A Visit to Andrea's AMAZING Home

I bet that EYE CANDY caught your attention!!!!  This is the studio of my friend Andrea of Freckled Star Blog. Be sure to click on the blue links to go visit the girls & see their blogs as you will be hooked on all the goodies you find there.  Andrea is an AMAZING, TALENTED, FUN friend that I have been blessed to know for years. We first met through Kim Caldwell & her fun filled EVENTS but, through time we have been together in many classes, Antique Fairs & this June I was invited to a class by Robin Dudley Howes which was held in Andrea's AMAZING home.  I didn't even take many photos of the project or any of our finished work because I was so OVERWHELMED at the beauty of Andrea's home/studio.  Maybe I have studio lust since I STILL don't have a studio.  But, what beauty... Let's go peek.

 Andrea LOVES Dollies & has MANY different one to look at.  Here are just a few.

The ones below were made in a class by my talented friend Diana Frey.  Nice job Andrea!

And I think the bird necklace is a Sally Jean class.  I need to try that one as it's really pretty!

She has such a knack of display.  Don't you love the garland of gloves?

A Ruth Rae piece to show off...  I think I was with her at a class in Kim's home when she bought this beauty.  It was the first time Andrea had used a sewing machine & I will tell you that girl made that machine FLY!!!! Finished her piece in class!  I was impressed.

How sweet is the window covering below... vintage baby slips?

 More views of "STUFF" in her room.  Like me, I think she has enough paper.  My friend Jo Ann & I always end up buying paper but, do we use it?  NO!
We live by the belief that the one with the most paper wins!

In her guest bathroom her displays of perfume bottles, soaps, goodies abound.  And MOUSE TRAPS anyone?  Have you ever seen cuter ones?

 Let's move on to a few more rooms in the house.  Each one cuter than the next.  Now anyone who knows me knows I am a beach girl & so is Andrea.  Her displays speak to my heart!  LOVE the starfish tree.

The "P A R I S" bottles are 2 Die 4!

The mantle in the family room.  

The jewlery nook in the corner of her bedroom... Oh she had some treasures there!!!!

This little beauty above was sitting on her dresser.  A suitcase with the side cut out, a mermaid scene & fish inside.  BE STILL MY HEART!!!! Angela I MUST have one!  And last but, not least look at her little reading nook in her room.  LOVE the saying... You have my whole heart for my whole life... SWEET!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into Andrea's special world.  I feel blessed to have been invited & thank her for her hospitality & sharing.  

I have been away from Blogland for such a long while with the move/remodel & last week I posted for the first time in months.  I hope that you will come back & make it a habit to visit as I want to visit many blogs each week because I have missed Blogging.  Andrea did a post a few weeks back about blogging & Face Book.  I think each have their own special place & I would hate to see Blogs disappear altogether because FB is eaiser! What do you think?  IF you stop to visit please comment & let me know you were here.  But, even if the comments are few I keep reminding myself that my blog is a place for ME!  A place for me  to share but, most of all it's my journal of my life & I will keep it up no matter what until I decide it's time to stop.  If you're here... thank you for stopping & visiting.  I hope you enjoy what I have to share.  Have a beautiful week!  HUGS!

All Aboard for our Train Case Swap & FUN at Joy's House!

Missing in action????? I bet that's what you think!

Well almost...

We bought our house back in February 2013 & ever since it's been a crazy re-model & move merry go round.  In between trying to heard the goat rodeo of contractors & take care of "life" & work I've had my hands FULL!!!!!!  In June (this year) I got a pass!  "Daddy Darling" (that's one of hubby's nick names) said go play with your girls for your birthday!  He didn't have to tell me twice!  

One of the things we did while there was to do our Train Case Swap.  This started A LONG TIME AGO!  Back in January 2013 Joy Campbell came up with the idea & we all agreed.  Little did we know that of the 6 that started (Cindy Craine dropped out due to having the shingles) 3 of us would sell our houses & move.  Not only did we move we did HUGE re-models.  Needless to say the Train Case became a derailment!  18 months latter we got together to exchange the cases that traveled from California to Texas to Washington state.  Below is four of us with our finished cases.  Vickie Orlando was also in the swap but, she was out of town at The Country Living Antique Show back east when we got together.  She & Sandy had a pre-party for her to open hers.

Left to right is ME,  Sandy Navarro , Joy Campbell & Laurie Garcia.

The OUTSIDE of the cases!  We bought our own cases & decorated a little bit to develop the "theme".

 The case was then sent to the next person who put at least one personal touch to the outside & then we added 5 to 6 things that the receiver would possibly use to "CREATE" with.  Or something special you thought that she might like.

Since Cindy had not done a case we each gave her a few goodies & the adorable Doll Head Fur Muff was given to her by Laurie.  As anyone who knows Cindy knows... she is CRAZY about dolls/doll heads.  Laurie said she remembered having one of these as a little girl.  When she went to church (she lived up north) it was one of her favorite things to have as it kept her hands warm & was a toy to play with while sitting still.  IT WAS PERFECT for Cindy!

 The weekend was held at Joy's new home near Temecula.    BEAUTIFUL doesn't even begin to describe her home & the grounds around it.

 Dinner in her back yard.  Good dinner with AMAZING FRIENDS!

Above you see some of the fun....  Diana Salvucci Smith also joined us & you can see in the photo to the left we were doing chocolate cake shooters.  And Cindy/Joy messing around being silly.  With Joy doing a photo bomb on my case.  We had sooooooooooooo much fun!  THANK YOU JOY FOR OPENING YOUR HOME FOR US & FOR BEING AN AMAZING HOSTESS!

 On Friday we all took off to go to Vintage Market Place in Rainbow, CA.  Our sweet friend Cynthia  met us to shop & party.  We also ran into Jan & her husband Steve while we were there.

This was so cute but, I bought the Mermaid &  "Cocktail" sign all done in lights.  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of what I bought but, I guess I took this thinking I would add this cutie to the other things later & would need a gentle nudge to remember him.  I'll share my purchase when I get them hung.  Not much was purchased by me but, I can say I did my share of the HUGE shipping bill in size of the items.  Oh well...

I'll try real hard to be back soon to share our class that we did at Andrea's house.  The teacher was Robin Dudley Howe & we had a wonderful time.  Andrea's house is AMAZING & I took tons of photos of her studio.  Glad to be back in BLOGland.  I've missed you!

The Delta & Time With Friends

The sun was bright, the temperatures were in the 70’s & I LOVED being with my girl friends….  After leaving San Francisco we headed east to an area called The Delta & hooked up with my gal pal Joy Campbell.  The next day we went into Lodi to hook up with Natalie Hansen.  I had taken classes with Natalie (see a cute interview, photos & some of her jewelry designs HERE) in Dallas at The Gilded Life (held in the amazing Church turned Home/Art Studio) & we have been at Events hosted by Kim Caldwell together but, this time we went to visit Natalie in her stomping grounds.  We had so much fun having lunch & shopping.  After leaving Natalie Joy, Tina (a new friend met through Joy) & I headed to Jessie’s Grove Winery.

Joy was into the spirit while the huge OLD BARN was the back drop.  We did a little wine tasting & found a few we really liked. Cindy & I swear Joy NEVER takes a bad picture.

This winery is so pretty with all the old trees & there is so much history here.  I had borrowed a book from Joy about  this family & their struggle to keep the family farm.  We bought our wine & headed back to The Delta are where our hubby’s were waiting.

A very interesting area where the Sacramento River & San Joaquin Rivers meet before emptying into the San Francisco Bay.  The water ways are HUGE with amazing boats of all types & sizes.  It is a huge area where many crops are grown & shipped all over the United States.  The soil is fertile, the climate mild, water is readily available for irrigating & the crops are yummy!

We went out with Joy & her hubby on their boat & enjoyed an amazing afternoon.  See how wide that river is…

We docked & went into a little Marina for lunch.  The poor puppies had to stay outside (we thought we’d be able to bring them on the patio but, NO!).  I can tell you Joy’s DUKE barked & told management his thoughts on separation anxiety.  Elle was left on the bed in the boat & wiggled so much that the carrier had dumped to the floor when we got back… After that the two of them had a great time being out on the boat with us.

Duke & Tina

Daddy & Elle (she has quiet the life doesn’t she?)

Huge bridges spanning the river that you can go under.

Bridges too short so you have to radio the operator to open them.  Fascinating!

I wish I had taken more photos of the houses built along the river.  Sooooooooooooo charming most of them.  Each with a dock out back & swimming platforms.

Thank you Joy for hosting us in this fun wonderful place.  We got to see a totally different side of California here.  We loved meeting Tina & Mark.  Natalie… I can’t wait to see you again at the next event… better yet, let’s plan an event here in Texas & have you come out here to teach!  If there are any of you in the DFW Metroplex that would like to have something like that please let me know so I can start an email list to notify you as I really do want to do something here in Texas for those of you who can’t travel so far.  Leave me a comment with your information or send me an email. 
In the meantime… enjoy this cooler, rainy day we’re having.
HUGS! Charlene

San Francisco Here We Come

Fun old Art Poster shows the next stop on our California Vacation
After leaving the Nipomo, San Luis Obispo, Shell Beach area we headed north to visit my sweet friend Leslie whom I met at my first Kim Caldwell Art Event Les Sierens in 2009.  I got to hook up with Leslie again this year at Kim’s Event Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  Below is a shot of us & we were so happy to see each other again.

We had kept in touch from the very beginning.  Talking about our lives, dogs, everything.  We were supposed to spend 2 days there but, hotel issues arouse & we only got one evening together.  She & her hubby Vassilii picked us up at the hotel & just as they got there… the sun disappeared.  Leslie kept apologizing for the fog.  My hubby kept telling her “Don’t worry I’ve been in Texas with WAY more sunshine than I needed” but, she was still so sad we couldn’t enjoy pretty weather in her beautiful city.

They took us up to twin peaks & the sun played Peek A Boo.

Elle got to meet Leslie’s sweet fur baby (I should say fur BALL).  Elle had never met someone with bigger hair than she had…. She thought him pretty handsome!  What a sweet boy he is!

Famous places FLEW by……

See the girl on the bike above & the car below.

Love the architecture!

The streets go up & down!

We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant called The Original Joe’s.  We put the puppies in a bag, threw a scarf over it & took them in with us.  They were quiet & good as gold while we had a wonderful dinner!

The church across the street was stunning.  That beautiful blue house divine. The park was so interesting. 

Back in the car & headed to Coit Tower.  I saw that in Ben’s season of The Bachelor & it was stunning I was so excited to see it…  I borrowed the photo below as it shows how it is set out on the point of The Bay with Alcatraz in the background.

Here’s my photo’s

The beautiful night sky.

I loved the flag blowing in the wind.


A beautiful night with a beautiful moon… Beautiful friends are such a blessing.  Thank you Leslie & Vassilii we can’t wait to come back next year & spend more time in your amazing city.  Have a great weekend.
Hugs!  Charlene