Alice Tags

I've been working on my tags
for the
Alice In Wonderland Swap
that Karla is hosting.


I've made four.


I think I like the mushroom with
the white rabbit the best, so far.

These are such fun to make!

Two more to go.

I have Alice on the brain.

This past week at work

while eating lunch

I said,

"Alice starts next week."

Blank stares from everyone
at the lunch table.

Finally a coworker pipes up with,
"Did we hire someone new?
Is her name Alice?"

I know.

I live in my own little world.

But they know me here.

If you go chasing rabbits...

I love all things Alice. The new Tim Burton movie with Johnny Depp starts March 5th and I can't wait.


I submitted this white rabbit to Stampington for their March/April Alice issue of Somerset Studio. This  issue was waiting for me in my mailbox today.  My white rabbit is not in it.  That's a little disappointing, but WOWSA!  Wait until you see what did make it!  It's a fabulous treat full of wonderful, gorgeous art.  As soon as it hits the newsstands you'll want to pick it up.  


Don't be late!

Bottle art

Susan and I took a class at Becky's making these bottles last night.

We learned how to solder.  Something I'd been wanting to learn for years now!

I learned a lot.

Soldering guns can be hot!

Not all soldering guns are created equal.  Some are better than others.

Too much flux is a bad thing.

Working too fast is a bad thing.  Take your time.

2 cracked bottles and some encaustic wax later - VIOLA!

Bottles in my bathroom that I jazzed up with Photoshop Elements.  I think this makes it look more like a painting.

One of my favorite hand painted bottles.

I did not paint this.  I wish I could've.

Some day when I'm old and grey, I'll learn to paint.

Ummm...

Maybe not.

Until then, there's always Photoshop or Piknik!

A Simple Box

A good friend of mine's daughter just had her baby boy. I wrapped up several little presents and tucked them into this box I decorated.

It's always nice to have a good sturdy box to keep all of the cards and brand new baby memorabilia in.

I cut up a few vintage cards, added some clip art, ribbons, buttons and flowers.  I wanted to keep it simple.

Welcome to the world baby Luke!

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Here are a couple of very pretty valentines I received for my birthday last October.

I edited the photos a wee bit in Photoshop.















I was looking for my box of old valentines this past week.  I stumbled upon these.  They are not what I was looking for but boy oh boy, did they bring back memories.  You see, when I was a kid in the 60's these are the valentines we used to give out at school.  I would take my homemade valentine box chuck full of these treasures home.  I'd dump them out on the floor underneath the piano (don't ask why I liked to sit underneath the piano, I have NO idea) and sort them out.  Then I'd play with them like paper dolls.  Making up stories and outfitting the pretty girl valentines with dresses I made out of paper, stickers and bits of lace lifted from my mom's sewing basket.  These aren't as beautiful as the old Victorian valentines but they sure are full of sweet little memories.

I would've had these two get married.

The happy couple would have a dog...

and a cat.



And...


a....

hippo???!?

Of course, they would have traveled by rocket.

Well - it WAS the 60's!

And I had a very active imagination.

They would eat off of fine china that they purchased from IKEA.  Oh.  Wait.   There was no IKEA in Missouri in the 1960's.

Well, anyway this one's just darn cute. Kind of reminds me of Beauty and the Beast.  That is,  if you like anthropomorphic cupcakes and dishes.


Have a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Make lots of memories.

I feel the earth move under my feet.

Yup.  4.3 on the Richter scale.  Right here in Illinois.  Shook the house and woke us straight up out of bed at 4:00 a.m!

You'd think since I've been up that long I'd have accomplished a lot more than this pretty lame blog post, wouldn't you?

A Brand New Minnie!

She's all finished.

"I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes.  Know where I'm going and I know what to do.  I tidied up my point of view.  I got a NEW ATTITUDE."

Apologies to Patti LaBelle.

Minnie has new linen pantaloons made from a vintage hankie.

Her new little dress has vintage buttons.

And - her new chapeau.

I've blackened up her eyes.   I realize that sounds just awful but they did need a paint job.

The mouse is BACK IN TOWN!
She looks pretty darn good for 23, don't you think?

Minnie's Chapeau

Here's Minnie's new hat.  I started with one of those ball tea strainers.  It comes in two pieces.  I covered half of it in pink felt and hot glued it down.  Then I cut a long strip of pink felt, rolled it in two and glued it around the edge.  Martha Stewart's tip of having cold ice water whilst using my glue gun would've been a real good idea to think about BEFORE I did this.  just saying.....

                    The hat before adding the flower.

                            Minnie (still naked as a jaybird) with her new chapeau!

This is a better picture of the flower on her hat.  I blatantly borrowed this felt flower look from Princess Lasertron.  Let us just make perfectly clear that I will never be a threat to her empire.  I can't imagine making a ton of these for a wedding bouquet!  Painstaking work and whatever she gets paid, it's not enough!

Now, on to her dress and bloomers.

Stay tuned!