Maigirlz Madness

Giveaway!!!!!

heidi grace designs

First Prize:  About 15 slices of paper-glittered, flocked and embossed; rub-ons;stickers cardstock stickers; chipboard stickers- an incredible assortment of her newest line!



















Second Prize:  About 17 slices of assorted papers and a package of rub-ons.

To play:
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Leave it twice if you post this giveaway on your own blog.

Another Day another Dollar (or hundred)

On Sunday Kim Caldwell drove Jessi Nagy Kim Hesson and me down to Irvine where we hooked up with a bunch of my girlfriends, Kelly Snelling, Mary Haldeman. Pilar Pollack, Ruth Rae and a newer friend, Kristin Robinson.  There we were joined by Cheryl Stoneham and Suzanne Brooksbank. We were off to a day shopping and we started first at the flea market.  Have a look at Kelly's blog for a bunch of great photos.  Here's my loot:























Next we descended on Gilding the Lily and we were nicely welcomed by the owner Nancy Jamar.


 














German scrap, die cuts, appliques, millinery, bezels, beads, ribbon...all vintage!   I went back to Kelly's house and we laid in bed and watched Dexter until we fell asleep!
Monday was very exciting as well.  Kelly took me to the most outrageously pretty store, Paris to the Moon!!  I was starstruck meeting the manger and the owner, Kerri and Danyell!  I have loved their work for so long, and I even bought their book which they personalized for me:

















And while I was shopping, my head buried in all things pretty, this is what thrilled my BFF (forever!) Kelly:





















So very Kelly, playing with the store mascot/pet!  And here is lovely Kerri with me:
















Thanks for the photos Kelly!
We also popped in to a store in Fullerton called Salt Water where I found these for a great price:

















A few more things from Artistic Affair:
















Always thoughtful and generous, all the attendees received one of these necklace charms- and everything Jessi does is so pretty!  Thank you, Jessi!






















Above is a smattering of items I accumulated the day of the event- there were even vendor tables!  There were great sponsors so we got great goodie bags!



















Oh yeah, how cool it that!  Lori Marie makes these funky wallets - just the right size for my Flip!

Mail Day!!
From Heather of The Present Past Collection, this darling tee-shirt (on sale) and a little birthday surprise for a friend.
 
















From one of my most darling friends, Joy Gabler, a happy package!





















Inside this lovely bag were pretty tags, and embellished bottle, my initial all glittered up, that cool bag and flag all dressed up and also inside was this pretty BELIEVE banner - my photography skills suck.










And from my mind:






















The last of my Marie Antoinette ATC's. 

















I'm in a Nursery Rhyme tag swap hosted by my local friend Sherry Bamsey.  My take isn't so cute - I picked Mary Mary quite contrary- a rhyme said to be written about Bloody Mary!!

And for all you mothers:

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I miss you, Mommy!

Artistic Affair and I've lost my marbles!

First, the marbles....  I signed up for yet another retreat: It's so good I can't resist!




















Evening at Sweetpeas and Snapshots:

















Amy Tan(gerine), Kim Caldwell and Mary Smilove owner of Sweetpeas and out lovely host.

















Look at our place settings and the attention to detail.

















And the food:



























































Kim was so clever to hire a henna tattoo artist named Rita to enhance our Moroccan evening.  The top photo is Rita, on the right, and Alice.  I'm in the second photo (isn't it sexy the way my excess skin just dribbled over my pants?!)  It was a fabulous evening!
My darling Bella peep Jessi was my roomie at the event.  She is so much fun, and she likes to shop!And she is so pretty and sweet!

































And above is out $45 breakfast- 2 orders of yogurt & granola!  Only in LA...or Europe.....
Then off we went with our 2 sensational new peeps, Joy and Kelly B!!

Day 2- An Artistic Affair!!

My day started with seeing my friend, spiritual adviser and local peep Kim Hesson.  I see her more when I travel than I do when we are home:


















Now check out Kim's lovely home:






































































My girls Jessi, Kim and Holly Stinnett, who I was so lucky to meet last year at ArtFest.

These boxes are for Lori's class and my heart started racing when I saw the beautiful colors - a kit in a pink cake box!!!

In the afternoon, between classes, Kim presented a delightful afternoon tea:







































I had lots of camera trouble, the biggest being no flash. Fortunately for me, my friend Kelly is brilliant with photoshop and Holly is beautiful!



















Tommorow I'll share with you other details of the trip and the scores of goodies I purchase.  I was so very lucky to hook up with my BFF's for 2 days, Kelly and Mary!  More on that later!!

An Affair to Remember.....

An the enchanting weekend comes to an end.  Not much can be better than spending time with so many creative beautiful women! I will be posting more photos and links tomorrow.
Here's the group:
 















Other goodness first.  I was in the Vintage Junque in the Trunk Swap and my very generous partner is Stacy.  Look at all the incredible goodies:



















































And my dear girlfriend Barb celebrated her 50th birthday on this weekend, and look at the beautiful present she sent me- a vintage beaded bracelet!



















I'm off to check all the blogs that have updated since I left!!

My big weekend is coming....

This weekend I will be in LA attending An Artistic Affaire!  I can't wait, and I will be rooming with my sweet peep

Jessi! (I can't wait to see you sugar!)

  T shirt available from Prairie Home!

Special excitement in the mail for me yesterday from my girlfriend Carla:


These are photos of her Blythe girls that I am so loving!


My take on the vintage kitchen spoon fairies as suggested by Teresa in this month's Casabella e zine.



I went to an little street market last weekend, where I scored all this fabric for $10!!  It came in one of those big rubbermaid bins- there is tons of it!  Yards and scraps of leftover fabric from a decorator!

I also took a class from this honey- she's always so much fun to be with!

I've been seeing several photos of spoons people are altering, but none are as beautiful and spectacular as the one I received in a swap last year from Cori Jones.  See for yourself:

 

My latest moo cards to arrive:


A recent order from a vendor I found through An Artistic Affair (wait until you see the sponsors)!


I'm a fool for pretty packaging!

This loveliness from Pink Rose Pastries!

And based on a rave review for a woman of impeccable taste, my girl Gina, I hunted down and purchased this amazing book:

I bought it as a gift for my 1 year old nephew, but I'm not so sure I can part with it!

I'll post again tomorrow!
 
 

I Told you there was more...

From the Canadian Fabric Goddess and my sweet friend Martha:






















I have her pinned to my journal bag!

From my very clever girlfriend Kecia:























This next one made me cry.  It came from a woman whose work I admire and adore. Catherine Witherell is one of the most talented people I know, always with a kind word and thoughtful gesture. She is the Queen of all things PMC, and her work always takes my breath away:














Look at that wire wrapping, and the detail in the leaves- I adore you Catherine!


While I was at the ArtNest in Utah, I was fortunate enough to meet Julie Collings incredibly talented daughter Marina.  I should have known that kind of talent only runs in families!  Look at this itty bitty watercolor (2"x2") I bought in her etsy shop!

















My west coast chic peep Suzi has the most amazing online boutique called I Am A Diva (sound like anyone I know out there?).  Check out my loot-especially the iPod headphones all blinged out!

















And a photo I adore of my dad and my son:

Great News!!

I just received a call from Stephanie, on the East coast where it is after 11PM, telling me that my darling friend, one of my BFF's Melissa Lobdell ( Little Melfire's Studio) , has come thrrough her brain surgery with flying colors!!!!  It took 12+ hours to get that nasty tumor out, but the doctor feels it was a total success.  Please send tons of healing prayers her way!!  Thank you!!

I love you, Mel!!

Where do I begin??

• The kidney stone is gone, baby, gone!  It was a tough couple of weeks!
• I am way behind on my Bloglines but I will catch up on everyone this week!
• Al &I went to San Diego this weekend for my son's lacrosse tourney.  I got to have a special visit with my darling BFF Kelly and her delightful family.  I love them all! Kelly made a beautiful pair of earrings for me, that I had drooled over a few months ago- I'll post a photo when I get one.

Photo of Kelly and I having lunch at Alfonso's in La Jolla- I stole the photo from her blog!














Little thingy I made- too bad the lighting is bad...





















Tag I made for a friend.

Here is some online shopping porn:














The above lovelies are from Janice at Papier Valise- the pretty tin contains vintage french sequins, the pink buttons read "Bonjour"- the green things are little birds.  I've already placed my second order!






















From Andrea of One Hundred Wishes, I got oodles of velvet ribbon, some tulle and that yummy lollipop she threw in!






















Look at the to die for paper goodies I purchased from Digital Paperie-the note cards are glorious!  The colors of the journaling cards are delicious!





















I met a sweetheart at Silver Bella 2 years ago, and she creates these darling button flowers.  Find funky Megan in her Princess Lasertran etsy shop!














That, my friends, is a way cool belt made by my peep Tammy Gilley!  I purchased it at lovely Amy's online boutique, Inspire Company. I also grabbed a handful of her pretty test tube pretties!





















This pretty necklace was handmade by Jackie Allison-I adore the colors-very me!  She was my swap partner for Easter from the ADORN group.














I joined an online "chain"  ATC swap, and those are a sampling of what I made to send out.

I still have more cool stuff to share, but I will have to save it until tomorrow!

Indulge me, please

#1 son (birth order) had his Junior Prom this weekend...
Alex with his prom date.














 Lacrosse buddies (Alex is 2nd from right)
  The group photo! Alex is 5th from the right.

I was in San Diego all weekend watching #2 son play in a lacrosse tournament, so I missed Alex's big event.  I consoled myself with this purchase:
More on San Diego later, because I got to see this lovely!
And I can't help myself- I signed up for this!

  

Out Damn Stone!!

That stinking  stone is still lodged in my kidney!  The blasting didn't work, so now the doctor is going to insert a laser to get at it, and then leave me with a stent.  Ick.  Keep in mind, I have almost no pain from this stone!  I have a little backache and I have some microscopic blood in my urine, but he wants to get it before I have pain.
Here are some things I've been working on:





















This pillow was made using vintage fabric, velvet and buttons.  The image is sewn onto cheesecloth and I tucked some of Stacy's fabulous lavender inside it.  The pillow is about 4" x 14".





















Using some of the same fabric I made this 4" x 12" quilt wall hanging.





















I made this for a friend I am doing a swap with- it's been here or so long, but I'm finally going to send it out.  I hope she likes it!





















Above is the little pillow I made for my partners in the Hippity Hop Easter Swap.















And that's a little tag I decorated!

I've received some fabulous rewards from some of my amazing friends:























An this one from my darlingest friend and Artistic Affaire roomie Jessi:









I love ya, Jessi!!