what's on your workdesk? Wednesday . . .

(looking for the blog candy?--you can find it HERE!)


I just finished off this pair of tags, adding the
embellishments at the top--okay, it's true, I am
completely hooked on using those lightbulb shaped
safety pins (mine are from Altered Pages).


All of these stamps are from the Relish Reading plate
by Rogue Redhead Designs.


The tags fit in the pockets of this little book--rats, I forgot to
take a pic of the book with the tags pulled!!!

Either way, I'm linking this up with the Reader's Art Quest at the
brand new blogozine, Unruly Paper Arts--Inky Backgrounds. If you
haven't had the opportunity to check it out, consider this your
formal invitation to join in on the fun! Plus, these thoughtful
looking vintage images, they're perfect for the Favorite Vintage
Style challenge at Frilly and Funkie. A little frilly, a little funkie, yes?

So what's on my workdesk? (THANK YOU to the wonderful Julia,
for graciously hosting this every week.)

Not a whole lot of anything right now, in my tiny cleaned off
spot, and guess what? Everything has migrated back to the art
room from the living room, so there's only ONE workdesk.

To celebrate the occasion, and several others, I'm having
a little giveaway with some blog candy--you can find it HERE!

:)

it's been a pretty great spring . . . giveaway time!!!

(Update on the giveaway--Snowflake was the winner, thank you to all who joined in!)

It's been a great spring, and I'm sooooo thankful!
Here are some of the things I'm grateful for:

Beautiful "How Does Your Garden Grow?" atcs, from

Liz, Lorraine, and Jan


Gina, Marion, and Becky.

Do you ever sign up for blog candy? I do, but really do NOT
expect to win. EVER. So here's my funny stories . . .

On the SAME DAY, I heard from Kimberly of artjoystuff,
who had this lovely hanging waiting for me:


(so beautiful!)

AND Kim (aka Tabbby) of Tabby's Place, who had a truly
inspiring lot of art journal things, including this book,

all boxed up and ready to send my way. There was tons of
wonderful goodies, but honestly, the daughter made off with
about half of them, and I'm going to have to pry them out of
her hot little hands if I want to use some of them! The lesson
there is: don't open packages around your teen daughter.

Next story: So like a day or two later, I hear from Lynn
of Trash to Treasure Art, telling me I'd won HER blog candy,
too!! Here's the best part--I didn't even realize it was a
"get some candy" post I was commenting on, I was just, you
know, leaving a comment like always! Isn't that funny?
She sent this amazing pendant,

which she made using the metal etching technique she wrote
a tutorial for HERE.

These are just the icing on my fine spring cake, which
includes my fourth year designing at Altered Pages, plus
some delightful new doings with the brilliant Blockheads.

Add to that a guest design time at Rogue Redhead Designs,
and a spot in the brand NEW blogozine Unruly Paper Arts--and don't
forget about all my awesome bloggy friends, you all are the best!
Can you see why I'm feeling so grateful?

You may know I've been doing some spring cleaning, so time
for a destash giveaway:

A rag doll to art up, a few stamps, lots of ribbon and fibers,
several tins/boxes to alter, some vintage stuff, a box of atc
making stuff--new stuff, old stuff, fun stuff!

You know, the usual--be a follower (new is fine, yes), and leave
a comment. Just one comment is enough, but if you put this in your
sidebar, let me know, and we'll put your name in the hat twice, yes?
We'll wrap things up the 25th.

:)

Word Art Wednesday and WOYWW!

This is the last layout in the atc sized, hand bound mini book.

Many thanks to Word Art Wednesday Challenge for the invitation
to guest design with them! If you have never played along, the only
requirement is your art includes an inspirational quote or text.


And here's my what's on your workdesk Wednesday, which you
may be able to tell is less scary than last week, as I was inspired to
do a little spring cleaning. And actually, I'm still at it, so it may
look even better than this by now! Don't worry, it won't stay that
way . . .

The "desk" in the living room is actually a bit worse, as things are
making their way back to their proper places:


Along with the spring cleaning, I'm packing up a box of goodies
to share with you, so watch out--a giveaway is in the works!

spring fling rings

Do you ever stamp on fabric?


That adorable ladybug, she's from the Years Ago set at Blockheads.

While I have small collection of fabric ink pads, I really like
the idea of collecting a bunch of the VersaCraft fabric markers
to have on hand--you know, just color/stamp the image, and fill in.
The colors seem to get a little darker when you heat set them, and
they actually do last through lots of washings. This I found out
after making a set of baby onesies, which got washed many, many times!

The ring base is a big button, "threaded" with some wire twisted into
a ring.


That little starbird is sweet, and perfect for this
wearable art challenge . . .

You can see our wild plum tree blooming in the back, it's full
of bees buzzing like mad. That's the girl child's hand, she was
out working in her garden. Which is where I should be, too!

the best butter

Ever get a last minute idea for something? Alice In Wonderland
has always been a favorite of mine, so even when I don't get
to play at The Altered Alice, I lurk.



But today, I play! If I'd thought of this sooner, it would be more
elaborate, but the clock's a tickin' on this challenge!
(I'll skip the obvious "I'm late" allusion . . .)

Let's play here, too:
Guylou's Inimitability--monochromatic
Art Impressions--monochromatic


Thank you, Lynne!

:)

100 Years of Us

It's time for a look back at Gingersnap Creations, and for
this challenge, it's a peek into the last century. As some
of you already know, I have lots of family photos and
information, so for this round, you probably aren't surprised
to find I've taken a look back at:


100 Years of Us.

I didn't go all the way back to 1900, but am starting
at 1908, when my Grandma Matdeline was born.



Each twinchie book represents a decade, and is made of
book pages, black cardstock cover, hymnal page spine,
and embellished with one of the tiny squares from Retro
Cafe Art's Assorted Collage Squares page.



All of these books fit into a canning jar that had
been my Grandma's. Not even close to being finished with
the "guts" of the books, but am looking forward to filling
them with memories.

One randomly drawn winner from this challenge (no, not me,
I can't play) will receive a lovely package from Retro Cafe
Arts, who is generously sponsoring this month at Gingersnap
Creations. AND for this last month of challenges, YOU pick
the Ginger Gems, so even if you've never had the chance to
join in, now is the time!

And have you tried Word Art Wednesday? How about What's On
Your Workdesk Wednesday? One post down, keep scrolling . . .
if you dare, it's pretty scary in there!

:)

next-to-last layout! and a scary WOYWW . . .

(click photo to enlarge)

This is almost the end of the atc sized, hand bound mini book. The
Word Art Wednesday Challenge this week uses this quote from
1 Corinthians, but as always, you are invited to use any
inspirational text in your art to join in the challenge.

There isn't much left peeking through, but the background behind
the text is a background stamp from Rogue Redhead Designs, from
the Relish Reading plate. Collage images from Retro Cafe Arts,
the pages themselves constructed of black cardstock and various
ephemera.


NOW FOR THE SCARY STUFF. NOT for the faint of heart.

I've always wanted to play along with what's on your workdesk
Wednesday, but honestly, my workdesk is always a mess, so I
thought I'd wait until it was somewhat tidier.

That day, I now realize, may never come. So, here in all its
geological layers of art supplies, is my "real" workdesk, complete
with all the childrens' stuff, too:



And here is the tray table my workdest migrates to in the
winter months:


To be fair, this one is stacked a little higher than usual, since
the girl child was tidying up the living room, and put all the
straying supplies here.

Will there be a spring cleaning? Maybe . . . now, if you'll
pardon me, instead of putting things away, I think I'll go look
at what's on YOUR workdesk--that sounds WAY more fun!

:)

book in progress . . .

The base is finished, and here is the first part
of the first layout:



Honeycomb/bee and flowers from the Honey Bees
set, but that single bee looking guy, he's from the Years Ago
set, and both are available at Blockheads.



More to come with this one.

Did you notice this in my sidebar?

width="159" height="189" align="left" border="0">
(If you can tell me how to fix that thing with the html
showing, um, yes, please, not sure what's up with that.)

Here's a few more details from the store site:
"Simply add our Blog Candy Banner to your side bar for a chance to win the free stamp of the week. The stamp changes each Sunday evening after winners are selected. For now we want you to have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of winning. So if we get 20 participants we'll select 2 names winners and if there are 30, we'll select 3."
(Well, okay, you need to add your name to the linky list on the blog page,
too. Blockheads has great products, but their psychic abilities aren't so hot.)

Pretty sweet, right? I'm pretty sure you can see how much I
rubber stamp love my Blockheads stamps . . .

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, the weather here
is fabulous. Spring is definitely in the air!
:)

BAD BUNNY, daffodils, and twinchies

Sometimes I see a collage image, and it "says" something
to me, know what I mean?


BAD BUNNY.

This naughty little sneakthief bunny is from Altered Pages;
the background text and sweet bird's nest are both available
at Blockheads. Yes, yes, I keep using that bird's nest,
but you know how it is when you get a new stamp--well, it's
usually one of two ways with me. Either I can't put it down,
or it sits on the shelf for a year collecting dust . . .

Our daffodils are blooming!



There are different colors, and more are ready to bloom.


Received my twinchies from the Gingersnap Creations
Art Exchange, and they are fabulous:

"Glamour Post" from Peggy G, "Brothers" from Electra,
and "Girly girls" from Maria.


The pretty turquoise one is from Debi R., "Isabel"
from Sabrina, and "Such Happiness" from Gerri.

Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you for hostessing this
wonderful swap, Ali, and for all the awesome twinchies,
Gingersnaps!

Intense love . . .

. . . does not measure, it just gives.
--Mother Teresa



The Word Art Wednesday Challenge this week uses this quote
from Mother Teresa, but, as always, you are invited to use any
inspirational text in your art to join in the challenge, and any type
of artwork is welcome.

This is another layout from the atc sized, hand bound mini book.
It uses some vintage music, book pages, and an image from Altered
Pages, plus tulle, crayons, and distress inks. Well, yes, and the
stars, and that light blue is acrylic paint.

Aren't those little angels sweet? The layout pic will enlarge for you
if you click on it, just in case you'd like a better look . . . there
were some lovely creations and a sweet prize for last week's challenge;
I hope you get the chance to play along this week!


Look what came in the mail--this sweet ray of Florida sunshine from
Diane, who makes the cutest wristlets--what a fun thing for someone
in Missouri to receive on a rainy day! Thank you, Diane!