The Secret Is Out!

Ok! Ok! now that I have peaked your curiosity I cannot keep the secret any longer! The exciting news that I teased about in the previous post is some holiday fun for YOU! Remember last year when there was this wonderful, glittery online event called Joli Paquet? Well, it's happening again THIS year and it's going to be better than ever! My sweet friend Cerri has organized a terrific group of artists to share tutorials, recipes, giveaways, holiday tips, decorating ideas, and more with you on the special Joli Paquet Blog. And the best part is that anyone will be able to access the blog throughout the entire month of November for FREE - our gift to you!

Just like last year, Joli Paquet will also hold a Holiday Kit Event during the weekend November 14-15th! Each of the artists listed below are putting together some fabulous holiday themed kits for you to purchase and create with.

Cerri Campbell - Little Pink Studio

Cindy Gilstrap - Junque Art

Beth Quinn - Beth Quinn Designs

Donna Layton - Under The Red Roof

Brandy Faulkner - Brandywine Boutique

Lori Karla - Faerie Window

and me!

So feel free to add the Joli-Paquet button below to your blog with a link to the website and help us spread the word! Remember, the fun begins November 1st!

Coming Soon. . .

Hello There!

How's everyone doing today? It is an absolutely beautiful day here in the midwest - Sunny and the temperatures are just below 80 degrees so I have a huge smile on my face :)

I made great progress (on schedule, I might add) on buying the dreaded "mother of the bride" dress this week. I have two of them here at home (and another one on it's way) for my daughter and DH to pass approval on. Of course if I don't like which one they choose, I reserve the perogative to have the final say so. I like all three of them, so I don't think it will be a huge problem.


I added the necklace shown above to my Etsy shop. I whipped up a couple of these this morning in an attempt to try and clear some of the clutter off of my diningroom table. I misplaced these pendants several times and when I finally found them peeking out underneath a pile of Halloween papers, I thought I'd better finish making them right then and there, get them listed and be done with it once and for all!

I've been meaning to show you this awesome collage I purchased from Lisa Kaus. As soon as I saw this one, I just knew it had to be mine! Can you guess why???? She has lots of other wonderful and whimsical collage hangings like this one which you can check out in her shop here. Oh and before I go, be sure to check back here in the next day or two for an EXCITING announcement COMING SOON!

Finally!!!

Yes the shop has finally been updated with lots of frightful and delightful Halloween goodies. Check it out HERE.

Weekend Wedding

We went to a lovely outdoor wedding over the weekend at the Ryerson Conservation Area. Everything from the weather to the venue to the flowers to the music was perfection! I was fortunate enough to bring home one of the centerpieces from the tables. Picture this arrangement on a pale sage green tablecloth...so lovely!

Winners!

Last week I posted about a little giveaway I was having here on my blog. And now it's time to announce the winners. . . . .drum roll please!
The winner of this stitching rubber stamp by Hero Arts is Cindy!
The Sept/Oct issue of Cloth Paper Scissor magazine goes to Jessica.
And the wonderful chandelier clear stamp by Heidi Swapp goes to Suzan!

Congratulations ladies!!! Please email me your addresses so I can send your goodies out to you all. And thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway and lend such wonderful support to my blog. You truly are all an inspiration to me!

Summer. . . One More Time

Sweet Alyanna created this lovely summertime Treasury on Etsy and was nice enough to feature one of the items from my shop (see bottom left-hand corner). Oooh, what a lovely color scheme she chose. Thanks for the shout-out Alyanna!

Keeping The Home Fires Burning

This is a collage I was commissioned to make by Jennie. She bought this collage here and wanted a companion piece to hang with it. What fun it was to make it for her. I love the rich autumn colors. And yes, fall is right around the corner folks!

If you haven't signed up for my giveaway - more information about it here - then be sure you do. I'll be drawing the winning names on Friday, September 19th. I'm also hoping to launch my Boo-tique update in my Etsy shop that same day.

Wet & Wild

The BellaWeen E-Zine starts today. It's not too late to sign up and join in on all the fun! I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of ghoulish treats Teresa has cooked up for us!
It's been a wet and wild couple of days around here, although nothing close to what was happening in Texas over the weekend. This photo was taken of the street in front of my friend's house, but our backyard looked quite similar to this. Our next door neighbor's back yard usually fills up with water from the creek everytime we have torrential rains, {They don't know it, but their lot was a swamp before the house was built two owners ago.} and when it's really bad the water overflows into our yard as well. Here in the Midwest we have been experiencing the remains of hurricane IKE as well as a storm coming off the Pacific all at the same time. Personally, our home was not effected since our house sits atop a slight hill. But roads have been washed out all over the place and basements have been flooding all over the area. {In times like this, I am grateful we don't have a basement} We drove to Home Depot to pick up some replacement drawer pulls for a project we are working on and everyone in the check-out lanes had sump pumps, downspouts and generators in their carts. Hopefully we will get some sunshine in the next couple of days to help dry everything out a little. If not, I am going to start crafting an ark!

Don't forget to sign up for my GIVEAWAY here, if you haven't done so already! I'll be picking the winners later in the week.

A Giveaway!

Woo-hoo....My complete and utter ditzyness can be your gain! All three of the fabulous items pictured above are things I bought and later discovered I already own! Have you ever done that? {Please say you have.} Well, magazines cannot be returned and it's just too much trouble to drive back to the store to return the stamps {and run the risk of purchasing more items I already have}, sooooooo. . . . .how about a GIVEAWAY??? Just leave a comment on this post and next week I will choose 3 names to send one of these three lovely prizes! Good luck!!!

7 Years Ago. . . .

ALWAYS REMEMBER

Today Is My Birthday!

How can it possibly be? Hard to believe that another year has gone by, which means that I am another year older already! Yikes!!! Life is passing me by so quickly...my grandmother used to say that is a sign of old age. Remember when we were kids, the year between birthdays seem to take forever to pass? Life has surely changed!

Speaking of old age, my DH had gotten tickets through work for a production of The Boys From Syracuse for last night. He picked up the tickets at his office and never opened the envelope, until last night when we were all dressed and ready to go. Good thing he opened them before we drove all the way to the theater because the tickets were for last Thursday night's performance! Wouldn't we have been red-faced if we showed those tickets to the usher. That happened to someone else one other time we went to that theater and we wondered how anyone could be so dumb to go on the wrong night! Well, HELLO!! We are now like those people!!! We decided to go drown our sorrows and celebrate our stupidity by having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory instead and topped the meal off with a huge slice of tiramisu cheesecake (which I highly recommend). Yum!

In other news, I've been working on some Halloween goodies to add to my Etsy "Bootique", so be sure to check back here later in the week for the update.

Summer Greeting Card Swap

Can you believe it's September already? It's incredible how fast this summer flew by. I'm trying to think back on what I accomplished this summer and I seem to be coming up short. Well, I thought I'd better post my pics from Heather's Summer Greeting Card Swap before summer completely passes us all by. The darling card above is from our swap hostess herself, Heather Bluhm. I love the pensive look on the little girl's face and the soft colors Heather chose to use. Lots of layers of stitching and vintage papers grace this card. And that snippet of oxox ribbon adds just the right touch! This next sweet card, also with an image of a sweet little girl is from Ellen at One Ripe Peach. She makes the dearest little creations with a retro feel (and lots of polka dots) that always seem to make me smile. Isn't that pleated trim she used to die for? Wish I had some of that.
This adorable NEST card was made by Maija Lepore. She also used a delicate palette of soft pinks and rich browns. Yum! Don't you love her usage of vintage book pages, flocked wallpaper, and crepe paper? Of course anything with the word NEST is always a hit with me.
Martha Brown created this lovely card. Martha is such a talented lady. I've been in other swaps with her and have received the most beautiful pieces of art. A paper lace doily, vintage book text and ephemera are all embellished with real machine stitching for added texture.
This lovely mademoiselle, who looks like she is straight out of the 1920's, graces this card made by Vivian Peters. Vivian used another soft color combination of pink and green. She added touches of glitter here and there, in just the right amounts, to add some glitz to this belle dame.
And this scrumptious card is the "mystery card" of the stash. I always seem to get at least one of these in every swap. The yummy minty color, vintage millinery, and scalloped & pinked edges gives it the feeling of simple perfection. If anyone knows who's card this is, please let me know, as I would love to thank her and see more of her work.
EDITED: I just found out this card was created by none other than the lovely and talented Holly Abston ~ I should have known cause it has her fabulous style all over it!

Newsflash. . .

The wedding invitations are finished.....yipee! I am glad that task is behind me and I can move on to something different. Like the favors for the tables. Speaking of which, this box over-flowing with aqua posies arrived on Saturday from Cerri at Little Pink Studio. She ordered and sent them too me right in the middle of being rushed to the hospital for emergency gallbladder surgery! I can't believe that girl!!! Anyway, the posies are part of the decoration for the favors. That's as much as I will tell you now, but I promise to post photos when I am finished. Right now it's all just a dream in my head, so I'm hoping it will turn out the way I envision them when I start putting it all together.

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few hours of their Labor Day weekend. We've been keeping our eyes fixed on hurricane Gustav down in Louisiana and praying for everyone in that area. I can't even imagine what that would be like to have another horrible hurricane come again so soon just as you are starting to rebuild you life. But it looks as though a lot of important lessons were learned in dealing with hurricanes in the three years since Katrina, so that is very good.