200th POST SURPRISE GIVEAWAY!

Greetings dear readers!




As promised, here is the giveaway for one lucky commenter on my blog!


YES, it is the much coveted Love,Elsie Recipe Box! Just look at some of the goodies inside!



WHAT could be more exciting? And what better way to celebrate my 200th blog post! Soooooooo, leave a comment either here or on my previous post (comments from both posts will go into the drawing) and YOU might be the proud owner of this FABulous box of inspiration! WOOHOO!

Good luck and I'll announce winners tomorrow evening!

Hugs,
XOXOXO


Paula Clare

200TH POST! DING! DING! DING!

Greetings, dear reader! Just a quick

for your readership and support! Today marks the auspicious occasion of my 200th blog post! WOOHOO!

Soooooo, to celebrate, I am giving away an AMAZING array of goodies: papers, stamps, vintage trims, mini albums, vintage sheet music, love, Elsie, Sassafrass Lass, Heidi Swapp, and MORE! Think: INCREDIBLY COORDINATED KIT. :-) You know, the kind that cost an arm and a leg and are all the rage these days?!?!

I am off to make a 200th blog post celebratory video! Back in a few...with FILM!

Well, what's that saying? "So much for the best laid plans of mice and men?" I've had a plethora of technical difficulties since I left the above post...ergo (*clearing throat uncomfortably*) NOT to be outdone or undone, I shall post here the TRANSCRIPT of said video, and continue to beat the technology into submission. Meanwhile, feast your eyes upon this vast array of goodies to be included in the giveaway:

Today I give you an incredible array of coordinated trims, embellishments, papers. You know. I just LOVE it when things MATCH, don’t you? Anyway, Here is smattering of some of the things that will be included in the kit:

PAPERS: FABulous papers. Just look at these goodies…several from Love, Elsie. (I just LOVE her two sided goodness)! 2 from Creative imaginations and a heritage page from Karen Foster. WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?!

THEN I’ve thrown in, just for fun, one of my Favorite Sassafrass lass papers…ROBOT FUN! Actually it’s called, “Back to the Future” but just look at the yummy colors! AND to add to the festive hooplah I am including this wonderful pin sent to me by Porkchop Show Scotty.



(His shop is in my sidebar) WHAT A HOOT!

I’ll also include some wonderful tactile collage papers with sewing, glitter and some metallic highlights! 2 sheets of vintage sheet music, 1 piece embossed vintage wallpaper, several pages of Lewis and Clark journal papers (diary notes from their travels and plain parchment looking papers) (Remember my trip to St. Louis with my sisters? I picked up these little jewels in the Gateway Museum. History AND creativity. Cool, huh?)

To add to the FUN, I've thrown in some Kawaii from Japan…You know what Kawaii is? Kind of crazy, cute papers and stickers...adorable bears, singing tofu, happy pudding. I giggle just looking at it.

THEN: embellishments.You know me, I'm the Embellishment QUEEN! I use them ALOT on my altAred art...probably too much. But then, can you REALLY have too many embellishments? I don't think so!

Sooooo (*taking a deep breath*) here we go:

2 packs of vintage ric rac (1 baby white and one blue with silver thread)
1 card of vintage buttons
3 big honkin brads (they stamp on these with StayzOn inks...isn't that clever?)
1 card of love, Elsie chipboard buttons (and cupcakes..TOO CUTE!)
4 vintage millinery flowers (delicate little ivory things...a little frayed on the edges...because they're old you know. Kind of like ME...I digress)
2 FTD crown tag cards
1 recycled newspaper flower
2 feet of festive aqua and white paper garland
1 spool of copper craft wire
1 glittery clothespin of orange pom pom trim
1 glittery clothespin of aqua and brown embroidered ribbon
1 foot of brown pom pom trim (because, well, you can just never have TOO MUCH POM POM TRIM, can you?)
1 mini paper craft kit (chipboard album, diecuts, stickers...all in one adorable little kit! Theme: travel)
Several large rub ons from Impress-On swatch book
2 Acrylic Stamps: FABulous from Heidi Swapp and 1 “Instant Love” from Bam Pop!

AND, if you can’t figure out what to do with all these goodies, I am including an amazing book entitled: Fanciful Paper Flowers, from Sandra Evertson!



HOLY COW! KUKAMONGA! That’s a lot of stuff! Sandra is an amazing artist with the most whimsical, fanciful style. I just love her...

I have one more surprise giveaway. I’ll be posting it at 10 pm central standard time. You WILL NOT want to miss it…TRUST ME!I HOPE for a video, but photos may have to do.

Til next time, thanks for visiting!

Leave a comment, I'll be doing a drawing and post the winner(s) on Monday night! All are welcome to enter!

ARRRRRRRRRRR THE BLOG TREASURE IS HERE!

Greetings, dear reader!

Once again, I feel like a "Blog Pirate!" (See photo below)

After going to Vanessa's Mad Hatter Tea Party, and visiting EVERY BLOG on her blogroll, I discovered I had won some FABulous prizes !("booty" in pirate terms). Just look at all the goods that have begun pouring in:

From QueenBeanCreations:







This wonderful photo magnet from Wayfaring Wanderer:

Arriving at nearly the same time, these lovelies from the amazing Tina Wright of CollageMoJo fame. By the way, Tina and her cohorts are hosting a Paper Cowgirl Retreat in September in (where else?) Texas. Go here for more details:

More soon my dear bloggers and blogettes!

XOXOXO



Paula

OH THIS IS RICH...

THIS Dear Reader:



is said to be the Reading Level of my blog! HOW HILARIOUS is THAT?!?!?!

While I do NOT by ANY stretch of the imagination consider myself a genius, I do believe there are certain linguistic benefits that come along with being a blogger...and an artist...and...well...I just thought this was TOO FUNNY.

SO, if you're HERE, and if you've read this or ANY post on my blog, consider yourself among the ranks of the geniuses around the world. LOL! THAT should make your day!

"GO GREEN" ART

Greetings, dear reader! Are you staying cool on this muggy July day? We here in Southern Illinois continue to have temperatures in the high nineties with "matching" humidity. ARGH! It causes a meteorological phenomena called "heat index." It is the way the temperature FEELS when factoring in humidity. When temperatures are in the nineties anyway, I've learned it the greater form of wisdom NOT to know. Yes, truly, in this sweltering sauna we lovingly dub "Southern Illinois" , ignorance is truly bliss. Well, I don't know what brought all that on...I'm SURE you didn't come to my blog for a weather report...oh my gosh! I must be getting old! I am becoming one of those old people who talk about the weather...like we can DO anything about it anyway!? SHEESH!

ON to the good stuff! I titled this post "Go Green" because several folks have asked me about the little peace book I made...and what's it made of, etc. Well, because I DO believe in recycling in my art, I used bingo cards from a kids game I found at a Goodwill store...behold said cards:

There were also tiddlywinks and a chinese checker game in the box. I left them at the cabin where we stayed in Colorado for future game players.

A fellow blogger knows that I love to create AltAred Books...she found some old kids books at a thrift store and thought of me! She is sending them to me as I type! Isn't that amazing?I just LOVE trying to repurpose things and find their "artistic" voice! I'm not very good at it...that is, I don't collect junk and such, but I love it when people "get me" you know?

In making my Grungeboard project, I used (obviously) Grungeboard and the paint chips, photos, and write ups found in the home repair/paint department at Lowe's. It was great fun shopping for the "dream rooms" as well as being able to decide what paint colors I wanted to use (in my dream world, I can HAVE the most coveted designer paint!) And so, without further adieu:

















The photos in the above project were taken from our trip to Antigua, West Indies. It is truly the inspiration for the "cottage by the sea" that we long for. Are you surprised that our "dream home" would be by the sea? (Especially given my previous tirade about humidity?) Well there's tropical islands that ARE indeed humid,(likeJamaica) and then there are other tropical islands that are tropical but NOT humid and infact, experience drought. Antigua is one of those islands...always tradewinds...always lovely. We've truly never been to a place we loved as much...however, given the fact that our grandbaby (who is turning 1 on Saturday!) is STATESIDE U.S., the thought of living out of the country is just a bit too much for this gramma and grampa to think about! THIS face...:

will win every argument to the contrary!

More soon!

XOXOXO



Paula