Winners, Art, Gifts, Friends & DD

Lots of things going through my head this week. I kept meaning to post, but you know... life happened.

WINNERS: Yes, I have picked winners (and you thought it would never happen), and NO I have not taken pics of what I'm sending out (but you knew I would get behind like that huh). I will take a pic before I send so you know what you did/didn't win. Makes as much sense as mud, huh... Thanks to those who commented and those who signed up for my Feedblitz. We will do this again, but I'll put the package together first, k? Busy life...
Winner #1: KathyEddy , Winner #2: diahann. Please email me with your addresses and I'll get items out to you this week, hopefully before I head in for surgery.

ART: I've done a bit. Short story long... we went to the Chinese New Year Celebration at the Nelson-Atkins Museum here in KC on Friday. It was beautiful. The kids make chinese-ish items, danced with the dancing dragons, watched a lady from China blockprint with hand carved blocks and plant made ink. It was amazing! I want to make some blocks to print. They say its a dying art, run over by commercial printing presses. It reminds me of screenprinting, which my 2nd cousin did for years in the shop he owned. Very cool. ANYWAY, while out, I picked up the wonderful Somerset Studio Gallery mag, Winter 2008. Oh my is all I can say and I'm only a few pages into it. So between the museum visit and the reading I have so many ideas/thoughts stuffed in my brain. I worked on several pieces last night. Plus my pile-o-collage sheets came from Altered Pages and I was so excited! Here are a couple items I made with 'Je-Taime' & 'Sugar & Spice' collage sheets. (More items to come, that I didn't have finished yet.)


GIFTS: I'm in a few swaps (as noted in the right column) for Valentines Day. I rec'd the most beautiful swaps items this week (and just a note to my partners, mine mail this week to you.)

From Eileen:
For the Faerie Zine Flickr Group, Vintage Valentine Swap I rec'd a beautiful glittery valentine. Isn't it just the most beautiful? I'm a huge fan of glitter glue! Thanks so much Eileen!


From Stacy (same swap) :
I rec'd a wonderful fat decorated package with wrapped items inside. I love the girls w/wings cards attached! It included this beautiful valentine. Love the use of the doily! She also gave me several little collagin items like cigar labels, buttons, ribbon, images, tags and more! The girls liked the chocolate kisses and aren't you jealous of my chocolate wedges and strawberry lip balm? I'm saving the chocolate for the day I return home from the hospital next week. Love it all Stacy!




From Vallen (Itty-Bitty Valentines Swap) :
She sent my valentine in a uniquely made heart bag. I think its contact paper and padding? Not quite sure but I love it! I'm hanging it on my wall to hold my post it notes. The valentine is so vintage with little birds and bees, old jewelry and flowers. It's yummy! Thanks mucho, Vallen!



FRIENDS: Okay, this was a thought the other night when something funny happened while with my DH (can't remember what it was now) and thinking, I'm so gonna blog this! lol Then I started thinking, do most people have those friends they talk to everyday? Email everyday, get together for coffee, shop together? I don't have that. I mean, I usually call my mom, but I guess I don't tell her EVERYTHING. I mean can you tell your mother everything? (Love you mom if you're reading. lol) I swear I had lots of friends like that in high school but maybe the internet affords me the opportunity to be anonymous and not have to share myself too much. I wasn't this way in high school, I was as outgoing as they come, But I'm a hermit now, remember, so this appeals to me. lol On the other hand, I miss having those BFF's available at the touch of a button. I'm thinking I want to cultivate some relationships this year to that point. I do have some friends that I occasionally get together with, but its not the same as everyday-bffs... I need friends to share stuff with, not just a computer. Do you have friends like that? What do you do to keep your relationships fresh? Okay, done with the deep thinking stuff.

Teenager DD had a moment of 'I want to make something' feeling, and you know I foster those moments as much as I can. She pulled out fabric, the sewing machine and thread. The machine didn't work, so on to needle, thread and velcro. She made up the cutest camera bag to keep her camera safe. I think its adorable and she sewed it all by hand!



Last thought... DH has discovered online karaoke. Lot of bad singing to fun 80's songs (and that's just me! lol) Needless to say, its a good family fun time. We stand around the computer together and try to outdo the other in bad singing. Try it! KSolo.com or Ronan's Online Karaoke.

Did you celebrate the Chinese New Year in any way? Tell me!