Weekend Whimsy: Kelly Purkey and Amy Tan Workshop

When my parents asked what I wanted for my birthday, I knew exactly what to say.  I was dying to sign up for the Kelly Purkey / Amy Tan workshop at Our Paper Place, but it cost more than I could justify spending while my husband is unemployed.  The money my parents gave me paid the registration fee with some left over to go toward my 40 Things.  What a wonderful gift!

The big day finally arrived last weekend.  Amanda met me there.  Our Paper Place is about midway between us, about a 90 minute drive to each of us.  We haven't seen each other in person since we traveled together to CHA in January 2011.  It was great to catch up and so fun to craft together.  From left: me, Kelly Purkey, Amy Tan, and Amanda.

Our day consisted of 4 classes.  First, Amy taught two layouts.  Here are her samples:

 

 Fun, colorful, bright and busy.  In other words, not my style AT ALL.  But that wasn't the point.  Half the fun of a class is trying things that are outside my comfort zone, using techniques I never use, and playing with supplies that aren't normally in my repertoire.  Amy was an excellent teacher and I loved hearing her ideas and learning about her process.

I didn't bring photos with me to the class, so I didn't add titles or journaling either.  Here's how my layouts looked when her class ended:

I'll probably add photos and finish the layouts eventually, but it's also possible I won't.  As I said, for me, the experience wasn't about the finished projects.

For our next class, Kelly taught two layouts.  Here are her samples:

 

Kelly has a cleaner, simpler style than Amy does.  But she uses a lot of misting, stamping, and embossing techniques that make her style quite different from mine.  Which is great, because it meant that there was plenty for me to learn and try.  

I've only taken a handful of classes over the years, but what I've learned about myself is that I'm not capable of simply following along.  I use the techniques the instructor is showing, but I put my own twist on them.  With Amy's first class, I actually did follow along fairly well, but by the time we got to Kelly's first class, my own creativity was bursting out.  For example, Kelly demonstrated applying a small amount of mist to a piece of Hambly patterned paper, then rubbing it off.  The chevron pattern acted as a resist and the colors blended to stain the background.  I tried the technique, which was fun, but then I flipped the paper over to the B-side and did my own thing.  So much more me!

I loved the look of misting through a piece of Studio Calico die cut paper.  I loved it so much that when Amy later asked us to cut up that paper to use for another project, I chose not to.  I'd much rather keep the paper whole to use as a mask again in the future.

For the third class, Amy taught some techniques to alter her Daybook.  

 

 She demonstrated a technique of blowing watercolor paint.  I did my own thing (again).  I used the paints to alter the cover and most of the pages, added a bunch of stickers, and then the title of "Play."  I'll use this book to try out new (potentially messy) techniques.  

 

For the final class, Kelly taught us how to make a 5x5 mini.  Here is Kelly's book.  The rest of the class made one that looked like hers.

But not me.

I did my own thing on all of the interior pages too.  I had a blast.  I'll definitely be making more of these in the future.  They have great gift potential!

  

We all posed together after the event, of course!    

What a fun and inspiring day!   

Weekend Whimsy: 40 Things

Last Monday, I celebrated my 40th birthday.

My plan is to spend the next year (3/12/12 through 3/11/13) trying 40 new things.  My hope is that I will go places I've never been, eat things I've never tasted, cook things I've never made, and try crafts I've never attempted.

First, what I will not be doing: 

• I will not be skydiving or climbing a mountain.  No marathons or gross-out foods.  None of those are things I want to do, and the whole point is trying things that appeal to me.  Those don't.  
• I also won't be traveling great distances this year.  There are plenty of places in the world I've never seen that I'd like to visit, but with my husband Steve out of work and my son Trevor's school schedule, we have neither the time nor the money. 

So what will I be doing?  Most of my items are very simple and totally ordinary things that I have never done but have always wanted to try.  They are mostly inexpensive and are things that Steve and Trevor and/or friends can do with me.  You can see the beginnings of my list here.  

I wanted to start my 40 Things off with a bang, so on the morning of my birthday we headed out to accomplish the first item on the list.

1. Have a 40 Mile Adventure

This was a suggestion from my friend Michelle.  We got in the car, set the trip odometer to 0, and drove until we hit 40 miles.  Here's the scene, exactly 40 miles from our house:

FYI, I took this picture leaning forward from the back seat.  Steve was driving.  It looks like no one is driving, but you can see his shoulder in the corner of the picture and the top of his head in the rearview mirror.

We hit 40 miles just a few yards past the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.  I've been there several times and ate lunch there for my 31st birthday (YUM!), so while it is an awesome place, it didn't fit the criteria of somewhere I'd never been.  We continued on and stopped at the Petrified Forest in Calistoga, CA.  I've never been there, but have always wanted to.  Perfect!

 

Over 3 million years ago, a volcanic eruption 7 miles to the northeast leveled the trees here.  Water holding silicates from the ash seeped down into the gaps of the tree fibers.  Over time, each cell of wood was replaced by crystalized silica and the trees became stone.

This place was totally cool!  The 'trees' (now stone) were so beautiful and so interesting.  Steve got some great pictures, including this one:

 

During the rest of our 40 Mile Adventure, we did some geocaching, searched for an appropriate sign and took the "40" picture at the top of this post, browsed at Dean and Deluca, ate an amazing lunch (more on that later), played at a park, and visited an iconic statue I'd never seen up close (more on that later too).   

2. Eat at Thomas Keller's Famous Restaurant

OK, so the original goal on my list was to eat at The French Laundry, probably the most famous and well-respected restaurant in the United States.  We did not do that.  Steve had offered to take me there for my birthday (before we knew about the layoff), but I turned him down.  My Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is under control with medication, but I still have to be very cautious about what and how much I eat, or I end up with unbelievable pain that lasts for days.  The French Laundry has a prix fixe menu, so I wouldn't be able to order just a small amount of food.  Reservations need to be made far in advance, which doesn't work well for me anymore either.  I never know when flare-ups will come and I'll have no interest in eating.

So instead of The French Laundry, we ate at Thomas Keller's OTHER famous California restaurant, Bouchon.  I am so glad we did!  The food was amazing.  Since it was lunchtime, it was more affordable than dinner would have been.  

Our waiter made Trevor an off-the-menu sparkling lemonade concoction that was so delicious and refreshing!  I couldn't resist sharing.

 

For the three of us, we ordered one appetizer, one bowl of soup, and one entree.  It was the perfect amount of food.  Our appetizer was a potato gratin with bacon and reblochon cheese.  It was piping hot, gooey, rich, and amazing.

Our soup was cream of onion and mushroom.  It was perhaps the best soup I've ever had... and I don't even like mushrooms!

Our entree was a pan-seared flatiron steak with carmelized shallots and a herb butter.  Oh my gosh.  So good.

It wasn't The French Laundry, but now I can say I've eaten one of the best meals of my life at a Thomas Keller restaurant.

3. Try a Macaron 

Next door to Bouchon is Bouchon Bakery.  Among other things, they are famous for their macarons.  Amanda suggested I add "try a macaron" to my list of 40 things, so we picked up three macarons from the bakery.  We were way too full to eat another bite, so we got them to go.  We got chocolate, raspberry, and salted caramel.

 

We ate them a few hours later.  Yum!  They weren't quite what I was expecting, but they were definitely good.  We each tried all three.  My favorite was the raspberry, Steve's was the caramel, and Trevor's was the chocolate.  

4. Visit the Grapecrusher Statue

As we were driving, I mentioned how I've never stopped at the Grapecrusher Statue at the intersection of Hwy 29 and Hwy 128, despite driving past it hundreds of times.  So we stopped!  Now I can say that I've been there.  I learned that it was made by Gino Miles and erected in 1987.  It is dedicated to workers who labor in the vineyards.

 

It was larger than I thought!

 

5. Eat at an Afghan Restaurant

After our amazing lunch and macarons, I wasn't very hungry at dinnertime.  But we'd already made plans to accomplish another item on my list- eat at an Afghan restaurant.  I've read several books about Afghanistan in the past few years and realized I don't know as much about it as I should.  We have an Afghan restaurant in town that always seems to be bustling, so when I started brainstorming my list it was one of the first things I added.  

We met our friends Carl, Courteney and Kylinn at the restaurant.  My thought was that we'd order a few entrees and eat family style so that I could try as many different things as possible.  I didn't really know what to expect.  As it turns out, much of the food was familiar to me.  Some dishes were very similar to Indian food, while others had a lot in common with the Greek and Lebanese foods I've had before.  We ended up ordering chicken tikka masala, chicken tandoori, eggplant, and naan.  It came with saffron rice and salad.    

It turns out that I like Afghan food!  It was flavorful and well-seasoned, but not one bit spicy.  It was piping hot and perfectly cooked.  They were out of falafel, which somehow I've never tried (another item on my list).  We'll definitely be back.

I'm still looking for suggestions of things to add to my list!  I have 40 on it, but it never hurts to have extra ideas in case some become impossible.  One of the top items on my list was to finally take the tour at Scharffen Berger Chocolate, which has been on my to-do list for years.  Alas, they no longer offer tours.  So I welcome any and all ideas!  As I accomplish more items on my list, I'll be blogging about them at my personal blog, www.cindyderosier.com.

Weekend Whimsy: Boys of Fall

I'm not really sure what it is that first attracted me to Football. Maybe it was always the "hot" guys, perhaps it’s the sweat, the passion, the fight, the grit, or maybe even the smell of the grass. Whatever it is, I know one thing - I’m a total football girl. From Thursday - Monday Night from August - January the only thing I think about is FOOTBALL.

It started at a young age, watching my brother play while my Mom & Dad volunteered our Saturdays away. Now I am the one volunteering my Saturday’s away for the local Pop Warner Football league. I often tease and say it’s my Legacy. On any given Saturday from September - November, I can be found lying in the grass taking photos as the kids swoon past me scoring touchdowns, stopping plays, or causing fumbles. I love being the one in the end zone that the kids look at and say "Did you get it?"



That passion carries on into college football. If I can’t watch the local college teams play live, I spend my free time on Saturday Nights and Sunday’s parked in a chair next to my Daddy and his DVR catching up. Call it deep rooted southern tradition. Call it passion for the game. I call it Daddy/daughter bonding time.

On August 25, I watched my son play his first junior varsity game. The pride that swept over me as I watched him score his first touchdown was overwhelming. He has played since he was 7, but every time he takes the field, a part of me steps out there with him. I captured this off his Facebook status as he prepared for this week’s game:

"23 hours I’ll be on the field waiting for that football to be kicked off butterflies in my body but as soon as that ball is in the air they will rush out and the Brighton everyone else knows will leave with them and for the next 2 hours I will be a different person all for my 1 and only true love...FOOTBALL"

Tonight I posted photos from the game, and again my heart skipped a beat when my photos end up as the "profile" photos for the Boys of Fall!

Weekend Whimsy: Staying Creative on Vacation

For the past 11 days, I've been here:

Sea Princess, docked in Victoria B.C.

Dyea, Alaska.  Those lumps in the water are salmon jumping.

Tracy Arm Fjord

We had a wonderful vacation aboard the Sea Princess.  We traveled round-trip from San Francisco, stopping in Victoria B.C., then Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, Alaska.  We saw whales, bald eagles, and a grizzly bear.  We panned for gold and rode a sled pulled by a team of dogs that included Iditarod veterans.  We ate a lot.  This was my fourth time cruising to Alaska.  I highly recommend Princess Cruises and the Inside Passage in general.

I've never brought crafting supplies with me on a cruise.  Taking scrapbook stuff is out of the question- I'd need too many things, I wouldn't have space to work, and I'd risk damaging my supplies.  But taking a different sort of small project sounded doable.

For months, I've been wanting to try drawing a mandala.  Mandalas are basically abstract designs based on a series of concentric circles.  Drawing them is supposed to be relaxing- sort of an organized, calming form of doodling.  All you need is paper, a ruler, and a compass.  That would be simple to fit in my luggage.  And since I wasn't flying, I didn't have to worry that the TSA would consider my compass a lethal weapon.  I carried my supplies with me pretty much the entire cruise, so whenever I had a few minutes, I pulled out my stuff.

The first step to making a mandala is to use the ruler to find the center of the paper.  Then use the compass to draw a series of concentric circles.  There's no rhyme or reason to this- do as many as you want, as close together as you want. 

Starting with the inner circle, fill in with doodles.  Use circles, triangles, teardrops, waves, whatever, just as long as everything is repeated and symmetric.  Keep going until your design is complete.  Here's the first one I finished:

And here it is after I colored it:

I have to admit, drawing the mandala was not as relaxing as I'd hoped.  I was trying too hard to create something pretty instead of just doodling mindlessly.  Coloring it was very relaxing though.

I ended up making two more mandalas.  These were much more relaxing.  I think that, just like anything, it takes practice before it is familiar enough to be relaxing.

I asked my husband, parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew if they would like to make one and let me show it on the blog.  Incredulous looks and semi-polite no-thank-yous.  Sigh.  Thank goodness for Trevor, who was just as eager as I was to try a new form of art.  He'd never used a compass before, so it was especially exciting for him.  Here's his mandala:

Have any of you tried mandala?  Any other suggestions for staying creative while on vacation?

Weekend Whimsy: Do you pin?

Pinning is all the rage.... have you heard?!   I'm totally addicted.  If you haven't seen Pinterest yet... go check it out!

You'll find great stuff like this:

Source: scrapbookandcardstodaymag.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

And this:

Source: kellypurkey.typepad.com via Amanda on Pinterest

And this:

Source: lovintheoven.com via Amanda on Pinterest

If you already are pinning... let me know, I'm always looking for more boards to follow!

If you haven't joined yet, just send me an e-mail and I'll send you an invite!! :)

Weekend Whimsy: Trevor's Zoo-themed Birthday

As I've mentioned before, I love planning themed parties!  This year, Trevor chose a zoo theme for his birthday.  We always have two parties for Trevor's birthday- an outdoor BBQ for family, then a separate party for his friends.

Unfortunately, this year it was raining on the day of the BBQ, so we had to move the party indoors. We decorated the house with homemade lions, pandas, monkeys, and giraffes.  I made a banner using animal alphabet letters that I found at Goodnight Stories. 

We played a rousing game of Pin the Banana on the Monkey.

(My husband Steve was clearly not the winner.)

We did a word search that had a hidden message inside.

I made a small error when I created the word search.  From now on, "elephany" is a valid word in family Scrabble games.

We played Zoo Animal Memory.  I revealed 20 stuffed animals and gave everyone two minutes to memorize them.  Then I covered them up and everyone had to write down which ones they remembered. 

The kids did two crafts- first, they used zoo stamps and stickers to decorate plain white treat bags, then they made Zoo Animal Shrinky Dinks.  I printed out some zoo animal shapes, which the kids traced onto shrink plastic.  They colored in their designs, cut them out, and punched a hole.  Everyone gathered around the oven to watch the magic! 

Next, it was time to break the Zebra Pinata.  I'd planned to do this outdoors, but because of the rain we ended up in the garage. 

While the kids were breaking the pinata, a few adults stayed inside to hide candy and presents for our traditional candy hunt. 

Finally, we all enjoyed some giraffe cake. 

For the party with Trevor's friends, we kept things a bit more simple.  We played lots of rounds of Animal Bingo.

We played a simpler version of Animal Memory. 

We used the same animal alphabet from his banner to make goodie bags.

And we served cupcakes inspired by Betty Crocker.

I had a great time planning Trevor's zoo-themed parties!  It was a really easy theme (in contrast to the Maze Party I did last year!) and it turned out really well.  Most importantly, Trevor loved them.