Christmas Tag Swap

I have an online group of wonderfully talented friends and this year we did a Christmas tag swap. I took mine to Louisiana and worked on them while my husband was duck hunting. :)


These tags were made with some of my crayon paper which was glued onto cardstock before cutting. Then I just punched a star at the top and made a ribbon loop and wrote "To:" and "From" on the back in red ink.

November is a Busy Month!

Well, the first week of December is over and I finally have a chance to sit down and update my blog!

November is usually a very busy month for us. We have two traditions that take up a lot of our time. One tradition has been around a little longer than the other.

On Novemember 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was born. Every year the men and women of the Marine Corps gather together to celebrate this special date with a ceremony, dinner and dancing. We had a wonderful time! The food was fabulous, the guest speaker was motivating and the dancing was, well, a fun time for everyone! We even had birthday cake. :)

For the last three years we have gone to Southern Louisiana to visit my Mother-in-Law during the week of Thanksgiving. That time of year is duck hunting season so Jason gets to go out with my MIL and her husband and their friends and duck hunt. He has a blast. Kristina and I usualy hang out at the cabin but we did get to go out on the boat with them on the last day. It was fun!

Here are some other pics I took:

Message in a Bottle

I am participating in a Message in a Bottle swap that is just too much fun!

Recently, I received my first bottle:











With tons of goodies:

For every bottle I receive, I send out 2 and I get 4 in return! Talk about some great mail days!

You can see the fun here: http://www.GoMakeSomething.com/mib

I can't wait to play... :)

Black Paper

A co-worker asked me to make her some of my handmade paper notecards and when I asked her if she had a color preference she said she likes black and white. I decided I would try to make black paper for some of her cards. I've never made black paper. The darkest paper I've ever made is brown. Here are the results:

TAG!!! I'M IT! (TWICE)

I got tagged! Twice! Wowzers!

Once by my EtsyPaper Pal Katy http://kisforcalligraphy.blogspot.com/

and once by my good Friend Angie http://angiehallhaviland.typepad.com/angiesartfulllife/



I am supposed to tell 6 things about myself and then tag 5 blogging friends.

Here we go:

1. I have 2 tattoos. One on my ankle and one on my wrist. The one on my wrist has my hubby's name in it.



2. I was a dancer when I was little girl. Ballet, tap and jazz! However, I cried all through a ballet solo at a recital because I have a big stage-fright problem.



3. My favorite cars are Mustangs. I had one in High School. An '81 Mustang - lots of fun! And I had one a couple of years ago. A 2002 beautiful Yellow Mustang. I sold it because 1) My daughter was getting too tall to sit in the back seat and 2) when it rains here in Lubbock the intersections flood pretty bad and I didn't want to get stuck! I shall have another one someday!



4. I love Action Flicks!!!



5. Favorite Food: Fajitas! YUM!

6. I would love to retire in the Texas Hill Country. Beautfiul place. :)



OK, Now to tag:



http://ragqueensblog.blogspot.com/



http://clearpink.blogspot.com/



http://jenygwen.blogspot.com/



Well, I am only going to do 3 friends... LOL!



On the subject of tags, here is a card I made a little while back for a swap:

Colorful Gems

It is a rainy day today so I decided to work on some things I have been needing to make. A friend of mine at work placed an order for some of my flat-back glass marble push pins. I've got everything finished except to glue the tack to the back. I just love how they turned out. So colorful. These are made using my crayon paper. The leftover sheets (at the right of the photo) will be used to make more (for me!). I usually take any flat-back glass marbles that are not suitable for selling (little flaw or chip in the glass) and make push pins for my home office. And any itsy-bitsy leftover pieces of the paper will be used in my handmade papers. I won't be throwing anything away during this project. :)

PaperMaker Treasury on Etsy!

I am part of a newly created team on Etsy called the Etsy PaperMakers Guild. We are all papermakers and it is so interesting to see how other artists create with handmade paper and what they use during the papermaking process. One of our team members created this Treasury. Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=14216

And here are some photos of my paper. :)