The Summer Sun Blog Giveaway!

At Heidi's (Everyday Cookies) suggestion, I'm also having a SUMMER SUN BLOG GIVEAWAY!!!

I'm offering this package of dimensional flowers from Martha Stewart's new line of paper crafts. There are 8 summer flowers in 3 different colors. These are the large 1 3/4" size, perfect for all paper crafts. I call them summer flowers, maybe asters?

Just say "hi" in the comments on this Blog or yesterday's post and I'll put your name in my hat for the drawing! I'll draw my winner next Friday, July 8th. Thanks for joining in the fun!

I still don't know what kind of wildflowers I'm growing! Here's another picture of them, with a few more blooms. I'm not real great at identifying flowers! Just ask Heidi, the green-thumb gardener: She was showing me around her beautiful property one year, and I suddenly, helpfully reached down and pulled up a big "weed"!!! Heidi in horror asked, "Sallie!!! Why did you pull up my flowers? I just planted that!" EEEK! So, you see I need a little help in the flower department! Thanks for any suggestions! And have fun this summer!

Summer Sun Swapping Fun!

Here's my latest batch of ATCs! I made them for a swap on Swap-Bot called the "Gold Leafing Pen Resist Swap"! It's an artist technique from the book Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin. This a fabulous and colorful book, chock full of interesting new ideas to try with your artist cards. If you love making these little cards, I highly recommend buying this book! I've already renewed it 3 times from our city library, and now must return it. But I hope to soon own a copy! Here's how I made these cards: I basically scribbled on watercolor paper with a gold leafing pen, then water colored at random over it. Metallic pen resists the watercolor, and makes the paper look cool. Then, on some of the cards I stamped, before putting on the main subject. On some, I glued on magazine pictures, on some others I did a packing tape lift from pictures. I put the tape over a picture, and then soaked the paper off, rubbing when necessary. This leaves a wonderful see-through picture which worked perfectly for this project. It was my idea to use the tape for this project, and it worked out nicely. The lighted lamp post light is my favorite! Soon, these will all be sent off to my ATC swap partners!

Other projects in the works right now are my "Paperbag Scrapbook Swap", and I'm working on another collage for my daughter! I may also be hosting a Summer Sun Give-Away! Stay tuned for that! I'm thinking of picking up something in Michaels for that!

Thanks for looking at all these pictures today!

Collage Received from Amy!!! Thank you SO Much!!!

What an exciting day yesterday was! I got a box on my doorstep from Amy, clearly labeled "Bits 'n Pieces Swap"! I rounded my daughter up, and we slowly and excitedly opened the box....to this BEAUTIFUL Shabby Chic Collage!!! Amy, thank you so VERY much for making this gorgeous piece of art for me!!! I just oohed and awed, and smiled and smiled as I unwrapped the pink tissue and lifted out Amy's masterpiece. It was exactly what I was secretly hoping for - a Shabby Chic themed piece that I could hang in my bedroom! Amy worked very hard crafting this for me, and I just LOVE it! Please notice the upper right hand corner, where the old fashioned lady has a saying on her forehead "Spoil Me"! Also, under her is a gentle pink Mary Engelbreit posie! (And you know how I love Mary Engelbreit!) Isn't the sparkly "S" magnificent? It's all gorgeous, but what about the button that looks like a glass drawer pull? On a silverware box? So glorious! I love the old black & white picture, too! I'm very lucky, and very happy to have received this lovely piece of art that I'll treasure forever. You may click on the picture for a close-up to admire each square easier!

Collage I made for Amy

My Swap partner, Amy, has received her collage from me so I can safely post the picture here! I bravely signed up for Jenny's "Bits & Pieces" collage swap and actually managed to put together a collage that Amy seems to like! It was seriously such fun to make; however it was also a challenge, in many ways: the mathematics of dividing a 9" X 12" board up, my paint choice - this board was painted 6 times with several different colors til I was happy with the results. Not to mention the backgrounds, collage items, and how to handle that flaky glitter!

This swap was Jenny's idea (from Everyday is a Holiday). She set the guidelines for the swap: Purchase a 9" X 12" canvas, either stretched over a wooden frame or flat. Divide it into 12 sections, and decorate it with "what's left on your craft table" or whatever your heart desires! I had to do quite a bit of experimenting with all elements of this, but sure enjoyed it all. You can see more completed collages, and sneak peaks, here at Jenny's Flickr site.

Name the Wildflower!

Here's my little wildflower plant! I need help, though! I don't know what it is! Erica went to a wedding this spring, and was given some wildflower seeds to plant as a take-home favor. The blooms are so lovely, but what is it?

Another guessing game! Guess who had glitter on their face last night? There's so much talk in Blog-land about glitter, glitter, glitter, and I find it incredibly messy. So, I did some experiments with glitter at the kitchen table yesterday. Does it stick better with glue, decoupage, varnish, and how about several layers of it? Anyway, that was fun and I have some useful results for my crafting! Hours later, I went to Nathan's room to talk to him...and his face was shimmery! He has glitter on his face! Boy, did I laugh! He's not a likely person to be using glitter in our house! Nathan, my recent college graduated son. Here's what his loving and encouraging Aunt Heidi sent him. I just love the award ribbon with his picture!!!! (How do you DO those ribbon fans, Heidi?) She also made him this special card with a picture of him at about age 10 and his school initials, SJSU. On the back of the card was more flattering encouragement illustrated by Mary Engelbreit: "If you have knowledge let others light their candles by it." There sure is a lot of sharing of knowledge here in various Blogs. So many share pictures, skills, techniques, patterns, recipes, and other "How-To-s. Nathan is sorting through his room, cleaning out the school-day books and supplies. He bought a large storage cabinet for the garage to help store things! Brilliant! (All those college $$ are really paying off!)

Sneak Peek!!!

Just for fun, I'm posting some Sneak-Peeks of my finished collage for Jenny's "bits & pieces" collage swap! This was just a blast to make! It was hard, though, hard to stop working on it once I began. Each participant in the swap has their own collaging ideas and scraps; but remember: we were paired with someone who listed their favorite colors and themes! More about my partner, Amy, next week! For now, here are the sneak peeks!

This post, with these sneak-peeks, might seem a little odd! Our day to mail our creations is Monday, June 25th. I want Amy to be very surprised when she opens my box! After that, I can post pictures of my collage to my heart's delight!

Swaps and More Swaps!!!

Well, we're back to normal here temperature wise. My next door neighbor, who's lived here over 50 years, broke down and installed an air-conditioner last week! It was that toasty! I think some of my stickers even melted together!

First, here's what my sweet swap partner, Briana, sent me for the Mary Engelbreit swap. She just touched my heart, the way she hunted high and low for Mary Engelbreit items in her area. She mentioned in her letter shopping at 9 different stores for me, finding only these 2 items in no other patterns! She thoughtfully hand made me thiese 2 pretty flower magnets! I love them! Briana, I collect bookmarks, and just love this one! And I've never seen this magnet, it's fantastic! Thank you very much!!! (Should I send you some gas money? Ha!)

I'm in Jenny's "Bits & Pieces" Collage Swap!!! It's supposed to be a "what's left on your craft table" collage. My, my, my this is fun! Just for fun, and to practice, I made a collage for Erica! (But, hint, hint, hint: just maybe I'll use some of these same ideas for you, Amy! If you read this!) I'm in the middle of making my swap collage, the real collage. Next week I'll post a picture of it. The collage is on a 9" by 12" piece of stretched canvas!!! I've never bought a piece of canvas before, much less paint and collage on it - what a thrill! I felt so proud, standing in line at Michael's with a piece of canvas...I'm what you could call "artistically challenged". But boy oh boy, I do love to collage! I'm really looking forward to pictures of what the other 65 people in this swap make!

Lastly, are my 6 ATCs for the "Watercolor on Baby Wipe" swap. I just love this background technique! Try it! It's like making your own colorful fabric.

Well, off I go to go dream up some more ideas for little 3" collage squares!

My Grandmother's Swing

Oh, how I loved to go to Grandma's house! That pure Grandma love and attention was so precious to me. Here's a picture I thought I'd lost!!! Since I recently located it I'm posting it to show how happy I am to have found it. It's one of my favorite pictures from childhood, age 4 in this picture. My Grandma wore her apron all the time around the house. I know she was busy fixing supper or something for me and my big family, 6 at that time. Yet, she still had time for me, to come outside and push me on her swing. My Grandma lived for 8 more years after this picture, and I still miss her. Can you see their big garden behind us? I remember it being full of raspberries and corn. Everytime I see a raspberry I think of my Grandma.

Swaps!

Here are some pictures of swaps I'm in! First, are pictures of ATCs I'm sending to my 3 swap partners, then are pictures of my Mary Engelbreit swap! Ever since I signed up for the "Found on a Walk" swap I haven't been the same! While out walking my eyes scan the ground for little shiny or interesting things, or even a fallen rose. Each picture is a group of cards for a partner. I was supposed to send each person 2 cards, but actually sent 4 cards to each since I had so much fun collecting and creating for this swap.

I found lots of neat stuff. I didn't use it all, but here's a list of things I found and used for these cards: a rose, a geranium, little colored dots, little felt dots, bird egg shell, jewels, cardboard, glass, puzzle pieces, fun foam dragon fly, and a Make-A-Bear pin.

I'm getting my Mary Engelbreit swap packed up for my partner, too! Lots of thanks goes to my sister Heidi for sending me 3 nice pieces of Mary Engelbreit fabric, and one of her lovely tags! I also included some ME Cherry Tea, a teapot stamp, a small journal, stickers and other goodies! What fun this was!

Nathan's Graduation from SJSU

Here's a bunch of pictures taken at Nathan's college graduation. It was just such a joyful and happy time! The significance of graduation this year, is that 2007 is the 150th anniversary of San Jose State University! So, it's a pretty cool year to be graduating. Another tidbit is that both my husband and I graduated from SJSU, and now Nathan! And in a few more years, Erica will graduate! I'm very proud of you Nathan. I know it was a long time to go to school and you are very dedicated. You should be proud of yourself!!!!