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I am so excited!!!!!!! The current issue of Somerset Memories is out and the art on the cover is by my friend Beth McWilliams!!!! I went to Barnes and Noble tonight to get my copy and as soon as I spied Beth's art on the cover of the magazine, amongst all of those other magazines, my stomach did a flip!!!! How exciting to see a friend's work right on the cover!!!
We just ate dinner here and I am now retiring to my reading room to peruse this copy!! Beth wrote the article for her art work too, "The Joy of Happy Mistakes."
I love it when I know famous people!!!! Congratulations Beth! Your artwork is so stunning!!! Please check out Beth's blog......HERE!!!!!
This is the card I made for my best buddy's birthday! Isn't it cute??? I told her not to look at the blog for a week until I get it mailed to her in California. Happy Birthday Noreen!!!! We have been best friends since 1977! She has met or known every guy I have ever dated! Talk about being able to tell some funny stories about me!! I used an Inky Antics stamp and the new Two Scoops paper by Basic Grey to make this card. (Notice how I changed the subject??)
Not a lot of new to report around these parts. My reading and stamping time has been limited by my on-line paralegal schooling. I am in week three right now.
There have a few exciting developments however. First of all I found out that my friend Beth's gorgeous art work is going to be on the cover of the next issue of Somerset Legacy!! Can't wait to see it! I will post it here when I get it. I am now officially stalking Barnes and Noble for the new issue.
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday. I want to try and see all of the movies that were nominated. So far, I have only seen Juno and I loved it! Bought the soundtrack too!
This morning I found out that I was awarded the prestigious "You Make My Day" award by Nathalie at An Artist's Legacy. I must say that made my day! Go visit Nathalie's blog and see her art journal! Fun!!
And now for the fun part....I get to name the people I pass on the You Make My Day award to!!!!!!!!!! Drumroll please..........
Diane Duda
Holly Loves Art
Donna from Even More Paper MadnessGo check out their blogs for some fun stuff!!!!!!
Thanks to everyone for all of your wonderful comments on my last entry about going back to school! That was so sweet of you. So far, everything is going pretty well. This week will be known as Tort week!!! Learning all about torts and contracts!
Now, I bet you will be wondering about these A++ images I have on this entry. They were procured at a wonderful shop that I happened on totally by chance!!! I can't wait to bring my Mom and friends to this shop~ It is the mecca of ephemera~
Anyway, yesterday morning dawned with some happy news that I did well on my first week in school in terms of my grade - so yipee! I felt happy and Mike and I were going to hang out all day doing fun stuff. Well, I kind of commandeered things a bit. While he was getting ready I was hunting on the internet for antique shops in Evanston, IL. Evanston is about 45 minutes from us and is a lovely town that has so many interesting things and lots of bookstores. We often take a ride up there to "toot" the day away. We were planning on seeing a movie, but did not end up doing so.
Backing up to Christmas, Mike's parents gave us a GPS system. One of those things you can program an address in and it will give you directions as you drive. Those things are the best! Anyway, I found the name of this shop (see business card below), Eureka. The internet ad said they were known for ephemera (can you say right up my alley???). So it was legit that we could go there to try out the GPS!! Tricky of me, huh????
Well, we arrived, I looked in the window and just sighed! Heaven!!! Mike waited in the car for me with his book. He would have been bored out of his mind! Not me, I was in there for what I thought was 20 minutes. Mike said it was an hour.
Bindy, the owner, gave me a thorough tour of her shop. It is stuffed to the gills with everything!!! She told me about Irene Castle, dress designer, and showed me these pamphlets from the 1920's. Are they not divine! They are totally me! Love that each model has a name and such beautiful clothes! These images would make A++ stamps don't you think?? I can't wait to use the images in some art work!!!
Being as I am currently on a budget I could only afford two pamphlets (they were $10 each, a bit expensive, but they are so totally worth it). I also bought the magazine ad at the beginning of this post....adorable kid's clothes!!! So, for $23 I was quite a happy gal. I even left something behind...something I usually never do. So, if it is there next time...I can get it. It was an many page advertisement for a bridal dress maker with lovely pen and ink drawings of bridal gowns!!!! Why didn't I just get it??? 
After that fun we went to lunch at an old favorite in Evanston, Merle's. It is a BBQ place....we sat in our usual booth decorated with pictures of Elvis. Then off to Barnes and Noble for a thoroughly extensive search of that place. We got some really great books!!!!!! On our way back to the car we did a quick check of Borders. And then on our way home we did a quick check of Half-Priced Books (great used book store!) and then picked up Chinese food for dinner at home. We also watched The Bourne Identity last night. My Mom said it was really good so I wanted to check it out. 
Then today I did my all-time favorite Sunday activity.....Nothing!!! Just read the paper, read some school stuff, read Entertainment Weekly, read a new book I got yesterday, and took a 4 hour nap!!!!! Life is good!
Last night I went back to school! I started an on-line course to receive my Paralegal certification! I have about 6 textbooks, and the class will last 14 weeks (not 7 as I had originally thought). I am very lucky to have this opportunity, but I must say that coming home from work to study is a real pip!!! I always like to come home and read and watch TV shows with Mike. Tonight I actually sat at the dining room table and tried to figure out some problems. This stuff is not easy. Luckily, I can go right into work tomorrow and talk law with the attorneys I work with!
So, if I am not around these parts as much over the new few weeks, you can blame the schooling! I am hoping to get in the swing of it and move along quickly so it won't disrupt things to much in my "real" life of hanging out with Mike, reading books, stamping, hanging out with friends and family, etc.!
Over the past weekend my Mom, Jane, and I overhauled my stamp room. I did not take any before shots, but imagine a room stuffed to the gills with bags, paper, ribbon, stamps, and then imagine this stuff all over the place so that you could barely walk around the room; and you certainly could not find a spot on the table to create anything. So, here are the shots of a clean and wonderful place to create!! Above is a close-up of the darling lamp Jane got me for my birthday! We found it at one of our fave antique shops, Jackson Square in La Grange, IL.
This is a card that is suspended on an ugly photo holder stand. Now it is a vision of cuteness.
Had to take these pics after work tonight, so sorry for the poor lighting.
For my birthday and our anniversary, Mike got me this new desk top and legs from IKEA! The glass table top has the word Love etched into it in many different languages. We picked the legs for the desk because they have more storage room. I like to store stuff in antique glassware. If you look closely below all of the pens, markers, and colored pencils are stored in cool glasses.
I used some old CD cabinets to store some stamps and Jane made some really cute vignettes. See the lovely ballerina above!!! She was found on another antique trip. 
My Mom separated all of my ribbons by season/color. All of the Christmas ribbons are in the gig compote. Fall ribbons are in the blue Pyrex bowl. She wound each ribbon up and they look delightful. She also separated all of the 12" x 12" designer paper for me. I have a lot. She has forbidden me from buying anymore! However, the new Basic Grey Two Scoop line is coming soon and I am afraid I will have to haul a few more sheets of paper into the house.
Jane made this cute little basket of Christmas stamps that I can display and then try to make Christmas cards year round. 
Here is what the glass table top looks like! I also got the paper holder/divider at IKEA for 8 dollars. It is great because I can put my neutral cardstock in there and never have to go hunting for it. As you can see it also holds the ever-needed lip balm quite readily.
Okay, this is a genius idea that I stole from Tim Holtz' blog. Go to Target, spend 5 dollars and get an over the door shoe holder. Now put in your must used supplies and then you have a great storage unit. Thanks Jane!!! (another birthday present!)
More inspiration!
Don't you just love this little Red Lead girl stamp?? I put alot of my Red Lead word stamps in the blue/white china piece seen above. It was cheap because it was missing its lid, but for my purposes it looks like a million bucks!
Thanks again to my Mom and Jane for helping me get this room together! I could not have done it without you guys. I am sure I would have gone in there, become overwhelmed and headed right back out the door. Thanks to Mike for the desk!
Oh, and I forgot to photograph one more cool new addition to the room, so that is for the next post. Hope this inspires you!
I am so excited!!!!!!! The current issue of Somerset Memories is out and the art on the cover is by my friend Beth McWilliams!!!! I went to Barnes and Noble tonight to get my copy and as soon as I spied Beth's art on the cover of the magazine, amongst all of those other magazines, my stomach did a flip!!!! How exciting to see a friend's work right on the cover!!!
