Girls Weekend Fun - Part 2

Weren't those tulips shared in Girls Weekend Fun

GORGEOUS?

Part 2 of our trip includes Junk Jubilee,

West End Salvage and Recreating Mona Lisa.

 While we enjoyed this years Spring Junk Jubilee, 

it was a bit disappointing as there weren't as many vendors

for inspirational ideas or items to buy.

Apparently Junk Jubilee and Junk Stock were in

competition with one another that weekend. 

Ready to shop and be inspired!

Great junk & inspiration

Although it was a smaller show,

sharing fun & inspiration 

with good friends,

is always a great time!

Next stop, West End Salvage

Nora is often missing from our pics 

as she is the one that remembers to take photos...

Thank you Nora for the pics!

West End Salvage is known for creating 

reclaimed architectural items into

functional and works of art decor.

Also available are antique and 

vintage lightening, doors, furniture

and miscellaneous items.

 

Here Gail & I are with Don Short,

owner of West End Salvage.

Antique doors & lightening  

This door is in the center stairway

If you visit WES, be sure to enjoy their coffee shop!


Recreating Mona Lisa

Earlier I mentioned Recreating Mona Lisa
would be included in this post.

There really is a lot to share, so
I will post it separately. 

Here's a sneak preview

From drab
to Fab....
 

Please check back to see what changes we made.

See you soon!

Girlfriends Weekend Fun!

Gail, Nora and I recently took a weekend trip

to one of our favorite vrbo...

Bailey's Barn near Des Moines, IA. 
  But, before we got to Bailey's Barn,

we made a spur of the moment decision
to head over to the quaint
Dutch town of Pella, IA
to visit their Spring Tulip Festival.

 The festival actually is the first week of May.
Being there a few days early let us enjoy the
tulips without the crowd of people 

or paying an admission fee!

 

 

 

 Beautiful Tulips! 

Downtown Pella is quaint with two rotating windmills,
dutch bakeries and hand-painted murals

 And one must try on the wooden Dutch Shoes!

 Bailey's Barn is our

quaint, cozy home away from home!

 Relax, Laugh, Memories, Forever greets you on the patio.

 I've seen this setting in Autumn and Winter.
And now in Springtime!
Flowers everywhere and two babbling waterfalls
trickle to the pond.
All this is yours to enjoy during your stay!

Upon your arrival, you enter to find soft music playing,
the fireplace burning, candles aglow,
and bowls of candy and goodies to enjoy! 

Miss Daisy is your greeter.
She is the sweetest girl!

 Only spent two days & nights here, 
but were they ever full of activity...
Junk Jubilee, West End Salvage and Recreating Mona Lisa!

I'll share those stories soon.

Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Have you seen the TV program Prospectors? 
Has it encouraged to go dig in the dirt for gems?

Those questions came up during a girlfriend craft day earlier this year.
I mentioned prospecting for diamonds was just a few hours away and so our plans begun.

Girlfriend's Road Trip to Murfreesboro, Arkansas to the Diamond Crater State Park!

While the drive is doable in one day, it would be a tiresome day driving through the Ouachita and Boston mountains.  We choose to split our driving days allowing us time to sight-see & shop.  

We spent our first night in Fort Smith, AR.   Did you know the only bordello/brothel listed on the National Registry of Historic Places is located in Fort Smith, AR?  We didn't, now we do.  

 Miss Laura's Social Club

There's a lot of Fort Smith history in this bordello.

Later that evening we enjoyed dinner and live music.  Marj was taking photos at dinner.  
It seems my eyes look mostly closed in photos...
one of those awful pleasure of aging.   

So, I shared how our youngest son as a little boy would do "Big Eyes".
Here's my rendition of "Big Eyes".

Goofy, at least my eyes were widely opened for the photos.

And "Big Eyes" was before we drank one of these.

  

Day two, onward to diamond hunting!

It was an overcast day, the temp was light jacket weather and simply a beautiful day to spend outdoors.  We spent the the whole day at the mine playing in the dirt (mud) and rocks looking for diamonds and other gemstones.

It had rained the two days before our arrival which is supposed to be good for walking and looking for surface diamonds.   We also did dry-sifting and wet-sifting.  Originally I thought I would enjoy wet-sifting the most, but learned I prefer dry-sifting the best. 

None of us found diamonds here.  We did find lots of Jasper and Agate.  
It looks like a box of rocks, which it is, but these rocks are Agate, Jasper and Volcanic Tuff.

The mine is surrounded by the beautiful Ouachita State Park.  The mine area is several acres of exposed dirt, the results of a once volcanic crater.  This is the restored mine shaft that was once privately mined for diamonds.  The state of Arkansas bought it and it is now available to the public.

It was a great day for mediation, playing in the dirt and most of all, sharing it with friends.  

Day three our adventure took us to the Wegner's Quartz mine.
It rained hard over night, the mine trailings and mountain digging sites were too muddy to enjoy.
Nonetheless, Wegner Quartz Mine had a lot to offer.

Tables and tables of quartz in all sizes along with chucks of colored glass.

Wegner also offers museum gemstone beauties as well as being a gemstone retailer.

Can you image cracking open this incredible Amethyst geode?

Citrine, Quartz and Gail beauties!

 

We bought bags of dirt seeded with diamonds or gemstones.  Here we are in the Wegner discovery room where you sift through your bags to find your guaranteed treasures.
The seeded gemstone bags guarantee around 15 gemstones.
The diamond seeded bags may have one or several diamonds in them.   

Here is my bag and light board.  Notice the small plastic box in the bottom right-hand corner...
see the two circles of light?
That is the light from the light board shining up through my two diamonds!   

They are smaller than they appear in this photo, but here are my two uncut, raw diamonds

 One appears to be clear and the other chocolate, Yum!


We came home via Branson, MO...lots of shopping and finally on our way home, stopping to eat lunch at Lambert's Cafe in Ozark, MO.

Girlfriends are the best diamonds...rare, strong & beautiful!