Spring Time in Paris Swap and WIP new Toys!

Spring Time in Paris It Is!!!

Oh my goodness, Oh la la isn't quite enough of a word to express how thrilled I was to receive this WONDERFUL package from dear Jen!! She is the queen of swaps. I can't even begin to list all the wonderful and thoughtful items she sent as I will surely forget something. Her handmade item was this Eiffel Tower felted collage--with the words oh la la written on the frame. TOTALLY cute! Love it! Mixed in the package you can see little bits and bobs of scrapbooking stickers, tags, and many embellishments, and a quote book. In another section she had a treasure box of darling note cards, and a beautiful turquoise plate.

This is what I opened the box and found---all these beautifully wrapped packages! (((I didn't even come close to wrapping my packages as sweetly as she did))!! You can imagine, I was like a little girl at Christmas!!

Here is a collage of all the many wonderful items she managed to pack all in one box. Another favorite is the glicee print she so kindly sent. I love the colors in it. It's inspiring me to paint something in those colors of my work. Jen also included a beautiful black sketch book for me to keep for all my design and art ideas. Right now I don't even have one would you believe. My ideas are spread out in a hundred different places and it's difficult to find them when I am ready to go make something. Love the melamine bowls she sent--they are adorable. Thank you Jen soooo very much. You are the best and I love ya!!

I hope everyone who participated in the Spring Time in Paris Swap had a good experience. Please join us again soon!!!

I thought I'd share with you some of my new toys (sorry for the dark pic-despite the fact I have had an example of the lightbulb size for the dining room light in my car for weeks--I have yet to go to the store and get more bulbs...yep...I'm down to one working bulb). Anywhoo--this new to is called fun foam. You simply heat it with an embossing gun for about 30 seconds then PRESS into anything with texture and it makes your own reusable stamp. You don't like the design??? Heat and PRESS again. Press press press press. I pressed into everything. The stove. The table cloth. metal thingys, embossed wallpaper. Good thing I have 16 of them. Who'd a thunk heating and pressing things would be sooooo fun????

More new toys....and this is only part of all the new boards I have for collages. Quite an investment, huh?? Iwill be painting and collaging away until I'm old and gray with these. I used the down time during the yard sale to sand these puppies down after Jim cut them all up for me. As typical x's do, he so kindly helped me out and picked up this board from Home Depot for me and cut them up on his table saw, ummmm after I butchered the first row (not on purpose so he would do it for me...I just couldn't saw a straight line if it killed me..lol). Seriously,, no most ex's don't do this for their ex's ---but he is a good guy and I really thank him for supporting my artwork and hobbies, and for in general still being a good friend.

Last but not least, here's some works in progress--some 6x6's i'm working on as well as some of the boards all primed and ready to go. The brown stuff is tinted modeling paste I'm using for texture on some of the pieces. Lots of fun. That's another new toy of mine!! At the bottom you can see a sneak peek of a sketch that's going on one of the canvases.

Phew. Lots to do.

Good news--the yard sale was great, sold a lot but not everything. I still made about 225 dollars and all together all of us that sold things made about 900 dollars, so not a bad day. Sunday was a dud. Live and learn. I did get my boards sanded so I guess it wasn't a waste. Ohhh and I sold 2 of my prints at the yard sale (at full price). I was soooooooo excited you think I won the Price is Right!! The customers took all of my business cards I had so that felt good. I came back inside after selling my prints and found that I sold another print on Etsy the same day. So--I really made about 240 dollars Saturday. We worked our arses off though--getting up at 4:15 am to get all the crapola out.

Bottom line. There are easier ways to make money..LOL. BUT it feels good to slim down the clutter, there's still more to go but it's one day at a time around here!

Have a good rest of the week!!