Out of our Bubble...

...Hubby surprised me with a little get-away this week.  At first I thought he was joking or just talking but no! He wanted to take me to Sebastopol and to the ocean to get a breath of salt air. It's been a stressful time with deaths in our family & illness for us and others, so it was nice to get out of our bubble. He wouldn't listen to my protests & lists of things to do.  I'm so glad he didn't.
A few years ago we set out for Sebastopol after a get-away stay in Petaluma but taking a different turn (wrong turn) we ended up at Point Reyes Lighthouse & Drake's Bay.  I blogged about that get-away too. Click HERE to see that post & video. I'll share my photos, even though most were taken from our moving vehicle.
On our way to Jenner we made a detour to visit Occidental, home of the The Union Hotel.  My late Mother-in-Law used to go there when she was a little girl. His family used to take the long windy drive from San Francisco just to eat a dinner of duck at this out of the way tiny town on the Bohemian Hwy. It opened in 1879. They no longer serve duck but do still serve family style Italian food. Just click on the picture below to read more about it.

We went into a few beautiful shops, actually there are only a few, because this town is tiny.  I'd like to go back one day to eat at the Union Hotel or Nigri's Italian Family Style Dinners We then headed to the coast to Jenner to get some of that salt air.  The drive & the day were gorgeous. 

*used a zoom

Jenner, CA

And we found a few surprising places...

"Amusements" Park ?

Monte Rio is on the Russian River

When we entered this fork in the road & I read the sign I have to admit that I felt like I entered the Twilight Zone, not a Wonderland, suddenly feeling like a character in a horror movie, potential victim actually. Silly as it seems, I'm glad we are keeping to the right! haha If anyone knows & loves this place forgive me & please tell me it's not creepy.  Certain towns and places in this neck of the woods give off a "Alfred Hitchcockie" kind of vibe to me, a "disturbance in the force".  Then, coincidentally, when we were eating supper, the couple in back of us were talking about the same thing.  I'm not the only person that feels this way! The man was telling the woman that "There are roads you wouldn't want to go down around here."  Not that I was eavesdropping but we were the only people in the cafe at the time (eating a late lunch/early dinner) and the food was so good we weren't talking at our table!  Popping into the  East West Cafe in Sebastopol was a tasty treat. Hubby is still talking about his Lamb Kabobs. 

When checking out of the hotel a local free travel/area magazine caught my eye.  My right brain quickly noticing a man painting on the front.  That man/artist is Thomas Arvid. Inside was a really nice article about him and his art. He paints realistic wine inspired paintings, bottles, corks, etc... Click on his name to view his bio & art. Anyway I grabbed 3 free local info magazines for the Wine Country, Sonoma & Napa Counties. 

Last night I read them all then cut them up so I could throw them away.  (The way I deal with my magazine addiction. haha) I made a collage from what I found in these periodicals.  Using Golden Matte Medium I glued my cutouts to heavy card-stock.  If you plan to do this using the same medium beware that the paper grabs right to the card-stock so there is no moving around once you lay it down.  I laid it out before I glued it down. Now I can print it out or re-cut the pieces out & use mounted on the card-stock. That is what I might do if I make a little memory book from our trip. Speaking of bookmaking, stop by next Thursday for Ta Da Thursday! 

 I scanned it after it was dry and cleaned it up a little. 

You are free to use this page. Print or for inspiration.

So next time you are on a adventure don't overlook those free area guides! 

They are great for inspiration, art projects, mixed media, collage, journal or scrapbook projects!

Just right click on the picture and save to your computer.

If you use it, please don't forget to share your creation with me and I will share whatever I end up creating with this collage page.

God Bless & Thanks for stopping by!

Nan Nanna Nan Nanna....

A silly page in one of my journals

My son is at the recording studio today. He was nervous because he is laying down the drum track without the entire band. He also plays the guitar & has written a beautiful song but he thinks it needs a little something. That got us talking & joking around about how many songs become hits that have "Nan Nanna Nan...", "doo doo doo" or "la la la la" in the lyrics. Everyone can sing that in the shower & it gets stuck in your head. Then I saw this video today on tv this morning. Another Nan Nanna Nan... song! The Care Bears On Fire I love how these cute baby girls used painting in their video! It was fun trying to name all the hit songs we knew with those lyrics. How many can you think of? Dang it! Now it's stuck in my head! Nan Nanna Nan Na.....

Sunday Shout Outs & Surprises

"Peaceful"
Now listed in my Etsy Shop.

A few Sunday Shout Outs... Thank you to Split Rock Ranch for being my top dropper for June! Be sure to stop by her blog. Thank you to Terraworks for including my Angel in her Modern Folk Art Etsy Treasury. Her clay work is a must see! Thanks to Kelly at Love Is My Religion for the MeMe Blog Award! Surprise! Kelly has a wonderful blog & whimsical art. Another must see! The rules are to share 7 things about myself & pass to 7 other people. Here are 7 things other than what is down below at the bottom of my blog & on this previous post:
1. I'm the only one in my immediate family with blonde hair & blue eyes. I've been told I'm not adopted even though I've often pondered the thought. haha
2. I can eat an entire can of jalapeno peppers & still want more.
3. I've taken a ride in a hot air balloon once, on an elephant twice and I am terrified of heights & bridges.
4. I've have been to 37 states and stood in 4 at the same time.
5. I have a hard time throwing away a glass jar. When I have too many a jars in the cabinet, a fairy shows up and makes some of them magically disappear. I've never caught that fairy. I miss the jars when they are gone.
6. At age 5 I was in a parade and twirled the baton.
7. I love to cook and I'm not afraid to try anything strange. There may be a few exceptions but not many.
My 7 choices to pass the award to are:
The Charming Place ; Trial & Error; Groggy Froggy ; WallFlower Studio; Magic Markings Art ; Tattoo Dreams; & Happy Shack Designs.

My First Zine!

What's a Zine you say? It's a tiny 8 page magazine, card or book made from 1 piece of paper. This was so much fun!! I did a Old Fashioned Bee theme and have listed some for sale on Etsy. I had to come up with all the things to put on the page, then it was hours of frustration trying to get it to print out right! I used 110lb card stock. When I finally got it right, I added ribbon, antiqued the edges and added glitter to the bees wings. I have some other themes in mind to do. These are cool cards but are little gifts in & of themselves. Little tags, gift cards or notes could be stuffed into the open edges on a few of the pages. These would be great for altered art !
I need a bone folder asap! I love folding paper! When I was little and lived in Japan I was an origami geek! I had origami paper all over my room! I have forgotten most of it but I still can make cranes!