An Award for us All!

My friend Jill, owner of The Stamp Man in The UK is hosting a fabulous blog hop this week.  She is giving away a wonderful array of goodies throughout the hop.  I spent a little time yesterday making my way around and enjoyed every minute of it.  I hope you will take a few minutes and hop along too.  I have always enjoyed playing with stamp images from Great Britain and I know you will too!  So make sure you check it out!

As for the award above...I love this idea.  Jill has encouraged each one of us to choose our favorite crafting project from this past year.  Once we do, we get to share this award.  I thought for mine, I would 'cheat' just a bit and share my favorite 'post' which happens to feature many of my favorite projects
that I have created in 2009.  
I happily share much of my crafting background as well.

Here's a sneak peek...

I hope you will enjoy the post and the projects.  Each of them have been featured on my blog in various posts.  You can read about them, and the inspiration behind many of them, by checking out the archives from September and October.

JUST CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FAVORITES OF 2009

A Big Thanks & A Sneak Peek!

What can I say but 'Thanks boss!'

Jennie from The Artistic Stamper surprised me with this very colorful blog award.  I am one of the newest designers to join Jennie's team from The Artistic Stamper and I am anxiously awaiting my very first package full of goodies from the UK.  I am going to combine the requirements for receiving this award and the one I posted yesterday, which is to share
5 little known things about Julie Ranae.

#1...I dip my french fries (chips for my UK friends) in applesauce

#2...My favorite color is orange
how could that have not come up by now?

#3...I have been a singer since the age of 16

#4...staying with the music theme, I like EVERY style of music
but polka and opera

#5...staying with the music theme again, I grew up playing
the organ (of the 3 keyboard variety)

Not very interesting, I am sure...but there you have it!

Now to share the love.....I honor:

Anne, Maria, Jill, Julie, Alcoholinky
I share this colorful award with you...
thank you for inspiring us to create!

Don't you just love mysteries?  I do!

See you tomorrow.....
No...I'm really NOT going to tell you anymore...for now, anyway!

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!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy!

Have you ever imagined standing in THAT moment? Designer gown and all your peers who you have admired from afar? Well, I'm not wearing the designer gown (I'm wearing exercise pants and a t-shirt) but all of you who I admire from afar are here,
so let's get this party started!

I awoke this morning to a lovely message from lovely Mona, the head cupcake informing me that because she 'likes my style', she is giving me this fabulous award above. I love awards but I love my blogging friends even more, so thank you Mona!
I like YOUR style, too!

Then over the weekend, I received this award from Sharon over at Inklined to Stamp. Sharon named my blog as one of the inspirational blogs that she has come to enjoy. Ya know, I think we all hope our blogs are inspirational, in some way, to all who visit. So it's really nice to receive recognition for that very reason.
Thank you for thinking of me, Sharon.
Over the next few days, I will be passing these awards on to other deserving blog hosts, so stay tuned. I have several to name and have not finished my list quite yet. It's always nice to do it all in one go, but I didn't want any more time to pass
in acknowledging these wonderful ladies.

So let's catch up on a few other things...
Many of you have continued to ask how we are handling the upheaval of our lives since the 'surprise' road construction began on Monday. I have considered sharing a few more photos with you, and may still do that. But for now, I can tell you that Paul and I are still in a bit of a funk about it. It's especially hard for me to see Paul so affected. Me...I'm an outwardly emotional person anyway, so me being upset is no big surprise. I have taken a fairly proactive stance and have contacted our city newspaper to request a space in the 'opinions' section of the paper. They have responded, but have yet to give me the space, so we'll see. I have been in contact with the mayor's office, the alderman's office and the public works' director. Each one has passed the buck on to the other. The only word that comes to mind is 'typical'.
The weather has been absolutely miserable, lashing down with rain for nearly 48 hours straight, so I don't need to tell you what the view is from our window right now.
I will keep you posted, but for now, it has been quiet and with tomorrow being Friday and more rain in the forecast,
I expect it will remain so.

Now let's talk about something fun!
Rubber stamping and shopping come to mind! I managed to pick up some of the new fall paper designs from Making Memories today along with a set of papers from GCD Studios called 'Provence'. Oh my goodness! Both sets are stunning. I am going to share a photo tomorrow of the papers in these sets, so you can be on the look out for them. I also managed to get a card done with one of the designs, so I will share that as well.

The Halloween card above is a little something I whipped up a few days ago. Inkadinkado has some terrific fall stamps out this season and these are a couple of them. Have you noticed I have been using tiny brads in my button holes? It's such a simple solution when you want something a little different. I also used the Cuttlebug Spider Web EF for the backdrop for our spider. I'm sure by now, you recognize the Martha Stewart Web punch used as a border.
Heidi Grace paper is so colorful and fun.

Tomorrow is Friday...WOOHOO! Paul is off for the day, but you will still find me in the studio, as we have no major plans. So I will be back to send some reminders your way about some fabulous, fun things that will be going on here at The Open Window,
so hope to see you tomorrow!

How Was Your Weekend?

I hope it was a good weekend for you. Mine was nice. Paul had the weekend off, which is always a good thing. We spent Saturday running incidental errands. Then while he watched his beloved English 'football', I played with stamps and such. Today, we went to church then pretty much repeated the same routine as yesterday, only Paul watched a movie instead.

No.....no new babies in my life. Just felt like going 'vintage' and this card 'cried out BABY' to me (no pun intended). I love vintage...retro...shabby chic. Love, love, LOVE it. So may focus a bit more on that in the coming weeks. If you know someone who needs a unique card for a new baby, you can get this one in my Etsy store.

I am on a huge Halloween kick right now, though. So hopefully some of the things I have to share over the next few days will inspire you to get thinking about the fall.


I received another Blog Award over the weekend, which is always such a lovely surprise. I already am behind in sharing my awards with my friends out there, so I am going to spend the next day or so getting my list together of those who I want to pass those awards on to. If you don't know how they typically work....you kindly accept the award and then pass it on to others who are deserving of some recognition. Many times, you are also asked to list some things about yourself or your blog, which is always what puts my behind. But I will do my best to get those things caught up this week.

Many thanks to all of you for logging on as a follower to be in with a chance to win my blog candy giveaway. I appreciate your willingness to promote it on your blogs and it is my hope that once the giveaway ends, you will continue to visit daily and participate in the activities coming up beginning in September.

It has been really fun reading the comments from my last post...you guys really do save some unique things to use in your artwork! If you haven't read the responses from that post, go back and take a look. So far the most interesting item that is being recycled for the sake of art is a dead dragonfly! Yep...it's true! There is still plenty of room for you to share your most unusual object, so click here and leave a comment!

Time to go for now....but I will be back. My oldest grandson starts 1st grade on Monday, so I am prepared to be on the phone with my daughter at least once or twelve times 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!!!

Spreading The Love

Isn't this little silk flower pretty? It started out white with a hint of baby blue around the edges, but I needed something rainbow-like in color, so I used my Colorbox Chalk Inks and dabbed directly on the flower until I had what I needed. Just thought I would share that with you because it's always good to experiment.
I continue to call it
'inking outside of the box'!

I have a few people that I want to honor with a little blog award.
I am impressed with every single blog that I visit because each one has something different to offer. No two are alike, each are unique and all have a wonderful purpose.


Sarah host of The Art of Moodling...many of you know that Sarah is one of my very best friends. She is from the U.K. and we have a very unique history(see the June archives).
I thank Sarah for encouraging me to get my blog 'in the air' as it were. I told Sarah just yesterday that if it weren't for her, my blog would still be just living inside of my head.

Paulette host of Beedeebabee...I met Paulette when we were both experiencing 'technical difficulties' with our blogs. Since then, she has been such an encourager
and quite probably, (and I say this laughing) one of my biggest fans! She and I are prime examples of how any type of art or craft can bring friends together.

Mona host of Cupcake's Creations...I've said it before, I have no idea how I stumbled on to Mona's blog, but it is pure eye-candy and I have quite a sweet tooth! I love her creativity and her world travels make you feel like you are traveling right along with her. She loves her followers and is always kind enough to take a moment to respond to each and every comment left on her blog. For that, we all thank you, Mona!

CelticWoman host of Paper Trail...she has such a lovely blog and always takes the time to leave comments when she visits. Make sure you take time to stop by and say hello.

Kelly host of Kreative Korner by Kelly...She has a really sweet blog, very colorful and fun projects are posted there. When you go to her blog, there are 2 things that will immediately catch your attention. Her colorful background and her 'sparkling' guestbook.
Make sure you 'sign in' when you stop by!

Thank you to these lovely ladies and to all who continue to support The Open Window.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE THIS PLACE!