Sweet Marie ~ Part II

As promised, I have photos of the canvas I made for Gina for the Marie Antoinette Canvas Swap.





















And on a different note... I have finally listed a new journal in my poor, poor neglected shop!



You can find it and other fabulous finds in the LolliShops ad in the latest Where Women Create magazine.

Now I'm off to read blogs. I'm so far behind on reading all of y'alls blogs, I don't think I'm ever going to catch up!

Have a beautiful day!

Spring is in the Air

Spring update over at the shop.

My dad has flown in from his paradise island for the weekend and my Little Bug niece is having a birthday. So, much fun is to be had in my near future.

I hope your weekend is as beautiful as mine is going to be!

Silver Bella Goodies

Today I have Silver Bella goodies to share.

First off is the contents of the black and white striped goodie bags we received the first night.

There were all kinds of great bits in here from all kinds of great sponsors and shops. Such lucky Bella's we were!

I only participated in two swaps, because I had way too much going on just before November. (next year I'm going to plan my time differently!) The swaps were seriously AMAZING!!!

This one was the Junkin' Journal Swap. Each participant was to gather papers or such that could be used as journal pages and then pop in a couple of embellishments, as well.

The loot I received in this swap makes my head spin! I love journals and making journals and I love supplies. This swap was heaven for me!

Here is the 12 Days of a Vintage, Glittery Christmas Book Swap. (I don't think I actually have the name right, but that is the gist of it.)

We were each given a verse from the "12 Days of Christmas" song and were asked to create a book page for it. The art work in this swap is amazing! I opted not to have mine bound and at this point, I'm still unsure as to whether or not I'm going to bind it all together myself or display each day separately. (I'm in the middle of decorating for Christmas, so I should probably decide pretty quick!)

And here are some sweet little gifts I received from other Bellas.

The pretty crown ornament is from Tiffany. The yummy candy bar, which I'll probably bust into today, is from Kim. The cute Audry charm is from Jessi. The great "Queen" charm is from my roomie Joanna. I am SO impressed with Joanna's soldering. Seriously, she only started soldering a few months ago and if I didn't know that, I definitely wouldn't guess it! She is a natural at it! The darling little vintage ornaments are from Joanna too. She's is really too sweet! On Vendor Night we were at Wanda's booth, you can find more of her fabulousness here, and we saw these two little darlings and Joanna bought them for me. They so take me back to my childhood!

So there are my goodies. I'll post all of my Omaha buys next time.

On another note, I have add a couple more items to my LolliShop. If you love Gingerbread, check it out!

Hope you are having a beautiful Monday!

P.S. Eeek, I almost forgot! Today is LolliShops Gingerbread House Contest! Head over to the LolliShops Blog to vote. They are ALL FANTASTIC!!!

It's Here!!!

Okay, I'm behind... as usual.(but I have been out of town, so that's my excuse) :)

LolliShops is OPEN!!!

If you haven't already stopped in for a peek or even a little shopping, then do so now! It's absolutely fabulous in all of it's sugary sweetness! Sadie Lou and her great web team have out done themselves!

I've started setting up my shop, Alisa Jane Designs. It's a little bare at the moment, but hopefully not for too long.

Sadie Lou challenged the LolliVendors to a Gingerbread House contest. I have already listed mine and have some more on the way.


A big ol' Thank You to everyone who left such sweet comments about my "baby" boy! And I hope all of you here in the US had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Shoppe News

I have been busy and have listed a few new items in both shopppes.

The "Summer Citrus Creativity Kit" is listed at Alisa Jane's Pocket.

It's full of juicy yellows, greens and coraly-oranges. I almost didn't list this one... wanted to keep it for myself.

Over at Alisa Jane I have listed my "Beauty" Collection. Four decorative plates that I'm selling individually or as sets of two or a set of four. Each bears an image of one of Harrison Fisher's "American Beauties". I can't tell you how much I love his girls! I've been wanting to use some of them for a while now.
Beauty No.1












Beauty No. 2












Beauty No. 3












Beauty No. 4












And speaking of shoppes, Wanda has opened her Etsy shoppe, The Rat's Pajamas. Be sure to go take a look. I also hear that Wanda is going to be a vendor at Silver Bella. Oooo, I can't wait!

And Lori of Faerie Window is a guest artist at The Primitive Gathering. Sorry Lori, I totally meant to mention this before! When you get to The Primitive Gathering just click on the "Faerie Window" banner to see her work. But DON'T buy that cute little "These Boots Were Made for Walkin'" piece. I'm trying to figure out a way to buy it and Farmboy not notice. ;) (evidently I've been making too many purchases... hmmm) Alright fine! If you really want it, go ahead and buy it... but hopefully I'll beat you to it.

Have a beautiful day!

There's No Place Like Home

Well, we are back and as much as I enjoyed seeing my parents and viewing that gorgeous turquoise sea every day, there really is "no place like home".

I was going to share some photos of our trip, but my Farmboy left for Austin and took the camera with him. The camera and his laptop are where all of the pictures are. So I will have to wait a few days before I can share them.

In the meantime, I missed the Cottage Style Street Team's "Christmas in July" event.

I made two Tussie Mussies for the event.

The color in the photo above does not do it justice at all. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to look right either.

I listed them in the shop before for I left since I wasn't going to be here for the event and the pink one sold before the event ever took place. Thanks Jenn! :)

Here is the blue "Noel" tussie.

This one is still available here. There are still many gorgeous Christmas goodies to be found from the other members of the CSSTeam. Just put "cssteam" and "Christmas" and "July" in the Etsy search engine to find them.

I also want to share this with those of you who don't know yet.

Sadie Lou, the marvelous idea guru herself, is creating the ultimate shopping/selling/information gathering venue. LolliShops will be THE place to go to for all of your "Elegant Whimsy, Romantic Inspirations, Fanciful Creations" needs! Before the official Grand Opening in the fall, she will have a trial run, so to say. There will be a few shops open so that the bugs and kinks can be taken care of before all of the other artists open their shop doors there. Including mine. Yep, I'll be opening an Alisa Jane shop at LolliShops! I am SO excited about this! You can keep up to date on all of the LolliShop happenings at the LolliShop blog. Seriously, you have to go check it out right now!

What are you waiting for?! Go!!
Talk to you later! :)

Siren Songs and Polka Dots

A couple of new things to share today.

First off, I've created a new collection for Alisa Jane. This collection is called "Siren Song". I'm loving these polka dotted papers!

I'll be listing these three journals in the shoppe today and will hopefully have a few more items for this collection by the end of the week. We'll see. I need to get on the ball and get my "Christmas in July" project for the Cottage Style Street Team started and completed before we leave for St. Croix in a couple of weeks.

I guess because it's summer and because of our vacation destination, I can't seem to get the sea out of my head. I cannot wait to get into that gorgeous blue water! I know there will be a lot of diving being done while we are down there, but even though I dive, my favorite outdoor activity next to riding my sweet pink bicycle is snorkeling. Like riding my bike, I can snorkel all day long. Even the farmboy can't keep up with me!


Anyway, that leads me to my latest art journal page. So Teresa had two techniques she wanted us to try with this one. Pointillism and spelling out a phrase within our journaling.

Back to that sea-thing again! I have to admit that even though I am quite pleased with how this turned out, I did not enjoy it in the least. It was a little to tedious for me and for some reason I actually stressed over it a little bit. Maybe because I was afraid of screwing it all up. I don't know... it was a fairly easy technique for me to do. Who knows! Despite how I felt while doing it, I haven't been able to keep my hands off of it since it dried. I love feeling all of those little dots under my fingertips.

And speaking of dots again. I can't seem to stop with the polka dots either! I've liked polka dots for a long time, but I'm really liking them right now. I can't seem to get enough! In fact I just bought a new pair of polka dotted flip flops (too stinkin' cute!) and I think it's time to make a new apron. A red and white polka dotted apron. I bet I'd cook better and more often in one of those! ;)

Happenings

*For those of you who have already stopped by here to visit, if you should happen to come back and think this post looks different, well it is and you are not going crazy. There was a change in the plans for the party and I didn't realize it! Ooops!*

Hope every one here in the states had a marvalous 4th of July. Ours was very calm and quiet and relaxing.

Look what Brandy sent me.

I won runner up in a giveaway she had. Really, how sweet is she?! Look at all of these great little goodies. Thank you so much Brandy!

I've listed another new kit at Alisa Jane's Pocket. This one is called "Woodland Cottage". Comforting colors... yellows, greens, pinks and reds with a touch of black.

Next week I will list new journals at Alisa Jane and possibly a fun little banner.

I've been soaking my bottles. A couple of them had hard packed dirt completely filled to the rims.

And, my BIL brought me some more!

I love the different shapes and colors of all the little bottles he's found. He told me they have also unearthed a tractor from ages ago. I think that's cool, but it's not something I need, so I turned down his offer of that one.

Thanks for all of the great back advice. I think it's unanimous... I need to stretch more!

Two days left to enter your name into my giveaway!
Have a beautiful weekend!

Happy Thursday!

First of all, I want to give out a big ol' THANK YOU to everyone who has entered my giveaway! Everyone has left such nice comments... they are very much appreciated. Makes me want to give a little something to everyone. :)

In shoppe news, I have listed a new kit at Alisa Jane's Pocket. This one is called "English Rose Garden". If you ask me, the colors are divine. Pinks, peaches, yellows and shades of blue.

I can almost smell the roses and hear the clink of china teacups as I type this.

Also, there will be a new collection listed at Alisa Jane soon. This one will be sea inspired. I can't seem to stay away from that right now. Must be the anticipation of going to paradise to see my parents soon.

And last of all, I need some advice. My back hurts again in the same place... my lower back. When I create, I both stand and sit. I can't figure out if it is that or sitting at the computer or both. Sometimes I sit in a computer chair and sometimes in a comfy chair or the couch with my laptop. Farmboy informed me last night that the problem was my legs... they are too short. ha ha, very funny. Don't tell him I might agree. I do have to sit at the front of chairs in both instances so I can reach what I'm doing. Sometimes petite isn't all that it's cut out to be. So my question is, how do ya'll work... sitting, standing, a special way? Should I change how I'm doing something?

Maybe I should take up yoga. Hmmmm....

Have a beautiful day!

Oh, don't forget to sign up for the giveaway, here.

*Edited- It's now 4:30pm here. Why didn't anybody tell me today isn't Wednesday like my title said? I just realized today is Thursday! I wonder what else I've missed out on today.*

So Much Goodness, I Almost Can't Stand It

It is only mid-week, but it really feels like it should be the end!

Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes on my back/butt problem! Or the "butt bug" as my friend Sherry called it. (please send well wishes her way now, the bug bit her butt... well, her hip anyway!) Much, much appreciated and I'm happy to announce that I am, for the most part, back to normal.

Speaking of sweet Sherry, looky, looky what she sent me! I won her blog giveaway!

How cute is that baby buggy and all the little goodies! The collage she made is beautiful! Thank you SO much Sherry!

I also received this Farm Chicks sticker from Tiffany!

She got to go up there, join in on all of the fun and brought back these cute little stickers and then gave them away on her blog. I'm gonna pop this puppy into my "Wishes" journal so that I'll get to go next year! :)

And speaking of giveaways, guess what? My last post was my 100th post. Thank you Joanna for pointing that out to me. :) I guess I didn't realize it, because I feel like I've only been doing this since the beginning of this year. See, that's when I found YOU... this amazing artsy, crafty, vintagey, glittery, wonderful blogging community. And am I so glad I did! Nobody in my family gets it, none of my "friends in the flesh" have ever gotten it either. Not even the scrapbookers. Talk about feeling like a black sheep! So anyway, I guess I ought to have a giveaway. I will admit, I'm a bit worried about having a giveaway... what if nobody shows up for it! I know, I'm an over-sensitive drama queen. My family tells me that all the time. But, I'm gonna do it anyway. Give me till the end of the week though... I have a lot going on right now.

Stuff like this...

My second shoppe is open for business. I am selling one of a kind "creativity kits" out of Alisa Jane's Pocket. I listed the first two kits yesterday... both blue and water inspired.



And the last little bit of goodness, but not necessarily the least, I got to spend some time working on my Write Time, Write Place Journal while the pirate spent time in the pool when we were in Austin. Yep, I drug all of my stuff for this all the way down to Austin with me.

These two pages are the inside cover and title page.

Have a beautiful hump day!

Where did the time go?

Yesterday my sweet, little baby boy turned 16. They say it goes fast and they are right. One minute your heart belongs to a little, grubby, curly headed, Tasmanian devil that requires band-aids every few minutes when he plows into the sidewalk and a lullaby sung to him every night so he can sleep.

You smile at him, blink and then the next thing you know your heart belongs to a man, taller than yourself, who no longer cries when he plows into something and certainly doesn't require band-aids and lullabies. It seems all he needs from you are the car keys and for you to realize that you now have to share his time with another girl.

I love this kid with my entire being and I am so proud of him. Of who he has and is becoming, as well as all that he has accomplished in his 16 years. Happy birthday E... I love you!

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Alright, you are probably done listening to the sappy stuff. Now on to the creative stuff.

I picked up this book yesterday at B&N.

I started reading it early this morning and so far I am happy with this purchase.

I finished my first entry for my Write Time, Write Place art journal.

The technique for this one was all about blending with colored pencils. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this. I read a blog post recently where the author commented on how satisfying sitting down and just coloring was, like when she was a little girl. (I'm sorry, I can't remember where I read that.) Holy Toledo, was she right! I got completely lost in it and really didn't want to stop.

I will be listing this "Love" canvas in the shoppe later today.


I'm off to start the day... and maybe whine just a little bit more about my baby. Have a beautiful day!