did?  :)

Once we got into Oklahoma the scenery really changed. Everything got much greener!!!

We are on our way now to explore Oklahoma and some beautiful lakes!!!!

America here we come!!!

It's not the most beautiful thing in the world, but it's been my hubby's and my dream for quite a few years now.... We've always wanted an RV that we could pack up the dogs in and hit the open road! There are so many many beautiful things to see here in this country and time was a wastin'!!!

So this summer we found this 83' van RV conversion. Even though it was old, it was in great shape and the price was right. 

 I made new curtains for it and found some quilts on sale at Cole's for 80% off! They were perfect. Not to girly but pretty and in my favorite colors at the same time. I bought a king size to cut up and make slip covers for the cushions in the back, (I haven't done that yet. )

 and I bought 2 twin size to cover the captains chairs up front. 

(They will get slipcovers made for them eventually too.) 

Tomorrow we embark on a 3 week week long adventure!!! We are driving from Phoenix to Philadelphia and back. (My in-laws live there) Along the way we will be stopping and beautiful national parks, amazing caves, and pretty much anything that catches our fancy!!! My hubby and I like watching Diners's Drive In's and Dives on the Food Network and you can bet he has been taking notes and making plans for hitting up some of the one's that have been features along the way!

I am so excited to get out of this heat and experience fall in all it's splendor from the beautiful temps. to the gorgeous color!! We don't get to see much of the change of seasons here in Phoenix, so this will be a wonderful treat! I plan to post all the beautiful things we see along the way. (Wi-Fi permitting of course.) We'll be camping about 2/3 of the and staying in hotels about 1/3 of the time. (A girls gotta have a shower and a real bed at least every couple of days!! LOL!!)

********************

On another note... Tomorrow is Oct.1 and the kick off to Breast Cancer awareness month. Just like last year I have a button on my sidebar that you are welcome to take and place on your sidebar if you wish.

Let's all remember to go get checked!!!!

Back from TCC

Well I think I've finally recovered from my long weekend in Minnesota at The Creative Connection Event and Junk Bonanza. It was exhausting but wonderful! I am just not used to be "on" for so many hours a day!!!! The thing that was infectious was the wonderful positive energy that was being generated everywhere I went!!  What I love about TCC is that it has a very heavy focus on helping  women who are already in a creative business or those who want to start one. There were so many successful women that were there to offer advise and ideas to help all of us.

One of the coolest things was that I was given the opportunity to have a booth for Where Bloggers Create right there in the Marketplace. The very talented Christine Hoffman (who did all the beautiful table settings for all the event meals) and the lovely Holly Bohn from See Jane Work, did an amazing job decorating my booth and making it cute as could be! In fact all the booths there in the Marketplace where really great and there was a wonderful diversity of styles. Unfortunately, I was too busy in my own booth to remember to take any pictures for you of the rest of the market!

I showed a movie slideshow of some of my favorite studios from this years Where Bloggers Create event, and was also able to chat with women about starting a new blog, Valentine Design, and my e-book, Building Beautiful Blogs.  I sold many books on cd and it was just a great opportunity to meet so many creative women, but I was really surprised at how many did not have a blog yet!!! I mean... doesn't EVERYONE have a blog?? LOL!!!

On Friday morning I was able to run out to the Junk Bonaza for a morning of shopping with my gal pals Cindy from Lilly's Lace and Jan from Lucy's Baby. I had not met Jan in person until this weekend and she was just as warm and wonderful as I knew she would be!!!

The creativity from the vendors was amazing as always.

I can't help but be attracted to those green hydrangeas. They are my absolute favorite!! Someday I'll find a resource on line where I can buy them preserved and ship them home to me!!

Is this not an awesome light fixture????

I loved this framed paper flower! The cool ideas are just overflowing now!!!

mmmmmm.......

Super cute crown!!

This is Ann's booth from A Vintage Mood. She makes the coolest hat bands and tiaras ever!!

 This booth was just dripping with feminine vintage goodness!

Be still my heart!

It was sooo hard knowing that none of this great old "junk" would fit in my suitcase!!!

It's okay though. I found some wonderful little treasures that fit nicely in my suitcase. Baby shoes for altering, doodads for making jewelry and altered bottles. I also found a great pair of Victorian shoes that I forgot to include in the photograph, so you'll just have to wait until I do something with them to see them. (sorry)

I had a fabulous time, but I am so happy to be home and back to my old routine once again.

Making these bottles is too much fun!!!

 I think I mentioned in my last post that I have been making more time to spend in the studio lately.

One of my latest obsessions have been bottles. Now I know that they have been out there for quite a while, and I fell in love with them from the first time I saw them. I knew that someday I would make some but until my trip to Round Top last Spring, I just didn't have the supplies I needed to make them they way I wanted to.

Well, I finally got around to making them and have been going crazy!!! I'm using lace and music sheets and old books, wax and wire and solder, old jewelry and doorknobs....

a frozen charlotte I got from my buddy Charlene, and even a piece of coral I got when I was a kid.  It's been fun playing around with each bottle and letting the shape of the bottle dictate the style and materials I used. 

Some I like better than others, but all of them have taught me what I like and don't like and what techniques work the best.  I do have a tendency to go whole hog with a project or technique and then get that "been there, done that" attitude. I hope I don't do that with my bottles. I have so much fun making them and think a whole collection would be fabulous!

**********************************

Wednesday I am getting a break from our heat and headed to St. Paul Minnesota where the temps will be in the high 60's!! (Heaven)

I am going to be participating in The Creative Connection Event for the second year and I can't wait!! Last year was so much fun and this year I will be speaking on a panel all about Creating an Event.

I'm excited and nervous because I haven't spoken in front of a large group of people since my days of public speaking and Theater in High School! (many, many years ago.)  I will also have a booth in the Marketplace for the Where Bloggers Create party and will be showing a video of some of my favorite studios from this years party.

If you are in the Twin Cities area (or even if you're not) I hope you will come and check it out.   Even if you aren't attending the event, the Marketplace will be open on Friday and Saturday and will be filled with wonderful vendors to shop from. The Junk Bonanza is also that weekend so you could get two great shopping experiences in one weekend!!

New Studio Stuff

My time spent perusing all the wonderful blogs for the Where Bloggers Create party this year caused me to really think about my studio and whether or not I was really happy with it. Actually I knew the answer already but the thought of all the work that was going to be needed to get it the way I truly wanted it was both exciting and daunting at the same time. I will show you what I have done in the next few posts. First I thought I would share with you a hanging organizer I made.

I used the top of a burlap curtain panel I had once made but you could just use cut of burlap or any fabric for that matter. I layered it with a backing fabric and bound it all around with a wide piece of lace that I folded over to both sides. I used ribbon and lace sewn into the top for tying it to the door hooks. (I didn't have any so I went to target and bought a $7.99 plastic door hanger and used the hooks that came with that.) 

Then I cut out the pockets. Make sure you shape them something like this so there is room for you to put things in them once they are sewn down.

I added more lace trim to the tops of the pockets before I sewed the to the panel. Just line the edges of each pocket straight up and down to make the gap in the pocket. When your finished you can fill it with your favorite goodies!!

************************************

On a completely different subject...

Perhaps many of you have tried the new Blogger Interface. If you haven't you should try it out. Not because I think it's wonderful, because frankly I really don't like it. I think you should try it out because once you do and you will have the option to return to the old interface (the one many of us are still using.) Blogger is going to ask you to leave feedback for them.  This is very important. If you don't try it out and leave feedback, Blogger will never know how you feel about it and may decide to change things over permanently. We have been given a rare opportunity to tell Blogger what like and don't like about a change before it is made permanent. 

So let your voice be heard!!!   :)

( I put a poll on my top right sidebar if you would like to share your opinion with me. :)