treasury & your chance to vote

Yippee! My Apple Felt Bookmark was featured in another treasury! This one was put together by localcolorist... (Thanks so much for including my bookmark in your wonderful collection of items!) This treasury features some of the entries for the CCCOE (California Crafters Club of Etsy) Team August Challenge. You can vote for your favorites here, until Sunday, September 7th... So please stop by and vote (I'm #31!!!) for your back-to-school favorite! :)

a featured item & new blossoms

I am so happy that my newly made Apple Felt Bookmark has made it into a treasury! Yippee! Thanks so much Katy of KisforCalligraphy for featuring my bookmark!

I've been hard at work today on two new Blossom Cards. This one is the Polka Dot Plum Blossom Card. I love how polka dots make things look so cheery!

This one is so fresh! Chains of daisies on a field of green polka dots!!! I guess I was in a polka dot mood today! I listed this one today as well, it's the Daisy Blossom Card.

I have another Blossom Card that I'm hoping I'll finish and be able to photograph tomorrow. It's always fun to see how the paper combinations turn out. I get a thrill every time I pull the ribbon to open the blossom. When it's fully open is when I can see if it came together like I imagined. Isn't it so fun to create?! I LOVE it! :)

NEW Amy Butler Blossom & treasury & shopping

YEAH! I'm featured in another treasury! Thanks so much localcolorist for including my Sushi - California Roll in your "Pincushions & Dolls" collection. You can check out the treasury here until 4 am Wednesday.

I had a chance to list the Amy Butler - Art Deco Lotus Blossom Card today... and it already sold. YEAH! (Thank you storybeader! Check out her shop for some BEAUTIFUL jewelry!!) I have one more in this pattern that I'll list tomorrow as well as a new pattern that should be ready to list in the morning.

Cami and I have been busy... We did her back to school shopping and I'm sad to say that she's graduated to the Juniors section. (She could still fit in the girls section but those long legs really work better in Juniors now... so she's a size 0 or 1! My spindly little thing!) She was sooo excited about getting some new jeans, shorts, and shirts. We also got her 3 new pairs of shoes... even her feet grew over night to a size 7!!! My 11 year old is definitely g-r-o-w-i-n-g! I can't believe that school will be starting in two short weeks.

All right.... I better get to packaging up the Blossom Card, it's traveling to it's new home in Oklahoma tomorrow! :)

treasury, blossom, volleyball, & olympics

I am so happy to have been featured in another Etsy Treasury today! Thank you so much storybeader for adding my Sushi - California Roll to this great collection... This treasury is available for viewing until 11:00 pm Saturday night... so check it out and look at all the beautiful items made by my fellow EtsyBloggers! :)

I worked on two of the new Blossom Card patterns today. I completed one that will be a birthday card for one of my friends. I love the pattern combination. I can't wait to get photos taken and the new patterns listed!

I was supposed to play in a Women's Volleyball Tournament tomorrow. I called last Sunday and let them know I wouldn't be able to play.... that S.U.C.K.S... I just knew that I didn't want to let the team down if I wasn't feeling well. I'm glad to hear they have enough players and I know they'll probably win the tournament. It's a bunch of women that I really LOVE playing with AND we won last year. I think I did the right thing though as my stomach is still giving me a very uncomfortable time and I really didn't want the pressure of trying to pretend that I was feeling well and that everything was OK. This way I can look forward to putting in a few games on Sunday with no worry of letting anyone down, plus knowing that if I end up not feeling well I can just take a break or head home. It's depressing.

I am SUPER excited about the Olympics starting today! I LOVE watching, it doesn't matter which sport is on, I will be glued to the television as much as possible over the next couple of weeks! I'm such a geek... I always wished I could be an Olympian.... (da, da, ta-da, da, ta-da, da, ta-da) Can't you hear that music... and wow... to hear the National Anthem play when one of our athletes takes the gold... it's the best! :)

TWO treasuries

I'm featured in TWO treasuries today... YEAH!!! Both treasuries were put together by fellow EtsyBloggers team members. WOW! They're so supportive and I'm sooo proud to be part of the team! Thank you VERY much EcoKate for including my Sushi - California Roll in your treasury. I'm so happy to be included with such beautiful items!
Another "thanks" goes out to spottedcowsoaps.... Her treasury of red hot items is sure to please the eye! She included my Black & Red Blossom Card in this collection. Again... I am so honored to be included with such amazing artists!

Thank YOU so much EtsyBloggers! :)

r e c o v e r y

Ahhh.... What a BBQ!!! (I wish I had taken more photos...)

It may take me a few days to fully recover! We had more than 30 guests at our BBQ! It was a BLAST!!! I hope that our friends had as wonderful a time as we did! Although I am totally exhausted today I am already looking forward to planning another one in August. I feel so lucky to have such a great bunch of friends. They are all such nice, thoughtful, funny, interesting people. The party began around 4:00 and lasted until around 11:30 or so. There was relaxing in the spa, "competitive" billiards, a little Rock Band (Tim... we needed you! Next time! You'd be impressed... Julie was rockin' out on those drums and guitar! Maybe next time we'll get her to sing!?!), AND lots of just hanging out enjoying each other. Nearly everyone we invited came... only a couple of invitees were out of town and unable to join us (Art! and Jared!). Hopefully they'll be able to make the next one! :)

I am sad to say that our dear friends Nathan and Zhanna weren't able to make our BBQ... they had some excuse about the commute was too long or there was traffic or something. (They recently moved to Connecticut, this is NOT an excuse!) We missed you! :)

I don't know how I made it to volleyball this morning... I was definitely even more tired when I got home! Cami, Norm, and I relaxed in the spa for a couple of hours and just enjoyed being lazy. It felt great. On the way back into the house I couldn't resist taking photos of my succulent that has been blooming so beautifully for the past few weeks. I LOVE the colors... sage and a peachy orange. I wasn't certain if I would be able to capture the delicate and unique nature of the bloom. I hope I have. I also took some photos of one of my hibiscus plants that had a blossom open today. The petals and stamen were perfect. I posted a couple of macro shots on flickr.

I am very excited! I was featured for the first time in a treasury today! Thanks so much Mizzdraconia! I feel very honored to have one of my listings noticed and categorized with such wonderful "chocolate" themed items. :)

What a terrific weekend it's been!