Altered Holiday Tin

I did a tutorial on how to make one of these tins on the Joli Paquet blog today! There are some super yummy recipes and really cute craft tutorials over there! Plenty of fun stuff to keep you busy this Thanksgiving holiday. (Like most of us are not already busy)lol If you don't have your own stuff to make this tin I will be offering kits in my shop soon. I have lots of new kits and goodies to list as soon as I have time. I'm aiming for this weekend.

My Muse

So in the last few months I have been working and creating non stop. I have been on a glitter, holiday high! There were just not enough hours to create all the things I saw in my head. But I certainly tried. My hubby teased that I had become a workaholic. But behind the teasing I think he missed me. Awww. I tried to slow down but just couldn't. So the inevitable happened, I got burned out. So in the last few days I have scrubbed our home, cooked, read (Twilight-OMG what a book!), had lots of family time and took long baths in the middle of the day! And now feeling mentally refreshed I'm back on track. I thought about WHY this happens. I know it happens to many artist. I was given some great advice to "not fight it, and just accept the strange flow of an artist". I know my muse will always come back and the ideas will pour into my head again. So I do those "put off till later" things during my burnout spells.And most important I keep a journal of my ideas. I'm starting to think maybe muses are REAL! You know like an guardian angel or a spirit guide. And maybe we share them with other people. That's why creativity comes in spurts. And why we seem to have a few artist "soul sisters". Well, its a fun thought! You never know. So if I haven't been to your blog or e-mailed you back I'm sorry. Its ALL my muses fault. I will be restocking my trees and adding new kits soon to my shop.

P.s. Thanks for all the tree love (tree orders in my shop) I'm thrilled to see others love trees as much as me!

Thanks!

I just want to thank everyone who has been following the Joli Paquet blog! We had a wonderful turnout with our kits yesterday. But the fun is not over yet! You will still find tips, tutorials, and recipes through the month. Today you can find a VERY yummy recipe for truffles. And if you would like to know how to make the snowman in the above picture there is a tutorial for that too! I still have a few kits available here. Have a wonderful weekend!

The Kits Are Coming! The Kits Are Coming!

Yep that's right! Tomorrow is the Joli Paquet kit day! Everyone will have their kits for sale. I will have two. A Winter Wonderland -Chipboard Tag Kit and Sweet Dreams- Embellish a Stocking Kit (stocking included). I will be selling them in my SHOP. You can check the Joli Paquet blog to see where everyone else will be selling their kits. How fun would it be to give yourself a crafting day! Just get a couple of kits, coffee, sweets, and spend the day creating! I am also stocking my shop with LOTS of trees and glittery goodies. I think I feel the Holiday spirit sneaking in!

An Enchanted Forest

An Enchanted Forest is coming to Brandywine Boutique soon.

Don't forget the Joli Paquet kits will be on sale this Friday.

Tis The Season For Glitter & Flock

Hop on over to the Joli Paquet Blog for tips on using flock and glitter!

This Sweet Little Boy......

is the apple of my eye. And a darn good chicken wrangler too! Yesterday my hubby hollered "the chickens are out of the garden!" So kiddos job is to herd them back into the garden. It was very warm so he was wearing shorts but everyone knows you HAVE to herd chickens in cowboy boots. So he threw them on and went to wrangle chickens. I thought he looked cute/silly in shorts and boots so I took photos.

They grow up so fast. Recently he "gave me" some new rules for when we are in front of his friends:

No picking knots out of his shoe laces

No picking lint of his clothes

And Absolutely no smoothing his hair down.

Well humph! Thank goodness hugs are ok! Moms hug those little boys tight while they will still let you:)

Note: that chicken is Buttercup. The cute little yellow puff ball that tried to eat my freckles. Shes all grown up!

Christmas Past

I just thought I would share with you one of my holiday themes this year. I call it Christmas Past. You will find tarnished silver, sepia tones, antique photos, old papers, and silver glitter. A few of the Christmas Past items have already made it into my shop. I especially like the tarnished tinsel. I'm using it on everything!

Show and Tell Sunday

Its show and tell Sunday again! Hosted by Cindy this week. You can find a list of participants here. This weeks theme is Vintage collection. The collection I'm showing today is not vintage but I think it fits in perfect with the vintage style. My favorite collection is real nest!

The one with the real eggs is my favorite. My sweet husband recently brought it home. He found it in some equipment that had tipped over. Apparently the poor little birds had built the nest and layed their eggs only to have their access cut off from it. I like to think it was early enough in the season for them to build another one. Bitter sweet. Oh how I love this nest. Its just so perfect. The white puffs are raw cotton. It even has snake skin in it and horse hair. Truly a Texas nest! And off course the sweet sweet tiny eggs. My husband was the cutest thing when he brought it home. He came in very carefully balancing a box in his hand, the very gently set in on the table. He said" I have something for you!" He slowly and carefully opened the box. I thought it must be some kind of live animal the way he was acting! Then I saw it and jump up and down and gave him the biggest hug ever! He really is a wonderful catch. Lucky me:)

The nest in the white cage was givin to me by my father in law. It really soft and made of grass. I thought it was so sweet of him to bring it to me.

Enjoy your blog visits and have a wonderful Sunday! I can't wait to see all the wonderful collections!

Happy November!!

Can you believe its November already!! I think this month is going to be the busiest ever for me. The Joli Paquet Blog has officially started today. You HAVE to go see Lori's snowman tutorial. I can't wait to try it! I thought I would give you just a little look at one of the kits I will be offering in mid November. Don't forget if you make any thing using the Joli Paquet tutorials or kits you can upload your pictures to flickr group.

Happy Halloween!

I didn't dress up, but I did dress Millie (my mannequin) up. She got to try on lots of pretties. I haven't told her yet she doesn't get to keep them because they are going in my Vintage market!

In other BIG BIG news: The Jolie Paquet Blog is OPEN! And its starting with a give away! I can not wait to see all the kits and tutorials. Its going to be so much fun!

Dreams Come True

When I started this Artful adventure a year and a half ago I had no idea how much it would change my life. I felt I was a lost soul searching for my place and my path. When this "new" life came to me I KNEW it was the right path for me to take. I knew this with all my heart because everything just fell into place. My goals and dreams were met. I still can't believe it but I am in the Winter issue of Artful Blogging. To see my words, name, and photos on the pages of an amazing magazine is proof to me I am doing what I was meant to do. I am absolutely blown away that I would be included with such a group of wonderful women. I am so thankful to my "blogging community" and to Stampington & Company who never ceases to amazing me with all their gorgeous publications.

Little Peek

As promised here is a little peek of what I have been working on this week. I CAN'T wait to list everything in my shop!!! I have been having so much fun. I really lucked our at a flea market this past weekend.

Cupcake Torture!

Me: Don't touch those cupcakes until I blog about them!!!!

Family: Awww Man!

Refresh and Renew

Wasn't yesterdays show and tell fun! I loved seeing everyone's art bits!

The pretty roses in the above pictures were from my sweet hubby for our anniversary. I just adore the faded look they have.

Right now my plate is so very full. I really want everything I do to be my very best. So I am closing my shop for a week. It will be closed this Friday 10/24 and reopen 11/01. This will give me a week to make lots of new items that have been floating around in my head, finish my Joli Paquet kits, list all those vintage goodies, and some other things that I can't tell you about yet;)

I plan on adding holiday supplies, new tag kits, lots of handmade ornaments, trees, wreathes, post cards, and so much more! I am also changing my packaging. Phew! I hope I can get this all done! I will still be blogging (I hope) and if anyone really needs something from my shop they can e-mail me.

Oh and I almost forgot! Im having a pretty good sale this week. My Halloween stuff is marked down a lot.

Show and Tell

Its show and tell Sunday again! This weeks theme is Art Bits. Ya know all those little baubles, and pieces of all kinds you just love to hoard away. Little treasures! I adore finding extra special ways to store them. And I LOVE to color coordinate them too. When you display them by theme or color I think they make great inspiration. So grab some coffee or tea and go visiting! Your sure to find beauty in the small things. For a list of blogs participating go to Little Pink Studio.

Just Stuff

I had to tell you about my new local friend Mary's new etsy shop. She is just the sweetest gal and is really talented. You can visit her shop HERE.

In other news I will be excitedly participating in this Sundays Show and Tell. This weeks theme is Vintage Bits. Everyone is showing there extra special vintage bits and what nots and how they store them. You can read about it on Cerri's blog.

I have been slaving away on my Joli Paquet kits. I can't wait to show you!

I thought I would show you this spooky picture of these little girls. I just KNOW they had to be witches. So cute!