Seasonal Post Number One for 2016

Well, in a quick and dirty update, we travelled across the country, and back, and it was glorious. But it took a whole month and then some (27 days), and consequently I only now feel like I'm somewhat catching up...

Arizona, near the Mexican border

Much of the country we drove through looked like that--huge skies bounded by low but highly photogenic mountains, with flatlands of drought in between (I was struck by how the plants positioned themselves for maximum water intake). Hugely gorgeous and mysterious to this wetlands Swiss/Western Coast girl...

Southern California, right over the Coast Range, with ocean--more familiar landscape!

Well, suffice it to say that lots has been going on--including in my business life. I started with PickleBerryPop, which is where all my commercial use products can be found as well. These are my newest products--and I have a totally new Collection coming out tomorrow, as well!

Oops!

Vintage 3 - Commercial Use Brushes

And, I'm starting a newsletter! Knowing me, it will be more of a random thing featuring coupons and freebies and updates on scrapbooking, art, photography, jewelry--you know, everything in one place. Anyway, to subscribe, just click the link in the right-hand column all the way at the top, or use this handy link: http://eepurl.com/bUuxDX . I still have to get a list going--right now I only have 2 subscribers... one of which is me. *giggles*

Hope you have a most wondrous weekend! We're having actual sun today, for the first time in a while...

Happy Times!

Oh, what a beautiful day today! We went a little south to the Sea Lion Caves, where Steller sea lions come to spend their breeding season, beaching out either along the cliffs, or within the largest mainland sea cave in the world (? I'm always dubious of these claims). It was a bit chilly and breezy, but wow, we haven't see that yellow thing in the sky for quite a while, it seems, and it was all worth it!

In the distance there you can see the Heceta Head Lighthouse, and a little lower to the right, the Heceta Lighthouse B&B (run by our friends Michelle & Steven Bursey, who also run the awesome Ona Restaurant here in town). Down on the left you can see clumps of sea lions who have hauled out. How they can seem so comfortable on those rocks is beyond me!! The noise is phenomenal, especially now that the bulls have started arriving. Fun times, I tell you! The caves are underneath all this rock, and are dim, noisy, and stinky. But fascinating nonetheless!

Anyway, in celebration of the (brief) return of the sun, and a springtime lightening of the heart, here's my new kit Happy Times (and yes, I sewed all those!):








And oh my, the layouts:
By Romy:

By Helen:

By Mary:

By Chris:

And even a black and white one using uncolored brushes, by Ulla-May:

Amazing, no? And there are so many more I couldn't include... Anyway, 20% off through Monday. I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with the people and the weather you like most!

I'm baaaaack!

Actually, I got back 4 days early, because DH had the flu the whole time. He was miserable, poor guy!

We managed to have a little fun, though. DH and Allen took the sleeper-train down to Sacramento, and once we all woke up, we went to the California Train Museum there.

Almost too much for the little boy--he ended up spending lots of his time with the wooden train play sets, and watching the toy train layout!

Once we got to San Francisco, Allen and I went to the Exploratorium, where they have a ton of scientific experiments the kids can perform.

Allen particularly enjoyed playing with light and shadows, and building circuits. He did NOT like the Tactile Dome, though, which is a maze through a windowless, light-less dome. We made it about 15 steps through that.

We also went on a Bay Cruise--rode a tourist boat under the Golden Gate Bridge, then saw the backside of Alcatraz Island, the famous erstwhile federal penitentiary.

And of course we had a great view of the San Francisco skyline!

We even got to see sharks in the bay, and ran over a couple of jellyfish. That same day, we waited in line an hour (!!!!!!) to take a totally crowded cable car ride.

Not exactly worth it, and we got a huuuuge sunburn on our nose!

One other trip we too was to the Academy of Sciences, which is mostly a huge aquarium, with a tropical rain forest habitat dome too. Not sure what we're looking at here. *lol*

During our stay we stayed at a fantastic hotel in Japantown, Hotel Kabuki--right next to the big mall they have. It was absolutely GORGEOUS (and, they take dogs!).

I just loved the screen system they had in front of the sliding door leading to the balcony (this is the view from said balcony, overlooking the "mall").

And the art and patterns made everything so tranquil; they also had a lovely meditation garden on the Lobby floor. But I was mostly doing stuff with kidlet, and never even managed to go explore or shop in there. Wah!

It was a long drive back, but we did get to see Grandmama in Mt. Shasta on the way back, which was a nice bonus.

And now that I've cleaned up the cat mess, done 23 loads of laundry (more or a lot less *giggle*), and taken DH to the emergency clinic (where he works *lol*) to be sure that he was really going to get better, I'm ready to design!

Sale ends tonight, by the way (Wed.). And look what a beauty I found in the Digichick Gallery, by one of the Hybrid Chicks, Sylvia, with my 3PM kit:

Isn't that just gorgeous??

Hope you guys all had a great week!