CraftNapa

I am so excited, after 6 weeks without a computer, I am BACK!! I had to get a new phone too, in that time frame, and everything was not set up on that yet either, a double handicap. I have braved snow, ice, gale force winds, torrential rains and flooding, to drive from Oregon to California for Pokey Bolton's Craft Napa. I picked the perfect window of opportunity between the big snow storm at home, and the Pineapple Express heading into Calif. I was very worried and upset that I would even be able to go because of the weather, I was going to drive down the coast to avoid the snow, and then they said 12" of rain with flooding on the coast. Anyway I made it, with some nerve wracking driving, and LOTS of wind and rain. I came a few days early and am staying with my in-laws, so Tom took me computer shopping after saying my notebook was not salvageable. We did some internet shopping to find what I needed, then went to the office stores to narrow it down and find the sales. Costco had the best price on the HP laptop, and we found a great HP printer at Office Max. The printer will scan and print the 11" x 17" large format. That will be nice when I want to scan the large maple leaves, and printing on fabric, I won't have to try to hide the seam when I am thread painting. I had also gotten a Brother ScanNCut for myself for Christmas, and I got the larger model that will scan and cut 12" x 24" so a larger printer size will help with some of those projects too. After some nice visiting time with the in-laws, and several nice lunches out, I am now ready to head for Napa tomorrow, God willing and the creeks don't rise. There has been some flooding in the Sacramento valley, and all the rivers are really high. The news said Folsom dam had 13" of rain in 24 hours. I will be taking 4 classes, mostly painting, surface design type classes, screen printing, rubber stamping, foil, etc. The teachers are Melanie Testa, Sue Bleiweiss, and Judy Coats Perez. I will be staying with my nephews in Saint Helena, so I saved the expense of the hotel. I am SO excited, I have never had a class with a national teacher, I am mainly self taught, with books and the internet, and trial and error. I will have lots to share on my next blog post.