Celebrate With Us!

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to the CelticWoman herself, Sandi Kelly!

You know Sandi as one of our designers for  
The Play Date Cafe Challenge.

I have come to know Sandi as a friend and an encourager.

I wish you many happy returns of the day.....

Getting To Know You...Part 2

It has been so absolutely wonderful hearing from all of you regarding the new design team.
Most of us met as strangers and have become quick friends as we go through this new journey together. Now it's time to share with you a little about Sandi.

I met Sandi as an early follower of my blog. You might know her as Celticwoman. She has been a constant supporter here at The Open Window. I was so happy to find out one day that I had become the winner of some blog candy she was giving away! What I loved even more is that it was a handcrafted journal that is even more beautiful than the photo, which you can see here. If you love color...if you love TO color, then you will love following Sandi and being inspired by her...let's hear from her:

Sandi writes: Hello, welcome, I am so excited to be here to help kick off a great weekly challenge. My name is Sandi Kelly, I live outside of Sacramento but must be part Irish Gypsy because I have lived on every coast line of these great United States, although
I was born just north of Chicago.
I am married to my high school sweetheart and together we are care givers to 3 knawrly cats. They will come and get you when they want to be let outside, if you do not respond within 5mins. they will begin a destructive attack to get your attention.

Color and paper have been passions of mine
for as long as I can remember.
I was an exhibiting watercolor artist for many years in Laguna Beach and Fair Oaks, CA but gave it up for a little slower pace of creativity.
There is barely a day that
I do not spend in my studio, rising at 3AM,
I normally create
until about 1:30 or 2PM.
My object of passion at this time are my
Copic Markers and Airbrush System,
oh my goodness the color!

So...that's Sandi...hope that gives you a glimpse into what you can expect from
her fabulous challenges.
Tomorrow, you will meet our
UK/European designer, Sarah!

BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY...Just a reminder! If you haven't grabbed your Play Date Cafe button yet, there is still plenty of time. You will find it to your right, the one that says 'I Play at the Play Date Cafe'. Copy and paste it to your sidebar, leave me a comment and let me know...that's it. The 'candy' is a surprise, but I promise, YOU WILL LOVE IT! Even more importantly, we hope you are planning to play along when the challenges start and PLEASE...share the news with your friends. Deadline for the blog candy is Wednesday, October 21st.

I will be back a bit later with a new post and a new project from Arful INKables as well as

information on the AI blog hop,

which begins at midnight! See ya then!

Look What I Won....and Thanks For Asking!

So here it is! This lovely journal was created by Sandi (Celticwoman) from The PaperTrail blog. I was the very lucky winner of her blog candy giveaway in celebration of a few milestones. If you have yet to visit, please make sure you get over there and take a look around. This lady loves life and it shows.
It will definitely inspire you to creativity.

Let me just tell you, the photos do not do this journal justice. It's an altered paper bag journal, using a composition book. The texture on this is phenominal. I am a huge fan of ribbon, as you well know, so to have it as a binding cover
just plain 'made me smile'!

Then to open it up and see a good old-fashioned bookplate with my name was the icing on the cake. I am so looking forward to using this journal for my inspirational journal. Anything that inspires my creativity will go inside until I can no longer fill it.
Thank you so kindly, Sandi...I really do love it!

I have had many, many of you ask how the construction is going...and more importantly, how am I coping with it. Well...these photos really do tell the story. This first one was taken about 15 minutes ago from my patio door. I don't know how road construction works (although I am convinced that I will have the basics down by the time they are finished), but after a week of leveling the dirt, adding fill dirt, laying a gravel foundation (delivered by a literal 2 day parade of dump trucks who's doors have no noise discretion as they SLAM shut...slam, slam, slamslamslam), they have begun digging things up again adding some pretty heavy-duty concrete pipes.
I can only guess they have to do with drainage.

This photo was taken while sitting on my patio,
again just a little bit ago.
So...that's where it's up to. As for the coping, I am doing better. I am definitely resigned, but I did have a major wake up call over the weekend. Because the 'road' was level enough, curiosity seekers began driving down the road. Saturday evening, Paul and I were enjoying a movie from the comfort of our bed, when a slow-moving car drove down the path. You see, this is the same view from our bedroom. I guess the blinds will be drawn much earlier
at Julie's Open Window from now on!
Thanks so much for caring enough to ask
and even more for letting me vent!

Back later with Tag Swap Sneak Peak #2 and more news
from The Open Window including A Design Team Call!

Thank You For Your Patience...

Thank you for all your kind comments over the past 24 hours. So-called 'technical difficulties' are not my favorite things to deal with, but sometimes it's a matter of just giving in.

So let's get right to it...there's a lot of stuff to cover tonight...I know I usually tell you on Wednesday nights to come with a cup of 'something', so hope you have something to sustain you.

Starting right off with the sweet Friends award at the top...that's from Beedeebabee...a/k/a dear Paulette. I have spoken of Paulette on a number of occasions, most often surrounding how we met. She and I were fairly new to blogging and one day, we both noticed that when we logged on to our blogs, our followers' list was missing. Now for me, that consisted of about 5 people, but they were VIP's...and they still are, by the way. Paulette and I found ourselves in the Help Forum trying to get answers (which eventually consisted of it 'happens every now and then...and it's true, only now we don't panic!) and we have been each other followers and now, friends ever since. So this award has an extra special place for us because we have become wonderful, emailing 5 or 6 times a day, friends! Thank you, Paulette...YOU are my most favorite and only one I know... BEEDEEBABEE!

So here is the finished product of the sneak peak from last night's feeble attempt at a post.
I have said it sooooo many times lately, but I am really into Halloween cards this year and this one is a bit different. I used the new Chandelier & Halloween stamp sets from Inkadinkado as well as the newest 12x12 papers from Martha Stewart's Halloween collections. They are double-sided, so I just used reverse layers and of course, it's not complete without using Martha's spider web corner punch. So hope it was worth the wait for the details.

OH! I am so excited! I won my first ever Blog Candy! Yes indeedio!
My friend Sandi a/k/a Celticwoman offered one of her altered composition books in celebration of meeting a variety of milestones including 10,000 posts and 15,000 hits and I was the very lucky winner. Sandi has a lovely blog and is quite the artist, so I hope you will make a trip over to her blog and say hello.

So here is my smile of the day...I had some babysitting time with Alex, Jr. He is 15 months old, the youngest of my 3 grandchildren. The way I see it, none of my grandsons are ever going to see the inside of a craft store unless 'Mema' takes them, so Alex, Jr and I spent some quality bonding time at Hobby Lobby this morning. As I was checking out, the lady next in line must have overheard me referring to myself as 'grandma'. As Alex and I were laughing our way to the car, she came from behind and said, "you don't look old enough to have a grandchild, I though he was yours!" I responded by saying that I actually have 3 altogether to which, with amazement (that's my interpretation) she replied, "there is just no way...you look so young!" I told her that she had no idea how much that made my day...and I was wearing my glasses at the time! So I figure, if I get to the eye doc, for my long, overdue appointment and get a new set of contacts, I should be able to shave another 4 or 5 years off my look...and with birthday #49 only 3 weeks away, I'd better hurry! Have a great night....it's Friday tomorrow!

Kindness spread throughout the lands

What a lovely surprise to wake up this morning and find this beautiful award from Sandi and her blog CelticWoman. When I think about it, it truly is amazing how we have come to know one another in very unique ways. My husband and I were just talking this morning how things have changed with the internet age (our age is showing now). As you know, he is an assistant manager for one of the largest bookstore chains in this country. BUT........
Will bound and printed book always be available?

It may seem I've strayed from my original thought, but not really because when you think about it, it's because of the future we communicate the way we do today. I have never met Sandi or Paulette or Mona or YOU, for that matter (I know, I know....some of you I have, but play along here), but I do chat with some you privately on a daily basis. Do you see what I am trying to say? I LOVE HOW OUR BLOGS CONNECT US WITH REALLY, REALLY NICE PEOPLE! Thank you Sandi.

With this award, I need to share 5 things that I love and then pass the award on, so I will come back to you a little later on with that information and get you up to date on where I am in the studio. LOTS OF DEADLINES FOR TOMORROW!!!