Mail Call!

I have received the most amazing creations in the mail yesterday and I want to share them with you.

First, from Meg of Committed Stitcher a wonderful needlecrafted masterpiece called a Temari:

Isn't it incredible???

Next, from Zoe Wall in Switzerland, a tag:

and an ATC to match:

OK, you won't believe this next ATC:

This was created by Donna of http://brynwoodneedleworks.blogspot.com/">Brynwood Needlework"

I tried to take a picture of one particularly magical detail...

(The arrows are mine) Under her jacket is a crystal heart and gears which keep working no matter what happens to her heart.  The ruffles, the stitching, the tiny buttons, and even, if you can believe it, there is a soft padded um, bosom!  I was stunned by the workmanship on this!

Last, but certainly not least, is a magic spring wand from Pam Colosimo a.k.a. Fidget Goblinglitler of Faery Rocks and Things:

 Notice the book of Enchanted Takes?  On the back there is a warning:

"Use only for good"

As if I would do anything else!

AND

There is a tiny bag of Rare Ancient Faery Jewels."

Wow.

REAL Rare Ancient Faery Jewels.

Am I lucky or what?

I am humbled by these works of heart.

A Giveaway for a Very Good Cause!

My friend Peggy Gatto is celebrating her 2500th (gasp!) post with a Giveaway.  The cool thing is how she is celebrating.  Peggy's friend of over 35 years, Cathy, passed away from ovarian cancer.  So for every comment that Peggy receives on her blog, she will donate $1.00 to ovarian cancer research!  She is hoping to get at least 100 comments.  And as if that isn't cool enough, Peggy is giving away a French General jewelry kit!

C'mon, pay it forward for us, will you please?  All you need to do is visit

Peggy's Mixed-Up Art 

and post a comment.  Like how much you adore the piece you see above that I made for Peggy's 

Friday Foto Collage.

(which is where I learned of her giveaway)

Thanks!!

And 

Happy Easter!

Rosemary and Jana don't look!

It's Easter tomorrow so I need to show you my Easter inchies.  But they are in the mail on their way to my two good buddies in America and I take it they have not made it across the border yet.  So don't show this post to R&J.  SOME of their inchies are in this bunch.  You may look though.  Just keep it to yourself.

Do not adjust your sets.  I know it's blurry.  Just get another glass of schnapps and enjoy.

Friday Fill Ins.

1.  Pardon me, _isn't this photo by Altered Artifacts?
2. _A trip to England for $100.00 is a very_ good deal.
3. I was surprised to find that I really like_100 calorie chocolaty granola bars_.
4. _A Broadway Musical_ is one of my favorite forms of entertainment.
5. Hi, my name is _Electra_ and I'm _considered insane by some_.
6. _I would kill for some_ summer afternoons.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _having some fun with friends_, tomorrow my plans include _maybe a walk with a friend_ and Sunday, I want to _work in my studio_.

Have a good weekend and a wonderful Easter, all!

What's in your Wallet?

The Opus Gluei chicks (I use that term, cus it's Easter.  Get it, EASTER Chicks?) are having their 98th challenge and this week 

they have asked us to dump all the crap things that are in our purses.

I'm so glad I'm too old for tampons anymore.

I just bought this honkin' big wallet at Wallymart that takes up almost my whole entire purse, so there isn't a lot of room for anything else, frankly, but my change purse caught my eye.

 It's sparkly-gold.  And it inspired me to get my rear in great and commit to completing the scrapbook pages of the ZOO-LIGHTS Christmas show that we have every year here in December.

I know, it is no longer winter,  Unless you live here, that is, but that's another post.

These pics have been sitting around taunting me, cus every piece of paper sucked when I tried to put them all together and it just frustrated me.  So I kept giving up and putting them away.

And thanks to the Order of the Opus Gluei

I was inspired to get them done, no matter what.  And I did. Hah!

Big pat on my own back!

Here's the first one that got me started.  Remember my little gold change purse?

 OK, that's the first.  I did them all and I figure, since I did you all, you can see them all.  But if you have a flight to catch at the airport, you had better come back later,  Cus there are a few.

You can't really see it very well, but the white words on the last one are covered with glitter.

Can't have snow LO's without glitter. I'm pretty sure it's the thirteenth commandment.

And lastly {is anyone there?}

Tell the Poobahs I said HI!

You'll find them hanging out at 

The Opus of the Opus Gluei

I do hope you'll go see them.  They'll give you a cup of tea. And maybe a cookie if you're good.

Merry Christmas!!!

no.  wait

Happy Almost Easter!!

WOYWWED #98

I finally figured out what I am going to do with the Configurations that I won from the Poobahs over at

The Order of the Opus Gluei!  I'm doing a tribute to my late mother, and filling it with items that remind me of her! So THAT is what the mess on my desk is today.

It should be finished by 2014.

Maybe.

See lots more Wonderful Workdesks at The Stamping Ground and even play along with the lovely Julia!

Soartful

Soartful Challenges

has given us this lovely image to play with this week.  

It accidentally :-) turned to this in my puter:

Maybe the same thing has happened to you?

It's been a long day and I'm going to bed now.

You are staying up later so you can go say Hi to Jeanette 

and the other lovely artists who take part in her

Soartful Challenges
 It's been a very long day and I must sleep now.

Good night.

Friday Foto Collage

Isn't this the cutest picture of a happy family?

I think it is.

Family courtesy of Peggy Gatto at

Friday Foto Collage

Take a Word-TRAVEL

This is my sample for the coming week's theme at 

Take A Word

I won't say any more than that since my computer keyboard died and I'm using my teeny-tiny laptop.
 

and it will not allow me to take the "Underline" feature off.

argh.

I do want to send a humungeous Thank You hug to Marie for allowing me to share my work this week.

Marie, you rock!! 

Airondack Color Wash!

It's

GRUNGY MONDAY
at

Studio L3!
You go and visit

Tim Holtz, right?

Well, not actually go visit TIM, but his website.  Of course.  But you knew that.

GRUNGY MONDAY

is all about the techniques of his Holtzedness, BTW.

Here's what I did.

As far as the Airondack part of this project goes, I masked some paper with a doily and sprayed it here and there with Bottle Green and Stream Blue Airondack Ink Spray.  Then I added some Gold Maya Mist in places.  Then I cut it in strips and wove them together. 

I stitched circles and cut the circle out with decorative scissors.

The lady, I found on the Internet.  Flourishes are a mixture of Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle, and Recollections, some of which were Cuttlebugged. (is that a word?)

The top wing is a Recollections Die Cut which has had a bit of gold foil added and some bling.  (always need bling)

I drew in the straps and added a couple of flowers I got somewhere or other.

And that's all.

You know, for a couple of weeks now, I've been trying to decide what I want to make for the Gingersnap Creations Once in a Blue Moon Challenge.

I've chosen WINGS:

Chestnut Theme Challenge 57 from June 2010.

Except, maybe I need to call it "Wing".

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friday Fill Ins

 

1. For me, it was _somewhat risky._.

2. _You can get anything except Smoked Tullabee_ at my local supermarket.

3. Behind the sound of the wind in the trees, I heard _a couple laughing playfully_.

4. _Visit Antarctica_ is something I always wanted to do.

5. When it was over, _I was so relieved_.

6. _I've spent a lot of time in my life not being around other people_ but I never felt alone.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _relaxing and talking to no one_, tomorrow my plans include _a desperately needed relaxation meditation_ and Sunday, I want to _be alone some more! 

Go and say hi to Janet over at Friday Fill Ins!

LACE

The Paper Doll (with a few adjustments) is by Altered Artifacts.  She's wonderful.  The lace?

What do you think I'm going to say?

MY LACE STASH

Natch

See more wonderful lace projects at Take a Word

Wordless Wednesday

See lots more Wordless here

Peggy Paints Spring

Peggy Gatto has a way with photos.  Yes indeedy, she most certainly does.  She has a challenge site called Friday Foto Collage,

in case you didn't already know that and I make a point of visiting to see what she's got to offer each week.  This week, she provided a photo of her garden, and she then altered it in her unique way. 

Isn't that pretty?  I can't do that.

I took her art and made it into something totally different.

Not that I didn't love it the way it was.

But it's a CHALLENGE.

I wish I had the darn thing in front of me, cus for the life of me, I don't remember all the steps I went through to make it what it ended up as.  I do know that the lovely girl is a Suzy Blu stamp. 

A WONDERFUL Susy Blu stamp.  The ATC is already winging it's way across the ocean.

It started out as Peggy's background though.  Honest.

That's a true story. 

A Gaggle of Geishas

The Poobahs at The Order of the Opus Gluei have told us we may pick a challenge from their last year and go for it. 

Woo Hoo! 

Dealer's Choice!

So I chose Make a Set from 53 weeks ago.  (I know, how weird is that?)

OK.

And the Chestnut Theme Challenge #97 at Gingersnap Creations  is

GEISHAS

SO,

I made a SET of GEISHAS.

Wanna see?

(sorry about the quality of that one, I think I must have sneezed when I snapped the picture)

and b'cus I'm on a Japanese kick,

I want to show you a bookmark from Japan that I received in a swap. 

Cool, eh?

Lucky me.

I'm done now.  Go about your lives.

Oh, and thanks for stopping by.

Gothic Arch

That's what Jeanette of Soartful Challenges has given us this week to work with.

It's from a painting called

Doorway to the Refectory, Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire (1804)

by John Sell Cotman

Here is my take on it:

I love the Soartful Challenges, don't you?

Find Your Zen

OK, let me preface this post by saying I am hugely intimidated by Zentangle.  I actually participated in a Zentangle ATC swap over at Swap-bot and when I received the ATC's from my partner, I wanted to hunt her down and take mine back and apologize all over the place. I think it's b-cus of my anal growing up period.

Here, maybe this will help you understand me a bit better

One morning when I was eating my eggs in my highchair, my mother locked herself out of the house,  It was winter.  She bent down and called through the mail slot, "Sweetie Pie, come and open the door for Mommy!"  The way she told the story (over and over and over again, like it was something wonderful) I looked at her and I looked at my eggs and I looked at her a few times.  She then called out (likely getting colder by the minute) "Sweetie Pie, throw your eggs on the floor, it doesn't matter and come let Mommy in!"  And I looked at her and looked at my eggs and looked back at her.  EVENTUALLY, apparently,  I squished my little girl form underneath the table of the highchair and scooted down, without spilling a drop of eggs and went and let her in.

ANAL

And we all know where it came from, right?

Anyways, I struggle to doodle.  and I struggle even more to show my doodling to anyone.

BUT, thanks to the Poobahs, I have been gently knudged (read: shoved) out of my comfort zone more than once in the almost-two years they have been posting challenges.  And #97 is

ZENTANGLE

So, at a loss about what to do, I decided to do my age:  57.  Then it occurred to me, "Heinz 57" then I found a vintage picture of a building in NYC which which stood in the location at East 23rd Street and 5th Avenue where the Flatiron building now stands.  Then I had to embellish it a bit, but that's just the way it is. So it's not quite just ZENTANGLE, but I did do SOME.

And who knows, maybe I will try a bit more when no one is looking.

But I'll never admit it.

The Order of the Opus Gluei has been delighting the masses for almost two years now,

this is their 97th challenge.  Is that cool or what?

What's that you say?  You haven't checked them out?

Well, I'm certainly not going to nag you.  I'm not your mother after all.

C'mon, throw your damn eggs on the floor and go for it!

If you don't,  it's your loss.

The Order of the Opus Gluei

Digital Whisper 100

I think it's about time I posted a few more of my pieces for the

Digital Whisper 100 Themes challenge.

1. Reflections

2. Waiting

3. Dawn

4. Stripes

5. Mansion

and 6.  Flowers

OK, I'm going to give you all the credits I can:

1. Reflections:  background paper by Amanda Sok, woman from a painting by J. Waterhouse, my own trees photo, word art by Lori Cook, Textures by Kim Klassen and unknown others

2. Waiting: both people by J. Waterhose in separate paintings, my own background photo, frame by Dianne Rigdon Designs

3. Dawn: my own background photo, overlay by the Queen of Quirk, bird tag and word art from the Internet

4. Stripes: my own photos of a picket fence, angel by Valerie Brincheck

5. Mansion: my own castle photo, queen by Freubel, brushes by Lori Cook

6. Flowers: woman by Dezinaworld, border by Digikeepsakes, flower paper by Shalae Tippits,

word art by Bethany

Thanks for stopping by!

Field Trip

Hi Kids, today, we're going on a field trip to Ranger Ink.

This week at Studio L3, the Grungy Monday 02 project is to use the technique in the video at Ranger Ink.  Here is what I came up with:

Yeah, I know, it's a bit crooked, but sometimes ya just do the best you can with what you have.  See the checkerboard pattern though?  That's the Tim Holtz technique we're learning this week:

DISTRESS INK WITH STUDIO MULTI MEDIUM

So that's what my background is all about.

I did go one step further and made an ATC with another piece of this gorgeous background:

(Egg image by Cajoline)

Friday Fill Ins

1. In the near darkness _it's hard to see_.

2. _You can do my job_ til further notice.

3. But this _makes no sense_.

4. _Don't pee _ in the stream.

5. It's always nice _when Friday comes_.

6. _Good food_ and pleasant company.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _seeing my friend and whining about my week with him_, tomorrow my plans include _my meditation group_
and Sunday, I want to _sleep_!

See more Friday Fill Ins here

and even join in!

Wordless Wednesday

See lots more Wordless Wednesdays here

WOYWWED?

A magic wand, that's what~

Go visit Julia at the Stamping Ground for more luscious workdesks!

Finally

A computer setting I can understand.

Take a word #23-Umbrella

I've been on an umbrella binge over the past few days. 

Maybe it's wishful thinking that the snow will leave...

On the other hand, see the note in the bottle? 

Well, if you can reach it, you'll find a request for two plane tickets to Hawaii.

Take A Word

Go say Hi!

Admire the art.

Make some of your own.

Live a little!

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

This is for this week's Soartful Challenge

Woman from e-vint.com, umbrella by Beth Rimmer, flower border by L. Brewster, gate by Laurie Anderson, digea rain brush, Kim Klassen texture, gumboots by Cajoline, umbrella ruffle by Fiddlette, background paper by JillDZines.

Thanks for looking and stay dry out there.

We have a storm warning tonight

How stupid is that?!?!?!?!?

It's April 1st, for crying out loud.

I'm not bitter, it just seems that way.

To say "a POX on you, Doppler Radar!" , I decided to play along with Peggy Gatto's

Friday Foto Collage.

The truth is, I was going to go out on the highway and it's too dangerous.

Her theme this week is

GO INTO THE GARDEN

And what garden would that be, I wonder?  It kind of sounds like "Go towards the light!".

OK, I'm losing it.

The background paper is by Shalae Tippitts, two coloured birds are by Syndee Nuckles, the top bird is by Laurie Anderson, flowers are by L. Brewster, hats by Holliewood, Fiddlette Designs and Jacelen Deineman, unknown tags, Kim Klassen texutre, unknown snowflake brushes, my own house.

Well, not MY OWN HOUSE exactly, my own PHOTOGRAPH of a house. 

A birdhouse, to be exact.

with snow on it.

In the garden.

Geez, Lousie.

and Peggy, I in no way blame you for this nonsense.

I like you.

Stay warm, friends.