We just came home from a whirlwind trip down to Southern California, to visit our family and old friends over Easter. It was so warm and sunny down there, just look at that blue sky!
My Aunt lives near China Town (one of our favorite old haunts in Los Angeles), and suggested we take a visit together to check out all of the eye-popping colors that they recently painted the buildings. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.
(I took these photos with my iphone. I'm so amazed at how well it captured all of the saturated colors. I'm terribly hooked on this gadget!)
Last week I was having a blast in the PaPaYa! studio wrapping gifts with the new line of fine wrapping papers to photograph for the catalog and web. Two things that really are my cup of tea! (Take a peek at the product gallery to see more.)
On a totally different creative spin... I've realized, now that we're living in the sunbelt of Oregon I'm really feeling ready to roll up my sleeves and get my creative gardening mojo back in check. To kick things off the new house has officially been Christened with the addition of a new doe inspired miniature garden on our back patio. Total whimsy!
They turned out better than my wildest expectations. I adore them so much, I want to plaster them everywhere! I designed the cherry blossom lanterns, and Miss fishy paper. Anahata designed the lotus blossoms, birds, and woodland forest themed papers. There is also a lovely paper designed by Pamela Garrison shown below (bottom/left). They're all so amazing, and coordinate so well together.
I can't wait until I can experiment with all of these great patterns, I keep thinking something needs to get decoupaged this weekend. Maybe a chair? (I love this one by as art up via flickr.)
It's been a rainy Saturday, so my photos are a bit fuzzy in my haste to take and post a few snippets of our new place.
Living in a furnished vacation rental with only a few of my things for the past two months, I realized which possessions really were important to be able to function in day to day life. A whole lifetime of accumulated odds and ends, and all it ended up coming down to was my computer and clothes! When everything was out of sight I didn't miss a thing. But now reunited with all of my long lost treasures in a vintage home that reminds me so much of the California Bungalow we worked so hard to restore, I've been feeling so blissed out by the comforts of home again. Pink lanterns swaying in the garden, my bright blue tea kettle sitting on the stove, the house filled with my yellow canary's songs, and the constant whir of the washing machine. Oh yeah... I'm definitely feeling like I'm getting settled in now!
It's great to be back online finally too, oh the joys of high speed internet.
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P.S. Be sure to check out my sister's recent "15 minutes of Fame"... I just love the cover photo, she's too cute!
