My failure... :(

As I do this post I feel like hanging my head in shame. I absolutely HATE to let my friends down. It really bothers me, but I fear that is what I have done. When Lisa asked me to participate in her challenge last month, I said “Absolutely!” I thought it sounded like fun, and I wanted to support my friend. Unfortunately, I bit off more than I could chew...
Work, and the party took up much more of my time than I had expected. Then to top it all off, my husband and I are doing a few renovations on the house. We have to take advantage of every weekend we can when he is not working. (He works A LOT.)

I started working on the challenge on Friday morning. As you can see the studio is trashed! I had a glass mosaic project going on the table, so I set up a card table to work from.

I had a design in mind and I went to work, thinking it would be ready to go for today's reveal. Well, you know the saying “ use it or lose it?”... I think I lost it. Having not actually created anything with my hands for several months(other than the mosaic pot), I think my muse has gone on vacation! I did the inside, and then the outside. And when I was finished, I hated it. I kept working on it, and I kept failing to achieve my vision. So late Friday afternoon, I ripped it all apart. I thought I would work on it over the weekend, but Friday night hubby came home and we started tearing apart the office to scrape ceilings Saturday morning.



So, to make a long story short, I really dropped the ball. I was unable to complete my project on time.


All I have to show you is the box, covered in lace and beeswax. I wanted it to be wonderful. I wanted to support my friend. I couldn’t achieve either of those things. I’m so sorry Lisa!

So, I learned a valuable lesson from this. DO NOT wait until the last minute to work on something that is important to you to finish on time. I'm going to go stand myself in the corner now. :(

To go see all the inspired and wonderful works of art created by the other girls participating in Lisa's challenge, go visit her at Tarnished and Tattered.

Update!! 2:45pm. Well after many wonderful emails, scolding me for being to hard on myself, I just want to say thanks. It was an abnormally emotional morning for me, and I guess I just let it all spill without realizing that I do need to cut myself some slack. Thank you all for giving me a gentle slap, a good laugh, and permission to come out of the corner! I feel much better now.
XO,

Are you pooped yet???

Wow! You guys have been amazing party animals!!! Some of you have even emailed me to let me know you have finished visiting everyone on the list!!! Personally I need more than 3 hours of sleep a night so it's taking me a little bit longer! I just finished the first third of the list! WooHoo! I have seen some incredible studios so far and can't wait to see the rest! I know you guys are anxious to hear the winners of the prizes, but if you could be patient for a week or so, I hope to get through all the guests before I make the announcements . As I am visiting everyone I am copying and pasting the direct links over to their permanent home, so even if it takes you a couple of months to visit everyone, they will all be available. Thank you to everyone who has left me a sweet comment so far. You guys are the best!!! Next stop.... H-R!

Welcome to the Party!!!

Wow, I can't believe it's finally here! It seems like I have doing preparations for months!! Wait... I have!!! First, I would like to welcome everyone who is participating in the party, and everyone else, who weren't able to show us their spaces, but who are still visiting all the amazing and talented women who are gathered here. It has been so much fun putting together this event.
The final count for our party list is over 450!!! (Last year it was 150) I can't wait to come and visit each and every one of you! It's probably going to take me 2 months to reach you all, so I will be a busy girl for a while! I will be putting a direct link to each of the party guests post on the Where Bloggers Create blog. ( I will put a link to it on my blog as soon as it is ready.) So have no fear, the list will be available all year. Now, let me show you around my space!


This is the view you see when you first walk in the room. All the furniture you see comes from either Goodwill, or Garage Sales. I love to take used pieces and paint them up and give them a whole new life.


When my son moved out of this room a few years ago, I was thrilled to take it over! We recently tore out the old carpet and replaced it with a laminate wood floor from IKEA. I love it, and the price was sooo right!

These spools of lace DO get used... but not if I can help it!!! I like the way they look in the apothecary jars!

These are just a couple of little projects I have on display.

The cabinet on the wall came from IKEA as well. It used to be red. Before I put it together, I painted all the pieces white and ...


decoupaged the inside with book pages, postcards, and letters. It's the perfect size to hold all my little do-dads.

An old ceiling tin makes a great bulletin board.

An old dining room table makes a great desk.

The bookcase used to be brown. It is just a basic "put it together yourself" piece that you can get anywhere. I decoupaged music sheets this time to the back and stapled lace across the front of each shelf.

I can't help myself. Ivy goes just about anywhere!!!

I love wooden cigar boxes for storing odds and ends.

I love making shadowboxes filled with vintage images.

Would you like to take a peak inside some of my drawers!???? I was lucky enough to grab a HUGE bag of old lace at a recent church rummage sale for the bargain price of $3.00.

I collect stuff wherever I find it...including the hardware store!

Paper Tools

Inks, chalks, stain and glazes

I love rubber art stamps!

I try to stay organized. Putting my ribbon in bags according to color works pretty well. That is... when I put it away where it belongs, and don't just shove it back in the drawer!!!

My constant companions!!!

Now my creative space tour is not complete with out showing you the place where I spend most of my creative time these days. This is my office. It is on the other side of the wall from the studio and is part of my master bedroom. This is where my most valuable creative tool resides. My computer, my Mac to be exact. I love it, and I love what I do with it. I am one of those very lucky people who can say I love what I do. And it all started with you guys. I fell in love with blogging, with the women who blog, and with helping you make your blogs beautiful. Since I started Valentine Design in March (You can click HERE if you want to see some of the blog designs that I have done) I have had the pleasure of helping so many of you build the blog of your dreams. Nothing makes me happier, than when I get an email from a client who is
thrilled with the look of their new blog. I never thought I would ever be able to earn a living being creative and doing something that makes people happy!!! I am very blessed.


I would like to thank Jo Packham and the wonderful folks at Where Women Create Magazine for helping to make this years event so incredible. In case you missed the May/June issue.. this is it and I am on the inside pages, in the company of some incredibly talented women. This all started with last years party, and now one year later there I am. At least one lucky gal is going to find herself in the pages of this fabulous magazine too!!! Isn't that exciting??? I'm sure Jo is going to have a really hard time choosing, if this year is anything like last year.

But there are even more great prizes! 2 party guests are going to receive a one year subscription to the magazine!



And one of you will receive both of Jo's books filled with more inspiration than any one person can handle!

And last but not least, a beautiful Where Women Create charm bracelet!

Well, we better get started. We have lot's and lot's of studio spaces to drool over! Pace yourself girls. Drink lot's of fluids and remember to get up and stretch now and then. Remember...this is a marathon, not a sprint!!! Have Fun!!!!

The party, and a much needed break.

I can't believe the party is only 5 days away!!! I'll be honest with you... I'm glad we are nearing the end! These last 2 months have been crazy!!!! I must apologize to every one of you who have left me a comment over the past few weeks. (maybe more) I know I have been horrible at responding. I promise I had every intention of doing so. I set up a separate file of comments to respond to, but somehow I never found the time. So many blogs to add to the list, and to send emails of confirmation to! Plus work and home chores... Well, you understand I hope.

I have a couple of suggestions for all who are participating in the party to help make it a wonderful experience. First, please post your photos on the evening of the 18th if you can. That way, all those early risers and out blog friends in Europe and other parts of the world, don't miss out on any of the inspiration because they started early!

Second, many of you use word verification on your blog. (That's those crazy letters we all have to type in in order to leave a comment. The purpose of this is to prevent comment spam. I have been lucky, and not ever had a problem with this. But if you choose to use yours, perhaps you could consider turning it off for a few weeks during the party. It will make leaving 450 comments so much easier!!! LOL!!! To do this go to SETTINGS>COMMENTS. Then scroll down until you find the word verification section and click NO (or NEVER.. I can't remember)
After the party you can turn it back on if you want to.


Last Friday, I took a much needed break and went and spent the day with my mom, my cousin Cherie and her daughter Katie. We had a very creative day!! The week before, my mom and I were window shopping in Anthropologie, when we saw these adorable headbands. I picked up the band and looked at the price. Then I uttered those words that have been said a million times by countless crafters... "I can make that!!!!"

We went to Ulta and picked up those skinny little headbands, then the craft store for ribbon and felt. We pulled out needles and thread and the hot glue gun, and created to our hearts content.


Mine were all neutrals. That's what I wear the most. The floral one came from a piece of lace that I cut apart and then dyed in coffee. (It still smells good) All you need to do is create your ribbon roses and use a circle of felt to sandwich the headband in between.


Katie had never made these ribbon roses before. In fact she says she isn't crafty at all. I don't believe her! She did an amazing job!

Well enough slacking.. it's time for me to get back to work and finish adding those last few blogs to the list. Have a wonderful week and I will see you all on Saturday!!!!
xo,

I love this site!!!!

While doing some long over due surfing of some of my favorite blogs, I came upon a post over at my good friend Jodie's bog Everything Vintage. She shared with us the coolest website for photo fun! It is aptly titled, Photofunia. And yes, I spent hours playing on it. It has everything from cool artistic effects to...

things a little more fun!!!! LOL!!! This one cracks me up!!!!

My favorites were the artistic effects and I made sketches from many of my favorite photos.


This is one of my most cherished pics of my son at 3 years old. I love the way it turned out. You can make them on a white background (like the one of me above) or on an aged background which they call "texture" (I don't know why)


This one took manipulating in photoshop. I took the 3 separate images from photofunia and combined them to make this collage. They have large format options that allow you print them out pretty large. I created this one to be 16X20 at 300 dpi. (print quality) I think I'm going to have it printed on water color paper at the print shop, frame it, and set it on my mantle. You should definitely go try it out. As Jodie said... "It's very addicting!!!"

Entertainment unit.. before and after

Last weekend my sweetie and I spent the our time painting the old entertainment unit/bookcase that I have had for about 15 years. It was one of those "put it together yourself" pieces of furniture with the cheap carboard backing that you punched out the holes for the wires. it wasn't awful, but that room can be quite dark because of very small windows and I wanted to give the room a lighter feel.


We painted it right in the family room because it's way to hot out now for the paint to behave properly. The back of the cabinet was removed and we sanded it a little to help the paint stick.

Then it got 2 coats of my favorite primer KILZ. (This is after one coat)


I am so happy with the finished result. The room has a cleaner lighter look.




We went to Home Depot and bought a panel of bead board to replace the cheap cardboard that was there. It looks like a real piece of furniture now!!!


I sanded all the edges a little bit and found these cute knobs at Hobby Lobby for only $2.00 each.
It was a very long weekend of painting, but soooo worth it!!!

BTW... Thank you to everyone who left comments on my last post. I'm trying very hard to keep up with life, work, the party, and all your lovely comments but I just couldn't get back with everyone. Please know that I love reading all your comments and I love visiting your blogs.
This last month has been crazy busy and I hope things will calm down a little bit in a month or so. I look forward to having more time to come over and hang out for a while!!! LOL!!!