simply me

i would love to say that this weeks inspiration wednesday came from some deep emotional place, but the truth is i just started playing with the items on my table and this happened.

i happened to have eckhart tolle's "the power of now" out on my table, randomly opened it and tore out 3 pages. the quote text is simple cut from the lines that spoke to me.

the best part is that while i was creating this, my girls came in and wanted to do an inspiration wednesday page. i will post theirs later today, but payton was sitting next to me and plainly sais, " and she grew up to be an artist". now that was deep!

so that had to be part of the page.

here's the how to in my inspiration journal this week.

• painted the page green with a wash of white acrylic paint
• "dressed" the dressform in lace, flowers and ribbon and inked the base brown.
• adhered book text strips
• stamped
• added rub on frame
• wrote paytons quote and inked the edges

and speaking of inspiration, look what bill and i did

what did you create this week?
what do we need to see...leave a post and share your inspirations!

+++ congratulations Peggy O'Farrow you win the Paperbag Studios giveaway today. Email me peggy ([email protected]) and we will get your special goodie bag out to you!

And a huge thank you to Roben-Marie for being so generous!

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Paperbag Studios was formed seven years ago when mixed media artist Roben-Marie Smith began designing rubber art stamps to reflect her distinct altered art voice. Last year Roben-Marie expanded Paperbag Studio designs into the fast growing digital scrapbooking community offering unique digital kits and elements for both memory keeping and altered visual journals.  In addition to designing product, she shares her love of mixed media art, handmade journals and scrapbooking through her inspiring blog, “Every Life Has a Story”, offering video tutorials, step by step how-to's and give-aways.

Due to popular demand, Roben-Marie has created the Art Goods Shop where her fans and blog followers can purchase her artwork and photography, handmade journals, gift items and project/kit supplies. Her art journals and handmade books have been featured in Somerset Studio; Cloth, Paper, Scissors; Artful Blogging; Somerest Memories; Stamper’s Sampler, several books and the 2010 Melange calendar.  After years of sharing her design style in a retreat classroom setting, she is now excitedly creating her first online class (The Urban Journal) available soon!To celebrate the quickly expanding community of Paperbag Studios,

Roben-Marie is offering a very special giveaway to the winner.  She will be putting together a grab bag, including two mounted rubber stamps, a $10 digi coupon, vintage wallpaper and other artsy goodies from the Art Goods Shop!

Simply leave a comment today by 10 PM (EST) to be entered to win!! 

Welcome to the world of Roben-Marie Smith and Paperbag Studios.

we do...

++ WHOO HOO!! Congratulations Michelle you are today's Dixie Pieces giveaway winner! email me with your address and we will get that pre-released october kit right out to you!

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friday was perfect, the sun was out, our closest friends were there and our family got married.

after 10 year, 3 children, a multitude of ups & downs you realize so much has changed. renewing our vows and our commitment and our love was so poignant to where bill and i are in our relationship. these vows meant so much more than the first vows because we now know what being married means and what it takes to truly "love, honor and cherish" each other as partners, parents, friends and lovers.

we got married as a family. payton was my maid of honor, cole the best man and mckenna, well she wanted to be the photographer (i think maid of honor sounded too girlie for her to be comfortable with)

(this is such not a flattering photo of bill and i but payton and cole's faces say it all)

our family is by no means perfect, but on this day, it was.

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win it before you can buy it! be the first one to receive Dixie Pieces' october monthly kits. their kits usually sell out upon release so this is a real treat!

it could be yours today by doing the following!

1. leave your comment today before 10 PM (EST) sharing what what the delicious blues and oranges might inspire you to make.
   
3. To double your chances tweet, blog or post on your facebook about this giveaway and come back and leave another comment.
4. Winner will be announced on the blog monday night

ALSO BOOKMARK THIS: Dixie Pieces is offering its first online class beginning in mid-October.  Tammy Malone put together some beautiful harvest-themed glitter projects that we'll enjoy creating for our fall-themed decorations and greetings.  And best of all, the class is free to all!  To register, go to the DixiePieces store and use coupon code 69a560 to "purchase" the class.

scrapbooking, my old friend...i missed you!

i always feels like home when i take out a fresh, new piece of 12 x 12 paper (or circle) and begin to arrange photos and "stuff" onto the page to create a layout. 

i am in love with the shabby/vintage look of the Kenner Road monthly kits, so when they asked me to design with September's feature kit, it was a no brainer...HELL YES!

(warning, i am all about my flower punch lately...it's a happy place! aw, who am i kidding i love all my paper punches!)

the color palette totally spoke to me: blues, yellows and greens with a splash of red.

you get some really cool stamps in the kit too and they stamped perfectly..the number (No:) and "today" stamp look like they were pre-printed on there.

so cute and so much fun!

have an awesome weekend and i just have to share a fun little secret...i am getting married today! ok well remarried. today is bill and my 10 year wedding anniversary and we and the kids are planning on going to the park for a little exchange (re-exchange) of vows. we each bought the other new bands with special inscriptions that we have kept secret from each other, awww, so flipping romantic i can't stand it...i love you honey! here is to 100 more! (that is if we live to 130+)

++ congratulations Jenell Stock you win today's Blue Moon Scrapbooking giveaway! Email me ([email protected]) with your address and we will get your new fabric scrapbooking goodies out to you asap!

"Wow we are excited - the first Donna Downey Giveaway for BlueMoonScrapbooking.com The New Donna Downey collection from Prima is a Big hit in our store. Come on over to our BlueBlog we post daily with lots of pictures and giveaways. With the crisp fall weather arriving check out our latest scrapbooking kit, Shining Madonna, reflecting a beautiful vintage feel with some Graphic 45, 7gypsies and many more tantalizing products. Thanks for stopping in!"

leave your comment today and receive a happy prize box from blue moon with my new fabric scrapbooking goodies inside!

1. leave your comment today before 10 PM (EST) sharing what plans you have already started envisioning for creating for the holidays.
2. To double your chances tweet, blog or post on your facebook about this giveaway and come back and leave another comment.
3. Winner will be announced on the blog tonight.

i love giveaway days!

check back tomorrow because i scrapbooked using the new kenner road kits!

this weeks inspiration wednesday is about pieces. that life's pictures are all about the small little pieces that come together to create the fabric of life's journey. taking a second look at things often reveals that the outcomes are really the result of a million decisions made, people that have come into your life and experiences had.

running the 1/2 marathon, was about more than running for 2 and a 1/2 hours. it was about setting goals, making changes, my family, support, meeting people, inspirations and disappointments. it was not a simple as just do it. it was about all the factors that make up the journey of life. the moments that touch and change. the outcome represents all of these pieces creating a patchwork that contributes to the grand scheme.

what are the pieces that make up the fabric of your life. the daily pieces of the puzzle that may go unnoticed?

here's the how to in my inspiration journal this week.

• cut 1" pices of 3 different green fabrics, 2 different blue fabrics and canvas
• glued them down to the page with aleene's tacky glue
• used water to twist green cardstock into stems (if you have taken my bloom workshop you already know this trick)
• punched book text flowers and mounted on pop dots
• tied jute through buttons and glue dotted to flower centers
• adhered ribbon leaves (may arts)
• bent wire to spell "you" and stitched it to the page with brown thread
• adhered text strip quote and inkedthe text and edges with antique linen distress ink

what did you create this week?
what do we need to see...leave a post and share your inspirations!

+++ yesterday's giveaway winner is...Cristina Tronco!! email me ([email protected]) and we will get your elle's studio goodies out to you asap!

Elle’s Studio is a small scrapbooking company that loves to create journaling spots and fun embellishing tags. They started in 2007 when Elle couldn’t find the things she was looking for at her local scrapbook store. Since she has a Graphic Design background she went to the computer to create her own. They have their own website now, but got there start on etsy after encouragement from family and friends.

They just launched their brand new Halloween and Christmas designs and have expanded their line with 4 x 4 coordinating papers! There’s something for everyone: advent numbers that would be perfect for a December Daily, gift tags, clear stamps, calendars and MORE

i just ordered these little calendars, and number set. i love them!

Also, make sure you bookmark their blog. They have a huge celebration planned for World Card Making Day on Oct. 3rd and everyone is welcome to join in on the fun! They also let me in on a little secret… they’re going to be putting together a design team soon! Make sure you’re on their mailing list to be the first to know the details!

elle is so awesome that she is going to give away one complete set of her new holiday line to a lucky blog reader today. i just got this set in the mail the other day and let me assure you, you're going to want in on this one!

1. leave your comment today before 10 PM (EST) sharing what plans you have already started envisioning for creating for the holidays.
2. To double your chances tweet, blog or post on your facebook about this giveaway and come back and leave another comment.
3. Winner will be announced on the blog tonight.

thank you elle's studio!!
 

i did it! i ran a half marathon!

view live finish results

it's finally here! ALL NEW PRODUCTS!

yesterday at about 6:30 pm 24 boxes arrived from Prima! my new line of Fabric scrapbooking is finally here!

after the stress of running this weekend i will be thrilled to get back home to boxes of it and play. i have a sweater, skirt and tons of fabric ideas for my new iron-ons floating around in my head...can you just see the possibilities of wearable art here! i figured while i am on mile 8 or 9 this weekend i can distract myself with all ideas for projects i want to make!

also created quilted words! they are my happy place cause i am gonna glue and or sew these bad boys to paper, fabric, my kids t shirts, you name it!

and yes FINALLY the canvas refill pages, YEAH! and yes both for the new 6x6 album as well as the 8x8 one.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL...

we made 50 of the hexagon art quilt kits because of all the requests we got at cha and the blog. we even included all 3 of the Unity stamps as a super bonus! SAY WHAT? yes all 3!

so here you go once they are gone they are all gone! get yours now.

keep me in your prayers on sunday as i complete my goal of 13.1 miles and maybe i will see some of you at Memory lane PA tonight and tomorrow before the race!!

dreams = 38

that's right,
38 years today.

this year is not about iconic shoes, although i did enjoy the shoes last year.

this year is about dreams,
about direction,
and about living my hearts passion.

today bill and i are going to go a few miles up the road to Cornelius
not so exciting a place generally,
but there is a building there i have always dreamed about making a studio.
i have always imagined having a studio
where i could hold art workshops
have gallery style art displayed
invite artists in
sell boutique pieces, art and project kits
a place to learn, create and free your self artistically.

now i have no money to actually execute this dream of buying a building, but today i hope to put it on the map and make it a real possibility.

launching the dream out into the universe
and seeing where it takes me.

and you never know, i said i never wanted to vacuum again and look what i got...

meet my new roomba!

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on a total side note: if you are in the charlotte area today and maybe chocolate is in your dreams (how could it not be, ha).

stop by the the Southern Women’s Show in Charlotte
Kandi will be there selling candy, just makes me giggle every time i say it.

 

she's a Chocolatier! check it out!

tomorrow new products on the website!, stay tuned!