Yippeeee!!!!!!!!!  A Practical Magic blog party!!

Like so many other bloggers out there I had just posted a piece on how much I love the movie and low and behold I find this wonderful site!!!  A On September 25 there will be whole blog party dedicated to the movie and or book Practical Magic.  Everybody will create something in honor of the story and then post it on that day.  We can all zoom around on our internet brooms and check out all the magic!  When I last looked at the site there were over 100 participants!  How fun is this!   Well I did say a while back that I wanted more magic…   here we go!

I mentioned a while back an underwater themed-merman party I had the pleasure of creating and I shared with you some of the night shots my husband took.  Well I finally received the CD from the photographer so today I will share with you the rest of the amazing pictures!

The photographer is Jethro Acosta from Infocus Studio.  His pictures are wonderful… judge for yourself.

This was for a fun gentleman who saw my faerie wedding on the internet and asked me to create a very special 60th birthday party for him.  He couldn’t have been more trusting and encouraging.  I kept reminding myself that he liked the faerie wedding so over the top was ok.  We chose the private beach on the ranch I live on and because it was by the ocean and a beautiful lagoon we went with a fantasy underwater theme.

I wanted the feeling of a coral reef just covered with lots of aquatic plant life in vibrant sea colors like what you would see when you dive at night with lights.   I also wanted it to sparkle so being a bit of a glitter nut I pretty much covered everything with glitter.

I started with Manzanita branches (covered in glitter) for the coral and screwed them to wooden planks.  On the planks I set a few rocks and oversize shells (also glittered).  Then I added tons of moss and smaller shells.

Occasionally I set in amongst the shells a beautiful glass float ball in the colors of the ocean.  I had also picked up at Michael’s right after Christmas some glittered foliage Christmas ornaments thinking I might use them on faerie costumes.  Instead they worked well as some of the sparkly underwater plant life.

The day of the party I added lots of beautiful cut flowers and foliage that were reminiscent of underwater plants.  I used chartreuse spider mums, Kermit Mums, (center of the picture above) Kale, blooming Artichokes (the purple bloom looks like a sea anemone on the left) purple Allium, Lilly grass, Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, green hanging Amoranthus (center right), and a few other bits and pieces.  The combination of the natural plant and flower elements and the glittered exotic items came together for a great effect.

This is a lounge I set up right by the table, you can see a bit of the lagoon in the background at the base of the trestle bridge.

A closer shot of the lagoon and some of the birds that call it home.

Imagine the sound of the crashing waves on the beach just beyond the table with an occasional seagull crying overhead.   Behind you is a beautiful large lagoon with Egrets in the huge Sycamore trees that surround it.  The trees right next to you are up-lit with soft green and teal lights and another light is casting water ripples on the ground around you.  As the night gently falls the table starts to come alive with lots of glowing blue and green lights nestled in the shells and under the glass balls.

I created this effect by placing dozens of LED lights in blues and greens throughout the tablescape.  The lights worked really well under the glass floats exaggerating their already blue or green color.  The table really glowed, the effect was truly magical!

That’s a large crystal geode on the right.

The birthday boy on his private beach for the day…   not a bad way to spend your birthday, don’t you think?

Just thought I would show you some beautiful summer floral arrangements that I have had the fun of creating.Fun, bright, happy colors!

This one feels cool and lovely.

I love the combination of purple or lavender with oranges and mustards.

Every so often I will take a close up of some of the flowers with the idea of painting them later on. I never seem to get around to it, too busy making floral arrangements.

Happy flower filled summer to you!!!

One of my all time favorite stories (both the book and the film) is Practical Magic.  The story is wonderful and sweet and I seriously covet that house!!!!!

The clothing the Aunts wear, the incorporation of magic into everyday lives, serendipitous moments that mean something.  It is all so rich and wonderful!

The kitchen and the room right next to it that has all their potions and plants and tools in it are I think my favorite rooms.  They are light, airy, full of wonderful vintage items and magical things.

I love how the room is open to the outside with lovely blooming branches both inside and out in the garden.  There is a promise here of wonderful things to come.

But then I love the darker richer salon room with all it’s lovely leather and candles and old wallpaper.

The house is both dark and light…  like life and people I guess.

Can’t you just picture yourself curled up in this chair, with a cat on your lap, the blustery wind and rain pounding on the roof a fire in the fireplace, a cup of tea, and a good ghost story?

I have the tea, tea cups, cats (a plenty!) and ghost stories (anything by Barbara Michaels)…  I just need the house.

Every detail is perfect!  I think I could loose myself in here for hours.

All these lovely pictures and thoughts make me ache for more…  not sure how to put it into words, just more…  more richness, more meaning, more magic, more serendipitous moments.  I want to feel full with life’s magic, heady with it’s perfume.

I am working on more wonderful faerie costumes for a huge magical celtic forest themed event coming up soon but I am feeling not truly full and magical enough.  I want to be working with spider’s silk thread, gossamer fabrics and faerie dust.  I want to hear the faeries whispering in my ear.

I go to the beach and I want to get into the water, immerse myself in it, breath it, taste it, see the fish and the coral with all it’s magical color.  But then I want to swim like a mermaid not as I do in my human form.

I want to fly like the birds, play in amongst the tree branches.

I want to see stronger colors… like the mood and color palette of the 2006 film Peter Pan.  The colors in that movie were so surreal and dreamy.

I want to go to a school like Hogwarts and learn…  everything!

I am so blessed in my life, I do not want to sound ungrateful.  I live a life most people would be thrilled with, and I am.  I adore my life, my art, my work, my husband, my kitties, I just want more.  To feel like a child again and run and jump with abandon, loose myself in my imagination and playing.  Do you know what I mean?  Do you ever feel that way or am I just in a funky frame of mind.  My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Sedona soon.  I have a feeling that will help.  I know all this desire is just a need to be more deeply connected with the universe and my soul, my inner muse.  Just can’t seem to get there.  Wow… cosmic stuff, thanks for listening.

Anyway, I promised several days ago to post my mermaid party pictures, I still haven’t got them from the photographer yet.  As soon as I do I will share them with you.  It was so beautiful.  In keeping with the sentiment I expressed above the centerpieces of this party were so scrumptious, so wild that you just wanted to crawl in them and LIVE there.

To tide you over I will show you these two pictures that my husband took at the end of the party in the dark of the night.  The table glowed with the little lights I set into the centerpieces.   The pictures are a little hard to make out but they convey the feeling well.  Very fun!

See you in my dreams, hopefully it will be in technicolor!

Our newest addition to the family,

Meet Cleo, aka Turnip or Bevie!

I went to the farmers market the other day with only a few minutes to spare to grab some flowers for a friend who was at the end of her life in a beautiful Hospice here in Santa Barbara.  My morning appointment had ended earlier than expected so I was only just able to squeeze in a run to the market before they closed.  As I was quickly picking out some flowers I overheard the vendor speaking to a customer about the kitten she had found and that she didn’t know what to do with her as she was only getting worse.  My concerned cat ears perked up right away and I further heard that the vendor had no money to take her to the vet but that the poor kitten didn’t look good.  A rather long story shortened I butted in and discovered a very dear and pathetic kitten completely unresponsive wrapped up in a towel in the van.  After a bit of fast talking the seller gave her to me knowing I would pay for the care she needed.  I literally dropped everything and ran the kitten to my car, drove my cat ambulance just as fast as the human variety to my vet and ran her into the office.  They saw me bolting across the street and opened the door for me, took one look at her and whisked her to the back.  For about 20 minutes they worked on her without stopping.  They got her back from the brink and told me she had about a 50/50 chance of making it.  They were not sure what was wrong with her but at the very least she was malnourished (her back bone was sticking up like a mountain ridge line), dehydrated, and hypothermic.  If they could get her stabilized then they would investigate further to see if there was a deeper underlying problem.  I went home with a heavy heart.  There is nothing more sad than a sick baby animal.  By the evening she was perking up a bit, although she could not be left on her own overnight.  The clinic does not have an overnight attendant and I was hesitant to bring her to our home until we determined that she did not have any serious diseases. It was unthinkable to possibly infest our 45 plus cats.  Our dear vet Dr Harmon took the little furry bundle home with her and got up every 2 hours to feed and check on her.  To say we love or vet is an understatement to be sure!  Dr Harmon got her through the night and the little sweetie improved quite a bit.  By the end of the next day they determined that most likely she was simply malnourished and dehydrated.  We brought her home but to be completely safe we created a most comfortable home for her in our flower delivery van with the idea that at the end of 5 days we would know for sure if there was anything more seriously wrong with her.  We treated the van as a quarantined area, completely changing clothes when we entered and exited the van.  To see this sweet TINY face looking at us with such big tired eyes just leveled us.  We spent lots of time in the van, typing on the computer, reading and just loving her.  We also got up every few hours during the night to feed her and make sure she was ok.  Well…   I am so relieved to report the she is a most happy and healthy 6 to 7 week old kitten whose back bone is resembling more of a hillock that a mountain ridge line.  She is totally full of beans, running all over the place completely confounding the other cats and generally behaving like a normal sweet kitten.

By the way her name(s) derived from the following, Cleo just came to my mind when I asked her what we should call her.  As soon as I said the name out loud she started purring.  Turnip is because Dr Harmon was having a very hard time getting blood out of her (“can’t get blood out of a turnip”), and Bevie is the name of my very sweet friend that I was getting the flowers for.  She passed away within the week and if it was not for her I would never have gone to the market and discovered the kitten in the first place.  So the tiny little sweet bundle is saddled with a rather long name I’m afraid.

” Boy this modeling for the press release is sooo tiring!”

Here’s to wild abundant gardens!

No box cut hedges for me, just Mother Nature in all her glory,

All flowers are welcome, no discrimination with this flower or that flower being more important, all are beautiful in my eyes.

I adore vine covered walls and roofs, Mother Nature decorates so much prettier than most of us.

To look out my window and see such natural beauty is to experience magic and wonder.

I could easily live in a green house, a Hobbit Hole, or a Faerie’s den.

Just wild overgrown beautiful flowers and plants.

Hello everyone, I am busy with two very fun events at the moment, a vintage styled wedding and a mermaid themed birthday party!  I will show you lots of pics when I am done but for know the image below of a typical evening at our house when not in event mode.

Puddy Tats and Potter…   how wonderful!

Life is puuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrfect!

Some lovely summer solstice faeries for you…   have a mystical, magical faerie filled summer!

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.”

Albert Einstein

I am such a mix of styles and tastes.  I love layers of beautiful things, the more layers the better.  I adore lace and velvets, tapestries, fringe and anything gypsiesque.  I have always loved Stevie Nicks’ style.  Bohemian definitely suites me.  However I also love Victorian, shabby chic and anything vintage.  This applies to both my clothing as well as my home (even my car!  I will show you pictures of the Purple Morris at another time).  I have often felt slightly schizophrenic in all the different things I love,

I love everything about this picture, the clothes, the chair and especially the setting.

I adore everything about this picture, the fabrics are divine, her dress and hair are so romantic!

Corsets are wonderful, love them with a pair of jeans

This jacket is lovely

I am drooling right now, sooooo beautiful!

Well if I am crazy then I am in great company.  This fabulous woman below is Robin Brown of Magnolia Pearl.  Whenever I am feeling doubtful of my style or insecure of my rather unorthodox ways I go to her web site and am reminded of what a beautiful free spirit looks like.  She started as a designer of handbags and has now developed an entire line of clothes and furniture.  She is an amazing talent with an enormous heart!  I admire her greatly and I strongly suggest you have a look at her web site.  Her art is so luscious, layers upon layers of beauty.  I have to say I have never encountered a more down to earth person, deeply grateful for all that she is blessed with.  She is a huge inspiration for me.

I love how she mixes elegant items like velvet, jewels and tapestries with more Victorian romantic items like lace.  That is one of her gorgeous bags on the left.

She uses anything beautiful even if it has rips in it.  Imperfections do not matter to her, they actually make something even more lovely.  I will hold my rambling to fashion for know but I will leave you with a picture of an incredible Magnolia Pearl couch.  More on home fashions later…

I love to watch the many ways our cats sleep.

There is nothing more sweet that a sleeping kitty.  However I do wonder how they manage to get any zzzzzzs in some of the strange positions they get into.

This just makes my back hurt!

I kept waiting for him to turn blue, but he stayed orange…

I am not sure if he is sleeping or paying homage to the kibble god.

I have heard of feather pillows but fur pillows?

Wishing you lots of sweet dreams no mater where or how you sleep, but I do hope you have someone dear to cuddle with!