Urban Barn Grand Opening

Over the weekend, the Urban Barn aka La Maison Rustique had their grand opening at their new location in Escondido, California.

Of course, it was one of hottest weekends and made it hard to get out but if you got out there it was worth it to see all the eye candy and all the work the "ladies" of the barn did to pull it all together.

Here's some pics for your enjoyment, as always, I was amazed at all the goodies and how they were fashioned.

They had wine bottles with URBAN BARN labels setup in their cute little snack bar area.

In the back of the warehouse, they were going to have their "blogger party" in the afternoon. It was beautifully decorated with two loooong tables with antique centerpieces. Check out all the paper globes in the ceiling.

Brilliant idea.....little wooden planks with a dollie and a small mason jar for burger sliders and beer tasting. Yee haw!!!

There was a class going on while the shoppers shopped. Julie Nutting was leading a class on her just published in Somerset Paper Couture. Oh so lovely.

There was a vendor faire going on in the side lot with over 20 vendors with plenty of lovelies.

Lisa Loira of Vintagebling4u was their with her cute altered dollies. She is holding a class on how to make these bling babies on August 22 in San Diego. If you are interested, check out her blog.

Retreat Style was at the party with their special look. Man they had some great pieces and wonderful visions of shabby chic.

Of course, Rita of Mammaralle was their with her beautiful wares.

ah Bella!
Tricia Vintage Bliss was their from Arizona with her oh so great fun "stuff". I love shopping with Tricia because she always has something new!

Becky Wimbs had some cute items. I bought a reproduction Mother and child santos...I call it...you can kinda see it next to the lamp. I'll post a pic one of these days.
To top off the party, Urban Barn has a band play in the back of Mary's sweet pickup truck. So fun!

The Urban Barn Grand Opening was sweet.............hope you enjoyed the tour.

What do you do when friends come by to be Creative?

Today was art meetup at my home. Once a month I ask friends to come over and use my stuff to do a project. We were going to do some ATC trading cards but when Kat showed up she asked me what I had been doing. I told her I had taken a soldering class and now realize I need to practice.

She said she wanted to solder and practice too and said "why don't we do that?" Yep that sounds like fun. Kat goes out to her car and brings in her soldering tools!! (Love an organized girl :}

My friend June came and decided she'd opt for soldering too. Julie had a power outage in Solano Beach and got there late and wondered what the heck we were doing? She decided to go with ATC cards (darn it I forgot to take pics of her work) sorry Julie.

We had fun fluxing, soldering, talking and trying not to burn ourselves :} You never know what happens at Art Meetup.

KC Willis is Coming to San Diego!!!

To see more on this class and register go here:

http://studioretreats.ning.com/page/kc-on-the-road

Soldering with Terri Brush

I had a wonderful day today at Mermaid Mermaid Mercantile in Solano Beach. I had signed up to do a Terri Brush soldering class and choose the Sunday class to make either a soldered box or a glass house-shaped shrine.

When I showed up to class today I found out we were going to do BOTH!!! Wow, how cool is that?

Most of the day was spent in designing, collaging and assembling before soldering. In between, shopping, lunch, chatting, laughing and more fun.

I sat across from Kathy from Chicago, Shawn from Northern California and Julie Haymaker Thompson from New Mexico. Last year, Julie had taught us some great techniques in the Sandcastle Siren's Art Retreat. So I was so lucky to meetup with her again and watch her amazing creative process (Yes, Julie it is an amazing creative process.i.e. Cherry Fairy :)

Here's pictures of the class and Terri's Fab Creations:










I went around and took pics of some of the glass boxes as they were being created....take a peak.













Here's my creations....my glass box has a picture of my Mother at the age of 6. I am oh so lucky that she was the first born and my Grandparents had some professional pics taken.



Here is my glass house shrine front and back. I put this picture of my sister and myself in front of my grandparents house. Both dresses made by our Grandmother.




It is fun to be creative with a great group of ladies. Here's to more of that!!

KC Willis Collage Camp BASIC TRAINING

KC Willis, a well-known fabric collage artist who holds retreats at her home in Colorado. She is on the road this summer and luckily we are one of her stops!

KC will be teaching at the Urban Barn. ln this fast-paced one-day class you will learn the basics of fabric collage techniques including aging, photo transfers, laying out for texture, fabric and paper collages for embellishing and adding the bling.

KC is big on empowering and will inspire you with lots of great stories, techniques and information. You will not only leave with a finished project, but also armed to the teeth with motivation.

Join KC in the comfort of the air-conditioned and spacious Urban Barn. A very cool space. Lunch is included. Limited to 12.


This is an example of the type of fabric collage you will be constructing.



$140 class fee
$30 kit fee due at class

To sign-up, visit KC's website.

http://studioretreats.ning.com/page/kc-on-the-road

Chateau de Fleurs Vendor Show in Fallbrook

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Southern California today. I met up with Bonnie and Bonnie and we had a fun day of shopping and being surprised by so much artistic creativity it made me so happy.



Check out some pics......I know you'll be happy too :}














Here's some blogs to check out for more great pictures.

Chateau de Fleur
Mammabellarte
Vintage Bliss
Vintage Bling

Bingo and Belt Buckles

I was working on organizing my studio today but like alot of times I get side tracked....oops :}

I came across a bingo game I bought at an estate sale last month. The box was torn but I did love the graphics. It came with bingo cards dated 1941 and some numbered wooden bingo markers so I know I could use those.



Still I did love the box as it is so vintage so I decided to frame it. I took a old gold frame, painted it white and added a black glaze BINGO...it looked good I think.

I cut and glued the box to fit the frame and BINGO...it's hanging in my studio....love it.





THEN....I continued "organizing" and I found some bling and thought hey I should start working on that belt buckle for my granddaughter's 16th birthay in a week. I found a belt buckle at the thrift store with some rhinestones and thought it would be a great base for "bling".

BEFORE


AFTER


I think it turned out good....have to find a belt to go on the buckle and I'll be done.....hey maybe I can find it "when I organizing" ha ha

Hope you had a creative day.