Artchix Inchie Challenge

These are the "Inchies" I made for Helga's current blog challenge over at ArtChix Studio. I used the Mini Paper Dolls, Brilliant Gothic Arches, Sepia Gothic Arches & Tell Me A Story collage sheets. I wanted to say some crazy, off the wall things so when I needed additional wording that "Tell Me A Story" didn't have, then I'd take random words from this old book I have. Now that they have that sheet of "Mini Paper Dolls", that is going to be perfect for all these small, little collage challenges.

If you haven't been over to ArtChix Studio in a while, please go check out their new website that they have been working so long and hard on. And on top of everything else, they have a bunch of new goodies over there, some of which are perfect for the up and coming Valentines Day. And if anything else, if you need a real healthy dose of inspiration, that is definitely the place. http://www.artchixstudio.com

Alpha Stamps Mask Swap

If you get a chance, go over to www.alphastamps.com and see all the great products she has. Leslie is always so great about carrying products that you can't necessarily find everywhere else. Plus, the Alpha Stamps Yahoo Group is hosting a fun Venice/Carnival Mini Masquerade style mask swap. And one of the fun things is that the masks are ATC size. Even if you don't participate, check out the samples of masks the Design Team made. Really, really beautiful masks!!

I'm still working on this darn love book or what I think I'm going to call "When a Man Loves a Woman". The above are some of the tags and little pieces I've made to put into the book. This project has turned into a much bigger project than I thought it would be initially. I've been neglecting my blog and everything else, but that's something I want to discuss with my wonderful followers.

I was thinking about how I managed my time last year and how I was always having to fall out of a swap here or there because I didn't finish, or I wanted to submit to the magazine and it turned out I lost track of time. I was also involved in a wonderful project with Carol Murphy and I ended up dragging my feet (unintentionally of course) on that which caused her problems. I feel horrible about that.

But what I am realizing is that (and I'm quite sure you can relate) I sit down at the computer with the simple task of checking my e-mail and next thing I know I'm getting up to go to the kitchen or something and it's been three hours. You know how when you check your

e-mail there might be a link to look at something, so you go on over and then that leads you to another site and then another. The other thing I have a bad habit of doing is I get e-mails about an on-line company having a sale or they have new products and I'll go over to the site and spend hours looking around. And that's even when I know I have no money to spend. I get distracted looking at blogs, I mean come on......... there are endless amounts of these amazing blogs with amazing artwork. That one you can do for hours on end. And of course my own blog is very important to me and I'm extremely proud of the fact that I have 50 followers who think enough of me to follow me. They are a priority to me, that's for sure.

But what I'm trying to say is that I lose so much time, and so much of it is wasted time, dicking around (excuse me) on the Internet. That is time I could have spent working on my artwork, discovering a new technique or something, teaching a class, anything other than all of these wasted hours on-line.

It's just extremely important to me this year to prioritize and not get so caught up when I'm

on-line. If I'm checking e-mail I need to work out a system to look for the important e-mails, answer them and move on. Stay away from sites who want to sell me more of the products I already have an abundance of. (That's one of the problems, I love products.) And then work on my blog and at least post every five days if possible. Like I said that is definitely a priority to me, no question. But one thing I do want to say to the people who are kind enough to follow my blog and who are genuinely interested in my artwork. Please keep in mind that if I haven't been on my blog for a bit and I haven't posted, the only other reason would be because of my arthritis and I'm having a bad week or something.

So thanks for listening to me babble about my Internet addiction. Until next time. Hugs & Kisses!!

"100" Posts!!!

First of all, I'm so excited, this is my 100th post, yeah!!! I tell ya what, about a year ago I didn't ever think I'd get this blog up and running. And honestly if it wasn't for all the help I got from Trudi over at http://www.twodressesstudio.blogspot.com , this blog would have never happened. She helped me so much, I am forever in her debt. She answered all my stupid questions and just went above and beyond, and what's even crazier is that she didn't even really know me back then. Luckily for me, she has since become a wonderful "on-line" friend.

Aside from celebrating my 100th post I also wanted to mention to everyone to go over to http://www.craftyindividuals.com/ when you get a chance. They have just added some new stamps and a new book of great ephemera. If you've never been to their site before it's well worth the trip, especially if you are a stamper. But honestly, even if you are not a stamper they have the best acetates, glossy sheets and booklets of ephemera and just overall great images. The two owners Jean and Malcolm are probably two of the nicest people I've ever come across. Check them out!

If you get a chance, go over to croppinparadise.com and check out their blog. They are having some great giveaways this week with CHA going on. I know a lot of the sites are having giveaways because of CHA. I both love and hate it when the CHA shows are going on because I get so excited about new products and seeing them and trying to get my hands on them. But then I also hate it because I never have the money to get all the new products that I want and there is always so many great new products that it's overwhelming for me.

I'm currently working on a "Love Book" and these are a couple of the tags I made for it. I'm incorporating a lot of sewing for this particular project. It was suppose to be for the next "Sew Somerset" issue but I don't think I'm going to get it in there in time, we'll see. This is really the first project I've ever done with "Love" being the central theme. The reason I don't usually do artwork &/or projects around that particular topic is because I do not have a significant other in my life and therefore I do not have that kind of love in my life right now. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that you don't have to be in love to work on a "Love" project. Maybe just maybe (fingers crossed) it will bring me some good luck in that area. But the bottom line is love is a beautiful thing and fortunately I have plenty of family/friend love in my life. Love makes the world go around right?