Let Them Eat Cake

Do you remember this post? A swap group that I belong to exchanged our versions of Lace Cakes in a Marie Antoinette theme. {These cakes are truly fit for a queen!} These are 6x6 pages that will eventually be bound into a book, but before I bind it I thought I would show you the beautiful pages I received.

Terri Gordon

Rhonda Thomas

Terri Hadji-Gauthier

Rebecca Allison

Debra Abel

Been Busy Crafting. . .

A gift for a friend.

Valentine Tags for Natalea's swap.

Hope you're having a crafty day too!

Coming Up For Air

The new year is here (yay!) and things have been flying every-which-way in the studio. I went in there to tidy up after all my Christmas crafting and I sort of got side-tracked. Pictured above are some little lace cakes I am in the process of making for a swap I am in.

Here are the tables and cake plates they will be displayed on.

They will look something like this. I haven't attached them yet as I am still trying to figure out what to put on the background.
These are for a Marie Antoinette swap I am in ~ who else would be eating lace cakes, right?
I'm also taking Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day journal class and this is my journal cover sewn "guerilla-style" (Mary Ann's terminology) with fabrics, textures and colors that I love. The green and brown leopard print upholstery fabric was an after-Christmas find in the remnant bin at JoAnn's for 70% off! Woo-hoo - I love a good deal!

My head is spinning as I've been multi-tasking between paper & glue and fabric & thread and computer & photographs. In between everything else, my daughter and I have been taking a couple classes to brush up on our digi-skills and discovering all that Photoshop has to offer. There's so much to learn.

I hope your new year is off to a fun, creative start too. It's been v-e-r-y cold here and it is predicted to continue through the week, so I think I'll be spending much of my time in the warm confines of the house happily creating.

Catching Up

Oh boy! Have we had a lot of rain here! I feel like I should be building an ark soon. We've had terrible thunder storms off and on the past two days. Last night while I was out running a few errands, it became so dark you would have thought it was midnight! The shopping carts in the parking lot were flying around like they were as light as feathers. I was fortunate that one of them didn't run into the side of my little Beetle. Anyway, I was buying a bottle of nail polish at Ulta and when the clerk asked if I wanted a bag, I said yes, but not for the polish - to put on my head! So there I was running to the car wearing a bright orange bag on my head. Lovely!   

I've been getting things ready to go to ArtFiberfest next week. This is my first art retreat and I'm really looking forward to it. I admire Teesha Moore's work so much (especially her journal pages, which are amazing) and have heard so many fabulous things about her various retreats. I'm still trying to figure out how to get all the supplies (including my sewing machine) into one suitcase and keep it under 50 lb. limit. 

Spent the day yesterday finishing up on a few projects so I can mail them out before I leave for Portland. I made the notecards pictured above for a swap I am in. I used Lisa Kettell's lovely image of Marie on these, along with vintage wrapping paper and dotted Swiss fabric. 

Goodies in the Mailbox

Yesterday the postman brought me a little surprise! Well, it wasn't exactly an unexpected package, but the treat inside totally blew me away. This is the collage that Maija made for me as a part of Maria's Marie Antoinette Bits and Pieces Collage Swap that Maija and I participated in. Maria and I were both part of the altered book round robin featured in Stampington's MARIE Magazine currently on the newstands. (FYI - I noticed that some of the Barnes & Noble stores have this magazine in the Arts section of the magazine rack, as opposed to the Craft section where Stampington's magazines are usually located.) Anyway, don't you just love all the fabulous Marie inspired goodies that Maija included on this collage? She used lots of sparkle and bling - my favorite! I can't decide which square I like the most...I love it all!

And now that Maija has opened her collage from me, I can reveal the whole thing to all of you!

Paper Dolls

Do you remember playing with paper dolls as a child? I loved the Betsy McCall dolls that used to come inside my mother's McCall's Magazine (no longer in publication). I would play with them for hours and even added to Betsy's wardobe by designing my own clothes for her out of leftover paper scraps. Later after my daughter was born, Mary Englebreight began publishing her Home Companion Magazine (also no longer in publication...hmmm) and including her Anne Estelle and friends paper dolls in the back and boy, did that bring back fond memories for me.

Lately, I've started playing with paper dolls once again and have been working on these little dolls for a swap in my Marie Antoinette Art Group. They were so much fun to make. I found the chipboard base for the paper dolls at the dollar store and painted over the entire doll to make them more "Marie-ish looking" Then I added lots of pretty papers, glitter, jewels, layers of tulle and crepe paper, etc to create the three different looks. Sent them off in the mail yesterday. Can't wait to see what I get back in return!

I have had a headache for the past two days straight. I think it is either the rainy weather or allergies that is causing it. It is always surprising to me how much a headache (or any pain for that matter) can slow you down. Yesterday I felt a little nauseous and I panicked, thinking I was getting that awful flu that's been on the news. But today it is just my head that's bothering me so I am grateful for that. Better go pop some Excedrine for migraines before the pain gets any worse, although I should have done that yesterday. Hopefully it is not too late now to get the pain to go away.

Marie Antoinette Swap

I'm off to the post office to mail this collage out to my swap partner Maija. I hope she likes it!

The Secret is Out ~ She's Finally Here!

An advanced copy of this lovely publication arrived in my mailbox last week and put a huge smile on my face. This new special edition from Stampington has been in the works for months and features a wonderful collaboration I took part in last summer. That's when Dede Warren put out a call for a Marie Antoinette inspired altered book round-robin to which I enthusiastically responded to along with Maria Rodarte and Barbara Smith. It was such an honor to work with such a talented group of artists to create these treasured works of art. And a GREAT BIG hug of gratitude goes out to Dede for suggesting that we submit our books to Stampington when we were finished.

And our fun little collaboration, along with a second one initiated by Natasha Burns, inspired a brand new special publication by the editors of Somerset studios called Marie. Our first little hint that this dream was actually going to become a reality came back in August when Dede told us to check out this post on Jenny Doh's blog. We couldn't believe our eyes because there, in editor Jennifer Jackson's hands, was Maria's and Barb's altered books in a Call for Art for Marie. It is so thrilling to have your hard work be recognized and published in any of Stampington's gorgeous magazines, but to have an entire feature in a special publication ~ well, words just can't describe our excitement!

All of you (and I know there are many of you from my blog & Flickr hopping) who have been inspired by the decadence, beauty, richness of this exhuberant Queen of France are going to be blown away when you see this magazine filled to the brim with colorful eye candy. And you won't have to wait much longer because it arrives on the newstands April 1st.
And to coincide with the launch of this brand new publication, Maria Rodarte is hosting a Marie Antoinette Collage Swap on her blog. Come join in on the fun - you can get all the details by clicking here.

She's Beautiful

Isn't she beautiful? She arrived on my doorstep last week - a purchase made from Tiffany at Shabby Scraps. I've been wanting one of these pin cushion dolls for practically forever and am so thrilled to have found completely in tact.

I also found this beautiful set while perusing the antique mall on Friday. I would have loved an entire set of this cup & saucer/plate combo - wouldn't it be great to have friends over for a tea party using these? But alas, there was only one on the shelf and I grabbed it as quick as I could. Tea for one and a scone sounds good to me!

~ Photo by Brandy Faulkner ~

Don't forget to pop over to the Joli Paquet blog when you get a chance because Brandy has a tutorial on how to make this darling Valentine ornament.

Happy Belated Birthday!

Yesterday (November 2, 1755) was Marie Antoinette's Birthday and sweet blogger Joy from Cupid's Charm hosted a birthday soiree in honor of the Queen's special day. With all the commotion of water flooding my house, it completely slipped my mind to post my pic. I hope you all will forgive me for being a little late. And if you want to treat yourself to lots of yummy and luscious eye candy, go on over to Joy's blog where she has a list with links to all the party participants! Happy Birthday Marie!!!