Today I made a new page about paper lace doilies for my paper lace web site. It’s not completely finished yet, but it’s off to a good start. So far the page has a list of things to do with paper lace doilies, plus some places you can buy them. What it’s still missing are my pics of craft projects I’ve done using paper lace doilies. I have a bunch of them, but I still have to work on photographing them and getting them online. I started on that yesterday, but it’s been gloomy and rainy outside and the lighting is just bad right now. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get good photos for the last few days. I am really thankful for the rain, but anticipating having sunshine again soon.

I have been a bad blogger.

Well, actually I have been blogging my head off! But not at this blog. I’ve been working on my antique crochet web site and my paper lace web site. If either of those topics sounds interesting to you, I hope you’ll check them out. This blog has been sadly ignored at their expense. Sorry!

I have been working on sooo many new art projects too. I cannot wait to show them to you. Haven’t taken pics or uploaded them yet, but I have some new paintings and collages plus a stack of new layouts finished.

If you read the last post I wrote, maybe you remember that I was rambling on, and on, and on about a great deal I found on scrapbooking paper. WELL, I got all the paper and it is incredible! Just wonderful stuff. A lot of it is patterned paper that I totally wanted anyway, but even better, a lot of it is paper that I never in a million years would have picked out for myself. Well, guess which stack I am scrapping with? Haha! You just never know. I normally don’t do “surprise” lots or “mystery” lots because I am sooo picky. But this turned out even better than expected, and I had high expectations.

I also just got a whole bunch of KI Memories Lace Cardstock. It is such a beautiful paper! LOVE it. I cannot wait to show you all the fun things I have been making with it. I have been taking forever getting it all online because I am trying to write up instructions, and, well, that is just taking more time than I expected. Next on my list, I want to get a whole bunch of this paper ribbon. It looks like it would be perfect to use with all the Narratives die cut papers I just scored. I am one happy scrappy girl at the moment.

Well, if you happen to read this, please drop me a comment and say “hi”, and if you paint/ scrap/crochet/knit or do anything crafty I’d love to hear about what you’re working on these days. Hope to update again soon!

This is the best deal I have seen on scrapbooking paper in a long time! 200 sheets of brand name paper for $14.99 + shipping- OH MY GOODNESS! I just purchased one of these lots, and there are a couple left, so I thought I’d post about them. The highlight of this lot seems to me to be all the die-cut papers from Creative Imaginations Narratives line. (Those usually sell for around $1.50 each!) There are 16 die cut papers included in each of the lots for sale that I linked to. It looks to me like the picture shows the Pink Floral die cut paper, the Blue Floral die cut paper, and a bunch of the polka dotted die cut papers. According to the seller, there are also papers by Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye, Cosmo Cricket, Adornit, Dream Street Papers, Daisy D’s, Cherry Arte, and Cosmo Cricket. Looks like great stuff!

The seller is selling these papers in lots (from a scrapbook store closing). I just bought one lot, and as of this posting there are 2 left. I’ve never dealt with this particular seller, but another lucky scrapper who already left her feedback wrote “Im so happy I’m crying like a babyThank you the paper is GREAT UR a great seller” about a similar lot. So, I’m thinking it looks pretty good!

It always makes me really sad to hear about anyone going out of business. It especially makes me sad to hear about scrapbooking stores going out of business. But, having said that, I think it would be even worse to have no buyers at your going out of business sale. I definitely wouldn’t want her to have that problem! Ebay’s been pretty slow lately, and there are tons of good deals to be found…

Can someone please explain to me how it is that Scunci was able to trademark the phrase “Dream. Imagine. Create.”? I am puzzled! Sooo many artists and scrapbookers use these words in their art and in their collages, scrapbooking layouts, altered art, art journals, memory books, art trading cards, ETC. Just about every rubber stamp company I can think of has some variation of this phrase among its rubber stamp offerings.

I’m not even sure what the phrase has to do with Scunci at all. As far as I knew, they make hair accessories…not art supplies…

I have been having some problems with my email. If you’ve emailed me lately and I never responded, please re-send your email. I am so sorry for the inconvenience!

I just signed up for a guest membership at International Scrapbooking Association. It looks like it will be a great opportunity for networking with other scrapbookers, paper crafters and altered artists. Hoping it will be fun!

I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving! I sure did. I spent some time visiting friends, and enjoyed having my sweetie home from work for a few days. I didn’t have time to do much scrapbooking or art or crafty stuff, but I did get one little greeting card made last night.

Supplies used:

• Retro Shapes Stamp Set by Inque Boutique
• The background paper is Marigold (Oh Baby) by Basic Grey.
• The other 2 patterned papers are Catalina and Sorrento by 7Gypsies. (I got them together in the 6 x 6 Capri Journey Variety Pack, but the papers are also available as 12 x 12 single sheets.)
• Orange ribbon
• Mini Flower Punch
• Yellow Cardstock
• Blue Ink
• Orange Ink
• Decorating Chalks. The ones I used are by Craft-T products, but you could probably use anybody’s chalks with good results.
• Adhesive

This card started out as an experiment. My scrapbooking stash has been getting out of control, and I wanted to see if I could find a way to use up some of the things that I have been accumulating. I love the 7 Gypsies papers, but they’ve been in my stash for quite awhile now. I’ve used them in lots of other projects, but since I only use small amounts of them at a time, I still have quite a few of the papers hanging around. I’ve had the orange ribbon for months and have barely used any of it. BUT, the yellow cardstock is really the kicker. I’ve had that stuff for a long time and hadn’t found any use for it until now. The cardstock I used was a shade of yellow that doesn’t look good with much of anything. It wasn’t something that I intentionally purchased in the first place; it was in with my package when I purchased a big lot of scrapbooking supplies on Ebay.

All things considered, this card came out looking much better than I expected! I think it was the stamps that really made the difference in this project. The papers are cute too, but the stamps create the focal point and pull the whole thing together.

How I Made the Thank You Card:

First I stamped one of the square stamps from the Retro Shapes stamp set 3 times onto yellow cardstock. Then I chalked overtop of it using the decorating chalks, and cut the shapes out. Stamping plus chalking is actually a fantastic way to use up an ugly or boring paper that you can’t really think of any other good use for. The chalks softened the yellow up, and make it look warm and lovely. It made a big difference!
Then I punched 3 little flowers out of yellow cardstock, and I inked them with blue ink. After that I glued them onto the stamped pieces.

Next I cut and folded the card, and collaged the 2 pieces of patterned paper with the ribbon. I then added the cut out retro shapes on top. I stamped the “Thanks!” in blue ink as a finishing touch.

I highly recommend this “Retro Shapes” stamp set by Inque Boutique. I think it is an amazingly versatile set, and in my opinion it is a good value for the money you spend. The set comes with a tag, a “To: From:” stamp, and a variety of different shapes. So far I’ve made more than half a dozen projects with this set, and each time I use it I keep thinking of new things to do with it. I’ll be posting more of them soon!

Time to clean out my studio! I have been doing some etsy and ebay listings, and everything I am listing is priced to sell!

I just listed this gorgeous lot of burgundy, purple & rust fabrics for sale in my etsy shop. These fabrics are upholstery weight chenilles and velvets and damasks. They are all high quality fabrics, and quite a few of them sell at wholesale for more than $20 a yard. These are sample sized pieces. There is enough fabric in this lot to completely fill a priority mail flat rate box. Asking price is $7.00 US plus shipping. (I am also willing to accept cash in Euros at mutually agreeable exchange rate.)

Antique Sewing & Fashion Design Book

This fabulous antique sewing manual is for sale on ebay. I started the auction at 99 cents and there is no reserve!

Thanks for taking a look.

OH WOW! I am so excited over some really really old news that I had no idea about until just now. I just found out that five of my photos on flickr have been featured on Flickr “Explore”. I am soooo thrilled! Flickr Explore is a daily showcase of 500 of the most interesting photos uploaded to Flickr. I didn’t really know much about it until I just read this Flickr Explore FAQ from Bighugelabs.com. This is a big deal to me because Flickr is one of my all time favorite web sites ~ it is just such an incredible place to go for inspiration ~ with soooooo many talented photographers and artists, from all over the world. According to my Flickr DNA, NINE of my photos have been in explore in the past. This is really exciting to me because all the photos that showed up there are photos of my paintings and artwork, so it means a lot to me that people liked them enough that they would be chosen for Explore. Yipppeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Back in the spring of the year 2000, I took a botanical illustration class from Otis College of Art and Design. At the time, I had already been designing fabrics for a few years, and I realized that my skill with florals could stand improving. I thought the class would be a fantastic way to get more experience drawing plants and flowers ~ and it was! I learned so much from the class and had a fabulous time doing it. There were so many great things about the class. I LOVED the location at the Arboretum in Arcadia, California. If you ever have a chance to go there ~ DO IT! It is just pure eye candy all over. Peacocks roam through the gardens…there are flowers and plants and trees everywhere. It is a botanical illustrator’s paradise!

Olga Eysymontt was the class instructor, and she is amazing. While illustration is never quick or easy, I really felt that she simplified the process as much as possible. She presented the course in such a way that anyone could have had success, even a non-artist. I was pretty amazed at how much I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. If you ever have an opportunity to take a class with Olga, I highly recommend that you do it!

Here is a list of classes that the Arboretum currently has posted. They always seem to have such interesting offerings. In the past I have seen them offer so many interesting gardening classes, and I would love to go back and take more classes there. Right now it’s a little too far for me to go, but if I ever move back to LA it is really going to be a priority.

Supplies Used in This Scrapbooking Layout:

The rubber stamps are all See D’s by Inque Boutique:

• 50481 Mini - Sharie’s Lower Alpha ~ used in the title
• 50221 Phantoms ~ used to create the watercolor effect under the title, and also used under the right hand side of the orchid photo. I layered 3 of the different “phantoms” stamps, using different colored inks, to get this effect.
• 50450 Mini - Great Shapes Journaling ~ used to create the 2 journaling blocks.
• 50328 Retro Shapes ~ used to create the little pink flowers

Patterned Papers:

• “Dali” by Basic Grey, from the “Romani” / “Gypsy” collection.
• “Flora Coral” by Creative Imaginations, from the Sonnets Collection / Sharon Soneff
• Rhonna Farrer paper by Autumn Leaves
• Olivia Lattice12 x 12 in green from the Boho Chic line by Making Memories.
  

Stickers:

• epoxy stickers from Creative Imaginations ~ Karen Russell’s Narratives Collection in Honeydew

Fiskars:

• Fiskars Shape Xpress was used to cut out the circle around the journaling block
• Fiskars Decorative Scissors were used to create the paper lace and the decorative edging on the cut papers (please see paperlaces.com for more paper lace eye candy!)

Ribbon:

• RibbonFX by Hobby Lobby

Inks & Chalks:

Inks by Rubber Stampede & Colorbox Fluid Chalk. Decorating Chalks by Craf-T products.

Thanks for taking a look!