A Day of Firsts

Today is a "Day of Firsts"

Today is the first time I've ever had a giveaway. I've gone and joined in the ONE WORLD ONE HEART 2009 giveaway. They have over 500 participants. WOW!! So many fabulous prizes from the most amazing artists. You should check it out.

O.K., so I thought long and hard about what to give away and I decided on some handmade Valentine Heart Ornaments that I made last year.

Each ornament is approx. 5 in. and is adorned with vintage french paper and or Dresden trim,vintage sequins, vintage crepepaper, vintage style silver garland, or vintage lace and of course glitter. These are really super adorable. I hope you like them too.

So, if you would like to enter my drawing:

Just, leave a comment (this post only)by 2/11

You must have a current blog to qualify,

1 comment per person. Winner announced February 12th.

I will be posting the winner here. Please make sure you leave

your contact info on your comment.

If I can't reach you, you can't win :-(You should really check out all of the other amazing artists

My Second First of the day is that I won a blog award. YIPPEEE!! I'm so exicted. The Proximidade! award.

The lovely Jenn @ http://mysteriesofthejuniper.blogspot.com/ (who happens to be an amazingly kind and welcoming lady) bestowed this wonderful award on me. The award is forwarded to charming bloggers who invest in the PROXIMITY of space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. The authors ask that you pass this award on to other blogging friends and include their link in the post. Notify them to let them know that they have been given the award. So please spread the love!

So, I'm going to pass this award on to:

Jenny @http://mommatoboys.blogspot.com/ and

Deb @http://posted-from-home.blogspot.com/

Both of these ladies are wonderful and so generous with their kind comments and welcoming spirit. Thank You.What a fun day.

Cari

Winters Glow Candle

I am participating in a wonderful blog called A Year of Color. It's fantastic!!

There is a different color theme each month. Each week focuses on a different idea (decor, crafts, etc.). They even have fantastic guest artists teaching tutorials.

So, I vowed to myself when I signed up that I would try to make as many of the craft tutorials as possible. I am always beating myself up because I want to make so many things and then I just let them slip away. But not anymore!!

This was the very first tutorial. The Winters Glow Candle and this months colors are blue and white. I made this candle as a tribute to all of the wonderful artist who's blogs I read that are freezing their bums off right now. I think that my candle captures the beauty of the snow (all sparkles and white and blue) and when lit the warmth of the hearth.

Now, I'm only one project behind. Ha! Ha!

Try to enjoy whatever weather you have. For those of you freezing, try and stay warm.

Cari

Back to School

Yeah!! The kids are finally all back to school. Our schools are on what is called a semi-traditional schedule. Basically, they get more than 3 weeks at Christmas and a slightly shorter summer.

I do miss them but, I have finally been able to get back to making stuff and re-organizing my desk. This is a picture of a little corner of my desk that is finished. I like how it turned out.

Here is another little vignette. I love the little flea market girl (the dogs recently hurt her toes!) The wish vignette is so sweet, more than I expected when I ordered it from shabby scraps.

Here is what I've been working on when I'm not cleaning out drawers, and purging stuff I don't need. I haven't finished or even really started the pleated crepe paper under the star, I was just playing around to see how it would look. I think I like it so, now I've got to make the real ones. My daughters are begging me to give them these boxes for Valentines Day. I think that can be arranged but, don't tell them!
I've got soooooooo much more I want to make, and lots of swaps that I'm extremely excited about participating in. I just hope I can get it all finished.
Wish me luck!
Cari

New Earrings

I made a bunch of earrings today for my etsy shop

I love them all but, I must say that the ones above are my absolute favorite.

Being a gigantic fan of all things vintage, I just love the way that finishes are showing their age.

You can see more of the jewelry I made today at my shop. Now, I feel like creating with paper.
Can't wait to get started unfortunately, I've run out of time for today.
Enjoy the pictures.
Cari

Valentines Inspiration

Okay, I know it's a little early. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't running behind this year. So, I started pulling out a bunch of beads, chain, trinkets, etc. to get me motivated to make some jewelry for my etsy store. I'll post some of my finished projects. Hope they all turn out as I imagine them.

Happy New Years

This morning I was telling my (almost) 16 year old daughter that I wanted to post a New Years blog but, that I wasn't sure what pictures I should use. She suggested that I take a picture of one of our Chandeliers. I guess to her Chandeliers are representative of New Years. All sparkle and shine. That's a pretty cool image to have of New Years.

After I took the picture I started thinking about my little tree out front. I recently was able to purchase some wonderful little cut glass children's cups at one of our amazing swap meets. They had already started turning purple. A friend of mine told me that if I placed them in the sun they would turn more purple. This was my solution. I think it looks amazing. Only one problem, I don't think that they'll get much sun once the tree gets it's leaves back.

Oh, well!! I'll just enjoy the beauty while I can.

I want to wish all of you an amazing New Year filled with beauty, creativity, bliss, and fulfillment.

Happy New Years!!

Cari B.