100th post! Let's have some tea and chat...

Last night when I was posting my latest card, I realized that my next post would be 100.

Holy Smokes.

Hard to believe that about two years ago, I had no idea what blogs even were, let alone start my own :) I look back at my first post and I think I realize why blogging is so... fun and good. As a scrapbooker, I realize how much blogging is like scrapping. The posts are like the journaling, and a good scrapbook (and blog) should have journaling. A story, some meaning. It doesn't have to be earth shattering, but it should be engaging to someone, even if it's just engaging to the author. But the fabulous thing about blogging is that there are others out there who find what you write and share is engaging too, they "get" you on some level, and that's pretty neat.

To me, this Land of Blog has become like a big ole kitchen, where my sisters (you! yes, you) and I have come to sit for a spell. We gather, we gossip, we share. I wrote about this sisterhood and how even though I don't like the glitz of technology, prefer the patina of yesterday... I love the magic created by the sisters I have met on here. I have gone from posting once or twice a month to once or twice a day. In the kitchen we have our tea, and this card was inspired by the challenge at Moxie Fab :)

Like a good scrapbook, blogging does more than just share words. Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Of our family, friends, our art. Crafters who create beautiful pieces of art with pieces of paper and ink, artists who can find the best stories in a park bench, divine and saucy characters who bake cupcakes and make me laugh, dreamers and magic makers who inspire me... the list goes on and on. I follow dozens and dozens of blogs, and you all make me smile...

So here is a card for you (yes, you!) who take the time to sit for a spell with me, read my ramblings, and share some time with me. Thank you :)

Ingredients
Papers: Graphic 45, MyMindsEye
Gratitude :)
Ranger ink

Good morning! I have been up to my elbows in paper, fabric and ribbon! I have been getting ready for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Trunk Show, finishing up a few orders... and finishing my Tuesday sketch that I wanted to post a few days ago. I think it is worth the wait, however :) This sketch features my signature "quilt squares" that I stitch onto my scrapbook pages. Each little square is about 3x3 on this sketch, and when I make this layout I stitch the blocks together. If you aren't a sewer, or don't want to bother with a sewing machine, you could use rub-on stitches. I personally like the texture of the thread, but sometimes my machine goes on strike, and the rub-ons look quite lovely :)
Oh, and I also was able to make a treasury today! How exciting is that? I have been brewing the idea of a "time for tea" gallery, and when the treasury opened up, I jumped in and was able to make this little collection.

You will see that the last column is a little "ghosted." That is because these are my alternates, which I will be mixing in and swapping spots with the other lovely selections. The curator is usually the only one who sees the alternates, but I had to share my entire collection here; twelve spots are not enough for all the pretties I selected! Keep checking the treasury I created to see the most updated version...


Well, I am off to cut, ink and distress, layer and sew. Hope you have a great day :)

A Toast to My Sisters...

Sisterhood. I love my real, live, sibling-type sisters, and I just adore the "sisters" I have found in the art and blogging community. There is something magical about the connections made on Etsy and eBay, BlogLand, and Cyberspace. Being an "old-fashioned" gal myself who loves to live in the past with pretty and shabby trinkets, chippy cupboards, and antique photographs, I never would have thought that I would come to embrace Computerland.


But I have.

I have discovered women who share a passion for olde things, shabby pretties, and artists who appreciate the simple aesthetics of beauty itself. Photographers, graphic designers, cupcake makers, scrapbookers, altered artists, dress makers, collectors... the list, and magic, go on.

Although I love the nostalgia of the small town, where newspapers were black and white, postcards were the rage, and train travel was the only option, I recognize how lonely this existence might have been for the creative soul. Would it have been frustrating, dreaming of paints and Paris, to have to instead dabble in laundry and pluck chickens, darn the socks and pickle the preserves?

I am drawn to these homespun treasures, though. The tablecloth, which had been laundered with care, is made from heavy cotton with a bit of fancy lace edging. Was the lace necessary? No. Did it make cleaning more difficult? Yes. But it brought beauty to the life of the woman who made it, the woman who painstakingly stitched it and loved it. This same woman made pretty labels for her rhubarb raspberry preserves, and took pride in how the deep red fruit dazzled in her cupboard, and took pride serving it to her lady friends at tea. Because her friends appreciated the beauty, too.

This love for beauty and appreciation for loveliness is what brings a lot of us together. Blogs and websites have become our tea table, where we can pull up a chair, ooh and ahh over each other's creations, and gossip a bit over our tea. We decorate our blogs like we would decorate for a tea party - we put out the best linen and make sure there are fresh flowers in the pitcher. We want our guests to feel welcome, and to share the beauty that we have created.