Swaps for Les Sirenes

The darling little button above was one of the first signs of MAGIC for the Art Event Les Sirenes. When I saw that button & the designer/Swap Hostess's invitation I KNEW I had to sign up. None other than my buddy Christine otherwise known as Dolly Belle designed the swap & challenged us to make 6 roses in colors of pale blue, ivory, or coral pink. Also we were to include some shells & other treasures if we so chose to. She would then take 6 of the flowers & create 6 one of a kind necklaces for each of us. Now for those of you who are regulars here at my blog, you met Christine as one of the teachers in Savannah at Petticoats & Parasols Art Event. If you missed that go to the sidebar & find Art Events & look at the fun we had there. Now, this is what I sent...

Some random pearls from a broken necklace, some pearly spiral shells & tiny sand dollars with a beautiful aqua crystal glued in the middle. Below you can see my flowers & the little bags that hold the shells.

All put in the box that I made for Christine. Yes, lots of glue & Martha Stewart GLITTER made that plain shell box shine. I then glued some beautiful shells on the top & tied it up with pale blue tulle & shipped them off with dreams of the beauty Christine would create.

Here's that sweet girl with two HUGE bins of necklace beauty. Can you believe how many she made? YIKES I CAN'T IMAGINE how many hours she spent on these little gifts of love. THANK YOU CHRISTINE YOU ARE AMAZING & I LOVE MY TREASURE!!!!!

I hate to say but, I can't remember the beautiful names for the different necklaces. But, we'll call this necklace #1. So pretty! I love how the flowers are all soooooooo different. Didn't Christine do an amazing job choosing which flowers to group together?

Here's Necklace #1 Group photo. Looking GOOD LADIES!

And here is Lisa holding up her necklace. She was in my group so that is what my necklace (Group #2) looked like.

And the beautiful Ms Joy showing off Necklace #3 I soooooooooo loved those colors.

And Ms Cheryl is not to be out done shinning with delight in Necklace #4. Oh Cheryl sweetie I know you are in Texas right now at The Gilded Life doing the Canton Flea Market... I hope you California girls don't cook in this horrid heat! I was lucky to meet Cheryl in February when we both attended another Gilded Life Art Event called HeArt of Communion. It's great to hook up with friends at all these different events.

Moving on to the next swap... Below you see the thirteen 3 x 3 inch squares I made for the Swap hosted by my sweet friend Joy (yep the same one that threw the awesome Martini Party I posted about a couple of posts ago). OK... the rules for this swap were to do thirteen 3 x 3 squares & send them to Joy & she would put them together with vintage lace & other goodies to make a Wall Hanging. I used my Mermaid image & printed her on fabric. I then added some glitter, pearls, mica flakes & a pretty tulle fluting behind her to use for my contribution. Below, is my goodies ready to go into the pretty box I made for Joy.

And here is Joy & I that night after she passed them all out. There were twelve girls that did a 3x3 and do you know NOT ONE of us used the same image. I thought that was a miracle. THANK YOU JOY!!!!!! I will treasure this & always think of you when I see it.

The next swap I participated in was Jessi's Bottle Swap. Below is ever bubbly Jessi! What a doll she is. I had heard so much about her but, she is all together as cute as everyone says. And Jessi is another one headed here to Texas this weekend. Stay COOL Jessi & I can't wait to hear about your next adventure. Jessi matched us up with a partner.

Here I am holding the bottle Kathy J. made for me.

And here is the bottle I did for Kathy. The rules of the swap were to make a Mermaid themed bottle & put your favorite dessert recipe inside. I had wanted to solder a bottle but, I played by the rules & made it so the top with this beautiful shell could come off. When I said something to Jessi (when I saw MANY soldered tops & NO recipes, that I followed the rules... Jessi laughed & said "Oh I really don't have rules". Next time I'm doin my own thing. But, I still loved how my Mermaid done with contact paper for the transfer (Lisa's technique) was clear & you could see through her when you hold the bottle to the light. And my top DOES come off & my recipe was for peach cobbler.

Below is my precious friend Danielle holding her bottle & you can see the box it came in below her. These girls go all out in presentation. In fact... presentation is as important as the gift itself. I had never met Danielle but, she & I are buddies now. She says I have a "twang" & I think she talks "funny" (I'm from Texas & she's from Massachusetts) but, I can tell you the North & South doesn't cause a problem for making Best Buddies. We're talking roommates for Silver Bella next year! She promises to show me the ropes.

Speaking of making bottles... Jessi had two partners to make for PLUS she made one for our Event hostess Kim, & a few others. Look at the next two photos to see the beautiful bottles she made.

Great Job Jessi!!!!!

And here is my roommate Cathy's bottle from Andrea.

And the bottle Cathy made for Andrea.

Another southern sweetie is Sherry showing you the bottle Kathy J (yep, same one that made mine) made for her. Kathy J had two swap partners because the numbers were not even. I LOVE this bottle of Sherry's. Notice we are all sporting out necklaces from Christine in many of these photos.

Another shot of Sherry's bottle. I may try this technique on another bottle for me.

I'm not sure who's bottle this was but, it's another one of my favorites. And see the recipe rolled up to the side?

And another two favorite sweeties is my blogging buddy Karla Nathan & sweet Jen. I introduced you to Jenn in an early Les Sirene post when you saw the amazing shell covered ship she bought at Vendor Night. Both of these sweeties are so much fun. And aren't the bottles they made for each other amazing? Click on the photo to enlarge. Karla used a porcelain doll & made her into a Mermaid & I soooooooooooooo love the huge shell Jenn put on Karla's bottle.

Denise had Jessi's name & anyone who knows Jessi knows she is a Barbie NUT!!!! Here is the box & bottle Denise made for her. Oh that crown!!!!!! Be still my heart!

And a shot of Jessi & her bottle. Inside was a McDonald's Happy Meal Barbie. CLEVER!!!!!!!

Next I'll share a few photos of the Mermaid Treasure Box Swap. I did not participate in this one but, there was some OVER THE TOP boxes of AMAZING TREASURES!

This box was made for Joy by Cathy. I know Joy will LOVE using all the wonderful Vintage goodies included in her box. The photo above shows the contents & the one below the outside of the box. Good Job Cathy!

This gorgeous Treasure Box was made by Julie(sorry I don't know who the lucky Mermaid was that received it). Can you imagine how much time & how many shells? Didn't I tell you the talent at this event was unimaginable?

Andrea & her beautiful Treasure Box. Notice the beautiful lights in the trees that made the patio area feel like a fairyland at night. And yes, those are heaters that are ON because it was so cool & YES, ladies this was July. Californai Coast... Heaven on Earth!!!! Are you still loving my sharing this event? Are you tired of it yet? Just posting these memories make me SMILE!!!!

What do you do after you have spent 8 hours in a hospital recovery room or waiting room???? Come home, go directly to your Lazy Boy with a large glass of cold milk & a package of OREO's!!!! DUNK & STUFF!!!!!!

Now that probably didn't help my hip/pant size any but, tomorrow's another day Scarlett & we got good news! Although Hubby still has to have open heart surgery... he didn't have to have stints today or when they work on the valve they don't have to do by pass surgery because his arteries are clear! HEY, a girl has to have positive things be thankful for. RIGHT? And another thing to be positive about... ALL MY AMAZING SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU 100 TIMES TEN!!!!!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. Thank you for the Prayers (never can have too many of those), the wonderful emails & comments, & most of all your blessing of friendship. All is well in our world today. Well, everything but the OREO DAMAGE!

Mermaid Martini Cocktail Party & Belamar Hotel

Oh I am thrilled you could join me for the Mermaid Martini Cocktail Party!!!!! As we come upon this bucket full of seashells & the adorable sign in the hotel hallway we KNOW we have arrived at the right place.

Can you imagine this set up is in a hotel room? This is the table set at the end of one of the beds. Draped in a beautiful cloth & covered with a fishing net, mosaic candles flickering soft light among carefully chosen beautiful shells. MAGICAL!

And the food was an amazing spread as you can see. This elegant spread included chicken wings smothered in a yummy sauce, canapes on the tiered tray, cold shrimp with a tangy cocktail sauce, crackers & various dips. YUMMY!!!!!!!!! And to think they did all of this in a regular hotel room... Look behind the tiered tray & see the beautiful things on the bed.

Treasure bags created for each Mermaid & lovingly made by our two beautiful hostesses. Imagine over 40 bags to be stitched & decorated!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!

And who were these Mermaid Hostesses? First meet Joy of The Joys of Life(below) who's inner beauty simply shines no matter where or what she does. I had met Joy through my friend Karen of Some Days are Diamonds (we met at Petticoats & Parasols & flew home on the same flight from Savannah which gave her time to give me the SCOOP on this event). Joy & I visited each others blogs & emailed back & forth a lot prior to me going to California so I felt like I already knew her.

And below meet the other hostess extraordinaire... Terry (on the left). Sweet Terry kept every Mermaid's glass filled with the most delicious frosty Lemon Drop Martini I think I have ever had. Oh Terry I would love the recipe!!!! In that photo with Terry is sweet Sherry who is a super talented artist. I will share some of the gifts she made in a later post. And there's Joy again.

CHEERS! Yes, that's me with my Mermaid Martini (photo thanks to Sherry). I made that necklace with a beautiful shell that came in one of my shell assortment boxes, a beautiful vintage bracelet, pearls & a tiny glass bobble with the little Sirene that was the event mascot.

Joy & adorable Val who was Kim's (the event hostess) right hand! She was an absolute DOLL!!!

Where did all this magic happen? At the Belmar Hotel which is a tiny little boutique hotel located in Manhattan Beach, California (click the name for a link to see their site). This little gem sits right in the middle of a neighborhood on adorable EXPENSIVE houses. This is the sign that greets you as you drive up.

See... I told you it was in a neighborhood. And small, only three stories. But, soooooooooo charming & intimate.

I loved this photo (which I borrowed the next 3) thanks to my sweet friend Jessi! This is the sign on the side of the hotel all back lit for a charming evening entrance.

The modern, plush lobby area where many a happy hour was spent visiting with other Mermaids.

Up & down all of the halls were framed pictures of these Vintage dolls. So feminine. Sooooooooo Jessi (she's a huge Barbi fan).

I hope you are enjoying post two of the Mermaid Adventures! I want to thank Sherry, Jessi & Julie for use of some of their photos for this post.

Artistic Affaire Les Sirenes In Beautiful California

Welcome Mermaid Lovers One & All!!!!!!!!!!!

While the cool Pacific breezes blow, come into our COZY CABANA & let the MAGIC begin!

Who is this beauty??? None other than the most gracious, magnificent, beautiful hostess known as Kim Caldwell of Artistic Bliss. This SPECIAL gal is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. And the word talented, giving, generous... doesn't even begin to describe her. THANK YOU KIM! You & all the other MERMAIDS made this weekend one I will never forget! Let's go inside & meet the VENDORS that showed the most beautiful wares on Thursday night.

I'm sorry I can't name everyone of them but, I will where I can so starting in the back row left to right is Karin, Holly, Jane, Christine, Deb, Melissa, Sorry...??? I didn't get a card, Jenny, Julie, & Jennifer. Bottom row is Christine, Kim, Jamie & Denise. Not bad 13 out of 14! Thank you to all of you talented beautiful vendors. The show was amazing. And you truly hurt my pocketbook! But, I'm staying with what happened in California stays in California... In other words, I'm NOT TELLING $$$$

A really fun table to look at belonged to Denise of In My Blue Room. I bought some of the cutest kits from her & can't wait to work on them. She said it was her first time to vend but, you sure couldn't tell from the looks of her beautiful table. The next few shots are some of her goodies.

The kit I bought was the Les Sirenes Image to be imposed on a wooden Brie Cheese Box. LOVE the idea Denise!!!! Hope mine is as cute as yours!

And are these Bathing Beauties a HOOT or what? Can you imagine wearing that scratchy, wet, wool swimsuit??? NO THANK YOU! But how cute is that plaque? Who says beauty isn't painful?

Cute little spiral book.

And this table FULL of magical creations belonged to my two friends both named Christine. One is Christine of Dolly Belle & one is Christine of C'est lavie. I met both of these dolls last year in April 2009 at Diana Frey's class in San Luis Obispo. Both ladies are truly talented jewelry designers & I feel blessed to call them my friends. I wish I could have spent more time with both of you sweeties. The evening seemed to FLY by!!!! Sometime I will come out to California just to visit friends & SHOP. Rest assured both of you will be on my list of must see.

Above is my roommate Cathy & Christine of C'est la vie. Click on the photo to enlarge & you will see some of the jewelry. I will show you the bracelet I bought from her in another post.

WHO are these cuties????? None other than Julie (teacher/friend/HOOT), Deb (friend, my new favorite designer/Doll) & Jessi (friend/HOOT/life of the party) all in front of Deb's table. I told you Deb is my new designer & I will tell you she got most of my money that night. But, new partners in crime we are!!!!!!!!!! I bought three of the most wonderful linen pieces from her. For those of you who know me... you know I LOVE to wear linen. Well, Deb's line will knock your socks off (yes Susan, I know it wrinkles but, I LOVE IT).

Below is two of the new pieces I bought. The little Bolero Jacket with ruffles & the STARFISH apron which looked amazing over my black linen skirt I was wearing this weekend. I'll show you another look/close up in a post where I show you all the different things I bought over the weekend. Shhhhhhhhhhh don't tell!!!!!!

Another glance at some of Deb's things(see that hint of blue in the background??? It's MINE & the blue velvet on the table would have been but, the arms were too tight).

Can you say SHELL MOTHER LOAD? At Vendor Night I was bowled over by the beauty on this table. Little did I know that the very next day I would be sitting right next to the amazing artist that created all this magic. Meet Jane's Shell Manni. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS!!!! I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WANT HER!

Does this sweet girl have the magic touch of vignettes or what? And talented... I had to get over being intimidated really quick when sitting next to her in class.

And let's meet another of my class table mates (unbeknownst to me) that was vending that night. Karin of Creative Chaos had a table full of hand made paper treasures shown along with her friend & store owner Michelle of Paper Tales in San Diego. I bought a set of awesome "Brave Girl" stamps that I can't wait to play with from Michelle. My friend Shelley (that I met at Petticoats & Parasols) got to go out & visit the girls at the store & said it is a treat indeed. I hope to do that someday too. Hugs Shelley WISH you could have been here... it was sooooooo you!

Isn't Karin's table lovely? My friend Cynthia (below) thought so. There is a WHOLE OTHER STORY about Cynthia but, let's suffice to say this girl has a huge generous heart & rolled out the California hospitality & welcome mat starting with picking Cathy & I up at the airport, showing us around, bringing us enough goodies to stretch the best elastic in town & showed up looking uber cute to shop with us for Vendor Night(so did sweet Lia that my precious Sandy introduced me to at dinner the night before). I'll share all of that in it's own post. HUGS Cynthia!!!!

Now, do you have a needle keep????? I didn't. I really didn't even know what one was until I saw some in Blogland. Well, below you will see just a few made by the amazing Holly of Holly Loves Art. I saw one of Holly's aprons on my friend LuLu's blog. Hopped over & fell in love with the Mermaid Needle Keeps Holly was selling. I bought THREE as gifts for this event. But, once I saw them... I couldn't part with any of them. And then when Hubby got sick & I thought I couldn't go to the event I didn't think of gifts again. THEN MIRACLE OF MIRACLES... his doctor was on vacation the same time as this event so I got to go before he has his surgery. When I found out about Cynthia doing SO much for us I did part with ONE of my treasures & gave it to her. HOLLY I LOVE YOUR ART & you are an amazing teacher but, most of all an amazing friend. Holly made me feel so special & so welcome.

Now, moving on to southern beauty & charm... none better than Jennifer Hayslip of Sweet Eye Candy. The true picture of SOUTHERN is Jenn. Soft spoken, sweet Jenn standing beside the table of an amazing shell artist that I am sorry to say... I didn't get her name or card. But, she had some amazing things for sale.

Jenn bought this beautiful shell encrusted ship & has visions of decorating & enchanting her two little spites with it's magic. A LONG discussion ensued about the shipping of this fragile treasure. ENJOY it Jenn!

And I WANTED this mermaid/shell encrusted box but, it too was purchased by a very southern someone as a gift.

And can you imagine how regal this Goddess would be anywhere she might grace? And HOW MANY SHELLS HAS THIS WOMAN GLUED????????????

And another sweet box with a pink china mermaid. Lisa, how long did we look in Round Top for mermaids? And she found three???? There's something just not right about that!

Another view of her shell whisperings. That mirror was huge & so pretty (remember to click on the photo to enlarge).

And the image used in the piece below was enchanting. As the Mer-Mother looks in the shell at her sleeping child you can just imagine the thoughts running through her head. Be sure to enlarge this one to enjoy the pure beauty of the image.

Well, my friends, I am tired & headed for bed. It was an intense 6 days that I was gone & the long flight just proved to me how really far from my beloved California coast I really am. I have left my Pacific Ocean & so many beautiful friends there but, I take with me MAGICAL MEMORIES that will fuel my creative soul as I face these next few difficult months as I help Hubby heal from his heart surgery (no we still have no dates set). I NEEDED THIS FOR ME & I am thankful that I have this to lift me up in days that will not be much fun. THANK YOU FRIENDS & THANK YOU KIM!!!!!!!!!!! I would also like to thank the girls that shared some of their photos from the FLICKR group(I asked so many if I could "borrow" photos & the answer was "Sure we always share... Borrow Away"). Since we can't all have our camera at the exact perfect moment it really helps when we share them. I took a TON of shots & I used a lot of my own in this but, some of you are MUCH better photographers than I am. Practice makes perfect & I plan to practice at ANY event Ms Kim will have in the future. Stay tuned for more MERMAID FUN TO COME! HUGS!