Blog Love

Someone terribly nice that we met at Art Unraveled, named Penney who is at http://papercraftsbypenney.blogspot.com/
gave us our very first Blog Award. Somedays we wonder who reads our blog, who is a lurker, who is searching endlessly for new and exciting mixed media art projects and inspirations on the net late and night in their pj's??



So what exactly do all these blog awards mean? Is it a way to find more bloggers? Do all these artists and people really know all the people listed in their sidebars??? Personally ? Is it a selling point?



Do you have to actually know all those people? Does that make you more popular?


Is it really a communal way to help people find fellow artists and people with like minded obsessions like we have?

Do we have the answers to life's toughest questions??


Were all the Chinese Olympic Womens Gymnastic Team really 16?

Here is an excerpt of Things that should be Olympic Events but aren't (thanks to the fun people at Real Simple Magazine ...which I really love)


Herewith, "events" that definitely should be in the Olympics next time around:

• convincing a 13-year-old that he needs a shower
  
• making a nutritious breakfast in 3 minutes
  
• training a husband to put his shoes in the closet instead of the middle of the doorway
  
• washing a 90 pound lab
  
• making cassoulet
  
• lifting a Kitchenaid stand mixer off of a very high shelf
  
• packing a family of five for a week-long vacation

They have a fun website over there...

http://realsimple.com/

and my personal additions:

• answering the phone with gel medium on your fingers
• retrieving items left in the backyard to dry from painting... and realizing bits of grass and clippings from your neighbor's yard have blown in and are now stuck on something you need done yesterday and is supposed to go in the mail tommorrow
• Having an overzealous customer ask you to redo the bracelet you made 4 times
• Retrieving anything tiny on the floor near where you work
• "The Definitive Slam Dunk Answer" to reply to husband when you return home from shopping with more art supplies than actual groceries

And I know the Olympics is over, but I am missing it already. Sorry.

So back to blogging. Thank you Penney for the blog love. We adore many people's blog and we certainly plan on spreading the love...

~Dawn

Greeting Card Love

Stephanie and I both joined Heather Simpson Bluhm's Summer Greeting Card Swap. The delightful Heather can be found through the link in the sidebar with the badge for the swap----------->

I got 10 gorgeous cards back in the mail yesterday. Oh How fun it is to get art in the mail. My favorite one was made by Darlene Koppel and was a awesome birthday cake on a plate stand. See the lower left of my scan for that one!

All the cards were fabulous. I hope the people who received mine liked them, too. I was not quite as vintage-y as some. Only a few really were totally vintage. I sign the back of my cards with a rubber stamp I made that says:

"Hallmark wishes their cards could be this good! dsbinyon"

Someone mentioned it in one of the followup emails, so I guess it might have been mine? curious.

It definitely got me back into a greeting card making frenzy. This is my favorite one I sent in. The beloved Fornasetti Face! Love that image!!

~Dawn

Things that make you say.. Aha!

This post is partly to test my new friend, a teeny tiny CoolPix from Nikon. I need a tiny camera to sneak around with, ala, Linda from Journal Revolution. There is a hilarious post about her camera in her maxipad wrapper. I swear those seesters think my thoughts! :) My link wants to play games and hang out under the photo of our very sweet nose, I mean dog. How cute is that smile? too bad the beard is like a wet mop of dog drool. She is totally adorable in every way so we overlook the drool. :)

http://visualchronicles.typepad.com/visual_chronicles/page/9/

This is the fantastic tip of the day, unless you do not live under a rock like me and have been hip to this tip. Dawn called me all giddy with delight, and shared that she read a tip of putting 2 thick glue dots or pop dots on the clear inner liner of your stazon ink pads. Hello life changing crafting moment. It must save me 2-3 seconds!!! funny how it is the little things in life.

Some Sinister crafting has begun. I am so tickled to be a part of the Sweet and Sinister Swap hosted by Artsy Mama. Ghoulish goodies coming soon!

mwhaa haa haa,

Steph

1966 Baby!

You Belong in 1966

You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz/">What Year Do You Belong In?

I thought this was too fun to pass up!

Steph

Things are Black and White All Over

I so adore Black and White. I have a ton in my closet, I have a B&W room in my home, I use to collect zebra stuff, and I even have B & W on today (I know it is a shocker to anyone who knows me well!) complete with my B & W DKNY comfy sneaks.

I finally finished a commission necklace for someone. It is sterling silver with black and white lampwork beads...

I made for her to resemble something I had that she loved in the lariat style.

On Saturday I attended my monthly ATC Swap at Frenzy Stamper. This months theme was ...yes, you guessed it...BLACK and WHITE! 10 lovely ATC's to add to the growing collection. I think I have 500 now from all over the world....

I found this in Google Images a long time ago and always thought it was cool.

J'adore all things Black and White!!!!!!!

~Dawn

Art Unraveled 2008 and Twilight

Last week was our favorite Art Retreat! It is located here in Phoenix and called Art Unraveled. (There is a link in the sidebar for info) Because Stephanie and I live across town from each other, we don't see each other all that much. It is about 45+ minutes between our homes. We enjoyed taking an art class together with the lovely Lisa Engelbrecht, who just recently published her book Modern Mark Making. Her fabulouso book (which I can't recommend highly enough) is available through her website, and she will sign it if you order directly from her. http://www.lisaengelbrecht.com/

This photo was taken by one of my lovely fellow students named Penney. It shows Lisa making it look oh so easy to swirl and flourish and be an amazing calligrapher....

This was such a relaxing day of practice at calligraphy, taught from a world class instructor. We all shared stories, chocolate and frustration over trying to improve our handwriting and a stab at the practice of calligraphy. I ended up at a table between Stephanie and a woman who has been studying calligraphy for 40 years and takes Lisa's classes every year. It was humbling and inspirational at the same time. This was my second year at taking a calligraphy class from Lisa. She is a fabulous teacher and I could practice every year for the rest of my life and never feel like I can do what she does. That is precisely why American Greetings hires her to to make cards!! So speaking of greeting cards........

After ART U was over , looky what I got in the mail......

This amazing card is an homage to our much loved book "Twilight" and the two stars of the upcoming Twilight Movie (coming to a theater near you in December.) The lovely Kristy Christopherson is so talented. She hand carves her own rubber stamps. She custom carved this image and made us cards for those of us who appreciate her talent as well as our beloved Edward!! Stephanie and I both recieved one and we both feel very lucky. You can find Kristy here http://kristychristopherson.blogspot.com/ There is an blog post with photo of her actual stamp she carved. How cool is that???

SO that is my catchup for the day. I gotta get back to some more projects at home in the fryer. As soon as some are completed, I will post again...

~Dawn

Arty catch up.

Here are a couple of projects I have done recently, kind of a repetitive theme. I made the ATC first for the swap at Frenzy Stamper and liked the overall design so much that I expanded it for an Envie swap I joined.

The base is fabric on both projects, with lots of layers of paint and stitching for texture. There is tons of glitter on both but it never scans as sparkly as it looks in real life. aaaaahh to capture shimmer

on a scanner. Maybe next time I try to photo something with delicious glitter I will do a short video in the sun. ;)

~SW

I'm Done!!

I don't know if it's really possible but I loved Breaking Dawn

as much if not more than the other 3 books in the series. A

roller coaster for sure. I can't wait for my peeps to finish so we

can discuss!

Have a wonderful day in Forks,

Stephanie

Jayme is the big winner!

Congratulations to Jayme, she is our big winner of the

Twilight Giveaway. You will not be disappointed.

That's all for now, I gotta get back to my book! LOL :)

Steph

A night with Edward, and 400 other people.

Well, I am already in 177 pages and I will probably read until my eyes burn
or I fall asleep on the couch with Breaking Dawn on my lap.
I invited a few peeps to join me at the B&N last night to be among the Twihearts.

We had such a blast, we all saw other people we knew and everyone having a common interest made it that much more fun. Hello, fun stickers and Godiva!

(a whole new level of dorkhood, and I'm proud of it)

So, being a newbie to this whole book mania thing I was unsure about what to expect.

We arrived at the B&N at 7:50 to get in line for the "line number drawing." We were in

for a serious surprise, tons and tons of Twerds were already in line. We met really cutie

pie teenagers who were just as giddy as we were. Lots of people had fun t-shirts many girls had made their own with fabric paint. My BFF's daughter dressed up in a prom

dress, lovely, with a corsage to complete the look. After we got our line tickets we moseyed
on over to the Olive Garden, with 100 other Twerds and had an appetizer and dessert. I

secretly surprised BFF's DD with some wire wrapped heart crystal earrings. The enclosed

card read,

With Love Forever, Edward.

We got back to B&N in time for the festivities. BFF's DD won the Costume Contest for the
young set, she was rewarded with a Breaking Dawn T-Shirt and a sash. Next came the drawings for free books and the best part one winner for the first place in line. Who was the big winner??

MMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I think it is all the good Edward Karma I have been spreading around. wink.

Ohhh yeahhh! I was so thrilled, they actually made a very big deal out of the "first in line"

my group was the only one allowed up by the registers. We got to see them unveil the books and open the boxes. On sweet girl said "could I just look in your book to page ###?" I was very hesitant and I told her that if she stared to scream out details or tell me about it I would clobber her with my other book. hee hee, I was a tad bit serious. :) She explained that someone back east had texted her some detail and she needed to confirm it. It has me curious for sure! She respected my request, lucky for her, giggle.

I was delighted to get my copy and I began to read it this morning, it is a serious page-turner, not that the others haven't been, what have we come to expect from the amazing love story of a girl and her vampire. I was weak in the knees by page 85.

As for our winner, I am awaiting a reply before I post.

Refilling my M&Ms and Mocha,

Stephanie