Happy Pink Birthday!!

Hello Friends!
And a big Happy Birthday to Beverly of Pink Saturday fame!

And best wishes for many more!

Speaking of birthdays, I participated in Heather's Happy Birthday Matchbox Swap

last month and had lots of fun making paper birthday cake boxes.

I covered the matchbox in pink music paper

and made a band with eyelet paper from Martha Stewart.

I glued a cake box that I made from a template on top,

embellished with lace, pearls, festooning and a couple of coffee filter roses I made.

I love making these little cake boxes,

they're so much fun to decorate and tuck a little giftie inside!

Here is one I made for my friend Brenda:

And finally some pics of my son-in-law's 30th birthday

when I made crowns for everybody.  I started out making one for him,

then one for everyone who had a summer birthday,

and from there the project ballooned out to include everyone!

Sorry for all the pics, I know this isn't Facebook, lol,

but I didn't get a chance to take a pic of just the crowns

before the guests arrived!

The birthday boy:

As he put it, that's my life on a hat!

His 30th birthday and pics of the things he loves: my daughter, San Diego Chargers,

Sacramento Kings, New York City, Macy's (where he works),

dinosaurs and flip flops (for fun).

A pretty bird for Chelsea and a cupcake for Aynsley:

 A travel crown for Bob, leopard skin and feathers for my wild child,
 and Wizard of Oz theme for Wende.

San Francisco Giants for Sean and Paris for Jackie.

Kevin's crown has birds and a nest,

that's me with butterflies. 

A road warrior crown for Mike and a retro crown for Jim who just turned 60.

Sooo much fun!

Everyone was a good sport in sporting their crowns.

Happy Birthday,  

Beverly, I hope you celebrate in grand style!

Here's a little birthday giftie for everyone:

Click to enlarge, right click and save!

Lots of links to lovely pinks at Pink Saturday.

For links to lovely, shabby, chippy whites, stop by White Wednesday!

Have a great weekend!

Paper Soiree, Book Bundles and Tags

Hello Friends!

Our little swap group Paper Soiree is shaping up quite nicely.
We've had two meetings and have met new friends,

sipped champagne,

 and oh yes, swapped and created!

Michelle is the owner of Paper Tales and kindly lets us meet there.

She is also wonderfully talented and a member of the group!

I blogged and posted a pic of my altered journal for the first swap here.

We sipped champagne with lavender simple syrup

and munched on lavender shortbread and lemon bars.

Then we made book bundles for our make-and-take,

here is mine:

Embellished with burlap and muslin roses

and lavender and hydrangea from my garden.

We've met for the second time and swapped lovely cones
filled with artsy goodies, this is the cone I made.
It's not a great pic as I shot it indoors,
and I much prefer natural outdoor lighting.



topped with muslin roses, and embellished with one of my fave images
from the Graphics Fairy:

And further embellished with vintage lace, a vintage beaded earring and festooning.

Our make and take this month was shabby chic French perfume label tags:

Here's a little freebie if you'd like to make one yourself:

Our next swap is based on a little banner I made for Marti,

who had a birthday in June.

We're a little obsessed with all things French,

so this little banner spells OUI!

However, with all the GLITTER on this banner,

it was difficult to photograph,

here are my two attempts:

Again, it was indoors, so not a great shot.

And lastly, some very sad news.  My sweet, sweet little kitty has settled down for her final nap.

(BTW, this picture is of her actually napping.)

I am heartbroken and miss her soooo much.

She was my little baby.

But she lived a good, long life (21 yrs!)

and was so loved by many. 

She chose us to be her family, and she truly was family.

Take care of each other!

For links to lovely, shabby, chippy whites, stop by White Wednesday!

Have a great week!

February *aRt*pArTy*!!

Another Swap!!
We had our monthly club meeting,
now known as *aRt*pArTy*!!, this week.
Marti was hostess, and the theme was
"Paris, je t'aime" (I love Paris),
and we had a little crepes bar...
spinach souffle, sauteed mushrooms, bechamel sauce,
ham, and cheese were the dinner fillings,
and for dessert fillings we had
raspberries, strawberries and chocolate!!

Yum!!

We swapped cones

and I received this gorgeous cone from Ginger,
filled with lovely things.

We also made these beautiful chandelier drops:


Sooo much fun!

The End of My Long Winter's Nap

Wow, well I have taken quite a long winter's nap, haven't I?
Well, I haven't really been napping...not like someone I know:




For some, napping IS an art form!

I have been busy creating,
now I just need to get busy taking pictures!!

I am excited about some changes.
I have been in a monthly ATC Club for over five years,
and the club is now ready to shake things up a bit.
We're calling it *aRt*pArTy*!!
and are shifting the focus from a monthly ATC swap
(where we made 9 identical ATCs, one for each member
and received 9 assorted ATCs from the other members)
to a format where the swaps are non-ATC, one for one, and optional;
we have a monthly make and take; and refreshments/decorations
all tie in with the monthly theme.
Last month was New Year/New Start and we traded (one for one)
altered journals, made an adorable Valentine journal,
and had a salad buffet.
Next month the theme is Paris je t'aime (Paris, I love you)
and we are trading Parisian themed cones and filling them
with arty/Paris-y items; for our make and take we are making an
embellished chandelier crystal, and having a crepe bar!!
I can't wait!!

I have almost completed my journal
and will publish pictures this week!

Meanwhile, here is a picture of my cone, filled with French goodies:

And, here are a couple of Friday Freebies
to make up for the time that I wasn't napping! ;)


And:


Click, right click and save! Have fun!