You Know!

When it came to it I had not many photographs of the Taco Party to report on.

David sent out for some Nachos, Tacos (chicken, beef and cheese), the most wonderful Guacamole, sour cream and all the things that you just love to eat when over here in sunny California.  Of course, there was the obligatory Margaritas as well - Pomegranate ones for a change.

This is the love of my life - Matthew - and my how he has grown.

Maria and Neil - a mixture of Scottish and Irish

Becky and TC - I adore these two

Kim and Neil

and someone who wishes to remain Anonymous

As you can see it spilled out into Mary's retreat, the stamping room and the kitchen and there was more tonight.

Becky & Rob decided to give us a "leaving party" Monday evening so this time it was Italian with the most delicious Spag Bol cooked by Rob.  Unfortunately Mary slept through it so missed all the chatter. tears and fun.

Spaghetti Boy

(No he is not eating fir cones)

Robert, David and Rob

Great I got these two to stand still for me

Another Mystery Guest?

This one looks trouble!

 Uh Oh, the Missus came and  sorted him out - Hey its Rob!

 Unfortunately I did not have my camera and missed out on a photo of Drucie and Tim who called to say goodbye.  Maybe because Drucie had me in tears.

Then I missed out with Kim who looked beautiful.  She had been working until 7.30 pm but still found time to come across the Park and have some food with us when almost everyone had gone.  Needless to say, as soon as I heard the door I knew it was her and the tears came.

Maria and Neil were the last to leave - more tears - mind you Maria had had them on and off most of the night. A super holiday but tinged with sadness that Mary had a fall.  The good news is that we took her to the hospital today and they are going to operate within the week.  Shame I won't be here to take care of her but I will leave part of me with my family in Sylmar.

A Fabulous Day

It was a working day for me today (read Sunday here as I am still in California) but what a fabulous time I had with some old friends (not in age) and some new friends at The Stamping Party.  Maria came over early because Chas and her husband, Neil, were off to the Ronald Reagan Museum (they had a fab time - got a great photo to remember the day by) and helped with all the food.  Because she knows how Mary likes things set out at her parties the food table would not have happened without her.  We opened dips (and I MADE an onion one), crackers, chips (crisps to the UK) etc and I (once again - but with directions from Mary in her bed) made Iced Tea which was soon demolished.  Everyone attending brought food and pretty soon the table was groaning under it all.  We had cookies, cakes, chocolates (someone had made one in the shape of a heart in honour of St Valentine), salads, sandwiches, more dips, the most delicious potato salad, fresh strawberries and choux buns and just about everything you could wish to eat.

After a bit of dipping into the food it was time to start stamping.,  Chas had left without fixing the computer up to the tv so we had a bit of a panic but soon Kim, bless her heart, had it working.  Unfortunately we could not get the volume up so I had to talk it through.  Mary managed to get in her wheelchair to supervise and make sure I did not step out of line.

The girls were divided into small groups and each given a project box which I had prepared for the week before, thankfully with the accident!  Eagerly beavering away they made at least six cards.

Cathy & Kim working on colouring

Maria avoided the camera but Jan gave me a big smile

Carole & Carrie worked diligently

Valetta and Rose look so engrossed

As do Belinda and Sandy

Rose had a break to do some shopping

Whilst Robin carried on regardless

and Karen and Kim studied what they were doing.  Kim, on the right was the computer guru who got us linked to the video - three cheers for Kim!

All in all it was a super day for me and to finish off we all made a little tag book from one piece of 12 x 12 paper.  It was getting late by this time so some ladies took theirs home to decorate with embellishments later.

I did manage to fit in a demonstration with Smooch paints where you drop a little into some water making circles, then smoosh it around and dip your paper in to make pretty marbelled backgrounds.  They all enjoyed this quick demo.

All too soon it was time to go home and so bags were hastily packed and goodbyes said.  I think they enjoyed it and do hope so.  I even entertained them with my pronunciation of "water" with a "t" instead of "wadder" like the Americans pronounce it.  There was one other word but for the life in me I cannot remember what it was.  Some great friendships were formed and we have now been invited, next time we are here, to spend a few days with Jan's friend, Beryl, in North California.

The evening finished off with a raffle, prizes donated by Mary who had the honour of pulling out the winning names and everyone went home with a little gift.  I am sure Mary felt she had had a "full day" but she did so enjoy seeing all the ladies - I hope it perked her up a little but I guess she is now very tired.

Phew!  It was over and only clearing up to do - but hold on to your hats ladies - we then had a call to say David was bringing Tacos over for dinner so another party was soon in full swing.  Think I will leave that until tomorrow to blog as my 'patient' probably needs her bad leg lifting into bed.  She needs tucking up!

Before I go I will leave you with a shot of the 12 Tags of Christmas which Sandy brought along for Mary to see - beautiful work as always from Sandy who does the most amazing books - sadly I did not get time to see any of them this time.

Taco Party tomorrow for you all to see.

What a Day!!!

It is Saturday morning here in America and yesterday was the day of days.  You may remember we were giving a party for Red and Bob, well, 8.15 am Mary and Chas set off for the stores to buy provisions.  One store Mary wanted to get something from did not have it so they went to Smart & Final.

Chas went for a trolley and heard a bump and a shout behind him, turned and Mary was on the floor.  Off to hospital and at 6 pm she returned home with her leg in a splint and a broken knee cap.  Obviously the party was cancelled.  Mary being Mary she is holding it at a later date when she can do it.  That woman is a toughh cookie - the most resilient woman I know.

Now in the throws of organising the Stamping Party for tomorrow, we won't be going to Heather and Joe's Party tonight with the rest of the family but here are the cards I made for them:

It was Heather's birthday on the 7th so I thought I would mention the fact that I am late.

Her dad's birthday is the 13th so no worries there

Not an easy stamp to work with unless you are extra good at colouring so I just did a Distress Ink background - sorry about the quality but I am having trouble scanning so need to photograph everything.

Must get on as I have a lot to do and I would love to see some sunshine (81 outside I was told).

Well ...

The countdown is on, only four more full days to go as on the fifth day we leave around lunchtime for LAX.  I have never known five weeks to go so quickly.Well the tv studio visit did not happen, neither did dinner with Cindee and Warren -" Moi" had problems breathing and we thought I had a cold coming on.  I felt quite fluey. Then Cathy rang yesterday and she had been reading that the hospitals are inundated with folks with similar problems to me.  It is all due to the rain they had before we came, then the hot sun and now the Santana (not sure if that is how it is spelled but that is how it sounds) winds.  Now on the anti-histamines!

That ensures we have to come back next year - we have socialising to do.

Anyway, Cathy's advice was to stay in - so I crafted.  Used up some heart shapes that had been waste from the cards we prepared for Sunday and made my Valentine Cards.  Here in the States they celebrate it more than we do in the UK so I need to send some to my girlfriends over here.

Close up of the two I cased

Carole had been trying to show me an alternative tag book from one sheet of 12 x 12 paper from the one we are doing on Sunday so I had a try and this is what I came up with:

I am going to use it to put photographs of all my American family in (on the brown pieces) with their names written on the oval pieces. You put a tag in the top of the first one, the side of the second, the top of the third and so on - I can fill up with photos of friends I have over here and, hopefully, more I will make on Sunday.

Thought this stamp was appropriate

Now to make a couple more Valentine cards and I am done - got to finish Red's birthday card for tonight's party and make one for Heather for tomorrow night's party (what a social whirl) but before I do here I am frying tacos last night - Mary gave me a lesson in how to do them - I did well!

WOYWW (80 something)

We were going to go to Catalena yesterday but neither Mary nor I had a good night's sleep so we went to Joannes this afternoon instead. Forgot to photograph my stash but here is what is on the desk today:

Mary has signed me up for a swap with Katy's Corner so there is my bookmark, similar to one I did early on in this trip, then there are some Valentine Cards I am in the process of making and the rubber stamp you see is for a card for Bob who is coming to Dinner on Friday.  My lovely new bag is there on the table and Spencer is peering out supervising things from his little pocket.

Life has been one series of parties, first we had Robert's 14th at the Air Base just after we arrived, then it was  Timmie's grown up one last week, the Superbowl on Sunday, Friday is Bob's belated birthday and Saturday is Heather and Joe's joint party.  In between all that is happening this week we have a trip to a tv studio tomorrow night with a Thai Dinner with TC and on Thursday we are off to L'Affair with Cindee and Warren.  Then there is the BIG workshop on Sunday.

I think we have had more celebrations in the five weeks we have been here than we do in a year at home.  We are sure going to miss everyone when we leave next Tuesday.  Think I need to take something to stop me getting emotional.

Oops!  Getting carried away - the reason for this post was to show the world What is on My Workdesk this week.  Once again it is Mary's room I am in so Julia and Co you will have to drool over the size of this workspace for just this week as next Wednesday I might sneak in a bit late but in my teeny space in England. Happy WOYWW'ing to everyone.

Blog Award

The lovely Cardarian of Cardarian's Happy Place gave me an award at the end of January and I have only just got around to passing it on.  Thank you so much Cardarian, it is an honour to receive this award.

There are a couple of conditions for the award

You have been TAGGED and want to participate?

Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image.

You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award.

You then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then inform each blogger that they have been tagged.

Dear bloggers:

The aim of this action is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers.  

As always, the hardest part is to pick who to pass this on to, there are so many bloggers I could give it to but I pick these.

Karla

Karen

Peggy

Sarah

Tracey

Getting Ready

Didn't take any photographs at the Superbowl Party this year - why?  Because there were so many people there.  It was really a full house and I guess there was 50 - 60 people in the house.

I cannot begin to tell you about the food, every table and work surface was groaning under the weight of food.  Carole brought some gorgeous chicken and cranberry wraps and Carrie made the most delicious meatballs with a lovely barbecue sauce on them.  There were different cheeses, a zillion dips, chips (for those in the UK read "crisps"), nuts, popcorn and hot dogs to mention just some of the food and the butchers block is still littered with gorgeous desserts that people brought and left for us to eat up.  Richard's wife Anne was the first to arrive and she works so hard to make it the huge success that it always is.

So that's it for the Superbowl apart from to tell those of you who do not know, the adverts are as famous as the game (I think) and Budweiser did one as a tribute to 9/11 which was only aired once - click here to watch - it is very moving.  You can Google "Budweiser" and see the adverts from the past few years if you want - some pretty good ones.

Right now to the planning behind our workshop next Sunday.  Lots of card has had to be cut, images stamped etc etc but I think we are ready now.  I did show the Hero Arts techniques we are using a few days ago but here are a couple of others:

This is a Technique Junkies technique

Not sure where this came from

It is a pinwheel card

The last one is a Valentine Card I have made for Josh, the young man at the Golden Spoon (frozen yoghurt) who was the nicest young man you could wish to meet.  He was so good with the three English ladies and the one American lady, so patient and such good fun that I promised him I would make him  a card.

Valentines Day is coming up and as we are going back later this week it seemed appropriate that I used that as my theme.  It also fits in nicely with the Just for Fun Challenge this week which is Heartfelt Wings.  Sorry I didn't get messy Sam but here is my rendition.

Hope Josh does not get embarrassed when he gets it which might be after Valentines Day depending on his shifts this week.

This is me with Josh in The Golden Spoon - any mother would be proud to have him as their son.