Friday Night Lights!

Howdy everyone! Your week gone well? I hope so.... I want to start showcasing some of my fab blog buddies...and spectacular artists extraordinares. This post will actually be my 100th post! I can't believe I've kept it up this long.. Well, with out further ado...Tonight's spotlights are on my friend and artist Laura Bray of Katydiddys...http://katydiddys.blogspot.com/...Hurray! Wahoo! okay... please keep the applause to a minimum till we get done...
(Laura, please forgive me for misspelling your name! I'm so sorry your my guinea pig... I will get it right eventually...LOL!) ...This very talented artist creates some of the most fabulous vintage collages, watercolor paintings, cupcake toppers and more!
(Yes Laura, I raided your blog...its just that your blog is such a happy place and I wanted folks to see some of the neat artwork there..) Isn't this girl a cutey? Hey couldn't you see her on a card or magnet? Let your imagination go crazy and I know the talented Miss Laura can help you see it come to life.
Here is a cute paper doll set that Laura made for the up coming wedding for her brother! These are truly unique and special creations. Know anyone who is getting married? Cute idea! No?
Look at this little collage, isn't it so color full and fun? I hope you will go and visit the talented Mrs. Laura Bray over at katydiddys! I know you will be glad you did... To visit her blog, just click on the title to this post!

Complete Renovation

Hope everyone's week is going well... Gosh I hate growing pains!... I dug out a little devotional I received for Christmas in `02 the other day. I have been cleaning here and there... I wanted to share this little excerpt from Max Lucado, actually the devotional is called 'Grace for the Moment' by Mr. Lucado. It touched me with the weeks I have been having!
Anyone ever built a house? Anyone renovated? This summer has been a major renovation at our house! New siding...new windows...air conditioning, paint... Messy! Dust...Dirt, things out of place! ripped up siding and torn apart walls. Not fun, but the end result is beautiful. All that 'pain' and now our house is sooo much nicer! One more step closer to what my hubby and I have envisioned our little house to be...

(Max Lucado) "God loves to decorate. God has to decorate. Let Him live long enough in a heart, and that heart will begin to change. Portraits of hurt will be replaced by landscapes of grace. Walls of anger will be demolished and shaky foundations restored. God can no more leave a life unchanged than a mother can leave her child's tear untouched....

This might explain some of the discomfort in your life. Remodeling of the heart is not always pleasant. We don't object when the Carpenter adds a few shelves, but He's been known to gut the entire west wing. He has such high aspirations for you. God envisions a complete restoration. He won't stop until He is finished... "

Thank you Mr. Lucado! That is for sure... If you are His, He won't leave you alone... He can't! He is our Creator... always creating... molding and making us into who He wants us to be.

I've never been a fan of blue for certain things...Some folks don't like pink. But our Creator knows what color is best for us... when we step back through all the dust and mess and really take a look. " Huh" I've heard myself say here lately "That actually was pretty cool..."

One thing for certain, we are loved... and as a child of God, I know my Heavenly Father has His best in store for me. Just know this everyone YOU ARE Loved...

Chocolicious

Fabulous Monday to ya! Short and sweet...New piece, 'Chocolate Fairy'. She's a cutey with wings, in need of alittle more WOW....I'm thinkin' "She always makes things better..." or "Always smoother when she visits". Okay, what do you think?

Homekeeping Saturday

The Queen... And the Royal subjects spent the day makin' yummy treats!
The Queen must be careful with the Royal budget...so, upon finding the quite Regal sale going on at the Williams Sonoma near the castle...The Queen purchased these cute Beachy cookie cutters, as it does not stay "Beach" weather long in the land....
So... baking commenced..with rolling and cutting...

The aftermath....Fabulous shapes...The smell of cookie dough in the air...lovely.
The Royal cookies turned out quite nice; red, white and blue...
Yummy crabs and all...The Queen and the Royal subjects had a blast and the fingers will probably be stained a nice shade of blue for awhile...
Scrumptious goodies and time together...what a better way to spend a Saturday...

May your weekend be lovely...and sprinkled with goodness.

Fab Sale!!

Williams Sonoma is having an awesome sale going on right now! You can find awesome deals in the stores AND online... If you click on the title to this post it will take you to their website..

I actually found this 170.00 quilted table cloth the other day... hehehe.. for only 17.99! yes, that's right! 17.99... lots of steals and deals there.

Check them out, Williams Sonoma Rocks!

Have a Great Friday!

I'm It...Again...

Ha! I'm it again... I was tagged by lovely Beadfullthings! Ann is it? http://beadifulthings.blogspot.com/

So, here is the deal, I need to list 6 weird things about myself.... list 6 bloggers and post a comment on their blog... tag them and have them visit my blog to get the particulars... well... here goes.

1. Like 'Beadfull' I wear my $ 3.00 Target flip flops for pretty much the whole summer! By now, I have the nice 'flip flop' tan line going..If I lived back down south, I probably would wear them a bit longer. I just don't do Popsicles toes..

2.I love Elvis! we looove Elvis songs here at our house. I'm starting to collect his movies too! Blue Hawaii... Viva Las Vegas.. Oh, just admit it! He's fun...alot better than SOMETHINGS on t.v now a days.

3.I'm a terrible pack rat! We had to clean out one of our two closets here in our house this summer because of renovation and come to find out, the majority of the 'stuff' in there where boxes! Hello! girl... get a grip. I'm trying to get better, really!

4.This is really weird! I looove being married! I'm no desperate housewife...

5. This will really blow you away.... I looove being a stay at home mom!

Now that I have an outlet... (wink,wink) Bella Colle.. The sky is the limit.

6. I could have dishes piled up to the ceiling... clothes that need to be washed... Dust that my kids can make pretty pictures in... You HAVE to take your shoes off in our house..I'm constantly vacuming...AGGH I hate a dirty floor.

There, 6 facts about Moi!

I'm just gonna tag...

Nikki of http://whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/... sorry, I didn't get ya the last time! :P

Phyllis of http://shabbyinthecity.blogspot.com/... Ha! Taggin' ya back...

'Love' of http://momentswithlove.blogspot.com/... Sorry! don't hate me...

and I can't resist Kara!!!!http://innocentcharmschats.blogspot.com/...

Okay...I did it...it's not 6, sorry...I've never been good at tag...now, kick the can! oh yeah!

Have a great Thursday eve.

Oh yeah! I would loove to tag my mom...hehehe... http://mosaiqueparully.blogspot.com/... don't know if she would want to play or not...;P Okay.... My mom's from Germany....just a clue.

It's that time again and other life lessons

Yes, it's that time again... I haven't done much these past three day just because all 3 have had their open houses at each one's prospective schools..#1 is going to be a freshman... talk about sink or swim! The poor freshman have no idea where to go OR what to expect the first day... I remember at least having homeroom first thing and then they tell go to this or that class...Here, #1's homeroom isn't listed till 3rd hour?? At the At the elementary school...#3's teacher up and transferred schools four day's ago.... So these little 3rd graders don't have a clue who to expect on the first day and Please don't get me started on the fact they wanted to have 'school pictures' taken last night as well.... for one hour..only 1 camera was working! I did make new friends though :)...I feel really bad for #3, his room wasn't 'beautified' like teachers have a knack for... very cold and drab! :( I'm just praying they find someone soon and 'the mystery teacher' as #3 calls her... and the class can meet before the first day.

#2's was tonight at the middle school... He's in 5th grade... big step I must say. No hand holding and Lot's more homework!! much to #2's chagrin.. But at least he was able to meet the teacher who seems very nice! AND he was able to open his locker in a snap by the time we left (first year for this)... gosh, I had trouble opening lockers till graduation! I hate lockers!

I just pray for ALL kids this year across the USA! Let there be NO!! Tragedies like there were the last school year... even at the college level! School should be a place of fun and learning and SAFETY!!!

Now to Mom's life lesson... Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support! I'm new to the whole artist/shop owner/business woman thing... I don't mean to be such a whiner...These two pictures are the charm in question that I got my first 'neutral' feedback on etsy! I put 100% into every charm, I can't guarantee that every charm will turn out the same... The 'quality' was called into question and the buyer said she was going to send it back. Well, come to find out that she left that feedback the 13th of the month.. I haven't heard one peep! I had NO idea! not until the other buyer left her positive feedback did I see it...
I said even in my listing that it is a chunky soldered charm... SOOO in my panic, I sent her a convo... an email AND I refunded her money... yes, hasty. I see that now, so, another life lesson! This is a very GOOD lesson now that I look back. How would I deal with a customer that complains about something WHEN I have my brick and mortar store?!! panic, start crying, turn out the lights and lock the doors forever? Nope... Thank you guys for listening to me as I go through growing pains in my first year of business..
...So, I'm back in the proverbial saddle! I'm working on a 'Chocolate Fairy' collage on canvas.... maybe even some more charms!! LOL! Thanks for sticking with me through this LOOONg winded post... Happy Wed. evening to everyone.

*** upDATE*** THANK YOU TO ALL THE TEACHERS OUT THERE TOO!***

Flowers for the Chicken!

Here are the beautiful flowers that were delivered here today! They are from hubby! He's workin' and had these sent to me...Oh, I sure did need 'em. I'm such a chicken anymore! My last two sales on etsy I didn't recieve ANY feedback. I guess no feedback is better than bad feedback, but gosh, were they (the charms) that bad?? :(
Here is my newest for today! This is the teeniest charm I have ever made! it's only 1/2"x just under 1"...I soo want to list it on etsy but nahh...too chicken...
Here is my new bunny that I collaged and added the dots!
Here, you can see the top! it's still chunky...will I ever get the hang of it?
This is the back of the bunny charm, I used a little piece of Cavallini paper..lovely.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! tootles!

***update! 8/21/07***** wELL, i GOT MY first neutral feedback! Both have left feedback, and ofcourse my fears have been realized... I promptly have refunded the customers money....I'm just sick! Thank you to everyone who has given me such support but... I'm just sick!....

Homekeeping

The Queen spent the day cleaning her castle..
The royal subjects are a bit tooo young to take on the task themselves.....
So, her majesty took to her royal mop and bucket and went about cleaning and moping and dusting and spackeling...and drywall repairing (another story)...


(My Lovely Dream Castle livingroom)

To achieve the ultimate cleanliness for the good of the royal subjects... But... is it a home? Have we lost what 'Home keeping' is all about? There are so many labor saving devices at our disposal today... vacume cleaner..(my dyson is such a blessing! ) dishwashers, clothes washers ( the upright was a God send) All these toys are awesome! But I don't want to look at "Homekeeping" as a chore... Have we ladies lost the meaning of keeping a good home for our family? The little extra touches that make a home a home?
Fresh baked bread...natural touches in the bath to make wash up time a pleasure... Dried flowers from the summer garden and a special Sunday dinner ...Hmmm..just a thought...

After all, the Royal subjects do appreciate it ...

Hope your weekend is good...see ya Monday....

Rosie's

okay... I finally found Rosie's head!!! The poor girly was so happy to have her head back!!! Lol! Ain't she Fabolicious! ...(Nikki, where are you?) 'wink' to you my dear monicacrowe!


Okay... I'm playing!


I'm happy to have my Rosie! she is the only assistant I have had that never complains...never is out back on a break... she is always willing to have fun but yet be there and look fabulous!! Seriously... it's nice to have an extra hand like this mannequin!

Rosie and I and 'The boys' are gonna have a movie night....Hope your weekend is FAb!!!

Fab photos

Here is another new toy! boy, there is no quiting now! I guess we are at the point of investment with things... there is no turning back.
I found this neat little kit of all places 'Wally-Mart' while out school shopping today.
It comes with a tiny tripod for your camera, two lights and this diffuse/back drop! Now there is no having to wait till there is the perfect day light...'cause there will be NO going outside come this winter!lol!
This is my first picture using this little set. I didn't tweak it with soft wear before loading it here! There are shadows, and maybe I will use my flash as well next time.
This is the next pic... I did lighten it on the 'ole computer. But it turned out very nice I think. This is a charm I am making for Leirka of http://www.tumbleweedandrose.etsy.com/ (lovely lady by the way!)
Here is a 'double button' charm, actually Shabbyinthecity's charm now! Thanks dear!

This is a neat way to manipulate the surroundings to get your desired affect... I was thinking today, are we to be defined by our surroundings or are we to define our surroundings? I chose defining my surroundings!
Hope everyone is having a great week!

For all you mommies out there!

Well...I found this on Vintage Faerie's blog... http://www.carnivaleoffortune.blogspot.com/... oh so funny and my oldest...#1 just said "it's everything I've ever heard you say for the past 15 1/2 years!!!" Please click on the TiTle to this post!!! it's soo funny and I know it will make you smile!!! yes... it's a youtube video... don't frequent there, so please disregard the other 'stuff' to the right of this.... go ahead... it will make you smile!******all you 'non mommies' it's so cute, maybe it will remind you of your mom!!!

Creative Life Part 2

I have been sharing some of the book I have read called "The Creative life by Alice Bass" I will share some more now... This part is called Creative Foundation: Restoring the Divine Connection.
...(Alice Bass) "We all have a snapshot in our mind of who is creative and who is not. Under the 'not' category we secretly put businesspeople, mothers, computer specialists, telemarketers and Christians. In this way we limit our definition of creativity to artistic expression. Creativity is a necessary ingredient of art, but it is also required for life. How much imagination does it require to get through a job interview? Or listen to coworkers' complaints? Or explain to your kids why they can't watch HBO after nine o'clock in the evening? What about being in this world but not of it? We all need tons of creativity, and creativity is available to all of us at all times. "...
(this is the author speaking...not me. Wish I had a women's group to belong too...)... 'Watching my women's group break for coffee, I was fascinated by how carefully each of the women chose just the right cup. It was as if they were thinking, Which one expresses me right now? Who am I today, the tailored tan teacup with an elegant black stripe? Or the 70's earthenware with a single rose? Maybe the cobalt blue with gold stars...
The image of the eternal in us makes us want to express ourselves in the details. We were made for heaven, and once we get there, our joy will be complete. The pleasures of heaven will take us beyond our five senses and fulfill all of who we were created to be.
But even as we are reaching for the perfect cup, we pull back our hand. (Did someone see me? I shouldn't express my self with a cup! How silly.)
We stop wanting to express our uniqueness because we are trapped in our flesh. And yet it is the eternal One who has encased us in these bodies...' ...

Imagine the pleasure of our Heavenly Father when we delight in choosing A COFFEE CUP...So, go ahead... pick the big pink travel mug (I did...lol) sing joyfully off key!... wear blue fingernail polish.... We are His creation and He delights in us, shouldn't we find delight in ourselves and who He created? I'm trying to...

Hope everyone is havin' a rockin' Tuesday! Tootles!