Rosette Swap Reveal

Hey Girls! Want to see what I got?

It's elegant...classy...and has hand-beading....

Oh ~ did I mention there are more than one of them???

But I think what I love the best about my new pretty is how how much loving care went into the creation of my Rosette...

My awesome swap sister is Sandy Navarro of SMN Designs! If you haven't seen her blog, please do look! She is such a super-sweet person ~ I know because we "met" through an on-line scrapbook club a couple of years ago but lost touch with each other. What a small world! Thank you so much Sandy! I absolutely love my rosette!

My Apologies & a Peek Into My "Big Art Project"

Let me start by apologizing for not visiting all of you yet for the French Cupboard's Paperie Party. I started to play and then got overwhelmed by life and so I have not yet had a chance to come see you all.

The last couple of days I have been reminded of a very important lesson and ironically, I am being reminded of this as I work on a my "huge" artistic venture, which happens to be for Dia de los Muertos.

My Ex-husband's Uncle Felix passed away on Saturday August 21, 2010.
While I'm not an official member of the family anymore, I was sad to hear about Uncle Felix. I really liked him. Uncle Felix was a very sweet 80 year old man who loved his family. It wasn't at all unusual to see Uncle Felix sitting in the corner of any family function with a smile on his face and a glimmer of pride and amusement in his eyes as he watched the hustle and bustle of the younger family members doing what they do.

And for the last week, my 7 year old son has been helping me with my Dia de los Muertos project...

So I thought I would take this opportunity to teach my son, and anyone else that visits my blog, about some of the cultural beliefs of his ancestors, while we remember Uncle Felix, as well as Grandma Margaret and Grandma B...
My posts may be sporadic over the next few weeks, but please follow along to learn more about one of the most important celebrations of life in the Mexican Culture; Dia de los Muertos.

French Cupboard Paperie Party

Happy Friday Girls! Just popping in really quick to post my paper creationbefore I head out the door for work. TGIF!

I used a little wooden cheese box (the kind that brie is packaged in) to create this romantic project.

Since it is Friday and I still have a minute before I have to go I have to leave, I'll share a little peek at one of my recent flea market finds...

I love the Vintage Cat's Eye Glasses ~ they are heavy as the lenses are made of glass. What's even cooler is that I scored them for $1.00! Woo-Hoo!!!

Thank you so much for stoppping in. I hope you have a beautiful and blessed day!

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” ~ Tom Stoppard

While reading through several blogs yesterday, I had the pleasant surprise of finding a blog that I had never seen before and OMG, I fell in love... Gail of Little Beach Designs had posted that she had put new items for sale in her Etsy Shop and being the shop-aholic that I am, I had to go see....

The first thing that caught my attention was this beautiful boudoir doll.

I really love her!!! She's sassy and classy ~ just what I like to see a lady be!

What I especially love about her though, is that she reminds me of the boudoir doll that my Grandma has in her guest room. Wow, she brings back memories...smiles...I swear this gal could be sisters with my Grandma's doll!

After I spent a few minutes drooling over her, I went back to the store front of Little Beach Designs and began looking at Gail's other items...Gail is really an awesome artist! Her creations are so cute and original...Just one example of Gail's work is this Vintage Cabinet Card Doll

One thing that I really appreciate in art, is a piece that has been created with love and attention to detail. That is something that Gail must appreciate as well because you can tell by looking at her art that she has put her heart and soul into each piece that she creates.

This Back To School Collage is a perfect example of what I'm talking about...

front

Gail definitely pays alot of attention to detail, as seen below...Not only does she make the front of her art look great, but she also gives each piece a little extra attention by finishing the back side of her art pieces.

back

I know (and I'm sure Gail does too) that alot of people won't take the time to look at the back of a piece of art, but those that do, will see that when she makes her art, she takes that little bit of extra time to make her art all the more special just by adding those little extra touches.

¡Ay, Caramba!

So much has been happening here these last couple of weeks and I'm about ready to crash & burn. Nothing really devastating - just alot of little things that are starting to add up. But I can't rest yet ~ there's too much to be done right now.

My husband & I have been blessed with a fabulous opportunity to sell our art and although nothing has been created yet for the upcoming event that we're preparing for, there has been alot of positive reaction to what we're planning & we both have a really good feeling about this! I'm already having people request specific color schemes and this is an event that is expecting over 7000 visitors! (More info to come as the event draws closer.)

All I can say for now is that I have until September 19th to make as many of these lil' creations as I can, as well as print greeting cards & prints of my husband's art. I put hubby to work making new designs just for this event. (Just because he's not here, doesn't mean that he doesn't help in any way he can! Bless his heart! He really is a sweetie!!!)

I received a beautiful Rosette from my Rosette Swap Sister. Thank you, Sandy!

My son started 2nd grade on Monday and my daughter starts at our community college on Monday. Yikes! I'm only 37 - much too young to have a child in college!

I've been having problems with my home Internet so I have been limited on "me time" on the computer so posting has been a challenge lately. This post is being typed from work (Sssshhhh!) I do have some neat pictures to share of a local road trip we went on last weekend so look for those soon.

On another note, I found a really inspiring blog and it just so happens that she's having an Anniversary Give-Away...Tracy of Cotton Pickin Cute has the most gorgeous up-cycled, and handmade items to give away. Please visit her blog and say hello.

So, I apologize for the lack of pictures but pictures or not, I was determined to post today! Wishing you a blessed and beautiful day!

{{{HUGS}}}

Jennifer

For The Love of Paper

I am sooo in love with paper...It's such a versatile medium. You can create almost anything you could think of using paper ~ even a wedding dress.

And I love Paper Sky - a brick and mortar stationary store in San Luis Obispo, California.

And I also love the style of Anahata Katkin!



I think I'll visit the Paper Sky while I'm in San Luis tomorrow. You have a wonderful weekend!

Free Vintage Images...Road Trip Anyone?

I just wanted to post a couple of free vintage images real quick before I go on our little camping trip this weekend. I'm in the mood for a Road Trip theme today but most of my images are buried in a box in the closet & I'm in a hurry to get going so that I'm a little better equipped for the outdoors than this lovely lady was.



The images above are from my personal collection. Please feel free to use it if you'd like to. (You can make them larger by right-clicking on the photo.)

I also visited a couple of other blogs that offer free images and thought "I hate to post this way but why not spread some love to other bloggers since they're kind enough to share thier images?!" There are so many great blogs that offer free vintage images so it was very hard to limit myself to just two for today's post...

This cute little girl is from Marie's Freebies Thanks Marie!



And I found these gals at The Graphics Fairy. Wow - these ladies look like they'd be fun to "roll with"...(I know - really bad pun!) Thank you Karen!



Last, but not least, I thought this post might fit in well with The French Cupboard's August Black Friday Blog Party today since Jill posted about August being the time of year that most Americans travel & since I posted my black & white images. Please stop by and check out all of the neat things other bloggers are sharing at the party!

I hope you all have a relaxing, but fun weekend! See you gals in a couple of days...