Category Archives: pals

Apr8

Head spinning

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I’m so excited about crafting things, that I want to do about 10 projects at once! My partner is putting together the most adorable fairy kits for you to assemble. I’m making art pieces out of Altoids tins and will probably make other things from them. I have 3 almost finished (thanks for prompting this post Sharon!) It’s the ‘finishing touches’ part that is holding me up. I have a few other tins bookmarked on flickr to help me out. People have such great ideas! I will say I painted the tins and they resemble the photo below featuring Cate Blanchett.

Have a few appointments set up this week and one more next week. I hope that is it for a while! Still waiting on the blood work results-a week now. No news is good news, correct? I have to be more optimistic now! ; )

Off to wrap some birthday gifts.

I took some photos and thought I’d share:

I keep my Art Trading cards in a notebook and use baseball card plastic pages.

I just got this Mona Lisa rubber stamp and whipped this ATC up right away! I also was in QVC outlet store and they had this big pack of letters on different backgrounds that you just punch out. I think there were 10K of them!

Here’s a kit I had started and pulled out last night. I am so sorry I didn’t change out the fabric.

I finished the first African violet ‘Nancy Reagan’-only 6 more to do. I am all purpled out and put this aside for a few days.

Apr3

Announcing

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My friend and I are working on an etsy shop! There is nothing listed yet, but I figured if I talk about it, I’ll get busy! I hope to have something listed within a week.

Not much new on the home front. I made my niece a cute ATC for her upcoming birthday tonight plus I worked on a few other cards I am still trying to finish the first plant on the African violet cross stitch sampler.

It took me all evening last night to feel better physically. I think all this upset is going right to my gut. Just surfing, I went over to Flickr and saw a link-most views of my stuff and I saw that many people said that my photos or art were one of their ‘favorites’. That gave me a little moral boosting, especially when it came to getting etsy rolling.

Check out the elephant painting in my vid pod on the right. Angela Cartwright had it featured on her blog.

QUICK question-anyone have tummy trouble taking vitamin or calcium supplements? I’m wondering if that is why my tummy’s been so weird. I started taking them in February. I think I’ll not take anything for a few days to see. In the meantime, I’ll order some vitamins for sensitive tummies. Who needs this when you are trying to stay healthy?

Doctor’s Choice Sensitive Stomach

Mar28

Missing in blogland

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Only a few pals are blogging regularly this week. I know one had company and others are waiting for their long winter to end so they can go out in their yards and blog about flowers, etc.

I was going to try and get to Longwood Gardens today if the rain holds out. I’m mainly interested in the orchids in the conservatories, but it’s a little walk to that area. Now my mom wants to come out too, but I bet I won’t see her for at least 3 or more hours. She’s anxious to print out her flower show pictures as I just bought her two ink cartridges for her new printer for Easter. She also wants to use her camera more. Sean used his new camera at the Clinton rally, though he wasn’t that close (8k were there!). He also took a little video. I guess he will upload them sometime today. I also have to proof a couple of his papers over the weekend.

I really feel like I need to get out of the house today, so I’m hoping I can at least chase a few raindrops to see something different.

Mar26

For BJ

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In rememberance of B

Received this email from one of my longtime internet pals, I’ve known her for at least 10 years. She met her husband online through a Titanic chat room. I enjoyed hearing about her Titanic dinners and their various cruise trips.
Here’s some of the email:

On March 5, 2008, B passed away at home with me there. It was sudden.
Dianne, of all of the thoughtful things that you have sent to me, the cross stitched, framed piece that you gave me of the couple on a ship’s deck means the most at this time. It was indeed B and me. Thank you.

Fondly,
BJ

 

Needless to say I was very touched. I feel the same way about anything anyone ever made for me too. I’m very sad for my friend tonight. I will always associate anything about the Titanic with her and B.

I got a couple of bunches of roses for dirt cheap again at the supermarket, and this is one of them that I just photographed.

Mar4

The clean up begins

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I was outside raking on Monday. It was close to 60 here and a bit breezy. My circular iris garden was all overgrown with field grass (you’ll see the pear tree in the background which won’t be looking that green this year). I am confessing to you all that I will mulch that garden this year! It would probably save me a ton of work. I have little box hedges around the perimeter of this garden and two or three of them are missing. I think Bri cut them down with the mower! So they will have to be replaced eventually. I also got out most of the old sunflower, zinnia and cosmos stalks next to the irises. I have a big blister from my raking- I should wear work gloves!

Made little turkey meatloaves and oven fried red potatoes-inspired by Everyday Food magazine. Yep, I was thinking about my post below and handled the turkey gingerly. : )

I’m on a roll with ATCs. I made 9 of them in the last few days. Making some gifts helps. Cutting up new books and having pretty papers is also a bonus I received a giftie ATC from Tootie over at <—-Honey Girl Studios (see above).  Tootie has lots of her St Paddy’s and Easter art for sale right now.

I watched the show on the Royals last night. I have to say that I just adore William and Harry. They turned out so nice, their mom would be proud. And I watched them grow up as they are only a few years older than Sean.

Feb14

Happy Valentine’s Day and Winners!!!

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Meet my only Webkinz…

My Webkinz

I did a random drawing of numbers from an online generator and the following 3 numbers were chosen: 42, 27, 106!
All winners have been contacted and they are:
Robyn
Constance
and Lolly!
Congrats ladies!!! I have heard back from everyone. What an awesome event. The talent out there in blogland is truly amazing and wonderful. You all inspire me. : )

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Here’s one of my presents that I picked out and purchased for $10 off from Fragrance.net. If you want a code for a discount, let me know. And it has a delicately sweet marshmallow scent!

Mariah Carey’s M

Doesn’t it sound yummy? The first thing you smell is marshmallow and then it fades to the wonderful earthy musk.

 M by Mariah Carey Eau de Parfum Spray, 3.3 oz.

“For me, creating this scent was like creating a song – it takes many notes to compose a fragrance. It’s like a beautiful melody.” – Mariah Carey

Mariah’s signature scent opens with an indulgent, creamy accord and blooms into an opulent floral heart as a rich base reveals darker, sensual facets.

  • A warm and inviting marshmallow is woven throughout the fragrance, evoking a sense of comfort. This indulgent accord captures Mariah’s fondest childhood memories of being in the kitchen with her father.
  • The lush floral heart of the fragrance combines a feminine veil of Living Tahitian Tiare flower wrapped in the aura of wet Gardenia petals. This beautiful blend is reminiscent of the fragrant breezes of Hawaii and the Isle of Capri, Mariah’s favorite getaway.
  • The soul of the fragrance reveals a sexier dimension. Sheer amber, infused with spicy, woody accents of Moroccan incense forms a seductive accord that embodies Mariah’s sensuality, beauty and glamor.

There’s a bag sitting here for me too! I didn’t get Bri anything yet, but I just don’t know what to get him. I did make some peanut butter cookies last night. : )
My friend Lisa sent me a ‘find your soulmate’ card:

Take the Quiz

I can totally see this if I was taller-lol, but look how tiny his wife Jada is. : )

I won a prize too! A beautiful book with a photograph on the cover from Jo Anne at Paper Cats Page. I’m thrilled!!

Feb12

So you want to be a designer

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I was seriously thinking about this today-being a cross stitch pattern designer. I have a few programs, but what is blocking my mind is what to design? Mushrooms, Amish or primitives are things that pop in my head. Mushrooms, because of where I live and there is a store in the next town that sells mainly mushroom related things (they are the ‘Mushroom Capital of the World’) and each year the Mushroom festival in September gets a little bigger. Tourists do check out the store. What to do? See…I get stuck. And I live close to Lancaster, PA-Amishland, but I know a few well known designers have Amish designs. I visit so many cross stitcher’s blogs and I notice what you like to do. I don’t want to copy anyone else’s designs (and I wouldn’t but I mean taking their ideas), but I know I can be inspired by century old samplers like they are. Any input would be appreciated. I think I could do this if I put my mind to it!

We are getting a bit of a snow event, not a foot or anything, but maybe an 1 inch with some ice tossed in. I worry about Brian driving around in it.

Tomorrow at midnight I pick my One World-One Heart winners!!!

~By the way~people have really been clicking the links on the left to help feed children to rescuing pets-awesome!

~Update-I’m calling it ‘Toss it Tuesday’. It’s our third week of trying to pare down the amount of unless, dusty junk boxes that are taking up valuable space in the basement. The problem is everything is covered with that cat litter dust. I had asked Brian to switch to something else and it looks like he is back to the dusty stuff! Arrghh! What I do is put a load of laundry in (I only do about 2 a week) and while that’s washing, I start digging through the stuff. I do need to save some of the boxes for eBay (hey I found a ton more!) My guys are great at tossing electronic equipment boxes down there and leaving them after the alloted 3 month time to keep the box is over! I’m not going to talk about magazines and baskets right now, or tins or stuffed animals….

Thanks for your input Jennifer, I’ll check out the various sites for inspiration.