My sweet friend, Amy Hanna, is the Guest Instructor on my 12 Days of Comfort & Joy E-Zine today. Her project is so cool I can hardly stand it! Of course, I knew it would be. Her project will be one to treasure for years.
I am going to make one of these. Can hardly wait!
We have lots of my hubby's family in town this weekend for a funeral. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Too bad it's freezing cold here! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
December...wow. Already? I'm ready! How about you? Well, I'm ready for the season... let's say that! I like to spread out all the festivities of the season. A big part of of the holidays for me is creating and inspiring others to do the same. That's why I'm so looking forward to The E-Zine launch today!
There will be lots of mixing and mingling of things you probably already have, vintage items and a few new items, too. Lots of downloads to jump start your creativity, too. Here is a peek at the first project:
Get more details and subscribe to this 3rd Edition of this E-Zine here!
We ventured to Oklahoma to spend Thanksgiving again this year. Even though my work load is sooo heavy after being gone, we wouldn't have missed this time for anything!
Family time is the best isn't it? Lots of silliness, especially when my sister and daughter are together.
We enjoyed a cajun spice injected fried Turkey, a normal turkey (for the weaker stomachs), ham and lots of "fixins". My Mom's loaded mashed potatoes were my favorite!
There was lots and lots of football, on TV and in the backyard. WTG Huskers! The boys liked having cousins to play with. The weather was perfect...70's!
Mom, Sas, Allie and I spent most of Friday shopping...which is so great in Oklahoma City. Mostly boutiques and then we all felt bad for Allie so we waded through the mall a bit. She suffered through all the old lady stores so patiently...we had to give her a moment, too.
Went to Sassy's for dinner and some game playing.
When I was losing the card game, I snuck away and snapped a few pix of their babies. Luke is huge...like a bear! Sweetest face though. Really.
And Mister Louie will steal your heart.
Check out the front of her desk in her studio. She added papers into the desk wood/gridwork. Nice.
Lastly, pretty pix of the Chesapeake area in OKC. All lit up...it was amazing.
Street after street of gorgeous trees. So colorful and festive!
The perfect ending to Thanksgiving, and welcome to Christmas!
Now, back to reality...if you've emailed me, be patient, k?! I will get to you.
Can hardly believe I've been doing this delightful 12 Days E-Zine for so long. I keep a journal just for Christmas ideas...and pick my favorites then present in this E-Zine. I can't wait!
It launches the Christmas season for me, gets me in the groove of giving and creating...and it's grown to be special facet of our holidays. Many of yours, too, as I know many gals who've subscribed since day one (in 2007) and are anxious to begin! Amy Hanna will be this year's Guest Artist! Really excited sharing her vintage holiday style with you.
I just posted the E-Zine on the website, and you can get the details by clicking here. Come join the fun!
The other day while unpacking and attempting to organize my studio (after the flurry of Event boxes), I noticed this old frame from Pam and thought "how perfect for showcasing medals"!
I aged some of the golds (which I am favoring so much more than silver lately). I promised some of my students I would show the medals I'd been making at home. Here are some close ups, so you can see details:
Paper fringe...sooo easy, right? Then dot the ends of the paper with Stickles. Yum!
So glad I found that old frame, thanks Pam. In class we attached the ribbons together with wire. Some gals used ribbon. Beaded mercury glass garland (like you find around the holidays) would be a great way to string these along. It'd be fun to put them all in an enclosed frame or silver tray, too.
I've added some of The Victorious Medals Kits to the website. You can find them quickly by going: here.
Keep in mind that not all of the things you see above are in the kit. Some extra things were added here, like a couple medal frames, the book text, crown stick pin, religious medals, monogram "T", mercury glass bead spray, bullion star, chartreuse ribbon, T-pin, lace and Stickles are not included. I'm quite sure that you have lots and lots of personal effects to add to the kit to make it your own!
Here is a photo of what is included in this Kit :
Two 8" custom ribbons (black and pink), one 8" two layer ribbon, printed linen with medals and completed ribbon (The Vintage Workshop), gold velvet, pre-pleated crepe paper, chain for connecting, jump rings, sequin components (Prima), Rub-Ons (Jenni Bowlin Studio, gold bullion, gold Dresden trim, silver satin ribbon, ocre velvet ribbon, vintage turquoise/silver ribbon, hot pink trim, black trim, hot pink sequins trim, vintage pink pom pom fringe, vintage glass button, and full color instruction.
Lastly, I've added an eau du parfume and lip butter combo to the website. This combo debuted at Silver Bella, and gals loved it. I reserved some for the website !
Bon Bon Bella Eau du Parfume is a fresh, clean scent with a hint of floral. Rhinestones float in the bottle! I wear it all the time now. It's long lasting and in a 1 oz. bottle, so it's easy to stash in my bag.
Bon Bon Bella Lip Butter has a light pink color tint and was created to nurture those winter chapped lips. 100% mineral based Lip Butter, so it's good for your pucker. Pomegranate flavor. Slim tin slips in your pocket easily.
Eau de Parfume and Lip Butter come in a white fluff-a-fluff bag for gift giving, because we all know presentation counts!
Check them out here.
This year I taught two workshops (same one twice). It was a full house in that room! I was so impressed at what direction the students took with their Victorious Medals Swags. Here are a few peeks at their works in progress:
"Noble" will be added to a ribbon. This gal "get's" it doesn't she though? Great word choice. We used Jenni Bowlin Studio Rub Ons, to customize things. Thanks Jenni for your generosity!
Here is the classic Jenn Hayslip garland in progress. Gorgeous!
Love this rich and refined color combo:
This green makes me go ga-gaaaaa:
New friends from Ames, Iowa! They were so fun to get to know.
This one was so color coordinated....gorgeous!
Look out...this one's amazing. Lots of vintage pieces were used.
Sweet friend Andrea's blingified garland:
Wasn't that a beautiful way to spend a couple of minutes? Thanks for looking. I am so proud of my student's projects! I love that all of the medal garlands were unique. Not a cookie cutter creations ...everyone's is the same workshop. I do those often, too, but it was really fun to change it all up this time. I know the students loved their creations!
I will have some extra Victorious Medals Kits up on the website in a few days.On Thursday morning, some of the teachers headed out to do some antiquing. It's always fun to shop in another part of the country, right?
Kaari and Charlotte (top), Kaari and Heather (bottom left)
Pam and Charlotte (left), Dawn (center), and Rebecca (right) modeling some huge fur gloves!
Pam, Charlotte, Rebecca and I.
Kelly and Cori. I loved how this photo turned out. With models like these, how could I not take a bad photo? So photogenic.
Here's a few shots of my gatherings from the day.
Nothing too amazing purchased (well except for that "T" patch), but the memories of the day are unforgettable!
(pardon my Patrick Swayze moment there) but Silver Bella was amazing this year...I think every year it can't possibly get better. This year it did, and it was with the help, blessing, smiles and hard work of so many. The students and instructors...all incredible! Wow. I'm still soaking it all in, but have some photos to share.
Let's just start at the beginning. A few shots of the Welcome Center. That Sassy did a marvelous, sparkly winter wonderland theme. Her snowflake like garland:
For details on how to make them, she says to just Google "Finnish Snowflakes". The huge glittered candlabras were quite stately....all her doing.
It's hard to tell here, but our Christmas tree had colorful bubbles in the center! It was gorgeous (thanks Mom).
Here's the busy bees (Cori, Jim and Sas) prepping for the opening hour.
A few shots from Welcome Night! Stephenie Hamen of Fiskars came with a darling project for all of the students. She also brought a LOT of great door prizes! We drew numbers (from the tree) and passed them out as well as some from the other Sponsors.
Thank you Steph! She had planned on staying the weekend and was so excited to get into some workshops, but she had to leave early due to a death in her family. My prayers are with you Steph.
At the end of the evening, the swaps came out. In full force. I went around and snapped a few shots...
Maija and Megan peeking at a pretty book swap.
Don't you wonder what's IN all these pretty packaged swaps?!
How cute is Gina Grable? Come one. Love that gal. I was in one of her swaps. I will show you later. So beautiful! I have so much more to show and tell!
and the cross country season's come to a close. She finished her freshman year! Pretty hard to believe.
Another beautiful day for a meet. This was a funny looking photo. She was jumping, but it looks like she's in mid-air or something.
I always love the looks on their faces right before the gun goes off...
Congrats girls, on a great year!
and a lil peek at a project that's almost done. I've loved this quote for forever:
This was taken with my phone (no time to drag out the camera).
Things are ever busy at Silver Bella HQ...which is the best feeling. This time next week we will be kicking off the best and the biggest art weekend in the midwest! Gaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! I can't even believe it's almost here! Locals can still get tickets to Bella Market! Order those here. For a complete list of the vendors, go here.
Hoping to pop in again in this next week. I can't wait to show you my Workshop Kits. We'll see.
Our son's Cross Country Banquet is coming up. Here's a this year's minimum cost and high impact solution:
I got 20 wine bottles and created the Jones Soda like labels for them in Photoshop, adding a photo of the boys team on ten bottles and then the girls team on the other ten bottles. I printed them on sticker paper and...voila!
Another gal on the committee will fill the bottles with fresh yellow flowers. Throw some ribbon on the table and we're good to go. Looking forward to celebrating all of the team's hard work this season!
Trick or Treaters on the loose! Hope you aren't frightend by life sized video game characters or blind refs:
This Mom is just glad he didn't want to be a scary creepy blood curdling googly eyed goblin this year.
Perhaps you've seen these in blogland here and there. I'm so in love with them I can hardly stand it.
I've had the kit for a while, and lacked the time to make them. In fact, the kit was almost put away for next year. But in less two hours they were done. Yay! So glad I made them! They are my favorite Fall decor this year! Kim Hendricks (Olive Juice & Co.) did a fabulous job with this kit. Wonder what she has up her sleeve next? Can't wait to see!
Another favorite for Fall are these felted acorns:
They come in lots and lots of colors.
I'm thinking about getting a few more. They came from here. Aren't they adorable?
We went to my daughter's XC meet this past weekend. Six hour drive through the Fall countryside. Nice. Love this shot of the girls on the starting line. I was on my knees when I took it!
Here she is finishing up the 5K.
Now, waiting her turn in the shoot after the race. Not a "pretty" shot, but ya know what?
It's good to see young women being strong. Oh, she loves her lipgloss and glittered headbands... don't get me wrong there. But I'm a firm believer that strength is very beautiful. So is she.
A couple almost done projects to share. These are for my vendor table.
I've still got to do a few more things, like the back panels. The vintage linen (from a French convent even) is soooo fabulous to work with. It's thick and has this amazing texture...hard to see here I know I know! The fabrics are so rich----GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
P.S. Thanks so much for all of the kind comments for my son in the post below! He was beaming when I showed him.
Oh and P.P.S. Best of luck to the XC Team at State!
Drake's over the top excited to go! The weather is supposed to be rainy and in the low 50's. I bought him snow pants today so he will warm! Those and the under armor (which I always confuse with Armor All) and he should be good to go.
Conversation last night between my eleven year old and me...
"I can't draw. I'm horrrrrrible, Mom. I'm not an artist and I never will be. Can't you just draw it for me?"
"No. You can draw, you just haven't really ever tried. Want to try?"
"It won't work. I know it." (silence) "Okay, I'll tryyyyyy."
Creature by creature, line by line, color by color...and an hour or so later:
"It's amazing! I can't believe I did this! Isn't it great? (runs around showing every family member) Will you put it on your blog?"
"Yes! Absolutely I will."
It's been so cold and rainy and dreery here all week! So my son is playing indoors more than outdoors. Which means at any given time there is a pile of these guys to be found, stepped on or in the dog's mouth. Their tiny guns and weapons, too!
They have been a classic toy for AJ for about 8 years. I just accept them as part of our family now. The other afternoon I saw them at war on his bed, which was reconstructed into their battlefield.
The light seemed to be just right, so I snapped a few photos. I know that someday they won't be around so much...he will outgrow them. I think he will, right? Do guys ever outgrow G.I. Joe? I hope not.
Most importantly, the word of the day for this girl...focus. While it is fun to lose focus once in a while, at the end of the day, it's even more rewarding when you keep it.
