fairy wand giveaway winner!

I hope all of you had a nice long weekend.
I can't believe it's the end of the month already!

We have a winner for my fairy wand giveaway and that is
#22 Kim from Tabby's Place.

Yay Kim!

Congratulations!

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I'll be back shortly with a new bag for June. We are doing 'Altered Art' again so get ready to look for anything you can turn into a bag (except for a real bag of course.)

And I also have my May dress to post...last minute again.

I just finished another little pudding fairy. She's a special one that's on her way to a new home in the desert. I hear she might be running away with the gypsies!

Be right back.

collage obsession mermaids

It's all about mermaids this week at Collage Obessesion.

Busy, busy this Monday so off I go!

Hope your week is starting out lovely and bright.

a hat for luna

Since Princess Beatrice recently put up her now infamous Philip Treacy fascinator on Ebay for charity, my Luna thought she would show you how fabulous it looks on her! Current bids are up to $122,000 and ends tomorrow. I think I might have to pass but I'm glad it's for a great cause.

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend.

 

may atc swap - movies

This was such a fun swap....actually all of them are fun! Our theme for the Blissfull ATC swap is MOVIES. I received this great 'Pinocchio' card from my swap partner Chrissy. It is just adorable and I love the way she used alcohol ink to color the canvas. It really made me smile when I opened up my little envelope. Thank you Chrissy!

For my ATC I gathered different movie related images, including a vintage French film poster. I also found a fun retro image of a movie audience wearing 3d glasses. Once I started putting it together I thought it would be fun to make 2 cards.

So I made a folder connected with a piece of old negative film.

I also used negative strips for the collage and finished it all with charcoal ink stain and silver metallic pen. I thought the 2 cards together gave it a 'widescreen' affect.

You can see more great movie ATCs at the Blissfull ATC Swap Flickr page.

♥

Don't forget to visit the Artful Bag Challenge page to see this month's lovely paper purses. And you can still enter to win my Fairy Wand giveaway. Click on the buttons on the right sidebar for details.

another makeover

Bloggy makeover that is.

I know. I change my blog design....alot. Usually I'll just do the header and maybe a button or two, but sometimes I change the whole thing. I think it's because I like so many different styles that I get tired of one look VERY easily.

And really, it's the same with the way I create. I'm finally making peace with the fact that I simply love too many things. And the style I like changes from day to day. Somedays it's whimsical, or artsy, vintage, grungy, shabby or chic. I can be inspired by anything at the drop of a hat.

Is there such a thing as creative ADD?

What I love is making my own hybrid mix of contrasts....probably because I can easily overdose on one thing. Too much sweet or too much grunge is well....too much for me.

Thank goodness I discovered blogging and Photoshop. It used to be my poor furniture that got moved around constantly. My husband would joke that he was never sure whose house he was in when he walked in the door. My mom told me I started moving furniture around the house almost as soon as I learned how to walk.

What can I say....I love options. Isn't it great to have so many choices and endless possibilities? Hope you're having an inspiring week.

collage obsession swan

The challenge theme for this week's Collage Obsession is 'swan'.

Right away I thought of the legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Click on the image for a larger picture.

lovely things

Another windy Saturday here in Tomatoland. Weather has been so weird. Next week we are suppose to be in the 90s but with thunderstorms. Are you having unusual weather where you are?

OK, I just love discovering silly and new things that inspire me, or that just make me smile. Last night I discovered a whole bunch of new fonts on the Blogger design page! I love fonts as you might know. Who knows how long they've had these fonts available, I haven't checked the design page in ages. But there they were and I thought that was just too exciting.

This morning, while munching on buttered toast and hot cocoa, I looked through the new Where Women Create and fell in love with artist/designer Denise Allen Robinson. I looove her clothing designs and her story.

She creates knitted, comfortable and whimsical pieces she calls "girly for grown-up girls" and it's just how I love to dress. Her designs are pricier so I'll probably never own one of her pieces, but the look is based on mixing up vintage with urban and adding a touch of whimsy and frill. And the more rumpled and crinkled, the better!

I also love that she didn't  discover her passion until almost in her 40's and now in her mid 50's, she has found success, all while following her passion and looking fabulous without having to 'dress her age'.

I'm going to go and raid my closet today to unearth some of my old thrift shop finds!

You can visit Denise at her website Neesh by D.A.R.

♥

Here's a little collage I just finished, thanks to lots of inspiration from my son, my friend Marfi and my favorite Hogwarts student, Luna Lovegood.

Have a lovely girly, pudding filled weekend!

fairy wand giveaway

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful Mothers Day weekend with your loves. I had a nice quiet day at home with the family. We usually visit our parents for Mothers Day but my mom is away on holiday and my mum and dad in law are getting ready for a trip as well. My son surprised me with a lovely handmade gift and the two of us spent a fun day exploring our neighborhood's new food places on Saturday. So a perfect Mothers Day weekend it was for me.

You might remember that I recently did a Spring Wand swap for Bliss Angels. I ended up making 2 wands. One I sent away to my swap partner Lynn, and the other one is this petite version.

It's the same style and very similar to the other one, just a shorter version....a lolli wand.

And to celebrate the flowery month of May I'm finally having the giveaway I promised!

All the flowers are in full bloom by now. They are everywhere because of weddings and of course, Mothers Day. Gardens are blooming, shops are overflowing with petals and fragrance. Everything is so pretty this time of the year isn't it?

So tell me about your favorite flower or flowers.

Which blooms have special meaning for you?

Kate Middleton's understated wedding bouquet had sweet william, in honor of her husband, and stems from a myrtle planted by Queen Victoria in 1845. Tradition and romance....lovely and sweet.

My winter wedding bouquet had gardenias and ivy, and the scent of gardenias still takes me back to my wedding day. I also love old fashioned flowers. Forget-me-nots, peonies, pansies and violets, and for me, nothing else compares to the sight of a riot of hydrangeas in full bloom.

To enter my Fairy Wand giveaway leave me a comment with your flowery thoughts and I'll choose a random winner on the 31st of May. The winner will receive my fairy wand just in time for an enchanted Midsummer's Eve.

Have a sweet and magical day.

for all the wonderful, lovely, amazing, incredible moms.....

 

Wishing all of you a beautiful day.

Vintage image from The Graphics Fairy

art deco paper dress and something amazing

Told you I would be right back!

I'm so late for the April Dress Up challenge that it's already time for May! But I still wanted to make a dress, especially since the theme was Art Deco.

When I think of Art Deco I think of old Hollywood glamour and those classic black and white films from the 30's and early 40's. The iconic Art Deco gown silhouette was very tubular and barely skimmed over the body. Graphic design and surface embellishment were popular, particularly the use of beads and jewels.

Full length gowns, many with trains, were all the rage with the back usually bare. A big departure from the short Flapper dresses of the 20's which emphasized the legs.

This vintage dress isn't quite full lenght (love that handkerchief hemline) but the silhouette is very Art Deco. It was used in the PBS mini series "Upstairs Downstairs".

So, how to interpret this theme in a little paper dress?

I used a glittery black and white graphic paper which looked Art Deco-y to me and cut out a long skinny evening dress. I cut out trim from silver embossed paper to add embellishment around the hips and clipped on a vintage rhinestone earring.

Then I outlined the edges and added some detail with a metallic silver pen.

And that is my Art Deco paper dress!

I also wanted to share something amazing I discovered recently.....

The Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco is currently featuring works by artist Isabelle de Borchgrave in an exhibit called Pulp Fashion.

She creates unbelievably beautiful dresses with exquisite detail. Some are like costumes and others are haute couture.

What is absolutely mind boggling is that they are made entirely of paper! How's that for the ultimate paper dress? You can go to her website and see her many collections and trust me, you will be amazed.

Hope you liked the little collection of dresses I put together today. And don't forget you can still see lots of lovely paper dresses if you visit Angela at Sew Loquacious.

things with wings

Hello again! Did I creep you out enough with my Strange Little People digi? That was fun but I think I started to creep myself out after a bit, lol.

It did get me thinking about Halloween, but I think I'm not really ready to give up on the glitter and sweets just yet.

I recently signed up for the monthly matchbox swap at Vintage Dragonfly. I have always wanted to alter little matchboxes and when I found JoAnne's challenge,
I couldn't resist.

I just missed the last swap. But since I already made the one for the next theme, Treasures of the Sea, I decided to play catch up and also made one for last month's theme, Things With Wings.

I used my favorite vintage fairy and gave her lots of winged friends.

There might be another wee fairy hiding in the butterfly garden....

Come out, come out....wherever you are!

And there she is!

I wasn't swapping so I did the vignette instead of filling it with goodies. I also wanted to add that this is just the standard 32 count matchbox. They make the larger ones called chef's matches, I think, but they were so much bigger. The regular size is small and cute.

I think these matchboxes are going to be my newest addiction. I will show you the other one once I find out who might partner is and after I get it out to her.

I'm on a roll trying to catch up on my challenges. I have my paper dress from last month ready to post too. So sorry I'm so late Angela. I couldn't take a picture tonight without a flash so I'll get that up tomorrow.

Be right back!

strange little people

This was another great Collage Obsession Challenge.

Rick St. Dennis gave us this sweet and innocent Victorian image to alter this week. Rick said he loves to take sweet things and make them into something not so sweet.

So the challenge theme was Strange Little People.

I can definitely do sweet and dreamy but I also like grunge and a good amount of dark so I took these adorable little children and invited them to play a little Show and Tell.

click for a larger view

I thought perhaps their nanny was having a particularly bad day......

Go and visit Collage Obsession to see more wickedly strange little people.

Now that was lots of fun. Thank you Rick.

may artful bag challenge

Happy May everyone.

It finally really feels like Spring with the last of the Winter weather gone for good.

So much has been going on in the world the last few days. From the joyous and grand, to another heartbreaking disaster, to the truly incredible.

Prayers go to everyone affected by the tornadoes, the very best of luck to the newlyweds and a hope for peace to the families of 9/11.

Well I was one of the 2 billion people watching the Royal Wedding and being on the west coast, that was from 2am to 5am. I wanted to watch it live so I stayed up just like my mom and I did 30 years ago to watch Charles and Diana.

I filled my blue and white Laura Ashley teapot with English Breakfast tea, wore my bright pink flower head band (or should I say Alice band) and cheered along with everyone into the wee hours of the morning.

My husband, whose parents are English, had absolutely no interest in it and went straight to bed. But we did go back to our favorite pub on Sunday for fish and chips celebrated with a cupcake afterwards.

Didn't you just love all those fabulously zany hats?! I am absolutely fascinated by fascinators! Some of the ones on parade at the wedding had a life of its own. I wish we had that tradition here of wearing hats and headgear to formal events. They look like so much fun. Can you imagine?

You can probably guess where I got my inspiration for the May Artful Bag Challenge. We are back to our first theme, Playing With Paper and my bag is a fun tribute to the new Duchess of Cambridge and the spectacular colors in Westminster Abbey.

I used  gold and blue embossed paper and bright raspberry cardstock for my Royal Crown Purse (I didn't have a deep red that I liked). Embellished it with gold pen and added the crest, paper flower and ribbons.

I know I promised a wand giveaway for May Day but I admit that I'm running behind because I got caught up in all the repeat coverage of the wedding all weekend. I never got tired of watching Catherine walking up that splendid aisle and the look on Prince William's face when he finally sees her is priceless. What can I say, I'm a hopeless romantic.

So I will do my wand giveaway at the end of the week. I still have pictures to post of the wonderful wand I recieved from Lynn and also the amazing package I got from Ana for the ATC swap.

The Linky tool for your May paper purse is below. Please join us for the Artful Bag Challenge if you haven't already. The challenge is open the entire month and all you need to do is create your bag and add your post to the Linky. You can also add pictures to the Artful Bag Challenge Flickr page.

Click on the buttons at the top of the page for more details.

I can't wait to see your wonderful paper purses!