Claudia — Page 1717

Tulips

March 25, 2009 at 1:22 pm by Claudia

The only thing better than a McCoy vase is a McCoy vase filled with beautiful flowers.

These tulips are incredible – thank you Trader Joe’s!

I hope your day is filled with the promise of spring – and beautiful flowers.

The past few days have brought some lovely surprises. Meeting Christie Repasy was one, along with the opportunity to purchase 2 pieces of her work. Deciding what to buy was the real problem! If you had seen all the beautiful canvases in her booth, you would totally understand my problem. I finally chose these 2.

The painting of the roses is about 16 x 20. The painting of the sweet birds is about 8 x 10. I wanted a rose painting, but I couldn’t get the birds out of my mind. How to decide between them? Christie had a buy one canvas, get another free special and I gladly took advantage of it. They are hanging on my wall in the apartment and I will frame them when I get back home in July. Aren’t they beautiful? I have another in mind that I will order in a few months. It is a yard long painting of roses that will go perfectly over my window.

This morning I read my comments and found one from Betzie saying I had won a giveaway! I am one of those people who never win giveaways, so needless to say, I was surprised and delighted. Betzie is sending me two beautiful pink glass salt and pepper shakers. They are quite lovely and I can’t wait to receive them. I will post photos when I do!

And my alter ego, Claudie in Canada is featuring Mockingbird Hill Cottage on her blog this week! Thank you so much Claudie! We have a problem typing each other’s name – I always type her name as Claudia and she types mine as Claudie. We’re getting better at it, slowly but surely.

I must get back to work preparing for the last 2 weeks of classes. Soon I will reach the half-way point of my time here. More later.

Fun at La Maison Rustique

March 22, 2009 at 11:01 pm by Claudia

Well, I promised you photos of the Barn Sale at La Maison Rustique and here they are! I have to tell you, I had such fun at this fabulous once-a-month event. If you’ve never been, it is located about an hour north of San Diego in Temecula – wine country. As I drove down the road in Temecula toward the sale, I saw several hot air balloons overhead. I passed winery after winery. It is absolutely beautiful there. The sale is only on two days – Friday and Saturday – and it is very popular. I spoke to a family that had driven from Las Vegas just for the sale. They got up at 4 in the morning and drove 4 hours – one way!

I love the barn that is La Maison Rustique. Isn’t it charming? Linda is the creator of the event – and the barn is hers. There are many talented women behind the scenes, styling, creating, selling – the vignettes they have created are wonderful. As I walked toward the barn, what did I see? Paintings by one of my favorite artists, Christie Repasy. I made a beeline toward them and started speaking with a woman in the booth who I soon discovered was Christie herself. She is a lovely person and I spent quite a bit of time talking to her about her work, what inspires her, her children and her home in Laguna Beach. Her paintings are predominately of roses and other flowers and they are gorgeous. She was so generous with her time. I spent a good long while deciding what painting to buy…I would look at everything, go away, come back, and go away again until I finally decided. I’ll share those with you another time! Here is Christie in her booth, along with some more photos of her work.

The following photos are some of the vignettes throughout the barn.

I have a glider like this and now I am inspired to make some cushions like these.

The attic of the barn had lots of fabric.

Wouldn’t this porch swing look great at Mockingbird Hill Cottage?

This is Sherry. She is a stylist and creates many of these vignettes and also sells some wonderful things.

Here is my friend Joy with Sherry – Joy also sells her things here.

There’s much more, but to tell you the truth, I was so busy looking at everything, talking to everyone and enjoying the morning that I had to remind myself to take pictures! I wanted this cupboard, the doors were painted with chalkboard paint – unfortunately, I can’t buy furniture while I’m here. (Sometimes I fantasize about not flying home but renting a van instead and loading all my stuff in it when I leave here. You can bet I would be loading that porch swing right into the van!