My Friends

Not only are they fun to hang out with

and they both really "get" me,

 but they are so inspiring

and both are so very talented.

I love my friends.

*********

Winter Angel by:

Cheryl Bass

Spring Fleurs by:

Nina Little



Two Years Coming

I can check another WIP off my list.



Waaaaay back in August of 2009 a few friends and I embarked on a round robin swap.

A book of Seasons.

We each created a book.

{mine is here}

Inside our own books we made intro and sign in pages.

We each created a Summer layout

and then we swapped books.

When December came 'round, we shared the Autumn pages we had created and then swapped books again.

{mine is here}

After another three months we met up.

We shared our Winter pages and swapped again.

{I would show you a photo of my Winter pages, however I literally did mine late the evening before swapping, so I didn't get any photos.

And that totally blows, because I think my Winter pages were my favorites out of all the season pages I created}

For one reason or another, we didn't meet up again to share Spring and return the books to their owners.

And for me, that may have been a good thing, seeing that I didn't have my pages ready.

Uh yeah, for the last two years.

But now I can mark that off the list.

And when we do finally meet up to swap books, I won't be standing there empty handed.

Kisses & Hugs

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a nice weekend.

Mine was full of cooking and art.

It was good.

Last time, I shared the Valentine Tag Swap I took part in and today I have the second swap.

Kandeland's Valentine Ornament Swap

I wanted this ornament to be simple and elegant, so here is what I came up with.

osnaburg fabric and white lace

vintage millinery and a bit of pink velvet



and a message

kisses & hugs

Until next time....

A Little Sample of Love

Back in November I told myself I was going to take a break from swaps.

No more joining any swaps for awhile...

maybe even for the whole year of 2011.

So what did I do?

You got it...

I didn't even hesitate and signed up for,

not one swap,

but two swaps

before 2011 even started.

Today I'll share the first one.

Kandeland's Valentine Tag Swap.

I had been wanting to do an all fabric and stitched tag for awhile

and even considered holding a fabric tag swap last year, but couldn't find the time to.

And I thought a little "love" sampler would make a cute tag.

On the back I made a little lace pocket to slip my card into, since it would have taken forever to have hand stitched all of my info.

I love, love, love the fabric I used for the back!

So much so, I considered making a skirt with it, but the Farmboy thought it would be way too over the top.  So much for that idea.

So maybe instead, I'll just pin a big swatch to the wall so I can gaze at it whenever I like.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Have a beautiful Thursday!

PS. I'm a little slow to the punch and just yesterday realized Blogger had an updated editor.

So what do you think of my new look?

Vintage ABC Book

Do you remember this?
It was my page for the Vintage ABC Book Swap.
I was Miss A.

A couple of weeks ago I received my completed book.

Oh. My. Word.

It's super cute!

And crazy big
and over all pretty awesome!

*********

I would like to thank you all
for all of the prayers and positive thoughts you have been kind enough to send our way.
As I said in the last post, things are looking better, but we aren't out of the dark just yet.
My mother-in-law will start chemo in less than two weeks, so if you don't mind we would sure appreciate more of those prayers and positive thoughts.

Thank you again.
Y'all are THE BEST!

All Hallows' Eve

The tag group had another swap.
This one was hosted by Wanda
and the theme was
Halloween.

Lots of layers here.
All sorts of papers, cheese cloth and lace
with a generous amount of bee's wax and a touch of Glimmer Mist.

Oh, and an owl of course.
Because that seems to be what I'm all about this season.

Hoot!

Today Has Been Brought to You By the Letter A

A
is for...

Arthur
Avalon

Arbor
Apple Blossom
Alyssum

Admiration
Adventure
Assertiveness

Amethyst
Aubergine

*********

For a
Vintage ABC Book Swap.

Now to get them shipped off!

Around the World In 20 Tags

Well, almost 20.

Wendy hosted this really fun tag swap awhile back.
Remember my Greece tags?
I finally had a chance to photograph the whole tag book.

There were supposed to be 20 countries represented.
However, the US Postal Service evidently really liked two sets of these tags, and decided to keep them for themselves.
Super frustrating for the tag makers and also Wendy.
(I've had a swap package almost lost in the mail, just going one town over from where I live. Luckily it showed up at the last minute... looking pretty rough, I might add. It really sucks.)
Wendy, being the good sport she is, made a quick fill in tag of one of the missing sets, but just ran out of time for the other lost set.
So we actually have "Around the World In 19 Tags".
Who knows, maybe they will show up a few months from now.

Okay, on with the show...

U.S.A- Michelle Cox, Canada- Rachel Velder, Mexico- Pam Kern, Brazil- Wendy (fill in tag).

Ireland- Marlene Haveron, England- Jane Palmer, Spain- Cheryl Bass.

Italy- Rochelle Gaukel, France- Peggy Lucas, Germany- Wanda Clark, Holland- Marian Ballog.

Egypt- Bianca Gaspard, Morocco- Kimberly Laws, Jordan- Sherry Wescott.

India- Natalea Kandefer, Australia- Beth Holcombe, Japan- Wendy Robrecht, China- Cindy Bellamy.

Fun, isn't it?!

ps. I didn't add a pic of mine... you've already seen it.

It's In the Bag! ~ Part II

One of the aspects of the flea market bag swap that I really liked, was that it wasn't exactly a traditional one on one swap.
I made a bag for Heather, but she made a bag for someone else.
My bag came from Kim.

And she hit the nail on the nose!

The color is perfect.
The material is perfect.
The style is perfect.

It also perfectly held all of my goodies when we spent the day at Canton.

And when I'm not using it, it looks perfect hanging by the front door!

It's In the Bag!

I am wiped out!
Those Gilded Girls sure know how to host an event!
It was fantastic, but it may take me a few weeks to recover from the fantastic-ness of it all.

I, being me, of course did not take a single picture the entire weekend.
I've come to the conclusion, that I will just have to take this whole not photographing events as a fact of life and embrace it. I guess I just get way too involved in soaking up the experience to do anything more than just that, soak.
With that being said, I can share swaps and projects.

I did one swap.
A flea Market bag swap.
Heather asked me for a messenger bag of turquoise, green and pink, ruffles and polka dots, and feminine.
So this is what I gave her.

I've never made a bag before, so this swap used up quite a bit of brain power.
I thought I would simply be able to go out and find a ruffled messenger bag pattern.
Oh boy was I ever wrong!
So I took a what I could find (which was a wonky looking bag pattern) and altered the fool out of it.

It has two pockets on the inside and a large one across the back on the outside.
It's nice and roomy and will hold quite a bit.
I know this, because I almost filled it to the brim with junquing essentials.
(A little known fact, I have a tendency to get carried away sometimes. Okay, so maybe that's not really a little know fact.)

Here is one of the little goodies I popped into the bag. A junque journal for notes on measurements and such.

I'm pretty sure that I won't be making another bag anytime soon, but this really was a fun swap.

Next time I'll show you the gorgeousness that I received!

Have a beautiful Monday.

Greece

Wendy is hosting a swap.
An awesome swap.
"Around the World in 20 Tags"

After much mind changing...

Scotland
the Farmboy's heritage,

Ireland
my heritage,

Italy
where we honeymooned,

France
who doesn't love France,

I finally decided on
Greece.

I would say that Greece is THE country of interest in this household right now.
I've loved Greece and it's mythology since 7th grade...
Persephone's sad tale being my favorite.
It is also the place of the Graduate's (soon to be a History major this coming fall) favorite time period.
The Farmboy would give just about anything to dive in the Aegean Sea.
And the Teenager (formerly known as Capin' Davey Cannonswine... doesn't seem right to continue calling him that anymore seeing as how he starts high school in the fall) is all into and can relate to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books.

So I chose Greece.
And when I think of Greece, along with Persephone, dolmades, juicy olives
(in that order)

I also think of
Aphrodite.


The Goddess of Love

*********

And on a side note...
There will not be any Friday's Flowers this week.
You see, on Saturday, I have a very important date
with a Mad Hatter and a cup of Tea.
I'd love for you to stop by too.
See you then!

L.A.T.E.

Not 15 minutes or 30 minutes late.
Nope.
Not a couple of days or even two weeks late.

Oh no, not even.
I am really late.

A whole year late.

A year ago there was a swap. A Coin Roll Quote Book swap.
(I can't say that fast three times. Can you?)
We each created three different quote tags made from coin rolls.
I was in charge of putting all the books together.

(art by Nina Little)

A year ago.

I just got around to it on Sunday.
I can’t believe these girls are still my besties.

(art by Cheryl Bass)

A year.
Now that’s true friendship.

ATC No. 4 ~ The Last of the Set

This is the last ATC for the "supply swap" challenge.
And quite honestly, my least favorite of the four. But I'm resigned with that fact, because this one I'm keeping for myself.

The supplies were the same as No. 3, only the scrap image was different.

a ticket
a velvet leaf
a butterfly brad
a blue paper flower
a vintage scrap image

Because this one is for me, I didn't do packaging for it.

The front...

Like ATC No. 2, this one is book style... only it opens the correct way. I gessoed the ticket and added a seam binding ribbon.

Open it up...

I gessoed the leaf too and the paper flower was no problem at all this time. I added a couple of large, orangy-pink sequins and got creative with the butterfly brad. I popped the rhinestones out of it and placed them in the center of the sequins and put one tiny one on the girl's collar.
Wrote out the proverb and fini... all done.

Have a beautiful Monday!

ATC No. 3 or The ATC That Almost Wasn't

Or the ATC that made me say things I would be embarrassed for you to hear me say.

The items I received were...

a ticket
a blue paper flower {@%$#@!}
a velvet leaf
a metal butterfly brad
a vintage scrap image
(and the bag it all came in, which was held closed with the pearl stick pin)

And here it is all finished.

The scrap image reminded me of a vintage hankie I had, so out that came to become the base for the front of the card. I hand sewed the hankie piece to a bit of white pillowcase fabric. I then placed the scrap and the leaf and proceeded to stop dead in my tracks.
It was the blue flower that stopped me.
I stared at it and stared at it.
I held it, I touched it, I spoke to it.
It just stared silently back at me.
I accidentally pulled the stem loose.

OH!

I flipped the card over...

I twirled the stem up a bit. Wrote on the back of the ticket. Stuck those two items down and poked the butterfly brad through the pillowcase fabric. I flipped the card back over and stopped dead again.
I pondered and pondered and pondered.
And then I channeled my friend Nina. I took that blue flower and proceeded to drown it in bleach. And it turned a not too bad shade of peach...

but clashed terribly with the golden yellow of the hankie. So back to pondering.

Wait! I have some golden yellow embossing powder!

I used it. And my peach flower turned a sooty sort of yellow. No good.

So I put more embossing powder on it and as I was heating it up for a second time, I noticed an odd odor in the house.
It took me a moment and then I realized... my blue, bleached peach, embossed to sooty yellow paper flower was charring.

Yup. But at least I now knew why it was a sooty yellow. All I had left up my sleeve was paint. So I painted it. However Mellow Yellow didn't look right with goldenrod yellow.

And as I was about to have a tantrum and hurl that little paper flower across the room, it dawned on me that I didn't need to actually use the flower. I had already used the stem... and that counts! I also realized I had the perfect vintage, velvet, yellow posies sitting in a box just a reach away.

And that is the story of ATC No. 3.