Hope, Faith, Love....

Our secretary's daughter was recently re-diagnosed w/ breast cancer & she underwent a double masectomy. I haven't delved much into the art of jewelry-making but wanted to make them matching mother-daughter bracelets. I'm pretty pleased w/ my creations but jewelry-making is tedious, frustrating work & I may not be cut out for it so this may be my one & only endeavor in that realm. ;)

I used large pink pearl beads, vintage opalescent beads, sterling word "beads" & added a strand of vintage rosary beads in a fabulous shade of pink. What do you think?

Hope,

Faith,


and Love...they'll carry you through the darkest times.

Please keep Tricia & her family, in your prayers...thanks!

The Wicked Tea was awesome in every way!

First off, I gotta warn y'all about the amount of pictures in this post...there's a lot! So grab a cup of whatever, take a potty break & prepare yourself to be wow'ed...by the many talents behind Paper Cowgirl's A Wicked Tea.

I'm unable to copy & paste website addys (think it's a stupid trojan that I can't get rid of) so I'm not gonna embed links to blogs in this post. But you can google any blog name that you are interested in.

First up, the decor...oh my goodness, was it over the top fabulous! Ann Denise from Whim & Fancy Designs is known as being teh crepe paper queen but after this event, I think she earned the title, Queen of Everything. She not only taught a wonderful class but handled the decor & the food!

click on any picture & then click again to enlarge for details

I took this next shot before the cupcakes were brought out. But she transformed a chandelier into a cupcake stand...pretty clever, huh? (and one you will probably see me copy at some point LOL)

Candy bar...full of devilishly good treats. And party favors made by Ann Denise.

The breakfast station...AD made fruit salad, coffee & scones. She also made us a wonderful lunch w/ pasta salad, broccoli salad, chicken wraps & corn chowder. We ate good!!! ;)

Rose petal scones...they were fabulous!

And the teachers were as fabulous as the food...from left to right, you have Lisa from Tarnished & Tattered, Ann Denise from Whim & Fancy Designs, Cindy from Yapping Cat Studio ( Cindy is the backbone of Paper Cowgirl) & Lesley from Flatwoods Folk Art.

Here is one of the students (Grace came all the way from NY for the retreat!) in front of The Pink Cottage...the venue the Wicked Tea was held in. Quaint, quaint, quaint!

And the students...well let's just say there was a lot of snorting going on! LOL I knew most of them from previous Paper Cowgirl retreats but made a few new, cherished friends.

My table (the loudest table LOL)...from left to right; it's Jennie from The Pretty Pekingese, me, Grace from Grace in the Pink City & Jan, from Just Me Jan. I knew Jan already but we all clicked from the get-go...I couldn't have asked for better tablemates.

And now on to the projects. First up is Lisa's Coven Book class.

I strayed a bit from her class example, using a black bow & pearls instead of the tiny, old book of poems she provided us. That book is wayyyy cool & I just couldn't bring myself to glue it down. Plus, the hint of glam suits me & my style.

She showed us an awesome technique of using liquid resin (I think that's what it was... I may have to email Lisa & ask her)...it looks so cool "dripping" down the book.

I also went w/ a different image than Lisa provided....using one of a witche's tea party that I found in our goodie bags. How appropriate, huh?

And I realllly strayed from Ann Denise's class example. She taught us how to make noisemakers out of paper clay. Her's was really, really cute but it was painted in bright colors & I'm trying to stick w/ black & white for Halloween. So I used rhinestone buttons for eyes, gave it all a coat of crackle & then went over it w/ a watered-down burnt umber paint, wiping it off so it only stayed in the cracks.

I know it looks like a cross between an alien cat & a pig but I don't care...I love it! I added a pipe cleaner tiara & turned her into a Princess.

I glittered the back of her head to add more dimension.

And I wrapped the stick part w/ a strand of sequins & glittered the ball end. I LOVE my Princess Boo Kitty! I even wore the witche's hat I made & carried my Boo Kitty w/ me trick or treating. I drove everybody nuts waving the "wand" & chanting "Hocus Pocus, Dominocus!"

Lesley taught the Wicked Crone Necklace class....I loved it! Loved the class & I LOVE my necklace. I have worn it often since the Wicked Tea & have received many compliments on it. I'd like to make a couple more & am ordering more molds from Lesley.

Thanks so much to all the teachers for making it such a wonderful day. And a special thank you to Cindy, our head cowgirl. ...you're the best Cindy!

Gonna have a wicked good time!

Today is Paper Cowgirl's fall event & I am soo excited! This year, they're doing a Halloween theme & having a Wicked Tea....full of lots of treats & fun!

I had a lot on my plate w/ life & other swap commitments so I didn't sign up for any of the swaps (I'll be kicking myself about it later when they all exchange them though) but we were challenged to create our own name badges. Y'all know I'm a newbie at this art stuff & there is no wayyy I can compete w/ the talented ladies there (several are past teachers!) so I didn't even attempt to. I chose instead to decorate up my witch's hat & turn it into a name "tag". I dolled it all up w/ tulle, pearls, marabou & silk fabric roses; then added a gingham bow & rhinestone pin. I wrote my name on a black feather w/ silver stickles. Pretty clever, huh?

Wish it photographed better...it really is cute! I probably should have taken the time to find a spot, better suited for it than my wire mannequin, but time is in short supply these days. Most of the pearls you see are hanging on the mannequin, the ones on the hat didn't show up very well in this angle.

Now you can see that I went sparingly on the pearls....using just a few. But I used lots & lots of tulle; encircling & draping it off the rim, like a bee-keeper's hat. It looks really cool on.

The roses are silk/satin fabric rolled into roses, not the cheap silk roses from the floral department. I LOVE it...I feel hag'ish & stylish @ the same time when I have it on. It makes me want to strike a bewitching pose. LOL

I also made Cindy a hostess gift. A wicked cool hostess gift, fit for a cowgirl. ;)

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure we all have good morals; I know none of us is mean or smelly but mischievous? There are definitely some of us that fit that description. ;)

Ok, I gotta grab my witches hat, jump on my broom/blazer & head on out....we're getting an early start this morn. *cackling as she rides into the sunrise*

And they're off!

Whew!!! I finally got my 25 advent matchboxes for the Countdown Til Christmas swap @ A Swap For All Seasons, in the mail.... right smack dab on the deadline! It's been really busy around here (we'll talk more about that later) & I procrastinated as usual. *rolls eyes* But they're done & on time! *patting myself on the back*

I had originally planned on decorating all 25 matchboxes all in one style but then I couldn't decide on what, so I decided to do several. Each had to be numbered & had to have a hanger, other than that, I could do whatever I wanted. I wrapped them all in sheet music paper (actually hubby did...thank you Dear!) & used ribbons, lace, pearlescent flowers, stickles, beads, holly, cupcake toppers, buttons & vintage wrapping paper to doll them up some. I wound up making 9 different designs....here's four.


And here's the other five.

This one is special....it's the hostess gift for Linda & I only made one of it's style. I used a sweet, glittered bird & nested it in a bed of tinsel.

I had also planned on filling all the boxes w/ the same item but chose not to. (at the last minute of course!) But I made a tiny, little sumthin' sumthin' to go inside each one. I won't share the contents now, so as not to spoil the surprise for any of the swappers who might read my blog, but I'll share each number I gave, as I share the one I receive.

This swap was quite an endeavor but you won't hear me complaining. As I know how much work Linda is going to have to do to send them all out & I know how much fun they'll be to receive. An advent matchbox swap...what fun, fun, fun! I have a mini-aluminum tree that I'll place in my studio, hang them all from & eagerly await opening each one.

What do you do when it's over 100° out,

your granddaughter's birthday is in two weeks & you are completely insane? You remodel a dilapidated, log cabin "playhouse" into an enchanted doll house fit for a Princess.

This "playhouse" has sat in our backyard for several years. We got it from the neighbors when they moved, as it's made of solid wood & very heavy & they didn't want to take it w/ them. We had to rip out a fence section in order to move it from one yard to another. It's sole purpose has been as a giant toy box...to corral all the outside toys that 5 grands, of all ages, accumulate. Basketballs, footballs, baseballs, bats & huge bouncy balls....ride-on toys, soaker guns, plastic tea sets, pogo stick, slip n slide, sprinkler toys.....wagons, picnic basket, pull toys, dump trucks, etc etc etc. But it's all gonna get condensed into one huge bin that we'll store on the side of the shed & I'm converting the log cabin into a charming, pink doll cottage. Where Caralyn can have tea parties & play house & get away from her brothers. ;o)


Here's a before picture of the outside. The canopy you see is only temporary...we just put it up to provide some shade while we worked. We've replaced the roof & the floor, shingled the roof, painted it white on the outside & pink on the inside, wired in a porch light & inside light & rehung all the doors & windows, adding hardware. All that's left to do is paint the floor, paint some odds & ends decor, spiff up the "garden", lay stepping stones & decorate. Fun! Fun! Fun! At least, from here on out it will be, but it's been pure hard work up til now.


These aren't true before pictures of the inside, cause we had already emptied it of the 2 foot pile of toys. No lie! It was knee deep in toys! I put the shelf in there for them to keep it organized but of course the shelf was completely empty & the floor was a sea of toys. It reminded me of the show Hoarders. My grandkids are hoarders! LOL

The vines kinda scared me when I first saw them...reminded me of the Stephen King flick Creepshow, where the plants are taking over everything.

Wait until you see it! It is still totally empty but already so flipping cute that I can't stop thinking about it. These two are gonna have such fun in it!!!! (Rudy is a willing participant in all tea parties, games of patty cake & dress up LOL)

I'll share w/ y'all lots of pictures of the Enchanted Doll Cottage after it's all completed...I can't wait!