SICK

I just wanted you all to know I have been sick since last weekend.

I went to the doctor on Monday, but I am not any better yet.  I will go again tomorrow. It seems to be that cold/flu/virus/bacteria/head cold/sore throat/cough that's going around. ugh.

Please don't think I forgot you all!!!  I am just not up to blogging.  

Hopefully, I will be back sometime this week.

Take care and have a great week!

MY ANNIVERSARY!

Today is my anniversary!

I've been married for 21 years!

I was 12 when I got married. *snort*  

Of course, I got flowers.  I get them often.  My husband is just good that way.

We always get each other a sentimental gift too.  I am not sharing them with you.  Not that I don't love you all!  But some things are meant to be *secret*.

I also want to thank my very good friend Marit for always remembering my anniversary.  Her parents have the same anniversary as we do!  And today, they are married 50 years!  I hope we are as lucky as they are.  Congratulations to them, and best wishes on many more!!

Have an awesome weekend!  

PUBLISHED AGAIN AND WOYWW

It is time for another WOYWW!!  Please check out Julia's blog to see all about us!!

BUT FIRST...

I got ANOTHER magazine in the mail!  This is getting crazy!!  3 different magazines in exactly 1 month!  I still think it might be a joke!  How awesome is this????

My Halloween card.  I LOVE how it came out!!

The write up.

The cover!

So that is my crazy exciting news!!  Now, on to the party!!

My desk is pretty neat this week.  I'm in the middle of a bunch of stuff, so there is a big mess all over the room!!  My badge is on the sketch pad on the left.

That's it from me.  Thank you for allowing  me to rant a bit about the publication!!  Enjoy the rest of the snooping!!

AN ALTERED BOX

I made a really fun altered box for Altered Arts Magazine this week.  I am so lucky to design for them, and they send me products from our sponsors to work with.  I like the challenge of using as many of them as I can in one project.  That is what I did with this box.

Graphic 45 paper is used on the left.  I used Wee Scapes products all over the box.  Wee Scapes makes  products to use when making miniature model houses and stuff.  So I used  the styrene sheets that are usually for siding on the house, as the backgrounds for the box.  One sheet is wood blanking, then scalloped edge sheet and clear styrene.  I used Ranger ink on the sheets too.  This ink is AWESOME!!!  It is called "mint julip" and it smells like vanilla mint when you use it!  I've never heard of scented ink before so that was really fun!

The fun clock with the swan on it is from Art Chix (Love them), and the butterfly is from The Mailbox Muse (Altered Arts Magazine's kit club).  The people are also from Wee Scapes and I used purple spray ink on them.  I was going to make the middle box lady orange, but the ink wouldn't stay on.  I tried to rub it off, but it already stained part of the figure.  So I tried to paint her purple, but the orange showed through!!  That is why that poor middle lady looks like she was on fire :(

That's it!  I hope you enjoyed my box, and thanks so much for visiting!!

YOU are awesome!!

SUMMER SMASHING PARTY!!!!

Today is the SUMMER SMASHING PARTY!!  This party was put together by the awesome Ricki-Jill and Miss Angie!  They had this genius idea to journal our summers in a "Smash" book.  Smash books are pre-decorated journals.  the pages are already decorated so it is easy to put your memories in.  The pen that comes with it has a glue stick on the bottom, so you can SMASH your bits and pieces right in.  There are totally awesome accessories too!  It really is a fun way to record your memories.

My Smash book only has our vacation in it.  It is a total of 27 pages, but I won't show them all!!  Just a couple of them.

We start here with the finished book, so you can see it is thick!

This is us hitting the road..

All of us getting in the car, preparing for our 3 hour drive.

We had so many detours and traffic, our 3 hour drive took 6 hours!  and there was a sign that we were confused about.  "Trucks Do Not Retard Brakes'.  What does that mean?  We tried 3 times to get a picture of the sign, but no luck.

when we arrived, the sky turned BLACK!!  If you look at the picture on the right, you see black and a slice of white.  The black cloud was right above us!  And I wanted to know if it was a sign that this was going to be a bad vacation!

It wasn't!!  It was awesome!  We had the best time!

We were so sad to come home.  But, happy too.  I don't know about you but after a while, I want to be home, with my things and my bed!  But we really had a fabulous time.  The boys said it was the best vacation EVER!!  

So, that is my Summer Smash Journal. Please visit Ricki-Jill and Miss Angie and see the other Smashers!!!  Thanks for visiting!!

WOYWW!!

Hello WOYWWers!!  Thank you so much for visiting my desk!!  Want to know what WOYWW is?  Just go to it's inventor's blog, the fabulous Julia and read all about it.

My desk is CLEAN today!!  This picture is as clean as it gets for me!!

(my WOYWW  badge is flat on the shelf.  Bad Daniella!!)

This is a close up of the transparencies  I'm thinking of working on next.  While I was away I went to a craft faire and a company named "PK Press" had these in a random bag for $5.  They looked interesting enough to get me to buy them.  There is a frame I may use on a card, and the pictures I was thinking of using stickles  on them on the back.  Not sure, any ideas???

And that's it!!  Tomorrow, I will be showing my vacation "Smash" book at the "Summer Smash Party" in case you wanted to peek at that too!!

I always answer all of my comments and I thank you so much for leaving them!!  I then try so hard to see as many of you as possible!!  The party is getting bigger, and bigger every week!!

REMEMBER...

Today, we remember the tragedy that happened on our own soil.  A day that we lost over 3,000 Americans, civilians and first responders.  Sisters, Brothers, Mothers, Fathers, Neighbors, every one of us knew someone who was affected.  And today we remember.

I will never forget that day.  I lived an hour and a half away from New York City at that time.  I watched in horror as the second plane hit.  I ran to the phone to call my sister, who worked in New York City.  The lines were busy.  I called my husband, the lines were busy.  I couldn't find my loved ones.  I had to get my oldest from kindergarten so I knew my babies were with me.  Where was everyone else?  I kept calling, busy.  Finally, my husband called and my relief was huge.  He came right home.  I still waited to hear from my sister.  

They had to walk home that day.  Across the bridges on foot.  But thankfully, my phone eventually rang.  But the relief I felt was still filled with sorrow.  All of those people.  All of those lives.

Today, I am thankful that me and mine were safe.  But on this day, I remember the others.  And the feeling I had on that day comes back every year.

I hope that you and yours were found that day.  I feel for all of you who lost a loved one that day.  I want you to know, I will always remember.

WOYWW #170

I love WOYWW!!  Julia really invented a winner of a party!  Who doesn't like to peek at everyone's work spaces?  I know I love to peek!!!

Here is my disaster.

I can't even begin to tell you what this is.  But I will tell you this, it was actually worse!  I had to remove a section of the mess because I can't show you yet.  I am a very messy worker.  When I am all in on an idea, I just roll!  I don't put things away, I just get another supply, and another, and end up with this mess, and a finished project!!  What I am trying to say is, for me, it isn't good if the desk isn't messy!!

And of course, my badge is right in the middle of it!!

Now, go peek at the other desks from around the globe!  You know you want to!!!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!  

I have a project that I made for Altered Arts Magazine to share with you today.  We are given wonderful things to use from sponsors, and we try to use them in an "out of the box" kind of way.  

This piece is a wall hanging with my name in Japanese.  I don't know Japanese, so if this is wrong please tell me!

The background piece is really faux roof for making a miniature house!  "Spanish Tile Brick color" from a company called "Wee Scapes".  You can find their products HERE.  Then, I drew the characters on cardstock with a marker and glued it on top.  

In the corners, I used stamps and collage sheets to make the butterflies.  They are both from The Mailbox Muse, Altered Art's Kit Club.  I was a member of this kit club before I was designing for them, that is how awesome their kits are.  I used chalk from "Craft-t-Products" to color the corners too.  You can find their chalks HERE

I also used Prima flowers, gauze and wire that I curled in the corners.

So that is my "out of the box" piece.  I love it and it is hanging in my studio right now.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday and thanks for stoppin' by!!