Moving across America...

Mom was happy to see this humungous box of yarn that Scott had to use a dolly to move into her quilt shop. I just couldn't see me sitting and crocheting or knitting in my immediate future, seeing how I'm taking on this new corporate gig with Duncan Enterprises. I'm thinkin' my time is going to be preeeety busy with paint, glue, transfers, appliques, ceramics, and FUN!

I had another box, the same size...filled with fabric, but gave it to Robyn because as you can see...my Mom has TONS of fabric in her quilting stash! Now you see where I get my organizing gene. I was totally jealous of her neat little color-coordinated stash of fabric. By the way, it's all washed, dried and pressed. Ready for her next quilt, to sell on Pearls Quilts.com.

Dumpster dive sewing machine!!! Mom and Dad were at the local dumpster and emptying their trash when they saw this couple getting ready to toss this beautiful machine in with all the ewie trash! They politely asked the couple if they minded if they took it instead and of course in a couple of minutes it was in their trunk. It's beautiful! In mint condition. I never heard of a Necchi-Alco, but Mom said that it was from Sears. And....she offered it to me. Do you know how hard it was to turn it down?! But I already have a beautiful Singer and a Janome that both do everything from sewing drapes to embroidering. Mom has FIVE machines! I left there with sewing machine envy....woweee zoweee!

One of mom's latest quilt creations...all hand embroidered. She and Dad have a hand-guided quilting machine and this one has their signature perfection stitching. Gorgeous & amazing! It will sell fast.

But THIS one is all HAND quilted. I just stood there in awe. I can't believe she labors over these meticulous quilts for months, and then SELLS them.

I know this pic is a little blurry with my cell phone camera, but I took it in the quilt shop of all the quilts waiting to be sold out of the antique wardrobe. Scott's mom would love the batik fabric in the quilt at the top of the stack. Her bedroom is totally modern.

Coconut cream pie, baybeeeeee. My Mom's is the BEST!

This bear was on the corner of Mom & Dad's street at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees, where a dead tree had been turned into art by a chain saw artist.

Crafting in the car.... yeppers. That's me and Scott sculptured in play dough. I couldn't just sit there! And besides, our 3 year old grandson Zane gave me the play dough. When we were packing the car to leave, he disappeared for a bit, and suddenly he was in the front seat, placing a tub of play dough in my drink holder. He looked up at me and said "There, grammy!" He and I had made everything from the play dough... hamburgers, dinosaur eggs, happy faces, and a whole family. I think that tub of play dough was the best present, EVer....

A beautiful sunset just before we found a hotel in Gallup, New Mexico.

Next morning in Gallup, the coffee shop Camille's had these amazing lamps.

Now, I must go to flea markets and find lamps to combine for our new house!

This century plant was in full bloom in Sedona. I'll bet it was 20 feet tall.

Another tie-dye spotting! These were so cute at the gift shop in Sedona.

Ahhh....wine by the fire pit in Sedona. Consilience Wine, made by some of our close friends in Santa Barbara. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Movin' and a groovin'....

Yes, we're movin' and a groovin' all the way from Nashville to Clovis, California. So, here we go with a new adventure!



Scott makes everything fun, and the ABF Dude was happy to get in the moment when we told him that he was going to be on camera for a video. Scott made a great barter deal with the ABF company and has been doing a time lapse on the whole thing!



Purge, baby purge! That's my motto... I am going through every single craft bin and re-organizing everything.



Does anybody remember the Favor Maker? I love this little machine! Now, all I need is a party....



Wow! An old craft book from my childhood. It's GIANT! Love it... have to craft something from it. Maybe the hair curlers keeper made out of a bleach bottle???



Random crafting....Robyn came to the rescue and picked up tons of fabric and craft tools. We couldn't resist a crafty moment on the driveway when she needed to know how to work the die cutting machine.



Jammie lightened our load by taking away extra photography equipment. Thank goodnes for her roomy car.

I did it! All my crafty stuff is snug as a bug and ready to rock-n-roll.



Finally, five re-lo-cubes are full and we shut the doors, and began our journey across America to our new home and new jobs with Duncan Enterprises....

Before we left Nashville, the gang from work gave us a going away party in downtown Nashville. I rode a mechanical bull, and of course, had to tell Elvis goodbye...


Of course we had to make a stop at a Cracker Barrel for some snacks. Scott got the extra large
size of Smarties...they were about the size of a nickel.



We stopped in Oklahoma to visit family, and found the coolest t-shirts that were tie-dyed at our fave pizza joint in Norman. Mine's purple and pink!




We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch and had a blast with a video we did for www.IloveToCreate.com in graffiti on one of the cars with Tulip paints.


The view from our balcony in Sedona was absolutely incredible. We got to meet up with some Arizona friends, and had an amazing dinner by a babbling brook filled with ducks.


We were both mesmerized by these windmills in Tehachepi, CA. There were too many to count!



The crazy octagon-dome house near Yucca, CA. Octa-home...not to be confused with Octa-Mom.
Sorry.


We made it! The cubes are unpacked, and we are settling into our cute little house at Harlan Ranch in Clovis.


We decided to take time out from unpacking to check out the Clovis farmers market tonight. Yeahhh!!! The band was decent, it wasn't toooo hot, and it was fun to check out our new neighbors.



I loved these jugs of fresh flowers. Scott loves, loves, loves sunflowers.



And I love Austin Powers. How funny is this? He was in front of a darling tea room and I couldn't resist the kodak moment. Grooooovy baby...



Snagged some organic garlic.



Scarfed down some yummmmy corn on the cob. Woohooo!



And the trees in the parking lot were amazing.

Now, back to the unpacking and getting ready for our new jobs on Monday. I'll keep you posted!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Woohoo! I’m ready for my big announcement, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. Are you ready? Is your seatbelt fastened? Okay, here goes….

Scott and I have both accepted positions for dream jobs at one of the most respected, highly motivated and successful companies in the crafts and hobbies industries…

Duncan Enterprises!

My new position is Lead Craft Designer/Spokesperson and Scott is their new Photographer/Videographer. Yeah!! What we bring to them is a media team that produces dynamic craft/textile project designs, photography and videos for marketing Duncan products.

If you have followed my career through the years, you know that I have been associated with Duncan and their products for over 15 years. Their Tulip 3-D Fashion Paints were the beginnings of my history as a fashion art designer. In the early 90’s I had my own cottage industry selling "Glad Rags" appliqué patterns I designed and sold to Hobby Lobby Stores, which consumers painted around the edges with 3-D paint. I don’t know just how may sweatshirt models I painted for the Hobby Lobby Stores, but my partner Lisa Selvey and I filled up our trunks over and over again to deliver them.

My big adventure with Duncan and their products really took my life by storm when my friend Darsee called and said that a producer from the Aleene’s Creative Living television show had called the Hobby Lobby corporate offices and wanted someone to come be a guest on the show, and the projects had to feature Duncan/Aleene’s products. So, off we went to Buellton, California to show how to paint on shirts, glue everything in sight, and decoupage anything that wasn’t moving! Soon, Darsee and I were on the show twice a week and co-authored over a dozen books featuring Duncan products for several years. We had a ball!

Before I knew what was happening, I had an offer from Tiffany Windsor to be one of the Hosts of Aleene’s Creative Living, and I took the challenge, moved to California and became part of the family. Being with Aleene Jackson as a mentor was a life-changing experience.

That’s where I met Scott, as he was a free-lance camera operator on the show periodically. Yeah, yea, this is an old photo from way back then when Scott had more than a soul patch. (tee hee! He's gonna hate this.) After the show was canceled, Scott and I continued to produce instructional videos for the crafts and hobbies industry and we have done several projects for Duncan through design work, magazine ads, and videos.

And my love for glue products has not waned through the years. As you can tell by one of my latest books, “The Crafter’s Guide to Glue,” I reeeeally LOVE GLUE!

It has been so refreshing to work with a company that has a soul as great as their reputation. It’s amazing to be greeted with hugs and genuine smiles and kind hearts every time we are with the Duncan family, including Larry. We appreciate the hard work this company has put into the over 60 years of dedication to the consumers and employees and stockholders of this dynamic company. We are very proud to represent them. That's me with my new partner in all things crafts at the top of the blog; Alyson Dias, who is our Director of Marketing Communications.

And yes! They DO know how wild and crazy I am…(giggle) I just hope they know what they’re getting into by me being a spokesperson for them. (more giggles) Plus, just think about this…they’ve got crazy crafty chicks like Cheryl Ball, Kathy Murillo, Traci Bautista and other fabulous Designers on their team, so they can handle ME! (even more giggles)

So! It just feels like homecoming for us! We are thrilled and happy to be joining the Duncan Enterprise team for the next chapter in this crazy crafty ride for our next big adventure!

Now, the packing begins…. Stay tuned!

Big NEWS is coming....

I have BIG NEWS COMING SOON!
Look for an announcement to tell you the amazing things happening in my life. I'm so excited, and hope I don't explode!!