Great outdoors on the brain!

Yikes its been awhile. Our Christmas was good. Hectic as usual. I can't wait till things quite down and get back to normal. I have been making lots of tags. Everything is nature inspired. I am planning a trip to go to a cabin in the woods. I do not know where yet. I just know I REALLY need to find some time to get back to nature. I tend to go a little (ok a lot) crazy if I don't get my nature fix ever so often.

8 Things

I was tagged by Sherry for a MeMe! So here goes.

8 Things I Am Passionate About:

Books
Making wonderful memories
Water
Paper
Creativity
Saving the Environment
Educating Women
Nature

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

Go see Venice with my soul mate
Camp in Alaska with my soul mate
See my kids grown and happy
Move to the country
Explore a jungle
Write a book
Take a trip in a train
Find peace with myself

8 Things I Say Often: (Told ya I was a smart a**)

You have got to be kidding!
Oh my gosh!
Wash your hands.
I just can’t believe it!
Are you serious?
That is so cute!
I LOVE it!
Yay right.
8 Books I've Read Recently: (I put in a few magazines)
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
Vintage Christmas Crafts
Gabriel’s Angel-Nora Roberts
The Secret
Eat, Pray, Love
Next-Michael crichton (awful book)
Country Living Magazine
Somerset Studio Magazine
8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends:
Love the outdoors
Like to create
(for women) Be a little bit Tomboy
Believes there is more to life than “stuff”
Has a good heart
Loves food!
Open
Spiritual

And The Winner Is..................

Winner of the drawing for the goodies below is Sherry from espirt * d ' art! Just e-mail me your address at lavenderwolf7@yahoo.com and I will ship your goodies! In case you are wondering how I selected a winner. I attached a number to each person who commented, put it on slips of paper and let my hubby draw a name. Yes, old fashioned but it still works. I just want to thank everyone who commented. I just loved hearing from everyone. Remember I plan to do more give aways in the future. As for this week...I am STARTING my Christmas shopping! Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Oh and I want to thank Christina for mentioning me in her blog Diary of girl Friday. She has a wonderful blog and has a list of great hand made gifts from ETSY.

Christmas Fun in Blog Land

First of all thank you SO much to all your comments! It was wonderful to hear from friends and meet some bloggers I did not know. I will be visiting every ones blog soon!

Next, I have been having so much fun on two awesome blogs. These two talented people are having a 12 days of Christmas tutorial.

The first one is Teresa McFayden. For a fee you can get all sorts of tip, ideas, and techniques. Plus she is just so darn cute and funny. I made the collages in the pics from some of her techniques.

The next one is Tim Holtz ! He makes the coolest products EVER! He is having a 12 days of Christmas tag tutorial. And are they gorgeous! He is also having a daily give away.

Thank you all again for all your sweet, wonderful comments!

P.s. the tags pictured are sample of a bunch of new sets in my ETSY shop.

My first Blog give away!

All you have to do is add a comment on any post I make from today until Sunday at 12 midnight Central time. I will have a drawing for the winner and announce it on Monday December 10Th. You will get all the goodies you see plus some surprise extras! So fun! I have plans for more in the future too! Have a great day!

Snow, snow, fa la la

We had the best Thanksgiving EVER! Because it snowed! A lot! We rarely get snow here and even more rare is snow you can play in.(sticky snow) We all had so much fun playing in it. My 8 yr old son said this while we were driving "look mom a real snow man made of snow and everything" I said"what did you think they were made of?"(yes I am a bit of a smart ass.) He said "I have only seen plastic ones!" It was very cute. So I have totally been in a Christmas mood. I have been crafting and decorating. So much fun! My ETSY store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5141120 is very full so stop by for Christmas goodies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for? I am thankful that I have a big family. (I am the oldest of 5) I am thankful I have such a sweet, kind son. I am thankful I have a wonderfully supportive husband. I am thankful that my family and I are healthy. I am thankful for all the cool online friends I have made this year! I hope everyone has a safe, fun, fattening holiday!

Featured Artist on Aged Vintage Papier

http://agedvintagepapier.blogspot.com/2007/11/featured-artist-brandywine-boutique.html


Yay! I am the featured artist of the week. If you have not checked out this fabulous web site you must. There is so many talented artist with oodles of eye candy. It is put together by the sweet and talented Amy. She has a glamorous etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5022234 Razz Pizazz Boutique. (how cute is that name?!) I'm very happy to be a part of Aged Vintage Papier.

Booth Update

I'm getting my booth ready for Christmas. Here are some pics. I have a long way to go still. I do like how my cards in the metal feed trough turned out. I added moss and pine cones to it and put the cards on top. Very woodsy.

Make Everyday Magic

Make everyday magic is the slogan of my ETSY shop and how I try to live. Today I really felt that. I had one of my "really good" art days. Ideas just came pouring out. I am falling in love with banners, garlands, and hangy things. Most of the time you would see these types of things at parties or special events. I like to make them for your every day life. I would hope someone would put them up in there home and be reminded how special everyday can be, not just for certain occasions. I really love making banners for new babies of friends and family. So I hope you look for a little magic in your day today!

Christmas in the Woods

I have always wanted to spend Christmas in a cabin in the woods. I have not got the chance yet so I thought I would create something that had that feeling to it. So I introduce my Christmas in the woods collection. You can find it on ETSY. I will adding more as we get closer to Christmas.

More Natural Museum Tags

I have lots more Natural Museum Type tags to sell. I am even starting a natural museum Christmas collection. It will have birds, deer, bears, pine trees, and more! Right now I have cards and tags. I just have not listed them yet. I really love the way they turned out. What kind of natural antique looking items would you like to see?

Meet My Studio Mascot

I have been so busy lately preparing for Christmas sales that I thought I would take a break and have some fun. I added a hat and sign to this little guy. The sign says "believe" to remind me to believe in myself. I will be adding new items to my Etsy store. It was in the high 80s to day!!!! I cant wait for cool weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be 30 degrees cooler than today. I cant wait!

Its Snowing Glitter at Brandywine Boutique

Glitter, glitter everywhere. I have gotten a really good start on my Christmas creating. I am making cones, dangles or ornaments, cards, and lot so fun vintage style stuff. I am digging in to my stash and using my "good stuff". The items pictured are going to a local show here. You can read about it here. http://stokeschicantiques.blogspot.com/ I will also be adding some to my ETSY store!

Ditzy and Deep

Can you really be both? Well, I guess I am. My "break" from ETSY lasted two days. I should of known. I just cant stay away. It fuels my passion which keeps me breathing. I woke this morning and ideas just poured out of me. Thank goodness. I was starting to wonder where my muse had gone off to. I know what I am going to concoct for Christmas. I want to use a buttery cream color, black, and silver glitter. With lots of vintage post cards and birds. I cant wait! Is it too early to start on Christmas yet? Also the whole "cabinet of curiosities and natural museum" idea will NOT leave my head. I don't think any thing has ever tugged at my soul as much.

Ohh yay the ditsy part. Ok, I have been searching high and low for the little numbers you find on antique prints. They are very distinct and I REALLY wanted them for my work. I looked for stamps, stickers, rub ons, stencils, you name it. Then (after days of searching) I realized its from an antique type writer. And I HAVE one that works. I have never used it. Well ,duh! So, I feel like a very deep artsy type person but, sometimes I am pretty dang goofy. My husband would agree.

Have a great day!

New Collection

The collection I have titled Cabinet of Curiosity's and Natural Museum series is coming along nicely. I REALLY love the way my newest tag set came out. You can see it in my ETSY shop. I will be adding much more to this collection. I have acquired a FABULOUS collection of vintage and antique prints. I actually cried I was so excited when saw all the pretty birds and eggs and NEST! I still do not know why but I am truly obsessed with eggs and nest. Speaking of nest. I think I am going to take a little etsy break. I really need to do some nesting in my home and yard. I also have a REALLY big project I am working on. Me. I am changing a lot about myself and I want to go on a sorda spiritual journey. I really want to learn to live life with full passion and pleasure. If you have read "eat, pray, love" You will know what I am talking about. And if you havent read it you really should.

Books and Roses

I just wanted to thank everyone who wished me a happy anniversary. We went to a very romantic Italian restaurant and went camping. My hubby got me the most gorgeous roses ever! And they smell Divine. I also wanted to mention this book. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Oprah said it was life changing. It really truly is.

Today is my 3 year Anniversary

Wow three years. Its seems like longer. I have been reminiscing this morning so I will take you with me. I DID NOT want a wedding. I wanted to get married on a beach somewhere. But, my dear husband wanted a wedding with tuxes and white dress and all that. So I gave in. And I am really glad I did. We invited only 6o or so people. We found the perfect place. His grandmothers back yard. She has a small forest of persimmon trees. There was a trail in the Forest that lead to a small meadow with a huge pear tree in the center. We had an arch full of lights in the entry to the forest. The guest, and later wedding party were escorted though the trail which was full of hanging candles and lights. Then you step out into the meadow to see a setting sun. The air was perfect. Just a little crisp. There were butterflies flying all around us. They were attracted to the pears from the pear tree. I could not have been more magical or fun. Oh, gosh now I am getting teary. Time to stop. lol

Have a great day!!!