Jane is a Genius!

This is my friend Jane's page for Lain's Alphabetica book. In this book the challenge was to pick a letter and then a word that describes you. Fun is right!!!! Jane is a such fun to hang out with......and this page says it all!!! I think it is so completely gorgeous!!!!!! Absolutely beautiful Miss Jane!!! Look at the pin that the girl is holding with the hand-dyed ribbon coming from it!!!! Clever!!! This page is a true sight to behold!!!!
Next up we have some new rub-ons that I found through the most wonderful shopping site, Stamp Diva!!!! She has tons of great stamps and embellishments! Her service is superb and shipping is fast. When I saw these rub-ons I knew they were right up my alley, and I suspect a lot of you out there would love them too!!!!!!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Why is it that on Monday mornings at work I have a ton of energy, and I think to myself, "When I get home, I am going to stamp and make cards, and send one to everyone I know and love, and then I am going to work on my round robin art journals and get completely caught up and then work on a new project, and yada, yada, yada." "Oh, and I am going to completely clean and organize my house, and keep it that way!" "Oh, and I am going to the gym and watch what I eat so I can become a size 10 again!"

I probably have all this energy on Monday because I spend most Sundays in "silent monk mode." I laze around the house, watch some TV with Mike, take many naps, read books, read magazines about stamping and get great ideas of what to do, look in my stamp room, feel overwhelmed by all the stuff in there, and just fritter away the day! Fritter should be my middle name!

See the picture above, that is not one of my dear little cats. For a picture on this blog entry I went to Google images and typed in Lazy Sunday Afternoon. This is one of the images that popped up!!! It fits!

The main way I fritter away time on Sundays is by surfing the net. So, in an attempt to make it seem like I am doing something productive, come along with me as I share some sights on the Internet that I think you will like!!!!!!

First stop on a Sunday morning is Splitcoaststampers. This is a site for rubber stampers who love to make cards. It is really the best site there is for stamping. Every Sunday morning they have a list of "favorites" from the week. These are cards that people have posted in the gallery and other members are now calling attention to. This weeks cards are AMAZING! Go HERE for a visual treat!

Next up is Television Without Pity. This is a great site if you want to read funny commentary about the TV shows you watch. I love to read what other people are saying about some of the outrageous shows that Mike and I watch.

Over the past few weeks I have found some AMAZING BLOGS! Talk about inspiration!!! and Eye Candy!!!!!

First up is the wonderful Under The Red Roof by the extremely talented Donna Layton. She makes the most gorgeous art!!!! and she is such a sweetheart to boot!

Another sweetheart is Ceri at Little Pink Studio.....You must see the picture of her studio on her latest entry. Yum! Enlarge that picture and tell me you don't just sigh with envy! She has an Etsy shop that is loaded with fun stuff too. And her banner!!!! So gorgeous!

Holly of Holly Loves Art has a blog that often causes me to have heart palpitations. Her art is so unique and SO GORGEOUS! Talk about inspiring!

And then I check my email every two hours or so (probably not an exaggeration!) so that keeps me tied to the computer. Today's email brought the news that my dear friend Trish has a new Flicker account. Her art looks fabulous here!!!!!

Oh, and then I can cruise through other peoples' books shelves on Shelfari!!!! That can really eat up the time. I love to see what other people are reading!!! (ETA: I cannot get the link right for Shelfari. The address is www.shelfari.com)

Okay, that is a sketch of my usual Sunday.....today I will try and do something a little different by watching the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears games with Mike. However, more than likely I will start watching and 5 minutes into the whole thing I will be asleep!!!

Completely Mad for Ephemera!!!!!

Tonight in the town where I work it was Ladies Night, so the stores were open late. Jane and I zipped over to the antique shop. It was a slight bust except for this picture!!!!!! This is one of the most unique wedding pictures I have seen. (Click on this picture to see it up close!!!!!)
Over the past few weeks I have been going insane with ephemera collecting. Here are some of the things I have recently acquired. Above is a darling card, and so a new category is born, greeting cards from the 1940's through 1970's with cute children images!
There there was the above, a whole deck of playing cards with little Miss Apple on them!!! Isn't she just a dear?
I am usually not one for little baby stuff, but this was too cute to pass up!!! (Karen I am saving one for you. I got a pack of these!)

All of sudden today, the need for vintage Christmas ephemera has struck!!!! Above is a darling card we found tonight. Now, I am on the hunt for more kids Christmas cards and vintage Christmas wrapping paper. What a fun hunt.

You know what I really want to do tomorrow???? Drive around Indiana and go to lots of antique shops!!!! Alas, I will be going to work.....hopefully this weekend I will start using some of this ephemera in some sort of artistic expression. Stay tuned.

Lastly, is anyone else in the same boat with me? You know, the boat where you could look at this kind of stuff all day, dream about, plan trips to antique shops, and just generally go insane for this?? Please tell me I am not the only one!

Frogs by Duda

Artwork by Diane Duda.

Here is a link to her blog.

Isn't she the greatest??? I received this card in the mail! My friend Jennifer sent it to me. I met Jennifer through the Inky Antics site and every now and then we keep in touch with a card in the mail. She went to Greeting Card Universe where Diane has turned some of her artwork into greeting cards. You pick a card, type in what you want to say, and it is mailed out for you! Who knew? I was so excited to receive this. Thank you Jennifer!

Third Sunday Antique Market

Jane and I left at 6 a.m. yesterday morning to drive 1 hour and 45 minutes to Bloomington, Illinois for the Third Sunday Antique Market. This is a huge antique market that I had never heard of before. It came in handy as it had been several hours since I had last been in an antique shop and lately, I have antique fever! We did not purchase any of the manniquin heads pictured above, but I thought it was a cool display.
Here Jane is oogling some cool glassware! I was off in the corner hyperventilating over some vintage children's books.
Loved these vintage posters! Would love to decorate my home with vintage illustrations.
We found this cute little book about sewing. Great cover! It came home with us for a dollar!
Also, this children's illustrated dictionary was purchased. This will be great for use in our Alphabetica round robin journals and our October class at Valley Ridge.
On the drive down Jane was looking through a book by Anna Corba and spotted a piece like the one pictured above. I guess it is a vintage plant stand. She fell in love with it, so we were on the look out. So now, the one pictured above is at Jane's house! It will be so much fun to put out cute little supplies on it.

Speaking of cute little supplies, we found TONS of great books, vintage greeting cards, cute children's barrettes, and old photos. I will post pictures over the coming days!

I purchased this great three-tiered table for storing 12 x 12 scrapbook paper! I can't wait to organize my papers by color family! Also, one shelf will be for Christmas paper only!!!! I have been wanting to see what the new Basic Grey Christmas paper looks like and today they posted it on their site! (Sorry, the link is not working. Go to www.basicgrey.com to see the paper. The new line is called Figgy Pudding! How cute!) I have a great idea for a little Christmas project on my blog - please stay tuned for that announcement!

Music Month

October will be music month for me!!! I will be going to see Raul Malo, The Polyphonic Spree (again!!!), Bruce Springsteen, and Van Halen!!!!!!! How much fun is that!!!!!!

Then also in October I will get to take a class from one of my mixed-media idols, Lynne Perrella!

All in all, I am looking forward to October. It has always been my favorite month, but this year it will be extra special!

New Banner!!!!!!!

New Banner!!!!!!! New Banner!!! I awoke this morning to find this new banner made exclusively for me by the very talented and brilliant Heather Simpson-Bluhm!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it the best!! She is so great at making these banners! I told her she should work for a high-powered graphic design company! Please take a look at all of the banners she has made for a visual delight!

I found the picture of Maude in an antique shop. When I found her I new she was the very personification of all that I think Maude is!!!! So I sent along the picture to Heather and asked her to do her thing! Here is the result!! Amazing!!! Please let me know what you think of her!!!

I am so excited I could burst!!!!!

Reading on Labor Day Weekend

Okay, I am about the last person that reads books about vampires. However, the word of mouth on this book is extremely good. Technically, it is a book marketed towards teenage girls, but I say once a teenage girl......always a teenage girl somewhere inside! The premise of the book is that Bella, a 17-year-old girl, returns to the town where she was born, Forks, Washington, (where I have been!) to attend high school. There she meets Edward who is so totally cool and fabulous, except for one thing. He is a vampire. And away we go..........Thanks to Marilyn who talked about this series on her blog and to my niece who also told me about this book. This is first of three in a series, and I hear a final book will be coming out next Fall. Here is a list of people who I know who should go get this book right now:

1. Noreen.
2. Trish.
3. Kim.
4. Sharon.
5. Kathy.
6. P. Stew.
7. Heather.

Also, I have been having fun putting some of my books on Shelfari. It is a website where you can post books on your shelves and others can then see what you have in your library. There is a feature where you can also have friends on this site and see what is on their shelves. I think all my reading buddies who are not on there yet should do so!