It's a Bead Soup Party!

Lori Anderson of Pretty Things is having a Bead Soup Party.... follow the link on my side bar to sign up. How it will work is....

First, you must have a blog!

Next, email her letting her know you want to go to the Bead Soup Party.

On January 11th, She'll contact everyone with your Party Partner and list all the Party Blogs.

You'll then send your Party Partner a Party Pack:
~ A focal
~ Some coordinating spacers or beads
~ A special clasp (not just a lobster claw)

When you get your package of beads, you make something with it, take a picture, and post it on your blog on February 1st. Then hop around to all the Party Blogs to see what everybody made!

Let Us All Eat Cake!

Here is what my pages look like for the

Marie Antoinette Mail Art group

6 x 6 Lacey Cake pages swap.

Cake Page Front

Background paper was clear embossed and

rubbed pink ink on and then wiped off.

Then stamped other images on in a Chocolate brown.

Laces, ribbons, rhinestones, flowers and pearls

were used for the cake layers.

Sample of the cake page backs

Embellished slightly different.

Personalized with each ladies first name initial.

Opens to reveal a yummy cake recipe I can't even begin to tell you the many hours I have spent making these.
And I could have spent even more adding more things
and more touches.
I had to stop myself and say okay your done.
It was a pleasure to make the 10 pages for the ladies.
Unfortunately one of the ladies wasn't able to continue.
So I have an extra page. Oh well.
Perhaps I'll use it for the cover of the book.
If I decide to make it into a book.
I could also hang them all together.
I have had some peaks of a few of the cakes that are already done.
But you have to wait until next year when I get all of them
to see what the rest of the ladies came up with.
No biggy it's just a few weeks away.

Gothic Arch Challenge ~ Domestic Goddess

Update: 12 - 4 - 2010

Made it into a refigerator magnet

for Gwendolyn and she bought it.

Wow! You are so sweet.

Thank You Oh so Much!

12 -14 -2009 I fell in love with this image of Lucy in her TV kitchen. It looks as if she is saying,

"Who me, a domestic goddess?"
See what the other artist came up with by clicking on this link for

Gothic Arch Challenges.

PIF Teacup from Keke

Today is the 17th, three days after receiving Keke's tea cup she made for me I found out she made all of these embellishments...the cookies, loaf of bread, knife, place mat, mini teapot, tea cup,...etc. How cool is that.

Wrapped up in this pretty paper with a pink bow
Was this pretty altered Alice in Wonderland teacup
And a bonus bag of images, tea and chocolate Hershey kisses.
Thank You so Much Keke it is adorable!

I ate the chocolate immediately

And I will be making a cup of tea next!

It's that time of the month. So the timing was just perfect.

Gothic Arch Challenge ~ Regal Lady

This is as far as I got tonight...I think she need something else...We'll see.
Here is a link to the other artist that participated in the Gothic Arch Challenge.

Two for Tea?

I made this Alice in Wonderland themed altered tea cup for the PIF swap with Mad Tea Party Mail Art Group. This altered tea cup was forward to Stephanie Watt. Hope she'll like it and that it made it to her all in one piece.
UPDATE: She recieved her Alice Tea Cup. And she liked it. But unfortunately the saucer broke in half so she had to glue it back together. So much for careful packing.
The one Stephanie did for her pay it forward partner...(not me) is really adorable. She made it into a pin cushion. I have seen it in the Mail Art group where she posted a picture of it. I don't see it posted on her blog. So I guess you'll have to take my word for it. I personally think it is way cuter than mine.

Floral Arrangements for Ann

This is a dinning room arrangement I had made for Ann earlier this summer. It suits her personality because she is a very sweet elderly lady. Her husband passed away several years ago and she never remarried or had children of her own. As time goes on I can see how this could be my future.
Ann recently suffered a small stroke and is making amazing progress. Her nephew is a good man and takes care of the things she needs. If he didn't I know I would.

I stayed and chatted with her when I delivered the items I did for her on Tuesday. Where I appreciate the job. I'm thankful to have such a wonderful customer. Ann feels like family. A dear sweet Aunt. So in addition to my being able to make her happy with what I create. I think she also appreciates the gift of time I spend with her.

Snow Shoe

It was a Creative Saturday. Deb, Vikki , Kim and myself got together to make Marie Antoinette paper shoes like the ones seen in the Somerset Magazine. I have yet to finish my other one that I started. Any way I had all this stuff I didn't use from other winter projects. What a great way to use them up making a Marie Antoinette snow shoe. There was much laughter with some sweet treats and coffee. I think it is safe to say that the ladies enjoyed making the paper shoes very much.

Gothic Arch Challenge ~ Stars

I've been wanting to do these challenges for awhile. So in addition to the Star theme. I challenged myself to do it in an hour. For those of you that know me personally you know what a challenge that was. My other inspiration for the sentiment was my husband. After all he really is my shinning star. Here is the link so you can see what other artist did at Gothic Arches.

The Lighter Side of when Life Happens...

Front Cover
Just above the bow it says dream big.
Back of cover

When we are making other plans. And life keeps on proving these word to be true. Yesterday Deb and I had one of our Creative Friday's. We had plans to work on our 6 x 6 Cake swaps the Marie Antoinette Art group. We need to make 10 fronts and something nice on the backs.
Images were printed up, supplies all packed to come over to my place, movies to watch, wine to drink, meals planned. This is going to be really good. The plan is to get these mostly done.

All but one very necessary item made it's way over to my house.

Deb's yummy suit case of ribbons and lace.

That's okay "Life" we'll make other plans. Not a problem.

Let's kick in plan "B". Wait! What's plan "B" gonna be?

We'll make something else with what she does have with her.

And I can contribute to whatever she may need.
Deb came up with a neat idea of over the top covers for our

own Art Journal Books.
I already had 6 x 6 pre cut mat board that we gessoed and painted them.
And we were off. We used K&Co. paper for the insides.

Deb went with a Marie Antoinette theme.
So Beautiful in pinks and teals with ribbons, and crystals, glitter.

A must see.
It's good to be flexible. And the day was a great success.

Brunch cooked by Chip kept us going as did the Java Juice.

Thank goodness Deb brought some creamer.

Old movies like Tarzan, and Cheaper by the Dozen kept us entertained.

"Rally" they did.

Chip got us some cinnamon donuts from the cider mill.

Deb also brought Lemonaide Ice Tea. That was great!

And I finally saw the new movie of Marie Antoinette.

I was torn between creating and viewing. What a visually beautiful movie.

Talk about over the top. Oh my Goodness!

A quick yummy dinner consited of Ova-lemona chicken soup and with pocket sandwiches. Loaded with Chicken, feta cheese, monetary jack cheese and clamata olives,

topped with plain yogurt.

Then it was back to the project and some wine and another movie...

You've Got Mail.

A favorite of both of us. Neither of us ever tire of seeing it.

So there you have it another Creative Friday!

Teapot Jewelry

Just added some bead charms (above photo)

Picture below is without and a shot of the earrings

For fun I made these today. Pewter teapot pieces, swarovski sphere bead, colored crystal glass beads and a little wire wrapping and there you have it; Teapot earrings and a co-ordinating bracelet. Hmm who should I give these to? Maybe some one who loves tea. I know someone that loves tea. Or maybe I should put them in my ETSY shop? What to do...what to do? I'll just table that for now. I can figure it out later.

Assembling all this teapot jewelry makes me want to enjoy a warm cup of tea. Why don't you join me and make a cup of tea with me.

A Place For Stickers

Is there a place for stickers in our Altered art? I have to admit I'm not a big fan of stickers. But I do like the metalic ones as accents. Here is a sneak peak of a project I'm working on for the Mad Tea Party mail art group. I don't want to give it totally away for my PIF partner. (who is yet to be determined.) But what I do like is how the gold stickers I selected to use on this tea cup and saucer look as if they belong. So maybe some stickers do have a place after all.

Typical

This is a typical example of what happens with some of the floral pieces I do for one of the Designers I work for. The Designer asked for and hand selected the product for this piece. She tells me it is a floor arrangement and needs to spray out in front of a window and it need to be "airy" and that it needs height. So where this is not the clients home or the actually window of the client's home it is a window to get an ideas of how it looks. So what can typically happen is that the arrangement sits there before the Designer is scheduled to deliver it. Giving her plenty of time to change her mind. There is no room for an ego here. And after 8 years I expect it. So this week I was told she now hates it. Which basically means we have to change it. Now it needs to be fuller and not so tall. OK I say what ever you want. So what you see below is the redo. She is now A happy camper. I like it much better as well. Let's hope the client will be happy with it too.

Sorry about the bad photos. I just really take these for future refence.

A New Chapter

Of Life has begun not only in our household as being Grandparents

But also in Chip's son Shawn and his wife Ginger's.

With this little cutie pie, Logan Nicholas Cushman.

Pictured here at 9 months.

Nothing but love and joy! Let the journey begin....

My Swaps for Lynn

Lynn got her swaps today! Yeah!

I can now reveal what I did for her.

This is Lynn's Photo of the tag I made for her

It is way better than the photos I tried to take of it.
This is the front side of the tag that I had previously teased
Lynn with. We chose to do Vintage Girls.

What's the "L" for you ask? Well in this case...

"L" is for La in Ooh La La,
"L" is for Lynn,
and "L" is for just Lovely.

And as I mentioned before Lynn wanted to kick up the swap a notch
with doing something else to swap.
So we agreed to do a small painting for each other.
Mine is 5" x 5" she's did a 6" x 6".
So we went with the Suzi Blu inspired technique.
Putting our own spin on it. (minus the Terri water mark)
So when I showed this to my Mom. She really liked the painting.
I made a print of her and as I mentioned in the Salvation Army .
I found a wood frame and I painted it up
and made some cards and a key chain.

This now sits proudly on my Moms shelf that my Dad made for her in her craft room.
Thanks Lynn for a really terrific swap! And I'm glad our paths have crossed other wise I would of missed out on meeting a very generous and talented artist.

It"s Here! It's Here!

Oh..wait....I better get my camera....Ok here we go...
I couldn't wait to open the box...I read the lovely note

Gasped at the pretty wrapping...what's in this pretty pink pouch?
What a super nice surprise! I don't have anything like this in my stash. I sure can put all these bonuses to good use.
This is the bonus portion to our swap.... doing a painting for one another.
Beautiful Lynn I love her and the saying is just wonderful!

The simple request to swap tags was the start of it all. What treasues.

This Tag is soooo stunningly beautiful! The materials used the details. Wow!

The whole package blew me away.

Thank You, Lynn a thousand times over!

A Marie Shoe in the Making

So this is the stage that I'm at. I have collected some items that I think will work. I even punched out my own paper lace. You can see bits and pieces of it. If any one is interested in the punch I used please feel free to contact me. I have a few to sell.
Now should I call it a shoe or a slipper?

Ok this is a photo of it an hour later...What a pretty fall day we are having....since the sun is shining I went ahead and took this photo outside... still not done but definately taking shape...

KeKe's Tag

I had noticed that KeKe of Cherry Kingdom (love the title of her blog check it out and discover what an exceptional lady she is) had wished she would have been able to join Le Vintage's Alice in Wonderland swap. Since I had signed up for Le Vintage's early September when the requirement was around 12 tags of one character that is what I had agreed to do. As it turned out less were need for the swap and I ended up with a couple extra White Queen tags.

So I asked KeKe if she would like to do a private swap. The above picture is what I received in the mail today. The tag is dimensional and lovely. The cherry card,the mad tea party post card, the teas everything was packaged so lovely even the envelope. Thank You KeKe for going the extra mile.

Sometimes you don't know what you may get with swaps. Some times your elated and sometimes you are deflated. So deeply disappointed one may never want to do a swap again. If everyone would put this much effort into it... it would continue to be a joy.

Tags Received

Here are the tags I received from Le Vintage's Alice in Wonderland tag swap. Along with some sweet surprises. Thank You ladies for doing so. I did not send out extra items due to the last minute nature of this request. I did do and extra thank you tag for the ladies that offered to do an extra character. I personally found this request coming near the very end of the swap to be unfair. Apparently something is wrong with me beacuse no one else had a problem with it. I guess I don't do well changing the outline of a swap after I have given my word that I would be a part of it.

A Recycled Envelope

Here is a little project I have been working on a White Rabbit tea pot paper doll. The art work for this is by Pamela Silin Palmer. It was printed on an envelope I had saved from Nance of Her Art Nest almost 2 years ago. I love Pamela's style of painting. I just didn't have the heart to through it away. I said someday I will do something with this. Well, after I had made the Mad Hatteress paper doll for the Mad Tea Party Mail art group. I had an Ah ha moment. Using a different tea pot pattern from SU! Stamped some legs from a Caterine Moore stamp. Punched out some paper lace, did a little painting added some feathers. Stamped the word dream and there you have it. Now perhaps some glitter. Maybe on those berries.

A Few Finds for Future Projects

There is a new Salvation Army Store that opened up in my town. I have to admit I would normally have no interest in going to this store. But things change. Circumstances change and interest change. And if it wasn't for the neat finds that Nance form Her Art Nest and Deb from It's All Good seem to find when they go I may have never ventured in. So tonight after a yummy Mexican dinner my husband treated us to. We stopped in to check it out. At first it was as I thought it would be and wondered why I even bothered to come in. But then out of the sea of mess these items seem to rise to the top. I'm thinking ....I can work with this. I also found a "countrified" (a Terri word I think) wood 5 x 5 frame. It had a print of some country geese and the alphabet going around the frame. I have already sanded and gessoed it to get it ready to paint. I'm putting a print of my art work in it for my parents. But the original art work was done for Lynn at Her Creative Spirit for a swap we are doing. Since that is a surprise I will wait to share what I did to the frame in another post.

Mad Tea Party Mail Art Group

I did A PIF Alice in Wonderland paper doll character. My Mad Hatteress went to Blanca and this one of Alice with Butterfly wings on a a green bird came to me from Susie. I love how whimsical it is. Wouldn't it be neat if we could travel safely this way. I have it hanging on my fridge with that little magnet. It is a good size...about 12" tall. I think she is really sweet. So Thank You Susie. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

The Alice Tags from My Swap...

Are arriving! Our deadline was Oct 5th. Most of the tags have already arrived. Just waiting on one more tag for the collection to be complete. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to swap with swappers who are on time. With life and work and other commitments, I thought how nice to be able to give the ladies six weekends and five weeks to work on their Alice and Wonderland Charaters for their tags.

This is what they came up with.

Deborah's White Rabbit

Missy's Dutchess

Nancy's Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Terry's Dormouse
Elaine's Mad Hatter
Renee's Alice
Debra's Red Queen My Cheshire CatRebecca's Queen of HeartsBecky's Caterpillar
The Participants and links to their blogs
Alice...Renee (Recieved)

White Rabbit...Deborah

In keeping with her character ...is late for a very important date

(Recieved December 7th 2009)

Dormouse...Terry P. (Recieved)

Chesire Cat...Me (Recieved)

Duchess....Missy (Recieved)

Red Queen....Debra (Recieved)

Caterpillar...Becky (Received)

Mad Hatter...Elaine (Recieved)

Queen of Hearts...Rebecca (Received)

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum...Nancy (Recieved)