Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue

Purple

I decided to try something a little different (for me) this week.

Here is a girl who lo-o-o-o-oves purple and she has a cupcake for you.

I used colored pencil and acrylic on purple card stock. 

The cupcake is a stamp from the dollar bin at Michaels.

I have been wanting to do a watercolor but alas, all of my watercolor tubes are dried up from years and years of disuse.  Has anyone tried peeling the tubes open and adding water with the brush? Sort of like a kid's paint set. Would probably work, but wouldn't give the best result, I'll bet. Well, looks like a trip to Michael's is in the offing. Or Joann's. I have just found out how expensive paint has become. Ugh. 

Visit Inspiration Avenue to see all of the Purple entries. The deadline is Sunday at noon, so there's still time to whip up an entry of your own! Details are on the IA blog. Everyone who enters in the month of February has a chance (or chances, one for every week you enter) to win a fabulous prize from Priti Studio! Check it out at Inspiration Avenue.

Homemade Fun!

Make Your Own Memory Match Game

This is our sixth tutorial in the Supplies for Tutorials Exchange, created by Taylor at MaryJanes and Galoshes. She has come up with another cute and entirely useful project. This is a Match Game that she made using a collage sheet from my shop plus some other supplies, and I think it's adorable!   

 

She fashioned a carrying case for the game 

that looks awesome displayed on a shelf.

  

Here are the game pieces. 

One digital collage sheet will do, just print it out twice so you have matching pieces!  Depending on the ages of the players, you can vary the difficulty accordingly by using simple or more complex images.

The tutorial is posted on her blog in detail and is also listed on Totally Tutorials.

Pop on over to check it out  ~ a project to keep little (and not so little) ones occupied and also improve their concentration and memories ~ 

trés educational 
but they will just think it's  fun!

Love and Lace

Wow, this is a day for treasuries! 

I am so lucky to have found myself included in another one. 

I'm taking full advantage since this rarely ever happens.

Plus, I have just re-learned how to do a screen capture, 

something I forgot how to do for oh so many years.

This one was curated by Elaine of ChatElaine Jewellery, who is an incredible bead and jewelry maker. I just love lampwork beads, and this treasury is full of them!

Thanks, Elaine for including my "Dreaming" print!

Visit Elaine's Etsy shop and her blog,
and you will see some amazing handmade beads and more!

The Love and Lace treasury will be available until Friday morning February 26.

Poppies and Painted Ladies

I just had to show you this treasury made by Stephanie of Dragonfly Design Studios (her Etsy shop: Stefny68). The colors give us a warm and fuzzy feeling on a cold winter's day! (My apologies to those farther south, where you are probably warm enough already ~ but do take a look anyway.
It will warm your heart!) 

I'm so fortunate that she included my print, 'On the Wings of Love'.

Stephanie is the guru of flowers and has a stunning painting of poppies in her shop that she did not include in the treasury. Please visit to see her gorgeous array of original paintings, prints, note cards and more.
Poppies and Painted Ladies
will be up until Friday morning, February 26, 2010. 

Under Construction

Pardon me while I am in the process of switching my
blog over to a 3-column layout.
And, as you can see, I am using the awesome new 

Magic Carpet blog theme 

I won from Plumrose Lane!I love it so far! Still have to add the little tags.
I also got the how-to for switching to 3 columns,
plus the instructions for removing the hideous lines
around my pictures from Sharon's tutorials.
Check out her blog for gorgeous free backgrounds
and really helpful blogging tips!

Well, back to getting my taxes organized so I can
hand them overto the tax guru tomorrow.
Bleh. Not fun. Not creative. Not likely to go away either.

I'll be back!

Reflecting

Whew, hope I'm in time. 

My entry in the weekly challenge at Inspiration Avenue. The theme is "Reflection". Pop over and take a look at all of the entries!

Happy Birthday, Jesse

I cannot believe it, but my baby is 20 years old today!

 With 2 of his biggest fans in the whole world, 

Grammy and Grandpa

With friends in California

Morgan

Kelby

Kenny, born on the same day, same hospital

Happy Bday Kenny!

Moving 2700 miles away

New friends

Tabitha and John Michael

 

First Grade

Looks like he's saying, 

You mean there's 12 more years of this?? 

Favorite pastime, next to skateboarding

Finally got a haircut

 

This went by the wayside

Still fishing... 

  

A trip back to California, pic snapped with " The Duke"

Of course he said, Who's John Wayne?

First legal beer ever, in Mexico where the drinking age is 18.

Grinning from ear to ear about that.

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

We love you and are SO proud of you! 

 The Bad News, then the Good News

 And a mini-survey at the end!

I have not posted in a while ~ I have been distracted by a strange phenomenon in our house that is making me crazy!  Ever since the first foot of snow fell a little over a week ago, there has been an odor in the house that I can only describe as what you would smell if you stuck your face right behind an idling automobile. Only much fainter, since I am the only one who can smell this.  Oh, the frustration of having a top-notch sense of smell!

The furnace guy came on Saturday and told me there is nothing wrong with the furnace and charged me $117. Thank you very much. My hubby, bless his heart, came home yesterday with a $22 furnace filter, thinking the bargain filters we have been using were not doing the job. No change. My son thinks it is all in my head. I guess I must not have taught him how to be sympathetic. Too late now, he'll be 20 years old in 4 days.

I have tried turning off the furnace for most of the day (not recommended). I have tried turning UP the thermostat to blast it out of the house (ridiculous, not recommended either) So far I have not hit on the solution, or the problem for that matter. Our latest thinking is that some of that 2+ feet of snow is clogging the chimney through which the hot water heater vents (the furnace vents out the side of the house thank goodness). If you have seen our roof, which of course you haven't, I'll look for a picture, you would agree that going up there now is out of the question. So my next plan of attack is to wait for a sunny day with the temp above freezing, to melt some of that snow.

I just found a pic (and now I am really longing for warmer, sunnier days). Wish I had a snowy one, but you get the idea of climbing 3 stories onto one of the steepest roofs (rooves?) in the neighborhood to look at the chimney. Not going to happen.

Wow, I just realized I have rambled for 4 paragraphs explaining why I have not posted recently. You can see I am a little obsessed with this smelly problem.

If you are still with me, I will now get to the    GOOD NEWS. Ahem.

I have been the incredibly lucky winner of  Plumrose Lane's One World One Heart giveaway! She has created a blog background and all the accessories with the "magic carpet" theme, and it is gorgeous and all mine!

The rich blue-purple colors give it a sense of mystery and magic. And I love the banner with all the sparkly fairy dust behind the magic carpet!

 

Isn't it gorgeous? 

Now I must decide if I want to use it on this blog or start a second blog (terrifying, but I've already been thinking about it).  

Those of you who have more than one blog: Is it difficult to keep up with multiple blogs? What was your reason for starting more than one blog? Any other thoughts on having multiple blogs? I'd be eternally grateful for comments on this. 

Thanks, and hope your day is fantastically creative!

 Zetti Fun

I had so much fun with the No Bananas Girls, I decided to make a collage sheet using those elements plus some different images. So here it is ~ my homage to zetti art!
Hope you like it! It's in my Etsy shop! 

A Pretty Vintage-Look Greeting Card

The Newest Creation in the Supplies for Tutorials Exchange

Tammy from Art and Inspirations has come up with another creative use for my  collage sheets! This sweet greeting card is so versatile, any occasion would be perfect to send it to a loved one. Tammy has even embellished the envelope with a matching flower!

And who wouldn't just be overjoyed to receive a handmade card instead of a store-bought one? Of course, being the creative person that you are, if you use the odds and ends of paper and embellishments that you have on hand, the cost would be practically nothing!  (Sorry, Hallmark, there's just no comparison any way you look at it!)

You can customize yours to suit the occasion of the moment, using Tammy's tutorial she has posted on her blog. It actually looks like a quick and easy project, so no excuses about not having time!

Be sure to visit Tammy's Etsy shop, Design4u, to see many of her lovely creations!

The tutorial will also be posted on Totally Tutorials. Visit there to see tutorials on a huge variety of subjects.

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue

Fruit

I was drawing a blank with this week's challenge.  

(This is too  ha-a-a-ard I was saying)

*whine, whinge, whine* 

Then I decided to get silly and it turned out to be fun.

Digital collages are always fun and easier than painting a picture.

Since there isn't a banana in sight, the title was easy too.

Visit Inspiration Avenue on Sunday afternoon to see everyone's entries.
If you have time, enter something yourself! You have until noon EST on Sunday. Everyone who enters will have a chance to win the giveaway of the month, which this month is a very inspiring mixed media piece from Lisa of Priti Studio.

Just for Today, 

Who Cares if it's Still Winter

We woke up to an amazing sight this morning.
It's so pretty I had to post some pictures.

View from the front porch at dawn.
The light on the planter boxes is either from the flash or the porch light, or maybe both.

Still not light yet.

The apple tree weighted with snow.

Another pic from the front porch.

The sun has come out and it's blinding!
This pic doesn't show how bright it really is.
Gotta wear your sunglasses to go out now!

Things have come to a stop in our area, since this is supposedly the third biggest snow storm for us since they started recording storms! I say, that's great ~ if we have to have a winter storm, let's do it right!

Recycle...Upcycle! 

Decoupaged Canister

Our 4th entry in the Supplies for Tutorials Exchange 

Jessica of  Eco-Friendly Freckles  has made something both useful and beautiful, and has done it all with recycled materials (well, except for the collage sheets from my shop,  Magpie Mine,  but of course she was required to use those as per the rules of the Exchange!)  She has done a lovely job creating this adorable angels canister which she titled “Lullaby of Angels’ Enlightenment”.  I just love the soft pinks juxtaposed with the graphic white-on-black dots. This is her trademark look ~ visit her Etsy shop to see how she incorporates the dots into all of her pieces!

But first, see the tutorial on her  blog  and learn how she made this lovely canister. Even the printed text is from recycled 
Yogi tea bags.  This project looks like such fun, and gets your imagination ticking with the many ways to use your own individual style to create this useful piece! In fact, I have just added a large table for crafts and painting to my workroom/office/spare room. Some people have closets larger than this room. I think once upon a time it was a nursery/baby's room in our 1920s house, and it is 

very very small, 

so organization is key. I could use some stylish containers to hold brushes, tools, and pencils since they are now housed in plastic fast food cups ... hmmm ... now what to do with the plastic cups ... of course, I could use the plastic cups to create my upcycled  canisters!

Jessica's tutorial will also be posted on  Totally Tutorials. 

Just to recap what the  exchange is about, since new tutorials will be coming in over the next few weeks:  A supplies seller (me in this case :) donates supplies to an artist/crafter who agrees to create something with said supplies and make a tutorial to appear on Totally Tutorials blog. It's been so much fun so far! See the list in my sidebar for recent entries. The list will be growing  week by week.