blog moving news

hi all!

yep it’s time for a change – and a big one.  i have been on wordpress for nearly 2 years and never been overly happy with it, especially once blogger began making so many great changes to become more functional.  so i am finally taking the leap BACK to my old blog on blogger.  It has a fresh new look designed by me of course.  it will also be a little different content-wise – some of you may like it and others may not.  i began my blog as a way to communicate info about the Studio G stamps i carried to the folks who were ordering.  somehow along the way i created an online store, closed it down and then became a designer/promoter for a number of different products and companies.  all of this has been a fantastic journey but I found lately that i just wasn’t happy with it anymore.  i thought about quitting altogether – i rarely have any comments so i really don’t know if i have any readers left or if anyone is interested in what i do anymore.  but mainly my creative outlet was beginning to feel more like work.  i did not like that.  i love the companies and products but i don’t want rules and deadlines. i also don’t want to be limited to papercrafts – i do so much more and have so many interests. i  also want freedom on my blog – freedom to post what i want, when i want and say what i want.  now i am not referring to products – i have always been honest about those.  but i want to be able to post my thoughts and opinions on life in general rather than being a promotion machine.

don’t worry – you will still know what i think about products too!  if i love it you’ll know it and i may even give links to get it but let’s face it – we all know how to use google right?  if i hate something you will know that too!

i will continue to write for Craft Critique because i love the variety and honesty there.  i will also continue to work on the magazine Through the Craft Room Door and will hopefully have more time to devote to that as well.  i will still be doing digital design for folks and i will be teaching new classes over on Color Me Creative.  The next class i have planned is going to be extremely fun – all about Mixed Media!  i have some really amazing things planned for that one so whether you have dabbled in it or not – you will love the class!

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS A POST be sure to head over to blogger and get on the email list if you are not already on it!

 

metallic pumpkin display

hi all!

we are waking up to another crisp morning here in VA – YAY! i get so invigorated when the seasons change – spring and fall are my best times.  summer i am too hot to move and winter makes me want to go into hibernation due to lack of sunlight.  on our agenda today – a trip in to joanns in search of all manner of crazy fibers in purples, blues and pinks for crafting some unicorn horns.  yep you read that right.  another step in the creation of my little pony costumes.  creating the horn shouldn’t be hard.  getting the horn to stay on the kids’ foreheads might be another story.  a little scor tape maybe?  hahhah!

i don’t know what i did yesterday but my feet HURT.  by the time i finished cleaning the kitchen and sat down i was miserable.  so hubby trekked down to the basement storage room and dug up my box of bath recipe stuff to find my epsom salts and made me a foot soak – isn’t that sweet?!?!  luckily i feel much better because today i will be wandering around Ballentine Farms on Pezza’s preschool field trip.  after all the rain we have had i can’t wait to see the mud!

enough chit chat – on to the project for today – Metallic Pumpkins!

when we decided to finish the indoor painting last month we headed up to the Sherwin Williams store at the front of our street for paint.  While in there i was checking out this line of metallic paints they have for designer faux finishes.  i grabbed a brochure and investigated further and noticed you could get different looks by using it straight, adding a bit of black or alot of white.  So what you see above is the 3 different colors i got from the ONE metallic color I purchased.  I used Metallic Copper Semi-Transparent.  i have to tell you i am in LOVE with this stuff!!!!!  the picture just does not do it justice.  I think next time i will use a bit less white in the lighter one but otherwise i am quite pleased!

i started with a set of three paper mache pumpkin containers – the largest one is quite large.  i have never seen these in a store but a few of us went in together and bought them through a wholesaler (you have to buy in multiples).  oh wait – you can get them on Create For Less but you have to buy 2 sets – so grab a friend!

then talk about easy – just paint them inside and out and then use some hot glue to attach some fall floral picks to the tops.  these were all leftover from various other projects and most were purchased very cheaply on sale at Michaels.  whenever i see this sort of stuff on sale i stock up – most of my floral picks i get for between 50 cents and a dollar each.

i think these would also look amazing with some black flourishes added after painting….hhmmmmm where are those paper mache christmas tree shaped cones…..?  i could make a whole gleaming metallic forest……..although for the next metallic project i may check out Martha Stewart’s line of metallic faux finish paints at Home Depot….she has some great new things going on over there!  mixed media heaven i tell ya!

are you making anything for halloween or fall home decor?  i would love to hear what else folks are working on!  if you have some great projects in the works for either thanksgiving or Christmas be sure and submit them to us at Through the Craft Room Door!

ok folks Joanns should be open so we are off!

hugs

fabric fun AND my trip to OH…

hi all!

the weather here in northern VA today?  rainy.  again.  cold i like, rainy and overcast for over a month i could do without!  it is making it hard for me to get myself motivated. especially after my trip to Ohio with Suzanne.  OH…EM…GEE…Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!! let me just tell you what happened.

so i meet suzanne at her house friday afternoon no problem.  we get in the car and hit the road.  drive up is fairly uneventful other than i forgot my coat and it was rainy, windy and cold the whole time we were away. we we are looking for our hotel and all we see are flat cornfields ALLLLLL around us.  it is pitch dark – no moon, no street lights, cute little towns we drove through though. several times the GPS would say turn right when it clearly showed on the screen that we needed to turn left and vice versa.  but we find our hotel – it is pretty much in the middle of a cornfield.  only other thing i could see was a barn.  hotel was nice though – we check in and go to bed without incident.

we get up and head to Scrap Happy where Suzanne is teaching – the store is amazing!  and Suzy, the owner is fabulous!  classes went very well and then we headed out to dinner with my friend Ann who was also in the classes.  and then the story turns ugly…

we get back in the car and suzanne presses HOME on the GPS and we start driving.  through cornfields.  at night.  pitch black.  we’re talking.  and driving. and then we realize we are in a large city with this pretty skyline.  we don’t remember passing through a city.  we’re in cleveland.  so the GPS must have taken us on a slightly different route so we keep going…..we’re chatting…..it’s raining. and windy.  we are on a road under construction.  no exits, no rest stops with the nice lit up facilities and restaurants like on our way down.  we have to pee so we pull over to a very sketchy rest stop and both run into the bathroom, where the lights blink off then back on again and i back up into the automatic hand dryer which goes on and scares the bejezus out of us.  we pee and run to the car.  i didn’t think it could get any blacker outside but it did and according to the GPS we are driving through hell hollow – lovely……finally i look at the gps and i say i really don’t remember driving along lake eerie for this long on our way down – where the heck are we?  so suzanne zooms up a few clicks and sees our destination flag planted squarely in………..TORONTO!!!!!!!!  *SCREECH*  i thought we were going to DIE laughing.  i mean we were mere minutes from the border. can you imagine what a shock THAT would have been?????????  i swear if suzanne had her passport we would have just drove to our buddy Catherine’s and stayed there!

we find a place to pull off and re-route ourselves – arrival time 5:40 in the freakin morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  we had been on the road since 9pm.  i decide to get some sleep – suzanne knows i can’t stay up and it is almost 1am.  so i sleep a few hours and i wake up to suzanne saying @&#%^*%@$&$!#&%@^#^%@$&^%#**!@%$* so i sit up and say what what.  we had finally made it to the turnpike to head home and it was CLOSED DOWN because of falling rocks.  it said DETOUR.  we got off and never saw another sign again.  so we were back to driving through blacker than black cornfields – dear lord i had no idea there was so much corn out there.  rural farming america is alive and well and we drove through ALOT of it!  we turn down this even smaller blacker road and i am looking down at my phone trying to be sure her GPS knows where it is going when we run over something.  not a little something a BIG something!  suzanne screamed right before we hit it and i grab the handle on the roof and i said holy crap did you run over a PERSON?!?!??!?!?  but it was a giant racoon!  they were EVERYWHERE.  we look at the GPS and it says we’re in africa and i am thinking at this point we probably could be 😛  we drive for hours and have no real idea exactly where we are and then suddenly we see a sign for Hagerstown MD.  not far from my house.  we were SO happy!  i think there was a portion of time where we really weren’t 100% sure we were going to FIND home!  so suzanne drops me off and i say gee THANKS for the invite – don’t do it again!  which of course she knows full well if i can ever get away again to go with her i will in a heartbeat cuz i love her!  it is 5:45am, hollyn is already up of course.  kevin lets me sleep for 2 hours and then i have to get back up and take her to the open house at the fire station, in the rain, with sirens, oh yay.  we spend about 2 1/2 hours there and then back home where i got to take another short nap.  even after sleeping all night i am WIPED OUT!

while on the road on the way there and all during class i got to work on some Kanzashi Flowers with the Clover templates i reviewed for Craft Critique – so fun and super easy!  i have been using their YOYO makers for quite some time now.  i don’t think i ever posted the stuff i made for that.

Barrettes for Pezza done with leftover fabric from some dresses i made her.

Wreath for my MIL made with leftover fabric from a tabletopper i made her last year.

if you want to read the full review and instructions then head on over to Craft Critique!

that’s it from me folks – road weary does not even BEGIN to describe it!

hugs

 

scacd vault is open again!

hi all!

i am SO excited today – i am headed out of town with my buddy Suzanne Dean for a quick trip to Ohio where she is teaching a couple Copic classes.  i wish wish wish i could make it on more trips with her!  and best of all i get to see my pal Ann Shuman too YAY!  ann is my longest term blog reader and most prevalent commenter which i love!  the trip will be super quick but i know it will be fun and i could use a little mini getaway!

Today Susana is releasing some Holiday Peekers from the vault at SCACD and i get to present one for y’all:

and yes – martha stewart got ahold of those bird houses before they were put on the wreath and glittered them right up as only martha can!  the chipboard pieces are also available at SCACD and are painted with Perfect Pearls and water – mixes up quick and easy for a great shimmering paint.  i made sure to sand the edges lightly with a nail file before inking the edges because the ink does not stick well to the paint.

she is colored with colored pencils and i used spica glitter pens for the birdhouses and some sparkly fluff for the edge of her coat and tops of her boots.

These Christmas Peekers are available in the store NOW.  if you live outside of the US (overseas) you can get them from Elaine at Quixotic Paperie.

this will be my last post as a member of the SCACD DT.  I have been on the team for nearly two years and great friends with susana for even longer but i needed to make some changes for myself and one of them was lightening my workload and my deadlines.  of course i will continue using items from her store and we’ll always be friends!

hugs

 

another peek in the studio…

hi all!

anyone else out there deathly afraid of spiders like me???  i have had to face TWO gigantic spiders – one last night and one this morning in the basement.  *screech*  Y’ALL!!!  i swear they could carry off babies.  and of coursse both times hubby was unavailable to save me.  before i was married it was trevor who always saved me (even when he was as small as 3!!!)  spiders creep me out – like skin crawling, can’t walk on the floor, hyperventilating to the point of light-headedness freak me out!  it does NOT matter if they can’t bite – it’s the legs.  too freakin many legs.  now let’s be fair i don’t really love ANY bugs except maybe ladybugs or roly polys but spiders are the WORST.  the only thing down there to kill them with was a tall laundry basket which is not exactly the best anti-spider weapon.  last night i was hopping around pounding the basket on the floor shreiking while the spider was scurrying with those d*** legs and i swear i thought i was going to die but i finally whacked him and he curled up and quit moving.  so i made hubby go down and take care of him.  but then this morning OMG.  this spider’s body was about the size of a freakin nickel ACK!!!!!!!!!  so i get the laundry basket and start pounding away and every time i would hit him and he would curl up – HE WOULD GET BACK UP AND START SCURRYING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well that was beyond creepy.  i would whack him and he would get back up and run after a minute or two.  i finally got him enough so he quit moving but then i had to get rid of him cuz hubby was already gone.  i seriously thought i was going to pass out.  but I DID IT!  i was screeching all the way to the toilet but i did it!  of course now i am completely creeped out and informed hubby an exterminator was absolutely needed.  i CANNOT deal with spiders that big.  little ones i have managed to learn to deal with but big ones NO WAY DUDE.

SO what was i up to down in the studio this morning before the spider fiasco?  i have a little peek for ya:

(yea that’s the pool table…i promise to clean it back up before you get home honey!)  i did a bit of glittering  YAY!!!!  in the background you can see my can of aleene’s spray adhesive – i love this stuff – it’s great for both a full coverage glitter job as well as a light dusting like the grapevine tree and the fall floral picks. i have also been working on the other items i showed you but none are completely finished yet.  i have been kinda of deciding how i wanted to do them as i go so i keep realizing i don’t have something i need 😛  pezza and i will be doing some more glittering later 🙂  LOVE me some Martha Stewart and Art Institute glitters!!!

now i am off to best buy to bring back the new video camera hubby had to get me – the cords are missing 😛  bummer!

hugs

lots going on today!

hi all!

just a super quick post before i head off to take pezza to school and go see my doc.  i am going to see if she can help me with the excruciating headaches i have and maybe even something to help me sleep.  i am can’t fall asleep, stay asleep OR sleep much past 3:30!

the cheering you may have heard was my hubby – i FINALLY cleaned all of my sewing crap off of his pool table.  i swear i just can’t help myself – it is SUCH a perfect place to spread out and work! and pile stuff up on… i also cleaned out mine and pezza’s closets and dressers – 15 bags to the hospice in town.  i had a closet full of clothes i will SURELY never wear again – no matter how much weight i lose it will NOT undo the damage pezza did on my hips!

i did get some playtime in this morning so i thought i’d show y’all what’s going on down in the studio:

this is the trim for the craft room roombox all nice and glossy white.

yep that is a copper pumpkin box – at least it is now!

can you guess what’s going to happen next here?

and THIS will be something you won’t wanna miss on friday – is that HOLLY i see peeking out?????

why oh why do i have so freakin’ many projects going at once?  i don’t know – it’s just how i roll.  the ideas come way faster than i can get them all done.  do you do that?  am i the only one with far too many crafty interests?  let me know!  i am curious!

ok we’re outta here!

TTCRD submission call!

hi all!

happy monday!  i know – an oxymoron right?  did you do anything fun this weekend?  we took our trailer and headed to williamsburg.  for those of you not from this area williamsburg was the capital of virginia back in the 1700s. around the 1930s a huge restoration project backed my millions of dollars from john d rockefeller jr was begun to restore the colonial town center the way it was in the 1700s.  some of the buildings are original but most are rebuilt replicas of the originals.  the colonial town is filled with workers dressed in period costume demonstrating the trades people worked at during the 1700s.  i find all of this fascinating as i am absolutely obssessed with old architecture and ways of life.

visiting williamsburg is interesting for me because it is so very different from what i am used to.  i grew up in south louisiana where the french and especially the spanish influence resulted in plantations and buildings steeped in flamboyance and decorative features.  i find the architecture here in the north to be much more utilitarian and sparse.  i also find it frustrating that so much of the town is off limits to see – many of the buildings are private residences and even the ones that are open have only a few rooms on the lower level open for viewing.  the BIGGEST disappointment though was that the few places i REALLY wanted to tour and to show pezza were closed on saturdays WHAT!?!??!  seems like saturday would be the heaviest visited……
here are a few pics for ya:

notice the the clean basic lines of the trim work and lack of any type of crown molding.  buildings in the south tend to have decorative trim and molding in the extreme!

again – very sparse, basic furnishings, no window coverings or rugs.

having hot chocolate during the coffeehouse tour – such a big girl – very well behaved all day.

even the outsides of the building are plain – no porches, balconies, ornate ironwork 🙂

trying to learn an old-time game…

our one day pass is good for the rest of the year so i am hoping to go back and see the xmas decor and possibly see the buildings we missed this time around.

before i sign off –

i wanted to post a reminder about our submission calls for Through the Craft Room Door.  we are currently looking for craft content for our holiday issue – due October 10th.  while we focus on papercrafts we are looking for a wide variety of crafts projects and decorating ideas in ALL crafting genres.  in addition, we would like to see submissions for our nov-dec issue as well.  please click on the graphic above to go to the submissions page OR CLICK HERE to submit.

In addition we have the regular features we would like to receive submissions for as well:
1. Tips & Tricks
2. Questions
3. Storage/Organization Tips
4. Craft Room pics
HOLIDAY 2011 Issue —- DUE Oct 10th

• Thanksgiving
• Christmas/Hannakuh/Kwanzaa/etc.
• Hostess Gifts
• Handmade gifts

Nov/Dec —-  DUE Oct 20th, 2011

• Winter Fun/Sports
• Mad about sparkle & ice

here’s a peek at one of the projects in our current issue:

and now i am off to get my day going!

hugs