more goodies...

I got another box for my

Fine Feathered Friends ATC swap in the mail today

and didn't get all the way in the door before I was jumping for joy!

It was from Stephanie George Hirschberg at

http://www.doojies.blogspot.com/

She is amazing for sure and look at the little goodie she sent along with it!

Thanks Stephanie! You are a doll!!!

The coolest thing about hosting a swap right now

is that my birthday is right around the corner...

what a treat to find such goodies in my mailbox!

ALSO...

I snagged some glam gear for the Silver Bella

and I am just giddy.

A super cute prom dress tee shirt from Natasha Burns at

http://www.natashaburns.blogspot.com/

AND...

from the wonderful and most talented Natalie Hansen at http://nataliehansen.typepad.com/

a Silver Bella Necklace.

You better believe this little puppy will be all the glam rage!

xo~

success!

Hooray! Today I packaged up my "Twinchies" and they are ready to send to dear Melissa our gracious Twinchie Advent Calender host. She came up with the fabulous idea to have 25 girls make 25 2x2 cards (with one assigned day for each, of course) and she is putting them all together for us and delivering them to the Silver Bella with sugar plum goodies too! All 25 girls participating will get their own advent calender and I cannot wait to see all the goodness that comes from it. Here is a sneak peak at mine, can you guess my day?

Also, last weekend I went to this great antique barn sale. It is only open once a month and each month the owner (so creative and fabulous) gives each sale a theme. Well, for the end of September I was expecting a Halloween theme but was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a bird theme "Feather Your Nest" Here is what I saw as soon as I walked in the door... too bad it was already sold. A most wonderful piece!

More goodies later,

xo

decorating for Halloween... spooky!

It is that time of year again where I just cannot wait until the 1st of October. I have already decorated for Halloween and I wanted to share this image I found today... it is my screen saver for the next month for sure! Pictures of the house will be up soon!

Isn't she just adorable?

xo

just can't help it!

O.K., I am sure this is totally illegal but I just cannot help giving little peeks into my swap projects. Seriously, if I have a gift for someone, there is no hiding it. I want them to have it NOW! I want to see the excitement in their face and I want them to feel the joy NOW! I always tell my friends, don't wait for a special reason, do it now! You may never get the chance.

With that in mind you will get to sneak a quick look but first I have to explain... one of my swaps that I am hosting is called The Twelve Sparkly, Vintage Days of a Most Glittery Glamorous Christmas and everyone is assigned one of the 12 days of Christmas. Once everyone makes their day, they send it to me for binding. I am so excited to be on top of things and just cannot wait to see what the other girls have done.

So without further ado, here is a little peek at the cover:

Like I said with the last goodie, I will share the whole thing once the swap is over.

And probably the biggest news is that there are ONLY 51 days left until the Silver Bella!!!

Oh what fun!!!

xo

oh happy day!

I am officially addicted to swaps. They are so much fun and once you finish working on what you are "assigned" you can sit back and reap the rewards of all the other's work as well as your own. Well, today I was able to complete my part of another swap for Silver Bella. This one is the charm swap I am doing (Cupcakes, Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice) I got it all nice an packaged up and ready to take with me to Omaha. One more task complete... now for the real fun! Here is a picture of the finished packaging:

I will share pictures when I get back of what is inside. oh what fun!

xo

Why I love them so much...

Know why I love artistic girls so much? Because besides being incredibly creative, as a whole, they are some of the most generous people I have ever met. Today I got another shipment of birdie cards for our Fine Feathered Friends book swap (fabulous for sure!) and enclosed in the package was this wonderful assortment of goodies from Heidi Woodruff of Everyday Cookies. (You can find her here: http://journals.aol.com/hwoodred/everyday-cookies/)

Look at the generous stash she sent!

My favorite was the vintage hummingbird! How totally thoughtful! Thank you Heidi!

On another note, a huge thanks to another super creative girlfriend Jenny for helping me see that sometimes simplicity is best. Now I am armed and ready for my Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice charm swap. It is so easy to think too hard about projects and over do them. Thank goodness for levelheaded talented girlfriends to keep us the right path and tell us to simply just stop!

xo

The Silver Bella...

The oohs and aaahhhs are happening around here lately. You see, I have signed up to attend the Silver Bella. And what's more, I am hosting 2 swaps there! I am so excited! One of them is an ATC book on birds aptly titled Fine Feathered Friends and the other swap I am hosting is a 12 page book on The 12 Days of Christmas. More about that later...


Today I got my first shipment of an artists work in the mail and oh my goodness, they are wonderful! I cannot show yet because I want to wait for the unveiling at the Swap in November, however, here is a small sampling of the cover of the book, shhhh, don't tell!

oh, I cannot wait to see how this turns out! I could do this for a living for sure! Can you believe that people are actually thanking me for hosting it? Sure, it is work, but oh what fun!

xo for now

a new addition

Today I am so excited to say I have a new addition to my little Halloween collection. She is a Colleen Moody original and absolutely stunning! Here is a peek:

Colleen is a phenomenal artist and if you have never been over to her blog well, you really should! She is at: http://www.colleenmoody.blogspot.com/

I cannot wait for her to arrive! Now, where to put her...

Here it begins...

It is official, I have created my own blog. Now to find the time to keep up with it. :O)

More later...