Mail Art!!

This is my mail art for the next swap on swap bot. I needed to do 10 and I finished today! I could have just done 10 envelopes all the same and been done, but I wanted to make it a bit more personal for the people who receive them. I took these pictures before I put any addresses on to protect them.



This is a recycled postcard and this girl likes postal stuff and vintage writing. This is going to California.



This is a recycled postcard and she likes vintage patterns. This is going to Sweden.




Another recycled postcard and she likes quilting and maps and traveling, so I combined them. This is going to CA too.






She likes vintage advertising and cats so I made an envelope out of a vintage ad! Her address is going from his mouth. It is going to Isreal.







This girl loves paisley so I made an envelope out of paisley paper and added some paper and fabric to it. This is going to Colorado.




This guy loves space and scifi and weird things so I redid an invitation and put some scifi and spacey things on it. This is going to B.C. I put his address on the white part.




This girl likes animals so I did a puzzle and glued it and them attached it to a board to make a handmade postcard. This is going to Maryland.




This is another handmade postcard I painted and then put on a turtle picture which I outlined in gold. She loves turtles! It is going to Illinois.





This handmade envelope was made with rose paper. She loves pink and green and shabby chic and this is going to Australia.





This handmade envelope is made with awesome paper. She loves design and neat stationary and this is going to Seattle.


I hope you enjoyed my parade of mail art!

I had fun making them and it makes it neat to personalize it a bit. What makes it exciting too, is that I am going to get 10 back! From all over the world and I have no idea where.

How cool is that?

New Finds

Sorry its been a few days... We went to the lake on Monday and it was great! Super weather and lunch on the pontoon boat putting around the lake. Then Sarah got to go tubing which she loves. Nice day.

I started to feel yukky on Tues and its getting worse so this will be short. I hate summer colds!

I want to show some finds I got. I love stickers! And there are so many neat ones now being 3D and so detailed. Here is a pic.




Then I have always liked the thick letter diecuts but the price of them was crazy. I found these 2 sets at the dollar store!



Then at the thrift store in a bag of stuff was these rolls of different colored wire. Score! I had just finished reading metal workshop and I want to try some and then these wires just appear!



I'm off to try and stay cool - its hot here today! and to try and feel better. Talk soon!

Speaking of Karma....

And goodness in the world! I love that almost every day I get packages from around the world. Someone has taken the time to put something together that I might like and package it so nicely. There is no need to do all this "extra" stuff because the only requirement on swap bot is to follow the directions and that's it. I see SO many people taking the time to send a note and add all these little things that they think I might like and package it up so pretty. It blows me away.

I like this too, cause I also enjoy sending the little extras and hearing back from the people that they enjoyed my package.

Here are some pics from recent swaps. This was for images and words I like and I love woodsy images so its good Elizabeth was from Alaska!



The next package was for 4 pieces of ribbon. That's it. Look at this package! She included a HANDMADE felted heart pin and look at the presentation on the ribbons? I love it!



The next is from Missy " Blissful Mama" We have so much in common so I was lucky to have her in this swap. I had to send her a package of ephemera and she had to use the papers to make me a collage. I said ONE. Well she sent me 4!!!







And then she apologized for being a little late - WHAT?!!

These are fabulous and it is so neat to see my favourite papers and images be put together by someone else and be so spot on.

Todays Friday so no more mail for 2 days :( lol! But I get to see Sarah and that makes up for it!! I am getting her Sat and then we are off to go shopping Sun and to see Harry Potter. It's a tradition now, since we have seen all of them so far. Then back here and to go to the lake on Monday to see friends. Hope its nice!!

Have a good weekend everybody and spread the good Karma!

Willies Ways

Yes, Willie. As in the one and only Willie Nelson.

He's got a new book out and I picked it up at the library cause I liked the title - The Tao of Willie - A guide to the Happiness in your Heart.

I always want more happiness, so that intrigued me.



It was very cool! Many things of his past and what he has learnt, full of funny jokes and great thought provoking things.

Some of Willie's Ways....


- The main thing is to follow the Golden Rule - Do unto others. If you follow this rule, I think life is so much nicer and that what you put into life comes back to you 10 fold - including the bad. If you project and think bad - that's what you will receive. It's so simple really.

This also follows the rule of KARMA - What goes around comes around.

-Drink lots of water - the earth is 75% water and so is your body - we need to replenish that.

-A quote " Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce"

- To always live in the moment and in a place called NOW.

"The easiest mistake on Earth is to forget to appreciate what you have right now"

Lots of other neat things too. It's always nice to read something and have it resonate with you and make you realize to take notice.

I'll leave you with this Cherokee story from the book....


The Cherokee believed that within each person was a battle between two wolves.

Sitting with his grandson, a grandfather explained that one of the wolves was evil and was driven by anger, envy, regret, ego and the worship of war.

The other wolf was good, and was driven by love, hope, compassion, and the promise of peace.

Thinking about the wolves already growing within him, the boy asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins?"

And the old man replied," The one you feed."




Which wolf do you feed?

Altered Composition Book

This swap was to alter a composition book and send it to your partner. Mine really loves the Beatles - so I did a music one with some photos of the Beatles!


This was the book before...



and after I put some vintage sheet music on it. Sorry for the fuzzy pics - bad lighting! It's not your eyes.



Then this is after I finished it.



It was neat as I was doing it that I saw some of the lyrics on the sheet music and underlined them. Boys of England.



And Telling the story. Neat how things work out eh?

Butterflies and Bookmarks

I just spent the last couple days at my friends cottage. Always nice. We went for lunch on the pontoon boat and just hanging.

They had 2 monarch hatch while I was there and I got some neat pics before we let them go.








Back today to doing some swaps! These are a couple of bookmarks I made to send out for a handmade bookmark swap. The one girl likes green and quilting and the other likes the ocean and beach. I stitched on the green one with gold thread. The first time I have stitched paper and I can tell it won't be my last.










This weekend we are off to Seans family cottage for the night and good times!!

Have a good weekend.

Digital Photo Scavenger Hunt

Here is my pictures for the scavenger hunt, We were given a list of 15 words and had to come up with a picture that described the word to us. I will put each word under the photo and a brief description of it.



HOBBY - This is ice fishin for all you non canadians! It's a sport that only lasts a couple months and depending on conditions - so you go while you can. This is a favourite hobby of Seans.


ARCHITECTURE - This in the inside of a building in downtown Toronto. We were there on Sarahs school trip last year.


NOSTALGIA - This a photograph of my great- great grandparents! This was taken at a distant cousins of mine. Pretty cool.


LOVER- Well, ya know I gotta say CHOCOLATE! I just love it and these are a recipe from Kay. -Delicious!


HAPPINESS- This is Sarah before we went up parasailing in Mexico. Her being happy makes me happy.


MUSIC - Some old sheet music I love to use in artwork.


PATTERN - Some of the paper I have - this is even embossed!


ANATOMY - These are Sarah and Tylers 2 thumbs up in our weekend in the Falls.


SPEED - This is also from the falls when we were up in the ferris wheel and the moon was coming up - the ferris wheel was moving .


TECHNOLOGY- This is old technology - this is the inside workings of a pocket watch I have. So intricate!


MOVIES - Never hard to find at our house.


ACHIEVEMENT - This is Sarah graduating Grade 8 and she was also Valedictorian!


EYE - I have had this on here before - Sarah's eye.


CLOSE UP - THis is a close up of my good friend Carols lilies after a rain.


CHILDREN - Or child - Sarah again! When she was 2. It's a good thing she's around - she gives me inspiration for a lot of photos!

Etsy Update

I took some time today and uploaded some items on ETSY.

Here are some pictures.....


















I'm off to take some more photos now for a digital swap. I hope to put them up here soon.

Journal entries

This is a Round Robin Journal swap I'm in. These are some pics of my pages. I am sending it on for someone else to do and then get mine back too after people have done their work in it. Neat huh?

Altered Puzzle

Isn't this cute?This is the before picture. Another swap! I have to alter a puzzle in some way. This is the original. I decided to paint it green since she likes green and then put a frog on that I scanned and enlarged.





So all painted and dry.



I had to put it back together and then attach my frog.



Then the hard part! I had to cut all the pieces out with a knife edge around all those pieces! Lotsa fun.




Then to put it together AGAIN to show you guys and make sure it worked!



And then tear it up again and send it on its way.

I'm happy with how it turned out and it was a blast to do.

Niagara Falls!

Well, the update! I will try to be brief and give a good overview of the trip.

We left on Sat morning and stopped at African Lion Safari on the way up. Its a park that has a lot of animals and shows and you take your car - yes YOUR car through these wild animals roaming around. Caution signs all around and 2 gates to go through and you have to keep your windows up.

Did I mention that we had no air conditioning? And that it was a gazillion degrees in the car? Yes, some windows were down...

These monkeys are all over the vehicles and wonder why? Despite all the NO FEEDING signs - people were handing food out left and right and then wondering how their car got damage? DUH!





This one was really cute with the baby holding on. Can you see it?





Also, some giraffes and elk. Lots of other animals too.









There were all kinds of birds everywhere and we watched a birds of prey show with eagles and hawks.






This parrot was a riot! Sean was "talking" to it and it was talking back and dancing. So funny!

We also got to see a bunch of elephants walk up the road to the pond to bathe and there were two baby elephants. They were so cute!



Then we went to Niagara Falls and into the room by 5. This was the view from the room.





Awesome eh? It's the new skywheel and it goes most
of the day.

The kids checked out the pool and whirlpool!

We went for a walk to the falls, had dinner and went to Ripleys museum which is so cool. Then the next day to Marineland!
Full of some rides that were great and some whales!




There are also animals there too. This is Sarah and her boyfriend touching the antlers which were all covered in soft velvet right now.




Then they went go karting and I watched! and took some pics. We went to a Canada Day celebration- Happy Canada Day!!
and then supper and fireworks at the falls for Canada Day.
We then went up on the skywheel which was great and saw the full moon rising and the fall lit up. We got to go around 4 times. Cool.




Next was mini golf at 11:00! It's like time stops cause everthing is open so late and kids are everywhere! Mini golf was good and I am the reigning champion!! 2 count them 2 hole in ones and no one else got any! It was a close game tho with only 6 strokes difference from first to last.

The next day we drove home and Sarah went back to her Dads:( . I think they had fun tho and lots of great pics of them!! I have to send them to her now and we did a sketch of the 2 of them that I want to frame too.

We got back here last night and did nothing!! I HAD to catch up on blogs.... What? I HAD to!

I was goin into computer withdrawels. Maybe just reading - not much time for that!

Great weather, good times and lots of laughs. What else could you ask for?