More giveaways

First, "I am very Mary" is going to do two more giveaways...one this Friday and then the following Friday....boxes of junk..you know you can't resist. I'll be good and not put my name in the hat...that is just tacky. My blogging buddy, Alisa, of "Life Is A Beautiful Place To Be" is having a blogaversary giveaway...pretties...you know you can't resist the lure of pretties either. Lastly, (but in no way leastly) Cerri of "Little Pink Studio" is celebrating the opening of her lifelong dream.....a store of her own. If you haven't been by to shop or just look at all the neat stuff...head over. She is offering up one of her Little Pink Studio Samplers...it is chock full of all sorts of good stuff. Good luck and if you are still hoping to get into Silver Bella...good luck as well and I hope to see you there. :)

Silver Bella...here I come!!!

I won't say that I was camped out by the computer...but today did drag on. I had the computer set up to the website and went and watched "Law and Order" with Clark. I was so worried I wouldn't get in...it sold out quite quickly last year and all those ladies were determined to make it this year, plus all the ladies who have been before. I just need to book a flight and a room. :) I'm so excited. Clark is going to have the boys all by himself for a few days...oy. He'll probably convince the grandparents that is a good time to visit. :)

Happy news

First, I found this cuter than shit lamp yesterday at an antique/flea mall. The same one where I found Humpty on Mother's Day. It's Hansel and Gretel....oy. I'm doing my screamy, happy hand wavy thing...you'll just have to imagine. It was a tad bit more than Humpty, but it was 20% off. I've now got a collection (I think three lamps is a small collection). I got to go to two thrift stores as well and found a bevy of craft items. Today, we hit the AC Moore here in Columbus...they are shutting down our store....they found out two weeks ago, but we just got a chance to go today. It was rather picked over, but we found quite a bit and saved more than we bought....it was all 60-80% off. I got an embossing tool (the heat thingy)....always thought that looked interesting, but was too cheap to pay full price (and always had another use for my 40% off coupons). Clark found some carving tools. He can make me some rubber stamps now. :) We also went to the B&N and I picked up the new "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" and the new "Somerset Life". I had sent some aprons into Pino and Katherine for their party this weekend and she was in the magazine...I got to see and read some more about them. We went to the commissary after that and bought more food...oy...I'm going to have to ration out the food....they eat way too much. :) Our cable was out most of the afternoon and evening (we have a cable modem) and finally got to check and I won a giveaway. The one I mentioned in my last post. Woohoo...I'm getting a box of artsy crafty junk...I love it. I cannot wait to see what I got. I'm the kind of girl who likes those grab bags of stuff...mish mashes of treasures. I got a bag or two of those this weekend. What I miss is the bags of fabric I used to get in Alabama....$1.99 for a big ole bag of scraps and such. I've gotten some cool, vintage fabric that way. Their bags of Xmas stuff were great, too. Oh well. I won a box of fun stuff. :)

Free Junk...if she picks your name

I was over at Sherry's (http://www.ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com/) and she mentioned a blog giveaway at "I am very Mary" (www.averymarydesign.blogspot.com/). She is giving away a flat rate box full of junk from her attic. Here is the catch...more of us might be able to win...if she reaches 100 comments, she will be giving away three flat rate boxes of junk. So go over and sign up....help her get over 100 comments....which alone would be too cool.

In the Good Ole Summertime...

These are my tags for the swap. The top one is the front and the bottom is the back. In the mini library pocket is a recipe for lemonade. I'm almost tempted to write the words "Help Me" on the front above the ant. I don't know...I may just leave it like it is.

Tags, tags, tags

Fifteen of them to be exact. I've been working on my tags for the Good Ole Summertime Swap. I'm almost done. I came up with something for the back side and just need to photocopy some things, cut them up, fold them, glue on the last little bit, and add some ribbon. I had agoodtime making them....this is only the second tag swap I've done. I wanted to redeem myself...I did Karla's St. Patrick's Day tag swap....the pictures are on my other blog. They were so simple and plain jane. My pendants are going to be mailed today....cutting it close, I know. The car troubles just threw us all. Heather (aka swap goddess for hosting the Hippity Hop Easter Swap) is hosting a one for one card swap. Just head to her blog for details..... www.boobyfish.blogspot.com/ . I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt that one or not. I've never made cards before and the challenge of doing so is tempting. We shall see...I want to see how my tags turn out and I am working on some other things as well.

Jewels of the Sea Swap pendants

These are the two pendants my fellow swappers might get. They were from the defunct booklace idea. I didn't want them to go to waste....especially after I handsewed those f-ers on eight of those tiny ass things. :)

Tag...I'm it

Alisa over at "Life is a Beautiful Place To Be" tagged me. So here I go:

1) What was I doing ten years ago? We were stationed at Fort Hood, TX. I was probably baking cookies or cooking dinner for the guys in my husband's shop.

2) Five things on my to do list: Still need to wrap my pendants, Organize my happy place, mail out the pendants, work on my tags, and probably a butt load of laundry.

3) Snacks that I enjoy: carrot cake, potato chips, baked items with apples in them, pumpkin pie

4) Things I would do if I were a millioniare: Buy a house in Normandy, pay off our mortgage, open a small shop, put a lot away, and help out my family anyway I could

5) Place I've lived: Dugway, UT; Pittsburgh, PA; Logan, UT; Augsburg, GE; Killeen, TX; Baumholder, GE; Birmingham, AL; Fort Benning, GA

Okay....tag others, I must.....Wendy (my sis); Angie (A Day At A Time); Rhonda (Rhondamum)

I actually worked on my tags for the Good Ole Summertime Swap....man, I hate waiting for glue to dry. Almost like watching paint dry. :)

My pendants are done

I finished up my pendants today after Billy left for school. Each person is actually getting two pendants. Booklaces are made up of different "pages", so I had most of the pages done and didn't want to waste them. I had to make jump rings for 14 "pages" this morning...they are a little loppy-jawed....at least you can tell they were handmade. :) I just need to finish wrapping them up....that reminds me I need to make little tags, so they know who they came from...(sigh of relief for remembering before wrapping). I'll have hubby take a photo for me in a little bit, so that I can post it on the Flickr site (and here). Usually I don't like to post things ahead of time, but since this is a swap where you have no idea who is getting your pendants....I might as well. I still don't know who got my collage or my screens from prior swaps. I did see one of my sister's screens on someone's blog. Speaking of her.....she went and joined a swap all by herself...no prodding by me. A new swap whore in the making. :) I didn't organize at all today (she said defiantly). I did start on a little something in the creative department....actually I started two things..I forgot about the other thing..typical of me. So even though the happy place is still a dive, I did get my craft on today.

It's my anniversary and all I did was work

After I finally got Billy on the bus (they were 15 minutes late), I came back in and built two chrome shelves for my happy place. One is in the closet and now holds all my fabric. The other is up against the wall and is holding a variety of containers full of all sorts of stuff. I can almost use the library table. I'm so impatient....I want it done now. I did some laundry....I got a bunch of old linens in Birmingham and this weekend and finally got them washed, dried and folded. I put them all in one of the empty fabric boxes for now. Most of them are cutters. I can't wait to repurpose them into something. No crafting, just organizing. Boohoo.

Creative block

Also known as messy work room. It is driving me nuts. So I worked on it a little today. I actually put things away that I've been done with for at least a week. I got two new shelves tonight at Target. One will go in the closet....I'm tired of lugging out boxes of fabric just to get to one and then having to put all the big boxes back in the closet....pain in the ass. I'm thinking of taking all the fabric out of the boxes and placing it on the shelves. I think I'd use more of it up if I could see it on a regular basis. The other shelf will hold all the containers residing on my library table (which I'd love to actually work on...instead of the floor) and the floor. Just after purchasing the shelves I feel a lot better. Maybe now I can actually finish my pendants and start on my tags. Speaking of tags I ordered some from Rhonda's (Rhondamum) Mother's Etsy store and they arrived today. She actually paper presses the shells she puts on them....they look so realistic. She has more at her store...check it out. I bought a few things from Rhonda's Etsy store as well.....I like to get things that I can split with my sister. She has the neatest tags and tickets....different colors and she stamps all sorts of neat things on them. She also has a couple different language cards...you've seen them all over the blogs. They are so cute and educational. I got the French and German ones. There are so many neat things available on Etsy. Why try to bust your ass making some of these things when there are ladies out there who can do it for you. :)

Toadstool Swap

I sent Liz the green with pink polka-spots toadstool and the brown with green polka-spots toadstool.

This is what I received in Lucy-Kate Craft's Toadstool Swap from Liz Burford of Idaho. She is the mother of Melissa Burford...I got one of her screens.

I got to leave the house

Clark was nice enough to take me out to some yard sales. I only picked six places...this was the first time since we've been here. We hit two church rummage sales, an estate sale, and three yard sales. The last one was a lady selling off some of her crafting stash (to make room and money for new stuff..isn't that how we all are). I got some cloth lace for my stash...I've been running low....all the swaps I've been in lately...my giant button jar is slowly being depleted as well. How sad. :( I did find some buttons at the estate sale....I got a big sewing box for $3. It didn't have as many buttons as I would've liked, but there was vintage trim and a tracing wheel with a wooden handle and a pair of vintage pinking shears. Woohoo.....I already have pinking shears that I got for Christmas, but they are still neat. Speaking of Fiskars pinking shears...when we were at Michaels the other day...they had a pair of the Scalloped Pinking Shears for fabric in the clearance section...I got them for $3...I've been wanting a pair of those for awhile, but had never seen them anywhere. Happy, happy....yes, I've already put them to good use. Back to yesterday...hmmm, what else did I get....vintage fabric (not much...the one rummage sale had loads of fabric...most of it was knit though), vintage linens and hankies from three of the sales, ribbon and other packaging trims...my mind has gone blank..dang it. I haven't had any coffee yet. I'm going to go and have some coffee and read the paper. You need to go over to see Angie's blog...she is a wicked girl. http://angiebeth.blogspot.com/ She is so funny. Bravo Whore is her new nickname.

I shopped in my house

I got things ready for Susana (my partner in the Summer Regift Swap). I hope she likes everything..I need to make a list to take to the post office (customs form..oy..how I hate those things...I've filled out my fair share in the last few years). Today is going to be another multiple package days at the Post Offcie....they are going to think I run a business from my home. :) It's not as bad as last week. I only have three envelopes and three boxes this time. The envelopes from last week have been trickling into the consolation prize winners and I hope everyone has a good time get creative. Don't forget to post your creations on your blogs for us all to see. I am still waiting on three ladies to respond if they want their prize or not. I actually got a package yesterday. It was from Tangee (Thrifted, Gifted, and Made Swap partner) ....it had all sorts of different goodies in it....paper, scrapbooking stuff, ribbon...thank you. Pictures will come later....Clark had a long day. No major plans for today (yet)...I should be a good little swapper and finish my pendants and start on my tags, but I think I'd really like to get out of the house. :)

Change of plans

After assembling one of the said pendants...I've come to the conclusion it is too much. I wanted to make booklaces and couldn't find mica and I didn't feel like ordering some (just in case it didn't come in on time), so I made different pages using different materials. Blah...hey, there is a silver lining in with all that copper. One of the pages I assembled....it was a last minute page idea....worked out pretty well and I'm going to use that...I do need to tweak it a little and I'll be doing that today...woohoo, out come the pliers. So I am no longer blah about the pendants and most of the work is already done. :) I may even put them on chains, because I am so happy and relieved. I do have 15 tags and a package to Slovenia to work on. Good times, good times.