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!