FEB 6th!

Photo from our 25th Anniversary party in 2010

Phillip and I rarely celebrate Valentine's Day with the normal gusto. We decided long ago that we wouldn't put that much stock in one day a year. That's not to say that we've NEVER celebrated V-Day. Phillip surprised me with beautiful diamond earrings one year, that I cannot find....I've looked everywhere!!! Either they were stolen, vacuumed up, or the diamond fairy took them back in the middle of the night. Who knows...

All I know, is that every time I think about it, I get mixed emotions of bummed and pissed off. What wife LOSES diamonds?!!! He is bummed too, but doesn't show any outward signs of pissed off. He even trusted me with another set for my birthday last year....What a guy!
THIS is an excerpt from my blog post from Feb 6, 2010.

You see, I lost my 2002 Valentine's earrings. My gorgeous, brilliant cut diamonds set in white gold. I still feel HORRIBLE!!!

Well, after all these years, I still mope that I cannot find them. The only thing I recall is when we were in Maui, I took them off, linked them together and put them in a "bag" before we went snorkeling. My coin purse? My toiletry bag? I just don't remember!!!

Fast-forward to last night...Feb 6, 2013. I was feeling a bit of a scratchy throat and went to the hallway cabinet to see if we had any throat lozenges. I rifled through the baskets and in the very back of the cabinet, there was a gallon sized Ziplock bag. I grabbed it and held it up to the light to see what was in it. It had Q-tips, a travel razor, some other misc things...and in one of the corners, down at the VERY bottom...

I spied my DIAMOND EARRINGS!!!!

SERIOUSLY!!!! There they were!!! They've been in there since 2007!!! In a freaking ZIP LOCK BAG!!!

I feel silly...but I'm still doing the HAPPY DANCE!

Cheers....

A Little Ditty....

Janice, Kathy, and I road-tripped up to Portland this last weekend. We met up with Christina Kuntz of Art Circus/Mack & Momma.  (she has an awesome studio, btw! Thanks, Christina for a fun night of flower making and treasure hunting!)

The weather was gorgeous. A bit brisk, but sunny. We walked around a little to a few of the boutiques in the area. Christina knows EVERY ONE!!!

Christina, Kathy, Janice

We ended up back at the cars at the McMennamin's Kennedy School (SO MUCH FUN!). She had "assigned" us each a seat with doll heads! (inside joke of Kathy not liking dolls - and Christina and I joking on Facebook, pre-trip, about finding and fighting over them! Parts is parts, right?)

Janice's mascot had red hair. Kathy's blonde. And mine brunette.

She drove us all around, introduced us to a ton of vendors and boutique owners, gifted us with AWESOME gift bags chock-full of bottled water, energy bars, candy, Mardi Gras masks, bead necklaces, stamps, and a bit of other sweet findings.

Christina introduced Kathy, Janice and I to the Goodwill Outlet Store "bins".

Can I just say? The "bins" have ruined the three of us for regular thrift store shopping!

It's like an ever-replenishing yard sale in one location!

There apparently are THREE in the Portland area. We went to TWO of them...I don't think we could have fit a THIRD visit into Janice's "toaster"... her Scion.

blurry photo of the 3/4 back seat...Kathy was squeezed into the other 1/4 side behind Janice driving

 

The "bins" are sold by the pound. Can you imagine? We all went a little crazy for the fabric.

 

I found an awesome rag rug.

 

21 pounds @ .89/lb. Yeah, do the math!

 

SCORE!

 

It will be perfect in the studio.

 

It was SO big and heavy, but folded up nicely under my feet on the floorboard.

I can't stop thinking about the "bins"... I think it's a good idea they are 5 hours away!!!

I would be ADDICTED!!! So much so, I've made up a little ditty in their honor....

I'm a little goofy that way...guess you had to be there! lol

CHEERS!

***
(to the tune of Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love)

You see the signs, and you re-read

It's by the pound, how can that be?

So many bins, you can't be saved

All those piles, of things you crave.

 

Now you're movin', at top speed

Get it quick, before it leaves.

Another pile, another heap.

There's no doubt, you're in deep.

 

Oh, there's a smell

But what the hell.

Your cart is full

You tip the scale.

 

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah

It's such an awful truth to say you can't get enough

You're gonna have to face it your addicted to BINS!

You might as well face it, your addicted to BINS!

One Step at a Time.

Ever have those days?

When SO many ideas are bouncing around in your head?

Like a Fisher-Price popper push toy? 

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Where do I stop?
Where do I start?

One step at a time....

No matter what, life is dang good!!

Folly Parasol...a 2nd place win...

...and SO much more!


I couldn't help but day dream about the "what if I win the Grand Prize?"

To be perfectly honest, $5000 worth of product from Spellbinders and all the listed sponsors would be A LOT of stuff! What would I ever do with that much crafting and paper products? A craft-stash as Ken Oliver, from Spellbinders called it.


Then I saw the Pay-It-Forward posts going around on FaceBook last week between all of my crafting and artist friends, and with the thought of the possibility of a 1-in-12 chance of winning, an idea started bouncing around in my noggin. I love the moment an idea pops into my head.



What if?

What if I used the winnings to Pay-It-Forward to make someone elses day? So, I would just keep my fingers crossed and try to sleep at night until today's announcement...I have to say, the closer it got, the harder it was to fall asleep!!!!



Well, today I won!

I won 2nd place!

ONE-THOUSAND DOLLARS PLUS of products. That's HUGE!

Tonight, I decided I would make this even bigger than me...like a tiny acorn (and $1000 + in prizes is no tiny acorn, believe me!) a mighty oak will grow.

So, on Monday, I will be researching a local children's hospital, a children's program, or a shelter; or at the suggestion of a FaceBook friend, whom I've never met in person, a long-term adult hospice ward, to share my love of crafting and art with. A few of my friends will join me on this quest to bring hope and happiness, with all the supplies and instruction, to those who could use some.

I'm SO excited to share and brighten someone else's day... Folly...a parasol of hope...that's my new little acorn's goal.

****

With all this excitement, I want to be sure to THANK my dear friend, Janice Martin...without her generosity of loaning me ALL 6 Spellbinders die sets I used to create Folly, this little project would never have come to fruition. It would have just been a little idea that popped into my head one night.

Thank You to Spellbinders for hosting such a creative opportunity and to all of your sponsors for such generous prize packages! Thank You to the judges for choosing my project out of the 12, that must have been a difficult decision! Congratulations to all the finalists and the 1st and 3rd place winners! Thank You to all the guys at E.B. Effects for your confidence and support and asking me every.single.day if I'd won yet! Thank you to all my friends and family on FaceBook and beyond for the kind comments and friendship.

Thank you to my boys, Ty, Kyle and A.J. You three motivate me daily to be a better mom and budding artist.

Finally, and MOST importantly...Thank you to my husband, Phillip, whom I have the privilege to share my life with; whom tolerates my excessive "collecting" addiction; whom supports my every whim; and truly is my everything!!! You my dear man, are my inspiration to become a better artist through your lifelong example! I love you!

Cheers!

A Riddle for Thursday...

What's Brown, and Cream with spots of RED?

****

Stay tuned....I have an idea brewing in my HEAD!

****

On another note...CAN you believe it's almost THANKSGIVING!??? ALREADY???

Me neither....

The leaves have changed color...The rain is here...The car is dinging "caution possible icy roads".

Crazy!!! I think we were a bit spoiled by the awesome SUMMER weather we had.

Craft Warehouse open house with the girls this Saturday...EB Feastival Lunch next Friday with the guys and their gals....Holiday Home Tour on Dec 2 with the girls.

Shopping...Baking...Feasting...I feel the pounds sneaking on now.

but....SOON it will be CHRISTMAS break too and Kyle and his girlfriend, Yosi will be home on leave for a much needed visit...and maybe an improptu baby shower!!!

Three more weeks until we find out if it's a PINK or BLUE!!! Gotta love technology....

As much as I would love to spoil a little PINK baby....I know ALL about the BLUE babies!!!

I'm VERY excited....!

Happy Halloween!!!!!





Phillip's Jester-Clown Mask...

Let's just say, it creeped ME out!!! That's saying ALOT!

Sadly, there are NO trick-or-treaters up at our house....so the adults partied a bit last Saturday night at our house.

Me and Kelly

My friend, Kelly, flew up from California to join in the fun and help decorate and keep us all fed! Thanks, Kelly!

Ginger, Me, Kelly

 

Kelly and Kristen

 

Jeff and Kris

 

 

A.J. and Kyra

The "officially un-official" costume contest winners!

 

item of note: A.J.'s comment when he saw this picture, "Man! She really did stuff her bra!"









Jeff, Erik, Me, Jeff, Janice, 1/2 of Dan

Fortune-Telling Moment

 

Jania, Ty, Phillip

A Duck-Lips Moment

 

Darrin

A Migrating Costume Moment...

Somehow, AJ's wig and hat ended up

on Peter Parker aka: Spiderman...

hmmmm...I wonder if Jack Daniels had anything to do with it???

 

Jania and Ty

A Rock Star and his Groupie

 

 Jeff and Kristin

Love in the DEAD ZONE

 

Kyra and A.J.

Love in the HILLBILLY Zone

 

and now for a little sick and twisted decor tour...

 

Kelly and I just FED off of each other like decoration zombies...

 

The infamous rusty vasectomy scissors...

open to the page of cute little kittens with the poem about MOTHERHOOD...how fitting....

 

The Requisite Skull in the Bird Cage

 

Sometimes Time JUST stops!

 

 



Where'd all the food go?

 

Strange...The Baby was MISSING too!

 





 

Happy Halloween!!!

 



Halloween Charm Exchange

It's that time of year....

Time to celebrate HALLOWEEN!!!!

This year, I joined about 15 other creative women (and men?) in a Halloween charm swap.

Hostess: Thespa McLaughlin

I've seen a couple of the charms from Lexi, Ginger, Kathy, and can I just say... WOW! This is gonna be a GREAT exchange!!! Angie has kept hers a secret...and that's good, cause I like secrets!

There will be a blog hop to share the "treats" on October 30 ... so stay tuned.

We were given the option of making 15 identical charms or 3 sets of 5 charms. I made mine all the same.

Here's a peek at my creation...

WARNING:

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON....

STOP READING...

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN

if you DO NOT WANT TO SEE!!!!


secret.....secret.....secret...

do not peek!!!

do not scroll......

do not continue reading....


blah....

blah....

blah.....


empty space....

empty space....

empty space....


WHEW!!! ok....keep reading....

 

All cozy in their little glassine, sewn-shut envelopes and adorned with a little witches hairpin.

(note: I sewed these on my new circa 1939 Singer featherweight sewing machine...I LOVE that little machine!!! I would have never known about these if it wasn't for Ruth Rae telling me all about them. Thanks, Ruth! It only sews straight stitches or crazy crooked stitches in this case - this was its maiden journey with me at the helm, but I can see this little machine going places with me...)

I didn't do a tutorial, but just know, these are the swivel sections of a vintage wooden ruler, dissassembled, cut and sanded down; wire wrapped with beads, chain, black tulle, stamped mother-of-pearl bead, and then just a bit of soldering to hold it all in place!

Add a couple of jump rings and it's ready for your charm bracelet.

Perfect little vintage witch adornment...

I cannot wait to see ALL the goodness to hit my mailbox next week.....

'tis near Halloween..... I'm joining in the Halloween fun here... ALSO BE SURE TO READ THE PREVIOUS POST FOR THE E-BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!

E-book giveaways

The first two ICE Resin e-Books featuring jewelry and mixed-media artwork by the 2011-2012 Creative Team are now available for purchase.

Preview the first one, Imagine. Create. Explore. Volume 1 Mixed Media Jewelry by clicking below:

https://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/239780/1/imagine-create-explore-volume-1-mixed-media-jewelry

My Beauty and the Beach necklace is featured on the cover and the method I've used is sure to inspire your creativity using a common beach find, wire, words and Resin. It is just one of my jewelry projects featured in the first book.

My fellow team members share several techniques and processes, as well.

If you like what you see, leave a comment here, and you will receive one chance to win a copy of your very own.

Share & Link Back to this post from your own blog, and a second entry will be made on your behalf. Just leave me a second comment letting me know. :-)

I will be drawing TWO winners on Saturday, October 20th, at noon PST.

Look for a secondary post for the opportunity to win a copy of Volume 2...Jewelry and Vanity where there are MORE inspired creations...

Cheers and Good LUCK!!!

ps. Kathy of Katalina Jewelry has a copy on her blog too! She's drawing on 10/12...check out her blog. She has some GREAT tutorials going on over there from the Halloween Charm Swap we are playing in over at Vintiquities Workshop.

Sailing Through September

photo credit: Hopemore Studio

As some of you may know, I was in California all last week with Phillip. A quick trip down to work a bit in the park on some enhancements. My first time "behind the scenes" after hours. Quite different than a "day at the Happiest Place on Earth" during the day.

So quiet. And, well, kind of surreal, actually, being able to drive our daily driver car onto the streets...who knew? Duh, how else do things get done in the night? Magic? I guess I just never thought much about THAT part.

We played a bit, shopping and visiting with our friends.

We laughed that it was raining in CA..seems we always get rained on in CA.

We drove through the smoke-zones...been doing that a lot lately, it seems. Smoke in Central Oregon. Smoke here at home.  Smoke in No. CA...My heart goes out to all those firefighters.

We woke up to a smoke alarm in the hotel...strike that! We woke up to the maintenance personnel removing tile in the room right next door to our room...As we were about to leave, the smoke alarm started wailing away...we grabbed our things and when we opened the door, the hallway was full of smoke... GREAT! MORE SMOKE! But not fire smoke...soldering smoke...lots of it! Obviously they were working on the bathroom...tile...plumbing...hmmmm.

****

While we were on the road, my blog friend, Angie, of Hopemore Studio blogged about some little sailboats she created... and gave me a shout-out of thanks for advice and ideas... BUT don't let her fool you, she is a woman of many talents!!!

A couple of months ago, she surprised me with the most darling little boat...

complete with a Rand McNally map section of Grants Pass, Oregon...Josephine County.

Using this map, I can almost see my house!

The little guy in the boat, is adorable. I saw him a few years ago in a Stampington publication and have loved him ever since...How intuitive Angie was to select him for my boat! He's a bit upside-down in this photo, but who hasn't had one of those days??? (I raise my hand here...my Monday after being gone for a week?)

Any way, back to Angie...she has an Etsy Shop where she sells her adorable creations...her polymer slides are gorgeous!!! The perfect amount of vintage!

I just love blogging for fun! I have met some very creative and fun women via blogging. And always enjoy exchanging little "gifts" back and forth... Thanks, Angie!