Thank you Rita!!

A few weeks ago, Rita was celebrating her 100th blog post and decided to do a give away to one lucky commenter. To my surprise - I was the winner! I felt like I had won the lottery. Well, I guess I did win the Mixed Media and Altered Art lottery, huh? =D

I loved every bit of it, but especially loved the old post cards, envelopes and the cancelled check from the late 1800's. The vintage labels were really cool and I've got all sorts of ideas for the beads, buttons and other items. My favorite item in the bag though, has to be the Lillian Russell tag that says, "She dreamed." Just looking at this tag is an inspiration.

Head on over to Tattered Past and meet Rita for yourself! You'll be glad you did. Thank you again Rita. You were so generous. I will be paying it forward soon, so make sure you all check back!!

Great inspiration for Mixed Media artists...

Check out this blog.... It's their Blogeversary and they are celebrating by doing a give away! I was excited to see so many great ideas!! Go check it out!

New Ideas at Going Buggy and a Blog Candy offer too!

You've gotta stop in and visit Enfys at GOING BUGGY.
She's got great card ideas on there and I really like that her work is unique from a lot of others that I've seen online. She's offering up some pretty cool blog candy too, so check her out!

Ribbon, Ribbon Everywhere...

...and not a drop to drink! Wait, no. That's not how it goes.
Anyway, I have a lot of ribbon.
Ding, ding, ding!! The understatement of the year!!
Okay, enough of that. I do have a lot of ribbon.
I would like to say upfront that I got most of this stuff from swaps, yard sales and clearance bins...
I Corinthians 14:40 says, "Let all things be done decently and in order."
Oops. That has not been happening. So, I thought I'd share some before and after photos.

BEFORE: So I had a whole brown bin full of spools. Some spools on my organizer on the wall, some more in a ribbon organizer case and then random strings and pieces and bits in the metal thingy shown in the picture. Not good at all.

First thing I did was take each spool, wrap them up and tape 'em down. I do not like all the loose ribbon and ends when they come unraveled. Pure chaos! I would like to get some of those tiny (short ones) stick pins to put in them, but this will do for now.
Then I organized by color. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted it by color, type, thickness... I went with color since this is pretty much what I'd need for card making or scrapping. I'd want to start with a certain color rather than grosgrain, sheer, 1/2" or 1/4"... you know what I mean, right?
So, I started putting the spools on my wall organizer in ROY G. BIV order as best as I could.
AFTER:

I put as many up there as I could fit. Then I put the rest into the organizer case. It held the small spools mostly. I also took any rolls that I had double of and put that away in the brown bin. No need to have all that out.
Zip up organizer:

Brown bin with doubles and too large spools.

Lastly, I dumped out all the loose ribbon. I have these mostly from swaps that I have participated in in the past. My daughter helped me as I used a flat iron (for their hair) to straighten the ribbon and organize it all. Wow. Anybody need Halloween ribbon? I don't even really do "Halloween". That must've been from a swap.
After I got them all ironed - a ribbon iron by Pebbles Inc. is definitely on my wishlist - I doubled them up and put them in another brown bin. Those sit decoratively on a shelf in my scrap space.

I must say that I was quite inspired by sorting and organizing this. I thought of several cards and layouts that I could do based on the ribbon I had. Is that strange to start with a particular ribbon and go from there?
Oh, well. Whatever works, right? How about the first two to ask, gets some Halloween (and maybe more) ribbon sent their way? Just leave me a comment and mention it!

Fun mail...

Look what I found on my doorstep last week! Lee over at Lemons2Lemonade had an extra one of these and wanted to share the wealth! She asked that in order to be in the drawing, we'd need to ask her a question. For every question (up to 5) you asked, she'd enter your name that many times. My name was drawn!!
It's a really fun Journal Notebook with pages you can tear out to use on your layouts or projects. Can't wait to play with these! Thanks, Lee! You can find the original post HERE. The questions and answers are in the posts following that one.

If you know me at all...

Some super easy photo or gift card holders I made with large binder clips and a quick graduation card I made using the Tassel Time set from SU.

...you know I love all things hand-made. Well, just about all things... Anyway, here are some awesome etsy giveaways here at PaperCakes!! Go check them out!

Speaking of etsy...I will be getting some new and fun stuff in there really soon! It will be a mix of all sorts of things, but be ready!! =]

Have a great new week and in the mean time, think on this:

Ecclesiastes 3:11~~"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."

Here birdie, birdie!

Ever since I made the theme "Bless Our Nest" for our ladies banquet, I've become obsessed with birds, nests, cool cages...anyway, I think I mentioned all this before.
So, I stumbled upon this blog when I googled some info on nests. Lots of fun and creative information and she's also got a giveaway going on. Go and check it out.

Thanks to Feeling Scrappy!

Just wanted to say "Thank you!" to Jayne and everybody else over at Feeling Scrappy. My name was drawn during their blog party and I won some beautiful rub-ons. LOVE me some rub-ons. I am looking forward to some play time real soon. I promise to share what I come up with!!

I also got another package on the same day, but I am not quite ready to post about it all just yet. I've included a picture, just to entice you to come back and read more about it. Hahaha!

I will say that this package has really helped me with a post over on my It's Just Me...and My Coffee blog. The person that sent this boat load of blessings is a friend that I've never met in person. She and I have discovered that we just might be Kindred Spirits!

Anyway, here is a peek. Come back soon to read all about it.

Metallic Chalk Set...

...from Pebbles Inc.! Wouldn't you love a set? I know I would! I love their products and I am happy to announce that they are giving 6 lucky winners a new set. Head over and see for yourself!

She's celebrating her BLOG-iversary!

Head over to DEBBIE'S site for this awesome blog candy give away. I believe it's going on 'til the end of this month! I have been wanting to try out the Copic markers for some time and who doesn't love the new Basic Grey lines? Yum!

Passing along the word...

Just thought I'd pass along some of these Blog Candy offers that I've come across. Just click on the link and head on over. Good luck, 'cause some lucky girls gonna win it! ;]
Cuttlebug Giveaway at Creating From the Heart - I love the Cuttlebug. This one ends today, so hurry!
Copic Markers and More at Paperlicious Oasis - I've heard so much about Copic Markers. These things help anyone to color like a pro!
Spring Collection at StarDust Gems and Ribbon - Just in time for Easter. Lots of fun stuff to play with here.
Birthday Celebration at Morganpigg Mamma Malin - Beautiful ribbon, flowers, stamps, brads and more. Who wouldn't love all this??
Sizzix, Stamps, Ric Rac and More at Crafty C's Crafting Library - I can think of lots of things to make with these great items. Check her out!
20,00o Hits Celebration at Doing Life - Oh, wow. Some great stuff here. Basic Grey rub-ons, fabric flowers, Color Box Fluid Chalks...too much to list. Run, don't walk!

Well, that's it for now! These lovely ladies offer up the blog candy to generate traffic on their blog, but also to share some love with their bloggy friends. Join in on the fun and check back here, because you never know when I will be offering up blog candy again! =]