Back to School

It's that time of the year again. 

New backpacks, new school clothes, new box of crayons, 

new lunch boxes, new school year!

1. on your graduation, Mako!, 2. Higher education, 3. ticonderoga #2HB's, 4. anxious, 5. School Locker Memories, 6. Skipping Schoolgirls outside Victoria Station, London, 7. composition book, 8. Anything Seems Possible When You Open a New Box of Crayons -- Aug. 23, 2009 [Explore]

In other news - Last week I received the sweetest email from Jennifer (The 3 Maries) asking me if she could feature my etsy shop on her blog. What a nice surprise! The feature is up on her blog here today. Be sure to check it out!!! And after that you should run on over to Jennifer's wonderful shop here, where she sells both handmade and vintage items. She has a huge selection of vintage children's books that are worth the trip. Thanks again, Jennifer:)

Rainy Day

It's been crummy here the past few days. Rain, rain, go away! I really shouldn't complain, as the plants and grass have needed some rain for a long time. But it always makes everything seem so gloomy and I seem to move a little slower too. So I decided to whip up a few of these cheery goodies to brighten things up around here.

I just listed them in my shop. They are fun to use to embellish your needlework or scrapbook pages or whatever your imagination can think of. 

I also added a few more of these popular hangers to the shop too.

Watch for my Halloween update in the shop coming soon!

After reading this post, I just had to try French Press coffee for myself. I can't tell you how different (and oh, so much better) it is from regular drip brewed coffee. I am totally hooked! Hope your day is sunny and bright wherever you are!

Spread the Word

~ Joli Paquet logo designed by Cindy Gilstrap ~

Something wicked is stirring here and I am inviting all of you, my pretties, to join in on the fun starting September 21st. We're adding new kits, new tutorials, and new artists into the cauldron for a devilish good time! See you there!

Friendship

A friend of mine sent this link to me today. I thought I would share it with all of you, my "Quiet Angels."

Pooch Collage

Just a little collage I made yesterday for a friend.

Thrifting Finds

I've found some wonderful vintage goodies recently and I finally got the camera out to photograph some of them. Love this pink wicker purse and pearl trimmed pink gloves.

Some pretty millinery flowers and hankie laying on top of a beautiful textured pink tea cozy.

More millinery flowers, vintage pink seam binding and a McCall's apron pattern. I love the pink and orange combination. . . . .do I see some inspiration bubbling up here???

Sweet cards from a children's game. I love the old maid cards.....brings back fond memories of playing that game with my family when I was little.

A beautiful lace collar in perfect condition and a couple of white plates that are just like the one's my mom used to have.

A combination sugar and salt container???  Well, it's going to hold glass glitter in my 

craft room.

I couldn't resist the pale pink color of this adorable vase. 

Finally! A blue velvet lined jewelry box. . . . . .I've been searching for one of these for ages!

And a girl can never have too many rhinestone shoe clips, right?

Journaling Days

I thought I would share a peek at a new journal I am working on. I made this one myself using fabric, book board, and watercolor paper signatures. It's still a work in progress as I want to add some embroidery and other embellishments to the quilted cover. All the pages are at various stages of incompleteness and still have a lot more work to be done on them, not to mention the most important component - the journaling!!!
The page above shows the beginning of a technique I learned from Pam Garrison using vintage wallpaper and Copic markers to extend the wallpaper design on the journal page. Still lots to do on this page.

I used some heart and hand masks and Glimmer Mist sprays on the right page.

Watercolors and doodling.

More watercolors, masking and Glimmer Mists.

Lots of washes of color to fill in with journaling later.

While we were at our cottage last week, I picked up a few new ready-made journals to jot down notes, thoughts and ideas. I have such a weakness for notebooks and journals. I can't seem to resist when I see a new one. The top one features a favorite quote of mine from the SHE book on the cover and I see that Cerri just listed some of these journals in her Little Pink Boutique here. The middle one is a blank journal from the talented Kelli Rae Roberts. Her drawings are always so full of whimsey. The bottom composition book-type journal, with the blue & green color palette, bird cage and another wonderful quote, just called out to me. It's available from Live-Inspired here. Happy journaling!