Home from road trip...

This is the Saucy Chicks leaving on their road trip. We traveled about 1500 miles all total during our 9 days.

We had very hot weather which surprised us all as it was supposed to be cooler. Therefore we did not have quite the proper clothes and I tend to wear lots of black so you know I was baking in the heat and sun. We also encountered a surprise thunder and lightening storm with huge rain drops which dried almost as quickly as they fell. We also had lots of road debris to watch out for because of the heat. So many trucks and vans were losing the tread on their tires due to the extreme heat.

We enjoyed lots of friends and family.

We ate way too much food. What is it about everyone wanting to feed us all the time?! lol

We did lots of interesting events. A Grand Picnique fundraiser for the hospital foundation. It had a Parisian theme and was the best planned event I have attended in a very long time. We attended a putters event which also had a costume theme and then a luncheon. We went to a dinner playhouse and thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful presentation of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We also attended a very funny campy live performance in a very small club theater. How fortunate we were to be able to enjoy so much in such a short amount of time.

This should be enough for now. I am still in a fog as we never got an entire night of sleep for all the fun we had and of course we talked until the wee hours.

Back to reality and domestic chores. Also catching up with friends here at home.

We missed blogging and reading everyone's postings. I must admit I never did touch a computer while gone.

Road Trip...

This photo from my July calendar says it all.
We Saucy Chicks, Lorraine and Sherry, are heading out on the first annual Road Trip in July. We have over 1000 miles to cover just in getting to our destination and returning home. Then of course we have lots of side trips in between. We will be visiting with family of each of us and friends. It will be so much fun to meet people we don't know, see areas we grew up in and listen to lots of stories of our separate youths.
Southern California here we come. Thank goodness we are not flying as we could not afford all of our baggage. Since we will have the car we can take as many bags as we deem necessary. One each just for shoes, one for snacks, one each for clothes, one each for toiletries, one each for chargers for electronics, a small ice chest etcetera. Some how it just adds up. And who knows what we will find along the way that we acquire and must bring home!
We might not post to our blog while we are gone but we know you will understand.
We will update when we return and fill in the fun stuff we did on our adventure.
Hmmm...what ever will our dear husbands do for so many days? I know mine will enjoy the peace and quiet!

Room of Creativity...

Ahh the laundry room...also known as the chore room where domestic drudgery is done. Dirty clothes to sort, wash, dry and many of them to iron. Well I am not complaining as I love my laundry room. I even liked it before it just got a new makeover. As Mr. Hubby and I were remodeling the kitchen we had occasion to purchase the riser drawers for our not-so-old Maytag Neptune washer and dryer. I am tall and it was always painful for my back to bend over to transfer the wet clothes into the dryer or to retrieve the dry clothes for folding or ironing. Now no more bending over! Of course Mr. Hubby had to completely empty the washer and dryer out of the room, tear apart the wall to re-plumb the hot and cold faucets and move them up so we could access them with the new taller appliances and paint the entire room with a new fresh beautiful soft blue that I chose.

I should also mention that this is the main room for cat business also. Sasha BooBoo kitty has her meals in this room and her zen sand box for personal hygiene. So to give her some entertainment we wallpapered a nice fish backsplash. I have something else in mind but have not completed it as yet. Maybe in the future I will post a pic if I do it.

Since this room is such a soft lovely blue sky color I just had to paint some clouds on the ceiling. I have three total and I really like the way they turned out. This whimsical clothesline is actually the handiwork of Mr. Hubby. He drilled and attached the wooden perches and then the clothesline and the birds. We really do have blue jays and woody woodpeckers outside so this is just perfect. I plan on changing out the clothes whenever the mood strikes me but for now this adorable summer outfit is perfect. I had fun shopping in the newborn section of the store.

Chore room? Drudgery? Not at all. I really enjoy doing the laundry in this fun new room.

Sasha BooBoo also enjoys the room a lot more now. Sometimes she just sashays down the hall and stands in her room and looks at the birds.

Well I must close for now as I have some laundry to get done. lol :o)

Chamber of Commerce day...

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in my little town. The weather was perfect and the sky was gorgeous blue. It was the perfect "Chamber of Commerce Weather". People were visiting and I got to meet them. I volunteer for our local chamber and host the visitor center from time to time. I met people visiting from Amsterdam, Romania, Belgium and of course local locales such as the bay area and Reno.

It was also the day for our local air show...Airfest. It is held here at our local airport every other year. You would be surprised at the level of pilots and airplanes we get each time. Cal Fire also does an impressive display of their amazing capabilities. Mr. Hubby attended all of this while I was chamber hosting. Normally I attend the Airfest however this year I was unable to do so. I did get to see lots of the planes as they fly in and out as they are in the sky over my home.

What a great season to enjoy all of the wonders of nature and Nevada City. It was also our local Growers Market on the block in front of the chamber so I got to enjoy the live music and watch people which is one of my favorite things to do. If you want to check out the chamber link here it is www.nevadacitychamber.com for your viewing.

I hope all the people I met and tried to help with directions to visit the places they wanted to see had a wonderful experience. Safe travels to all.

Product Demo = Results...

Our local Ben Franklin had a product demo for Golden Paints and Gels and brought a wonderfully talented gal named Nina from Berkley to demonstrate and give out samples. I couldn't resist attending because I am always reading artisits blogs and they mention using Golden gels in mixed media so I wanted to see before I buy. Well, I saw and then I bought. I treated myself to a set of gel mediums and also a set of fluid acrylics. Luckily I had a wonderful gift card since Christmas from my dear friend Lindsay and that is how I was able to get so much. Thank you very much Lindsay.

I came home and set everything out to see what I was going to do with it. Of course I wasn't downstairs in my studio I was at the kitchen desk with the new granite counter and yes, Mr. Hubby discovered me there and wasn't quite happy but I explained that I just wanted to see my new things. Yes, I did end up making a mess right there but I cleaned it up. lol :o) I decided to try a direct transfer image process. I applied some gel and then placed my laser toner copy right side down into the gel and let it dry completely. (Yes you can use a heat dryer to speed the process if you are anxious.) When the image and gel are dry you merely wet the paper and lightly scrub it off with a toothbrush or sponge. When all the paper is off you are left with the ink image left on your surface (mine is my art journal which is an old calendar book from 2005 of Monet paintings). If you scrub too hard you remove some of the ink but I think that merely adds to the character of the image.

Then I painted in the image with my new fluid acrylic paints. After that I used the fluid acrylic paint to stamp with and put lots of butterfly prints all around my painted image. I think it looks better in person than it shows here in the photo.

At this time I have lots of ideas and projects for my new Golden products.
Check out their website: www.goldenpaints.com

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July with family, friends, parades, fireworks and food.