Last weekend I went to Candice Carpenter's Vintage Valentine Banner class at Melrose Vintage in Phoenix. I finally finished my banner. I wanted to work on it at home, adding pieces of my own Valentine stash and add photos of my kiddos. I had a great time too. I think there were six of us there from Sparkle Bella. We "tried" to work quietly! We all sat together, Maija, Sue, the every entertaining Kim, Sherry and Colleen.
Since they were very young, I've been subjecting them to an annual Valentine photo shoot. About a year ago, my son put a halt to that. He was a good sport for several years and I'm so happy to have these photos of themMelrose is such an incredible, magical place. It's a good thing(for my husband) that it is an hour drive for me. He doesn't know how lucky he isThere displays were beautiful as always.


Last, but not least, I won a raffle prize, this cute Autumn Leaves clear stamp set.

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My Winter Bella sachet filled with lavendar. We printed these on printable fabric. I found a piece of pink toile ribbon to embellish the front. The reverse side of the sachet is pink toile fabric.

I also used part of our Winter Bella paper for the reverse side of my new soldered Valentine charm. I used my last crystal heart. Good thing the gem show is in a few weeks. I need to restock my supplies. Can't wait!

My Winter Bella "Nest" jar project. I used the pink bird that Sandy sent me in my Valentine box. I wanted to add a touch of glitter to mine because I'm always being teased about having glitter on my face. The crown on the top is one of my favorite finds from Roger's Gardens.

I received my adorable swap from the super sweet and talented Sandy. Did you notice the charm that she made using my blog banner??? I love it. I noticed it the second she posted it on her blog and I've been wanting one of the vintage ballerina's. How did she know? So many goodies. I love the top of the box as well.
She made me the adorable card and included the latest issue of Paper Crafts. I haven't indulged in a scrapbook magazine for eva! Thank you Sandy!

Another Winter Bella project. I'm thinking that each one that I see is my favorite. A friend of mine at school has a Brother embroidery machine. When I told her about my project, she generously offered to embroider the birds for me. I had all of the fabric on hand. I only had to purchase the pom pom trim. This pillow will be moving happily from room to room. It will be perfect in my family room, living room and bedroom.

I completed my "For the Love of Supplies" swap. What fun I had filling up my heart-shaped box with items that I thought Sandy would like.
After peaking at the charm that she made for me, I decided to make her a soldered Valentine charm.
It's reversible. One side has a silver glittered heart and the other her initial. I will ship it off to Canada tomorrow.

"You Are What You Eat So Eat Something Cute" is the title of this Winter Bella project. This is just so much fun. If you are not participating, I highly recommend that you sign up. My cupcake collage will be hanging in our kitchen next to "Eat Dessert First". I decided to frost mine. I used snow-tex as frosting and pink beads as sprinkles. I also used a paper corrugater to give my cupcake liner dimension.

We had a "date night" Saturday night. We dropped the kid's off at their grandparents and off we went to see The Bucket List and then out to dinner for my favorite combination, salad, salmon and chardonnay. I highly recommend The Bucket List. I guarantee you will laugh and cry and of course, contemplate your own "bucket list". I wrote mine last year. Travelling to Europe was on the top of my list.

She made my day! I was awarded "You Make Me Smile" by June. You will find her truly inspirational. Not only is she incredibly talented, but she also finds causes to donate her talents and homemade goodness. I am to list six random habits/facts about myself and tag six others.
1. I have a very large dollhouse. I'm not kidding. It's about the size of a kitchen table. Very fun! However, I want a new smaller one.
2. I once took a hot air balloon ride with my mother and we crashed upon landing. My mother got me through it by laughing. Her laughter was so contagious.
3. My husband just announced that our family will be celebrating my next birthday in Hawaii. I'm thrilled. Is he sweet or what?
4. I have a math and sewing phobia.
5. I have wanderlust. I'm always planning our next several trips.
6. I'm crazy about my friends. I'm so lucky to have good friends in my life.
I'm tagging six others that "Make Me Smile".
Michelle, my twin (we share very similar interests), Sandy, one of my newest swap partners, RuthAnn, an incredibly inspirational woman, Jessi, whose blog is so entertaining, Cari, one of my fellow midwestern friends and Anastasia, my Australian friend. Thanks for inspiring me and making me smile.

Bingo - Let's Go! I finished my first Winter Bella project. I don't know how Teresa keeps coming up with her fabulous ideas. I wanted to take my time and select pieces that had meaning to me. I first wrote and watercolored pink "Take time to create, glitter, cut and paste" because I get antsy if I don't. Pink, I had to use pink - my favorite color. Love German scrap. Chose the bird to make it look like she's the one speaking. The angel is surrounded by Lillies of the Valley, my birth month flower and a childhood memory of wild ones popping up in the spring in our garden. A clear vintage button that belonged to my Grandmother who was incredibly creative and a talented seamstress. I'm almost finished with my second project.

Queen of Her Castle is what my beautiful glittered collage is that my dear friend Tina made me for my birthday. I love it and it matches my scrapbook room so beautifully. It's perfect. Before you wish me Happy Birthday, I have to tell you that it was last May. We save our gifts until we get together. We also celebrated her birthday which was in October and Christmas. It was so much fun. Look at this gorgeous bag that was stuffed full with all of my surprises.

Carmen and Tina arrived at my house at 9 am and brought me back around 9 pm. I counted 21 stops that we made. We had such a wonderfully fun day. We found several fun little boutiques and went out to lunch and dinner and stopped in at three scrapbook stores to pick up some of my supplies for Teresa's Winter Bella Zine.

I'm definitely starting off the New Year in a creative way. I joined my friend, Teresa's, Winter E-Zine. We received our first project today and I love it! I've also been scrapbooking, knitting a scarf and working on a redwork kitchen towel. I love this time of year. The kids will be back to school on Tuesday and then the real world will be pushing me out of my cocoon. Back to substitute teaching, soccer practice, golf team, piano lessons, etc. etc. Until then, I'm staying snug as a bug in my creative little dream world.