Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to the ocean I go!

Hi all,
By the time you all read this I will be sitting on the mendocino coast watching the waves roll in and out and
hoping the fog will  also be rolling out but not in, lol.
For the next week my days will be filled with sea air, sunsets, grandchildren and family, the best things of life.
I'll be back soon with lots of tide pool and sea foam photos,

Paris frame of mind

Hi all, of course those who know me well, know that I am always in a Paris frame of mind, lol.
But today even more melancholy for my wonderful city of lights.
So I will sit with my cup of hot chocolate today and dream.....

talk to you soon,

Art and the City!

view from treasure island

Hi all,
My trip to San Francisco last week was amazing!
The views, the ocean, the art...... should I say more?
And I didn't even mention the Giants game at one of the most picturesque ball parks in America!
(which they won by the way)
It was a bit bizarre though with a temperature of 98 degrees, which San Franciscans are not prepared for at all! We actually had been hoping for a bit of fog but none was to be found, lol.
But plenty of blue sky, gorgeous sparkling water and sweet scented sea air filled our senses to perfection and that is a keeper.
Enjoy the photos,

gorgeous!

georgia o'keefe

chihuly, amazing glass artist!

so romantic

waters edge towards alcatraz

att park

my fav player on the giants, andres torres

And the winner is.....

Congrats to Joann in New York!
I've always wanted to visit that big city and to know that my little package is on it's way there is exciting, makes me feel like a bit of me is going there too :)
Joann also has a blog and it's called "vintage dragonfly", so when you get a chance, fly on over there and check out her posts, you'll be happy you did.
Enjoy the lavendar Joann,

Lavendar fields forever and giveaway! I'll pick a winner Saturday, the 21st.

Hi all,
Hope you enjoyed my last post all about tags and the great shops on etsy that were featured, if you've never created any on your own, just try it sometime. They are pretty quick, simple and fun. And when you need a gift tag for that someone special, voila! you are ready to go :)

Now on to the Lavendar!!!

And yes I know the common spelling of lavendar usually is spelled with "er" at the end. And I guess now in our modern age, it is considered obsolete to spell it with the "ar" spelling, but myself and many others are trying to bring the romantic old world spelling back, so lavendar with an "ar" it is for me.

Last weekend my daughter Juliet and I visited some of  our family who live in Mt. Shasta, California and one of our excursions for the day was to visit the near by lavendar farm, and what a lovely excursion we had.
The trip from their house is about 20 minutes away up through the winding roads of open range dotted with mountain brush and livestock with Mt. Shasta looming over the land, still topped with winter snow on it's peaks. Beautiful.
Arriving at the farm is magical, and as we stepped out of the car, the warmth of the day and the light breeze blowing over the valley caused the lavendar aroma to permeate our spirits and our senses full force. We all stopped and took in a deep breathe! Wonderful !
And on top of that, the view was breath taking as well!

Mt. Shasta juts up into the background sky and the valley view of farms and landscape alongside  of rows and rows of lavendar stopped us all in our tracks as we paused and took in the moment.
The owners of the farm have done a lovely job of bringing an European touch with the villa inspired shop and a gorgeous water fountain.  For a moment I actually thought I was back in France!
We got to pick our own lavendar to take home, which was such a treat and ice cold Lavendar lemonade was served to all the visitors, delicious!!!
The farmers were also harvesting the lavendar into oil while we were there visiting and they told us that they only get 6 gallons of lavendar from the whole field each year! Now I know why lavendar oil is a bit pricey.
But well worth it :)

Hope you enjoyed the lavendar farm excursion and the photos, and in honor of such a wonderful trip I am having a lavendar giveaway! Just leave a comment on my blog and your name will be entered into the drawing. I'll include a bit of the lavendar that I picked and some other fun lavendar inspired goodies.
blessings,

Tags and more tags!!!

Hi all,
Some of my etsy friends are really in the tag making mode lately and I just had to do a post today on some of my favorites.  Hope you like them too, and if you do, run over to their etsy shops and check out more.

Here's one of my favs! It's created by GaGa4GiftTags and I definitely am gaga over this shops tags. You may know the creator as SouthernLadysVintage.  I just love how Miss Southern combined the image and the fabric flower on the same tag. Gorgeous!!!

 Another shop that I love is "avintageobsession".  This etsy shop is filled with handmade teddybears,  vintage pocket watches and much more and the tags lately are sooooo cute. Like this french themed tag included with a bit of green French ribbon! Isn't it wonderful? This is a hard one for me to resist, lol.

This next shop is driving me crazy with all it's french inspired creations lately and this collage art tag is no exception. It's from the shop called "tinybeardk".  I totally love the frayed fabric and the stitching around the image. Now this is a tag I would keep for myself! No giving it away on a gift, lol.

This next shop, "ducttapeanddenim" always brings a smile to my face when I visit, and I love how they use vintage photo images in many of their creations. This is a set of Christmas tags (yes, that time of year is coming up quickly, lol) using the sweetest photo image of little children.  Beautiful!


That's just a few of the glorious tags  I've been seeing lately.  If you are interested in seeing more just go to Etsy and type in tags in the selection box.  My team is the cottagestyle team, so if you type cssteam into the selection box it will come up only tags from the cottage team.

Happy tagging,

Train trip to Utah

Hi all,
If you want to take it slow and easy on your next trip, then take the train. I just recently traveled this way on my trip to visit relatives in Utah and even though it was alot of sitting (12 hours) there's just nothing like traveling by the rail. I happily snagged a window seat going both ways and was able to take wonderful photos through the train window. There's not much to see going through Nevada but the ride through the Sierras is amazing and Salt Lake was pretty cool too. I love how on the train everyone is so low key, and there's no checking of your id or what's in your luggage and you can bring all the food and drink you need on board. And if you don't bring your own food there's a cafe and also a reserved seating diner. There's also a observation car that is total windows and has tables so you can play cards or games.
The train host and hostesses are constantly walking down the isles, so it feels pretty safe and there's tons of leg room and huge seats to sit in!
So if you ever need a bit of stress free travel and you also have the time, I highly recommend the rail.
Here are some of my photos, maybe they'll inspire you to take a trip sometime.
talk to you soon,
deborah

It's a "Where bloggers create" party!

Hi to all fellow bloggers and wonderful readers!

Today is the "where bloggers create" party and I am so excited to be a part of this amazing group of artists that also blog.
My space at this moment in time is creating at my family room table and all my supplies are stored in my closet.
I also have an old vintage trailer on our property where I store various objects that will one day be restored into treasures. (at least that's what I try to convince my family of, lol)
And if you are a regular reader of my blog you will remember a couple of posts back that my hubby is in the process of building me my very own studio, separate from the house.
But for now it's at my table :)
Hopefully this blogging event today will bring to all of you the knowledge that creating is possible anywhere!

Whether it's at a dining room table, in a closet, in a studio, a living room corner, a spare bedroom etc. if you have the desire to create you can make it happen.

Enjoy my creating space photos and happy blogging to you all,

The above pics are inside of my trailer, I bet some of you would love to dig around and find the good stuff!
I also have my rubber stamp collection in here.

T

This is where I sit and create for now, the chair to the right is exactly where I sit to create magic :)

The closet!

T

There is some organization, at least to my eye :) and the last photo is my future studio space. This will be my view, out to my garden and many gorgeous sunsets.
Hope you enjoyed the photo shoot.