CA Fun

Our express purpose for going to CA was to get in trouble shopping with Kelly. :) Our mission was to hit tons of cool art shops and squeeze in a little time for art too. By the end of day one we had accomplished our mission. We spent 12 hours out shopping and dining and found lots of things we just couldn't live without.

We started at Nova Color.



Checked out Graphaids. I fell in love with this pencil. (Art Mechanical Pencil The 1 ME Sketch) It is like a carpenter's pencil- flat with thick lead- only mechanical.



Went to Lulu's Cafe for breakfast. I ate the most delicious breakfast Quesadilla ever!

Checked into The Vibe Hotel in Hollywood. (This hotel needs a whole post-tomorrow!)

Went to the FIDM Scholarship shop. Kelly and Mom found tons of fabric at great prices! I amazingly didn't buy anything. :)

Then...AHHH( to angelic music)...Kino-by-it-all! I love this store!!! Imagine a whole isle of pens, a whole isle of cute stationary, and a whole bookstore too! I tried to keep control of myself. I had to get 3 Uniball Signo glitter pens in yellow, orange, and silver. One light green fine point Posca pen. One black, fine tip Zebra pen. One Coptic 0.1 green pen. And finally, one black Unibal Signo RT pen. It makes the finest lines ever! I also needed the Sukie iorn-on book, two rolls of tape, and Nylon magazine in Japanese because it cam with the adorable bag in the picture!


On to Zinnia. Zinnia was the first place that we saw Sew Sommerset on Display. We made my mom pose with her cover. :) I found some great paper, a cute little glass bird, and some great jewelery findings.



Next stop Paper Source. Last year I fell in love with an apron here and did not buy it. This year it was on sale for $10 off!!! I also found great papers from the India line, rubber stamps and some Thickers-thick stickers.


We hit Swains just before they closed so I could pick up some Stablio Woody pencils. (They were on sale! HOORAY!)


We decided on dinner at Porto's...OMG! If you are in CA you need to find your way to Porto's! When you see the line going out the door don't walk away! Their is a line for a reason! It's to DIE for! Yummy sandwiches, pastries, and cakes trust me I tried 'em all! :)

Our final stop was Soap Plant Wacko. Mom and I took our now traditional photo under their sign.



Saturday
It was raining Saturday morning which was so fun! Kelly picked us up and after stopping at Starbucks and grabbing a tasty jalapeno bagel at The Bagel Broker we headed to Gilding The Lilly. Gilding The Lilly is the swankiest art supply store I have ever seen. I bought an amazing book, Rejuvenated Jewels by Amy Hanna, and left inspired to make some jewelry.


After visiting the second Porto's location (yes it is that amazing!!!) and a quick stop at a thrift shop we headed back to our hotel. :) The weather was nice and their was a party/comedy show going on at our hotel so we worked with lots of laughs on our journals in our kitchen for hours.

Sunday
Kelly picked us up early and helped us capture all of the highlights of out hotel with our cameras. We went to The Firehouse for breakfast- amazing pancakes!

When we drove by Kelly remembered The Urban Craft Center-AHHHH again set to angelic music! I could totally move in to this store! Great fabric and paper! It seriously made me want to learn to sew!



Next we went to Kelly's class, Transcribed Journal, at Stampin' From The Heart. It was fabulous fun as always!


After a quick bite to eat we were back on an airplane home with lots of goodies and even better memories! I love CA adventures! I had so much fun! (Don't we all look tired but happy?)


Stay tuned for the hotel report tomorrow. :)