HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

I'm posting this early, as we're leaving for Paris later in the day. Pack your bags!!

Wordless Wednesday

Go visit oodles more Wordless Wednesdays here!

What's Going On?

The Poobahs over at The Order of the Opus Gluei have issued their challenge #61 to their peons. and it is to: (and I quote) be brave and show us your craft work area "AS IS". No cleaning up allowed. We are talking about the surface on which you arrange things, cut things and glue them together. It takes some guts to post a picture of a messy area.

(not for me, it doesn't) They told us we had to quick, take the picture and post it in the next 10 minutes! Since I've been away, then tired, then too busy, then yada yada, I am ONLY NOW just visiting their blog and (you are going to have to trust me on this one) I IMMEDIATELY did as I was told and well, here you have it. There is nothing exciting on my worktable except for the treasures I bought in Edmonton at my most favoritest scrapbook store Treasured Memories. I had saved for this event and lo and behold, their ENTIRE store was 30% off, so it was only right that I spend 30% more than I had saved. (and if you follow the logic of that, or worse yet, agree, you are my new BFF, sister.)

I AM home.

But I wanted to visit my bloggy friends more than I wanted to post. So there. I took over 800 photos on my trip, and I'm afraid to edit them, as there is an extreme close-up of a spider on a flower that I didn't notice because it was so sunny when I shot it. I HAVE A MAJOR SPIDER PHOBIA!!! My daughter tells me it's an awesome shot. I'll never know.
Catch ya tomorrow.

Are you ready?

The silver is polished...

Everyone is dressing

to the nines...

(Will someone

please help me with this necklace?)

The pastries

are baked and iced...

The time has arrived for

our MAD TEA PARTY!!

Who is that

on the bicycle?

Guests are

Coming from

all corners of the earth!

Everyone loves

the sweets.

No tea party is complete

without cucumber sandwiches.

Guests gush over

the lovely decor.

Old friends

spend time catching up.

The

tea is flowing freely.

Even the school teacher

came!

Isn't he

having a smashing time!

Do you like my new hairdo?

I had it done especially for the party!

What can you possibly mean, my dear?

The party is almost over?!?!

Oops!

I dropped my top hat and a gust of wind blew it into a tree!

I can reach it!

No really,

I can get it, but thank you for your offer!

Can somebody

please help me?!?

Some guests

had a bit too much tea...

and some had

QUITE a bit too much tea!

But

at the end of the day, everyone insisted they had a lovely time.

And

a trail of jewels was the only proof they had ever been there...

Friday Fill ins #182

. On vacation, I like _to see lots of things I've never seen before_.
2. _There have recently been previously unknown life forms discovered deep in_ in the ocean.
3. One of my favorite vacation spots _is Pennsylvania_.
4. _People act strange during a_ full moon.
5. Up, up and away _is something I hope my truck never does_.
6. Bananas _come with their own packaging_.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _driving to the Wildflower Festival_, tomorrow my plans include _photography workshops_ and Sunday, I want to _visit the Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge before we go home_! There are lots more FFIs here!

WOYWW?

OK, I cannot tell a lie.
This is WOmyWTUESDAY
I took the pics yesterday and put them on a jump drive. There is no worktable here in my hotel room. :-( I know, I'll probably go to hell for this. I'll miss you all.
See lots more WOYWWEDNESDAYs here

Opus challenge #60

ABC they said, Anything But a Card. that's what the week's challenge was over at Order of the Opus Gluei. Little do they know I HATE MAKING CARDS. Always have, likely always will. I'll make anything BUT a card, given the choice. But they went on to clarify that the challenge was to step out of our comfort zone. So, long story short, I did a collaged house. I knew I neeed to do something with this paper mache house I bought for some obscure reason. And I did.

I had to git-r-done, cus I leave town tomorrow morning for three days, then home for a couple of hours, then off again to another place for three more days. OK, I'll quit whining now. Hope you like my house.

Side view

Isn't this sweet? All images (except for Mama looking over her brood, out of the second floor window which came from somewhere on the Internet many moons ago) are by Lisa's Altered Art. Lisa has the most wonderful art!!

While we're on the topic of ingredients, I'll tell you how this little Home Sweet Home came to be. First, papier mache base from some well-known mega-craft store. the kind of place none of us (in North America) EVER admit to visiting. I collaged some patterned paper onto it. It looked horrible. Too bright. So I covered that with white paint. Put more stirps of paper on. Looking better now. More white paint. Then I added some yellowy paint in spots. If I were a real artist, I would probably call the colour Ochre or something, but I'm not, so it's yellowy. I bubble-wrapped pink in spots, inked over some drywall tape in other spots with some ohre-like (tee hee) chalk ink. Painted the doors and windows in grey. Pink paint here and there. Stamped some. Added bling around the door and a nailhead doorknob. Put some stickers here and there and stamped on a flower with my Donna Downey foam flower stamp which I love and added the stems with a paintbrush. (You have to imagine me running to the bathroom sink between every colour, over and over and over again, it seemed.) Ummm, then the finishing touches, Lisa's images. Put my feet up and relaxed. Oh! there's a blue chimney too, behind the girl on the roof.

That's it. Far as I can remember.

and in this view

we see the lovely young lady showing her pretty little dollie to her BFF who is thinking, "What-Evah! Like I care. I'm busy flirting with that hunka-hunka-burnin' love down the street."

And where the milk is delivered

that is, if they delivered milk anymore! (Well, maybe they do where you live, but you couldn't pay me to drink it, so what do I care?) Oh yeah, right there is no door. IT'S AN INVISIBLE DOOR, ok??? And it IS the back. So there.

You may be wondering why the little boy on the right is wearing such a stunned look. Well, here's the deal. See the skirt he's wearing? The little girl was teasing him about his girly outfit and he threatened to tell her mama. Now her mama had told her not that long ago to leave the neighbour boys alone and so she didn't want to get in trouble, so she bonked him over the head with that big honkin' purse she's toting. Yes, she has a brick in it. Doesn't every little girl have a brick in her purse? If you look very closely, you can see the cut on the little tyke's head where she beaned him and there's going to be hell to pay when his gramma sees the blood on that stiff white collar she just ironed. Morale of the story?
who knows? I went to bed before it was finished.

Gosh, if you're still with me, you've a VERY good friend. I wore myself out typing this epic, so you must be exhausted. I applaud you.

TTFN

Dresses

This month Margaret is the guest designer at the Artist Trading Club and her theme is "dresses". This is, of course, no surprise as she is the awesome originator of Dress Up 2010. This link will take you to here lovely June dress, but frankly, you would be silly to not click back on each month to see ALL of her gorgeous creations. AND the gorgeous creations of the participants. I am constantly amazed at all the the talent out there in blogland! (should that be capitalized, is blogland a country?)
I don't want you to think that dresses are all Margaret does, cus her blog is just FULL of treasures to admire and drool over. Like I said, you'd be SILLY to not go over there. Just plain SILLY. Now get goin', cus you don't want people to think you're silly.

Two more

I hope you'll go visit Chriss at The Artist Trading Club and maybe even join us! The talent in these swaps is out of this world!!
I would post directions for how I made these ATC's but it seems to me, if you're visiting my blog, you can figure it all out fairly easily. Suffice it to say, I had a CUTTLEBUG obsession this month, which has been satisfied. There is nothing mysterious here, except maybe to wonder why I have to work and can't just stay at home and play all day. But that's a post for another time.

And lastly,

I would wear the pink one to a baby shower. (if I were the baby lol)
Oop! I neglected to say that these ATC's are my contribution to Chriss' June Swap. We've already had the "silly" conversation, so I needn't say it again. Go. Now! Never mind supper. You ate already today. Thanks for looking!

Paris in July

Hi folks! After a lot (OK, some) of thought I've decided to participate in Karen and Tamara's Paris in July party. Or is it an event? Hmm, maybe it will be an extravanganza! Yes, that's it, it SHALL be an EXTRAVANGANZA!! I'm sure of it!

OK, here's little test. In what month will the Paris in July extravanganza take place. C'mon. think. You know the answer. Turn the TV off. OK, it's quiet now...can you figure it out? That's right July!!! I knew you were my friend for a reason. (I only hang with really really smart people) Hey, have you ever seen that sweatshirt that says, "I'm with Stupid here" and the arrow is pointing to the person next to you? Well, if we were standing in the express line at the grocery store together I could not wear that sweatshirt.

At any rate, I hope you'll put on your Frenchest corset and slink your way over to Thyme-for-tea and perhaps even join us as we devote ourselves and our blogs to remembering, reminiscing and (for those of us who haven't been there yet) fantasizing about gay Paree! See you over there, I hope, we're going to have a grand time!!

Friday Fill Ins #181

1. _I'll be getting up an hour and a half before_ 6:58.
2. It was the reason, of course, _that I fell in love with you_.
3. _Pretending to be someone I'm not_ is something I no longer feel the need to do.
4. I have another errand to run, then _I'm going to fall down from exhaustion_.
5. _If you want it_...just go find it
6. What were once vices _have become survival techniques_.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _hanging out with friends_, tomorrow my plans include _not answering the phone_ and Sunday, I want to _veg. Just veg_!

Check out more Friday Fill Ins here

Opus Gleui Challenge 59

I SCEAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
(THE POOBAHS said we had to say that or we couldn't play with them. Honest injun!)
Never mind I have the furnace on and am wearing a hoodie,we COULD all go out for ice cream. I suppose. Wel, the look on the girls' faces makes me want to. A Bit. Not a BIG Bit. Not even enough to leave the warmth of my home. But if the sun EVER comes out before October, You bet I will have an ice cream And you'll also be able to be putting money on the fact that everyone in this neck of the woods will be screaming. Not for ice cream, but for some SUMMER darnit!
Go see thos Poobahs. Hurry, before their ice creams melts, cus I've heard they have some!

Wordless Wednesday

See lots more Wordless Wednesdays here

I'm going to bed early tonight,

not feeling the best. But I wanted to leave you with this ATC I did for a wedding swap a while back. Whenever I do a swap, I do one for the swap and one for myself. this is the one I made for myself. I like it. No, this one I love. But to be honest, I like my bed better right now.
Good night.
And be sure to have a funny day whenver your next day is.

I'll bet

you think I forgot that I had a blog, tonight. What's that, you don't spend your time waiting with baited breath until the exact moment when I post my next unbelievably profound morsel of wisdom? sniff. sniff. And I thought you cared.

Well, anyways, I did. I forgot tonight that I had a blog. Until just a moment ago. Lucky ONE OF US remembered. Geesh. And yes, the photograph of the bee is mine. it seemed fitting. Just let it BEEEEEEE

TTFN

Sweet Dreams

June Dress

And now for something completely different!

This is my dress for Margaret's Dress Up 2010 It's a bit of a stray from the dresses I've made so far and certainly did not start out the way it ended up. First, I made a sleeveless sheath of some turquoise paper with glittered copper dots. Then I thought a crinoline should go over top. So I did that with some blue sheer fabric from my stash and over top of that I added some shredded copper ribbon. Then it needed a belt of ribbed velvet ribbon with a jewel for a buckle. (I have LOTS of ribbon) Then it was looking a little bit circus-y, and so I cut the bottom of the sheath into leggings. And OMG, TOO circus-y!, so I chopped the leggings off and sort of had a ballerina outfit. I kind of thought at this point maybe a teenage girl would wear it to a rock concert, but it needed something else. So I gave it a ribbon (did I mention I have a LOT of ribbon?)cowl collar. Then it needed a button to hold the collar closed. And then I stopped. It was done. Not exactly what I had in mind, and not what I will be wearing to the concert hall if Rod Stewart ever comes back to town, but I'm sure there is a teenage girl somewhere out there who would wear this in a New York Minute.


Don't I write a great tutorial? LOL

"Maybe-vintage" ATC's

I'm not sure if these are exactly "vintage". Maybe retro? All I do know is that both made me think of my child(somewhat) hood. Does any one remember garter belts? I know they're considered sexy now, and I would likely wear them if I had anyone to wear them for (the cat just looks at me and walks away, shaking her head) but it's like anything else, when you HAD to wear them, trust me, they didn't feel all that sexy. And my mother made me wear it all, garters, stockings, girdle (and now they call them "Spanx")lol
Which bring me to the other ATC. it just made me think of my mother. No more, no less.
I guess they ARE vintage. It's just that when your childhood has become "vintage", it means you're vintage. And I'm not ready to be vintage just yet. I prefer to think of myself as well-seasoned. Very well-seasoned.

Hey, how can you tell if a woman is wearing a girdle? When she "toots", her eyes pop out of her head.

And then she has to pick them up and put them back in without looking conspicuous, which of course, is really hard to do. That's why I never wear girdles anymore.