Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!! I made this for my mom for Valentine's...hope she'll like it! Mom and Dad have been married for 44 years now and I just love this photo from the 1960's. Love you both!!!!!

Wishing everyone a happy day of love and laughter!!

Little Bits and Pieces

I love collecting antiques and have them all over my house. Some of my goodies were given to me by my family. My parents gave me my "Victor Talking Machine" Victrola and Peter Pan antique radio. My silver set has been in my family for years. Other things I have collected from local antique malls and little towns with antique shops. One of my favorite places to go is Old Town Spring in Spring, Texas. You can find vintage furniture, kitchen accessories, nicknacks, and unique clothing. It is actually one of the oldest towns in Texas. All of the shops are in old homes and even an old school house. I can spend the day browsing, buying and eating in the wonderful tea rooms. If you are ever near the Houston area...make a special trip out to Spring!

Soldering Swap

I am so lucky to be involved in a fabulous soldering swap this month with some very talented Flickr friends. We soldered 7 charms and are sending one to each participant. I can't wait to get mine in the mail! Here are the soldered charms I made for my friends Carol, Tina, Layla, Dede, Teresa, Britt, and Dale!! I decided to use beveled glass this time and I used all vintage photos. I played with the photos on my photoshop first. I tied each charm with a vintage ribbon that I found when I was at the International Quilt Festival. Thanks to contributors of the flickr group "Collage Images" for several of the vintage images. Swaps are so much fun!

***********************

OOH...another fabulous book is out....Altered Art Projects by Jill Haglund, and I really love it! There are so many great projects and ideas in it...all in an altered vintage shabby style.

I enjoyed seeing work from my friend Deb Trotter in it! ,"Ride that Art Pub Pony!"

Valentine's Day...Around the Corner!

New Blog Banner!! I created it using some of my favorite digi collections by Texas digital desinger, Christina Renee!
***********************
I used some photoshop goodies to make this fun invitation for a Valentine's Chocolate "Tornado" Party. I am hosting a chocolate tasting for my fellow Kindergarten teachers at my school.

Thanks to sassyarts on flickr for this fun image!
***********************

I am still drooling over each and every page of the newest Somerset Life Magazine. It is just incredible. I knew I knew I had to make 6 centerpieces for an event this weekend, so I immediately "borrowed" the most unique idea from Jenny Doh! She has an article in Somerset Studio called "The Magic of Crepe Paper." I kept on looking at it and hoping I could come up with centerpieces using her idea. I did! Here are three of my six "potted flowers." Like Jenny, I used pink crepe paper ovals and twisted them on to my "naked" branches. I used regular terracotta flower pots and painted them brown and gold. I pushed floral foam into the pots and shoved my branches in. I think I'll use them again when I host my "Valentine's" evening for my art group. I think I can keep them for a while until the branches fall apart. Jenny Doh said her original idea came from a high school coach who decorated the gym for dances! What an inspiration! Thank you Jenny!

I'll just keep using them until the branches disintegrate!

***********************
Something fun to find....Somerset Blogging! WOW! What a gathering of artists! Once again, I can't put this Somerset down! Check out pages 90-93 for my good friend Lori Oles' blog. It is amazing!

One Dollar Goes a Long Way!

I found all of these darling card sets at Michael's last weekend for $1 a package (10) Here, I did a little "embellishing" to make the cards cuter.

Just a simple little glittered crown and eye add so much to these cute cards! All from Michael's!

Go and grab a few packages the next time you are there!

Photoshop Crazy!!

I could spend hours on end playing with all the brushes and techniques on Photoshop. Here are some photos I found in the flickr collage images site, thanks to Debra K and Aleeka Salaam. I bleached out the photos using a white layer on top of the photo and using tons of distressed brushes with my eraser tool and paint brush. You can find many great brushes on line, or try out some of the unique photoshop brushes that came with your photoshop. I really never noticed all the great ones right there in front of me! I made sure my opacity was low. Here is one I "distressed" using a Rhonna Farrer crown.
Experiment with Photoshop and have fun!

Fun Times!

"Somerset Life" is a MUST BUY!! This special issue of Somerset is just amazing. I can't stop reading it! I have made a few things in it already including some fun paper hats inspired by Sandra Evertson. She is so amazing!

Here are my two nieces modeling their hats we created this weekend. We made two of the "Sunday Hats." I am now ready to make one for me! In the same issue, my friend Lori shows how to make rolls of vintage wallpaper into gorgeous gift packages with flowers, buttons...ooh la la!
***********************
Went "beginning of the year" clearance shopping this week and found some great things! Got this Singer Sewing table for practically nothing...perfect for a small TV in my study!

Also found this wonderful "vintage inspired" computer desk! I wanted something that looked vintage, but of course a computer desk can't be too old!

It fits perfectly in the study too! What a great time to find bargins!

One more goodie...this fun tall piece fit nicely in the corner of my den. It is the new home for one of my vintage radios!