#93 WOYWW Better late than never - Mieux vaut tard que jamais!

I'm late for WOYWWednesday, but I'm still here. Let's kick it off with a picture that is not my work desk, but my dining room wall. You might have seen this one on a very early blog post

All this is part of the home stash. You caught a glimpse of it last week during the paint-o-mania when the kitchen was temporarily ripped apart. Dave the Painter, another saint, finished his work on Friday at 4 pm and Saint Husband had bridge in there 3 hours later. Is Dave an awesome painter? oh yeah.

At the top is an old heater register (see the diagonal keyhole that opened and closed the damper?) At left is a post office box door, a bunch of face plates for door knobs, assorted keys, etc. Bottom right is a sterling silver curvy pendant I made during my silver smithing days in college. Above it and to the right are face plates and keys from French châteaux, early 1800s. 



I did very little in the studio, but that's ok. Am getting in touch with my French side. My tags are in a coffee can I got in Paris, the photos make me want to be in Paris and my project is dreaming of being in Paris. I'm "homesick" for April in Paris and it's only March. 

 

 So I found an old skinny cigar box and am doing the outside in distress stain (dusty concord/peeled painted) and perfect pearls. It is a WIP work in progress.
The inside has a Paris theme in alcohol inks an' some other stuff I haven't figured out yet, so that's why you aren't seeing it here yet.

 I'd forgotten how beautiful simple could be. The husband needed a sympathy card, so I used a Wendy Vecchi stamp from Botanical Art with some cobalt (I think. I'm not going down to the studio to check 'cuz I'm too lzay,lozy, lazy to get up) perfect pearl powder. Voilà. C'est tout for today. Hugs.

PS tomorrow I'll show you the cool tags my friend Lori sent me that made me *smile*. 

PPS Go see other desks at Julia's Stamping Ground. 

WOYWW #92 (Dis)Organized

Well, I knew this day was coming - Dave the Painter is here to work on the kitchen and the husband's (St. Donald) half-bath. In order for me to have a mess in one part of the house, another location has to be *well* organized.
Here's the mess of all things kitchen in the dining room. I won't even dare to show you what's in the living room ;-)

 So this means that the room of stash got a good straightening over the weekend, something that had been piling up since the holidays. Because I have some many different interests, organization is key to playing. Please don't think I'm sick, sick, sick because of my manic desire to label everything. I think it's just a carry-over of 30 years of filing habits as a teacher!

Mr. Tim's alcohol inks divided into lights, brights and earthtones, plus some stickles.

 More Mr. Tim toys: blending tools, distress embossing powders and lots of glitter.

More Tim Holtz goodies: Distress stains (DS). Most stash items are out in the open so I can remember to play with them. I'm one of those out of sight, out of mind people, so I *love* to see stash. There is no doubt that I am addicted to color. If you don't have the DS yet, splurge and get them all at once. That way you won't have to keep going back for one or two. Play will start immediately when they are on your desk. (I punched 1 inch circles, glued them to the to of the bottles and then dabbed them with the DS color, nifty, n'est-ce pas?

I plan to spend time in the studio today making backgrounds for cards that I'll create tomorrow and mail on Friday. Organization and planning make me comfortable, whereas chaos gives me a case of the crazies.

Speaking of organized, pop on over to Miss Julia's Stamping Ground to see what's going on around the world. Her blog friends always brings a smile to my face. Make something good this week - and make a good hearty laugh to go along with it.  Hugs,

 PS, If you are a fan of Stampotique, go visit  Gini at "A little bit of shiny." She is their guest artist this month and does tons of fab things with their stamps. Would that I could have a Stampotique collection like hers and the talent to use it. This is something to which I can aspire. (don't ya love the grammar!) Thanks for visiting this week.

  PSS Did I remember to show you the basket in which I keep my TH Sizzix dies? I'm running out of space and must stop buying stash. *Someone* needs an intervention. rofl

 Th-th-th-that's all folks!

#91 WOYWW Back in the swing of things

Yippee it's time for a trip around the world over at Julia's Stamping Ground. I can't tell you how much this has changed my life, I mean where else can you go to visit, greet and meet so many great artists. Yes, artists. I am of the opinion that anyone who is creative is an artiste because they share their work in a public forum, i.e., chez Julia.

Since the husband's return from golfing in South Carolina, I'm more inclined to head down to the studio, room of stash, furnace room, etc.  Last weekend I made a reallllly long banner for my niece's birthday. Well I had to, there was a lot to say: Angela*16*Mar.19* It is probably 4 ft long. Here it is

 I think she'll like it, and especially the little bit of cash I tucked inside, too.

Also played with some alcohol inks. They sure are easy to use and make some uber cool backgrounds for stamping.

 Here's a card I made. Love those colors for spring. You may be wondering why there is a dental tool in front of the card. Well, it makes it easier for me to take the plastic redline tape off the adhesive than if I used my fingernails! 

I've had the tool for eons and can only suggest that you ask your dentist for old or broken ones. I wonder if a local medical supply store might have one? Another tool I love to use is a hemostat for gripping tiny eye screws when using Tim Holtz's Configurations. My fingers don't fit in those small spaces. I simply (haha) make a hole with the dental tool, grasp the eye screw with the hemostat and turn. Maybe this little tip will be of help to some of you who are equally as challenged as I am! Now I'm off to the post office to mail the banner.
Hope you have time to make something creative and fun that will make you smile and laugh. Hugs. 

WOYWW #90 - I'm glad to be back!

I can't believe that it is Wednesday again. And I'm finally back again after a month long drought in the studio. I've been poking about here and there, but with no real direction or inspiration. Kinda strange with all that stash ready to be put to paper and such.  I have been hibernating more or less with snow and gray skies - but mostly playing with the silly cat who demands lots of attention. 

I have made a few little goodies for Valentine's day, but nothing like the frenzy of a year ago. Here is a little banner for my sis and her daughters - it's their last name deLuca, but I'll give you a close up for the de-tails. As you can tell, I used Tim Holtz's Baroque die for the background and his rosettes for the center. Lots of color that I made myself with Adirondack wild plum reinker and perfect pearls. I like the way it looks with the dusty concord distress ink and purple stickles. It's more of a spring banner than a valentine theme.

 I also did a small piece for my nephew's 17th birthday. It is grungeboard with paint dabber, crackle paint, distress ink and various do-dads with alcohol ink, perfect pearls and more. Thank goodness he liked it - you never know with teenage boys. Maybe it was the cash I put in with the plaque?!!!

 I also did a class on brayered background at the local stamp store - Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. That's the card you see on the right. Talk about a technique! I love the effects you get with it and I'll get around to practicing it more one of these days.

Perhaps my creative blockage is from having too many choices of stash to play with - more likely it has to do with mental blockage!  I guess I have accomplished a few things in the atelier, and promise to do better in the coming weeks.

To joing the world-wide blog hop pop over to Julia's and enjoy the fun.

Hope you have time to creative something fun - even smiles and laughter count! 

Here's what's on my mantel WOYWW #86

Not much going on here in work desk-land. Ophelia has discovered that it is a fun place to bat pens and pencils and sniff Distress Ink pads. No creativity to see at the desk.

So I will post what I made in Banner Class. Lovely Mona of Buffalo Stamps and Stuff (BSS, our local stamp store) designed and prepped all the materials for this fab Valentine banner. 

Isn't it grand? It was labor intensive, distressing (victorian velvet), folding and gluing, stickling and hole punching, so much fun for those of us in the class. Thanks, Mona.


Here's a close up of some panels. Aren't they luscious?

I plan to leave it up until I make one for another season or holiday. Hint, hint Mona. lol


On Friday our little tag club will meet at BSS and I have to get busy on our challenges from Tim's Compendium of Curiosities, 5 techniques from p. 41-45. I've been putting off doing the tags for quite some time now. I think I will work best under pressure...yeah, right. Seriously, instead of doing one tag for each technique, I'd like to incorporate them into one or two tags. Guess you'll have to come back next week to see what I did.


In the meantime, enjoy the snoop at other desks at Miss Julia's place. Take a look at what they've created, not just the WOYWW posting. Enjoy reflecting on the creativity. (yes, this picture was taken in one of my guest rooms)

Okay, Okay, this is the real WOYWW post

Just a quick peek today at what is good about the stash room/studio/furnace room! You can read my last post for more of what I've been up to (lost mojo, reward offered.)

Remember to stop over to Julia's to see what is on creative desks everywhere for WOYWW. I wouldn't miss it for the world. 

I wanted to focus on the few corners of the room that are organized, since I haven't been creating anything. First are my bins with Tim's Alterations and On the Edge dies. I like how the metal mesh bins stack. Plus there are handles so they can easily be picked up should I ever decide to vacuum / Hoover the floor. 

  

 Next are my stamp bins arranged by season/holiday topped with my Copics and Prismacolor collection.

Finally  a drawer containing my alcohol inks, reinkers and stickles. I put the bottles in cookie tins and greeting card boxes from days of yore. On top of each AI I have glued a circle left over from a paper punch and put a drop of AI on the paper so I have a general idea of what colors are where. Not sure where I picked up this technique, but I like it and I'm not always knocking those tiny bottle over like dominoes. lol

That's it for today, hope you have time to make something fun.

Where has my mojo gone? Maybe this is my WOYWW entry

It's been almost a week since I've shared with you. In the meantime, JoZart has honored me with a couple of awards - Stylish Blogger Award, and My Blog Has Attitude. Many thanks to Jo for her kindness.

Needless to say, I've been trying like a madwoman to get the graphics installed on the sidebar gadgets with no luck. So I guess I'll just have to brag about them here. lol

Now I have to tell you some things about myself that you might not already know - 8 things. Here goes:
1.  I have ...danced the samba in the streets of Rio de Janeiro with about 10,000 other people (1998 World Cup Soccer); have been an extra in an Italian film; lived in Italy for a year long, long ago. (no, not during the Renaissance!)
2.  I love...listening to the blues, or real rock n roll, none of this "new" rock for me! Classics only, please.
3.  Favorite thing to eat...penne bolognese with carrot cake for dessert.
4.  Colors...shades of yellow and orange sunsets.
5.  I try...to laugh everyday.
6.  My biggest wish...to be close to all my loved ones, to see them often and for health and happiness to follow them always.
7.  I fear...being alone, all alone, lonely. But I won't let that happen.
8.  Amongst the jobs I've had...working in a printer's shop and unloading a truck filled with boxes of paper! I'm not put off by hard work. 

Now I'd like to pass this along to 4 of my favorite bloggers

First, to Lori H. whose artistic ability always amazes me - not to mention we share the same quirky sense of humor.
Next to Nancy C. who is so busy and yet finds time to make a beautiful array of art.
Also, to Jude whose heart is in the right place all the time.
Finally, Helen, who shares my love of Stampotique designs.
These women probably don't know the impact their blogs and creativity have had on me, but they have kept me company many a late night and their ideas have inspired me to make something fun.

 Thanks for your inspiration, your personal style and for sharing your attitude.

I did make something fun over the weekend - a Tim Holtz configuration box for Halloween. I know, it's a bit early, but it's a perfect time of year to put something together to have it ready to go. Sharon, owner of my LSS Buffalo Stamps and Stuff, offered the class on Saturday. We all had such a good time tissue taping, inking, gluing and adding our frightening goodies to the sweet little cubbies. The skull on the right side has a hole in its neck and sits upon a battery operated tea light so the head flickers. The bottle of blood/poison is really cool, too. Just love Tim's papers and all the little details that go into this config. 

Finally I leave you today with a picture of Ophelia dressed to kill. She is such a diva in her 4 foot long red feather boa and loves to carry it around the house in her mouth: down to the basement then back upstairs through the living room then under the bed.

It turns out that she is a mouser. Last night she brought my husband a mouse trap, complete with trapped mouse (deceased, thank goodness), up from the basement! She was highly praised for her bravery and success. Not a bad day in the life of a spoiled only child! What a puss.

Hope you make something fun today, even if it is "just" a laugh or a smile.  To be continued... 

WOYWW I won blog candy!

Yesterday afternoon the postman brought me a wonderful package from my friend Jo in Liverpool, England! I am so excited to have won one of her bitty buckets plus a few jewels and stamps - many thanks, Jo.  You must check out her work at JoZart; she is multi-talented and a sweet soul.  Here is the cool bitty bucket that hangs off the edge of my desk to keep scissors, pencils and other bits n' bobs handy.

 Don't you just love that cool print fabric of people in conversation? And that hot pink liner is so cheerful on today's snowy afternoon. 

 Thank you for your kind words of welcome to Ophelia, my Christmas gift from St. Donald. Believe me, I didn't put her under the tree, she did this all by her little self. She has settled in nicely and likes to sit by the window and watch the birds at the feeder as big fluffy snowflakes float by. 

Here's hoping you make something fun today. Hugs!


 

Wow, two weeks since my last WOYWW

Hello and Happy New Year to all on this eleventh day of Christmas! What with Christmas travel out of town for a week and all, I didn't have anything to report. The only crafting that I've done is online shopping for stash stuff. When that arrives I expect to hit the atelier with a full head of steam.

Briefly, the tags and origami gifts for the teens were a huge hit. How can I top that for next year? The nephew liked his tag so much that he put it in the family xmas tree. That made me feel special.

The husband, St. Donald, surprised me with a second xmas gift yesterday that I suspect will be on my work desk in the next few days.  Meet Ophelia! 

 Since he brought this one-year old female home from the shelter yesterday, she hasn't left our sides. She is super curious and extra affectionate. Can't wait to introduce her to the room of stash.

Well, it's time for you to hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see the desks of our dear blog friends. 

Hope you can make something fun even if it's only just a smile!  Hugs to all.




  

Hello WOYWW -ers

Another Wednesday, with Christmas just 3 more wake-ups away! I've put the finishing touches on the Tim tags/gifts for my 5 nieces and 1 nephew. Thought I would post them for you to see tonight. No, the kids aren't going to peek. Nor will their parents. After all, teenagers don't read blogs by their crafty auntie. 

Hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a look-see at work desks around the world. There are some very talented and ultra wonderful people with really cool things going on. I highly recommend you turn on the Christmas music and grab a cup of cocoa to enjoy as you hop about the world.

First, a very merry Christmas to all. Second, a very happy New Year. May you have health, happiness and enough of what you need.

On with the show and a little bit of tell. Here you see one of the 12 tags of Christmas directed by none other than Tim Holtz. After adapting his tag (faith) I origami-ed some money (butterfly) and glued it on the back. Actually, I didn't glue the cash to the back of the tag, just the pipe cleaner body. 

 Next I used my new Stampotique stamps with Prismacolor pencils, and cut out the image. I distressed inked the edges and mounted it on distress inked and stamped card stock. I love, love, love the holiday background stamp (stampotique, too.) Isn't this dear the cutest thing!

 These are the finished gift packages. Card on top, tag and origami-ed money inside. And to think it took soooooo long to get to this point. For just 6 kids. Nothing for the adults and gasp! nothing, nothing, nothing yet for St. Donald. Yikes, I better do something quickly as we leave Thursday, yes, in just a few short hours, for Indianapolis, IN - Christmas at mom's - age 82 and going strong. I don't know what to get him - he gets what he wants or needs throughout the year and has all the electronics, gadgets, golfballs and golf clubs a man could want. To top it all off, he doesn't believe in gift lists. It couldn't be more maddening! sigh

Past years' gift for him haven't gone so well, at least 4 returned items; the idea of and A-Z Christmas fell flat. I bought him gifts that started with the letters a-z, for example, ABCE were children's Erasers in the shapes of A-B-C clever, right? Wrong. Evidently there were too many packages to open or something. I had fun putting it together, I guess that in itself is a kind of a gift.

As I write this I'm kinda feelin' like this guy...

but then I jest.  I choose to wait for more snow to fall and enjoy the Christmas tree and lights on the houses around town.  Remember....

Be sure to make something fun. ...and to all a good-night!  





 

Hey there, hi there, ho there!

I'll explain this photo at the end of today's post. But I just had to pique your curiosity. 

 

 The first of the holiday's guests have come and gone. St. Donald and I are dad and mom to 7 international exchange students. Because they are so far away we are lucky that the youngest of the crew, Ghufran age 20, lives in Toronto now. He is in his 3rd year at Ryerson University and is originally from Afghanistan. 

There is a long version and a longer version of his saga. In short, he came here when he was 16 for a year of high school and then returned to Afghanistan to his family and to start college. Unfortunately, he and his family received threats and G (Ghufran) wanted very much to return to the States to be safe. A resourceful young man and entrepreneur, G managed to get an invitation to be a counselor at an international youth conference that was held in Washington DC. He had done this once prior to leaving the states and found the experience wonderful and enriching, thus he wanted to do it again.

 We made arrangements for him to come "home" to Buffalo to spend a week with us in August before he planned to return to Afghanistan. Just before our visit was up, he skipped the Canadian border to seek political refugee status. Can you imagine any 17 year old that you know who might be willing to give up everything and start over in another culture and country?  So this is where he went to high school and has lived on his own for the last 4 years. For those doing the math, he'll be 21 in April. So that's the short version.  

 He came from Toronto to Ft. Erie, Ontatio, Canada by bus on Friday afternoon. The it is always better for either the St. Don or me to go pick him up and go through U.S. Customs with G than for him to go alone. It's always best to have a sponsor in his situation. 

 So at Customs we do the usual routine, pull up to the booth, turn off the car, hand over our documents and car keys and wait for 2 armed Homeland Security folks to come escort G into the building. A hour and a half and many questions and statements later, we are free to go and on our merry way to Christmas in Orchard Park. Yippee! I'm still in the short version.

  He spent 2 night here in his own bed: friends to see, lunches and dinners with former teachers, bowling, movies and laughter. G left today on the next leg of his journey - off to NYC and then San Diego, California for Christmas, then the reverse again on January 2nd back to Toronto. I promise this is the short form!

 Then straight away off he will go to Prague for a 10 day international youth conference. Remember I said he was an entrepreneur? He found scholarships, donations and matching funds to cover the $3,000 cost of the trip. This and manage a straight A average in his courses.

 Not only am I proud of his accomplishments, I am in awe of his ability to set and reach his goals. More proud momma details in another post.

 This in short is why I haven't done any crafting of late. Now to the explanation of the above photo. Tonight I did manage to do some origami folding of cash-ola, moolah, bucks, dollar bills as gifts for the nieces and nephew. a necktie, a heart and butterflies. I'll tape these to the back of the tags I made a couple weeks back and voilà, gifts will be finished. We don't go in for all the rushing, buying, wrapping and spending. There is already enough to do for the holiday food and guests.

 Tomorrow I'll explain my families silly and simple method of gift exchange...it's inexpensive and fun. Until then, make something fun, If you can't craft, then make a smile! 

WOYWW - go see Julia and her friends

I forgot to send you over to see Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground to join in the fun blog hop of WOYWW. Enjoy the ride!

Wake up - it's WOYWW & tags#6, 7, 10 & 12

Phew! I've been tagging like a madwoman to complete Tim's 12 tags of christmas and forgot to post what I've done. Has that ever happened to you? Yeah, I thought so. 

So I slept until noon today (fighting another 2 day migraine) and thought I'd better march on and get these goodies posted to share with you. This is the aftermath of the 12 tags of Christmas! Stuff everywhere on the desk and floor, too There is a little clear space on the craft mat for some new projects tomorrow.

 Here' my next love...some sweet holiday stamps from Stampotique. I've ignored them since they arrived, but now they will be the center of my universe. 

 I'm not very good at doing original things, but I'll consider using some of Tim's techniques as a jumping off point to make a little something extra. 

 Here are my tags #10 and #12. Improv and -ish were the name of the game since I didn't have the snowman die or the corners for the Joy card. I also failed to read and follow directions for the snowman, pretty typical of my impatience to finish something I think is cool. I continue to work on patience as a virtue!

Tags #6 and #7 turned out well. I love the texture fade technique, but that was the easiest part of the poinsettia tag. Pretty labor intensive. But I'd do it again in a heart beat. A little PS here, I've decided not to do #8 since I don't have any  of the materials. I'll try to do an -ish post after the holidays.

Since I was a couple days late and a dollar short I was completing 2 and a half tags per day to catch up. Oh yeah, I had that cold thingy that laid me low for several days.  St. Donald was doing sudoku and watching movies while I played tag. We're compatible like that - each has own interests and we don't mind being alone while being together. 

I shipped off a box of tags to the mother for her Advent card surprises and brought a couple more to Charlie in her new assisted living home. 

Yesterday was another lake effect blizzard here, but being the good Buffalonian that I am, I drove to Canada for the monthly appointment chez la coiffeuse. The hair is now ready for holidays in Indianapolis with the fam. Driving was somewhat dangerous, but then loyalty to one's hairdresser is more important, just drive slowly on the most traveled highways. The Queen Elizabeth Way was closed, so I took the scenic route, what I could see of it. lol  

That's about it for today, I do blather on, but at least it's in large print. rofl  Hope you've had time to make something fun. Warm hugs.
  
 

Tags for all! and money's nice, too

I've been wondering what to give my teenage nieces and nephew for Christmas that is NOT a plastic gift card. Been there, done that, sooo over it. This is today's Tim tag #9 and I think I've found the answer.  Here's what happened in the atelier today

 Yep, I made a bunch of 'em. Each of the darlin' teens (the kids) will get one of these babies and on the back I'll tape an origami folded moolah: cold, crispy cash to spend as they wish. I chose a different saying for each of them. Mom gets the "Jul" (pronounce yule) tag since she is of Swedish descent (minus $$). There's one for Charlie, and two for me. Naw, just kidding. One for another dear friend, Rachel. I give them to her as I make them, sort of like an irregular advent calendar gift!

I did change up some of Tim's directions because I was doing so many...8 in all with one in the trash. I had to have something of an assembly line going. To make it easier to color the tags I used Wild Honey reinker with the heirloom gold perfect pearls spray on the craft mat instead of tapping the distress ink pad (wild honey and brushed corduroy.) This way I could dip the tag, dry it and move on quickly to the next tag. I had a really good rhythm going, too. And that glue gun was such a handy fellow. He'd been sitting in the drawer for over mumble mumble mumble years without ever being touched!

I love the honey color, warm & sunny. The kids can have the tag out or hang it up all year instead of being limited to Christmas.

Not having any pretty buttons kinda had me bummed, but got me to wondering what to use instead. D'ya know those old coins you've been saving as souvenirs? Well, I found a use for them. They are very cool and vintage to boot. Old French francs (well, duh yeah, I was a French teacher), Swedish and Norwegian kroner, British pence (one of the nieces was born in Basingstoke), Spanish pesetas, and a Russian ruble that came from out of nowhere! With a coin on the front then a couple of bucks taped on the back folded like butterflies or somethin' easy but eye-popping, that ought to keep the theme going.

I used grungeboard letters 'cuz I don't have the papercore or Tim's alphabet die. Painted 'em black, didn't sand them, just gave 'em a dollop of glossy accents to shine them up. Perfection was NOT in today's crafting vocabulary. It was not a labor intensive tag, which is why I enjoyed it so much. Another zen experience in the studio. ooooohmmmmm

Drop me a comment and let me know how you change some of the steps to simplify your art. You know me, I love to learn and share shortcuts to art! Hope you made something fun today.

WOYWW and Day 7 Tim tag

I must admit to having spent the entire day on the couch with aches, chills and laryngitis. Hence, no tag today. Don't even have energy to deck the tree. No matter, I still managed to find some bins of decorations. So, here are the pics. Top bin is pretend xmas gift boxes for under the tree! lol  Some boxes are so pretty that I can't bear to toss them. When they're under the tree it looks like there are lots of goodies! The middle bin is pine boughs for the banister and in the bottom one are the large ornaments I put in antique wash bowls on the hearth. I'll bring them all up from the basement storage room when I have a burst of energy.

On to WOYWW.  Hop over to Julia's here to see what's on work desks around the world. I've met some of the nicest, most wonderfully talented people from WOYWW! Thank you Julia, for letting us pop by for peeks and making new friends everywhere.

This is my attempt to get some words together for tomorrow when I tackle Tim's tag Day 7. Having time to think about alternative supplies is a good thing. Rummaging about in forgotten corners is fun and does not require great thought, just simple appreciation for what one does have.   

So dear friends, enjoy your trip about the countryside as you visit Julia's faithful followers! Hope you had a chance to make something fun!

Taggin as fast as I can...puff..puff..

Well folks, just when ya think you've caught up, Tim throws you a big curve ball that knocks you right off your chair in the atelier (studio, in french).  Since I did so well yesterday and this morning on Days 4 and 5 plus my banner, I'm calling off work on Day 6 for tonight. I'll just catch you up on my copy-cat tags.

  

why, you ask, does she make 2 or 3 or even 4 tags per day? Is it so she  a) can pick the best one for herself; b) throw away the worst one; c) practice techniques; or d) have extras to give away. your guess is as good as mine..... naw, it's e) all of the above.  I mentioned a while back that St. Donald and I try to go daily to visit a 90 year old friend in the nursing home. Everyday is not always easy, as some of you may know all too well. But when I can't go, I make an extra tag for Charlie and she adores them! Even posts them on her bulletin board. She is full of life experience that she shares freely. Tomorrow she'll get the blue day 4 Santa.

On to the banner hanging from the mantle. The size and scale work well and it doesn't look all gawdy like a 1960's aluminum xmas tree (I know, I know, they now cost and arm and a leg.)  I'll let you peek for yourself, welcome to the living room. I did finish the holiday banner. Not bad - 13 letters 'Happy Holidays' and it's not too long.

Let me try a different shot. Here's a close up of one panel. Three triangles per panel, one rosette with small circle on one side and large oval on the other, and the glitter paper letter on top! Thanks to Mona (paper queen at BSS) who did all the class prep work: cutting, embossing, punching (this I like to do!), more and more cutting. All I did was glue, tape, glitter me little heart out, wrestle with mini eyelets, tape some more, push ribbons through impossibly small eyelets and tie knots. I'm pretty good at this last one - it was such a relief to get to this point in the project. You're probably tired of my list by now. lol

Okay, it's off to bed for moi. Sleepy time, but no bed bugs for me!  I hope you had time to glue or cut or staple something creatively fun today!