Turkey and Art were both done!

It's actually been a productive week for me! I DID do Thanksgiving. 14 people showed up and everyone seemed to have a good time and enough to eat. We have so much to be thankful for! Above is my quilt square that I mailed to Monica for Part Two of the Pink Artist Project. It seems a little plain now that I see it like this....but I'm not much of an art quilter - although I would LOVE to be! And......I made my mini banners for another swap and will mail those tomorrow! Yeah me!!!

And......below are Christmas inchies that I also made on Saturday! I didn't get dressed all day. It was great!! Ohhh....and I made this ornament below to put on top of my sister's birthday package... her birthday was last Wednesday! I've made about 24 of these in the last few days! It's a Charlotte Lyons pattern.

More pictures next post!

Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, I'm as ready as I can get. Gotta blow dry my hair though.

Life after Silver Bella

I HAD to get my act together and make ornaments for a swap that's due next week. So above is a tiny peek at them. I also had to clean off the dining room table as Thanksgiving dinner is at my house Thursday!!! So Silver Bella had to be put away. Thought you'd like a glimpse. The canvas bag is my Prada Schmada from Charlotte Lyons' class. I still have to add more embellishments. And I need to make mini banners for another swap. My DH says I've over-committed myself. Really? I should never have agreed to do Thanksgiving.

You should go look at Debby Shuh's blog. Also check out Suzanne Duda's !

Inspiration comes in small ways....

BFF Virginia framed some of her inchies. Isn't this awesome.

I'm not finished posting about Silver Bella...but I must show the inspired artwork below. When 4 of us Bellas....Virginia, Peggy, Debe and I boarded the flight from Omaha back to Houston we were on a glitter high and wished we had make and takes for all the passengers... but since we didn't, one of them made some art on a "barf bag" for us. Here it is:

We, of course, had no scissors. And he used bubble gum for adhesive. We were so impressed. We later learned that his wife scrapbooks - so he does have some insight. Here it is.... Mr. ashearer @ ...well I won't put his email.... Thank you!!

Strains of Silver Bella

Above is Virginia's and my "shrine" that we made in our hotel room. Each night we would place our newly made treasures on top of the tv in the living room.....yes, we had a suite...everyone did.

Of course, nothing is finished. Virginia didn't like the bottle she brought for her Pam Garrison project, so her's is blank. Mine still needs more stuff. But I haven't had time to work on any of my Silver Bella stuff yet. Security searched my carry-on bag twice trying to find what the "man" was seeing that was "suspicious" in my bag. We finally found my Pam Garrison house project - with the bottle wrapped in wire!!! Too funny. I need to warn her that those should not be in carry-on luggage! The two houses on the left were made by the woman sitting next to me and I can't remember her name.... my little beach bungalow is to the right! My pink cottage...that is still not quite finished is shown in a better picture on Charlotte Lyon's blog. I have a pewter watch and you can see it where I'm holding mine at an angle for her to photograph. Go take a look.

I will try and get more Silver Bella projects and goodies photographed soon. I know.....it's been one of those weeks.....had my every ten year colonoscopy Wednesday. Just wait...you'll be old one day, too.

Silver Bella Hangover!

I made it back! It was awesome.... as expected. First stop after checking into the hotel..... that's Debe and Virginia!

Here we are........... Pam and I!!!! You know...I never realize how tall I am until I go to something like this where we are taking lots of pictures. I'm 5'9". Pam is TINY!!! But she was a wonderful teacher... just like everyone says ... she is so giving of herself and of her STUFF! Loved the project. I want to add more to mine now that I'm home with my stash. I will definitely be making more of these. Silver Bella was wonderful - better than last year. I will ALWAYS seek out Embassy Suites! Great hotel!

Above is a photo of "my table" in the Rebecca Sower class - Prayer Collage.... which I must say was my favorite project. I loved every class I took this year. Sitting is Carol Wingert...link below...and Pam Keravouri. Behind them are Debe Leon, Rebecca Sower, Virginia, Natalie Hansen and me.

This is the centerpiece for the tables at the Mary Englebreit luncheon. You need to visit Julia's blog for a good read regarding the luncheon. I didn't get a good photo of ME. She was wonderful and the things Julia says on her blog were the things I would write about her talk. I didn't order a poster to be signed.... I had ordered two of her newer books from Amazon and hauled them to Omaha for her to sign. I did not fit into the "signing category" and the line was a mile long and I had a class right after the luncheon....so I just hauled my books back home. But that was okay. Cari Craft did the centerpieces!

My BFF Virginia went with me to Silver Bella this year!!!! We had a great time. She hates having her picture made....so she did suffer a great deal at SB - but I figure it was a growth experience for her. ha! Here she is with Peggy who is also from Houston. Peggy flew home on our flight.....which was quite fun. Remind me to tell you about that. I have an art upload made by a passenger who was inspired by us. hee hee! Maybe I'll get that scanned tomorrow.

Here is beautiful Natalea!!! We met at SB last year and hung out together then and we got to be together a lot this year, too. She is a wonderful girl with a good head on her shoulders. I could be her mother... in fact I'm older than her mother. But she seems to put up with me.

Vendor night this year had a Prom theme. These are the girls that wore prom dresses!

Here is a lovely shot of Charlotte Lyons and me!!! I am a huge fan of Charlotte's and was so excited to get into two of her classes this year!

Virginia thought we should be lookin a bit livelier....so we were trying to laugh for her!

The first class I had on Thursday was Charlotte Lyons' "Prada Schmada". Here is Julia as referenced above with her bag! Julia lives in the Houston area also....we flew out on the same prop plane. ha!

We were all obsessed with getting our grommets in our bags. Here is Julia after she pounded her's in!

Here is Carol Wingert whose blog I've read for a few years and it was after probably an hour in the class when I realized who she was!!! And this is Debe from Houston that we hung out with all weekend, too. She flew there and back with us on the Silver Bella Express!

This is Shannon Johnsonand me and Virginia! Shannon is on Christian Paper Artists yahoo group with Virginia and I. She's from the Dallas area and we were so excited to get to finally meet! She is so sweet. Isn't it great when you meet your online friends and they are so great - just like you knew they would be.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Suzanne Duda and I together. We emailed, talked on the phone and text'd while we were going to and at Round Top/Warrenton in October and never found each other there..... so we finally got to meet at Silver Bella. She's great.... very sweet, friendly and down to earth!

This picture looks artistic.... ha..... obviously it didn't focus well. Maybe Natalea will have a better version.

Here is Janey and I!!!! She's from Chicago and she, Natalea and Sharon hung out with me last year. Sharon didn't come this year. We missed you, Sharon!!!!

Tomorrow I'll upload photos of projects and other goodies!

Silver Bella, here I come!

Be back Sunday with lots to show you!

Closed-toe Shoes...oh my!

I am going to have to wear CLOSED-TOE shoes. It might S N O W while I'm in OmAha. At least that's what it says at weather.com! One of my greatest inspirations in paper arts is Pam Garrison. She is why I went to Silver Bella last year and I was unable to get in any of her classes then. But......this year......I am in her class on Friday!!!! At 11:30 a.m. CST I'll be gluing with Pam and I will be happy. Go look at her blog and you will see what I'm talkin about!

Silver Bella is Almost Here!

Some of the "bellas" are giving "sneak peeks" on their blogs.... but here's a flat out look at my atc's for one of the swaps. Unless you are in that swap, you probably won't know which one it is. But these were all due to our hostess on November 1 and we will get our atc books at Silver Bella! I think they will be awesome and I'll show you when I get back! So above are 6 samples from the 20 something I had to make. They are each different - why of course!

I leave next Thursday!!

Finishing up quilt show...

I bought Jill Schwartz earrings! Virginia bought a pin!

I also bought a shadowbox. Oh you KNOW we went there!! They needed a bigger booth!

Wish I had gotten her name in the picture...love her glasses. She says she keeps just replacing the lenses.

I take a picture of their booth every year...last year I think I posted the teal or light blue table.

Don't you love this!!!

I have a picture of Lesley Riley...but she was looking down at stuff. We often see her there..she always teaches. I have a great shot I took of her the first time we met her. I sent it to her and I think it's still on her web site. We also saw Jenny Doh off and on all day long...but I was always seeing her back by the time I got the camera out.

We go to Silver Bella - NEXT week!!!!

Quilt Festival '08 more pictures!

more pictures tomorrow...and more words!