Fantasy Balloon Ride!

When I hit the alarm at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, little did I realize what an experience I was about to have as my feet hit the floot. We were about to meet at The Limoneira Ranch before the sun came up. It seems that early in the morning is the best time for perfect air, according to our pilot, Steve Wilkinson. This photo is courtesy of Dan and Sue Harding from Pacific Images. They were there to capture this early morning event with us, and they were absolutely delightful!












Scott was happily grabbing his camera to snag shots of this breathtaking event for a promotional video by Insight Film & Video. I grabbed mine too, and shot the rest of the photos you see here. I was having the time of my life!















As we rubbed the sleepies from our eyes, the crew began to fire up the balloon with hot air and the giant sheath began to rise up.
















It was amazing. Everything was so calm and beautiful and before long the balloon was high in the sky.
















The video turned out fabulous, and Scott was having those goose-bump moments. The balloon hovered over the magnificent flowers and citrus orchards while we chased in vans with Cindy Wilkinson from
Fantasy Balloon Flights.














What a magnificent day! It all ended with a champagne toast, thanks to Cindy and Steve and their crew. We are going to be doing this again, but next time it will be INSIDE the balloon basket so we get a different perspective. I can hardly wait!!

LifetimeTV.com Secret Revealed!

Yes! I can finally tell my BIG secret.
















I signed a contract with LifetimeTV.com to shoot craft videos for their fabulous new website! We just broke the news today, and I am soooo excited! As a designer, it is a pleasure to be able to share diverse craft projects and techniques with such a huge audience. This is an immense opportunity to bring crafts into the homes of the over two million Lifetime TV dotcom members and to inspire a younger generation to experience the satisfaction that comes from being creative. And yes, you read it correctly, that’s 2,000,000 members on the Lifetime TV website. No pressure! *giggle*













We had a blast with the Director Harriet Ells, as we scouted out locations. I took pics and Scott checked things out with Alex Teague, the Senior Vice President at The Limoneira Ranch in their lemon packing warehouse. What a fantastic place to shoot!













One of the coolest places was underground where they store the lemons. I can’t get over how big it is. It’s like a football field of lemons underground.














Harriet and I went nuts over this particular corner where the big doors close and the roughness of the building is just perfect to contrast with the craft studio set-up.












The aroma was amazing and totally intoxicating in the Limoneira packing house. I would love to take a whole crate of lemons home with me. But it would be a little hard to sneak those under my shirt!

Okay, now that the BIG SECRET is out, you can believe I can start letting you in on all the fab crafts I’ll be creating for the videos on LifetimeTV.com. They plan to launch the segments in mid-September, and we will be shooting them the week of Labor Day. For sure, I’m going to to be one busy gal to get more than a dozen projects done. My fabric stash is going to come in handy. Can you say sew, paint, stencil, glue, and bead???? Stay tuned!