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)

My Proto Types For Alice Swaps

Dover Alice in Wonderland image, Decorative paper and accents,

Spell binders die cuts, lace, gold stickers, rub on word, clear dimensional letter A

gold German scrap, ribbon and rhinestone.

Chesire Cat from Disney, Spell binders die cuts, rhinestones,

recycled clear plastic packaging, pop dots,

Blossom Bling, hand cut flower shapes from decorative paper,

and pleated paper with ribbon accents.

Tag was sprayed with a glimmer mist.

Lavish Victorian Parlor Rooms Collage sheet from Land of Enchantment,

Tim Burton White Queen Image Digitally merged, Chess piece image found online.

Stamping and white embossing , decorative lace, white ribbon, sequins and pearls.

Tag was walnut stained and then sprayed with a glimmer spray.

I didn't have enough gold stickers or sequins, or pearls and not enough rhinestones to go around. So the ones I did for the swaps had to go without. I like embellishments but I have to be realistic with the cost. They look nice without but this is what they could of looked like if budget wasn't a word in my everyday vocabulary.