...all the GOOD blog names were taken...

the reason we finally got roller shades:

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

because this sort of thing just kept happening and eventually lovely husband jeff got tired of rushing home to cut me free!

i hope your day is going a bit more smoothly than this kitteh's... or her human's for that matter! :) remember, if you do go bungee jumping, be sure to take a spotter, or at least a camera!

happy tuesday darlings!

♥♥♥

go wild on your birthday!

2012-01-29T00:03:00.000-05:00

one of the things i tried to do with my pixie kits last year is prove how very flexible they actually are by making a cool "guy card" each month. i think that's a goal well worth continuing in the new year--plus it just so happens i know a lot of fellas who were born in january, lol--thus here is my entry for the LOVE NOTES kit:

the monsta image-- which i've paper-pieced using prints from the kit-- is from a (sadly out of print) set of digi-stamps by jesse edwards called "monstrous". there are more photos on the pixie blog, and details about all the cool stuff in the kit, like the awesome pink paislee wooden alphabet, and the fabulous crate paper "random" chipboard elements i've used, to name just two. GO WILD... and check it out! ♥

JB12-03: a banner holiday!

2012-01-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

this week's ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ prompt is called "a banner holiday" and the assignment is to create a holiday card using our new (for 2012) blog header as your inspiration. just in case you've not seen it yet, it looks a bit-- ok, it looks exactly-- like this:

i put it together at the end of december and oddly enough for me, nearly all of the digital products i used came from the same kit: retro holiday art play palette by one of my all-time favorite designers, anna aspnes. at risk of sounding a bit (ok, a LOT!) braggy, i really love that thing, lol... but it was actually stef's idea to base a prompt around it, i swear! :) :) :)

you can use any aspect of the header that appeals to you: the colors, the vintage-inspired style, the grungy/painty/inky aspect, the snowflakes, the bells, the glitter... use whatever bits you like and discard the ones you don't! feel free to be as literal or as abstract as you'd like, anything goes as long as it's creative and newly made!

here's the first of my two cards, i will show you the other one next week. i'm proud to say that this is the first week i have completely ♥LOVED♥ both of my cards equally, in fact i had a hard time choosing which to show first, which is kind of a good (if obnoxious, sorry!!!) problem to have, right?! :)

(vintage: sheet music; patterned paper: imaginisce, plus scraps of basic grey and k and co packaging; cardstock: staples; snowflake stickers, pearls and bling sentiment: recollections; cardstock stickers: fancy pants; adhesive fabric border: studio calico; glitter chipboard flourish: k and co; jingle belle die: memory box (thanks lorraine!!!) misc: acrylic craft paint, white gesso, snowflake punches and sequin scrim used as stencils; adhesives: tombow monorunner, uhu gluestick, gluedots, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

so obviously *my* inspirations were: the palette, the mix of elegance and grunge, the snowflakes, the bells, and a bit of the retro-inspired goodness. i've also thrown in a bit of red glitter chipboard... but then... admit it, you'd be SHOCKED i hadn't, right?! do stop by ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ to see miss stephanie's gorgeous card and link up your card by wednesday, february 8th!

(non-crafty) things i've been doing...

2012-01-26T05:30:00.000-05:00

celebrating the year of the dragon especially heartily, since i happen to have been born in 1964!

reading thirty three teeth by colin cotterill, a sequel to his brilliant first mystery set in 1970's laos, which i highly recommend; though it's absolutely vital to have read the coroner's lunch first, or you will be completely lost in this story!

paying, very happily indeed, the sum of $78 to my local subaru dealer in exchange for the information that the sudden weird-n-scary burning smell coming from my car was merely a piece of plastic that had somehow got stuck to --and melted on-- my muffler.

no, i didn't make this, i found it on a fun blog called geeky girls love sci-fi!

watching daniel craig: adorable, tanned and totally sexy in chaps. what? that wasn't the name of the film? really?? funny, 'cause that's what i remember about it!!! :)

listening to blonde, joyce carol oates' novel about marilyn monroe, and enjoying it much more than anticipated thanks to the killer combination of oates' lyrical prose and reader jayne atkinson's astonishing performance.

not as tasty as daniel craig, but quite pleasant at lunch time!

opining that lean cuisine thai peanut noodles are infinitely tastier than similar weight watchers ones, or even (rather puzzlingly) than lc's own chicken in peanut sauce, for that matter!

dreading the end of adrian praetzellis' totally enchanting performance of kenneth grahame's the wind in the willows (librivox, version 3) which i've been listening to at bedtime via the free audiobooks app for iphone. how will i ever fall asleep again without the adventures of ratty, mole, and the amazing mister toad??!?!

happy birthday girl frame

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

i know everyone thinks the special kids in their life are the cutest in the world, but SOMEBODY has to be right, and i'm pretty sure it's me! need some evidence? ok, here ya go, empirically... how cute is this face??!?!?

yepper, it's miss isabel, daughter of my best friend, trish. which doesn't make me biased, necessarily! if anything, it proves i have great taste, and thus my opinion is all the more to be trusted! :) :) :)

i should probably mention that this is an older--and favorite--photo. the young lady in question will be turning three (3!!!) in a couple of months, at which time i shall bestow this frame and hopefully acquire a photo taken on THAT birthday to show how grown up she is now! i should also mention that every single bit of paper-crafty goodness used to make this project came from the pixie dust paperie LOVE NOTES kit, and that you can find additional photos and information on the pixie blog--check it out!

SOS35: winter blues

2012-01-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

wahey, i've done every shopping our stash challenge in january!!! unfortunately this is probably a fluke, and i expect to be back to my "intermittent" schedule in february and march, but i'm loving it while it lasts! so what's this week's assignment? let's ask miss carla:

Winter Blues

Shop your stash and pull out items that are blue.

(You can have other colors, just be sure to use any shade of BLUE as the primary focus.)

i decided to use *EVERY* shade of blue as my primary focus!

(patterned paper: sei, ki, creative imaginations, bo bunny, dcwv; tag: basic grey; letters: american crafts; bling: heidi swapp; stamps: glitz, ranger, hero arts, studio calico; inks: ranger, stewart superior, colorbox, copic; label: dymo; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, glue dots, sewing machine, staples)

i've gone super stashy here, which is sort of the point, really, eh?! only the black cardstock base was freshly cut, all else was from the blue scrap file (i keep all my papers-- except my pixie kits-- by color); the stars and "comet trail" were even pre-cut; the tag is absolutely ancient BG; ok, come to think, the letters are newish white vinyl thickers, but i used some neglected stamps, inks and even a couple of blue copics to re-color and somewhat "grungify" (yes, that is too a word!) them, so i call that stash usage, as well!

one of the most helpful ingredients that's not on the list above is the current deconstructed sketch--#35, which is open ended (so you can link up anytime!) as well as rather fab:

something sad that i only discovered belatedly last week is that sketchy thursdays has posted their very last sketch! of course i can completely understand how demanding it was, running that very popular blog for two and a half years--even though those gals made it look EASY, i realize it was a ton of work!!! i'm pleased they'll be keeping their facebook page active, and that there's an archive of the sketches on flickr and of course i wish diana, heidi, julie, and the whole entire wonderful, amazing, friendly crew all the best in their future endeavors; i'm definitely looking forward to seeing what's next for those talented lovelies. but on a personal note, i just have to say, with a tear in my eye,

♥ "ladies, you shall be missed!!!" ♥

on the other hand, do consider yourself invited to drop by shopping our stash at any time, but if you're feeling those winter blues, this week should be especially fun!!!

"sparkle" gift box

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

fancy little gift boxes-- i ♥ 'em! i don't especially heart the price of the ones in the shops, however. especially when i know i can grab a plain papier mache star at michaels for a dollar, and use a bunch of fabulous pixie stuff--like, perhaps, january's fabulous LOVE NOTES kit--and do this...

...and then ALSO make half a dozen addition projects AND STILL have leftovers! plus, i just happen to love *making* fancy little gift boxes, ok? :) you can see more photos of this one, and read a little bit about the process, on the pixie blog. enjoy, darlings!

JB12-02: take two

2012-01-20T00:05:00.000-05:00

one of the things i'm especially loving at JINGLE BELLES this year is the opportunity to have TWO GO's at each prompt! because whilst i am constitutionally unable to mass-produce, i nearly always have several ideas for any theme, and sometimes it's hard to choose. so here again is miss kirsty's sketch, just to remind you of its fabulousnesss (fabulosity?):

and now here's my second card:

(vintage "cozy corner" story book scanned, reduced to 50%, and printed on photo paper; patterned paper & alphas: reminisce; other stickers: echo park, karen foster, october afternoon; chipboard: fancy pants; red cardstock: dcwv; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

the inspiration for this one--apart from the gorgeous sketch and a few new papers i scooped in the post-holiday sales-- was one of my favorite christmas presents, a drool-worthy vintage copy of the night before christmas that my girl gina gave me which i absolutely adore:

before you even ask: NO, OF COURSE I WILL NEVER EVER ALTER OR HARM THIS BOOK!!! yes, i do use genuine vintage things in my work, and in my ephemera packs; and yes, i think in the right circumstances it's absolutely fine to do so (which basically, for me, involve the books being in a condition already past the point where people would be able or want to read--much less collect--them!) a subject i've discussed both recently and historically. that doesn't mean i just indiscriminately destroy beautiful old books, especially ones in lovely condition! this is a treasure, and an instant favorite out of all my copies*, and the fact that gina remembered i collect these is yet another reason on the very long list of why i adore her! thank you, missus! ♥♥♥

ok, so being PRECIOUS, i needed to scan it; and being that the original book is also about 9x9" i also reduced the size considerably before printing it out on photo paper; i could have--and in future probably will--use a matte finish, but the book does have a faint (if slightly aged) glossiness to it, and also i just think the fidelity of color images is better on photo paper; plus a variety of surfaces add interest to a card, in my opinion. when it was printed, i used it just like any other element... with the sketch to guide my placement... and card #4 for 2012 is in the bag--wahey!

once again i remind you there is still almost a whole week left in which to make and link up a version of kirsty's sketch and get a shot at that fabulous prize! c'mon over and GET YER JINGLE ON today!!!

*yes, i totally meant to take a photo of the different copies i have before we put the xmas stuff away, and NO, i didn't remember to do so. i will do it in december, i promise!!! :)

multi-tasking giftcard holder

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-05:00

i am not a person who can easily approach a WHOLE BUNCH of challenges with one project, but every once in a while i'm able to find two or three i think will mesh pretty well, and it's always a bit extra fun to combine them.

this time i've had a go at city crafter's "pretty inside and out" (week #92)... for which we're asked to create a card on which the decoration is not merely exterior; as it happens, that's something i don't do nearly enough, so of course i was inspired!

as i was thinking up what exactly to do, i happened to see this fabulous palette for EAD designs' current color challenge (#20) on my pal amy's blog (she's actually the hostess for this!) and at stef's AND also miss gina's; needless to say, they all made amazing cards!

in the meantime, i realized i needed a giftcard holder... like... YESTERDAY! once again, the amazing amy t. was came to my rescue, with this great idea and mini tutorial i found on her blog a while ago; it was super easy to follow, and i'm quite happy with the results.

so here is the outside:

and here is the (hopefully) equally lovely inside:

in retrospect, i wish i had only used the basic grey "sultry" paper on the inside, and something plain (or at least plainer) on the outside; i think the floral pattern's a bit much as a base... but there ya go... sometimes you have time for a "re-do" and sometimes not. at least i have the comfort of knowing for sure my friend jax will not receive TWO of these babies! :) :) :)

plus i've slipped a saladworks giftcard and some bling inside... and added a ghirardelli chocolate bar and super-fun cupcake-shaped lip gloss on the outside... so i think i can skate by. happy thursday, darlings! ♥

"j'adore" card

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

believe it or not, this ISN'T a valentine! nope, it's a sort of non-denominational, "thinking of you" card, and i am rather proud of it:

o'course, if you want to make some awesome valentines, this month's pixie kit, ♥LOVE NOTES♥ is what you need! you can read all about it on the pixie blog, and at the same time see other fab projects made with the same ingredients. if you are planning to make valentines--or anything with a heart on it--be sure to link up at this month's challenge, and check out the jaw-dropping loveliness created by our brand new, amazing, challenge DT! see you over there! ♥

SOS35: across the border

2012-01-17T06:30:00.000-05:00

here's a bold statement for ya: not only do i think shopping our stash is one of the cleverest concepts in challenge blogs EVER, it's also my opinion that miss carla is one of the very best challenge-thinker-uppers (yeah, that's a technical term!) working today! i am always excited to find out what the next theme is going to be, because i know it'll make me stop and think... and then come up something i would not have thought of on my own. so what are we doing this week? here's the brief:

Challenge 35 - Across the Border

Use any border punch

Create your own border out of what you have on hand.

i needed a "guy card" in a hurry, so of course i raided my scraps-n-leftovers box. i found some pre-cut borders... (and punched a few more) i found some biggish scraps... i even found the cloud paper cupcake top that i had apparently cut out but not used for a previous card. then i remembered a pack of space alien stickers with only a few left, so i used 'em up! and here's my card. i cannot say it is the best thing i've ever made, but it's cute and fun and certainly brightly colored, eh?! mission accomplished!

(border punches: ek success (notebook and large scallop) and recollections; cardstock base: ki memories; patterned paper--all scraps--sassafras, prima, making memories, dcwv, sei, mme, origami paper; stickers: memories complete + sandylion; labels: dymo; ink: colorbox; pen: uniball signo; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, xyron)

why not pull out YOUR scrap box, grab a couple of punches, round up some leftover bits and bobs and see what awaits you... ACROSS THE BORDER! then hop over to SOS this week to see the DT's creations as well as the amazing gallery of readers' cards! :)

now i want long hair, and a pet chameleon!

2012-01-16T05:30:00.000-05:00

because i watched "tangled" last night. unfortunately, niece madeline was not here to watch it with me, but i chose it on her recommendation, and i agree wholeheartedly with her enthusiasm for the film.

if you're not really into the whole disney/musical genre, two other films lovely husband jeff and i have enjoyed recently are the entirely delightful (but definitely strongly R-rated) irish cop comedy/drama "the guard" starring the incomparable brendan gleason; and the slow-to-get-going, but ultimately quite involving british indie/horror/sci-fi/comedy flick "attack the block". we've also been watching quite a bit of both the old and new versions of "hawaii five-0"... but mostly for the scenery! :) :) :)

"100 hearts" valentines minibook

2012-01-14T00:01:00.018-05:00

i know i've said this before but it's totally TRUE: there are lots and lots of reallllly cool things you can do besides make valentines using january's pixie dust paperie LOVE NOTES kit, but if you want, or need, make some love-themed projects, boy oh boy is this ever the right set of stuff for you to be getting on with! here's a minibook i've created, using those luscious items:

there are lots more photos and plenty of product details on the pixie blog today, i'd love for you to check it out!!!

as many of you know, i'm pretty partial to valentinian papercrafts, myself, since my niece riley elizabeth happens to have been born on february 14th! what you may not realize--and i find it pretty hard to believe, actually--is that she will be TEN YEARS OLD exactly one month from today!!!!! how is that even possible??! i swear it has only been TEN MINUTES since LHJ and i were at the hospital, excited to be the aunt and uncle of this little widget:

and now here she is--with little sis lindsay marie on christmas day--in her capacity as an international hat model:

so of course the only thing i wonder now is, HOW DID AN ENTIRE DECADE FLY BY SO QUICKLY??!?!?!??! don't worry, it's a rhetorical question, i realize everyone with children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews feels exactly the same way. and there is no point in even TRYING to get used to ANY change, because by the time we do, the kidlets in question have grown again, and are on to the next phase, leaving us even more perplexed. best to just sit back and enjoy the ride!

love you, miss riley!

i hope your next ten years will be as wonderful, fun, giggly, happy and healthy as these have been.

just maybe... could they possibly go by a liiiiiiittttttttle slower?

please??!?!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

JB12-02: sketching through the snow!

2012-01-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

helllllllo and happy friday the 13th! of course, to me, friday means ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ so they all feel pretty lucky... but this week we are fortunate indeed to have another very lovely guest star, who's also a very good friend AND our first official sponsor of the year, so that makes this friday especially cool in my book.

can you possibly guess who it is? will it help if i mention she's drawn us a rather gorgeous sketch and is offering a gift certificate to her rather fabulous online papercrafting shop to one lucky cardmaker who links up with us this time? howsabout if i show you the sketch in question:

yepper, it's my very dear pixie-in-chief, ms. kirsty vittetoe, come to help us kick off the year in style and i could not be happier!!! if you have a minute, do pop over to JINGLE BELLES and say hi to her, and to stef, and see their magnificent cards, ok? it's worth the trip, i promise! plus you can read the details of the *prize* and hear about a special pixie offer, just for jingle belles!!! ♥

i cannot wait to show you my card. i should say right now, i actually made two, and i like both of them, but i'll post the other one next week and then you can decide! :)

(patterned paper: tim holtz, sei, frances meyer, echo park; florals: irene's garden, imaginisce; vintage inspired card & wordstrip: october afternoon; stickers: fancy pants, mme, 7 gypsies; brads: oriental trading; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

well, heck, kirsty's sketch is--as always--fabulous and thus most of the work was already done for me; but still, i like this combination of red and kraft, old and new, xmas stash and regular... it's all got a certain balance that appeals to me.

of course, the thing that MOST appeals to me right now is getting as many of my lovely card-makin' friends as possible to come and play along with us at JINGLE BELLES! i'm sorry if i'm starting to sound like a bad televangelist on this subject, but i cannot possibly convey to you how much more *awesome* december 2011 was, compared to the last 5 or 6 previous, and it's because my holiday cards were already finished. believe me, i know ALL the arguments against embarking on a project like this: i wasn't sure i'd have time... but the fact that it was permanently on my schedule each week made all the difference! i wasn't sure if thinking about christmas all year wouldn't sort of "dilute the magic"... but if anything, it MULTIPLIED it! i wasn't sure i could sustain my inspiration for 11 months... but it turned out that for me, the "inspiration-killer" was having to make 50 similar cards in a short period of time; whereas making one per week, to a different theme, was completely revitalizing.

ok, ok,so i will stop (for now, lol) trying to convince you... but at the very least do pop over to JINGLE BELLES and soak up a little inspiration. who knows, you might decide you'd like to give it a try! ♥♥♥

everything i love about challenges...

2012-01-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

...is summed up in this one card!

but before i show it to you, let me tell you about the challenges which inspired it. first there's city crafter challenge blog, week #91: back to black. ok, you KNOW i love CCCB generally, they have awesome themes every week, one of the best DT's online (which includes my lovely friends kirsty and ros!) and the guest designer this week just happens to be my very oldest and dearest blogging friend, the simply elegant (and simply wonderful!) june houck. so obviously you know i was always gonna show up for this one, but it just so happens the challenge this week was REALLY challenging, and i mean that in a very verrrrry good way: we have to include a silhoutte image in our project and it has to be *BLACK*... hence the name. i really had to think about what i would do, though frankly, i didn't think for that long, because once i had seen the first of june's two gorgeous cards i knew i needed to black emboss something!

then there's the other inspiration, which is deconstructed sketch #33. i saw it on leslie's blog, along with her awesome card, and i knew i had to get in on it; which is why i'm putting in a second post today instead of waiting, i'm squeeeeeeeeeaking in just under the deadline!

ok, so NOW, finally, here is my card:

(vintage: sheet music, re-sized and printed on creamy index stock; patterned paper: glitz, authentique (thank you, stef!); flowers and text stamp: prima; bling: recollections; bird stamp: inkadinkadoo; clip: making memories; chipboard: fancy pants; ribbon: may arts (thank you, linda!); mistable ruffle trim: pink paislee (thank you, mari!) inks: ranger, colorbox; embossing powder: psx; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape and doublestick tape, sewing machine)

the reason i say this sums up everything i love about challenges is: there is NO WAY i would've made this card on my own! for one thing, i would NOT have thought of using a silhoutte image--especially a black one; and if i had wanted to, i'd have been stumped thinking, "oh i don't have any"... because it took june's card to make me realize ANY solid stamp will work for this! then even if i had gotten that far by myself, i wouldn't have reached for ruffles and chipboard and put the two flowers up top if i wasn't following the sketch. so basically NO ELEMENT of this card would have existed in the way it does now, and i'd've been a sadder and lesser crafter!

thank you, challenge devisers and hostesses, everywhere! you're performing a wonderful service, and i, for one, really appreciate it!!! ♥♥♥

january pixie challenge: ♥LOVE NOTES♥

2012-01-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

you probably know that my dear pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe holds a little challenge every month on the pixie blog. she sets a theme, invites papercrafters to create any sort of project they'd like, and awards a prize! it's always fun and inspiring, and thus i recommend checking it out! this month, there's an even better than usual reason to do so, in that the last few days have featured the creations of our brand new challenge design team... and those are VERY MUCH worth seeing, i assure you!!!

not to be outdone, of course i had to have a little go at the valentined themed ♥LOVE NOTES♥ challenge. you can probably guess the brief, can't you? make any type of project you like, but it has to either contain the word "valentine" OR have the image of a heart on it somewhere. having made some pretty cool valentine stuff using this month's LOVE NOTES KIT, i decided to go with the heart.

you'll notice that apart from the blue graph paper heart (actually an off-cut from another of this month's projects!) i didn't use much of the LOVE NOTES kit in my card. not because i didn't have enough supplies left, i assure you... (pixie kits are GENEROUS, i have never, EVER used one up, despite the fact that i generally create half-a-dozen projects each month!!!) ...but mostly because for christmas, the lovely miss kirsty verrrrrrry kindly gave me the only pixie kit i've missed out on--november's PINK ROSE COTTAGE and i am IN LOVE with pink paislee woodgrain paper. (in love!!!) everything else is a leftover from one or other of the pixie kits: sass diecut flowers from SUMMER OF LOVE; american crafts key from MY FUNKY VALENTINE, etc; the only thing that came from my "civilian" stash was the sentiment made up of the yellow stickers, which is from a glitz designs sticker sheet.

have *YOU* made any valentines yet? if not, this would be an excellent time! or for any other love-themed projec-- just think HEARTS and/or "valentine" and link up before the end of the month on the pixie blog!!! ♥♥♥

SOS34-all that glitters...

2012-01-10T06:51:00.000-05:00

wahey, it's tuesday, and time for another fabulous challenge at shopping our stash! let's get right to it, k? here are miss carla's instructions:

Challenge 34

All that Glitters or Sparkles or Shines

use anything sparkly, blingy, shiny or glittery

and/or

use an image by our lovely sponsor Dilly Beans

and here is my project, it's a 2012 weekly planner i made from scratch using a calendar template in broderbund's printshop and my lovely new* bind-it-all:

i know what you're thinking. you're thinking, "hey, lauren! for someone who generally 'drives the bus to bling-town' this is not allllllllllll that sparkly!!!" and let me just assure you no one is more surprised than i am about this! :) but there *IS* a bit of a bling flourish & the numerals have been liberally brushed with distress stickles, a fact that was not captured in ANY of the 9,000,000 photos i took. sorry.

sooooooooooooo maybe i should've made something else that really rocked the bling casbah and saved this for another day?? nuh-uh. because what this baby lacks in bling it makes up in MEGA-LEVELS of stash-usage: every page is (mostly quite elderly) scrapbook paper printed with a week's worth of dates on one side and xyroned onto vintage paper for the other side.

the bits that make up the cover collage are offcuts (vintage dictionary & hindi newspaper), leftovers (die-cut prima paper, part of a bling flourish, crate paper butterfly leftover from this month's pixie kit) or real-life ephemera (ticket, tag, fortune from a cookie). the only NEW things in this whole project were the BIA wire and the base of the chipboard covers; and admittedly, the latter easily could've been made with a recycled bit of card.

here are a few of my favorite pages, actually ALL the pages are my favorites, but there are 60 of them so i'll spare you, lol. the set-up is the same for each: dates on one side; the other holding vintage goodness which can be art-journaled upon, collaged-up, or left as is, throughout the year:

as you know i have A LOT of book-sale aquired, falling-apart vintage books** and paper, it's the core of what's in my etsy shop in the form of ephemera packs, eclectic decks, etc. this year i think i might just add a few little hand-made books and journals, since they are SO MUCH fun to make.

being a paperholic, of course i have loads of 12x12" scrapbook paper too. for this book mostly used cardstock-weight to make thick, heavy, STRONG pages, but since i knew they'd all be backed with a second layer of paper, some thinner things (like these hilarious elephants) snuck in.

the big eye is from a (not particularly old) magazine, i just happened to like it. the finished planner measures 8.5 x 6.75" and is about an inch thick. which, as it turns out, is the top-end of how much you can stuff into a 1.25" set of BIA wires and have the pages turn all right. phew. :)

this one might be my favorite: since a lot of the books i rescue are distressed and discarded library copies, they have the remnants of that usage, including end papers with pre-made pockets in them. am i the only one filled with delight at this thought??!***

sorry to go on and on, but as you'll have noticed, i am inordinately proud of this and i am SO EXCITED that i get to keep it and use it all year! but of course the most important thing to tell ya is that the current SOS challenge: ALL THAT GLITTERS will run all week long and you should c'mon over and PLAY!!! ♥♥♥

*LHJ and i don't really "do" holiday or birthday presents to each other. however, if one of us knows the other really quite wants something in particular, like, say... oh, i dunno... a bind-it-all... they might well decide to perform seriously heroic levels of enablage using a major holiday as the excuse. i'm not saying that's what happened here, but on the other hand if you are ever considering a bit of an indulgent purchase and you'd like a guy to make you feel ok about it, lovely husband jeff is THE MAN!!! :)

**i realize that fellow bibliophiles who've only just met me are probably appalled right now. let me just say that NO HEALTHY BOOKS were harmed in the making of this journal, or in fact in the making of ANY of my projects or ephemera packs. i use 100% book-sale finds whose fate, should they not be purchased, is otherwise the pulper or the dumpster. for the most part, these volumes also have serious flaws--like a bunch of missing or torn pages, extensive markings, moldy covers, and so forth. even so, i make sure they're not valuable, and if they are i sell or donate them, instead. believe me when i say that as an avid reader and book collector myself, i've thought about this subject long and hard, and even written about it, in a post that could be called "DEAD BOOKS WALKING"; in fact libraries discard, sell-off and recycle millions of books a year! i take some of them and make them into art... or at least, into useful, pretty things. :)

***ok, maybe i am. ah well. :) :) :)

one more "wrap star" moment...

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

...just because this one actually does involve proper papercrafting! these are the gift card holders i made, using this great template by kristina werner, for our eldest niece and nephew's i-tunes gift cards:

(patterned paper: echo park; stickers: american crafts, recollections, paperchase; ribbon: michaels; red glossy cardstock: jam paper; ink: colorbox; eyelets (inside, unseen): oriental trading co; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, xyron)

i stuck to the instructions pretty much straight down the line. one exception being that i adhered a piece of coordinating patterned paper to the back of the holder AND to the reverse of the red cardstock for a little more interest inside the holder. also, instead of securing inner pocket (which, again, is INSIDE--sorry i should have a pic of that!) with brads, i used small eyelets; partially because i thought they'd be stronger, but mostly so i would not have the ugly metal "legs" of the brads sticking out on the back of the holder.

yes. i am that "detail-oriented" (feel free to use a different expression for that... but not to my face, ok?!) :)

i used small lumps of blu-tack to secure the g/c holders to the back of these little (store-bought) candy boxes which i trimmed up with the kids' initials, a little wired holly trim, and some more of those cute ornaments from hilo hattie! mele kalikimaka, darlings!!! ♥

oof! forgot to show these!

2012-01-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

not that anyone really *needs* to see how i dressed up my christmas gifts... especially in JANUARY... but i looooooooooooooove wrapping and it's just not something you can discuss in depth with "civilians" lol. so bear with me. who knows, maybe you'll get an idea for next year?

i posted the digi-collages i made for the kids' gift bags earlier, but here they are actually ON the bags:

you can see i didn't do much beyond adding their names in thickers, (with a line of stitching on the chipboard ones for extra security) a wired ribbon bow, and some coordinating tissue paper.

one of the little "extra" gifts i picked up in hawaii were these pretty (plastic) plumeria hair clips for the girls; they made the perfect finishing touch!

in the laurniverse, the BEST projects almost always have the WORST photos! this oversized (approx 13x36") gift for nephew matthew was probably my favorite. i used the same mindy terasawa digi stickers as on the gift bag (just A LOT bigger) and some seriously elderly basic grey monogram letters. the green "grass" panel and the dinos are both heavyweight cardstock and attached using only a couple of squares of foam tape b/c i *KNEW* matthew would want to hang them on the door to his room... which he did! :) :) :)

this year, many of my gifts had a hawaiian theme, which i enjoyed hinting at on the outside of the gifts as well. i bought A LOT of these adorable xmas ornaments at hilo hattie, and they were a big hit.

my fallback "guy gift" is candy and money in a cute container. i scored some fun "chinese takeaway" containers (& the best dark-chocolate-covered pretzel balls in the world!!!) at our local "bulk" candy store; the fun luggage tags were like $1 at long's drugs in honolulu!

what do you do with a gift that's too big for a box but too oddly shaped to wrap in the traditional way? for this one (the holiday recipe box i made using my CHRISTMAS IN PARIS pixie kit) i just grabbed nice wiiiiiiide gift wrap and made a "bundle"!

here's the exact same set of products: gold wrap, green glittery wired ribbon and part of a stem of orchids, all of which came from michaels. when i have a bunch of little gifts for the same person, i like to make a "tower" just so i will remember to bestow them all... plus it LOOKS a lot cooler than five tiny boxes. by the way, the best use ever for leftover alphabet stickers is to put the initials of your recipients RIGHT ON the package. unfamiliar with the range of styles made by various craft companies, civilians are completely baffled when, as in this case, there's a gold glitter monogram on their gift. g'head and tell them you did something REALLY difficult and clever... my lips are sealed!!! ;)

finally, given that i so often make giant and/or oddly shaped cards, people wonder what i do about envelopes. well, sometimes i just skip 'em entirely. oddly enough, no one seems to mind!

thus concludes our giant bumper holiday edition of "giftwrapalooza"! do feel free to bookmark this page in case you suffer from insomnia in future!!! :) ciao, darlings! ♥

JB12-01... card two! :)

2012-01-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

as i mentioned last week, we've decided this year to post new prompts at JINGLE BELLES every other friday. which means that there will be a total of 24 different themes this year, rather than the 48 we amassed last year by posting each week. we hope that having a longer time in which to link up will encourage more folks to join us and play along-- because the gift of a non-frantic december is one we think every paper crafter deserves! ♥

but what does it mean to those of us who actually need to hit the ground running at holiday time with 50+ cards?? well, clearly we need to be creating more than one card for each prompt! we can accomplish this by planning from the get-go to make two of each design we create; or by taking two totally different approaches to each theme. i suspect-- being, as i am, possessed of a short attention span-- that i will tend to mostly do the latter... but it's nice to have both options for times when life gets a bit hectic, right? remember that however you do it, this is still going to equal out to having made ONE UNIQUE CARD PER WEEK, just exactly like we did last year!

here's my second take on "NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT(S)". on this occasion i've used gift wrap (the holly leaf paper) as a background; AND fussy cut a bit of the same gift wrap (the holly accent) AND also popped in a chipboard image of some pretty parcels. oh yes, and do you see the AWESOME "jingle bells" diecut?! wouldja believe our lovely belle miss lorraine of paper vernissage sent me that for christmas along with one of her own gorgeous cards from last year? how cool is that??! thank you, missus, i love it--and i know i'll use it all year long!!! this time i've cut it from holographic silver paper backed with cardstock, and i think it looks festive as anything!

(holly leaf gift wrap & ribbon from an xmas present; patterned paper: sei, october afternoon; tags: american crafts & sei; bingo card: jenni bowlin; chipboard stickers: k&co; letter stickers & pins: making memories; "dec25" sticker: creative imaginations; epoxy sticker: around the block; bards: oriental trading co; die: memory box; ink: colorbox; adhesives: xyron, tombow monotrunner, 3m foam tape)

two cards for the first prompt of the year--mission accomplished! have you started your cards yet? if not, why not hop over to JINGLE BELLES and join us. because it's time to get crackin'... christmas is only 353 days away, you know!!! ;)

my furniture smells like a locker-room full of freshly showered 5th grade girls... circa 1974*...

2012-01-05T05:05:00.000-05:00

before we get rolling, i should mention that enjoyment of this post most likely depends on your being around my age, (late 40's) female and american. or at least... you need to remember "love's baby soft" perfume. which probably puts you into at least one of the categories i mentioned. if you can't (or, quite understandably, would prefer not to) recall that half powdery, half musky, utterly cloying scent without which no self-respecting, teen-magazine-reading, granny-square-vest-wearing ten year old would have considered herself well groomed in the mid 1970's, you should probably just chuckle at the lol directly below this paragraph and get on with your day. ciao, darlings! ♥

ok, so to those of you still here, who DO remember love's baby soft, i pose this question: do ALL febreze products smell like that? and if so, how in the world can they be soooooo flippin' popular??! here's why i ask: i recently purchased a packet of swiffer duster refills, failing to notice the small purple "febreze" logo on the front. the second i opened them, i knew i had not bought the correct product. the box says they are imbued with... and i quote... "lavender vanilla comfort". now, i *like* lavender. i have no quibble with vanilla, either. but these do not smell like either of those worthy scents. they smell like a david cassidy fan club reunion!!! don't get me wrong, i realize there are certainly FAR WORSE aromas in the world. for that matter, it's quite possible that absolutely everyone apart from me loves these things; in which case they are welcome to my share. i, for one, shall be scrutinizing duster-packets much more thoroughly in future. in the meantime, on the plus-side, it makes me want to dust my house a lot more often, just to get rid of them!!! :) :) :)

*one of my favorite things about my darling gina's blog is that she often uses just a random thought or observation as her blog post title. sometimes it will, in fact, lead into the topic of her post, but often there is no further reference to it whatever. i love that. not only does it completely draw me *IN*, but it solves--very creatively-- what is often my biggest challenge in blogging: thinking up a cool title. of course, this is only one of the many, many, reasons you should be reading tyggereye art love on a regular basis... i'm just sayin'... it's a perk! :)

whole lotta "LOVE NOTES"

2012-01-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

the january pixie dust paperie kit, ♥LOVE NOTES♥ is certainly not JUST for making valentines. on the other hand, if vaentines happen to be what you'd like to make... you absolutely cannot put a foot wrong using these gorgeous goodies! see?!

there are more detailed photos of these six fun mini-cards on the pixie blog today. with a few more details as to products and method. and lots more about the kit, too; which, as i mentioned is completely awesome!!! ♥♥♥

SOS33: challenge rewind!

2012-01-03T07:03:00.000-05:00

hello & welcome to the first shopping our stash challenge of 2012! i am especially excited because this one has a sort of "DIY" component to it, in that YOU get to choose your own theme! can't get much easier that that, eh? here is the exact wording, from the lovely miss carla:

Challenge 33: Challenge Rewind or Meljens Image

pick any SOS challenge from last year and do it again

feature an image by our fabulous sponsor Meljens

i went with Challenge 25- Stickers or Rubons or Chipboard because not only do i have plenty of all of those, i didn't get to play along with this one in november since we were in hawaii!

i was also pretty thrilled to be able to use the last sketchy thursday of the year as my "road map" since it is sooooooo very awesome:

being that this was the very last card i made in 2011, i'm rather pleased that it looks forward and backward at the same time:

(patterned paper: cosmo cricket, k&co + vintage ledger; "adventure" card & plane image: october afternoon vintage elements packet; stickers: k&co; chipboard cloud: sassafras; fabric tape: studio calico; rub-ons: 7 gypsies; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

i'm proud to say that my card has all three of the challenge elements, and is also composed entirely of stash that's at least couple of years old! believe it or not, only the ledger paper is a genuine vintage item; the postage stamps & mini postcard are stickers, every bit of black printing except "adventure" is a rub-on, and the cloud is sass chipboard!

by the way, that is a bona-fido, cookie-derived fortune which lovely husband jeff received in the (excellent) chinese takeaway we ordered last week! it says, "no one every grew old by living, only by losing interest in living" which, it has to be said, does violate one of my strongest precepts regarding fortune cookies: that they should either contain A PROPER FORTUNE... (something about which i wrote a post a very long time ago) ...or be called "aphorism cookies"; however, in this case i am willing to overlook the issue, since it turned out to be the perfect finishing touch for my brother-in-law's birthday card.

do c'mon over to SOS this week and join us! not only can i promise you'll be inspired by the fabulous DT cards, it'll be a big help if--like me-- one of your resolutions this year is to USE UP some of your stash in cool & creative ways!!! :)

first card of 2012!

2012-01-02T09:39:00.003-05:00

truthfully, i didn't think this was going to *BE* a card, i thought i was making a free-form collage. here's what happened: my darling stef sent me a link to this awesome blog, called green paper, on which ms. mary green hosts a collage challenge at the first of every month. she posts three vintage images, and participants must use at least a portion of each in their creations; but other than that, anything goes! this time, the images were a photo of that sweet--if quite serious looking--young lady; the stationer's label (tucked under, to the left on my card) and a little greeting with a poem and some pansies. i had almost everything together and it was just a collage, honest... until i spied that super-fun ippity "hey girlfriend" stamp which was sitting on my table with the rest of the delicious and inspiring goodies my very lovely--and UBER-talented--friend mari sent me for xmas (thanks, missus!!!) and then i just thought how cool and funny it would be with the rest of the collage and the next thing i know i was attaching the whole thing to folder cardstock and planning to whom i'd send it in january. :)

(vintage images: green paper; patterned paper: glitz, tim holtz; vintage-inspired stickers: k&co, tim holtz; tissue tape: tim holtz; stamp: ippity; inks: ranger, colorbox; print media: kodak ultra photo paper, staple cardstock, 3m inkjet transparency; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

my favorite thing about scanned/digital vintage images is that, in making "real life" compositions one can play with scale, and also, use a variety of materials on which to print, in order to get a lot of different looks from the same images. so i made my label about the same size as the original... but printed it on a transparency; i made the cabinet card a little bit smaller and printed on photo paper; and i made the pansies HUGE (& also tiny) and printed those on matte cardstock. then i did a bit of cutting, a bit of layering, and added in some stash... et voila!

but next time: i'm making A COLLAGE that isn't a card!!! just to make sure i STILL CAN!!!!! :) :) :)

Мы долго смеялись!

2012-01-01T00:12:00.000-05:00

no, you have not had a small stroke, and no, i have not become fluent in russian. recently one of my lovely blogging friends left that phrase as a comment for me on a "loldog" post, and using the awesome "google translate" app on my iphone i was able to instantly discover that it means "we laughed for a long time!" without even leaving my bed! :)

all of which-- plus the fact that we're starting another brand new year-- made me think, for about the gazillionth time, not only how happy i am to be living now, with all of this wonderful technology; (yes, i'm overly dependent on it; and yes, i whine as loudly as anyone when it's not working!) but also... i'm glad to be in what i cannot help but feel is the most privileged age group of all: those of us currently in our forties are young enough to feel pretty comfortable keeping up with the new stuff, but are simultaneously old enough to have experienced childhood and teenage years without it. because i'm just not sure it's humanly possible for anyone who did not grow up with five television channels, expensive "birthdays & holidays only" long-distance phone service (on a rotary dial telephone!), or having to *TYPE* their term papers, to be excited in the same way about cable, cellphones, and computers.

then, add to all that, the fact that it's possible to use this technology to meet people from all over the world who share our hobbies, interests, and sense of humor??!?! geez, we're LUCKY! and now, let's celebrate with a few computery lolcats, k?! :)

Мы долго смеялись
and
HAPPY NEW YEAR
darlings!

♥♥♥

JB12:01: no time like the present(s)!

2011-12-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

can you believe it's time to start making holiday cards again already? i mean, sheesh, it seems like christmas was only like... what?! A WEEK AGO or something, lol!!! :)

ok, yeah, when i see it in print, i have to admit that the whole JINGLE BELLES concept sounds a bit nuts! but if you jingled along with us last year, you'll know that we made just *one* stress-free card per week, using a different "creative prompt" each time; had an absolute BLAST hanging out with some of the coolest papercrafters in the world; and that on december 1, 2011, we had each completed FORTY-EIGHT unique, beautiful, ready-to-mail holiday cards, and were able to spend december goofing off, big time!!! believe me when i tell you this is by far the best holiday gift i've ever given myself, and thus, this year, i am even MORE EXCITED to get the ball rolling again!

ok, so what are we starting out with? have you guessed, from the name of my post-- NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT(S)?! we're asking you to make a card which incorporates GIFT WRAP, and if you're like me, you just could not resist saving some of the pretty papers in which your holiday prezzies were wrapped, so this will be easy, indeed! however, if that doesn't sound fun, you can, if you prefer, include the image of a present, or presents, on your card. needless to say, i went with the first idea and have bits of TWO gift wraps (the gold flourish background and the poinsettia) PLUS a bit of holly-leaf tissue paper (ruffled and sewn behind the flower) AND even a little "bonus" ribbon which was tied around one of my christmas gifts!

i used the utterly fab "square" sketch option of mojo monday 221; the ribbon qualifies me to join my dearest darlings for shopping our stash #32: tie it up; and the fussy-cut poinsettia allows me to link up with the lovely ladies at city crafter who are inviting us to make the cut this week! woohoo!

(miscellaneous: giftwrap, tissue paper & ribbon; patterned paper: creative imaginations & echo park; rhinestones: making memories; gold foil sticker: best creation; adhesives: xyron, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

this year, instead of posting a new prompt EVERY week, we're going to be posting EVERY OTHER friday. we hope that having extra time to create and post will allow more lovely crafters to participate; and those--like myself--who still want to end the year with 48 cards need only make two (or more!) cards to each prompt... which is still only one card per week!

to sum up, all of that means you have until 6pm (EST) on wednesday, january 11th, to link up as many newly made holiday cards which fit the brief as you can complete within the time-frame! i cannot wait to see what you will do, and i'm hoping you'll be equally excited to see what stef and our lovely guest stars have come up with, so do pop over to JINGLE BELLES and say hi!!! ♥

pink parisienne pixie card

2011-12-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

ETA wednesday morning: sorry folks, i goofed! this card will actually be featured on the pixie blog tomorrow, not today!!! on the plus side, it gives you an *EXTRA* day to check out miss kirsty's gorgeous christmas photograph album that's over there today... and you've still got plenty of time to enter this month's pixie challenge, which is to make a project that incorporates or interprets the word "NEW" in any way you'd like. oh and did i mention that one of the NEW things the pixie blog will be adding next year is a special design team just for the awesome monthly challenges? yep, we are looking for a few talented papercrafters, and an entry into the "NEW" challenge is your application! read all about it HERE and be sure to link up those projects by january 5th!

it just so happens that by coincidence, my very dear pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe saved my favorite card* i made from the december kit, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS, for last. it's this one, and i think you can probably GUESS how i came up with the catchy name** of "pink parisienne pixie card" can't you?!

it uses a couple of papers from the kit, plus three of the embellishments AND a bit of the packaging, too!!! full details on the pixie blog, not to mention the stellar work of my fellow pixies miss kirsty, sandy taloumis, and our very special guest this month the awesome lynn millers! g'wan over and say hi, it's worth the trip, i promise! ♥

*possibly it's a tie with the chocolat-et-bleu paris collage card, which i also loved; as i believe i so modestly mentioned at the time!!! :)

**titles are the HARDEST PART of blogging. FACT!

ps: i kind of hated how blogger abruptly MADE US change over to their "new interface" last week, but i have to confess that doing so fixed a couple of "issues" i'd been having for MONTHS... such as, i can now once again use the text-enhancing tools that allow me to do my footnotes in this tiny print or make it a different color, which is lovely! :) :)

it's like deja vu, all over again!

2011-12-27T05:58:00.000-05:00

i hope you don't mind one last post-christmas "mele kalikimaka" greeting? it's quite a cheerful one, actually:

digital supplies: paper: "your true colors" vera lim designs; brush: travel clusters #1, katie pertiet, designer digitals; real life supplies: paper: sei, tim holtz; alphas: k&co, heidi swapp; stickers: recollections, jolees; text stamp: glitz; inks: ranger; pen: uniball; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

it's also very similar to last week's gift bags. VERY similar, indeed! but i kind of like the way this illustrates my favorite thing about digital supplies: you can use them over and over! and not just individually; when you've made a collage like this one (which was the base of my hawaii travel book) for the minimal amount of space it takes up on a flash drive you can not only print it out any number of times, but you can do so at any size... on any type of paper... with or without text. so it's possible to make a book full of journal pages, a brace of holiday gift bags, and a christmas card in three different sessions; and all the serious "design bits" have already been done, you just need to embellish and go!

this time i added some cool dimensional hibiscus stickers, a little ribbon, some ancient chipboard letters, some less ancient (but decidedly elderly) sparkly pink ones... and got stalled. because the pink blended in too much, whereas the white stood out like an exceptionally painful and obvious sore thumb.*

so i put it aside. truthfully, i nearly threw it out. but then it occurred to me that if i considered the thing "ruined" to the extent that i was going to dump it, nothing else i did to it could possibly make it WORSE. so i decided to just keep going, regardless. i outlined the pink letters with a gel pen. and then with another, darker one, until they could be seen. i stamped the white ones into submission with a distressy text background. i trimmed down the panel, and made it much inkier around the edges. then i matted the whole kit-n-caboodle onto pink and kraft and BINGO! it had finally turned into a card i really loved!

is there a moral to this story? well, maybe. or maybe not. but the bottom line for me is... yet another version of my favorite creative phrase... "process is more important than outcome!" before i toss a disappointing project, it's pretty much ALWAYS a good idea to stop and at least wonder if perhaps the reason it's not cool yet, is... it's not DONE YET!!! :)

*it would be really, really excellent to have an illustrative photo, taken at this point in the process, but i didn't think of it. sorry! :)

not a creature was stirring...

2011-12-25T00:25:00.000-05:00

...which is not *ALWAYS* a good thing.

case in point:

may i take this opportunity to wish a very merry christmas to all of you darlings who are celebrating, or, alternately, a most pleasant sunday!

either way, i hope at no point during the day will you see something like this:

by definition, you're NOT SUPPOSED to see something like this... until it's too late, that is...

one of the things you'll notice about the following tree:

there is no tinsel, and the ornaments are of the sturdy, non-glass variety. conclusion: these cats have trained their humans extremely well!!!

on the other hand, i think we've probably all experienced a holiday moment that felt (at least metaphorically) a bit like this; and i hope this year those will be few, and short-lived, for us all!

if, however, you prefer to do your cringing vicariously, you could check out fruit cakes whose tagline is "the worst holiday cards and photos ever"... and they really, REALLY mean it. (yikes!) probably a bad idea after a large meal. maybe even after a small meal. maybe ever. and yet, if you'd like your own family to instantly look gorgeous and NORMAL... :) :) :)

on the other hand, 22 cats in christmas trees is much less disturbing, unless one of them is your cat... or your tree!

hope your day is a merry one, darlings!

♥♥♥

singing joyfully... on christmas eve!

2011-12-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

today's project on the pixie blog is a lovely card i made using this month's CHRISTMAS IN PARIS kit, it looks like this:

ok, so it looks like that ON THE OUTSIDE, but i happen to know there's a surprise ON THE INSIDE, which you might like to hop over to the pixie blog to see!!! (how's that for a little dickensian holiday suspense, eh??!) plus it will give you a chance to take a little break from your last-minute preparations and see just how amazingly my fellow pixies have been ROCKIN' this kit all month! enjoy! ♥

twas the night BEFORE...

2011-12-23T10:26:00.001-05:00

...the night before christmas, and all through my house, there is serious wrapping and decorating of presents taking place on my part, and serious cooking of holiday foodstuffs on LHJ's*!

most of my coolest-looking holiday packages are created for the nieces and nephews, and this year is no exception, i'm inordinately--if not actually OBNOXIOUSLY--pleased with the hybrid "panels" i've made & printed to adorn their giftbags, which contain treasures from hawaii and also, in young matthew's case, some dinosaur-related items, since that is his big interest at the moment. just cannot resist showing you a little preview of those, and then later i'll snap a pic of the completed bags:

(digital supplies: "stomp" (dinosaur) and "hula girl" stickers by mindy terasawa, designer digitals (drop-shadows added by me); background paper from the "oh happy day" kit, vera lim designs; text layers, which read "DINO-mite christmas" and "happy HULA-days" added by me using westate and pickwick fonts, respectively)

if you happen to need a hawaiian or dinosaur themed graphic (which i'm sure EVERYONE WILL, lol!!!!) do feel free to grab these! if you happen to need a quick-to-make gift card holder, i recommend this pdf pattern/instructions by kristina werner that i found over at two peas. if you happen to need a cat-themed holiday chuckle, check out this theme at i can has cheezburger! and now i'd better get back to work! ciao, darlings! ♥

*to those of you who think i never help out in the kitchen, i say, "au contraire!!!" i am always available in my capacity as chief *TASTER* and take my duties very seriously; sometimes it takes two or three bites to be really SURE about a particularly delicious dish... you've gotta be willing to put in the time, darlings! :) :) :)

recycling... in action!

2011-12-22T05:20:00.000-05:00

you may recall the digital collage pages i made for my hawaii travel book. if so, this hawaiian-themed gift bag will look eerily familiar! (i apologize for the awful photos, this is what happens if you take pics at night in my apartment... even with a lightbox!!!)

yepper, that's the very same collage--i'm not only ok with using it again, i'm actually quite proud! this time i've printed it out slightly smaller and embellished it with some "real life" supplies, like thickers to spell out "MELE KALIKIMAKA", (which, as jimmy buffet and bing crosby fans will know, means "merry christmas" in hawaiian) a white scalloped border, and a bit of a flowery ornament.

the base of that big blossom is made from vintage silk flower petals i've had for long enough to have absolutely NO IDEA where they came from! i think they were meant to be roses, but in this case they are doubling for the hawaii state flower--a yellow hibiscus--whilst also having hybrid poinsettia, plumeria and pink snowflake aspects. what can i say, i never claimed to be a *BOTANIST* darlings!!!

for that matter, the pink flamingo is a total non-sequitur, too, being native to florida rather than hawaii; but my friend cheryl gave me these glitter epoxy flamingo stickers, and they were just too cool NOT to use. although, as it happens, there were flamingos in the lobby of our hotel! also penguins. and turtles. and all manner of other exotic flora and fauna. we never found out *why* any of them were there... but they were fun to visit!

to finish off my "digi-to-real" collage conversion, i rounded the corners of everything, used layers of foam tape for extra dimension, and added genuine machine stitching to replace the digital version. the flower decoration is hot glued to the clip which was originally attached to a hair decoration, since i thought it might be fun to be able to remove and put it on the tree or... well, SOMEWHERE. i actually made two of these and i hope my lovely friends janet and liz will enjoy receiving them, along with the vacationy treats i have put inside! ♥

one of the silliest things i've ever made...

2011-12-21T06:22:00.000-05:00

...is this "pug life" ATC book, full of eponymous loldog photos that have amused me over the last six months or so.

i started saving them for my friend gina, who is a big fan of dogs generally, and whose family was adopted by a pug this year. we often find the same things funny, and we're both always on the lookout for an interesting way to combine photographs and papercrafting. i sent it to her on her birthday. ok, actually, despite being ready to go well in advance, i sent it to her several weeks AFTER her birthday. because that's the way i roll! i think this might be my favorite page of the book:

it's the punctuation: gimme. dat. hat. pug. it's become a bit of a catchphrase around here. i also love this one:

i felt preeeeeeeeeeetty confident that she would not have thought to make one of these for *HERSELF*, and as it turned out, she seems to have enjoyed getting this almost as much as i loved making it! as an extra added bonus, her sons quite like it too, so i feel pretty pleased all-round!

do you think it's too early to start saving up lols for "VOLUME 2"??!? :) :) :)

"bonne annee" mes amies!

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

can it really be time to announce the last pixie challenge of the year? well, yes--unbelievably enough--it can, actually! this month's challenge theme... which will stretch into january, and thus also 2012... is "NEW". your project can express the concept in any way you like: a minibook about your new home, a layout featuring your new baby, or even a card to wish your friends a very happy NEW YEAR! like, for example, this one:

you may recognize a few more bits of my favorite "paris nights" paper by GCD from the CHRISTMAS IN PARIS kit; i've also got some epoxy buttons and thickers from BLUE MOON, plus i've worked in scraps and leftovers from other pixie offerings, mixed up with a few paper flowers and pearls out of my own stash. i'm fairly pleased with this one, actually, but what i'm really excited about is seeing what my fellow pixies have made... and then i know the reader contributions will be fabulous, as well! if you don't believe me, just hop over to the pixie blog and i'll prove it!!! :)

christmas poem mini album

2011-12-18T00:01:00.006-05:00

today's project made from this month's pixie dust paperie kit, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS, is a little house-shaped mini album that i had great fun putting together!

there are more photos of it on the pixie blog today; including those of the individual pages, and the full text of the little poem inside. i think this idea is pretty adaptable to a variety of texts and/or photos, and it was sooooooooo very quick to make you could easily whip one up in time for christmas using minimal supplies. why not pop over and check it out?! :)

palmistry

2011-12-17T05:33:00.000-05:00

if you've ever been with me in florida, california, or anywhere warm and tropical, you'll know that i have a complete mania for palm trees and have to be physically stopped from snapping a zillion photos of every single one i encounter. most recently, in hawaii, i became obsessed with the shadows that palm fronds cast on various surfaces, especially concrete. which resulted in a lot of photos like this, which i love:

i've used photoshop to crop, and bump up/tone down some levels; but other than that it's not been altered.

here's one that has been altered:

i used a few different artistic filters, played with saturation, tint, hue and... well, i pretty much tried out every slider, in every direction!

here's one with me in it:

not to mention even MORE effects, some light and color layers, etc; i went a little crazy, but i like it!

eventually i started using stuff like the "rubber stamp" and "cut out" filters; which cross the line from photo editing to photo altering... in a good way:

i threw some anna aspnes asian script brushes on top of this one, and then played around with styles on the brush layer: bevelling, drop shadow, etc... if you could pile it on and still see the characters, i did it!

then, somehow, i bumped one of the sliders--i really REALLY wish i knew which one!!!--and got this:

♥CHA-CHING♥!!!

so what am i gonna do with these? ok, honestly, i have noooooooooooo clue. but i had fun making them, i learned some stuff, and eventually i'll think of SOMETHING. in the meantime, if you've got a great idea, feel free to grab any one of the above and have a good ol' PLAY!!! :)

i'm pretty sure normal people...

2011-12-16T06:43:00.002-05:00

...just do not obsess over gift-wrapping as much as i do. not that *I* would have any idea what normal people do, obviously, lol! what can i say, i ♥LOVE♥ decorating presents, and i especially love using non-traditional supplies to do so. here are a few of my recent (birthday) faves (i've not started xmas wrapping yet!):

block printed paper, (which may have come from kate's paperie, many moons ago) the flowers from a deconstructed oriental trading company lei, and may arts leaf ribbon.

rose-embossed mulberry paper, (from pearl paint, i THINK!) tied with burgundy tulle and a vintage silk carnation.

and finally, my favorite: very thick handmade text paper which my (non blogging) friend deborah bought for me in thailand, with an accent of black & gold decorative paper in lieu of ribbon, topped with copper beading wire.

and that's a wrap! :)

happy friday, darlings!

♥♥♥

paris collage card

2011-12-14T00:01:00.010-05:00

at the risk of sounding totally braggy i have to tell you right up front... i ♥LOVE♥ this card:

i wish that i had made this one sooner, so that i would get to keep it a bit longer; but in fact i could not have made it without the goodies in the december pixie dust paperie kit, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS, and as it is by far the best card i have ever made for my friend lelia's birthday--and also the most "her" if you know what i mean--it shall be leaving my care quite soon. ah well, c'est la vie!

seriously serendipitous SOS30!

2011-12-13T07:34:00.005-05:00

surprisingly often, one the shopping our stash challenges will point the way with regard to a bit of stash i was already attempting to figure out how to use, though never quiiiiiiiite as perfectly as this one! but first, let me tell you what this week's brief is:

"Tag it Krafty"

use kraft cardstock somewhere on your project...

OR incorporate a tag element on your project...

OR make a tag of any kind...

OR use a Dilly Beans image!

don't you just love the way miss carla always gives us a few alternatives on what to do? it really gets the inspiration flowing!

as it happens, i had just found this cute little thingie, from JINGLE BELLES' tag along prompt in june where we teamed up with the gorgeous gals at opus gluei:

i had been thinking to myself that i ought to make a card using this as the centerpiece. then i found a pre-cut and folded piece of kraft cardstock on which i had stenciled some pale pink paint, but then--for some reason--not used. better and better! so i grabbed my trusty scraps box and selected a few bits and bobs that would coordinate with the tag. and i made this:

yes, i messed up the dymo label, but then i realized that the tag was going cover it anyway, so i just went ahead and used it. :) and now here's my finished taggy, krafty card:

one of the fastest things i've EVER made... and yet i think i kinda ♥LOVE♥ it! something i definitely know for sure that i loooooooooooooove is seeing my fellow DT members' cards on the SOS blog... and then later checking out the gallery of fabulousness as created by our readers! won't you join me in that enjoyable endeavor??!

(supplies: patterned papers: ki, dcwv, love elsie, pink paislee, tim holtz; border strips: k&co; bling: heidi swapp; fibers: basic grey; labels: dymo; ink: stewart superior; edge punch: recollections; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: pink acrylic craft paint & sequin scrim)

this one doesn't even need a caption!

2011-12-12T05:27:00.007-05:00

but do feel free to write one anyway, if you'd like to!

meanwhile, if you need me, i'll be here at my computer, drinking coffee and smiling... not necessarily in that order!

happy monday, darlings!

♥♥♥

"love you" card

2011-12-10T00:02:00.002-05:00

today's pixie project uses the fabulous CHRISTMAS IN PARIS kit, but is actually a birthday card. it looks a bit like this:

ok, technically, it looks *EXACTLY* like that; but there are more photos and a bit about the process, not to mention some of the cool items in the kit, over at the PDP blog!

under the heading of "cool & serendipitous" i offer you the fact that miss kirsty just happened to schedule this post for the very day that we are travelling to see our very sweet eldest niece, jessica whose birthday card this is! awesome, no? for once i'm not dreading the long car trip, as it offers an opportunity to work on my latest yarn-based project. by the time you read this, i hope to be knitting at 65 miles per hour!!! ciao, darlings! ♥♥♥

go HOG WILD on your birthday!

2011-12-09T09:52:00.003-05:00

guy cards are HARD. they just are.

i used to think it was just me-- being a fan of all things pink and frilly and flowery and sparkly-- having trouble adapting stylistically, but i've heard too many other amazing cardmakers of every stripe say the same thing, so i think it may just be empirically true. thus, when i set out to make an especially important guy card, i like to arm myself with a secret weapon! such as this week's unassailably AWESOME sketchy thursday sketch:

yeah. how *FABULOUS* is that??! (told ya!) :)

i also like to have a bit of a "concept" if possible. because whereas with feminine cards one can ofttimes skate by with amazing eye candy in the form of product; i think you need an idea or a joke or... something... to make a guy card really work. since this card is for my b-i-l's imminent fiftieth birthday, and he is a big fan-- and owner of-- harley davidson motorcycles, i thought that'd be a good way in. then i thought of a (IMO) cool catchphrase and it all came together:

(patterned paper: basic grey, dcwv, ek success/harley davidson, sei, ki; stickers: pebbles; rub-ons: making memories, glitz, heidi swapp; journaling cards: k&co, little yellow bicycle; other: photo & HD logo printed on kodak premium photo paper; sentiment printed on staples' clear inkjet labels; fonts: 4990810 & susie's hand)

ok, so the sketch is rather compressed in my version, but i *THINK* you can see it! this is a 7" card, and yet i still nearly ran outta room at the end!!! in my defense, i wanted the photo & sentiment to be a decent size so you could see them; but i probably should've scaled them down just a teeny bit more. i had originally intended to make the card entirely black, white, and blue, but then i found scraps of the harley-davidson licensed diamond pane paper, and obviously i had to use that... and also it occurred to me that *GREY* is actually the perfect color for 50th birthday cards, lol!!!

in my original plan the "you are here" icon... (which came from a set of travel-themed rub-ons i stumbled upon whilst searching for something else entirely) ...pointed at the "50"; but somehow in gluing up i must've shifted the bits and on the finished card it just DID NOT FIT where i wanted it to. ah well. i think it's ok where it is...

for that matter, i am not usually the kind of cardmaker who will put your age on the front of your card in big black numerals! but this particular guy beat an especially nasty type of cancer a couple of years ago, and since then our family has been pretty darned happy about larger-number birthdays, so i really wanted to make a point of it. perspective really is *EVERYTHING* darlings, don't you think??! ♥♥♥

"a date which will live in infamy"...

2011-12-08T08:42:00.001-05:00

...is, of course, the famous phrase franklin delano roosevelt used to describe december 7th, 1941; the day of the japanese attack on hawaii which flung the united states into WWII. but something i didn't know before we visited the fascinating complex of museums and memorials at pearl harbor, is that the original typescript of his speech read, "a date which will live in world history" and that roosevelt himself crossed out the last two words and wrote "infamy" over top in pencil, along with several other corrections and substitutions he made to the speech shortly before delivering it to the american people via radio, seventy years ago today.

(lovely husband jeff, taking a picture... though not *THIS* picture, lol!)

this is one of the many reasons why i so passionately ♥LOVE♥ museums! because although visiting pearl harbor was much higher on jeff's hawaii wish list than on mine, something i've discovered over the years is that i often learn more at places that were someone else's "pick"; and i absolutely always learn something! the times in which it's an amazing little fact such as this always feel like "touchdown" moments to me!

(flags in front of the battleship missouri)

speaking of unexpected opportunities to learn something valuable, my art journaling heroine dina wakley wrote an awesome post about making "ugly" art yesterday. if i were capable of causing this page redirect automatically to her blog, i'd be doing it right now. as it is, i shall settle for urging you, quite strongly, to click this link. consider yourself urged. (quite strongly!!!) you can thank me later! ;)

here's a photo completely unrelated to either of the above items, except it's from our recent vacation and was a serendipitous experience of great joy to me:

(delicious--and surprisingly addictive--fresh hawaiian papaya)

the papayas in hawaii were AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! they're the thing from the trip i really reallllllly PINE FOR--apart from the twin delights of consistently warm, gorgeous weather and being on vacation with my true love, obviously! but the papaya, which i enjoyed every single morning with my yogurt, was seriously one of the highlights of the trip. and sadly, no, the ones in my new jersey supermarket are just not the same. sigh.

other than suffering from a serious papaya jones, life in these parts is very good (& quite busy!) for which i am extremely grateful! hope you are having a fabulous week!!! ♥

SOS29: light or white

2011-12-06T05:17:00.006-05:00

it's been TOO LONG since i've played along with my lovely darlings over at shopping our stash, so let's remedy that right now! here's this week's brief, from our fearless leader miss carla:

Light and/or White and/or Meljens:

use something from your stash that represents light-

candle, fireplace, stars, Christmas lights,

or decorate a candle, make a lantern, etc,

or make a project that is mostly white

OR Use a Meljens Image!

here's my card:

(transparency: hambly; patterned paper: pink paislee, basic grey; florals & snowflake sticker: making memories; holly: prima; rub-ons: daisy d's; brad: mme; rhinestone swirls: oriental trading co; rose ribbon: tim holtz; stick pins: k&co, joanne essentials; tree die: sizzix; border punch: recollections; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

this thing is super-stash-based! i think everything on here is either a few years old or scraps or BOTH; only the tim holtz flowery ribbon is a recent buy, and it's actually my second pack of that stuff!

here's my card again, just so you can see the detail:

you'll have noticed i went with the "white" part of the challenge. and thus, this card fulfills a goal i have had for several years: to make a monochromatic christmas card for my aunt whose favorite color is... wait for it... *WHITE*!!! i've never really succeeded in ending up with something that is almost ENTIRELY white... until now. can i get a "WOOHOO"??!!! :)

do hop over to shopping our stash for all the details, see the fabulous DT cards, and whilst you're at it, why not join in? we'd love to have you!!! ♥

on second thought...

2011-12-04T07:01:00.001-05:00

...i think this blouse looks *GOOD* with a few wrinkles!!! :)

(happy sunday, darlings!!!)

♥

holiday house recipe box

2011-12-02T00:02:00.003-05:00

having spent the whole year making my christmas cards over at JINGLE BELLES, i find that now as december begins, i actually have a bit of extra time in which to make a few presents, as well! awesome! this special holiday recipe box was made using the december pixie dust paperie kit, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS. how gorgeous are those papers, eh??! miss kirsty has really outdone herself this time!

if you don't believe me, why not check out the pixie blog, where you can see additional pics of this fun project, plus my fellow pixies' work, too, as well as this month's special guest designer lynn millers!!! oh and there's still time to enter the november challenge, if you're quick!!! ♥

birthday cake inspector...

2011-11-30T05:55:00.001-05:00

...here on official bizness!

aka my latest "monstapiece" of a birthday card:

("monstrous" digi-stamp by jesse edwards; patterned paper: creative imaginations, my mind's eye, ki, sei; fabric paper: love elsie; black glossy cardstock: ranger; dimensional cupcake sticker: mambi; labels: dymo; ink: stewart superior; white poster paint pen: sharpie; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: staples brand clear inkjet labels--for paper piecing the monsta!)

usually the sentiment/joke is what inspires a monsta card, and this was no exception. monstas realllllllllllllllllly like birthday cake, and are always striving to think up new & plausible ways of gaining access. i can relate, actually; this may be why we get along so well! :)

however, my favorite part of this thing is the torn paper window through which the "inspector" is making his entrance. in retrospect, i'm not completely in love with the zebra paper here. but as you know, i'm never averse to doing more than one version of the same card-- (especially on "guy cards" since they're so much harder, imo!) --so i know i'll get another shot, and i'll show it to you when it's finished! ♥

yep. he's GOOD!

2011-11-29T05:52:00.003-05:00

happy tuesday, darlings!!!

♥♥♥

happy birdie 2U!

2011-11-27T05:03:00.003-05:00

a while ago miss stephanie gave me the most beautiful charley harper memory game, which just happens to contain two each of about three dozen 2" x 2" glossy square chipboard cards printed with one of the artist's wonderfully graphic and retro-vibed artworks. i love that thing!

of course, if you give a crafty person something which contains *72* gorgeous little pieces of art, it won't be long before they start thinking, "hey! wouldn't those look GREAT on a card?!!" a mindset that, quite frankly, often freaks out "civilians". so i made sure to ask stef, in quite a casual way, "hey, wouldn't those charley harper memory cards be cool to say... theoretically... use in a collage or small artwork... ??!?!" i was pretty sure she would agree, which she did.

so after spending a bit of time to work myself up to opening the box, i delved into the lovely mini art prints. and i was right: they do indeed look GREAT on a card!!! see??!

(vintage: sheet music; recycled: cardboard heart; bird cards: charley harper memory game; fabric strips: studio calico; stickers: bo bunny, dymo labels, making memories, heidi swapp; adhesives: uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape, staples)

do you even have to ask *WHOSE* card this is? surely not! but in any case i will tell you: i gave it to stef on her birthday, during our fabulous new york trip! and YES i am going to blog more about that--and also more about hawaii--SOON, i promise! ♥

JB48: candy kisses

2011-11-25T00:01:00.009-05:00

can you believe it's the very last week of our ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ 2011* prompts??! nope, i can't either, this year has just FLOWN past, but i can tell you that i've never been so calm the day after thanksgiving as i am this year, knowing that i have nearly all of my holiday cards already completed!!!

but there's still time to play along one last time, and well worth your while to do so, as we have a lovely sponsor this week, and they've put up a fabulous prize:

yes, that's right rogue redhead designs have not only given stef and i some of their gorgeous stamps to use in our creations this week, they're also going to let one lucky cardmaker loose in their awesome shop with a $15 voucher--woohoo! all you have to do is make a card that features holiday food or treats, whether that be candy canes, gingerbread, hot cocoa, roast turkey, plum pudding, or... well... whatever tasty treats you enjoy at the holidays! here are the plates i've used in my creation:

snow hugs

candy kisses

i have to tell you that all year long i've been seeing our awesome belles make the most amazing snow globe cards, and as soon as i saw the cute trees and adorable snowpeople in the SNOW HUGS plate, i just knew this was my turn! i've done an old school shaker card (i still love those things!) using this template i found online; it's got a transparency window and tiny snowflake sequins inside and i am very pleased indeed! :)

(rubber stamp plates: candy kisses and snow hugs by rogue redhead designs; ink: ranger; white embossing powder: psx; patterned paper: my mind's eye, bo bunny, doodlebug, prima, basic grey, sei; white glitter cardstock: doodlebug; black glossy cardstock: ranger; pearls: recollections; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape; other: staples brand clear ink jet labels, 3m inkjet transparency, vintage seam binding, snowflake confetti)

my "food elements" are the cupcake and peppermint from the candy kisses plate; they're perched atop a bow made of vintage seam binding that i stamped with permanent ink and the line of x's & o's from the snow hugs plate! i have a feeling you're going to see a lot more of that particular stamp. not to mention the gorgeous backgrounds that i hardly got to touch for this card!!! in the meantime, do hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ and see the amazing CANDY KISSES cards made by stephanie and rogue redhead's own sharon briss and link up your your shot at the prize!!

*and YES, in answer to all of the lovely belles who have asked: we *ARE* coming back in 2012!!! it's going to be structured slightly differently, but we'll be making our cards all throughout the year again, and we'd love to have you join us!

prepare for cuteness overload!!!

2011-11-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

(told ya!)

to my american darlings,

i wish you a very

♥HAPPY THANKSGIVING!♥

to my international darlings,

♥HOORAY♥

tomorrow is friday!!!

"mahalo" card

2011-11-23T05:26:00.001-05:00

i think you should prepare yourself for quite a few projects with a "hawaiian theme"... starting, ummmmmmmmmm... now! :)

(transparency: hambly; patterned paper: k&co; hibiscus sticker: creative imaginaions; chipboard letters: heidi swapp; other: cotton fabric, beach mat, vintage silk flower petals, oriental trading co lei flowers; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

"mahalo" means thank you in hawaiian. this card is for my (non blogging) friend cheryl, who went slightly wild in michaels recently, on my behalf. not only was this an incredibly sweet thing to do, she also managed to choose realllllllllllly awesome "tropical" products that i totally love!

mysteriously, none of that stuff made it on to this card!!! instead, i've got a palm-tree-festooned scrap of fabric from a packet of off-cuts i got from a shirt vendor at the aloha stadium flea market; a bit of the free beach mat* we were given at hawaiian village; some verrrrry vintage silk flower blossoms... and some regular scrappy bits & bobs. go figure. in retrospect, i wish i had placed the green leafy patterned paper on the outside of the card instead of the inside; because i think the white grid of the transparency "dilutes" the color and pattern too much. but other than that, i really like this one, and i hope cheryl will too.

aloha, darlings!

♥♥♥

*xyroned onto some plain old index stock, to keep it from falling apart into a zillion bits of loose sea grass when cut to size, the way my first attempt did. live & learn, darlings, live & learn. :)

a grungy hybrid* baby card

2011-11-20T14:22:00.001-05:00

i needed to make a baby card pretty quickly. and i was stumped. until i saw this week's sketchy thursday offering:

and then, "KABOOM!" the entire concept of my card, including which materials to use, came to me all at once. dontcha love it when that happens??!?! thanks, ST!!! :)

i made the digi collage first, obviously, and test printed it on regular paper, dry fit the photos and thickers, and generally "test drove" the whole configuration pretty thoroughly to avoid wasting my my beloved sticky-back canvas.** i ♥LOVE♥ how it came out!

(sticky back canvas: claudine helmuth; black glossy cardstock: ranger; photo paper: kodak ultima; glitter letters: american crafts; butterfly: webster's pages; fonts: jamaistevie & hurricane, free from dafont.com; "a little magic 5" brush by vera lim; ink: stewart superior; adhesives: 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

the baby in the photos is charli renee, she is the GRANDDAUGHTER (!!!) of our very dear friends kim and dave. the reason that word is bold and in all caps is that this is the first GRANDCHILD (!!!) born to a couple who are exact contemporaries of jeff and myself (they got married just before us, jeff was in their wedding, and dave was jeff's best man; their kids were born after we were married, and we've watched them grow up, etc, etc) so it is very slightly*** freaking me out, because charli's dad, michael (whom she strongly resembles) was this age like FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! holy wow!!! and yet, *WE* have not aged at all! ...weird... :) :) :)

i was having sooooo much fun with this, that i made a girl version:

and a boy version:

and saved them both as .jpgs, to share with you. i printed mine to fit a 6x6" card base, but you can resize them to your needs. enjoy!

*the adjectives "grungy" and "hybrid" apply to the card; the baby in question is quite clean, and entirely human, i assure you! also very VERY cute, as you can see!!! ♥♥♥

**which works extremely well in my completely ordinary, not-very-expensive inkjet printer, in case you were wondering.

***of course by, "very slightly" you'll have deduced that i mean, "a really REALLY lot!!!" :)

why yes, i DID make a hawaiian travel book!

2011-11-19T05:15:00.002-05:00

how kind of you to ask! it's not done yet, mostly because as soon as we got home i was back into deadline city, but i figure i'll show you the "bones" of it now and the finished product later.

i've said this before and no doubt i will again, but BY FAR the most crucial step for me actually KEEPING a travel journal whilst on vacation is to make a dedicated book for it before we leave. bottom line--for me--if i haven't put in a bit of time & work already, i am not sufficiently committed, and in the fun chaos of traveling and the less-fun chaos of re-acclimating when we get home, my good intentions evaporate. so i make a cover and cool pages in advance. (ali e. has been talking about her "december daily" this week and she calls this bit her "foundation".) i made a plain chipboard cover, and two different digital collages, for my date and theme pages; i printed one of the yellow ones for each day of the trip and one of the white ones for each potential sight i thought we'd take in:

(paper: color splash kit by deviant art for somerset digital magazine; brushes: travel clusters #1 and messy stitches, both bykatie pertiet, designer digitals)

this time i actually made two different digital collages for my date and theme pages; i printed one of the yellow ones for each day of the trip and one of the white ones for each potential sight i thought we'd take in. i saved them as .jpgs, and you're welcome to share them. (email me if you want .pdfs instead!)

(paper: notebook paper pack, katie pertiet, designer digitals; brushes: travel clusters #1, katie pertiet designer digitals; mermaid's treasure box kit, mystique, o'scraps)

each night of the trip, i spent about 15 minutes or so writing down an outline of what we did each day. this, in my opinion, is another CRUCIAL thing--to write it down on the day! because the details FADE! it can be a list, it can be narrative, it can be just notes if you like. you could even do this bit on your computer, but i like to write in the book; because again, i have a long and glorious history of starting --and abandoning-- travel journals. the more i write IN THE BOOK, the more committed i become to the project!

while we were in hawaii i acquired plenty of fun things to put in the book. some were purely decorative, like this FAB vinyl sticker:

most were the sorts of ephemera one collects whilst travelling. when it comes to ticket stubs, stickers, takeaway menus, business cards and other small bits, i like to get them right in the book, preferably when i write the day's summary.

big things become their own pages. i just punch holes, and in they go:

medium-sized things like postcards and brochures can go either way, and when i'm not sure what i want to do, i'll often put them into the 1-gallon ziplock bag i bring with me, so i can decide later. but most things go right in, because watching the book *GROW* is one of the best bits!!!

when we got home, nearly everything i've shown you was already DONE. i spent a few hours last weekend finishing up the "writing bits". because while i really have to do the daily pages on the fly; the themes and sights sometimes need a bit of time to percolate inside my head, if i want to write about not only what we did, but also what we impressions we took away with us.

i have a few more bits and bobs i'm considering adding, and of course i need to make the cover. (which is my favorite part, so i always save it for last!) i'll come back when it is done and show you the finished product!

ciao for now, darlings!

♥♥♥

JB47: the hanukkah song

2011-11-18T08:02:00.001-05:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we are running down the home stretch of our early-holiday card-making program; can you BELIEVE this is week 47 of 48??!?! nope, nor can i! what in the world are we going to panic over in december if we have nearly all of cards made already??! i dunno, either... but i can't wait to find out! :)

since we are so close to finishing up, we thought this was a good time to stop and think about all the people who are special to us, and make sure we're including everyone! so this week we're asking you to make cards for your friends and family who don't necessarily celebrate *CHRISTMAS*! this could take the form of, as the title (based on my favorite adam sandler ditty!) suggests, a hanukkah card, or you could make a card for the solstice, for kwanzaa, or for new year! or how about something with no holiday as such, just a lovely wintery theme; or, like m'colleague stef, you could wish someone peace! there are lots of cool ways to go, and i cannot wait to see what you will do with this!

and now here's my card:

(menorah image from t'intenet; patterned paper: bay designs; transparency: hambly; chip letters: american crafts & mambi; adhesives: tombow monorunner, sewing machine)

note to self: do not use 10 different shiny/reflective surfaces to make cards that need an excellent online photograph!!! sheesh! you'd think i'd've learned that one by now, eh? but NO, apparently not! i made my card out of a transparency base, used glossy patterned paper and TWO kinds of sparkly silver letters, one of which basically qualifies as a bunch of tiny MIRRORS. so please believe me when i say the card actually isn't--as it looks here--completely wonky; i just needed to hold the camera at a weird angle! irl, this is quite a nice card, honestly!!! :)

remember, you don't have to make a hanukkah card, though of course you can! ANY winter holiday (kwanzaa, solstice, new year, etc) or any non-holiday winter theme will qualify! link up between now and next wednesday night at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥!

(sorry for the late post, folks, i accidentally set up for NOON instead of midnight! that pesky am/pm thing is just sooooooo confusing, lol!) :) :) :)

i know this one! I KNOW THIS ONE!!!

2011-11-16T05:51:00.005-05:00

it's no secret that i adore my lovely blogging friend amy tsuruta. if you're reading this, and you're a paper-crafting blogger, most likely *YOU* adore my lovely blogging friend amy tsuruta, as well. she's that kinda gal!!!

so it is a bit of a shame and an embarrassment to me how INFREQUENTLY i play along with her awesome flashback friday challenges! she's up to #17 and i've maybe done like three, how PATHETIC am i??! but the truth is, most of the time i either just plain do not remember what my first (place category here) was; ...or... worse yet, it was from my pre-blogging days, when i posted to a gallery that no longer exists, and i cannot easily access the photo i would need. both of those totally bum me out.

but this week when i read the brief: re-post your first banner, i actually knew EXACTLY when i'd made mine, AND i blogged about it! CHA-CHING!!! i can play!!! :) :) :)

so here it is, my "riley" banner, made for the eponymous niece's 8th birthday in 2010 (ok, so admittedly not that impressive of a "flashback"!) and my original blog post (which has close-up photos of each letter/pennant) is right here! YAHOO!!!!!! :)

and now please join me in (slightly belatedly) wishing

the lovely

♥MISS AMY♥

a very happy fourth blogiversary!!!

t'internet would not be nearly as cool--or as friendly--without you, missus!

♥♥♥

a random hawaii photo & a suggestion

2011-11-15T09:11:00.006-05:00

did you know that the official state flower of hawaii is specifically the YELLOW hibiscus?? that's just one of the many interesting hawaiian facts i learned riding the waikiki trolley!

therefore, this particular blossom that i snapped one day with my i-phone is not an official state flower, but's it's still kinda lovely, no??!

if you have 5 minutes to spare, why not go and read this post of elsie larson's about why it's important to cultivate ALL of your ideas... even the bad ones!!! if you don't have 5 minutes to spare, consider blowing something off, 'cause yeah, it's that good!

you're welcome, darlings!!! :)

put down your beverage...

2011-11-14T05:35:00.001-05:00

...before reading this one:

yeah. told ya. i nearly choked on m'coffee, too!!!

(i hadn't read any lolcats whilst we were in hawaii, thus i had a lovely backlog in which to wallow over the weekend. awesome!)

happy monday, darlings!

♥♥♥

JB46: stuck on you!

2011-11-11T00:01:00.009-05:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we are super-excited to have a FABULOUS sponsor we're pretty sure you already know and love:

that's right, the very awesome EAD designs not only provided stef and i with some totally awesome product this week, they are going to be giving a $25 gift certificate to their online store to one lucky random holiday cardmaker who links up with us before next wednesday night!

i know you'll be wanting to start making your own card ASAP, so i'll show you mine quickly and let you get creating! but first here are the gorgeous EAD clear stickerz sheets i used:

retro christmas and deck the halls

are those GORGEOUS or what? yep, it didn't take me much to work at all to fashion those babies into a card that's about as fun and festive as you can get! see?

(stickerz: deck the halls and retro christmas by EAD designs; patterned paper: echo park, imaginisce, love elsie; tag: k&co; brads: doodlebug; glossy white cardstock: ranger; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

now i know you want a shot at that very generous EAD gift card, so what do you have to do? just make a holiday card that incorporates stickers or rub-ons... (they don't have to be by EAD, but i bet you have some and i bet you LOVE them!) ...and link it up at JINGLE BELLES by next wednesday night! one random winner will get to go on an EAD shopping spree, so enter early and enter often! ♥

aloha, hawaii!

2011-11-08T00:01:00.004-05:00

as you read this, we will be about halfway home on the mega-flight from hawaii.

wish us a safe trip and i'll have lots more photos soon!

mahalo, darlings!

snow far, snow good

2011-11-06T00:01:00.013-04:00

it would seem that whilst lovely husband jeff and i have been frolicking on the sunny sands of oahu, the weather of mid-atlantic states has gone completely NUTSO and decided to unleash a major--and unseasonably early--snowfall!

so while we were seeing this:

and this:

and even this:

niece madeline and nephew matthew in eastern pennsylvania were able to build a snowman BEFORE they'd been trick or treating!

but it's not all palm trees and sunshine here in hawaii you know, darlings! for whilst we haven't had any snow, there has been a considerable amount of ICE:

and i can't imagine WHAT the meteorological implications are of seeing this guy in the lobby of our hotel:

but then i suppose even penguins need a sunny holiday from time to time, don't they darlings?!

wherever you are this week, i hope there are blue skies on your horizon, if only in a metaphorical sense; meanwhile, i'll be back soon with a few more snaps of LITERAL ones from our trip!!! :)

JB45: it came upon a midnight CLEAR

2011-11-04T00:01:00.008-04:00

i know what you're thinking, you're thinking, "hey lauren! the JINGLE BELLES puns are getting weirder!" yeah. it's hard to disagree with that, but what can i say? we are, after all, on week 45 (of 48) and i can only think up so many good titles in a year, ok??! :) also, i love the this theme so much, i didn't mind that we had to stretch a bit to get there. so have you guessed what it is, then? perhaps the emphasis of *CLEAR* has given it away? yep: this week we're asking you to make a holiday card that contains at least one see-through element: glass, plastic, a transparency, some vellum, acetate or "ghost" shapes, clear stickers, lucite buttons... whatever you like... if you can see through it (& figure out a way to attach it!) put it on there and link it up!

here's my card:

(transparency: hambly; vellum: webster's pages; stickers: k&co; bling word: recollections; rub-ons: basic grey & making memories; adhesive: tombow monorunner)

i love making holiday cards--and even regular rest-of-the-year ones--out of transparencies. probably because i love *LAYERS* so much and the clear base gives you sooooo many possibilities on that score: you can use both the inside AND the outside to add interest, texture, and more cool elements! plus the "wow factor" of civilians wondering HOW you got everything on there is hard to beat! :)

the only thing i don't love about such cards is taking their picture! i am not a super-skilled photographer at the best of times and having infinitely more ways to capture a light bounce or reflection DOES NOT help! which is why i've snapped this thing from a few angles in hope you'll get the idea!

in addition to the gold snowflake transparency card base, i've got some holiday vellum inside the card, and i've rounded out the design with a few stickers, a couple of rub-ons, and a fancy bling word on the front of the card. i have to say i am pleased with this one, and can only tell you that if you like it AT ALL in the photos... well... it's actually much cooler irl!

so what will *YOU* do this week? go all out with full-on see through card? or perhaps more sensibly make a regular card and add in a bit of patterned transparency or vellum? or even just sneak in a couple of plastic or acetate elements?! remember you can use inkjet transparency sheets from the office supply store to make any of your digital files "clearly" more exciting!!! whatever you decide, link it up at JINGLE BELLES by next wednesday night!!! can't wait to see you there! ♥

"card" might be the wrong word...

2011-11-01T05:41:00.001-04:00

...for some of the birthday greetings i make. case in point:

remember those elvis stickers i used for june's blue christmas card? i still have most of the sheet left! i also have the tradition of making the weirdest card possible for my chiropractor's birthday. it's his own fault really. he will say things like, "well you definitely won't ever make one stranger than THIS!" ummmmmmmmmmm... i might, actually! :)

the last few years i've done "legendary crooners". he likes them; me too. i've done sinatra, obviously. and dean martin starred in another "not really a card" scenario. i did a different version of elvis two years ago, but i am ok with repeats if concept's different; after all, elvis had more than one hit, didn't he?! :)

i don't think he ever sang... or thought... or could've imagined... this phrase, however. nope, this one's all me:

in case you're wondering about the mechanics, no, i did not use a ruined pair of sunglasses for this... but i suppose you could. actually, this is a pair of 3-D glasses we got when we saw the 4th pirates of the carribbean movie this spring. i brought them home because i liked the sort of retro rayban shape of them, and the fact that they fold up almost flat; and i thought i might do something crafty with 'em. i was envisioning a graduation card, you know, something along the lines of, "the future's so bright... i gotta wear shades!" but they seem to be making A LOT of 3-D films lately, so i figure i'll get another shot.

when you make something too lumpy or bumpy to fit in an envelope what do you DO with it? i generally attach it to the gift, if there is one. like this:

you can see that my love affair with maps as giftwrap continues; as well as the thrall of torn denim "ribbon". i've used a little blutack under the specs so they don't fall off in transit. fortunately we're hand-delivering this, the next time our backs get adjusted!

and now you'd probably like to see a photo of someone silly enough to put on said elvis glasses and pose for a grainy i-phone photo, wouldn't you??! yep. i thought so:

never let it be said i don't stand behind my work, darlings!!! ♥♥♥

"D♥R♥E♥A♥M" banner (& giveaway!)

2011-10-29T00:01:00.002-04:00

i cannot believe this is my last pixie dust paperie project using october's anniversary kit, BLUE MOON! how on earth did the entire month of october rush by soooooo quickly??!?!

this banner was a ♥DREAM♥ to make, and now the best part is, i get to give it away to one lucky reader of the pixie blog!!! why not hop over there and enter the drawing?

speaking of which, because of our prolonged travel plans and just generally running out of time all-round, i will be taking november off from my beloved pixie duties, but back and better than ever for the december kit, which i know you're going to LOVE as much as i do! in the meantime, i'll be checking in frequently at the PDP blog just to see all the loveliness my fellow pixies... and some lovely guest designers... have cooked up! hope to see you there, as well! ♥

JB44: not a CREATURE was stirring

2011-10-28T00:03:00.005-04:00

i have a confession to make: this week's JINGLE BELLES prompt is one for which i've been waiting all year long! yep, in honor of halloween, we've got a CREATURE FEATURE for you! what we mean is that your card should have a living "creature" of some sort on it: an animal, a bird, a rodent, or whatever takes your fancy.

but to me, of course, there is only ONE WAY to go with this:

MONSTA CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(a little backstory for those who've only met me through jingle belles: a couple of years ago i bought a roll of paperchase giftwrap in the (now sadly discontinued) "mini mutant" pattern, and for reasons that now elude me, decided the little aliens would be PERFECT for christmas cards! since then i've set a number of different monstas in all kinds of holiday situations: essplainin' to santa... proclaiming pride in their distinctive hue... trying to blend in with the holiday decor... and so forth; i nearly always do the sentiment/joke in dymo labels, i often work in some classic "love elsie" paper. i love ALL of the monstas equally, of course, but if you really pushed me to pick an all-time favorite, the little green guy featured below miiiiiiiight be my favorite!)

here, now, with great excitement and pride i present to you the first xmas MONSTA CARD of 2011:

(monsta cut from paperchase "mini mutant" giftwrap; patterned paper: love elsie, sei, prima, dcwv, old ledger paper; black glossy cardstock: ranger; border sticker: fancy pants; gems: recollections; label: dymo; inks: colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape)

and now i cannot wait to see what *YOU* will do this week! remember, you don't HAVE TO make your creature a monsta-- (though of course you can if you like!!!) --more traditional xmas fare such as reindeer, polar bears, elves, snowpersons, penguins and the like shall be deemed perfectly acceptable as well! :) head on over to JINGLE BELLES for all the details and to link up your fabulous CREATURE creation!!! ♥

a photo geography quiz!

2011-10-25T05:55:00.009-04:00

what state has:

...a profusion of palms...

...heavenly hibiscus...

...serious surfers...

...and MANY happy tourists...

including-- (for the last few days) --this one:

if you guessed *HAWAII* darlings you are absolutely correct!!!!! :)

some of you may know that lovely husband jeff does a fair amount of travelling for work, mostly in the mid-atlantic region, on trips in which he sees little more than his plant, a hotel room and the interstate; but every once in a while he gets to go somewhere AMAZING... and this was one of those times! it came together at the last minute and for a while looked like it was going to fall apart just as suddenly, which is why i kept mum on the subject until we were actually HERE! at the moment i'm exploring waikiki and honolulu on my own; by the end of this week LHJ should be at liberty and then the SERIOUS TOURISM will commence!

i have some pixie dust and jingle belles projects pre-scheduled and i'll be popping in with updates from the road... just in case there are a few of you who aren't quiiiiiiiiite jealous enough yet! in the meantime:

ALOHA, DARLINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

delicious blue moon cupcake

2011-10-24T00:01:00.003-04:00

can you believe it's been a whole year since the pixie dust paperie made its debut??! nope, nor can i! but the calendar-- and pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe-- assure me this is the case, and we've been having ANNIVERSARY ALERTS all month over at the pixie blog, so it must be true!

seeing as it *IS* our anniversary, i thought it'd be fun to re-create the very first project i made last october, for the very first pixie dust kit, FALL IN LOVE: a super-embellished cupcake gift-card holder inspired by the amazing tresa black's (aka the stamp goddess) step-by-step fabulously artsy cupcake tutorial:

for this one i used the anniversary kit, BLUE MOON, which was perfect since the intended occasion for this particular paper confection is nephew matthew's fourth birthday.

lots more photos and details on the pixie blog; as well as info on how to enter this month's pixie challenge, "birdsong"... and maybe an anniversary surprise or two for you as well!

embellished shopping bag

2011-10-23T05:25:00.000-04:00

when i found these photos in a file the other day, i realized i never posted this "passionately purple" gift bag i made for niece lindsay's eighth birthday! since her main present was the fancy (if oddly shaped and hard to wrap!) princess crown i made with october's anniversary pixie dust kit, BLUE MOON, i converted a full-sized kraft shopping bag for the purpose:

i knew for a fact that miss l's official favorite color was still purple, but something i didn't realize beforehand is that her OTHER favorite color is aqua blue; by the merest chance the exceptionally elderly large alphabet stickers i chose to spell her name had aqua and white accents, so i built my design around them.

it just so happened that i had a few punched butterflies leftover from another project, so i die-cut some additional ones from purple scraps and made a... flock? swarm?? (what's the collective noun for butterflies? ...anyone...??!) of those babies. all they needed were a few pearls to make them super-fab!

finally, stuck for just the right trimming at the top of the bag, i sewed some very old purple ribbon to a long length of doubled-over broderie anglaise lace i found at a yard sale; hot glued it into place, and finished it all off with another butterfly and a few florals.

i don't think there's a single item involved in this project that's less than three or four years old--including the bag! but it just goes to show how "stash shopping" is not only a great way to save money... sometimes it's a great design choice, too! ♥

(vintage: lace; recycled: shopping bag; patterned paper: dcwv, bo bunny, prima, anna griffin, laura ashley, doodlebug, paper co, sei; letters: making memories; bling word: heidi swapp; paper flowers: prima; aqua flower: webster's pages; silk flower sprig & purple ribbon: michaels; border punch & pearls: recollections; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, hot glue)

JB43: softly falling snow

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

i've mentioned before that my favorite weeks at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ are those in which we have a lovely guest star come along with a fabulous prompt and their own inspiring take on it, and this week is no exception. the very awesome noelle mcadams suggested we build our cards around ♥SOFT♥ and snuggly materials: felt, fabric, ribbon, tulle, flocking, flowersoft... well it's quite a long list, isn't it? and i'm sure you're already thinking up what you'd like to do this time, aren't you?

in the meantime, here is my card:

(selection of cotton quilting fabrics, xyroned onto index stock and die-cut; patterned paper: tim holtz, echo park; felt snowflakes & gem: hero arts; rub-on snowflakes: hambly; sentiment sticker: 7 gypsies; brads: oriental trading; pink sparkly tulle: kate's paperie; ink: colorbox; adhesives: xyron, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

if this looks slightly familiar, that might be because i did a reallllly cute felt-pieced reindeer for the baby it's cold outside prompt last february. when i mentioned to stef that i was bummed not to be able to do that again, she immediately said, "WHY NOT??!?!" which started me thinking: why not, indeed??!?! afterall, that's why we buy stamps, and dies, and more than one sheet of the same patterned paper, isn't it? precisely in order to be able to use a great idea more than once! so i made a brand new version of one of my favorite cards! this time i've used a sizzix die, and fashioned both the reindeer and the pink snowy hills on which she stands, from cotton fabric that i've xyroned onto index stock in order to give it a bit of "backbone"! since the deer is sooooooo adorable i didn't need much more: a few felt snowflakes, an appropriate sentiment, and a bit of stitching and i had wrapped this baby up!

and now i hope you'll hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ in order to see the gorgeousness perpetrated by noelle and stephanie, and then start plotting your own "softly falling" card!

birdsong...

2011-10-20T00:02:00.008-04:00

...is the title and theme of this month's pixie dust paperie challenge! to enter all you need do is make a card, an atc, an altered piece, a layout, or any other paper crafting project you can dream up... and feature at least one bird! you've got until november 5th to link up, and you can read about the fab prize and see my fellow pixies' projects on the pixie blog; in the meantime, here is my card:

apart from the ancient bling word and some leftover pixie seam binding, i used only my leftovers from our special anniversary kit, BLUE MOON. i have to tell you that this month is the closest i've ever come to using my entire kit--and afterall, i did make a 24-page minibook, a banner, two large cards, a princess crown, a butterfly mask, and a cupcake giftcard holder! admittedly, i only have a couple sheets of patterned paper left... in scraps, at that! but i've still got plenty of cardstock, more than half a page of tags, most of a pack of thickers, almost all of my epoxy stickers, half a dozen chipboard birds, some vintage book paper, two-thirds of a roll of tissue tape, and a bunch of vintage buttons; if i sat down and thought about it carefully, i bet i could knock out 4 or 5 more cards! what can i tell you, these are pixie kits are ♥GENEROUS♥... and a lot of fun to play with, as well!

but don't take my word for it, head over to the pixie blog and see what my brilliant fellow pixies have done with their kits so far!!!

SOS22: dia de los muertos

2011-10-18T07:56:00.008-04:00

this week at shopping our stash, for challenge 22, miss carla has given us a fabulous inspiration picture and/or the task of using the upcoming mexican holiday "dia de los muertos" (which honors loved ones who have passed away) as our theme:

i'm not sure why, but as soon as someone says "dia de los muertos" i immediately think of frida kahlo! i suppose it's because she was a mexican artist who used themes of death and afterlife in her art?? anyway, i realize that might not be an automatic association for anyone else, so forgive me if my card's a bit OUT THERE, but i quite like it!

(frida photo from t'internet, printed on glossy photo paper; patterned paper: authentique; black glossy cardstock: ranger; flowers: prima, making memories & petaloo; borders: fancy pants and studio calico; stickers: fancy pants; beads: mostly from michaels; skulls and copper wire bought ages ago from toho shoji in nyc; ink: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, hot glue)

in terms of product everything except the spider web paper (gift from stef!) and the frida pic is serrrrrrrrriously OLD stash: various beads strung on copper wire, tacked with hot glue and twisted into shape (including some skulls i was "saving" for a special occasion!); a gazzillion older paper flowers in greens and yellows framing the focal image; a couple of tiny stickers as a sentiment and that's about it!

why not drop by shopping our stash this week, see the gorgeous DT cards, and maybe link up something of your own??! i'd love to see you there! ♥

a fair pair of square (cards)

2011-10-17T00:03:00.000-04:00

if you stop by the pixie blog today you can see my latest pixie dust paperie project...

...or should i say projects, since it's actually TWO cards? i made them using this month's kit, BLUE MOON, which i had as much fun working with as i did assembling all the bits and bobs! of course the VERY BEST part of being a "kit designer" is seeing what other people will make using it, and in this respect my fellow pixies DO NOT disappoint!!! yet another reason to hop over there, eh??!?! ♥

i have NO free time...

2011-10-16T05:47:00.005-04:00

...which is why i just spent twenty minutes making a totally pointless piece of digi-art using one of the photos from the new york trip i took with stephanie this week:

the photograph is of my shadow on concrete, taken near chelsea market, where we had the most magnificent picnic lunch on tuesday, after walking the high line, but before shopping at the ink pad and visiting the museum at the fashion institute of technology.

i know that i could have spent the time it took to make this A LOT more productively; i could have edited some of the sensible photos i took, or written a cool description of the whole day like stef has been doing on her blog this week, or even checking off one of the gazillion things on my to-do list. but this was really fun and i like how it turned out. everything else will get done... i hope... and i'll have a much more sensible post for you tomorrow. promise! ♥

JB42: a caroling we will go!

2011-10-14T00:01:00.007-04:00

not for the first time, we ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ are embracing holiday music in our choice of prompts... but this time, there's a twist: *YOU* get to choose the tune! yep, this week, we're asking you to create a card based on any christmas carol or holiday song you like; anything is fair game, from "oh holy night" to "dreidel, dreidel, dreidel" to "grandma got run over by a reindeer"!

here's a little story only a BIG LAUREN could write: we've been using song titles all year. many of 'em were my suggestion. i've used sheet music at least once a month in one of my JB cards. but when i sat down this week i went totally BLANK!!!!!!!!!!! :) luckily, i had my file of cool vintage xmas stuff close at hand and riffling through i found this sheet music, which set me on the right course (phew!):

(vintage: sheet music; postcard: downloaded from t'internet & printed on photo paper; patterned paper: tim holtz, creative imaginations, paper co; decorative border: k&co; florals: michaels; brads: my mind's eye; edge punches: recollections, martha stewart; stickers: martha stewart, making memories; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner)

and now i hope you'll pick a song, make a card, and link up at JINGLE BELLES by next wednesday night so we can all come admire your cleverness!!! ♥

butterfly masquerade... redux!

2011-10-13T00:02:00.002-04:00

this month, while making my projects to celebrate the pixie dust paperie's one year anniversary, i decided it would be fun to look back at everything i've made with my kits this year and pick half a dozen or so to "re-make" in honor of this milestone! today's project recreates the butterfly mask i made for july's pixie group project, but in a completely different way, since this time i am using the BLUE MOON kit.

i honestly don't know which one i like better... but i can definitely say i'll be making EVEN MORE of these because they are just soooooooooooo much fun! hop over to the PDP blog to see more photos, etc! ♥

start spreadinnnnnnnnnnnn' the news...

2011-10-10T05:31:00.007-04:00

hello, darlings!

guess where i am?

here's a hint:

and another hint:

here's my companion and i at the brooklyn botanic garden yesterday:

here's one of our favorite exhibits from the brooklyn museum:

here's the outstanding whitefish bagel and pastrami sandwich we shared last night at sarge's deli:

jealous yet??!?!?!

excellent.

then i think my work here is done! :)

no seriously, stef and i are having a fabulous long weekend in new york city, the only thing that could possibly make it even better is if you were ALL here, too!!! back later this week, hope you're having a great one, too, wherever you are! ♥♥♥

blue moon baby book (& a SECRET one day deal!!!)

2011-10-08T00:01:00.001-04:00

today's project on the pixie dust paperie blog is this fun baby-themed minibook i made using the BLUE MOON anniversary kit:

at the risk of being increasingly obnoxious as the month goes on, i have to tell you i am inordinately proud of my projects this month--i think they are some of my very best work! well, i guess it's not exactly a mystery that if *I* chose all the items that went into the kit, they'd be things of which i am especially fond, and thus i'd be even more usually comfortable using them, design-wise, right? i hope you'll swing over to the pixie blog and see ALL the photos of this little book--i've shown the inside pages in detail, and talked about the specific products over there.

while you're there, perhaps you might like to pop into the pixie shoppe and see if there's anything which strikes your fancy??! like, perhaps, the BLUE MOON kit??!?!? i only mention it because, inspired by the very happy FIRST ANNIVERSARY of pixie dust paperie we are celebrating this month, pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe has gone just a liiiiiiiittle bit *NUTSO* with the great promotions and specials... so i took the opportunity to talk her into giving the very BEST possible deal exclusively to my blog readers! and here it is:

BUY ANY MAIN KIT

AND GET

ANY OTHER KIT

*FREE!!!!!!*

♥HOW COOL IS THAT♥??!?!?!

here's what you do:

Add a main kit of your choice into the shopping cart

and then any other kit into the cart,

type in coupon code AA7-Lauren during check out,

and the amount of the second kit will be taken off your total!!!

however...

this special is ONLY good for today:

october 8, 2011

from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM eastern time

so now my only question to you, darlings, is

*WHY* are you still here, lol??!

shouldn't you BE SHOPPING??!?!??!!

♥♥♥♥♥

JB41: i'm dreaming of a ♥PINK♥ christmas

2011-10-07T00:02:00.005-04:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we're doing something completely different, and even a bit philanthropic! in honor of breast cancer awareness month we're asking everyone to turn their holiday cards PINK this week-- in recognition of which, stef and i will each be donating a dollar for every card linked up by the deadline to susan g. komen for the cure!

i'm really excited about this one, because i am secretly (well, secretly until now!) hoping we'll get THE MOST CARDS EVER and raise loads of money for a fabulous cause!

also, i just really *like* pink christmas cards, too! :) :) :)

(patterned paper: sei, the paper co; eiffel tower fabric paper: michael miller memories; snowflakes: jolees; roses: prima, recollections; plastic and fabric thickers: american crafts; ribbon: tim holtz, ki memories; ink: colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape, tombow monorunner, sewing machine)

i know a lot of people wonder *HOW* i mail cards that are as lumpy as this; but a lot of my cards go into packages with gifts. also, i am well known at the post office as the lady who sends A LOT of cards that are reinforced with corrugated cardboard and taped securely into padded jiffy mailers. yep, it costs a little more, but i enjoy the freedom of making unique and crazy cards! :)

i hope you'll come and join us at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ this week, make a card--or two, or three--and help us make some money for a wonderful cause! inlinkz closes at 6pm next wednesday, so what are you waiting for??!?! ♥♥♥

once in a ♥BLUE MOON♥!

2011-10-05T05:37:00.006-04:00

it's october 5th! it's october 5th!!!

sorry, but i'm just a little bit excited! because, as i mentioned the other day, my dear pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe gave *ME* the very great privilege of assembling this month's pixie dust paperie kit--which is called BLUE MOON--and today is the official release!

here's the official kit photo from the pixie shoppe:

you can see loads more photos today on the pixie blog; or you can read the entire supply list here; or see some DT project teasers on this post! by the way, every day this month you'll see a new and different project on the pixie blog using this kit, made by me or one of my amazing fellow pixies! oh and be on the lookout for kirsty's special ANNIVERSARY ALERTS this month... because we've just celebrated an entire year of pixie goodness and when pixies party, EVERYONE has fun!!! :)

there's A LOT of good stuff in here, if i do say so myself; well heck, it *IS* a pixie kit, afterall! the papers are mostly double-sided and have loads of blue (hence the name!) but also touches of yellow, pink and red; plus lots of luscious neutral shades to tie everything together. for embellishments (the best bit, right?!) there are cardstock tags, chipboard birds ready to be decorated, fabulous super-fun epoxy stickers, a huge rhinestone and pearl flourish, gorgeous creamy linen flowers, fabric thickers, tissue tape... c'mon admit it, you would know this was MY kit just from the list, wouldn't ya??!

in addition to having all of my favorite kinds of stuff, this kit also has a little bit of my ACTUAL vintage stuff!

there's sheet music OF COURSE, because you know how much i love it--this particular book was from 1908, i believe. (the title is "modern music"!!!) you'll also get a beautifully patina-ed dictionary page (1950's, i think) with some cool little line-drawing illustrations; a page from a russian machinist's manual (i tried to specifically select ones with cool charts on 'em); some french vocabulary cards--bien sur; and of course you're going to NEED a few vintage buttons! finally, my absolutely favorite supply of the moment is denim "ribbon"--actually long strips torn from old jeans--that i think looks awesome nearly everywhere.

i hope you'll stop by the pixie blog and read more about it, and stay tuned for another pixie project of mine on saturday! ♥

ANOTHER exciting thing...

2011-10-04T05:09:00.007-04:00

...that is starting in october... is my ETSY shop!!!

this is something i've been dreaming about, plotting and planning for the last year or so, and it's finally come true! i've started small, but hope to add more--and different--products as i go along. eventually, i'd like to have some journals and other things i've *MADE* in there, but at the moment i'm focusing on supplies for papercrafters, specifically, themed ephemera packs for collage, art journals, cardmaking, scrapping, etc! my "product line" (if i may be so bold) is called "JUST ENOUGH STUFF" and the packs look something like this:

see, everyone knows how much i ♥LOVE♥ using this sort of ephemera in my cards and artwork-- everything from music paper to playing cards to foreign text paper, vintage illustrations, leftover board game pieces, even bits of lace and ribbon and old millinery supplies! well, being the sort of person who likes that kind of stuff, of course i am drawn to garage sales, flea markets, thrift shops, rummage sales, etc. basically if you're in central new jersey or eastern pennsylvania and you set a sign out in your yard or at your church or firehouse, and you wait long enough... eventually, i *WILL* show up!!!

so of course over the years, i've amassed quite a cool collection of goodies. more, in fact, than one crafter could use in a lifetime... or ten!!! :) but here's the thing i realized a couple of years ago: the fun part is to have a nice SELECTION! especially if someone else can do the time- and space-consuming part that involves finding ten--or twenty--DIFFERENT books of sheet music, so that as crafters we can have the fun of lots of VARIETY, without all that "hunting and gathering"!

in the photo above you can see how many different sources i used to make my "deluxe sheet music assortments". here is what it looks like when you grab one sheet from each:

and HERE is what it looks like when someone (that'd be ME!) packs them up neatly into a notebook-ready page protector, and puts a pretty topper on them:

so far i have three different themes: sheet music, foreign text, and nature... but i have LOTS more ideas for the future!!!

currently, each theme is available in two different sized packets: a petite assortment (10+ sheets in each) and a deluxe assortment (20+ sheets). i also have "eclectic decks" of cards in which you get more than *52* different cards in a "full deck" (these include playing cards, flash cards, vocabulary cards, game cards, etc) or 26+ in a "half-a-deck". those look like this:

all of these different selections are in my etsy right now and available for purchase. ...OR... if that's a bit more vintage stuff than you'd like to start out with, i'm VERY pleased to announce that in addition to loads of lovely BRAND NEW product, some of my own personal ephemera collection is featured in this month's pixie dust paperie kit, BLUE MOON. that goes on sale tomorrow, in the pixie shoppe, at which time i'll be talking a bit more about it!

finally, if you're the sort of person who likes to SEE things in person before buying them, and you happen to live within travelling distance of new york city, i am beyond happy to announce that a range of "JUST ENOUGH STUFF" packets are available at the ink pad, in their new location at 37 seventh avenue. even if you have ZERO interest in my vintage bits and bobs, if you're able to stop in there, i highly recommend the trip, as anna and barbara and the whole gang are some of the nicest--and most creative--folks in new york city, and the selection of rubber stamps and papercrafting supplies is UNBEATABLE! if you go... and trust me, you SHOULD GO... tell 'em lauren sent ya!

i'll be bragging more... or rather--AHEM-- "discussing my new etsy venture in further detail" (yeah, that sounds better!) in future, so stay tuned! in the meantime,

♥wish me luck, darlings!♥

it's a very exciting day!

2011-10-01T00:01:00.002-04:00

today at pixie dust paperie we are celebrating our anniversary! can you believe that an entire YEAR has elapsed since pixie-in-chief kirsty vittetoe made the dream of starting her own papercrafting kit club come true?! nope, me neither, but i am so proud and happy that she invited me to share the fun each month, making projects and meeting fellow pixies from all over the world! if you have a little time today, why not stop over at the pixie blog and say "congrats" to kirsty on this very cool milestone?!

and just like the first day of every month for the past year, today also marks the first "designer preview day" for the new kit, and i am quite honored that the project in question is mine, and it looks a bit like this:

it's an official princess crown, made especially for niece ♥lindsay marie♥ whose birthday is tomorrow! (you might recall that i made a different crown in february for lindsay's sister riley elizabeth.) i hope you'll hop over and check out the official post, because i am pretty pleased with how this turned out, but you just cannot get the whole idea in ONE photo!

but first i am very excited indeed to reveal that this month's special anniversary kit is called BLUE MOON was put together by yours truly! yes, for the second time (the first was in january) miss kirsty gave me the honor of choosinge all the ingredients, and boy did i ever have a GREAT TIME!

i've packed in as many of my favorite crafty necessities as humanly possible: fabulous double-sided papers... elegant fabric flowers... ready-to-alter chipboard... fun epoxy stickers... an awesome alphabet... some tasty vintage goodies from my own personal stash... and OF COURSE it wouldn't be a "laureny" kit without a bit of bling in there, right??! :)

yep, i'm very proud of what's IN the kit, and i'm extremely happy with the projects i've made, but i'm even more excited about what my fellow pixies cheryl nelson, kirsty vittetoe, and our special guest designer jill sarginson have done! don't take my word for it--you can see a little sneaky peek in yesterday's pixie post!

i hope you'll stay tuned for three more awesome designer days coming up, followed by the "big reveal" on october 5th. oh and you'll want to check in at the PDP blog as often as possible this month because i happen to know that kirsty has a few surprises up her sleeve and you never know what might be going on over there if you don't visit! ♥♥♥

JB40: peace on earth

2011-09-30T00:04:00.004-04:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we are attempting to create peace on earth!!!

ok, that might be a bit ambitious. howsabout we attempt to create christmas cards with a "peace" theme, instead? that's a bit more do-able! :) all you have to do to join in is make a holiday card that features a peace sign, the word "PEACE", or evokes a peaceful feeling to you... as conveyed by woodland scene, maybe? or a starry night? or a dove? feel free to go as wild or as tame as you like, just make with the peace, baby!

i went with the word "PEACE" mostly because i found this gorgeously rendered version in my stash of vintage cards:

(vintage christmas cards; patterned paper: my mind's eye, scrapworks; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i cut out the center of the letter "P" in order to incorporate an element from a second vintage card--the beautiful dove! i fussy cut his wings and tail so that it would seem like he was emerging from the card. after that, i *tried* to add a bunch of embellishments, but the card resisted such blandishments and asked to be left in... well, PEACE... so i just stuck on a couple of coordinating mats and called it a day! :)

if you stop by ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ you can see miss stephanie's card and peruse the gallery... a trip that is always well worth making! if you'd like to participate, inlinkz will be open until next wednesday! see you over there!

SEPT--instant accordion booklet

2011-09-28T00:02:00.003-04:00

possibly my favorite project from september's pixie dust paperie kit, TECOLOTE, is the mini-accordion book i made for my friend paul's birthday:

it holds a hand-stamped poem called "field guide" by paul's favorite american poet, tony hoagland. it's an unusual project, but i think it's really fun and sort of different, and i hope you'll hit the pixie blog and check it out today! ♥

do we really need a monday EVERY week??!?!

2011-09-26T05:41:00.002-04:00

surely twice a month would be enough. seriously. i say we take a vote. in the meantime, here is a cheezburger to start your day off right:

you're welcome, darlings!

♥♥♥

burlap background card

2011-09-24T00:02:00.001-04:00

today on the pixie blog, you can see one of my favorite cards i made from this month's TECOLOTE kit. it's got butterflies and blossoms; punched circles and inked edges; pearls and organza and burlap!

my favorite part is the contrast between the various elements... and the sort of "funky elegance" it has. there's a bigger picture of the entire card on the PDP blog. where, at the same time, you can see a lovely card by my very dear fellow pixie, cheryl nelson... which makes the trip AT LEAST doubly cool, dontcha think??! ♥

JB39: here come suzy snowflake!

2011-09-23T00:01:00.007-04:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ our lovely guest star did something i was not sure anyone COULD do at this point: she came up with an absolutely *wonderful* 1950's christmas song i had never heard (!!!) ...and suggested we use it as inspiration to make our cards! the lady in question is the mega-talented marie bingaman, and the song is suzy snowflake, as sung by rosemary clooney! you can hear it at youtube by clicking the link, meanwhile here are the lyrics:

Here comes Suzy Snowflake

Dressed in a snow-white gown

Tap, tap, tappin' at your windowpane

To tell you she's in town.

Here comes Suzy Snowflake

Soon you will hear her say

Come out ev'ryone and play with me

I haven't long to stay.

If you want to make a snowman

I'll help you make it, one, two, three.

If you want to take a sleigh ride

Whee! The ride's on me.

Here comes Suzy Snowflake

Look at her tumblin' down

Bringing joy to ev'ry girl and boy

Suzy's come to town.

If you want to make a snowman

I'll help you make it, one, two, three

If you want to take a sleigh ride

Whee! The ride's on me.

Here comes Suzy Snowflake

Look at her tumblin' down

Bringing joy to ev'ry girl and boy

Suzy's come to town.

so this week we're asking for holiday cards that capture any aspect of the song that inspires you; just off the top of my head, i can think of: snowflakes, wintery landscapes, sledding, sleigh rides, and snowmen... but i am sure there are plenty i am missing out! i went with the eponymous snowflake motif, but as i worked i realized that another aspect of the song which had inspired me was the "vintage" angle, so i kind of used that as a secondary theme:

(sheet music & sled image from t'internet; patterned paper: bo bunny; cardstock: core'dinations; sparkly vintage inspired snowflakes: k&co; heart gems: recollections; inks: ranger & colorbox; adhesives: uhu gluestick, tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

i downloaded a facsimile of the sheet music for the song, printed it on creamy paper, then distressed it up with inks. i had an unopened packet of those sparkly silver snowflakes which i broke into joyously; i just needed a focal point, but a google image search spoilt me for choice! the result is a card that doesn't actually look like i thought it would... but is maybe EVEN BETTER! :)

and now, why not pop over to JINGLE BELLES, see the amazing cards that marie and stephanie have made, and start thinking about your own inspiration for suzy snowflake!!! ♥

summing up all of literature with admirable brevity...

2011-09-22T06:02:00.005-04:00

so what are you reading right now?

alternately, what's the last thing you read that made you want to walk up to strangers, thrust the book at them and say, "READ THIS! g'head, i'll wait!"*

i'm reading arrow of the blue skinned god by jonah blank. it's a half a re-telling of the ramayana** and half a travelogue by a man who re-traced rama's journey in modern times. it's very cool, if you like india and/or hindu mythology. (which i do!) :)

i'm listening to in the garden of beasts, which is quite wonderful but rather depressing, being set in berlin, 1933, where the nazis are gaining power, the holocaust is brewing, and our luxurious 20/20 hindsight tells us that the worst is yet to come. (a much less horrifying book by erik larson is the devil in the white city!)

but i am still looking for a few good reads, so i'd ♥love♥ to hear your input!

i may be spending a bit of time on airplanes in october... and on the beach... good readin' venues... just sayin'... :) :) :)

*i mean metaphorically. irl, this would probably be a bad idea. unless you're oprah, in which case, carry on!

**speaking of the ramayana... sita sings the blues is one of the best and most original films i have ever seen. even if you're NOT very interested in the subject (india; hindu folk tales) it's arguably worth watching just for the amazing and unique animation style(s)! truly mind-blowing!

a SUPER-adaptable idea!

2011-09-20T05:33:00.002-04:00

if this card looks familiar to you, you're not imagining things! i made an eerily similar one earlier this year. but guy cards are *HARD*... and it just so happens that i know quite a few fellas of various ages who really like superheroes... and the paper with the stars is the PERFECT background... so sue me, i "recycled" the idea!

(superheroes illustration from t'internet; patterned paper: my mind's eye; black glossy card stock: ranger; thickers: american crafts; glittery star stickers: ek success, recolored with red copic marker; label: dymo; inks: colorbox; adhesives: tombow monorunner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine)

to tell the truth, when i sat down to make this, i almost felt a little guilty about the fact that it was not a brand new, completely original idea. and then i thought, "WHY??!" we wear outfits more than once. we use dinner recipes more than once. some of us have been known to watch our favorite films repeatedly. why should i feel it's necessary to "reinvent the wheel" with every single greeting card? so i told myself to lighten up, made the card you see above (quite quickly!) and gave it to my favorite young neighbor, john.

and guess what?! he LOVED it, as did his mama. although he did mention quietly that he actually prefers batman to superman and wished that batman was standing at the front of the group. i told him he'd have to take that up with the superfriends. i just make cards! :)

it's a bird... it's a plane...

2011-09-18T00:01:00.003-04:00

...it's a butterfly! several, in fact. and talk about a "teaser"; i'm only going to show you THIS MUCH of today's pixie project:

...because i'm HOPING you'll be intrigued enough to pop over to the pixie blog, check out the rest of the photos, see the whole project, (hint: the post title is "butterfly bouquet by lauren bergold") check out september's TECOLOTE kit, and just generally have a fabulous time.

so is it working??!?!?! :) :) :)

JB38: happy hybrid holidays!

2011-09-16T00:03:00.009-04:00

this week at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we are very excited to be trying something BRAND NEW (to us!) we're delving into the world of digital/hybrid for this prompt and inviting you to make a holiday card that utilizes at least one digital stamp or element. luckily, we have a very lovely and very generous sponsor... robyn's fetish digital stamps and more!

not only did those wonderful ladies give stef and i some very tasty digi-stuffs to use; they also sent along their very talented and incredibly friendly DT coordinator, susan paulson, to guest design with us; as well as sponsoring a rather awesome prize for one lucky cardmaker who links up with us this week; AND we are especially excited that they have provided a *FREE* image for ANY belle who'd like to use it!

yep... it's a JINGLE BELL!!! :) check out today's official post at for complete details on all of the above!

and now here's my card, i'm pretty pleased with it, actually:

(digital stamps: christmas twee and christmas presents by robyn's fetish digital stamps and more; patterned paper: ki memories, girls' paperie, prima, bo bunny, dcwv, love elsie, anna griffin, mme, basic grey; gems: recollections; inks: colorbox; adhesives: xyron, 3m foam tape, tombow monorunner; other: full sheet clear labels from staples, sewing machine)

you can see that i've done some old school paper piecing. what may be less obvious is the fact that again i've printed multiple copies of my two digi-stamps onto clear inkjet labels; in that way i can use up all my TINY scraps of patterned paper that wouldn't fit through my printer. also, i can print once and then go sit in the living room to make my card. because YEAH... sometimes my "process" is that scientific! :)

i hope you'll hop over to jingle belles and see the gorgeous cards made by miss stephanie and miss susan using images from robyn's fetish and that you'll be inspired to make a hybrid card of your very own this week for a shot at the FABULOUS prize! ♥

home is where the ♥ is!

2011-09-14T00:01:00.011-04:00

a little while ago, the lovely and amazing marisol gave me a very cool set of three alterable "art blanche" panels attached by rings, which turned out to be the PERFECT setting for an idea that had been trying to take shape in my head for quite a while. in retrospect i realize the reason it was "stuck" was that up until then, i didn't have the right ingredients for it!

flash forward to the arrival of september's TECOLOTE pixie dust kit... with EXACTLY the right mix of colors and patterns... and SHAZAM! i knew i could finally make it work. the result is one of those rare and cool times when the finished project was actually EVEN COOLER than the version that was inside my head!

not that you can really TELL from this photo, taken in the only spot with enough blank wall, or rather closet door... but not quiiiiiiiiiiiite enough light... to do it justice:

here's a photo that doesn't show the length, but you can see the details a bit better:

but really, you need to head over to the pixie dust paperie blog to see ALL the photos--there are some good close-ups and lots more text! plus, as always, there's DAILY inspiration from m'colleagues, and cool things like challenges and giveaways... you know, if ya like that sorta thing... :) :) :)

...all the GOOD blog names were taken...

the reason we finally got roller shades:

go wild on your birthday!

JB12-03: a banner holiday!

(non-crafty) things i've been doing...

happy birthday girl frame

SOS35: winter blues

"sparkle" gift box

JB12-02: take two

multi-tasking giftcard holder

"j'adore" card

SOS35: across the border

now i want long hair, and a pet chameleon!

"100 hearts" valentines minibook

JB12-02: sketching through the snow!

everything i love about challenges...

january pixie challenge: ♥LOVE NOTES♥

SOS34-all that glitters...

one more "wrap star" moment...

oof! forgot to show these!

JB12-01... card two! :)

my furniture smells like a locker-room full of freshly showered 5th grade girls... circa 1974*...

whole lotta "LOVE NOTES"

SOS33: challenge rewind!

first card of 2012!

Мы долго смеялись!

JB12:01: no time like the present(s)!

pink parisienne pixie card

it's like deja vu, all over again!

not a creature was stirring...

singing joyfully... on christmas eve!

twas the night BEFORE...

recycling... in action!

one of the silliest things i've ever made...

"bonne annee" mes amies!

christmas poem mini album

palmistry

i'm pretty sure normal people...

paris collage card

seriously serendipitous SOS30!

this one doesn't even need a caption!

"love you" card

go HOG WILD on your birthday!

"a date which will live in infamy"...

SOS29: light or white

on second thought...

holiday house recipe box

birthday cake inspector...

yep. he's *GOOD*!

happy birdie 2U!

JB48: candy kisses

prepare for cuteness overload!!!

"mahalo" card

a grungy hybrid* baby card

why yes, i DID make a hawaiian travel book!

JB47: the hanukkah song

i know this one! I KNOW THIS ONE!!!

a random hawaii photo & a suggestion

put down your beverage...

JB46: stuck on you!

aloha, hawaii!

snow far, snow good

JB45: it came upon a midnight *CLEAR*

"card" might be the wrong word...

"D♥R♥E♥A♥M" banner (& giveaway!)

JB44: not a CREATURE was stirring

a photo geography quiz!

delicious blue moon cupcake

embellished shopping bag

JB43: softly falling snow

birdsong...

SOS22: dia de los muertos

a fair pair of square (cards)

i have *NO* free time...

JB42: a caroling we will go!

butterfly masquerade... redux!

start spreadinnnnnnnnnnnn' the news...

blue moon baby book (& a SECRET one day deal!!!)

JB41: i'm dreaming of a ♥PINK♥ christmas

once in a ♥BLUE MOON♥!

yep. he's GOOD!

JB45: it came upon a midnight CLEAR

i have NO free time...