I'm a WINNER!

I was SO JAZZED to get an email from Jes of Junque Revival yesterday. Jes recently launched her website/ store featuring her very cool MM jewelry and thrifty treasures. I signed up for her newsletter so I could get updates as to when she added more of her fabu LOOK CLOSELY necklaces. Well seems that she had a little Grand Opening contest with those newsletter signer uppers and I WON!!! Not only did I just win something but I won FIRST prize!! Jes tells me I should be expecting this beauty in my mailbox soon. woot woot!

{pink & orange}

Yay, I am nearly done with my pink and orange pages which just a few short days ago I hadn't even begun. I had one false start and then I worked this out trying three different versions and liking the final one. I finished the first set of embellishments just minutes ago and the rest should be done tomorrow. I love it when artwork just happens like that!

---*
In other news, the PINK birthday party yesterday was so much fun even though the weather was weird. My neice made quite the PINK haul including this get up which my wee one sported.
We had a heckuva time getting the boots off of her, so first thing this morning I ordered her a pair for her birthday which is coming up waaaaay too quickly.

Good night all. More shop goodies coming tomorrow.

simply charming

Birthday season is upon me... this weekend marks my neice's 3rd birthday, next week is Greg's and soon on his heel, the wee B will be 3 too! This got me thinking about gifts, traditions and charms...

When I was younger and my grandmother was living, she used to take me into her bedroom and let me look at her jewelry. She would tell me the stories behind certain pieces and we woudl dress up. My favorite and the one with the most history was her lovely charm bracelet. Though she promised it to me many times over the years, it dissappeared later in her life, either when she was in a convelescent home (Alzheimers) or after her death. Remembering how much I loved picking through each charm and hearing the stories of each charm, I decided I would create my own bracelet.

I started my bracelet when I got married, in August of 1999. My first charm was a silver heart and I added a small set of wedding bells for kicks. On our FABULOUS honeymoon, my bracelet got a huge kick start with the addition of 5 more charms from the countries and landmarks we visited. Since then, I have added charms for special occasions and trips bringing my charm count up to 18 with some new additions in order soon!
  
While someday I hope to pass along my bracelet to my daughter, I thought it would be fun to start a bracelet for her when she was a baby, adding charms each year on her birthday, keeping a small notebook as to why I chose that charm each year and then presenting it to her on some landmark birthday. So far she has 2 charms and I am currently on a search for what will be her 3rd addition.
This charm was the first charm I purchased for her bracelet. It is what I believe is called a "sports crystal". It is a vintage crystal cab engraved and colored from the back and set into a silver bezel. It is to commemorate her birth month of September.

To commemorate her second birthday I was fortunate to find this vintage silver charm from England of a boot with TWO tiny mice in it. I think it is so darling and fun.
I am currently on the prowl for addition number 3. I have my eyes on something in eBay.. but it doesn't end for a couple of days yet. Keep your fingers crossed!!

(You can click on any of the images to go to my Flickr page and get more info on the charms/ bracelet I have shown.)

like sewing muppets

Darn Blogger has been funky for a couple of days and I wasn't able to get into my blog until now. I didn't get much done in the way of art today unfortunately but got all my stuff shipped and caught up on all orders so that is a huge relief. I did do a fun project though.. a birthday gift for my neice who will be 3 on Saturday!

Yesterday my Mom, the wee B and I trekked up to Ikea (where I behaved myself very well) and I picked up a cute quilt for M's "big girl" bed which is coming soon. Her room is green and orange striped walls but she LOVES LOVES LOVES PINK!! We were excited to have found the perfect little quilt in shades of pink with accents in green and orange. I wanted to make a fun accessory to go with it... something that she might be a little more excited to open, so I gritted my teeth and headed to Wally World where I found some fabulous fun fur in hot pink with orange accents. I made a pillow for my "M" and of course, since whatever "M" is getting the wee B has to have too, I made one for her big girl bed as well. Upon showing the wee one the fabric I has chosen, she exclaimed, "Oooooh, that's beeeautiful!" so I knew I had picked a winner.

They worked up quickly and I was surprised at how easy the fur was to sew. I am tempted to try to make soem sort of groovy stuffed monster in the future as they had some cool blue/ lime green fur too.

At Ikea I scored this really cool fabric on sale. Its pretty narrow but the sides are already hemmed. I think its meant for hanging panels/ room dividers but its got a nice weight so I thought it might be fun to make into a bag or two.

I am wondering if if can count as my contribution to Thrift Thursday since I got it on sale??

will he kill me?

I added a couple of new things to my Etsy shop tonight. Included is this little bundle of tags using repro butterfly images from vintage thread ads and pieces of an old ledger. I am loving the old ledger pages and beautiful handwriting on them. What ever happened to neat penmenship? Did the computers take over??

I also finished up my "crowned heads" ATCs for the swap that Lelainia is hosting. I can't believe I actually finished something AHEAD of the deadline!! Of course I am totally behind on my Pink & Orange page for Joleen's fat book project but I am going to try to pull it off in time to meet the deadline since I do have an idea brewing. Anyway, I was pulling images from my little file of images to finish up the last few ATCs and I did this ATC.
The thing is.. its my brother. Do you think he will kill me now that this photo is out for everyone to see? I guess its a good thing he doesn't read my blog. LOL I also did these..
 
 
I don't know if I am all too thrilled with the whole batch. I seem to be really struggling with the tiny format after working bigger lately. Nevertheless, they are done and will be winging their way to Canada soon.

Its still hot as heck here. We are hoping for a few days break from the heat at least, rolling blackouts are occuring but fortunately we haven't been affected. I am already looking forward to my neice's 3rd birthday {POOL} party on Saturday! Keep cool!

pink bunnies

You asked.. and I answered. I was able to make up a batch of pink bunny buttons today (AFTER shipping Portals) and they are now available in my Etsy shop ready to adorn your artist apron on favorite journal bag.
Since it was another scorcher (100+ degress) I also was able to get a batch of dying done on some tags that I have a special order for. I am addicted to them, the colors are so vibrant and lovely. I am also trying to dye up some twill tape to match.. fun but messy!


I am ver relieved to not only have mailed out the Alphabetica journal but also my tardy PINK package. Thanks Laurie, for being so patient. I am caught up on orders, (Etsy and Portals) so now I can focus on some more new products for the shop and do my Pink & Orange pages, eeep!

I'm melting...

112 today. ugh. I feel like an over cooked noodle. We didn't get a whole lot accomplished today, trying to just cool and hydrated. I managed to woek in the studio a bit but its the hottest room in the house so I didn't last too long. I finished my page for the Alphabetica RR book I have which is a transportation theme.
In addition, I am a bit ahead of the game on the ATCs swap I am doing thru Lelainia. (I still have time to screw that up tho! lol) The theme is "crowned heads" and she is making them into little books which is why they have the holes on the left side. Here's a sneak peek of a couple of them:
 

I don't have much more to share today. Frankly, I think my head is moosh too. I will have several packages to mail tomorrow including Zines!! Yay

Hearts

OK, I suck.. I didn't get my own heart image today so I am falling back on a heartsy Flickr mosaic. I am happy to report that Zines are actually going out in the mail!! Man, this one has been a long and bumpy road. I hope everyone enjoys them!

In other news, I am taking the day off to go to the beach tomorrow with the wee one and our friends. Its been HOT as heck here so I am hoping for a little relief from the scorching heat and lots of fun. I have some custom orders to fill for the Etsy shop and then I will be working on some new items.. quite possibly some bunny buttons..?? and I have some ideas for some other little treasures too. Keep tuned in.

Hippily Bunny (Kids Story)

I ran across this sweet video tonight and it sure made me smile.. check it out!

My 4 year old daughter began drawing a bunny she called "Hippily" on 3 X 5 cards over the past two weeks. She told me that she's doing it to make a 'movie.' Who am I to deny her that? So I added some copyright safe music (I learned my lesson from the Vertigo movie) and had her narrate it. Be sure to watch to the end to see the 'outtake.'

every triangle has three corners, every triangle has three sides...

apparently too much Schoolhouse Rock in this household, but I digress.. here is my entry for TRIANGLE in Joleen's Shape Week...
fortunately thhe triangle assignment coincided with my completion of thos banner for another Laurie who happens to be my swap Partner in a PINK swap hosted by One Crabapple. It was supposed to be mailed off yesterday (eeep) but will be going out to Iowa tomorrow.

And here is my Flickr mosaic...

squared

Hmm, Joleen seems to have fallen down on the job of shapes week but I am continuing on.. Today's shape is Square. Last week, I inadvertently got a great, unusual shot of this feathered square while at the beach in Capitola. I love when I stumble across this kind of spur of the moment art using found objects. There is a beach a couple of beaches down from Capitola where someone regularly makes/ made cool stacks of rocks and/or driftwood. I haven't been there in a whole but I am curious to check it out again.

In addition, I also made a Flickr mosaic. (shocker, heh?) I love making the mosaics because I get to look through sooo many cool shots.


I am almost done printing ALL 100 issues of Portals. Of course I was about 7 sets of pages away from completely finishing the inside ( I have to print covers at home) and the dang printer started putting pink lines across all the pages. UGH so I had to drag all my stuff back home and continue on here. Joleen whoudl be collating and mailing by the weekend with the pages I sent her and you all, who have been soooo wonderful and patient should finally have Portals in your hot little hands SOON.

Obviously, we cannot continue on like this. We thought we had a lead on someone who could print these short runs for us for a reasonable price but the name got lost. (I swear, we are cursed) If anyone has any printing leads for us, PLEASE pass them along... we want to continue doing this but I can not handle going through this printing nightmare again. Our options now, are find a good, reasonable short run printer, go black and white, offer digital or stop.. Ideas?? Good juju, please!!!

more circles

Just because I can't resist a flickr mosaic...

click to make them bigger and see photo credits

circles

Joleen is hosting a shape week similar to the color weeks many bloggers have participated in in the past. Today's theme is circles... so I took a couple of shots to share. The one up top is the little set of tags I just got in the mail. These tags are the inspiration for the letters that Pam Garrison uses on her Flights of Fancy. They are fun little disks of the entire alphabet.
In addition, I made these little bunny buttons today and thought they looked cute with the old wooden spools of thread. I love green!




In addition I just wanted to share this (not very good) picture I took yesterday of the wee B with her two cousins, (Heidi's boys) Sam (in red shirt) and Jake. We went to watch them compete in triathalons at Bonfante Gardens yesterday and we all stayed to play. H has such a good time with "her guys" and I was glad we got the chance to spend the day with them because our schedules always seem to keep us running in different directions.

back on track

Yes!! Triumph over the curse and the machine.

After multiple roadblocks kept popping up to actually getting Portals from the computer to the printed page, I have finally been able to print successfully. I had begun at home, slowly, painfully slow... the second part came in for the big copier, was installed, worked and I RAN to the car, raced to the office and started printing. Sort of. Had some software glitches but being the problem solver that I can sometimes be I managed to find a way around and have been steadily printing away. I will start binding tomorrow and send the others off to Joleen to bind upon her return from Vegas. I have already printed out the address labels so it should go very quickly from here. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive and patient with us. I hope that issue 3 goes MUCH smoother, which reminds me to tell you all that the website is now fully functional ( I think) and has all the pertinent information regarding upcoming calls and themes. Please visit and consider submitting art or an article for a future issue.
Cheers!

color

Life has been full of color lately. My art table has been humming, the weather has been clear and we went to the beach for a glorious afternoon yesterday. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing and we ended up in Capitola, CA which is a quaint little beach village south of Santa Cruz. As a teen I used to spend a lot of time, perusing shops, laying in the sun and eating ice cream. It is a happy place and yesterday it was fun to share it with the wee one.

As I am sure (I hope) you have noticed. My blog has gotten a little update for summer. My banner is a photo that I took in Capitola yesterday. These are the Venetian Hotel buildings. The front row or two are mostly rentals (condos) with a few owner occupied. One is for sale ($3,950,000!), and the others towards the back are hotel rooms. The building is the oldest condo building in CA. The owners keep the property up beautifully especially with the lovely Mediterranean colors. Though there was some "beach construction" going on I was still able to get some good shots including the one above. I used individual units to make the small headers in the side bar and now my blog is all decked out for summer.

I have also noticed that my eye has been drawn toward brighter colors as the temperatures rise. A look at my recent Flickr favorites shows photos full of vivid color. I find them inspiring and it just makes me happy to look at!

WISH

Just a short post to share this new banner I did today. I love the calming blue colors and the funky vintage, glass flower button on the W. I am on a quest for more vintage wallpaper. I feel the need to go thrifting!

JOY

OK, I promised a little eye candy today so check it out! Since taking Pam's "Flights of Fancy" class at AFF the wheels have been turning and I have been working on fun banners. I made a single one for a friend which I will post below (so don't look if you want to be surprised Laurie!) and this fun JOY one in purples. (weird, since I RARELY use purple) I am working on another one in blues that should be done tomorrow. It will be listed in my Etsy shop along with JOY whih was listed today.

More bad news for Portals printing. The part didn't fix the problem on the big copier so I am going to continue on printing at home which is soo slow but at least progress! The orders continue to come in. I know I speak for us both when I say THANK YOU to all of you who have waited so patiently for this one. In speaking to my Dad the other day, he asked why we don't offer a digital copy for download. I think its a stellar idea and we will look into how to do that soon. I can see it saving a lot of time and money for all parties!

Anyway, about the banners. The one above is made with smaller triangles. The whole thing measures just about 24" with a 6/5" drop. The "O" has a little clothespin so you can attach a photo, word, or quote to make it a bit more personal. It hangs with cotton seam binding and is for sale here.

This one, is for my friend Laurie who I met through Flickr and then had the pleasure of meeting in person at AFF. She is the one who brought me a bunch of fun fabrics and other goodies and this went into her return goodie package from me. It has paper and fabric (picked up in the AFF Altered Asylum room) in addition to glass glitter and a vintage ticket. Fun!

wheee, ugh and phew!

We had a really fun weekend at my BIL and SIL's. We went up yesterday to take turns wrangling toddlers while the guys went to see Pirates of the Caribbean... Dead Man's Chest and then swapping places with them so the girls could all go. We really enjoyed the movie though we thought they probably could have edited it down to 2 hours ;) Johnny Depp was silly and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. It was really hot but we headed back to BBQ at the house while the kids played and we drank coconut rum and pineapple juice cocktails (argh!). After putting the kidlets to bed we played some games and visited, then we attempted to sleep with the fan blowing on us to cool us off. I missed my A/C! This morning we took the kids to Happy Hollow and then returned home for naps. My SIL and I were picked up by our friend and the gals headed off for a Camera Cinema Club event. This was my first time going and unfortunately the movie they screened, Six Figures, was BAD. It was slow and pointless and we left wishing we had done something else. It was still fun to have soem NON whining time away from the kids. We headed back to find the kids and Daddies at the community pool having a great time. We eneded up staying up there much later than we expected. How nice to escape all the stress and frustration of the previous week.

When we got home, I logged in to check my email and was extremely shocked and shaken to find that someone had managed to hack into my eBay account, list and sell 17 computers in the UK! The good thing was that no money had changed hands from what I can tell but my box was CRAMMED full of emails asking various questions, requesting shipping costs, etc. I managed to get a live person to assist me at eBay and he immediately reversed all the action on my account and emailed all the high bidders. I had to change all my passwords (ugh.. but you should do this regularly) and everything is ok now. ( pheeeww!)

I'd feel weird not posting at least a couple of pictures in my blog so even they are irrelevant to the post I will share soem pictures of the farbic I scored in WA while at AFF. Some of it was from the cool store, Pacific Fabrics & Crafts in Issaquah which had pajama party and sale while we where there, and some of it was from my friend Laurie who brought me some fun packets of goodies. ( Laurie, I mailed yours off yesterday!)

  
AND check out these fun treasures I picked up at the Fremont Street Fair:

As usual, click them to make them bigger. I am off to finish my book ( My friend Leonard) and will post more eye candy tomorrow!

it gets me through the day...

Yes, its been a day.
It never did get much better after my post this morning. I know some days are like that. I am thankful that the terrible two's aren't always TOO terrible but I do sometimes lose my cool and feel like I am going to end up in the looney bin. When things calm down, as they inevitably do, I find that I beat myself up and feel guilty for getting impatient and angry and wanting to just walk out the door. I know in my head that these things are normal. No one is perfect and being a full time Mom is hard but my heart aches when she stops and says, "I love you Mommy, you're my best friend." Lately her behavior has been along the lines of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. One day she is sunny and sweet, spouting things about snuggling and being cozy, lots of hugs, kisses, helping and listening while days like today she becomes and child possessed by demons. Even the (seemingly) simplest of tasks is a battle; getting clothes on her is a wrestling match, there is yelling, whining, throwing of tantrums and toys.
I am working on my patience, I don't think I will ever be GOOD at being patient but I think I am getting better. I guess the cute and sweet moments are made to offset the bad so you will still be in love with them and not ship them off in large moving cartons with a tub full of goldfish crackers.. and of course there are always the moments like this:

argh

...and I don't mean that in the exciting, Pirates of the Carribean is starting today way either. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to go see Johnny Depp as Cap'n Jack Sparrow tomorrow, but today's "argh" comes in frustration of a grumpy, difficult, head strong toddler who had way too little sleep last night. I am at the breaking point.. do I choose tears or alcohol?! The comment I have heard most today is "Mooooooooooom" in the whiniest, most annoying tone you have ever heard. I am sorry to vent, I am at my wit's end and no one is around to share my sorrows.....

cute kitties and Zine woes

Figure I better butter you all up before I share yet MORE bad news!
THIS is my kitty Zöe looking uber cute and cuddly on her cat tree. She was peeking down at me as I worked away on my computer this evening. She really isn't as innocent as she looks. She bosses the dog around and has the most whiney meow. We call her the "evil noodle." She does have her good side though. She snuggles up to me when its cold, is a nearly permanent fixture on the arm or back of my chair and checks on the wee one every night before we turn in.

Ok, so now the unfortunate news. PORTALS is cursed! I learned upon my return from AFF that the toner supplier had cancelled my order so I had to order more from a different supplier. It finally arrived, I am all set to go print and the damn thing is printing huge red lines on every page!! So, now I am waiting for the replacement part as I am slowly printing copies at home on my laser printer so we can start sending SOMETHING out! Ugh. I swear.. this issue is WORTH the wait and we are more anxious than you are. In other Portals related news, I have been slowly reworking the website and the order page is working once again. We have sold nearly 3/4 of the limited 100 issues so if you want to get yours, don't wait!

things that make me happy...

Its the little things really:

- a morning with my little family playing.
- treasures from friends.

- getting the new Cloth Paper Scissors in the mail (NOT 3 weeks after everyone else)

- my box of AFF goodness FINALLY arriving. (pix coming)
- learning that Sally Jean has a book coming out SOON!

- a clean studio
- new toys

- funky (bargain!) jewelry

- Time to enjoy it all.