Assemblage

Well, I've done it! My first shrine project inspired by the work of Debrina Pratt and a few cheap frames in Nettos, I gathered my stash together for a few hours of sheer indulgence. I'm quite pleased with the outcome and absolutely love my little flower fairy. She actually swings!!!

Return to the Blog

After 6 months of blog-neglect, I have decided to resurrect my blogging.

It's been a busy time and something had to give, but I feel I've now got a bit more time to blog and as I have a changeable time ahead of me, now seems a good time to return.

New Year Challenge

My friend Chrissie was wandering around on Two Peas in a Bucket and found this. You have to publish the list, highlighting the ones you've done. I suppose the start of a New Year is a good time to decide to do some of the rest of the list too!

She has challenged everyone she knows to highlight their achievements so here are mine (highlighted in red).

If you want to have a go, feel free to just cut and past but let me know so I can read yours too!

Edited to put the link to the original thread on 2Peas: Two Peas New Yearsy Blog Challenge Thread


1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes ... yum!
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

TOTAL SCRAPPY NESS!

TOTAL SCRAPPY NESS!

IVGLDSW Day!

Today is International Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman's Day, so please send this message to someone you think fits this description. Please do not send it back to me as I have already received it from a Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman! And remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!" Have a wonderful day!

From Your Crackpot Friend

My friend Liz, sent me this e-mail today and I just loved it. Hope you do to...


An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house." Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path! And send this to any or all of your crackpot friends. And don't forget the crackpot that sent it to you

Inspired By....

CHRISSIE!

Earlier this week, I was looking for some inspiration and came across a half finished layout that I'd done in a class run my friend Chrissie at a Scrappers Unlimited Retreat in March. I loved the fact that the flowers were made from simple punches, using just two colours of cardstock, and I has always wanted to do the flowers again at some point in a slightly different way.

The result was this page and I even got around to finally to finishing off the original inspiration. Thanks for the inspiration, Chrissie.

And here's the inspiration...

I was here just over a week ago!

Well it's been two weeks since my last post. Sorry to be so neglectful but since returning from my hols a week ago. My feet have'nt touched the ground! Anyway, here I am back in the manic world of scrap-blogging once more.
Had a wonderful holiday. It was great to get away from it all, get some sunshine and spend some time with my better half.
Spent loads of time walking and exploring the length and breadth of Corfu. It was so beautiful there. All the flowers were stunning, clinging to the hillsides like a cultivated garden. And of course this provided me with plenty of photo opportunitites for future scrapping projects.
Since I got back, I joined the masses and headed to Bonanza for the weekend. Met lots of lovely people, made lots of mess and lots of lovely projects in the fabulous classes and bumped into some lovely ladies I worked with 10 years ago!
I absolutely LOVED the Paper Artsy classes, that I went to. Lots of messy inks, paint and gesso to play with. Look out for my completed projects in another blog post (left them at work, so can't scan 'em!). Felt really inspired when I got back to Crafty-Ness and can't wait to pass on my new found skills and inspiration!

What A Week!

It's always a problem planning a holiday when you run your own business. There's never really a good time but also you seem to spend the whole week before doing double the amount of work to allow for it!
And on top of that, I decide to organise a Loyal Customer Event to finish the week off - talk about glutton for punishment.
Well one of the good things to come out of this mad week was a 'Play Day' in my studio on Wednesday. I say play, but really it's planning for future workshops and trying out new ideas but there again I guess the truth is...it's playing!
These Play Days are why I started my own craft-based business but believe me, they are few and far between.
So what did I play with...
Well it involved quite a lot of UTEE (one of my faves), another lot of alcohol inks (another fave) plus quite a lot of mess (surprise, surprise!).
Here is the result... a lovely Faux Dichroic Glass Pendant! Unfortunately, it has proved harder to get a decent photo of it than to make it though...