Paris Is Always A Good Idea

Rising bright and early @ 1:45 A.M. we scurried to gather our stuff and get to the theater to catch the bus to Paris.  It was a lovely early mornng - like Spring is really here in Baumholder.

NOT SO  IN PARIS!!!

We were dressed for a nice Spring day in Paris and as the day broke we saw it was gloomy and foggy and oh so nifty when we arrived at the rest stop in France after riding for 3.5 hours.

 

Plan 1 - find the nearest store or stand or whatever and get a jacket.  And that I did.

 

Once I was warm I savored the fact that I was at the Eiffel Tower in Paris France.

 

 And of course with the love of my life.

 

Isn't the Eiffel Tower Spectacular?

The city itself was spectacular

But we all know that if you want to get a true local flavor of the city - find a farmer's market or flea market and we stumbled upon one when we went exploring.

We dove right into the culture and mingled with the locals.  Like this nice man who was rolling out dough and smacking it upon this neat device.  Looked like an upside down wok to me but it did cook up them tortillas.

 It was amaxing how the flat cakes didn't slide off of there.  So what he has spread on the tortilla was a sauce made of toasted sesame seeds, olive oil and fresh basil.  He'll fold it in half and cook more on both sides and Whalla - a tortilla stuffed snack.  It was yummy and warm and so tasty.

 And the aroma of this huge freshly made pot of pilaf gumbo full of seafood was just too much to surpass.  So I stopped and the nice man served us up a hefty serving.  He was a jolly fellow - proud of serving his customers.

I couldn't wait to dig into the meal.

and neither was Ed.

We went on to explore the city more and shopped and of course found little bistros to eat lunch or just to sit and relax after walking for so long.

This Cafe de L'Opera 

 had a very tasty pizza.

We left a little bit of crumbs for Ratatouille's friends tee hee hee

 

 After this meal we began our walk back to the Eiffel Tower so we could catch the bus back to Baumholder.

I must share with you that we are wanderers.  We used no map to get around Paris.  We wanted to explore and whatever we stumble upon we stumble upon.  Well we stumbled upon the famous

MOULIN ROUGE

Whew what luck we had.  Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built back in 1898.  It is marked with a red windmill on the roof.  Moulin Rouge is the place where the can can dance evolved and became a famouse seductive dance all across Europe.  I wish we could have gone inside to look around but we had a bus to catch.

We did have time to see the Eiffel Tower light up.  It was a sight to see and is locked in my memory forever.

That's it for now Blog Buddies.  Until next time I leave you this photo of my son who returned from England the day before we left for Paris.  He got to see the Stonehedge of England.  How cool was that?

 PUG HUGS TO ALL.

Cross Legged Pug Bunnies Part II

In my last entry we left off with having all the pieces cut out for the Cross Legged Pug Bunnies.

During the next process I got down and pinky.  Then greeny.  Then purpley.  Those were the colors on my hands as I handled the painting of the pieces.

Always by my side was MA-kytah.  Well in this case she stood beneath the table as I snapped away with my Canon.

Next step - painting the PUG sections of each piece.

My biggest challenge (and I am still practicing and practicing) are Pug Eyes.

I shall master this, I shall master this, I shall master this.

Next up the bunny ears and Tulip paint that serves as the 3D-ish replacement for the beads (because my household goods are still not here!!!  and all them beads I got in Hong Kong are on its way)

The last piece to go onto the Pug Bunny is its dress.

I'm doing the final final final touches today and I will share the

2012 Cross Legged Pug Bunny

on our Facebook page HERE

In the meantime - I share this pic of my senior son whom I sure do miss.  He is away for a week in England.  Wow England.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!



Cross Legged Pug Bunnies

Isn't this an amazing pic?  It was taken by my granddaughter Tam while we were on ooVoo.  She caught me basking in the sun that flowed through the window.  I so needed this warmth to shine and get some energy back into me.

Whew did the sun rays do wonders.  I was able to list the Witches and Wizards in my Etsy shop.  Oh please check them out here.

I've yet to find a source for stuffing for my dolls.  I have to get this material by purchasing pillows at the Exchange.  The casing.......well you all know me too well to discard of it so I'm cutting away at them to begin the latest Easter inspired pug:

Two Pillow cases garnered:

6 bodies

24 legs

6 faces

6 snouts

Wow Wow Weee 42 pieces.

A 90 minute drive to Ramstein enabled me to hand sew most of the pieces.  This morning I stuffed them and sewed faces, snouts and legs onto the bodies.

I am so excited to see the little critters take on their own characteristics.  I shall share their makings in the days to come.  I also have to cut some patterns to hand sew on our trip to Paris this coming Saturday.  Oh I am so excited about that.

Until then my Blog Buddies - I leave you this photo of a shadow box my son brought home from school.  I love the colors and details.

Make it Fun with No Sun

I think I am feeling the winter blues.  No sun for two whole weeks has caused me to feel so down in the dumps.  I need to take some supplements or something.  My Guam skin color has faded.

Oh well - to battle the blues I put color in my life everyday in February and boldly created Halloween Pugs.

Witches and Wizards; Bats and Boots.  It was indeed grueling work but the work kicked the blues right out on the streets.

Let's take a closer look at Pug Wizard:

 Intense Reds, Purples, Greens, Yellows.  I just had to give this Pug Wizard a whimsical beard.

Watch out!!! He'll cast a spell on ya with his Pug Wizard Wand.

Got to have a Halloween Pug Witch.

 And she is a friendly Pug Witch I might add.

She doesn't fly on a broom but totes a cute little Pug Pumpkin.

Oh lookey!!! Pugs popping out of a witch Boot



 

I do admit that them there curves were not curving when I sewed it with the sewing machine.   Had to hand sew them myself to keep the integrity of a curvy witchy pug boot.

When Halloween comes this year I can't wait to hang all the Pug Bats..........upside down that is.

 Do keep in mind now that the redness dripping from the bat fangs is in fact ketchup tee hee hee.

Little Pug Bat paw claws wanting to cling onto something.

That's it for now on the Halloween Pugginess.  I'll be listing this collection in my Etsy shop later today.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!!



It Was the Crib Set's Fault

You see this bundle?

It was a magnificent thrift shop find that kept me occupied with my latest creation in preparation for Easter.

Are you ready to take a peek?

Okay, here goes.  Creation #1

I designed and sewed, stuffed, painted, and stained 8 of these little bunny critters to spiff up a thrift shop find

A Pug Bunny Wreath

Creation #2

Isn't the "Welcome" sign cute?  We found it in a thrift shop in Kaiserslautern and it was the inspiration for this baby girl and baby boy pug bunnies.  BTW the background is actually a 100% cotton loop rug made in India.  Another thrift shop find in Landstuhl.

I am still practicing the art of painting pug faces.  I'm quite pleased with the characteristics of the bunnies:

Creation #3

I didn't stain this piece because the integrity of the springy colors of the wings and the ears..........well I just wanted the brightness of it all.  I think I will enhance the snout a bit more.

Creations #4

I certainly loved every inch of the crib set fabric that I couldn't bring myself to discard any of it............so I took strips of it and made a rag garland.

Okay - I'm off to situate the Easter Pugginess at our front door.  I'll post a pic on our Facebook Page

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!!