Show & Tell Sunday

This is the first time I'm participating in Cerri & Analise's Show & Share Sundays. Go take a look at this awesome flickr group.

These are a few of my vintage bling friends. I bought these (the yellow background) yesterday at Spence's Bazaar here in Dover. I LOVE this place. It's an outdoor & indoor flea market. The best part of this place is the Amish food market. Everything is fresh, homemade & delicious. It was so hard to pick 1 thing for lunch. For desert, we had homemade ice cream. Yum!

I bought these beauties from a local vendor in the outdoor market. She even let me pick out a few extra freebies. I think it's because of my cute kids. I played with my new chandelier stamp & some glass glitter on the background paper.

The pic with the pink floral background has vintage buttons & clasps. Most of them were given to me by my mom. I've had them for quite a few years & have never used them in my jewelry because of my hoarding issues. I am finally getting over that!
The last few pics are from my first flea market excursion in Gaithersburg, MD. An entire bag of goodies for $25! I didn't post all my pictures here, so go take a look at the group or my flickr site.

Is This a Dream?

Are you kidding me? It's been so hard trying to keep this in. I remember when I got the email from Lisa Oceandreamer regarding this article. I was being considered for publication in Artful Blogging for being part of the One World One Heart giveaway. I read the email around 10:30PM & had to go wake my hubby up to tell him.

Shortly after I sent my link for consideration, I got an email from the editor, Stacy Dumoski, saying she wanted to take part of my blog entry regarding Artful Flogging (Yes flogging. Read the pic above to take a look at the link) Then a few weeks ago, she emailed me to ask me for my mailing address so I could receive my complementary copy. I still have that email in my inbox. :)Monday I went to the mail box & was completely stunned. I just wasn't expecting it already.

I just about teared up. It's been a dream of mine to get published. I'm still working on avenues to make my business work & well, being published is free marketing. I wasn't even trying to get in & it just fell in my lap. I'm so very blessed for all the opportunities that have come my way the last 2 years regarding my business. I still have this crazy notion in my head that this is going to work. I want my art to be my job. There's nothing else I want to do.

I'm Alive & Card Swap

To those of you who have visited my blog & I have not written you back, I'm so sorry. I got sick, AGAIN. It was worse this time around. Both the boys were also sick & Rick wasn't here. The week before that, Rick had surgery, so as he says he's "Gimpy" I'm so happy to have just made it through last week. Enough whining on my end. I just want everyone to know I really appreciate the comments you make. Thank you especially to everyone who commented about Brandon's birdhouse. It's been wonderful sharing the comments with him. His eyes just lit up.
This was fun & I really should do more card swaps. They're quite easy to make so I don't have a huge commitment & I get the creative juices out. This swap was hosted by the lovely Regina. Go take a look at her blog; she's got a bunch of tutorials (they're listed on her sidebar)

I was instantly inspired by the themes: birds, trees, flowers, & bees. Most of these cards are such a departure from my usual color palette. (Only 1 pink card). The tree cards are my fave. They are pictures I took here in Dover during winter of last year. I made copies & did the packing tape transfer. I just love doing those tape transfers.

While I was sick, I was able to complete my application for the Dover OSC craft show for this November. The packet was due today & I made it. I took the plunge with this show since I'm so familiar with it. It's only 1 day & I think I'm ready to put myself out there. The mess pictured is my home studio. One of the things I had to include was pictures of my work space. AGGG! Karin, when I wrote the info about it I stole the Creative Chaos name. Thank you :) Seriously, you wanna see this craziness? I didn't think they wanted a picture of my kitchen table or my bed. Really, I create wherever. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Still Playing Catch Up

Many thanks to my friend Bonnie. Things have been crazy for her & she just published her last post on the Scrap & Snap blog. Go check it out. She interviewed me & I shared a tutorial for basic earrings. Even though I don't digital scrap, there are lots of posts on paper crafts & I get inspired looking at all types of layouts.

Elizabeth bestowed upon me the You Make My Day Award. I {heart} her. I was so touched. I totally LOVE her work. I just couldn't believe it. Thank you :)

Julie tagged me to answer the following questions. I had some fun answering some of them. It's that twisted sense of humor coming out.

1. Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics ~ Well, being that I've only scrapped 4 pages for my parents & 4 for my in-laws in the last 2years... I just don't find time to scrap like I would like to. I scrap Brandon & Josh. Aren't they cute? Yes, they get their sense of humor from me.

2. What are two of the best places you have been to? ~ London, England & Budapest, Hungary

3. Name two things you do every day ~ Tell my family members I love them & do something creative

4. Name two things that pretty much everyone knows about you. ~ I LOVE pink & craft supplies

5. Name two places you wish to visit ~ Paris (I'm a Europe snob) & Manila, Philippines (my parents are both from the Philippines)

6. Two things you may not know about me are ~ Um, I'm kinda an open book? Anything you wanna know? Hee hee, see numbers 7 - 13

7. Name two nick-names you have had sometime in your life ~ Niki (my family & old family friends still call me that - from my childhood) & Shrimprissa (did I just admit to that? Courtesy of my friends in college)

8. Name two interesting jobs (good or bad) that you have had ~ I was a merchandising intern at Disney World in college (THE coolest job) & showroom manager for Robert Allen at the Design Center in DC. I have boxes & boxes of discontinued fabric samples to show for it.

9. What are your top two fun things to do after work ~ I didn't realize there was an "after work"

10. Name two things you would like to learn ~ I'd love to learn Photoshop to make digital artwork. I also want to learn how to make resin jewelry. I got all the basics last year for my birthday, which it's almost my birthday again, & I have yet to make a piece.

11. What were the last two songs that you downloaded or Cd's that you bought? ~ Okay, do I want to own up to this one too. Backstreet Boys Unbreakable & Backstreet Boys Never Gone.

Yeah, I know, get in line for the taunting. I've heard it all.

12. What were the last two books that you read? My 2 newest craft books are Organizing Your Craft Space (it's gonna take a little more than a book to get me organized) & Designs for Beaded Jewellery Using Glass Beads. Pretty much, all books I read are craft related otherwise you'll find me in the magazine aisle.

13. What two TV shows or movies from your childhood do you still enjoy watching after all of these years? Some of you may remember my love for Matlock, but I didn't really watch it growing up. So I guess I don't really have any.