Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Long Update - See U L8R!

It's been a busy 2 weeks since I've posted. We're off to the World of Disney (hallelujah!) in the morning and have been closely watching the reports of Hurricane Ernesto. Looks like he has quieted down, so when we fly in to Orlando tomorrow, it might be just be to alittle rain (hallelujah again!) We've planned this trip with family for awhile now and are so looking forward to it! I'll send you a postcard if you want one. *wink* Email with your address to kristuey@sbcglobal.net. We're staying in a nice house too!

I'm so excited about a new purchase! Okay, semi-excited. We bought a new camera. Olympus SP-500 uz. I really wanted a Canon S3 IS but I was so slow in researching them that I didn't have time at the last minute to get the one I wanted off of eBay. So I picked this one up from Sams. It does have the MP's I want as well as the optical zoom. If it turns out to annoy me too much not to have an Image Stabilizer, I'll take it back. Hoping it works out for all our trip to Disney. I'm looking forward to filming the sunset on St. Pete Beach, which is our first night's stop (and then back to Orlando for Disney.) If you have either of these, give me a review, would love to hear about them!

Okay, what has been happening in my art world? It's been a blur, really. I worked on some ATCs, an envelope album (in the shape of a purse) and a few other things. Before we leave tomorrow I need to make 4 autograph books. I'll post when they're finished (if I like them.) Don't have pics of everything else (except the purse which is for ScrapAddict DT and I can't show it here yet...)

I did finally pack up my fabric & trims for the partners I'm sending to in my Fall Fabric & Trims Swap on Swap-Bot. I've rec'd a beautiful package of fabrics from one partner. I'll have to post a pic of it all when we get back from our trip (too swamped now.)

I still have a growing list to take care of before we head out the door:
1 - go to the post office
2 - go to the library
3 - pick up DH from work
4 - make autograph books (4)
5 - find my bathing suit
6 - buy Disney Tickets (wonder if I can still do this online? )
7 - return a couple thousand emails. ha
8 - check over all things packed and make sure the cats aren't in the suitcases
9 - shower
10 - get a bit of sleep before the buzzer goes off in the early morn

See you all when I get back (unless I get a moment to post from Florida!)

Friday, August 18, 2006

Can't Help Myself!

I'm just so enamored with my new Jacquard trims I won on eBay, I keep using them. So I decided to share some with the world. Okay, not the world, but with partners. I started a Swap-Bot Swap just for Jacquard Ribbons. It closes September 15th, and you send ribbons by October 6th (MY BIRTHDAY!). You'll find these ribbons are fabulous for tote bag handles, trims on other sewing projects, great for scrapbooking and fabulous in collage (also for tails on bookmarks, see previous post.) Who wants some of my yummy ribbons? Join my swap and maybe I'll get YOUR name!

Sewing Machine Deficient Still...

Okay, to heck with waiting for the sewing machine I can't seem to go buy. I will soon, I swear. But tonight I wanted to make a couple bookmarks for this swap I'm in at Swap-Bot and wanted to sew a bit on them. The first one is all handsewn wool and woolfelt. Lovin' my new 'vintage trim' purchase on ebay; I used it as the 'tail'. I like how it came out. I collaged the second one just for fun. A little lovey-dovey is always good. I hope my Bookmark recipient enjoys them.

Off to catch up on my Press Your Luck shows I've taped. *wink*

P.S. If you're a Press Your Luck fan like me, you'll find this interesting...

Monday, August 14, 2006

More Art, Trade

LAST CALL for the Fabric Swap I'm running at Swap-Bot. It closes this week! Come join me!

So, I took
Audrey's advise (who commented on my last post) and got FireFox Browser. I was able to upload all the pics to the previous post, so go check them out. I was on a 'pile' kick as usual this weekend. I cleaned my table and had a pile of little scraps, pics and also some new rubons my secret sister sent me (swap at ScrapAddict). I made a few ATCs just for fun. Ended up sending some away but a couple are up for grabs. Anyone want to trade an ATC for whatever? An ATC, something handmade, a small baggie of collage stuff, whatever you want to send? Just comment with which one you want and your email and I"ll contact you for your address. Available (Top Middle 'FLIRT' and 'Top Right 'DEVOTION', 2nd pic 'MY HARDY LIFE')

The Feather ATC is for a GlitterGals swap and the other ATCs made it into pretty little packages for my Ribbon Swap Partners. I hope they like their packages which go out today.



By the way, if anyone is interested in the Watership Down book that I mentioned in my last post, I would trade it for some artsy stuff. Something you've made, collage materials, ATCs, etc... Surprise me. First person to holler, it goes to. Good read.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Time For Me

Sometimes things just fall into place unexpectedly. DH had to go pick up DD #1 and decided to let DD #2 tag a long. Little thing right? They ended up going to play miniature golf and going to the mall, eating out and shopping. 7 hours to myself! Can you believe it?! I can't. I cleaned the floor in my art room (yes, there were piles there too) and my main desk and pretended there weren't any other messes and set down and finished some ATCs I started last night at a crop.

The ATCs are for a lovely 'Children W/Party hats' swap run by the hugely talented Audrey on SmallCreations.



Had a wonderful time last night. Chipotles for dinner, 'Arting' with Friends AND being in a scrapbook store. It can't get much better than that!

Made a few simple ATCs last week using up backgrounds from my background ATC swap at ArtByMoonlight. I think they came out okay.



Oh, realized I hadn't posted my collage piece I did at moms house while on vacation. It's a bit weird and I think I got carried away, but not sure how I could have fixed it! ha Oh well. Live and learn.



We had our book club meeting last week and discussed all the poignant parts of Watership Down. The house was decorated with bunnies and we had Carrot Cake for dessert. Fun times. Now we're reading the UNABRIDGED version of The Count of Monte Cristo, about 1400 pages! Who is with me? Leave me your comments if you've read the book.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Gimme Your Stuff

This is how worlds were built and brought to their knees. You could sink a thousand ships by word of mouth. Seriously!

I know it is late, really I'm just a figment of your imagination since I should be in bed. But I just had to share some 'word of mouth'. I heard about this place called 'Gimme Your Stuff' from, gosh I couldn't tell you. When I found them, I went all over looking at everyone's stuff and forgot how I originally got there. (If I figure out where, I'll let you know.) I'm in love with this concept. Basically, you join there, and then post on your site/blog what you have to trade and what you're looking for. Then someone from internationals waters who is totally on a different time zone than you and doesn't care that you're up at 2 am, will contact you to swap. This may help me get some of the international stuff I've been craving but been unwilling to buy... Here goes.

I can send:
regional food items
craft supplies (scrapbooking, stamping, papers, ephemera, vintage stuff, postcards -old/new, ribbon, fiber, fabric, etc... Name it I probably have some of it.)
Magazines, newspapers
Chocolate
Adult and children's books
souveniers from this area
name some things you want, and I'll see what I can do.

I am looking for:
Cotton Time Magazines (japanese)
Cotton & Paint Magazines (japanese)
Cottom Friend Magazines (japanese)

any other country's fabric craft magazines and/or books
any current Japanese Fashion Magazines (for my daughter)
I LOVE Japanese fabrics like these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillarylang/22126792/in/set-329669/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillarylang/22126791/in/set-329669/
http://reprodepot.com/ftflf.html
http://reprodepot.com/kmktr.html
http://reprodepot.com/etsco.html
http://reprodepot.com/etflmo.html
and any Japanese fairy tale and/or flower print fabrics like these:
http://www.kitty-craft.com/
Old print fabrics in teal, green, red, oranges, browns, etc...
German prints like these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hillarylang/29364900/in/set-329669/
Other folky print fabrics OR vintage fabrics, trims & buttons from different countries such as Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Australia, etc... Let me know what you have and I'll consider if I need it.


I'm a crafty person, what can I say?! *wink*

Email me or post with email if you are interested, and I'll contact you and work out the details.

P.S. I also joined a (click on box for link.) There is still time if you're interested in joining as well. I already have a few stitching ideas and some beautiful 1930's repro fabric I want to use.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Taste Bud Heaven...

You wouldn' t think I would have anything to complain about on this new diet which has sluffed off 11 1/2 lbs this week alone (water weight) and let me eat rice, beans and potatoes after years of trying lo-carb. But already I find myself tired of the same ole rice, etc... so off to the store I go tomorrow to spice up our food repertoire. In the meantime, DH (who is on a lo carb diet) brought home a bread mix for the breadmaker. Wheat bread. I CAN HAVE WHEAT BREAD! It's low in fat too! I cooked it, we all checked on it frequently, since you could smell it throughout the house. We impatiently waited the 10 mins to let it 'calm down' as DD Sophia said. She even got UP out of bed to come claim her piece. I cut it in the 12 servings it says to cut it in for carb/fat ratios, slathered honey on a piece for Sophia. It's heaven. Heaven on a napkin. I heaped sugar free seedless blackberry jam on my piece.

Can you say HEAVEN!?!

Fabric Swap

In case you missed my obscure mention in a previous post about me hosting a fabric swap at Swap-Bot, here is all the info. Hope you will join me.

Description:
Wouldn't it be fun to swap fall colored fabrics & a little bit of trim? Colors will be Green, Brown, Cranberry, Orange and/or Golden Yellow. Any combination of these colors. There should be 5 fabrics of at least 18" x 22" in size and 1 which is 1 meter long (1.09yard) - (please keep the original width.) Also add at least 2 yards of pretty fall ribbon, lace, old trim or ric rac (not cheap stuff, this is to be nice trim/ribbons.) Trims can be in lengths of 1/2 yard and up (totaling at least 2 yards.)

On the 'sign up by' day you will be randomly given a person to send your items to along with their address for mailing.

Sign up by: August 21
Sent swap items by: September 9

USA and International Swappers welcome!

Matter of Minutes...

Friday (I won't say 'today' since it's technically Saturday by the time I post this) was my DD Sophia's 7th birthday. I meant to get on here and post this before midnight came but the day was a flurry of toys, dolls, books, brownies, dinner out and going to the Cars movie. Whirlwind day of fun. Isn't she beyond adorable?! (Her sis, Alex is holding her in the 1st pic.)

1999 - now...


From 0 to 7 years old in a matter of minutes...

Happy birthday my babe. May your life be full of unexpected pleasures, creativity and happiness!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Lofty Ideas, Lazy Days

First of all, hello. I've been blog-absent for a whole month. My! How time flies where you're doing nothing. We came home last week from the grandparents house where we spent a wonderful month enjoying their company. Getting back to this blog is kind of like that old friend you have on your mind. First a couple weeks will go by and you'll think 'I really need to call her/him'. Then a month or two will pass and you're almost embarrassed to call them then. After that you rationalize the times you think of calling with 'oh, I'll call her/him when I have something important to talk about' and guess what. You let LOTS of time pass you by when you could have been catching up. Kind of like this blog. I kept telling myself, 'I'll post when I've taken pics of my new work' (not that there was a lot of that on vacation.) 'I'll post when I have a minute, I'll post when its important. Well here I am. Nothing important (until tomorrow - just forget that its 224 am right now) going on at this moment.

We had a great vacation. We come home with lofty ideas of having a garage sale once and for all, remodeling DD Alex's bedroom so instead of 2 tiny closet size rooms, she will have one big room and cleaning out and painting DD Sophia's room with the paint we bought in March. Also thought to get sewing on all the gorgeous fabrics I bought while thrifting in GA on vacation (I neglect to mention I have yet to go purchase a sewing machine.) All projects have been started, and then kaput (learned it was a german word on 'Who wants to Be a Millionaire' in case you were interested) , we're not doing much of anything. One very big thing I should be doing is organizing and planning our homeschool year which starts in September. Honestly, I'm hot. Lazy and unmotivated. The heat is putting us in a stupor. So, those projects are in the 'stay tuned, hopefully not until you-know-where freezes over' stage.

I did accomplish one thing though. Okay, 3 things.
** I finally mailed out my '
Just A Kid Swap' package to my lovely partner, Angie. What a fun swap! Hopefully Ellia will host another one soon. I'm game!
** Last month on someone's blog I found out about
Swap-Bot. I joined a Fabric swap and that is #2. I finally mailed out my package to my partner. I hope she likes all the fabrics I sent. (I kept a little piece of each for me of course. *wink*).
** DD and I started a new diet (she doesn't really need to, she just wanted to eat rice/beans with me! ha) I've done lo-carb off and on for years and it just wasn't cutting it anymore for me. I think I needed a more restrictive thing for just a bit. Or maybe its just so simple even I can't mess it up. It's the Rice Diet Solution. Mom says its an older, consistent successful diet. I figured it was worth a try. So far I've lost 11 1/2 lbs this week (water weight of course, but I'll take it!) Hallelujah!

Okay I lied. I also caught up on 6x6 page swap and ATCs I owe. AND I started a fabric swap of my own on Swap-Bot. Come join me!

More tomorrow. Come back when you can celebrate with me...