HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend!  It is Memorial Day in the USA!  And many thanks to the troops who continue to keep our country safe!!

I have been relaxing outside with the family this weekend.  The weather has gone from freezing and raining to hotter than August!!  Very wacky weather.

Mr. and I went to the home improvement store yesterday, to pick out a chandelier.  Not a huge crystal type, but a big light all the same.  This is what I picked out.

I LOVE it!!  It is like a big pretty birdcage!  I fell in love with the swirls and leaves, and the color.  I know everyone seems to be going white lately, but I love color.  And I guess I thought I would REALLY protest this trend by painting my kitchen/family room chocolate brown!  There are plenty of windows, so it isn't like a cave, and the couch, chairs, cabinets, appliances, are all white.  So, I guess I actually compromised!!

I am OF COURSE linking to Debbie's Newbie Party.  Click the link to check out how she spent her long weekend!!

Thanks for visiting, and have a fabulous and safe Memorial Day!!

HOORAY!!!!!

My computer can comment again!!  Awesome!!!  And I have to thank EVA for her help!!  Thank you so much!!

SO, now we have PINK SATURDAY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY!  Our host, Beverly is so awesome for hosting this party!!!

Beverly says there will be prizes at some of the blogs!  Check it out!!

And since I have been like a maniac with this computer thing, I didn't prepare anything for the party *sigh*.  But, I got a Hello Kitty balloon last week,  that I a "virtually" giving to Beverly!!!

Happy Pink Saturday Everyone!!

PS..Could the person who made "sushi" cupcakes please comment here!!!  I saved it to my favorites, but with this whole blog madness, my favorites are missing!!!!  It was a fabulous idea!!


If you know who that person was, let me know!!

Thanks a million!!!


UPDATE!!!  Thanks to Dee from A Lapin Life (see my left sidebar) for cracking the case of the sushi cupcakes!!!  It was Yvonne of StyleBurb!!!!!!  Thanks to both of you, and anyone else, for your help!!

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT THE NAME OF THIS IS???

I am going to use it to make a little book.  I've seen it used in file folders, and I KNOW it has a name!!  Can anyone help me with this????

BLOGGER ISSUES

I am still unable to leave comments on SOME blogs.  I have no problem with typepad, wordpress, my open id.  They are fine.  Only blogger addresses aren't working.

AND it isn't all blogger addresses.  There are 3 types, for me, to categorize.

#1.  sometimes my name is already signed in.  I can comment.

#2. sometimes I can log in under the "anonymous" ID.  Not all blogs have that, if you don't, I  can't comment.

#3.  I try to sign in, and it lets me and takes me back to the comment, but when I comment it makes me sign in again.  This happens OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!

So, if anyone knows these people, could you drop them a line for me????

Lisa of The enchanted oven.  Please tell her how honored I am to have her make owl cookies because of my pink Saturday tag!!  Thank you!!

Mr. Toast of Creative Tuesdays.  The montages are awesome, and thank you for mentioning me!!  You are awesome! 

I've asked everyone I could think of about this problem.  My blog designer Karen Valentine (click her badge on my right sidebar) sent me to this site.Known issues for Blogger.   They say, and I quote:

"We're investigating an issue which is preventing login and comment posting for some users, and hope to have a fix released shortly."

So, that's it!  I hope to comment shortly!!! 

"

HELP!

****UPDATE!!  I STILL CAN NOT COMMENT**

SINCE I CAN'T COMMENT, I HAVE TO SHARE SOMETHING ON MY BLOG!!  LAST PINK SATURDAY I POSTED A TAG.  IT HAD AN OWL ON IT.  THIS WONDRFUL WOMAN
LISA OF "THE ENCHANTED OVEN'.  SHE SAID SHE WAS GOING TO MAKE OWL COOKIES, AND SHE DID!!  SHE IS SO SWEET, AND LINKED BACK TO ME ON HER OWL COOKIE BLOG POST!!!  YOU HAVE TO SEE THEM!  THEY ARE AWESOME!!!  CLICK THE LINK ABOVE!!

THANK YOU LISA!!

Does ANYONE know what the heck is wrong with blogger?????????


I am STILL unable to leave comments!  and I have literally 30 to leave!!!

I just tried using "anonymous".  It worked.  I will be spending the day catching up.

This is completely ridiculous!!

If anyone knows what this madness is, PLEASE let me know!!

If you don't have annoymous as an id type, I can't leave a comment.  Some of you STILL won't hear from me!!  This is completely maddening!!!

Hope your having a better week than I am!!!

CREATIVE TUESDAY!

*HELP!!  I CAN'T LEAVE ANY COMMENTS FOR YOU TODAY!!  I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON, BUT KNOW I WILL VISIT EACH OF YOU WHEN I CAN!!!

I love Creative Tuesday!!  It is a type of sketchbook challenge that happens every other Tuesday.  Our host, Mr. Toast, gives us a prompt to do with what we wish.  Now, I am a paper crafter, through and through.  NEVER have I had a sketchbook, or if I did, I turned it into an art journal or something.  But, I found this site, somewhere?  and I thought I'd give it a try.  I am so glad I did.  I am actually doing work in my sketchbook, that actually resembles drawing!!  No dimension, no wicked fancy pictures, just drawing the only way I know how.  And my progress has been slow and steady, but I feel like I have accomplished a big feat!!  With each new prompt, I feel I think of a way to make it work.  TOTALLY outside my comfort zone.

And the people there are so kind!!  They are wicked awesome artists, but they still have a kind word for the "newbie".  It really is a lovely group.  You just have to click on the link above and check them out.  You will be happy you did!!

This prompt was Trees.  Well, even I can draw a tree!!  But how do I make it better, different, make it my own.  Here is my take.

I started off with my Derwent water color pencils, and drew the tree, and some lines down to show the bark, and some branches on top.  hmmm.  blah.  What to do???

I let it sit for a week, thinking.  Then, I had my idea!!  Some doodles in the bark!  Yes, this is good!  But, the doodles were too light.  So, I went over the WHOLE TREE with my India ink markers.  Much better.  Now, how to make leaves.  I can't make a million leaves, that would look dumb. Hmmmm.  AHA!  Samp circles all around the top!  I got a foam stamp that was the perfect circle, and stamped it with 3 different inks. Nice!!  But, it is still empty.  Circle bushes!!!  And some grass with a green marker to bring it together.  Now, it just looked like a few circles.  How do I fix that?  Some brown doodles!  Like the branches that would be inside!!  A few squiggles for good measure and done!!

BUT, I couldn't stop.  Spray ink was calling my name.  "spray me Daniella, you always use spray ink, we need you".  I was unsure, so I took the picture without spray ink, then sprayed one type of spray ink on it and it had like no color (although it was called evergreen) and made my ink run!!  ACK!!  Thankfully I keep a heat gun at the ready, and I was able to save my ink from running too much.  So, I tried a different spray ink, and it worked wonderfully!!  I am not going to tell you which ink was the bad one, and which ink was the good one.  I just don't roll like that, bad mouthing  one company.  It doesn't matter really, right?

I think I like the no spray ink one better, but the ink did fill in the top of the tree, and the splashes on the white paper do add more depth.  What do you think?????

Thanks for visiting and reading my 12 page story!!  I just always have such fun with these sketchbook pages, I can't help but tell the whole story!!

Enjoy the other fabulous artists!!  And say hello to Mr. Toast too!!!

MONDAY AGAIN???

Good morning blogland!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

My oldest son, large, was home all of last week with a killer cold/flu/fever type thing.  He  is 14, but still wanted to hang out on the couch with mama.  He had me watch the whole Matrix trilogy! ugh.  The first one was good, the next 2?????  BUT, it was a very small price to pay to hang out with my large baby, and enjoy his company, uninterrupted for the day!  Even though he was sick, we had a great time!

Now, that being said, I did NO work last week, and this weekend either for that matter.  I have things made of course, and this is one of them!!

I got this shoe from the Graphics Fairy a long time ago.  It was part of a digital collage sheet, that you could use to layer on top of  each other.  I just LOVED this shoe!  I made this postcard with it.  I LOVE how this came out.  I wonder if the pearl buttons and flowers would fall off in the mail? of course they would, but I can dream, right???

SO, I am linking this to

Smiling Sally's Blue Monday Party

&

The Graphics Fairy's Brag Monday

Have an awesome day!  Thanks for visiting!

THE WORLD DID NOT END!!

Good news, right???

It is time for the weekly newbie party at Debbie Doo's Blogging and Blabbing!  Don't know Debbie?  Click the link and check her out!!  She is a "newbie's" dream and a first rate blogger!!! 

I am showing something I made for ArtChix Studio's bi-weekly challenge.  The challenge is to use at least one postage stamp on your project.  I have several ArtChix collage sheets, and I used some of those images.  I can't be sure they are all stamps though.  But, I can say that at least one is, and the others are from the BonVoyage collage sheet, so they may be stamps, or tickets, I can not say.  As soon as I saw the theme, I thought twinchies!!  Twinchies are little pieces of art, that are only 2 inches by 2 inches. 

I made 5 of them, because they are so small.  And, I like odd numbers!  I started with cardboard that I always have.  I hoard cardboard!!  Love to use it!!  Anyway, I cut the cardboard, and painted it with some watered down cadmium yellow paint.  Then, I attached the stamps.  I then used my fine tipped Sharpie to add some lines across them.  Like a used postage stamp.  But, I had to have more.  So, I used my white Sharpie paint pen and made dots.  Still not enough, so I wrapped them with some pink bakers twine!!

Here are a few close ups.

The Eiffel Tower one is my Favorite!!

Thanks for visiting me!!  and check out the other Newbies!!  Don't forget the ArtChix too!!

Have an awesome day!!

As always, if you want to follow me, I promise to follow you back~  I just do this because you are all awesome!!  And I love fnding new blogs to inspire me!!

PINK SATURDAY!

Hello Pink Party People!!  Today is Beverly's Pink Saturday Party!  Lets show off our pinks!!

I have another little tag.  I didn't take a fancy picture because I'm going out with the family tonight, and I'm running late!!  But I couldn't miss this!

And my picture isn't that good.  BUT it is pink, right????

Don't forget, Beverly is also having a BIG party for Pink Saturday's 3rd Birthday!!

Spread the word!!

I will see you all tomorrow!!  Can't wait to see the pinks!!

AWARDS!!

What's up!

I have recieved 3 awards recetly, and I haven't put them up yet.  I have no excuse for it, I just didn't get to it!! Bad me.  I did put up the first one from Cindy.

And now, I am putting up the second/third one.

This one was from 2 different blogs, and because I am late in posting it, how could the other blog know?  So, a special thanks to Misty and Eve  and Dee.  You are all AWESOME!!!!

This award does have rules.  They are:



1.  Thank the person who gave it to you, and link back to them.  Check!
2.  Tell 7 things about yourself.  I'm workin' on it!
3.  Pay it forward and award the Versatile Blogger to your recently discovered new blogger's.  I'm workin' on this too!

OK.  7 things about me.  ???????  I should name 14, because I got this twice, but I won't.

I only drink coffee with coconut creamer.
I am allergic to bees, yet I still love the outdoors.
I love the smell of paper.  Scrapbook, magazine, books, all of it!
I have 2 sons that are getting too big too fast.
I will be married 20 years this September.  Yes, I was a child bride.  I was 3 20 years ago
I would rather be bare foot than wear shoes.
I am a homebody.  I'd rather be home than anywhere else.  I love my house and my yard, why would I want to go somewhere else???

Now, to award.

Crystal and

Laurie  Because they are newbies like me!!

That is the part I hate about awards.  As much as I like to do this, not everyone does.  I see more blog than not with an "award free" sign on them.  It is so hard to figure out who to give them too!!  I like getting them, writing some things about myself, all of that, but giving them is just too hard!!!  So, I hope that  the 2 bloggers I gave them too enjoy them!!  But, if they don't do awards, SORRY!!

THANK YOU FOR GIVING THEM TO ME!!  I THINK YOU ARE ALL FABULOUS!!  My awards will be on the sidebar from now on, so everyone can see them!

My spell check is not working.  If I spelled stuff wrong, ugh. what can I do, stupid blogger!
Enjoy the rest of the week!!

ART JOURNAL WEDNESDAY IS BACK!!

Whew!  Where has my art journal been???  AH!  I found it!  and I did the prompt for A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.  I have been very, VERY good this year!  I have managed to do every prompt so far.  I am very proud of myself!,  And I am currently working on the newest one too.

The prompts are always given in 3 parts.  Prompt, music, technique to try.  These are the prompts for
April 30th.
Prompt: BUSY
Song: Manic Monday by the Bangles
Technique to Try: Lace/Trim

I had fun with this one.  I wrote the lyrics to the song (which, i don't like.  But know every word from it being on the radio every minute in the 80's), and covered them lightly with some watered down white paint.  Then, I added 4 pieces of lace.  I have a roll of lace that is curved.  I guess you would use it for making colars and such.  Next, I added yellow paint, the watered down white, and watered down chocolate brown.  The combo looks lovely, I think.  My house had chocolate brown walls in the living/dining/kitchen/foyer room.  I used a teal colored marker to write some words like, busy, hurry, go, run, and I also changed it from "Manic Monday" to Manic everyday!  I outlined the words, and I traced the inside of the lace too.  Black india ink finished it off!

Pfew!  That was long!

I haven't added any work to my gallery lately.  So I will be trying to catch up on that now too.  I will see you all soon!

Many thanks to you for visitng! 

My friend Dee at A Lapin Life is having a giveaway!  She is offering these beautiful chalkboard painted pots!  Click the link for a chance.  Good Luck!

PARTY DAY!!!

Happy Monday friends!  I am excited to join in 3 parties today!!  Being new, I am a faithful follower of Debbie Doos Newbie Party.  She is an amazing blog friend, and an inspiration to all things crafty.  Where would I be without her!!  You rock friend!!

Then, I am joining Smiling Sally's Blue Monday Party.  Another sweetie from blogland.

Last, but never the least, is The Graphics Fairy's Brag Monday.  She is so awesome for giving us all of the images we could ever want! 

That being said, this is my project that applies to all of these parties.

That was a lot of hype for a little tag wasn't it???

I have been making a bunch of small items lately, just because I like doing it.  My new rule of  "no pressure creating" has been quite pleasant!  This is not to say that I don't love my bigger projects too.  I have a new art journal page to show this week, and a few other large things I can't talk about yet, or never maybe, I don't know.  But tags have always been my thing.  Second to tags are ATC's.  So I have made a bunch of tags and postcards in different colors.  Blue is my new favorite color to create with, and I have this "French" thing going on too.  Don't know why, but I like it!!

This tag uses Prima Flowers, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Graphics Fairy images, stamps, pearls and vintage trims, just to name a few.  I love the complexity of something so small!

Remember to have fun while you create!!  and enjoy the party (s)!!!  As always, if you follow me, I promise to follow you back, because I know you are awesome!!

PINK SATURDAY!

Hello!  If you haven't heard, blogger is having problems.  I am writing this a 3pm on Friday, for Beverly's Pink Saturday Party.  However when it will actually apear?  No idea.

So, I am showing a pink tag that I made first.  I made this for no good reason, but I love it!! I got that gorgeous flower image from ArtChix studio, in a collage sheet.  I then added stamps, pearls, Ranger ribbon, and the chipboard Fleur de lis.  Just pretty and romantic, I think.

AND, here is just one shelf of Hello Kitty stuff!!

Just the bottom shelf of a 3 shelf metal piece I bought at the junque store for 2 bucks.  It has Hello Kitty pencil bags, mini Hello Kitties, a mini lunch box, stickers, makeup, notebooks, and a million other things!!  I just remembered saying a few weeks back that I should show a Hello Kitty item every Pink Saturday.  Of course, I forgot!  I'm showing this whole shelf to make up for it!

Enjoy visiting all the pretty pinks!  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!

A STORY WITH PICTURES

Hello awesome blog friends!  It's time for another Creative Tuesday!!  This time, we were prompted to make something using purple.  The catch is purple has to be the predominant color.  SO, here is where the story gets picture-y.

Right away, I had an idea.  I was going to use my watercolor pencils, 3 different colors of purple from my awesome set of Derwents water color pencils, and write the word purple with flowers coming out of it.  I got right to work!  HA!  I had an idea right away!!  No long time wondering what I would make.  I finished within a few days of the prompt going up.  Here is what I made.

At the time, I thought it was perfect!!  I asked my small son what he thought, and he said "what is SURPLE".  ugh.  my "P" was too scrolly!!  What to do?  Nothing, this is perfect after all, right?

Days go by, 11 of them actually, and today, I thought "maybe it needs just a bit more".....

This is what happened

I blended the colors with water.  Ok looking, but I still thought "just a bit more".

I altered the color a bit, to show you the spray ink I applied.  My awesome new Ranger spray ink, in purple.  But was that the finishing touch?  NO!  It needed more!!

And here it is.  In it's finished glory!!  The finishing touch was to outline the letters and flowers with a purple micron marker.  THAT was what I needed.  I outline everything.  It is weird, but I love outlining.  I just think I like a more "finished" look.  Finished to me that is.  I love painting, and drawing, and collage, all messy stuff, but at the end of all of that fun, I always outline.  Here, the watercolor pencils needed to be bended, and the spray ink was needed, but in the end, it was the outline I needed!!

What do you think?  Did you like it better before I started "fixing" it?  Tell me!!  I love to hear your opinions!!

REMEMBER, YOU CAN CLICK THE IMAGES TO SEE THEM ENLARGED!!!!

Have a great week!!

WAIT!  A NEW PARTY POOPED UP!!

I received a comment today on this post.  It was from Judy of DIY by Design.  She said;

"That is so pretty. I would love for you to link up to my Swing into Spring party. Hope you stop by."

Me?  Really?  I've never been invited to a party!  I usually crash them.  I went to her blog, and oh my heck!  She has an incredible decorating blog!  She says it is decorating, crafts, cooking, etc.  I was happy to add this to her party!  How fun is that?????

If you want to join in, the party is open until Friday!  Come over and join! Just click the link!!

 

MOTHERS DAY..

Hi bloggers!!  I hope you all had a very fabulous Mothers Day!!!

My weekend was nice.  Spent most of it at home, trying to finish up the house projects.  They never end.  I can (and probably will) take a picture of each room here, and there is only ONE SMALL THING LEFT TO DO!!  Like, a piece of trim missing, or a small door, or...  Hopefully, before I MOVE AGAIN, it will be in my usual neat and orderly fashion.  until then, ugh.

My Mothers Day was wonderful.  My "men" did wonderful by me, as they always do.  I am very blessed!!

For my mom, I made a tag.  With gifts too!  But I make her a handmade card for every holiday, and she loves them, but every time I make a tag she is like "Ooooo!  Can I have it???"  and I have to say no!  So, I made her a pretty, but simple tag, in her favorite color blue.

I wrote a note on the back.  I told her I think she is amazing, and she should remember that she is.  This tag is a little reminder for her.

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend!  As grandmothers, mothers, fur mommies, or just a fabulous person enjoying a great weekend!!

I am Linking to:

Debbie's Newbie Party She is AWESOME!!! And don't forget her Chalk Paint Giveaway!

and

Blue Monday it's my first party there!!

ZIP GOES TO A PARTY!!

Hello humans.  My name is Zip, and I am joining Debbie Doo's Pet Party!  I don't get to use the computer much, so I am so happy to be live!  Zip goes live.  I LOVE it!!  I am a miniature Dachshund and I am 10 pounds.  I bark like a much bigger dog.  I know what's mine, and I protect my family.  When anyone knocks at the door I bark like crazy!!  The person knocking sees me and is really confused.  I often hear them going "is that the dog???".  Um. YEAH.  Just because I'm little doesn't mean I won't bite!!

So, mine is really a dog's life.  My mom, Daniella, really gives me a hard time!!  Wait till you see the things she does to me!!

First, look at this.  My mom had a "Harry Potter" party, for the release of the new video.  She had all of us dress up like a character from the movie.  My brother, Robert, went as Dobby, the house elf.  Robert put a sock in my collar, to show that I was a free elf, and he dressed like Dobby, but used me as his head!!  They often say I look like Dobby, but this was too much!  At least he had the decency to cover my, um, private parts.

THEN, this.

Can you imagine?  Me, dressed as a Hot Dog for Halloween!  Come on people!  You think I have no dignity?  look at my face.  Does that look happy?  Every year they make me wear this stupid hot dog outfit, and walk me all around the development, so everyone gets to see this!  ugh.  BARK!!

But, then they took a picture of this.  Me, left out in the snow!  I need my bed, and my toys and warmth!!  This is awful.

But, in the end, I guess they aren't too bad.  They give me a bone that is as long as me!  And they pet me, and hold me, and love me.  I think I'll keep them.

I hope we can visit again!!

LOVE, ZIP

not daniella