Gypsy Dreams

when I was a little girl my dad made me a playhouse...

I remember it had a toy stove, a cot and a big trunk for all sorts of magical things.. a bitty tea set with dragons painted on it, thick stacks of paper, cigar boxes full of crayons and paints, two rag dolls named Lilly and Polly that just knew I was their mommy, and the gypsy bag!
The gypsy bag was a huge beaded bag that held ribbons, make-up, bits of costume jewelry and an ever-changing supply of clothing that looked very much like my mother's and sister's old things.

I would spend hours in my make believe world,(dressed as a glamorous gypsy queen of course) on a pirate ship, in a haunted house or just having tea in a gypsy tent with my two girls.

I was separate from everyone,on my own, so to speak(sigh).
As I grew older my playhouse began to fill up with 'stuff'. It sort of became a catch all area for things that weren't even mine.
It was very sad to watch this amazing place turn into storage.

Our home is very small, my studio is tiny! And while I appreciate what I have, I still yearn for a place of my own, a place of dreams, to imagine and create.


Guess what???? My husband has gifted me with the most adorable amazing little haven!
It's a 1958 vintage westerner camper!!!!!
this is it here....

It's painted an icky black right now as it was used for hauling ghost hunting equipment at one point:) but now it's mine and I'm all set to turn it into a gypsy wagon/studio!!!!!
I'm over the moon!!!
I'll be posting my progress in converting this camper and maybe asking your advice on decor if you don't mind.
When I'm finished I will have a place to dream, create, nap, lol... It can be whatever I want it to be, a pirate ship, a haunted house or a gypsy tent where I can have tea with my two girls:)

Now I have a gift for you...I will be giving away this painting on June 22nd, just leave a comment so I know you stopped by:)

Have a beautiful night!

PS the winner of the Sugar Queen give away is Jill from Bucks County Folk Art
**update**
the give-away is over:)

I won I won I won

Hello again..
I got a wonderful gift in the post today:)Don't you love getting fun stuff in the mail??
OK, I unwrapped the package and this is what was in it.....

and inside this (giant) glittery box was all this magical witchy goodness!
You see I won a give away from the super generous Celia at Adventures of the striped stockings!

There's so many wonderful things to play with in here!There are pot holders, tea towels, socks, stickers, butterfly clips, stamps,(there's even a dia de los muertos stamp) cookie cutters, a skeleton key, ornaments, acrylic paint, a package of hot apple cider and a gorgeous gypsy print for me to frame and hang in my gypsy wagon!!!
Thank you so much Celia!You certainly know how to brighten someone's day.

Since we are on the subject of give aways I have my own give away winner to announce...
It's Betsy at From the mind of alphabetsy
congratulations!
Hope everyone has a beautiful Sunday.
I'll be back soon:)

Practical Magic 2011

Hello!
it's been too long since we last spoke. Time has been passing very quickly, my gypsy wagon is almost ready and here we are all set for the amazing Practical Magic party Anna is giving.
I hope we are set...!
Let me tell you what happened one evening last week
.....I was looking for ingredients and what not to finish up my party post
pictures...when I heard a strange little noise, I looked up and saw a frog, of all things just sitting and croaking a happy little tune

I got closer and it hopped away a bit, I followed and it disappeared into a storage shed, it was starting to get dark, but I was very curious...I went in and saw so many interesting things!

what caught my eye though, was a large dusty old chest I'd never seen before..

I had to look inside!The lid creaked as I opened it, what could be in it?

I took the shelf out and found this too..

old family treasures hidden away all these years...a gypsy belt, and jewelry box carved of ivory, rusty spice tins and silver picture frames. And the most amazing looking antique doll, I lifted her from the chest carefully, her dress looked as though it could fall apart at any moment! As I held her I noticed a small scroll fall from her hands and land on the rug


I set her down and began to read the faded words...

next thing I knew,the doll was gone & there were frogs everywhere,
there were candles
and an old book lying on the table.


Something caught my eye... I turned and saw..... Maria! She was picking flowers..holding them in her palm...

I watched as she whispered words into her hands...the petals she gathered started to fly!

Once they floated away into the sky, she turned and thanked me for releasing her for the night
we spoke of many things then we climbed onto the roof and she convinced me to jump!!!

The fall made me dizzy so I sat on the grass for a bit...the sun coming in through the bedroom window woke me up..I was tucked into bed...it was just a dream I'd had!
none of it had happened..

I sadly got out of bed and went in to the kitchen and found breakfast waiting on the table, and a lovely little guest!


I swear that's what happened to me one evening last week....
Have a magical weekend.
leave me a comment if you wish...let me know you stopped by, i'm giving away the painting of the witch with the umbrella in two weeks:)

weekend

hi everyone,
well it's been hot and sometimes rainy here.
Ive been playing in the gypsy wagon often...I'm also working on some ideas
for Celia's Gypsy Dreams blog party and Anna's Practical Magic party.
There's a swap I'm participating in and some packages I need to send out:)
So i'm going to be a little busy for a while, but I'll be back in a week or two, hopefully with some Halloween goodies or a fairy tale to share.
Have great weekend.

Rain, moss, stars and blossoms

It's a windy overcast day..
 At 63 degrees, it's not cold but the intermittent rain that falls
 makes the temperature seem colder. 
I sit here, in my little wagon with the door wide open, 
to better feel the breeze, 
to breathe in the incredible energy that this magic day brings. 
I love to sit in here and let my mind wander.
The colorful sheets and curtains I have hanging right outside
fly around and
 snap sharply..

Music from the many wind chimes 

masks the whistling the winds makes as it dances 
over the trees.

 (As a child I was terrified of that whistling/ howling sound. In my mind it was a 
giant invisible monster that would whirl you up and gobble you down.)

It was warm last week... Hot even, high 80s.
Since my dad has gone, I've found myself outdoors more often.
Raking, watering, talking to the plants and trees, 

letting the smell of wet soil 
and warm sun push the sadness away. 

 I've been creating some garden art lately... 

 Metal mushrooms,

made from an old bowl and a dollar store waste basket... 

 Spoon and fork wind chimes

from yard sale utensils .. 

and a tin fairy house covered in moss

(also a yard sale find) 

 are the products of my 
imagination right now...

 
Oh! As I write this, I hear the drops tapping away at the roof.. 

sounds so 
incredible!

:) 

 For years the garden was dormant 
I thought a lot of the trees would have to come down, dry as they were,

 no amount of watering seemed to help.
They all seemed to be in a weird period of waiting... Wondering .
Now everywhere I look new life is springing up.. 

 An orange tree covered in blossoms and bright green leaves 
Pomegranate. 

mulberry,

 grapefruit

 and lime trees

 all pushing forth 

beautiful delicate growth. 

And look at this tree...it's just gorgeous!!

Last week as I pulled weeds and dodged bees I realized

that I'm grateful

for

everything

I have

and for the promise of what's to come. 

(I think the universe heard

my word of the year...)

Blossom!

Now as the day begins to melt away

the chill really starts to build..

how was is so hot last week!?

This weather is so bizarre.

It's getting cold in this gypsy wagon...time to go inside I think..

 gonna make a cup of cinnamon tea

to warm up.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my ramblings.

drop by soon

I'm going to have a 4 year blog anniversary giveaway!!!

 

More Cupcakes

Hello everyone..been working on the gypsy wagon and I decided to take a break and rest a minute or two.
I know I've mentioned before that I love sweets..I'm not gonna lie:)I like drawing them too, candies and cupcakes are so brightly colored and pretty, you can't help but be happy:)
I created this on an especially happy day. I call her Queen of Hearts and Cupcakes.

I also have a Guerrilla Friday picture..I left this tiny canvas on a bench outside a grocery store.

This is it for now,I hope everyone has had a great weekend!
It's back out to the wagon for me...!

giveaway winner

Hi again everyone!

It's time to choose the winner of the

Halloween crown!

I've said before that I have a love hate relationship

with giveaways.

Love giving goodies away

but hate that not everyone gets something.

Anyhow, I used random number generator

and the winner is

comment #10.

Tilda from Tea with the Squirrels

Congratulations!

Don't forget to visit Haunted Humpday

 there's a giveaway every week.

and sometimes, 

everybody wins!

I quickly also wanted to

announce that

I've been published in 

The wondrous, magical, sparkly

publication from the 

incredible 

Lisa Kettell!

It's available for purchase

at Lulu.com

alright...

I'm off to my gypsy wagon to stir up some glitter & spookiness!

I'll see you soon:)

Valentine's Day crafts

 

As soon as Christmas is over my thoughts are on Valentine's Day.

Pink hearts, dusky purple skies, 

chocolate covered cherries, red glitter...

I love it!

I thought I was getting better....

I was painting, creating dollies, 

working on the gypsy wagon, 

 hanging ice cream (that's another post altogether)

then,

SINUSITIS!

..........................

So my last post was delayed.

These are a couple of the creations I was working on while I was stuck recuperating .

 Found this cage at Michael's.

I used ink from a stamp pad to paint it

then crepe papered the bird and added glitter, of course:)

 The carnival Lulu doll from Lisa Kettell 

never fails to inspire me.

I just added some heart pics, trim and stamps.

I'm still not 100% yet, but I'm getting there, and oh man am I tired of being sick!

Meanwhile, the shops are filling up with red & pink

and that makes me happy.

I hope everyone is doing fine and YOU'RE feeling happy and healthy

in your corner of the world.

See you soon.

First week-end of November

Hello..we've been having delicious weather lately! the high today was 59 degrees!
To some of you with snow falling that might seem like t-shirt weather but to us here in the desert, it's a sign that winter is on it's way!
In honor of the Dia de los muertos parade tonight, I decided to post some pictures of a few things I've made.... a Frida canvas.

This chandelier was actually two separate sconces that I stuck together with liquid nails then I painted it with a green patina and added the skulls, flowers and crystals.

This mini shrine is on my work table in the gypsy wagon
It gives me great comfort to have a reminder of my mother in there.

It even has a miniature wood burning stove I found at a thrift store!
My mom had two full size wood burning stoves & making tortillas or an amazing dinner was something she enjoyed doing for us.So finding this bitty treasure was especially fortunate.

Last but not least, here's a picture of Helena in her sugar skull make-up, she's all ready for the parade!

I'll post some pictures of the festivities later this week.
Have a great Sunday.

Where Bloggers Create 2011

Hello!I'm so glad you stopped by today.
I'm joining in with Karen from My Desert Cottage for the third annual Where Bloggers Create party!!!

Not much has changed in here...

I love using shoe dividers to hold my artificial flowers and other bits & pieces.

We bought this wooden file cabinet at a yard sale for 5 dollars!


Glitter, ribbons, and beads.

I found this Kewpie at a yard sale under a pile of shoes.

This is my fruit and bones basket

Some of my jars...I have collected several more but I've been storing them in the gypsy wagon/camper

I love glass bowls, cups, and glasses.They're perfect for buttons and sequins.

This is a storage shelf for excess materials. There's a train case up here filled with rolled up felt sheets.

My yarns and some fabric fit in this shelf.

As you can see my studio is tiny!and not very fancy, but it serves it's purpose.
I don't have an inspiration or mood board, but I figure I don't need one, I just look around and feel inspired:)
I have everything within arm's reach, and if I feel like it, I can close the curtains and pretend I'm in a tent!

Thank you for stopping by and thank you to our hostess Karen!