I’ve been wanting to make some tissue paper flowers for the longest time, so when Sally asked me if I could do the video for the Hero Arts blog this week I jumped right on it!  But I had to stamp on them, of course.

And make them kinda vintage-y.

I even made a card!

I can just imagine having friends over for tea with a card at each setting and flowers in a cute little vase ready for each friend take home, can’t you?  We’d have some of those cute little sandwiches and scones.  Or maybe coffee and donuts?  Or both! Yum!

And of course I’d have to use my Silhouette to cut some doilies for on the saucers. Oh yeah!

Watch the video over on the Hero Arts blog and check out the fun paper flowers that Sally made, too!

Have a happy day,

“So, Shirley, how’s you’re summer been?”

“Not bad Harriet, and you?”

“Mine’s been mighty fine, lots of super yummy bugs. Found these new ones that taste just like donuts. Or maybe it’s more like cupcakes. Mmmmmm.”

“Hey what was that!!!!”

“I know there’s something Harriet!”

“I don’t see a thing.”

“Ah well, must have been the wind.  Think it will stop raining soon?”

“Hope so.”

Hope you see something super cute outside your office window — even if it’s cloudy and rainy,

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I sure did! I only did one thing I actually planned on doing, but it was still super great and I wouldn’t have traded one minute.

Saturday bright and early I went to my friend Libby’s who was hosting a stamp yard sale extravaganza. My table was between two super duper fun ladies who I’ve always wanted to meet — Jimmy Sue from Texana Designs and Lydia from Splitcoaststampers.  Y’all reading this from Texas have just gotta check out Jimmy Sue’s stamps.  Heck, even if you’re not in Texas you should check out her stamps.  And as for Lydia, have you seen her tweets? She’s just too witty and clever.  And well, she’s just like that in person. Awesome.

I also got to meet Dana aka darthsunshine — she drove all the way up from San Antonio.  Jill, Karen, Shanda, Rae Anne, Brenda, Kristi, Laura, and Christina — we’ll all have to get together again soon!

Then J came and picked me up — he helped me carry massive boxes of stamps to the sale — luckily I left with one tiny box — thanks everyone! We had lunch at Thundercloud subs and then dessert at hey cupcake! Oh yeah!

YUM.

Then I had a second dessert — J spotted a cute little shop called The Stitching Studio with his super vision eagle eyes and we stopped on the way home.  I found an huge bag of vintage scraps for $2, lace, gingham bias tape, and then check out the book that J found!

I love that man! :)

Then we watched a movie — anyone have any good summer movies to recommend?  Our Netflix queue is getting low.

Yesterday we thought we’d make a quick trip to Ikea to get a rug for the kitchen and a shelf so I could finish my sewing studio — but we ended up spending most of the afternoon there dreaming about updating our kitchen, hee hee.

Wishing you a sweet day with sprinkles on top,

Hi and happy Friday! What has made you smile this week? I’m smiling from ear to ear as I type this since I finally had a chance to play with my Silhouette and the Dear Lizzy Doilies late last night — yay!

I’ve had this plan kicking around up in my noggin for over a month now, on a day much like today when I purchased the papers to make the doilies — the sun keeps popping in and out, making photos a little tricky.  But I’m too excited to wait for the sun to come out to show you!

I even made a little doily kit for my friend Mon at weiwabo.  I cut some doilies, put them in a vellum envelope, tied on a tag and string and ta dah!  Sure hope she likes it!  (And hope she doesn’t see this post before she gets it — told ya I was too excited to wait to post, ha ha.)

I think it’s incredible that we can live in a time when we can own a machine like the Silhouette that can cut out something so intricate as these doilies.  Isn’t technology amazing?  AND!  Want to win one?  Well then, you’ll want to click on over and enter the giveaway that Danni is having over at oh hello freind!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend?  I’m hoping to finally have a chance to play with the cutest little donut maker that a friend sent me.  YUM.  And stamp some donuts, too.

Hope you get a chance to do something you’ve been wanting to,

This may seem like a totally obvious tip, but it is so true!  And it’s even more true when you’re using a digital camera — after all, you can just delete the ones you don’t want.  :)

I was going for a walk along the San Francisco Bay with a friend when I took these.  She thought I was more than a little nuts for taking so many photos, but then I showed her how many were bad — because the cute critter moved, or I had the camera settings wrong, or something. And then she was convinced.

It’s really liberating, actually.  It gives you the freedom to play with light.

By the way, anyone know what kind of critter this is? My friend said he was a rat.  But I’m thinking no way!  He’s too cute to be a rat.  Update: Thanks to Rachel for letting me know — it’s a California ground squirrel! I just knew it was too cute to be a rat. Mystery solved.

Hope your day is filled with sunshine and cute critters,

Barbara, I will email you to get your addy so I can send you your How Delightful set from Lawn Fawn!  Yay! Thanks to everyone who entered, I really loved reading all of your comments and seeing what makes you SMILE!  And thanks to Kelly Marie for the giveaway — she rocks!  :)

And!  Wondering where this awesome bunting + graph paper came from?  It’s from Katrina over at Pugly Pixel.  It’s an exclusive download that she made for my friend Piper who is having an Alphabet Walk Blog Hop! It’s still open for sign-ups if you’d like to join in the fun — I signed up already, can’t wait.

Have an awesome day,

Or to those in the southern hemisphere, happy winter!  I’ll eat some raspberries for you.  :)

Did you have a good weekend?  I didn’t have time to craft, but I did get lots of chores done that have been piling up like pancakes — only not quite as tasty, ha!  Now I’ll have time to play.  And I’m already working on my next photo tutorial — it will be on taking closeup photos.

And!  There’s one day left to enter the Lawn Fawn giveaway, yay!

Happy happy day,

Hi everyone, how was your week?  Mine seemed to just zoom by at top speed again.  So glad that the weekend is here!  Do you have fun plans?  I’m planning a romantic dinner for J and I made him this card using the How Delightful set from Lawn Fawn!

I love this set so much!  Can’t wait to make cards with the lamp + lightbulb. And I love peonies too — they will be on the table while we eat.

Supplies: How Delightful by Lawn Fawn, heart shaped twinkle gems by A Muse, and Antique Brocade background by Hero Arts. It may be a little hard to tell, but I stamped the brocade background with spun sugar distress ink by Ranger, then misted it with glimmer mist by Tattered Angles to give it a subtle shimmer — kinda like the peonies!  And the “you light up my life” was stamped in silver metallic ink by Tsukineko.  I hung the chandelier with metallic silver embroidery thread.  I think this card will really shine by candlelight!

AND!  I have an extra How Delightful set from Kelly Marie to giveaway!  She is just too sweet.  To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with something that makes you smile.  I’ll pick a lucky random winner on Tuesday.  (US residents only — sorry but postage is super crazy sometimes!)

Have a delightful weekend,