Blogiversary

Yesterday was my 5th Blogiversary. I can't believe it's only been 5 years, it feels much longer! Someday I will have a celebration, but this year I was sick.
    So far, I've been sick all of February. OK, so it's only Feb 6th, but what a way to start the month! I stayed home from work 3 of those days, and 2 were the weekend, so only 1 working sick day. I hope I'm up to going back tomorrow! Now Ron is sick.

Anyway, felt better today so was able to get some art done. An ATC swap for AFTCM called "Hands of Time". I like them both!

Last month I made a kit for Altered Pages, but I hadn't put it on my blog yet. Since it's been on the site for awhile now, I thought I'd post it. I made it from a wooden box my mother gave to me that she found in a second hand shop. I had some sheet music I was supposed to used on a project from AP, called "Song of India". I was all set to do a cool Indian box, until I researched the music and found what the story was. Not at all what  thought! It was about an under-the-sea wedding!

 The box was fun to make, I'll have to make a book someday to go inside.


Thanks for looking!

Sunday

It was too cold to do anything this Sunday but stay in my warm cozy jammy type clothes and do art! I have several swap items I needed to make, so I did the two most pressing ones, plus an ATC.

 This is my "Under the Sea" Gothic Arch I made for my AFTCM Yahoo group. Sometimes i make things I don't want to give away, and this is one of them! I would love to keep it! The mermaid, the seahorse, and 2 of the shells on the left are popped up. The arch is free standing, made from a chipboard book I got at Michael's in the summer. The 2 sides fold in a bit, but this has been scanned flat. Maybe I'll use it on a journal page!


I also needed to make a card for my Stampscapes II Yahoo group, the theme was "Anything Goes" so I decided to use my new horse stamps (also from Michael's).

 This one is going all the way to the Netherlands! I went to a Hero Arts sale on Saturday and bought a set of word stamps and I used 2 of them on this card. One is on the inside, under a stamped image of a horse's head. If you recognize the stamp of the trees in the background, you will know that I took out the water! How to be versatile with your stamps!

That's it for this week! I'm hoping to get some time to work on my journal from my Strathmore class, but I seem to have such small windows of time! I need to start working on my envelopes (15 of them I think!) for an envelope swap at my Byhand Yahoo Group, and I have 3 sets of ATCs to do as well.

Have a great week!

Playing!

Playing with my new Cinch - easy peasy! Found a bunch of old (2008) 4X4s to make into a book, some ATCs, and my calendar pages from AFTCM Calendar Swap.

 These are from an old Byhand Swap called This and That from 2008. Isn't the first one awesome! That's Yogi's!

 My calendar from AFTCM Yahoo Group. It stands on it's own.

A bunch of old ATCs of mine

That was fun! I'll have to go searching for more!

Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas Day, peaceful and serene! I don't remember ever not being totally exhausted at the end of a Christmas Day, but last night I felt calm and so not tired! My Mom, Step-Dad and Brother came for dinner, we had a 23 lb turkey (I LOVE leftovers!) and all the cooking was done by the time they arrived! The kitchen wasn't too bad as I had already done 3 dishwasher loads of dishes during the day! So it was sit back, drink eggnog, and enjoy!

Here are some highlights of the day:

 Christmas morning

 The stocking are filled

 My daughter and I are warm and cozy!

My family is so good at getting me art related gifts -here are all the wonderful things they chose for me this year!

and a Cinch!! From my wonderful husband! 

This will get a lot of use!

I am so blessed! I had a wonderful Christmas, and hope that all of you did too! Have a lovely restful Boxing Day, or as we call it, Turkey Soup Day!

12 Days of Christmas- Day 12

Last day!! I had 2 presents to open, from Robyn and Mary-Beth

here is Robyn's:

Looks very pretty on the tree! Thanks Robyn!

And Mary-Beth's:

A tiny canvas on a tiny easel! Very cool! Thanks Mary-Kay!

And for the gift from Mary-Kay from Day 8, I can reveal it now:

 

Delightful little fabric ornament! Thanks Mary-Kay!

Well, that's it for another year! This was such a fun swap! Many thanks to all who joined!

12 Days of Christmas- Day 11

Almost over!! I had two to open today, but first I have to show you the secret that my friend Marg discovered about Day 4's gift from Kathleen:

it opens up! Who knew! I thought the bow was strictly ornamental! Now I have a place to put my 2010 Christmas pics! Thanks Marg - it helps to be inquisitive!!

Now for Day 11's gifts:

I opened the pink one first, from Ruth:

This beautiful metallic ornament was inside! It has two sides as you can see, and is covered in embossed metal, rubbed with alcohol ink. Very cool technique! Thank you Ruth!

the next was from Linda H

 A cool squiggly knitted white scarf with sparkly gold intertwined!

Here I am wearing it - it goes well with my all-black theme for today! Thanks Linda!!

Many thanks to Linda and Ruth for Day 11!

12 Days of Christmas- Day 10

Day 10 already! Only 2 more days to go! today's gifts came from Jane and Carolyn:

I opened Jane's first because I knew it was another tile. . .

and it was awesome! Now I have a set of two! Thanks Jane!

Next - Carolyn's gift - wow!

Beautiful origami pieces done with vellum-gorgeous!! The deer is truly awesome, it just seems to glow! And the wreath is already on the tree! Thanks Carolyn!!

12 Days of Christmas- Day 9

Day 9 gave me two beautiful gifts! One from Joanne and one from Jane.

I opened Joanne's first:

It is a beautiful knotted wristband! It is reversible, so I can wear either side. Love it!!


Next was Jane's:

A beautiful zentangled tile! This is to be used as a coaster, but wouldn't it be cool to have a border of these tiles in a bathroom! Something to think about! I have another present from Jane for day 10, exactly the same package, so I'm thinking I'm going to have a set of these!

Thanks Joanne and Jane!

Update:
I received my Day 6 present in the mail yesterday, so I opened it. It was from Kathleen. Take a peek!

Very pretty! I have it hanging in my front hall. Love it Kathleen! Thank you!