Halloween Banner

Even thought the weather has been very crazy for all in San Diego, I've been working on creating Halloween Decorations. This past weeek we had one day that hit over 100 in my neighborhood. It hasn't been that hot here since we purchased the house 1 1/2 years ago. Then a few days later I thought I was back in Ohio. It was warm all day with rain and thunder and lightning that lasted all day long! It was so much fun!

I got a head start with this banner by purchasing a banner at Michaels and recreating it. This hangs over my fireplace in the family room.

Daytripping in San Diego With Lorraine

Aren't we crazy? Lorraine and I had a great visit to Cedros Avenue on last Sunday. We went to the Mermaid Mercantile at the shell shop, had a tasty vegetarian lunch at the Zinc Cafe and then headed down the street to the Leaping Lotus, one of our favorite haunts. As you can see, Halloween was in the air and we caught the bug.

Mary's Fairytale House

My girlfriend Mary has a fabulous house in the Lake Oswego area of Portland. Isn't it sweet! She has a green thumb and her garden is beautiful. And the inside of the house is just as wonderful as the outside.

I LOVE PORTLAND!

Well this post is a few days late, given that I arrived in Portland almost a month ago, but I had such a great time I had to post a few pics. Portland is such a crazy place and I feel so at home there! Cars like this are perfectly normal in Portland, and I want one!

Ballerina Cupcake

Yesterday Lorraine came over for the start of what we hope will be many days of our "Cupcake Factory". We created the first group of cupcakes to list in our etsy shop (still have to create the shop - more news to come on that). I think we made about ten little mixed media confections to sell. This one is my personal favorite!

How About This Cake Sylvia Made!

This beautiful Crepe Paper Cake was created by Sylvia and part of the my Summer Swap Gift Package. It is decorated with music paper, lace, ribbon, flowers, shells, birds and more. And the Cake Topper is a Clear Cinderella Shoe! I love this cake.

Vintage Summer Swap

Swapping can be so much fun! I have started to enter swaps where you exchange handmade goods and gift items with a theme, and they are one-on-one swaps where I get to prepare a wonderful package for my swap partner. For the Vintage Summer Swap I was paired up with a lovely lady from Texas, Sylvia Smith. You can visit her blog at apinkheaven.blogspot.com. If you visit it you will see the goodies that I sent to her!

They say it's better to given than receive, and I admit, I really had a blast creating items for Sylvia, but how much fun is it when a HUGE box of fabulous items is delivered to your door! I LOVE the items Sylvia made and purchased for me. Below you can see a sample. But what you won't be seeing are the yummy edible treats because I ate them before I could even take a photo!