paper banner

So here is the love banner I finished this am!!  I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out this time!  Just did a bit more embellishing.At first I was gonna add the x and the o like above but then decided to eliminate it altogether.

 Love the little birds on it! 

layering is one of my favo things to do especially with altered chipboard pieces.  

Some pretty flourishes my favo stamps to use!!  on each heart and some distressing! 

Finished and ready to take to the shop and hang er up!! 

Have a blessed day!! the very last day of  2011~~ 

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

playing with paper day

Hey yall!!  So are ya goin out and celebrating tomorrow night?  WE are doing exactly what we love to do and what we have done for the past several years!!! ..............stayin home with the boys!!  since neither one of us can stay up til midnight anyway it works great to lay around at home.  And I am just not feeling quite back to myself yet still have a stinkin nasty cold but alot better than last week I tell ya!! 
I worked in my studio today, finished painting the large standing sign that is gonna sit on the sidwalk infront of the shop and also a small one to put above the door.  Plus I also finished up a paper banner that spells out handmades and I so ooooooooooo love it!!

I had left over large chipboard letters from a previous project and it just worked out that I had all but one for this banner.  I had to cut a couple apart to make a second a but you really cant tell. 

Vintage seam binding in white and brown are gathered on the bottom edge of each tag, oh and the backround is just old pages from a book added to file folder tags. 

I also added some silver glass glitter along the edges of tags for some paper "bling" ya know, ;) wink wink!!  buttons and some little white flowers I inked with pink. 

  When I put it up at shop I will take a pic of it all together, it is pouring outside so I couldnt hang it on the outside anywhere. 

This is another banner I am putting together but not sure if I am happy with the embellishments so glad I didnt glue anything yet.  My Minds Eye lost and found papers are just my favo favo!!  I bought a bunch of them last week and the 3 oversized tags have one sheet on them.  The back side of this cardstock page is a nice dark red and white polka dot so I cut the hearts from them, have a couple more hearts to put on this.  Edges have been inked with distressing ink by Tim Holtz (another favo favo product) and K&CO paper pack with various ephemera and images.  I am gonna finish this up later. 

it doesnt show too good but the swirls and letters have red glitter on them. 

love the flourishes and also the little red sparkly banner

After inking the edges with antiquing gel I outlined the cut outs in black then also stamped various images on with chestnut brown. 

so that was all I got done today, and plan on a productive weekend.  Painting and playing with more papers!! GLORIOUS!!!  

So hope yall have a very safe and happy new years!! 2012 here we come!! 

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

a shop pic, breads & more

Hey yall!!!

I'MMMMMM back with pics!! 

Here is a built in cabinet at the shop, my primitive signs look awesome in it. 

Here's one of the stamped warsher necklaces I made.  This one was for my stepdaughter Brandi.  They were a bit plain so I added some thin wire and wrapped each warsher and added some tiny glass beads. 

 Family was a gift to my mother inlaw.  Each block has pattered paper which is distressed with Tim Holtz distressing inks and sanded a bit.  I stamped a flourish on each letter with brown ink and then attached the chipboard brown letters to each.  I forgot to take a pic of the way you display this.  A black iron towel hanger and some black seam binding to tie the letters on the rod.  I did drill 2 holes in each top of the blocks and tied the binding on each one.

Red Velvet cupcakes for market last week, cream cheese filling. 

Cinnasugar topped pumpkin spice muffins

Cinnamon struesle swirled babka loaves. 

coconut macaroons~ yummy!!

So that is it for today.   I hopefully will be painting my bookcase tomorrow!! and I will have 2 signs finished for yall to see for the shop.

HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT!!

Hugs

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

HEY

Hey there everyone!!!  I hope yall had a most Blessed Christmas!!  I missed xmas with the families.  Been sick since before xmas,  I finally went to the doctor and got 3 prescriptions so should be back to norm soon!! I hope!!  allergy infection, bronchitis and inner ear infection, now hubby knows why I have been talking so loud!  well when I can talk there has been quite a few days I couldnt really talk my throat was so sore and raspy! 
   Things are progressing along with the shop in fact my mom and  I went to a couple of thrift stores yesterday and bought a great large bookcase cabinet that I am gonna refinish in  ivory then distressed or I have a gorgeous light blue that I have used to paint my signs for infront of the shop that would look great distressed.  I actually am leaning towards the blue.  Will share before and after pics when we go pick it up, w had her car and could not fit it in there so will go pick up tomorrow.  It is old and has 2 drawers on the bottom that actually work fine too.  My hubby can raise it up on maybe old spindle legs we have that way it is off the ground a bit and more eye level.   I am hoping to find a couple more but well need to get one done at a time ya know!!  I get myself too bogged down with too many projects.  Right now I am finishing up some stamped metal warsher necklaces that I started before xmas.  They turned out very cool, madeone for my hubby's grandma, my sis in law and my step daughter and they liked em alot.  Hubby had a set of metal stamp letters so I just hammered away!!  I did some everyday words on them like dream, hope, faith, create, inspire etc. and then wrapped with thin silver wire and added some tiny glass beads.  Will share those later today, I haven had a chance to get the pics off camera yet. 
The boys had a great xmas Santapaws was good to them since they have been such little angels all year they got lots of new toys, bones, treats, and of cource balls!! The love tennis balls, and stuffed animals!! Barney and Bruno carry stuffed animals all over the house and my goodness we got to bed at night with at least 4 usually more stuffed animals in bed with us. We have to go to bed with Barneys Tiger and a favo duck he has and Bruno cannot go to bed without Word Bird and a red bear he loves!!  LOL they are some crazy kids!!  But I love em sooooo much!!! 
Well I better get bundled up and head outside to do chores, looking forward to the brisk fresh air, it is only 27 outside right now but no snow!! they were saying we were getting a couple of inches!! Just flurries yesterday and then gone again!!  ok by me even though yall know how much I do LOVE SNOW!! I am just not in the mood for it right now! ??? probably in jan!
Have a great day will be back tonight to share pics!!
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

cookies and show pics

Here's the first of my cookie trays done.

white vanilla almond coated very vanilla pizelles!! yummy yummy!!

A few boxes done up of asst cookies!

This one was for an order from a very special sweet customer!! 

some of my booth

festive looking entryway goodness I soooo love the floor!! 

AND here's JOE!! who did a most wonderful job singing for us!! HE ROCKS!! 

Katina brought these so handy and useful market baskets!! so many uses for these they are big too!!

Joan brought some great ceramics!! look at those buttons!!  gorgeous

Laura does an amazing job with hypertufa for outside.  She has made me several several heart shaped stones for our little furry angels we have lost! 

All natural body scrubs and bath salts

Dawn brought some wonderful jewelry!

Awesome cat/dog clay ornies!!  Sally did a wonderful job on all of them!

this chicken pitcher is soooooooooo me!! Made by the very talented Dawn Soltysiak from Knenu Studio

more of Dawn's great pieces!!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

shop news!~

HEY YALL!!   My mom and I went today to pay and sign lease and we got the KEYS~!! to our new shop!!  Eagle st. handmades will be the name!!  Now I have to see if I can get an ad in the paper for next week and also print up some flyers and paint a sign for out front on the sidewalk and oh yeah start moving things in!  YEE HAW!!! 
Too much to do but I will get it done!!  I would like to be open on tues!! I feel a sudden burst of high energy and excitment!!  (maybe it was the 2 mickey d's hot mochas I have had this afternoon and  about 4 cups of coffee?? but who's counting anyway!) 
I am goin to do the shop as an artists/crafters co-op and have a small montly booth fee to see how things go.  Tomorrow I will take some display things there and also some of my primitives at least I have alot of things made up already to fill the shop!! 
So I will post pics tonight from my main computer of todays baking!! I did up some gingersnap shortbread, my peanut butter cookie pies, cranberry lemon pecan cookies, kolachky dough to be baked next week and filled with red raspberry or apricot preserves, chocolate mint cookies, and more shortbread trees.   And we got snow!! *** and some sleet but it sure is pretty and  I love goin out this time of evening to do chores in the  freshly fallen snow, there is such a sense of peacefullness and tranquility outside.  LOVE IT!!
Be back soon!! 
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

COOKIES!! COOKIES!!

WHAT A DAY!!  I left early this am and got home late tonight!!  what was I doing all day??? BAKING COOKIES!! and more cookies!! LOL and it was all kinds of fun!!
Here's a list from today:
Gingersnap triangles
Shortbread trees
Mocha Wands
Butter Spritz wreaths
my newest concoction!!  Shortbread pinwheels filled with peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!!!  souds great huh! they are yummy and I am not a peanut butter fan!! only grilled peanut butter n raspberry jelly sandwiches!!!  My grandma Rose used to make em for me and they were sooooo good.  U know I make em for me once in a while when I have to have one but never tastes as good as my dear Grandmas!  Miss ya Grandma!!
back to the list:
Cherry filled linzer tart
Cranberry lemon pecan cookies

Here's the pinwheel cookies

butter cookie rounds

pinwheels sliced up

Nekked chess pie

There's the lemon buttermilk filling.  This is actually a really old recipe of my Grandmas and I honestly dont remember her making it too often.  It is a southern specialty and a delish one too!

I also got done some cheddar pepper topped foccacia loaves,  Butternut squash soup, vegetarian white bean chili,  creamy tater soup,

the shortbread trees complete with green sugar and colored non pariels. 

gingersnap triangles that need to be dipped in chocolate yet

These are fun to do you use a large star tip and pipe them out into strips with a little extra at the ends. 

mocha wands that get 1/2 dipped in melted milk chocolate

so what a day!!  I am beat and goin to bed early.  Tomorrow is our artisans market and also my last show of the season.  I am sad but also glad as this has been wayyy too much extra work.   Still working on opening a shop just waiting for a liability insurance policy and I can open!!

Hope yall have a great night!!  Oh I gotta get a skate done for an order for tomorrow!! 

Good night yall!!

HUGS!!

Darlene 

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~