tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40345079329110501302024-02-21T00:33:09.890-05:00The Mayberry SparrowCorrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-9687895288940395442013-04-02T11:03:00.001-04:002013-04-02T11:03:17.178-04:00Fresh New Print!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">New print available! This print won't be hitting my etsy shop because it's for a fundraiser for our camp building fund, (we desperately need a new mess hall) and I want to keep the fees as minimal as possible</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> so that more will go towards th</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">e camp itself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">There will be a limited number of only 50 printed (and 10 are already spoken for)-so if you're interested in purchasing one of these, please send me a message!</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">8x10, $15 each, $2 shipping within Canada and the USA. I can ship multiples for the $2 shipping fee.<br /><br />If you're interested, just send me an email! themayberrysparrow@yahoo.ca<br /></span></span></div>
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Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-85596284109911614062012-02-24T13:47:00.004-05:002012-02-24T13:51:24.508-05:00DIY Travel Tape Tutorial<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglogezDdlPjGS9l1rb593R5iZEjqWGCRnX3X8FHcq3UQaMAFBUYRdBL5Uzajp-IcIKlrZXSdy47oB-9p74e-uF1lFW3h_y_3Tz2cEGsi4bCs4HOabg7czaCxJ1j03rKPPuIuDZnqJcvxg/s640/_IGP5622.JPG" />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Yesterday, I posted a tutorial on my personal blog for making craft tape out of vintage maps-but since it was on my personal blog I thought i'd share it here as well so that no one would be left out!</span><br /><span style="color: #444444;">If you're curious or want to make some of your own, you can find the tutorial </span><a href="http://themayberryhomejournal.blogspot.com/2012/02/diy-travel-tape-stash-bash.html"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;"><i>here</i></span></a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy crafting!</span></span><script src="http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js" type="text/javascript">
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</script>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-50848393611321997222011-08-22T14:47:00.000-04:002011-08-22T14:47:57.796-04:00The Struggle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNP4kaNGl8yfV_YRmxi4T3k3e-wX0I_weCiWS7uJg8k4UIy32otWXl1p9uZTjV0QIlsBl9UQMVM9Zj6wMJYT4O27CKbVgpsrCZYrf87XHdPXsx7yXdfOh93muF9YlO8IBk0RbS1hermI/s1600/DSCF2212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640px" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNP4kaNGl8yfV_YRmxi4T3k3e-wX0I_weCiWS7uJg8k4UIy32otWXl1p9uZTjV0QIlsBl9UQMVM9Zj6wMJYT4O27CKbVgpsrCZYrf87XHdPXsx7yXdfOh93muF9YlO8IBk0RbS1hermI/s640/DSCF2212.jpg" width="480px" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">A glimpse of my life lately, from my perspective.</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've been a hesitant blogger, and a reluctant "site" owner these last few months. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I love blogging, and writing, and keeping my business up to date. I think the problem is though, that it's been all under one roof. -That, and I'll admit, I have been insanely busy, with various life happenings.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've been slow to post about life's events and daily interests because they aren't really "business" related, and this is supposed to be my *business* site. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, I've also been slow to post about my artwork and business life, because I feel like I'm "spamming" the people who are here to read about crafting, recipes, canning, homeschooling and daily ramblings. (I know that you folks are out there!) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So I've come to the conclusion that I need another home for my true "blog". So much has been happening that I'd love to share, and so much is going to be happening soon (baby on the way!) but I just don't know if this should be the place for that.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This site, The Mayberry Sparrow, is going to continue to be my business site. I'll be posting new artwork, gallery event dates and related topics here, with the occasional link to my new blog, in case anyone should want to take a peek at that.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #e06666;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you want to read more about the other side of things, outside the realm of illustration and rubber stamps, you can wander on over to my new blog, </span><a href="http://www.themayberryhomejournal.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Mayberry Home Journal</span></a><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hope to see you there!</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-7287055756151732542011-06-17T15:09:00.000-04:002011-06-17T15:09:11.991-04:00On My Desk<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Due to this week's postal strike, I've had to put both of my shops on vacation until the situation is resolved. (Which we've been told will be soon, thank goodness!)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The only bright side to this, is that I have a wee bit more play time. Here's some of today's *play*. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IJGUrt8twxxU6geTLMUYDsh3GeXFzB746OPmZ8GHNA4ePV130VshwTHD9eRSxa76795qQuHHhLHnme6o5_uT9-Y1HFloQU6mN9Ufh4iBuXnZI4sugTA9r3flUHUy2Lx6N93WvgnP6vM/s1600/desk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="480px" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IJGUrt8twxxU6geTLMUYDsh3GeXFzB746OPmZ8GHNA4ePV130VshwTHD9eRSxa76795qQuHHhLHnme6o5_uT9-Y1HFloQU6mN9Ufh4iBuXnZI4sugTA9r3flUHUy2Lx6N93WvgnP6vM/s640/desk.jpg" width="640px" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've been playing with florals a little too much lately, can you tell?</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-56179320934218396192011-04-28T12:37:00.000-04:002011-04-28T12:37:10.437-04:00Royal Wedding Printables<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcHIQQNq3M0MqA-7IyOKxahoXrZsUFxJhCm0HlBgp-gAhKGlXjng90bsjCfUrgKoq_U6pT6i_9W1niwUAsxpoXJVlWV8n2MkzK6zYFyhufyVnJgDfqMMtkJrgMKJ95oR_qoC2ma9yXDM/s1600/DSCF1949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcHIQQNq3M0MqA-7IyOKxahoXrZsUFxJhCm0HlBgp-gAhKGlXjng90bsjCfUrgKoq_U6pT6i_9W1niwUAsxpoXJVlWV8n2MkzK6zYFyhufyVnJgDfqMMtkJrgMKJ95oR_qoC2ma9yXDM/s400/DSCF1949.jpg" width="400px" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Unlike some enthusiasts, we won't be waking at 3 am tomorrow to watch the big event, however we ARE recording it so that we can watch it on Saturday while we have "high tea".</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Just for this event, I've made up some little flags and buntings to add a little Royal flare to our party.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Feel free to print some off for your own celebrations!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFw_8a60grJ44plucM1m44y3Nql_cM9c_Rko4DNh3MI_F9KEAAffpUMzpDkNZ0ScD0AaIf9aic7Bp0k8vmcz-yjgQFggGTjiJgFG8qunPY7yOrwMVGTX_nFvtxTIxBHXT28D6Kjy3Xtg/s1600/DSCF1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="640px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaFw_8a60grJ44plucM1m44y3Nql_cM9c_Rko4DNh3MI_F9KEAAffpUMzpDkNZ0ScD0AaIf9aic7Bp0k8vmcz-yjgQFggGTjiJgFG8qunPY7yOrwMVGTX_nFvtxTIxBHXT28D6Kjy3Xtg/s640/DSCF1953.jpg" width="480px" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Just click to enlarge, and print, or right click save etc. You know the drill!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia;">Then cut, glue, staple...whatever method of ensuring permanency suits your fancy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Flags...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFde_5ulhnKVoEILYKy26Xi9rZcQBhY14MKzFt5ZYoqp7WR-UKCHW5iHKlFb6GUS_7lvDb0B-McWeXdsMlkp95pSXtb2wHyRDWI3qrRhfPCt-XmPsIwGqbHK8mIejtaEmMVgvupluX-jI/s1600/flags+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFde_5ulhnKVoEILYKy26Xi9rZcQBhY14MKzFt5ZYoqp7WR-UKCHW5iHKlFb6GUS_7lvDb0B-McWeXdsMlkp95pSXtb2wHyRDWI3qrRhfPCt-XmPsIwGqbHK8mIejtaEmMVgvupluX-jI/s400/flags+copy.jpg" width="308px" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Buntings</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr_thbD5UV2nuMCY50JS95UYBl_ENRd22IXOibDMtLz7AAidihAm8VErlhz6Y8z38KA58IBoZ7SMYNthItbCqvMycNqXFO_QkdmL8QZzPmZb5E5fERFQN1FY429qP8hgVM2i2A1eZgxY/s1600/buntings+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="400px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGr_thbD5UV2nuMCY50JS95UYBl_ENRd22IXOibDMtLz7AAidihAm8VErlhz6Y8z38KA58IBoZ7SMYNthItbCqvMycNqXFO_QkdmL8QZzPmZb5E5fERFQN1FY429qP8hgVM2i2A1eZgxY/s400/buntings+copy.jpg" width="308px" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Have a marvey celebration, daahlings!</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-39950044324315410702011-04-27T21:41:00.001-04:002011-04-27T21:42:30.624-04:00A sneak peek at some new spring prints...<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="true" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" height="391px" src="http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222843_181604628558561_100852543300437_484317_8061360_n.jpg" width="400px" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">We've had nothing but rain here for the last few weeks...which has left a lot of time for painting, and dreaming about spring! </div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="true" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" height="337px" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/217688_181604651891892_100852543300437_484318_5181053_n.jpg" width="400px" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="false" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" height="640px" src="http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/229788_181606298558394_100852543300437_484336_940899_n.jpg" width="465px" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">I feel like these poor little birds are playing the waiting game..."hurry up tree, grow some leaves!"</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="false" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" height="400px" src="http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/216010_10150570994740122_613525121_18557734_3599417_n.jpg" width="323px" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">Was missing my southern family members when I painted this.</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="false" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" height="320px" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/229908_181604595225231_100852543300437_484316_1847671_n.jpg" width="400px" /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">Fiona needed a brother...so I finally gave her one. </div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" aria-busy="false" aria-describedby="fbPhotoTheaterCaption" class="spotlight" src="http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/227457_181608685224822_100852543300437_484354_1939091_n.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">The Kansas Wheatfield-where everything always smells of warm sunshine and fresh red dirt.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">All will be made into prints shortly! </div><div style="text-align: center;">I've also got some new originals listed <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheMayberrySparrow?section_id=6889882">here:)</a></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-8866486908428378392011-04-13T14:35:00.000-04:002011-04-13T14:35:17.808-04:00Back<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NKETy7MffIofPanFyu8yokeshSVYM4n0RhjA2Owz0TvTHTcZsaA4nz1DeavRpDMxhdpKLyucZjAE6p988epiqmfhvs_qNhZrT87VcKyDaz0pP2n9BAKSqGSy8wrRZrSRkdfVRjX5raM/s1600/DSCF1742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="640" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NKETy7MffIofPanFyu8yokeshSVYM4n0RhjA2Owz0TvTHTcZsaA4nz1DeavRpDMxhdpKLyucZjAE6p988epiqmfhvs_qNhZrT87VcKyDaz0pP2n9BAKSqGSy8wrRZrSRkdfVRjX5raM/s640/DSCF1742.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;">I just noticed in this picture that only one of my office doors had "frost" on the windows..I still haven't finished that!!</span></div><div align="center" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: xx-small;">And, I should clarify, that's a TOY gun leaning against the cabinet...haha.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I apologize-I've been AWOL for the last while. A lot has been happening around here! Illness, house/bedroom re-arranging/renovating (does it ever end?)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It all started on Chinese new year. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We celebrate this holiday most years, sometimes with a little more enthusiasm than others. (We have several families of Chinese friends that introduced us to the festivities a long time ago, and we fell in love with Chinese cuisine.)</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Often, for us, the holiday just means making dumplings, chicken, buying 12 different kinds of vinegar and having family over. </span><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This year though, the boys really wanted to go all out. I don't blame them-after all, February is a really boring month, and little extra flair couldn't hurt.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0g6c-LnFW0CuhEzn73_gqRAbMnsrgvB6VRYGTfdYjAHIcmw_W0zmGraFJn-aVRaMaeAzRxaGpqJ96xGmFB0wmINFFXFG3yjTUChgcD0TRiFuI_zTYk65-IG9LhASOkzYAzIooxFTW_s/s1600/DSCF1731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0g6c-LnFW0CuhEzn73_gqRAbMnsrgvB6VRYGTfdYjAHIcmw_W0zmGraFJn-aVRaMaeAzRxaGpqJ96xGmFB0wmINFFXFG3yjTUChgcD0TRiFuI_zTYk65-IG9LhASOkzYAzIooxFTW_s/s400/DSCF1731.jpg" width="400" /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkEg_yiE9X5LyEOwM8kdYYjvQZpbAzKwqktarLWpD0jlylpToTiHsf4yj-dT3lGtuHSKxShhn3pgRWmrzOdSdLWy4-327ImBdc-7qHr0pBRNw8glNM4FtnTSRCAzei3MlhmkYwKKFjjE/s1600/DSCF1744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkEg_yiE9X5LyEOwM8kdYYjvQZpbAzKwqktarLWpD0jlylpToTiHsf4yj-dT3lGtuHSKxShhn3pgRWmrzOdSdLWy4-327ImBdc-7qHr0pBRNw8glNM4FtnTSRCAzei3MlhmkYwKKFjjE/s400/DSCF1744.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHEU_449hxFe47fLSsHQgvKZTiRLAq6xwT9yhZTS5wuBtTiY7IdGozOy-bqHVoB-yv5KSNHbKQnh-_3KbS0wqun_B8E0YBc4EIAmsQdLaLyccA4ZpEhFplpzCL6ol2oovpRvDcinMS8hM/s1600/DSCF1750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="300" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHEU_449hxFe47fLSsHQgvKZTiRLAq6xwT9yhZTS5wuBtTiY7IdGozOy-bqHVoB-yv5KSNHbKQnh-_3KbS0wqun_B8E0YBc4EIAmsQdLaLyccA4ZpEhFplpzCL6ol2oovpRvDcinMS8hM/s400/DSCF1750.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So I let them thoroughly decorate our dining room (which kept them busy all day!) while I prepared food for dinner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">That day, I also woke up with the urge to pickle just about everything in the house. I had just run out of my favorite spicy pickled green beans that aren't even available in Canadian stores. I was gung-ho to make my own. (I know, this has nothing to do with Chinese new year. Don't ask me why...)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I pickled the green beans, which turned out really well. But I figured, while I was at it, sterilizing jars and such, I may as well make some other things. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I found a recipe for Moroccan pickled oranges, and made those too. And then I started in on the garlic. I already had huge trays of peeled garlic cloves that I had just bought at the Vietnamese grocery store. ( which, by the way, is the cheapest way to buy garlic, in case you're wondering!)</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Uagl6xy8buEYqvELiSS_8o4zQr9DHx52mBbET_vxuTN-h_NsnELC6OCTYJETJp-0ZdkfjeLQvoOtfhdS7Uy2DZgp27JcGTH6ymjUDIaPd-Yh6_l7uN8GJvQVcBgC170_ERB5QyJkNtI/s1600/pickles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="290" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Uagl6xy8buEYqvELiSS_8o4zQr9DHx52mBbET_vxuTN-h_NsnELC6OCTYJETJp-0ZdkfjeLQvoOtfhdS7Uy2DZgp27JcGTH6ymjUDIaPd-Yh6_l7uN8GJvQVcBgC170_ERB5QyJkNtI/s400/pickles.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I found myself at the end of the day with more pickled fruits and vegetables than I knew what to do with! I ended up handing out the little jars as party favours. (I know. Not very Chinese!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Long story short, it wasn't until my head hit the pillow that night with a combination of happiness and exhaustion, that I began to wonder....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Why on earth did I choose an already busy day to get out the canning equipment, and pickle fresh vegetables, in February?? Why was it so necessary that the pickling happen that day?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sure enough...in two days, I had my answer.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img height="316" id="il_fi" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtUJkhxWFWelOezjLA_qh00iIr2alq6IBW0OO38U0KY6h6QSqZZxCUOIQuB_z5FvSfjT2CaEcogn3jhUR9Eib3g_40t38cyoq0Y-1ZtqC-Qyp5kHg18dAo6f4hbBQXuvhbXDWUjavBsUdS/s400/pregnanttest.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="408" /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Little did I know that I wouldn't be eating anything but tiny pieces of toast chased by shots of earl grey tea for the next three months. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The nausea is getting better now, I can actually eat again. I still have some major food aversions though.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Guess the last foods on earth I'd want to eat right now?! My all time favorite- Chinese (or anything Asian for that matter...) Go figure.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">p.s. I almost posted this on April Fools...but I decided that was just kinda mean.</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-32152225658068409142011-01-29T15:15:00.001-05:002011-01-29T15:17:42.761-05:00Nobody Likes a Bragger...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ey4wI5nCAz2PZgjC-k31LFNQrB4wFq3PtciI2QjmZ_k1mX6dmQfRV9E93jfGixagsDY5QbT8eP0e30mqdee2-8YXdlI6UOcAYuZyRQTI9eK4rOMz3Xo863UgzsA0VXeVNzQK6-rM43g/s1600/DSCF1727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ey4wI5nCAz2PZgjC-k31LFNQrB4wFq3PtciI2QjmZ_k1mX6dmQfRV9E93jfGixagsDY5QbT8eP0e30mqdee2-8YXdlI6UOcAYuZyRQTI9eK4rOMz3Xo863UgzsA0VXeVNzQK6-rM43g/s640/DSCF1727.jpg" width="532" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But I just can't help it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Look what I found this week, right here in a shop on my beloved Ottawa Street!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">(I knew moving to this street could be dangerous...)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I frequently stop by at </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=560468830"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Granny's Attic Treasures</span></a><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> just to see what wonderful </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">new find she has in her store.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I think it's safe to say that we've furnished a third of our house from antique stores on our street, and mostly from this shop alone. She carries all sorts of used furniture, some antique, some just well loved. And everything is so reasonably priced!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This is the table set that I have been literally dreaming about since I was a kid- I've always loved the era, and wanted a retro turquoise and red kitchen, it just feels </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">so cheery and warm!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Needless to say, my heart skipped a beat or two when I saw this table set. Our breakfast nook table was on the fritz, and I was already on the lookout for some new chairs, ours were falling apart on a regular basis. Also, the table legs had to be tightened on a daily basis. As much as I love Ikea, their furniture just doesn't hold up like the old stuff did.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This new (old) table set is so much more sturdy than the ikea one, no wiggling! (and twice as comfy:)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZad_r4XdoIUBFbJyvoXz_9IWn1s0h1nM1-RcarkjeeG1vRixIObQMRspH4-V5F-WagvFaPCvjvzzPZ76PkFZ1yi8HxLGGeaAomHGkmgWEEyLeIo7UQBQGyzVm2WhEnfWsx8yjh7DOjDo/s1600/DSCF1730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZad_r4XdoIUBFbJyvoXz_9IWn1s0h1nM1-RcarkjeeG1vRixIObQMRspH4-V5F-WagvFaPCvjvzzPZ76PkFZ1yi8HxLGGeaAomHGkmgWEEyLeIo7UQBQGyzVm2WhEnfWsx8yjh7DOjDo/s400/DSCF1730.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;">All we need now is a jukebox!</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-61322078862691213562011-01-26T02:34:00.001-05:002011-01-26T02:40:12.452-05:00Synesthesia, Dill Pickles & Potato Salad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGgocflO7qkuOvdGIhUvG9ZNemt3mf5YDEddJWUBWJChJ5riZbU02yYO_NyvuhjuVxvjxE_NNI14vRfoJNuwQMMdBF4tXRQF9XC6ufF9SrZp3Ji7T6mfe0_UwIELQIM_2Xx-BOehLas8/s1600/Untitled-1+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGgocflO7qkuOvdGIhUvG9ZNemt3mf5YDEddJWUBWJChJ5riZbU02yYO_NyvuhjuVxvjxE_NNI14vRfoJNuwQMMdBF4tXRQF9XC6ufF9SrZp3Ji7T6mfe0_UwIELQIM_2Xx-BOehLas8/s640/Untitled-1+copy.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I am a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia">synesthete</a>-but until a few years ago I didn't know that not everyone saw, thought, heard and tasted things the same way I did.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">What I've gathered from recent discussions with friends, family and even some fellow synesthetes online, is that if you are a synesthete, you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about. If you are not, you'll ask what tree I recently fell from and how many branches I might have bumped my head on, on the way down.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm participating in a study right now-a British research team is conducting a study on synesthesia, and the different types. I have several types, some are complete, some are incomplete. I'll explain more of that a bit later...</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My first realization of synesthesia was when <span style="color: #cc0000;">Mark</span>, ( my then fiance, now husband, yay!) had a conversation that went something like this: (I don't remember why I even asked...)</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Mark, how do YOU picture time?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: huh?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Like, in your head, what is your image of time?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: I don't know what you're talking about.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Well, when you're planning something-or remembering something, or just looking at a year at a time, or two, or all of history, or into the future, how do you picture it?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: Silence.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Mark?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: I don't know what you mean. If I want "picture" time (he even did the Dr. Evil quotation twitch with his fingers) I'll look at a calendar.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: I don't mean picture a calendar. I mean, how do YOU see it, without the Calendar?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: I don't.</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: How do you function? How do you plan? how do you file away your day?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: I think you're crazy. </span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You get the idea...this went on and on. This prompted me to do a little bit of Internet research-just to see what other supposed craziness might be housed in my brain.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">oh boy.</span></strong><br />
<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Um..Mark?</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: Yeah?</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: you don't by any chance..um..know what <span style="color: #e06666;">pink</span> tastes like do you?</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: what??</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: Or what it sounds like?</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: what do you mean??</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: or personify numbers/letters and associate colours with them? Or hear colours and tastes sounds? or assign colours to people you know?</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mark: No! I have NO idea what you're on about. Do YOU??</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Corrie: um...well...yes. Yes I do.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Mark: you NERD!</strong> <em>(I'm still convinced that he means this in the most endearing way. I mean, after all...he did still marry me, despite my quirks-And knowing fully well that we might make even quirkier synesthete babies!)</em></span><br />
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<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This led to me immediately calling my parents, sisters, best friends etc. I was absolutely shocked that my mother hadn't a clue what I was talking about. How could she not know?? I called my sister, <span style="color: #e06666;">Lindi</span>. </span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">"oh, yeah. I do that. What? it's a 'thing'?" (we've since compared how we picture time-totally different, I'm just comforted that I'm not the only one.) </span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We then together confronted <span style="color: #660000;">Dad</span>, and my other sister.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Dad</span> knew. He KNEW! He pictures time-and personifies some numbers...</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Then my youngest sister, <span style="color: #674ea7;">Elise</span>-she associates people with colours, and pictures time too.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #660000;">Dad</span> once asked my sisters and I what colour he was, and immediately, as if rehearsed, all three of us in unison said "brown". Weird. (we assured him that brown was pretty, not poopy.)</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Basically</em>-I hear certain noises or musical notes/chords, I'll see certain colours. No, I know that they aren't actually there-but it's very real. I don't know any other way to explain it than that.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Numbers and letters all have colours (almost. I have a few numbers without colours.)</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Some numbers and letters have a personality. I remember doing this more when I was a kid than I do now. </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Now, If anything, I get numbers and letters mixed up because often, they share the same colour.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">For example, <span style="color: #e06666;">3</span>,<span style="color: magenta;"> F</span> and <span style="color: #ea9999;">R</span>, they're all a pinkish colour. When I see any of these, I often mistakenly put down another pink character.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This does me NO favors when it comes to math, writing out addresses or reading out loud. (reading to myself I'm absolutely fine. Reading out loud though can be challenging from time to time.-Especially when certain words have their own colours....I won't get into that.)</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Certain smells trigger certain feelings, sometimes a sharp pain in my side, or the bottom of my foot. Certain colours trigger tastes. </span></strong><strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">(Purple can taste really bad-not at all like grapes!)</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And of course, last but certainly not least, the whole picture of time. This is so complex that I'm not entirely sure that i could illustrate it-although I think I'm going to try, just for fun. Because of this image of time I have (it's not really an image, it's a 3 dimensional, intricate, moving system) I have a <em>very</em> good long term memory-and can remember being extremely young. </span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Synesthesia can be hereditary, but doesn't have to be. <span style="color: #cc0000;">Zeke</span> and <span style="color: #3d85c6;">Reuben</span> each show a few signs, although I don't want to ask about it too much. It can be really overwhelming once you're made aware of how you're thinking.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Mark</span> and Mom</span> still don't understand the whole "picturing time" thing, we've all tried to explain it several times.</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, not too long ago, my <span style="color: #38761d;">Mom</span> walked up to my sisters and I when we were discussing this, <em>again </em>at a family function and said </span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">"I remembered something! When I was a kid, there were two girls in my class. They were sisters. And I don't know why, but one WAS dill pickles, and the other one WAS potato salad. No doubt about it."</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Maybe it's a little more hereditary than we thought;)</span></strong>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-27042712581508554792011-01-24T12:48:00.002-05:002011-01-25T13:19:19.772-05:00What I'm Reading: The Creative License<div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><img height="640" src="https://www.morebooks.de/images/product_images/9781401307/big/615717/the-creative-license.jpg?locale=gb" width="528" /></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I don't remember who it was that told me that I should check out "the Creative License" by Danny Gregory, but when I remember who that person was, I'll be sure to thank them!</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">While it's not very often that I struggle to find a creative spark (which this book is supposed to help with-if you struggle with inspiration, read it!) I do sometimes have a difficult time validating my time spent drawing, painting, even cooking! </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">Even if it's work that I sell, or dinner that needs made anyway, and even if it's time I'm spending with my children as we do these activities <i>(something that I strive to do- involve them in meal preparation, or create along side of me while I'm working in my own illustrations)</i>, I'll find myself saying "you should be doing laundry", or "you don't really <i>need</i> to be zesting lemons for this dish. Save time, skip it". </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I feel a twinge of guilt when I take time to do mundane things in a creative way. Why does making an extra effort to make things look nicer trigger guilt? Is it the slight amount of extra time that it takes? Or the the fact that I get enjoyment out of my job, and things that are usually ordinary, and often boring tasks?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I was raised in a creative household-these feelings certainly don't stem from my upbringing. My mother nurtured creativity like a very gentle gardener, with encouragement and little expectation or pressure- something for which I'll always be thankful. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">I also remind myself that God himself enjoys creation-and that we're created in his image. It makes so much sense that we would achieve such glorious satisfaction in time spent doodling, shaping wet clay, or even making dinner look a little more colourful than it absolutely needs to be. We were carefully designed by our Father to find joy and admiration of Creation.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">In reading this book, the introduction alone had more to say about the artist within than any other (non-biblical) book I've read before, and I thought I'd share a couple paragraphs that I found to hit home.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Our bodies are always turning one thing into another, transforming food, air and water into movement, sweat, offspring, gas. (Even when your body is dead, you will still be creative as you start to nourish the soil, beetles, carrion birds and fill the earth with methane.)</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you try to suppress that urge, you will starve, your bowels will become impacted, your joints will freeze, you will die.</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And similarly, when you suppress the creative urge in your mind, you become cramped, constipated, hopeless and slowly you die.</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All that creative energy an inextricable part of you, will be diverted into self torture, and you will create doubt and anxiety and hostility and stress and paranoia and anger and resentment.</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the end, you will see you can't really suppress your creative urge. As Jeff Goldblum says in Jurassic park, Nature will find a way"</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"When we continue to deny who we truly are and suppress our ability to create, we become crippled and shut down. Our minds grow narrower as we shut out anything unexpected that doesn't fit with how we've told ourselves the world truly is.</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We speed through life, wanting to get on to the next thing, unable to take pleasure in the moment."</span></b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000;"><b>"Ironically, our society tends to portray artists as dreamers. But those who suppress their creativity are actually the ones living in a dream. An artist is someone who sees and feels reality very intensely. Creativity doesn't mean must making things up out of thin air. It means seeing and feeling the world so vividly that you can put together connections and patterns that help to explain reality. It means you see the beauty in the world rather than trying to hide from it."-Danny Gregory, A Creative License.</b></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #990000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">If you struggle as I sometimes do, or are just looking for something to spark some inspiration, definitely take a look at this book. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, as artistically talented as Da Vinci himself or completely without artistic skill of any sort, this book is worth reading. It will cause you to explore yourself within, and challenge you to live your life more fully.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12px Helvetica; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;">This book is available </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://dannygregory.com/category/books">HERE:)</a></span></span></span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-86591671741787506642011-01-21T12:07:00.002-05:002011-01-21T15:14:32.097-05:00It's Friday, I'm in Love<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYe6QA2NbQ3gQdug9E-8_0GU30-iTe0kuutcz6jzgWSxs_cKCnmeadvrg33dV4n1oAHGl9XCy9rSQZvVssx7x6d8RKPXYtmaEITmn_EmVK1eV8MJFym9sEp0YsHpLSYneZ8JByho6T78/s1600/friday+i%2527m+in+love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOYe6QA2NbQ3gQdug9E-8_0GU30-iTe0kuutcz6jzgWSxs_cKCnmeadvrg33dV4n1oAHGl9XCy9rSQZvVssx7x6d8RKPXYtmaEITmn_EmVK1eV8MJFym9sEp0YsHpLSYneZ8JByho6T78/s400/friday+i%2527m+in+love.jpg" width="380" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">An interesting observation...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've been on etsy almost 5 years-and have not even once created a treasury, and I've been thinking, it's about time. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="font-size: large;">So today I created <a href="http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d39a7182f606d91a5b4a524/its-friday-im-in-love"><em><span style="font-size: x-large;">this</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span></em> Hope it brings you feelings of sweaty palms and a racing heart.</span> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000;"><strong>-in that good sort of way, of course-</strong></span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">On another, not so pretty note, this morning I regretfully stumbled upon <a href="http://www.regretsy.com/2011/01/19/new-game/"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><em>this</em></span></a> sweet bit of nauseousness.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?subCategoryId=JWLACC-NEW-HATSHAIR&id=20548319&catId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES-NEW&pushId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES-NEW&popId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES&sortProperties=&navCount=110&navAction=top&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=000&isSubcategory=true&isProduct=true&isBigImage=&templateType=" target="_blank"><img height="400" src="http://www.regretsy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/eora1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.regretsy.com/">Regretsy</a> is one of those places that I thoroughly enjoy- but I think I would die if one of my little creations should find a home there.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">However, this time, it's not an Etsy seller that has fallen victim to a public flogging, it's <a href="http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp?subCategoryId=JWLACC-NEW-HATSHAIR&id=20548319&catId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES-NEW&pushId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES-NEW&popId=JEWELRYACCESSORIES&sortProperties=&navCount=110&navAction=top&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=000&isSubcategory=true&isProduct=true&isBigImage=&templateType=">Anthropologie</a>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">Don't worry. I couldn't believe it either until I saw it listed there with my own tortured eyes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">I usually pay more attention to their "housewares" than anything else, but I was under the assumption that Anthropologie had a *little* more class than plastic dinosaurs that have been hot-glued to a dollar store silk flower arrangement.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><strong>but maybe that's just me?</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-size: large;">This is a sad sad sad day in Anthropologie love land.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-1397436273181815592011-01-19T15:53:00.006-05:002011-01-19T19:31:02.956-05:00Since Sliced Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Head phones hat. Lipstick red. Custom order" height="266" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.183266655.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
<div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Head phones hat. Lipstick red. Custom order" height="299" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.183266659.jpg" width="400" /></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-size: large;">These headphone hats from etsy shop </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/escaodesign?ref=pr_shop_more"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-size: x-large;"><strong>escaodesign</strong></span></a><span style="color: #7f6000; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></strong>are the <em>greatest. </em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #7f6000; font-size: large;">Just sayin'.</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-69685287061890315702011-01-18T14:06:00.003-05:002011-01-18T14:15:26.479-05:00Faux Bois Valentines-A DIY Rubber Stamp Carving Tutorial<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4s5Gwgs_HlA95kxRgSd1SQCZMDvEXiO98xUoSEbr8MgmE-lHIfGleIJHpdva6k2-Vv3vbEyJehbeZ05TVsBx3_-7MFwF4l6Aw7irivSCOiXy_fUoxDwIIRvCKwcBd0QwJt1cccoWl20/s1600/DSCF1677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4s5Gwgs_HlA95kxRgSd1SQCZMDvEXiO98xUoSEbr8MgmE-lHIfGleIJHpdva6k2-Vv3vbEyJehbeZ05TVsBx3_-7MFwF4l6Aw7irivSCOiXy_fUoxDwIIRvCKwcBd0QwJt1cccoWl20/s640/DSCF1677.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><strong>I thought it was about time that I posted a rubber stamp tutorial. This design might look like a tricky stamp to carve, but it's actually super easy. The beautiful thing about wood grain, is that there are no "rules"- So if you go off track, no one will ever know!</strong></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3GMvxPQG7xQzY1jL5qFk_Wgta-a0eukpIpA1q1MpIXCz1dI0S59SgTTdNSwGkZUykBd4b7ZVMc7sp61j5RqsQJgyNvvhgK_GzA0_debBNkh72lilciZVfaPZoFf8UiKqhw-k6_ahqKU/s1600/DSCF1607+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ3GMvxPQG7xQzY1jL5qFk_Wgta-a0eukpIpA1q1MpIXCz1dI0S59SgTTdNSwGkZUykBd4b7ZVMc7sp61j5RqsQJgyNvvhgK_GzA0_debBNkh72lilciZVfaPZoFf8UiKqhw-k6_ahqKU/s400/DSCF1607+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Aside from some blank rubber block (which I've just realized that</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">I've forgotten in my list-durrr), you'll need a few tools.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">1. Ink pad. (any ink pad will do!)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">2.Scissors. This is just for cutting your heart out in the end. (ok, I just re-read that. Not YOUR heart. You will cut out a PAPER heart.) I'll bet you never thought valenetines could be so violent;)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">3.A bone folder. If you don't have one, the back of a spoon or the </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">handle of a butter knife will do.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">4. A 4b (or softer) pencil. I didn't use a 4b, I used a 2b, and see</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">how light my lines are? They should be darker! Seeing as I've done this a few times, I didn't bother using my 4b.(My 4B may or may not have been holding up my hair at the time...)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">5. Xacto knife, or utility knife. Xacto does have a lot more precision though, so anything long that comes to a fine tip will be okay. </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">6. A small V tip Carver-I use a speedball size 1. You can use larger, but keep in mind, the smaller the tip, the smaller the lines will be.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">7. Clip Art. (which will be at the bottom of this post.)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">8.Chip board or card stock-your call! (or any other surface you feel </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">like printing;)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-_t5OMB9c9504pAutVSgEv47vhsNKIqcCDrDwzJCWQoqdNSzas5VIcnR7RHxraEBt4BVEI3lMAdNJ4oHP-HQCPRClTjNVtGHECRGN6mJfGOYo91DVc4aHtDdkyrfhNz8QEkaviXOEKw/s1600/1+and+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-_t5OMB9c9504pAutVSgEv47vhsNKIqcCDrDwzJCWQoqdNSzas5VIcnR7RHxraEBt4BVEI3lMAdNJ4oHP-HQCPRClTjNVtGHECRGN6mJfGOYo91DVc4aHtDdkyrfhNz8QEkaviXOEKw/s400/1+and+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Step 1. Print off clip art to your preferred size. Mine is </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">about 2.5"x3" .</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Go over the lines with your freshly sharpened 4b pencil.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">2. Once all the lines are covered in pencil, turn the artwork </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">over, face down onto your carving block. You can position it however</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">you like, just make sure that the artwork isn't hanging over the edge.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Gently rub the back of your artwork with the edge of the bone folder, until you've rubbed the entire heart onto the block. (This will feel a lot like putting on a temporary tattoo;) </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">You can lift the edges slightly now and then to see if it's transferred completely. If it has, remove the paper. If it hasn't, continue to rub the back until it's completely transferred. Be careful to hold it down with one hand while transferring, as it can slide around and cause double lines.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbuNCYL9LubJ0zuGtnnbIRQ1M1sxYA7RNqCFHhBnNUijAB14ZXjy9rXawUbiCZpk6NshPqi1140Q7SvaWpnva3xKTLcFXeOi-HjPana6eDvpkTnijgh6rnmn79C22ALCEJbVcAi2RkrE/s1600/3+and+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHbuNCYL9LubJ0zuGtnnbIRQ1M1sxYA7RNqCFHhBnNUijAB14ZXjy9rXawUbiCZpk6NshPqi1140Q7SvaWpnva3xKTLcFXeOi-HjPana6eDvpkTnijgh6rnmn79C22ALCEJbVcAi2RkrE/s400/3+and+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">3. Now that your design is transferred, use your xacto and cut your design from your carving block. Not exactly on the outside line, just roughly, to remove it from the rest of your block.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">4. Now that the heart is separated from the rest of the block and easier to handle, you can carefully cut around the shape of the heart. If you really want to, you could do this at the very end-I always do it before hand though, because I find it easier to maneuver while carving this way.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVJlplbcwfWP2C2ZAJwGVAgrVOyepuIwjZCt-HRo6OS6eAX0S1HjNTRZi5YxcNEdAbQ9KuNEtDXg2SiqcdXJ_Ag8jYwpkjs9MYQBBd2vKKZRUBMKa02LIqc_h0BVJFJlscDpmez6u1uc/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVJlplbcwfWP2C2ZAJwGVAgrVOyepuIwjZCt-HRo6OS6eAX0S1HjNTRZi5YxcNEdAbQ9KuNEtDXg2SiqcdXJ_Ag8jYwpkjs9MYQBBd2vKKZRUBMKa02LIqc_h0BVJFJlscDpmez6u1uc/s640/5.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">5. This is the fun part! Now you get to take your carver and carefully cut each pencilled line. Gently push the blade away from you, keeping the tip of the blade almost parallel with the surface of the carving block. Keep in mind, the deeper you cut, the wider your lines will be.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">If you wanted to, you could make a reverse image, and remove all the empty space for a completely different look. (That would be a bit trickier.) But If you're up for a challenge, have at it!</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QMS9GRQNFNoNToIMQaR5sZpanmdXL3oFZSQX2-iXvdAuyJhnBBFFCyn8Qf4DXcub3Ixl-M1yPct9iJGQZQ3LLOUwygVXvoBdkfuJ0SgaRuLCPIkESCIv5IeZPGOX6ITh1Xooe8vBcrE/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QMS9GRQNFNoNToIMQaR5sZpanmdXL3oFZSQX2-iXvdAuyJhnBBFFCyn8Qf4DXcub3Ixl-M1yPct9iJGQZQ3LLOUwygVXvoBdkfuJ0SgaRuLCPIkESCIv5IeZPGOX6ITh1Xooe8vBcrE/s640/6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">6. This step is optional. I chose to remove the middle square from my heart, and leave the space empty. If you don't want to do this, that's a-ok. It will just mean that in the end, this part will be inked, rather than blank.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">You could use a larger tip for this too, and cut deeper, if you want fewer lines to show up in the end. I rather like the added texture though, it adds an extra "hand carved" feel to the print in the end, so I continued to use my small tip for this. </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4jD86g45N9YUw_Ii5IRK8OSWC-6u4Kq6UDDiQEA4gBgacDFqWdbSropdsDONfEOaXZ1WkWZGY_Sa2hA01tpxI9hlISbJrvoQ9Hl_8shMfwS1xodldMEbu_nlXjDh9jzZhY3t1M5SNvY/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie4jD86g45N9YUw_Ii5IRK8OSWC-6u4Kq6UDDiQEA4gBgacDFqWdbSropdsDONfEOaXZ1WkWZGY_Sa2hA01tpxI9hlISbJrvoQ9Hl_8shMfwS1xodldMEbu_nlXjDh9jzZhY3t1M5SNvY/s640/7.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">7. Now you get to use your stamp! I find that with stamps this large, it's easier to do things a little backwards. </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Rather than pressing the stamp onto the pad, press the stamp pad on to the stamp. This way you can see if it's thoroughly inked, if the ink is even, and you don't get near as much ink on your fingers;)</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qhcF7q06URR8hF81jv4MqiPMlhEnLelZltOpRgVNBnUKteI46dyu_31CzQwRZz03cotauhDz-ARMF7OqY6NKduPbd5O3LHD9NbLHW95BWMHMX1CypxoYSGthlz904_HP4l8t8V0GPVs/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3qhcF7q06URR8hF81jv4MqiPMlhEnLelZltOpRgVNBnUKteI46dyu_31CzQwRZz03cotauhDz-ARMF7OqY6NKduPbd5O3LHD9NbLHW95BWMHMX1CypxoYSGthlz904_HP4l8t8V0GPVs/s640/8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">8. Stamp your hearts out onto your card stock. As you stamp, be sure to press all over the back of your stamp, to get a completely transferred image. </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">That's one of the beauties of hand carved stamps; you can selectively press different areas of the stamp at a time.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">If you didn't want the middle hollowed out square to show up at all, you wouldn't <em>have</em> to press there.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Last but not least, cut your hearts out and voila! I punched a hole in mine and strung some sweet bakers twine through them and used them as tags. You could play cupid though, if you wanted to, and hand them out to your truly best-est buddies.</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">If you have any questions, feel free to email me through my stamp <a href="http://corrabelle.etsy.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">shop</span></a>, where I'll soon be carrying stamp carving supplies!</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Courier New;">Enjoy! </span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLq-SrGBqO20T9KWXae4AbnSjDEuHhoeov_mVEeDcZyaqdtx8XLJ9XxtbQ8F6KVgHhmZtWylGqBBCLQvqzaC6OoUu1jDymBv4Xm0QvYo6s2UgBN8iNmGOvlGjAg6_UpvLL-jiiVw7f9q0/s1600/valentines+day+heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLq-SrGBqO20T9KWXae4AbnSjDEuHhoeov_mVEeDcZyaqdtx8XLJ9XxtbQ8F6KVgHhmZtWylGqBBCLQvqzaC6OoUu1jDymBv4Xm0QvYo6s2UgBN8iNmGOvlGjAg6_UpvLL-jiiVw7f9q0/s320/valentines+day+heart.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><strong>xo</strong></span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-43628903812116206822011-01-17T17:21:00.002-05:002011-01-17T20:29:24.630-05:00Stylish Blogger Award<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=16542651&id=613525121" id="myphotolink" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="400" id="myphoto" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs067.snc6/167733_10150391318720122_613525121_17168652_5460689_n.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My "twin" sister and I with some "<a href="http://themayberrysparrow.blogspot.com/2011/01/yarn-bombing.html">yarn bombing</a>" at <a href="http://www.jamesstreetnorth.ca/blog/">James Street North Art Crawl</a>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(we aren't twins-in fact, we don't think we look alike at all. But People say we do, and unfortunately</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">we accidentally wear the same thing on many occasions. On this evening, I think we both looked like gnomes!)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Much to my merriment, I've been granted the "Stylish Blogger Award" by Laura, of <a href="http://blueterracotta.com/">BlueTerracotta</a>. Thanks Laura!</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, I'm supposed to tell you seven things about myself, and then present fifteen wonderful blogs with the Stylish Blogger Award.</div><br />
So let's see...<br />
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1. My absolute favorite tea is Earl Grey. I like it hot, or iced, unsweetened.<br />
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2. I have a collection of dead bees, moths and butterflies that I've collected from various places. (window sills etc). I use them to refer to when illustrating insects.<br />
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3. I never know what to say when people ask me where I'm from. In Kansas, they say I sound "Canadian". Yet here, I'm told I sound like a hillbilly. I can live with both. (however, I wasn't born in Kansas OR in Canada, I was born in Illinois.)<br />
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4. I can barely break a sweat (even after running for miles...) It's a curse. This means that I get extremely high fevers when ill.<br />
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5. I'd rather have 10 more babies naturally, than to ever have to have a cavity drilled again. I kid you not, Novocaine has no effect on me what so ever.<br />
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6. I love growing and canning my own vegetables, and getting soil under my fingernails.<br />
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7. I'm related to Buffalo Bill Cody. (He was my great somethin' or other.) yeehaw!<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So, here are 15 blogs that I think rock-to which I will now pass this award:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blueterracotta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Stylish-Blogger-88x88.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; height: 100px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 88px;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-375" height="88" src="http://blueterracotta.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Stylish-Blogger-88x88.jpg" title="Stylish-Blogger" width="88" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">MissedConnections</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://beehousehives.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">TheBeeHouseHives</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">LetterWritersAlliance</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">PosieGetsCozy</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">MennoniteGirlsCanCook</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://marjorietaylor.typepad.com/my_weblog/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">TheCook'sAtelier</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tardyhomemaker.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">TardyHomemaker</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mamauktalesfromwales.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">BorderStories</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.centsationalgirl.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">CentsationalGirl</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://giveagirlafig.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">GiveAGirlAFig</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.houseonhillroad.com/my_weblog/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">HouseOnHillRoad</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://inaluxe.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Inaluxe</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://jayniemoon.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Jayniemoon</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">AnnaMariaHorner</span></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deesullivan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">OurLittleLoveNest</span></a><br />
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Added For Felicity: (see comments)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP297Lrvz9VoKO8V3oPub3E2KfygBe1MrOMWgiLyWiXFutssYSv_fcqTSukCD8pw7YW4_dwxCt3LvSvAlTpF5p00ivihfffR4NexysRWao44g4DGdAU8hGYaj41wLfoWF5WFppnI2crRw/s1600/lyman+cody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP297Lrvz9VoKO8V3oPub3E2KfygBe1MrOMWgiLyWiXFutssYSv_fcqTSukCD8pw7YW4_dwxCt3LvSvAlTpF5p00ivihfffR4NexysRWao44g4DGdAU8hGYaj41wLfoWF5WFppnI2crRw/s640/lyman+cody.jpg" width="443" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My Great Grandpa, Lyman Cody(about age 2) at Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I love his long curls, and his smart little outfit! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My son Reuben has a striking resemblance, especially when he was this age.</div></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-46068559681532496902011-01-12T16:38:00.007-05:002011-01-17T17:22:52.430-05:00Argh, Be My Matey!<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">I've always had a soft spot in my heart for old calling cards.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"> Long before business cards, people would </span><span style="color: #134f5c;">carry a calling card, to let a friend know that they stopped by. To read more about them, see<em><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></em></span><a href="http://www.daysofelegance.com/callingcards.html"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: large;"><em>here</em></span></a><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: large;"><em>.</em></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">Calling cards are what inspired me to create this size of valentine. I have a few of my great grandfather's old cards that he received as a child from school friends-not just for valentines day but for other occasions as well. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">They're beautifully printed and embossed in gold and silver, often professionally printed with the senders name. These cards are simply all together classy! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">I was really surprised to hear my grandmother explain that even children had their own cards for special occasions. How glorious!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">I started making a few for my boys, and they absolutely loved leaving these special little </span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">messages for </span><span style="color: #134f5c;">people.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">While these are much more silly and childish than the ones my great grandfather, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">"Master Freddy Mayberry" received, they're sure to be fun for both the sender and the recipient!</span></div><br />
<img alt="Petey Pirate Valentines -Set of 10" class="full" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_570xN.207774102.jpg" /><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Petey Pirate Valentines - in my </span><a href="http://themayberrysparrow.etsy.com/"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>print shop</em></span></a><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>.</em></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia;">Also, some sweet little birds for the slightly less obnoxious at heart.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia;"><img alt="Little Love Bird Valentines -Set of 10" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_570xN.207724745.jpg" width="570" /></span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia;">Both designs are created from my hand carved stamps. Rather than hand stamping each </span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia;">card (as I've done in previous years) I've had the images scanned, and turned them over to </span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia;">a professional printer. The colours are beautifully vivid-and this way I won't suffer from carpel tunnel syndrome from hand stamping each one;)</span>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-36192143153856887652011-01-12T14:16:00.001-05:002011-01-17T17:25:33.558-05:00Yarn Bombing<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hamilton is a weird place. We're a town known for a history in the steel industry, the Hamilton Tiger Cats (cfl team) and notoriously known for our steaming man hole covers. (really.) Our newest development is becoming fastest growing arts community in Canada. YAY!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We do have our share of setbacks, mostly political-you can bet that if anything good or successful is going to happen in Hamilton, the politicians won't have a hand in it. It will be purely spontaneous, and almost by accident. Our city councilors will and do manage to mess up even the easiest tasks and planning... I won't go into that right now though, as that would take hours.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Luckily, one thing Hamiltonians are really good at is spontaneity. We've got a few quirks here and there that are fun, but also rather odd. Like our dancing guy.</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've had the privilege of seeing this guy dance around Hamilton more than once. This guy has moves!</span><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There's rumor that he won't dance in the same spot more than once, so I'm glad someone finally has taken a video. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/eIXkfl-ZjVw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We also have a dancing "Cowboy". (by Cowboy, I mean a cowboy hat and boots, but much to our disgust this also involves a white leisure suit and a nasty big 'ol belt buckle. *shiver*) He sings, and shuffles around town, and will occasionally ask a passer-by for some coin so that he can buy his favorite kind of cheese. Thankfully, no one has <em>that</em> on video-that I know of.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Our newest curiosity is "yarn bombing". Now I know that our city isn't the first to experience this-I've heard about it elsewhere. But I'm really glad to see this kind of happiness around my city. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I keep seeing these little surprises popping up all over the place. I don't know who's responsible, but it's fantastic. And especially when it was over Christmas! What could be more festive than a tree wearing a sweater?</span><br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554286821550630386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOSHfjKcEoZfGHECFDRt5ZLhwbMVyUNxqpHiXgyX2xAO5Mw4dpvd229YtT3cjF0-3RPI6DIFaoclrdnn7p45jctp2V2dLy0Yv4UrnZJeYcbBlz4TiymjsM3DtKMwLQi_JLYlJF_clgo4/s800/photo.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551711870514088930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigz-PWb5OPWXiMbZ6Or5xGEE855vBoDToDK2VYcapVeWtEL9o2SV01XPHsEqmTpxwRTgvG3DprRDkuuCVyF73ANN5Hu6K3lgwBUN60N5ZJJ6uASW9ieqPn5azmIWZzeT_tabb1hFg3wc0/s800/209618004.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547663738024687378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFC9dV9NhFbSQyM7D-ZXt-MUQCVi-R4AXqz3uwKTJEvf5ddk2O5Tw_nyD0xLDLyxyMEsbw1yVjnxK1yOUFTpUqiDvCYK_OY8u-AIMH2CtXrvUBp11pjzjmAWVO4hlwR17whdLtd3z_kWw/s800/IMG_4334_resize.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547663334652317698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-1W_k1qaOGkcKilCE0ASin8qu7_Eqx6TVln0g6g3dOQJ9LpjlloNF3bYi9Ekyn3SWhaXH5TSItkrELb5jbddkcW_c55mZ66LQLlbHlXaWUB4jenukfT1hS2VRvRmLQfHAp4NFD8FPo5U/s800/2-1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547663320296289522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMT6ZxTpsuMpwo0Chop3Do5qY5sObOjAnzdz5oul0M41CH8lbkQWxdnr7EBuVM12BLVN-icJ7gYaKf6DgV38rcOT8TaIG9QgPT9LsKJvAkLWePECXEDSXysrABYJkAO4F9R-BrSraLz5k/s800/IMG_4312.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547663316610208770" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJVZudBAvjXS8qGEfqEYtcLfoKlIFG5MX7ATtOu0VZ1BbxuVJ2sRfXWkUKYS91u0QzKoF4k0LF8r8WGH96yxWuxmSMTpfaYBx86fWcamRN1X2a7Luan-EZJ6lbnXXUvxPiUXV5qFxdJV4/s800/IMG_4329.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photos courtesy of the sweethearts of the </span><a href="http://www.whiteelephantvintage.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">White Elephant</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> . (the most fun little shop in downtown Hamilton.)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm constantly on the lookout now-I can't wait to see what other little nutty tricks our city has up it's sleeves!</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-66700367244837140422010-12-13T15:38:00.002-05:002010-12-13T15:41:10.609-05:00St. Lucia Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In spirit of <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy's_Day">St. Lucia day</a></em>, I've chosen some of my most favorite scandinavian style items to feature!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Scandinavian Snowflake Gift Tags" height="239" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_570xN.200918044.jpg" width="320" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64062454/scandinavian-snowflake-gift-tags?ref=sr_list_34&ga_search_query=scandinavian+christmas&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">violuepaperarts</span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="gnome tea towel" height="265" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.200755115.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64021155/gnome-tea-towel?ref=sr_list_37&ga_search_query=scandinavian+christmas&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">handyjan</span></a><span style="color: #783f04;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Hand Screen Printed Patterned Stocking" height="400" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_570xN.200432864.jpg" width="300" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/63936735/hand-screen-printed-patterned-stocking?ref=sr_list_15&ga_search_query=scandinavian+christmas&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=2&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">robinandmould</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Daisy bird cushion in teal on white linen" height="400" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.176607039.jpg" width="325" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/56965151/daisy-bird-cushion-in-teal-on-white?ref=sr_list_1&ga_search_query=scandinavian&ga_search_type=category&category=housewares&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade&filter%5B1%5D=housewares"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">roddyandginger</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Meander original silkscreen print - mustard green Edition of 35" height="400" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_570xN.185264261.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/59552839/meander-original-silkscreen-print?ref=sr_list_16&ga_search_query=scandinavian&ga_search_type=category&category=housewares&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade&filter%5B1%5D=housewares"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">mengseldesign</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Fabric Tubby for Sharing, Snacking or Storage- Scandinavian Style Hearts" height="300" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_570xN.146764470.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/48039492/fabric-tubby-for-sharing-snacking-or?ref=sr_list_3&ga_search_query=scandinavian+bowl&ga_search_type=category&category=housewares&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade&filter%5B1%5D=housewares"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">tialys</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Swedish Branch Candle (Grenljus)" height="400" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_570xN.191711686.jpg" width="390" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/61473587/swedish-branch-candle-grenljus?ref=sr_list_2&ga_search_query=scandinavian&ga_search_type=category&category=candles&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade&filter%5B1%5D=candles"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">abelcarver</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Pair of Mustard Yellow Dining Chairs" height="400" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_570xN.196975372.jpg" width="300" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/63017439/pair-of-mustard-yellow-dining-chairs?ref=sr_list_7&ga_search_query=ikea&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=4&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">minthome</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Handmade Messenger/Diaper Bag - Nouveau Blossom- Made to Order" height="327" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_570xN.147149121.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/48155444/handmade-messengerdiaper-bag-nouveau"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">BCharmer</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Mid Century Danish Teak Chair with Aqua Seat" height="400" src="http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_570xN.201603996.jpg" width="300" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64239615/mid-century-danish-teak-chair-with-aqua?ref=sr_list_7&ga_search_query=scandinavian&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=vintage"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">mostazaseed</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Scandinavian Christmas Candle Holders" height="387" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.200802799.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/64033595/scandinavian-christmas-candle-holders?ref=sr_list_34&ga_search_query=scandinavian&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=vintage"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">sweetina</span></a></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Scandinavian style Floorcloth" height="266" src="http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_570xN.182300975.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/58664210/scandinavian-style-floorcloth?ref=sr_list_22&ga_search_query=scandinavian+rug&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">SimonysArts</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Organic cotton dala horse tea towel red" height="309" src="http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_570xN.196711421.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/62900631/organic-cotton-dala-horse-tea-towel-red?ref=sr_list_17&ga_search_query=scandinavian+table&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">LoveSal</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img alt="Tiny Ingemar Swedish Horse Rubber Stamp" height="400" src="http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_570xN.195402562.jpg" width="327" /></span><span style="color: #783f04;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Last but not least, My own <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/62573039/tiny-ingemar-swedish-horse-rubber-stamp">dalarna horsie</a>! I've used him on a lot of Christmas ornaments and wrapping paper!! He looks extra handsome on felt;)</span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #783f04;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6tVXZGogNzeA27oO131kxMi2A_9NDLP9VU1MnIw1hNE23da5d82iS5SZ_8F-hRq9l4jxSAl-uxrF79VdvcJbVT0L3rtoKCQO4kbZ5PAF4gyyLnh_LkqgXmUPY-0GZKAh4Iz-zW0x51k/s1600/lucia+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6tVXZGogNzeA27oO131kxMi2A_9NDLP9VU1MnIw1hNE23da5d82iS5SZ_8F-hRq9l4jxSAl-uxrF79VdvcJbVT0L3rtoKCQO4kbZ5PAF4gyyLnh_LkqgXmUPY-0GZKAh4Iz-zW0x51k/s320/lucia+day.jpg" width="206" /></a></span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #783f04;">(an old pic my mom had of me doing the st. Lucia day routine-obviously we never took it very seriously as I think that it was the advent wreath that we used, and I was still in my work uniform...)</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-86143220625569749602010-12-13T15:38:00.000-05:002010-12-13T15:38:10.102-05:00Christmas - Santa Lucia Sweden<iframe frameborder="0" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/i2-Q_ObdE-4?fs=1" width="425"></iframe><br />
For those of you who were wondering... "what the heck?" Why does<br />
Corrabelle have a picture with candles on her head?Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-58973689257739723312010-12-09T16:35:00.000-05:002010-12-09T16:43:07.645-05:00Mrs. Wilson's Brood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif57MXz7GfsLN0CSlqFdRsKRsQ7AcFGF9Zr0WUX3e9krLldaKOUKA17Of4itZm-wdPir0LTUpKtPm6oVFheLMjWu_4jgJzNvrDWNhq98p8xxjY8PZjfQV8svFOlqzDvN0-bkaAuWoiW7Y/s1600/full+size+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif57MXz7GfsLN0CSlqFdRsKRsQ7AcFGF9Zr0WUX3e9krLldaKOUKA17Of4itZm-wdPir0LTUpKtPm6oVFheLMjWu_4jgJzNvrDWNhq98p8xxjY8PZjfQV8svFOlqzDvN0-bkaAuWoiW7Y/s400/full+size+cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Just sharing a new original watercolor that I've listed in my </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/63995615/mrs-wilsons-brood-original-watercolor"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><em>shop</em></span></a><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">- based on the tragedy of Mrs. Wilson.</span></div><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Mrs. Wilson, you see, was our finch (or rather my sister's) who had such a compulsive need to lay eggs, yet none of them ever hatched. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">However, she didn't seem to notice. She would simply carry on and building her nest.</span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> She and Mr. Wilson** would sit on their eggs, day and night, in hope that one might hatch. However, if an egg proved to be taking too long for their liking, it was tossed out of the nest and into the food dish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">**may Mr. Wilson rest in peace-we will discuss his suicide at a later date. It's much too soon to talk about it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Mrs. Wilson is now happily settled in at a retirement home though, where she may meet another Mr. Wilson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>A side note: If any of you ever does have a finch who is a maniac egg layer, do not remove the eggs from the cage and leave them in a dish on the dining room table for observation. They so closely resemble cadbury mini-eggs and can be easily mistaken by an innocent (and later very disgusted) passer-by. Please don't risk it. I speak from experience.</em></span>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-89672378775584727732010-12-07T21:50:00.000-05:002010-12-07T21:50:18.151-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hbDwrUIifWLKU7UeBrowpeCOsOelhitPA4Tajdai8UMzajZcUFDXs3mlcSrIchZoyWw3URFyYQ1exomyQiMvLl5sklgNKm_hi0QXANOvLQc7GD1dUsE3pfWfxl0JbXd73L8QT3lbdnA/s1600/hanukkah+2010+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hbDwrUIifWLKU7UeBrowpeCOsOelhitPA4Tajdai8UMzajZcUFDXs3mlcSrIchZoyWw3URFyYQ1exomyQiMvLl5sklgNKm_hi0QXANOvLQc7GD1dUsE3pfWfxl0JbXd73L8QT3lbdnA/s640/hanukkah+2010+2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRi9k-E0792eHzALIsCasSQi3dZurCBOMhmGRgPGJNDnbceNzw0wacuhICoHrpz_tHtwW49piTOba3jSuT7d-eF9EMlTKkCqxqZ7SihomiyrxLEkEDBUGQqFYCaoYxLjpsGr-QzieMpcI/s1600/hanukkah+2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRi9k-E0792eHzALIsCasSQi3dZurCBOMhmGRgPGJNDnbceNzw0wacuhICoHrpz_tHtwW49piTOba3jSuT7d-eF9EMlTKkCqxqZ7SihomiyrxLEkEDBUGQqFYCaoYxLjpsGr-QzieMpcI/s640/hanukkah+2010.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Happy Hanukkah from us to you!</span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-27547798255892650402010-12-01T00:43:00.000-05:002010-12-01T00:44:53.768-05:00Watercolor winter wonderland<div align="center"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A quick post only to share a few recent designs for my Christmas cards being sold at </span></div><div align="center"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.allsortsgallery.com/">AllSorts Gallery</a>.</span></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6Aju40pMvHdWWM6W0QLdVXMW-B6XsnzhF4BOQuGRk_Cs_ZG_wMdIkxWxbNOARacX120cxF1TrNO9Lybqqz4xuTUeL6UCXUZdZs04_dZ48GIo2xPbHm1Rm1q_J1Tjg9MIitcrCDdX-2c/s1600/watermarked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6Aju40pMvHdWWM6W0QLdVXMW-B6XsnzhF4BOQuGRk_Cs_ZG_wMdIkxWxbNOARacX120cxF1TrNO9Lybqqz4xuTUeL6UCXUZdZs04_dZ48GIo2xPbHm1Rm1q_J1Tjg9MIitcrCDdX-2c/s320/watermarked.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KuvYM2Dtfm1hpWkVZUxBa-ENIwOOTOcbYqfrp3k6kX0FUamIR6viRsNumrSojVUefX9D9OcGmDlGXoMCZN42pfJKHatJyOJhpY_nexh2BjknyAfPO9syRX6Jl_9HOUMjLJamzX_T8Yg/s1600/watercolor+forest+small+for+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KuvYM2Dtfm1hpWkVZUxBa-ENIwOOTOcbYqfrp3k6kX0FUamIR6viRsNumrSojVUefX9D9OcGmDlGXoMCZN42pfJKHatJyOJhpY_nexh2BjknyAfPO9syRX6Jl_9HOUMjLJamzX_T8Yg/s320/watercolor+forest+small+for+web.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWkJ8tQZcCIkDdtlJkxXlp9pQOvRDA_yWR33jQ2m-NCEHPDZ055WjN2zCcS8c7HC_SzsGB09XpxsBF_1Qq9mMYTZL7cyrBZT70D_dK43smKUc5jaCD60K2Om7Xwmp-mA4cxHLpcyjICg/s1600/dottytree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmWkJ8tQZcCIkDdtlJkxXlp9pQOvRDA_yWR33jQ2m-NCEHPDZ055WjN2zCcS8c7HC_SzsGB09XpxsBF_1Qq9mMYTZL7cyrBZT70D_dK43smKUc5jaCD60K2Om7Xwmp-mA4cxHLpcyjICg/s320/dottytree.jpg" width="202" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div align="center"><span style="color: #660000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">White backgrounds weren't actually an intentional theme, which is kind of funny because I normally don't leave such empty spaces. I find it refreshing though:)</span></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-75430399906762361992010-11-09T18:57:00.000-05:002010-11-09T18:57:27.827-05:00Retro Ornament Rubber Stamp Giveaway<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><em>The draw has been made for the winner</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;">of last week's Giveaway!!</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><em>And the winner is....</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;">.................................</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;">......................................</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56QJ2XuhlFCkaVWR1lQ7dOiIFkhx8CTy0bIs_x2sV1gnhWhZWt33GRZFORHHfK4PcoqN5TaNMb4M1FX13Z1gY80duaZgMleXpNnWGKEYzacgYVXTjSb_Jhx68hb5T47F9gWdfOex2kBQ/s1600/froufrou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56QJ2XuhlFCkaVWR1lQ7dOiIFkhx8CTy0bIs_x2sV1gnhWhZWt33GRZFORHHfK4PcoqN5TaNMb4M1FX13Z1gY80duaZgMleXpNnWGKEYzacgYVXTjSb_Jhx68hb5T47F9gWdfOex2kBQ/s400/froufrou.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000;">Congrats! I'll be sending you an email shortly for your mailing address!</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000;">Check out Terrell's sweet site <em><span style="color: #660000;">here</span></em></span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-5947127103820480132010-11-05T19:03:00.000-04:002010-11-06T00:44:12.297-04:00Click your heels..<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've been trying to get my etsy art/print shop open again since being on vacation and I've been working on some new originals. So far though the </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">gallery</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> has been getting them all because it's a busy time of year and they're selling fast, but I'm hoping to have a few for my etsy shop soon too. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbO1Z_Pa0LSkLgSz4Jd_2UaI-fzjSnS9iLW6f5lAdNQyLQou28WjjqVWQ6gqajETIp_syq0umY2OZ4dyTtzgr1ojn1NOAVyGdav_Mkgc9gJDEtpqx-nUW4h3Z_SeuLUWAqueyHe6_nDk/s1600/small+matted+oz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="636" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSbO1Z_Pa0LSkLgSz4Jd_2UaI-fzjSnS9iLW6f5lAdNQyLQou28WjjqVWQ6gqajETIp_syq0umY2OZ4dyTtzgr1ojn1NOAVyGdav_Mkgc9gJDEtpqx-nUW4h3Z_SeuLUWAqueyHe6_nDk/s640/small+matted+oz.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today I was missing Kansas a little so I painted this one. It's pretty tiny, only 4.5cm X 4.5cm, I blew it up slightly so that you could actually see it. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This will be in the gallery on Monday, along with a couple more. I'll be sure to have some prints made for my shop though, and some new originals!</span>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-79292104174713247792010-11-02T16:48:00.000-04:002010-11-02T17:00:31.812-04:00Snowy Watercolours- A Simple Tutorial and a Memoir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUr4Vdn93ymcYm-UVcJwNyehLzmM8kQWn1d1VXZYD4La0Qa71z_KqlxWfjggI9L0hQn7Uo7bqUUckdNeNAVyosLqvimfkUWVZT28ndwrESmHffmvHAruYXsPisfVn7l1R3OibekMPTVZU/s1600/snowflakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUr4Vdn93ymcYm-UVcJwNyehLzmM8kQWn1d1VXZYD4La0Qa71z_KqlxWfjggI9L0hQn7Uo7bqUUckdNeNAVyosLqvimfkUWVZT28ndwrESmHffmvHAruYXsPisfVn7l1R3OibekMPTVZU/s640/snowflakes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's getting awfully chilly around here, and although I haven't seen it myself yet, there are reports of the four letter word. SNOW!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I woke up to a thick layer of frost across our garden and felt that dreaded confirmation that winter is indeed on it's way. Autumn is my favorite season, and unfortunately it always feels so short, especially here in Ontario. If I had my way, I'd still be raking and rolling in leaves in December. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I remember back in southern Illinois when I was little, we went Christmas carolling just the night after we filled our ditches with freshly raked leaves and set them ablaze. Of course, we rolled around in them all afternoon before they were lit. (oh how i love that smell!) And being small, of course, It was easy to bury myself from head to toe.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And then we moved to Canada, to a townhouse with one pathetic freshly planted little maple tree. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My sister and I would wait anxiously for those spindly little leaves to finally drop. We'd make a little pile and attempt to jump in them, but who were we kidding?</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">If we had actually allowed ourselves to fall freely into this poor excuse of a pile, we would have broken our necks!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And to make matters worse, we usually didn't get a chance to make the pile before the condo maintenance men would come around with leaf blowers and blow what little hope we had right out into the street. (I hate leaf blowers, by the way. They're loud, and pointless! A vacuum would make more sense!)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It wasn't all bad though. We were opening a church that had a lot of property, and a lot of trees. We'd spend many weekends there while my parents were fixing up the building, and we had a lot of opportunity to make use of the leaves there.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> A bit later, we'd move into a house with a massive yard that had a huge maple, and plant even more. Autumn was never boring!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And one thing that Ontario did have that we'd never seen before was more snow than we knew what to do with. We would spend entire afternoons hollowing out the piles that the snow plows had left in our front yard, making forts, caves and tunnels. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">For the record, (in case you were wondering,) I recently walked by the old town house, around this time last year. That itty bitty maple now towers over the house, and then some, and has more than it's fair share of leaves. I hope there are children living there and loving that tree.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">********************************************************************************</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> I was just going to post a fun little beginner watercolor tutorial in theme with today's snow, but it turned into a story. So we'll call this part 2!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;">This is a fun little beginner lesson with masking fluid. It's pretty fast, and doesn't require a lot of skill-making it fun to do with children too!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> LE COURS D'INSTRUCTION</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">(the tutorial. I think?)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You will need:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVfdTo0e27ojbusn8T8sGSiT4qQI4T3-wb_-UBHftYHr3kURHjjvkL0ycPugcQYNodKV-JaEeae1s-8vrx87zUdCZ8QrNd8QDG9aEp6Dq8EwvFSI8jO_0MksS0i1uZfNb3hK56XYzdkk/s1600/IMG_4433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="587" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVfdTo0e27ojbusn8T8sGSiT4qQI4T3-wb_-UBHftYHr3kURHjjvkL0ycPugcQYNodKV-JaEeae1s-8vrx87zUdCZ8QrNd8QDG9aEp6Dq8EwvFSI8jO_0MksS0i1uZfNb3hK56XYzdkk/s640/IMG_4433.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">I promise that i didn't steal this tray from Ikea. My friend <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleuntje/"><em><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Pleuntje</span></strong></em></a> gave it to me </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">as a gift because she knows I'm obsessed with the place. </span></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">I can't guarantee though that she didn't steal it. (However, I'm fairly certain that she bought it, as ikea was selling them for a little while;)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>A pencil</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>An Eraser</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><strong></strong><span style="color: #444444;"></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Paper</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">something thick weighted, preferably watercolor paper. I have done this with Bristol board though a couple of times back in an art class. It ends up looking a little different because it doesn't hold the paint the same, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if that's all you had;)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Paint brushes</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">some that you like, and some that are junky, that you don't mind possibly ruining. Dollar store ones will do! Even a Popsicle stick could work, with some determination and a bit of patience.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Masking Fluid</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">This is available at most art stores, and I've even seen it at Michael's, Joannes, and hobby lobby. So it isn't super hard to come by. Look for it with the watercolor paints.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Watercolor paints</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">even the cheap stuff will do for this project-of course quality watercolor paints are more rewarding. If you're doing this with kids, use the cheap stuff.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>An old Toothbrush</strong> for "splattering" (optional.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The first step is to draw out your large snowflakes. (There's no rule that you have to do snowflakes. If you want, do something else that's white. Like sheep, or stars!!)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I don't have a picture of my snowflakes at this point because I'm a <em>bad teacher</em>. </span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But basically, I drew out 4 snowflakes across the paper.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> If you wanted you could make paper snowflakes with scissors, and then trace those-and the little detailed cut outs in the centre as well!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Next, take the masking fluid. It smells like dead fish, I know. But it's worth it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">This is where you want to use brushes that you DO NOT CARE ABOUT. Masking fluid is weird stuff, it's a liquid rubber. It is possible to get the brushes clean later by using warm water and soap, but I wouldn't go using any kolinsky sable brushes with this stuff.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKr-3rSVUj0N_fg1yCg-dRz0OsAcbAwQSPVCIoStzS4e0C29ytAB4Nxh5cWCUnjssJaHl2w42HOESrUJ8UeAhmwBwZQGQ3YlqNZUiZpfO8NSLV2wWgJQiiAeafzzSh22K6fF8hZB9gvM/s1600/IMG_4439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPKr-3rSVUj0N_fg1yCg-dRz0OsAcbAwQSPVCIoStzS4e0C29ytAB4Nxh5cWCUnjssJaHl2w42HOESrUJ8UeAhmwBwZQGQ3YlqNZUiZpfO8NSLV2wWgJQiiAeafzzSh22K6fF8hZB9gvM/s640/IMG_4439.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Fill in every space that you want to remain white (so, all the "snow") Be sure to leave small detail in your snow flakes blank if you want the watercolor background to show through later. Don't worry about the blue of the masking fluid, we'll remove it eventually.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2pHxJU6JzbVQ_f0M6deoazhotXSRfEX15KFbON5mqyA7Qds05VY3n3kvxkKKo6Gzkcils08P8JuC1uXTL79f-mbTzUxOAG1Sl3m0wiGvXLH36vbEGW-JyZqsYTco5M3IKVOvFUFOmqgw/s1600/IMG_4434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2pHxJU6JzbVQ_f0M6deoazhotXSRfEX15KFbON5mqyA7Qds05VY3n3kvxkKKo6Gzkcils08P8JuC1uXTL79f-mbTzUxOAG1Sl3m0wiGvXLH36vbEGW-JyZqsYTco5M3IKVOvFUFOmqgw/s640/IMG_4434.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Make sure that everything is covered with the masking fluid. You may have to look over it and spot touch anything that didn't get coated. It won't be perfectly even, some spots will be thicker. It doesn't really matter, so long as it's covered.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Now, if you like, you can use an old stiff bristled tooth brush to make some extra tiny white sprays around the snowflakes. Just dip the bristles into the masking fluid, and run you thumb quickly over the bristles, over the paper. Of course, you could do this manually with a tiny brush, if you're really bored.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Now for the fun part!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgLIMaT9R7n_CtnDqRM1CStlrwUd9jQVWreYhCKsj4qrlAiHo55ksO_48ch-D6Ji2jCKCoqjVhRa5HDgpP6rr16PgVTXM2kKqMZNmtlYcJ_81YIKYhOlW4w57Rxiu1GSfwwrz74D3sT0/s1600/IMG_4441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="532" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgLIMaT9R7n_CtnDqRM1CStlrwUd9jQVWreYhCKsj4qrlAiHo55ksO_48ch-D6Ji2jCKCoqjVhRa5HDgpP6rr16PgVTXM2kKqMZNmtlYcJ_81YIKYhOlW4w57Rxiu1GSfwwrz74D3sT0/s640/IMG_4441.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNHmvTBKuovTdoqvcsSJUdQHX9Tj3ZwsXc7rwSMBFkUX9z8ax7Qi8eXQsVQlxOIaba3D9lGihr0MRI9mVkjz48xSBcwl_fGVdm0vagDIEElRY56Zt95B4e5qrpyEQ_bBR7ijYo-jnOuck/s1600/snowflakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 19px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 38px;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Completely coat your paper in whatever colours you like. (Yes, you can use your nice brushes now.) </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Experiment with different shades, and blend away. You can make it as dark as you like, or light if you prefer. You don't have to be careful at all to "color in the lines" as the masking fluid is doing all the work for you. You can paint right over it if you like.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Once you're finished, do whatever touch ups you like, a second coat, some different colors, anything. But then let it dry completely. I know, it's hard to be patient, but you really don't want to do the next step until it's fully dry, or it will ruin your work, and your life. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-small;">(no, not really, Just your work. AND it will make you sad. I don't want you to be sad!)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcpPE43CR1U6rAcFxxyEpzif9U7-mZVYM3KrndY8XlSS0Edg7sSgez9GgUhenA3P5gH0kg4epy5bsMM5vlVzWzk1q6Av8B7hyKxgZe4yopXACcsCbIkrLnq-PcBUW8VzI_npRUsSOotE/s1600/IMG_4444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="504" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLcpPE43CR1U6rAcFxxyEpzif9U7-mZVYM3KrndY8XlSS0Edg7sSgez9GgUhenA3P5gH0kg4epy5bsMM5vlVzWzk1q6Av8B7hyKxgZe4yopXACcsCbIkrLnq-PcBUW8VzI_npRUsSOotE/s640/IMG_4444.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">l e t i t d r y !</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6zbJIRAQntKCCgvcSQIXJ6xaM5meMKdyJt4bHwPgCFXxOuQYYkJPtmTm5Nanun83zVLSUDzkDJasGaE0RNl_S3KYSb4jPsyindZJr1BZ6hX4l5V_XyWBWXZ2akQ0kws2ABJwnN5Sn4c/s1600/IMG_4453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6zbJIRAQntKCCgvcSQIXJ6xaM5meMKdyJt4bHwPgCFXxOuQYYkJPtmTm5Nanun83zVLSUDzkDJasGaE0RNl_S3KYSb4jPsyindZJr1BZ6hX4l5V_XyWBWXZ2akQ0kws2ABJwnN5Sn4c/s640/IMG_4453.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ok, now that it's dry, this is the really really fun part. Remember when you were little and your great aunt had peely wall paper that you were just <em>dying </em>to pick at? Now you have the opportunity to make up for lost time.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">With your finger (not your fingernail, but your actual finger) start rubbing the edges of the masking fluid. (you can use an eraser too, if you like.)</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">It will start to roll back and ball up into stringy little rolls of rubbery fun.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Once you have a decent little edge pulled back, you can start to peel it off.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui3gVRgSyXP_dc487i3yyvwdF5Ahbu9ebOpunQpld9BGfOTFU9Tsh27tIBUldiEVX7oE03_Xc8zal3Y-vrhMRIXznt33bhzzDLjNHJxq3OlIqGigeJwhHlah8_idbpKaGhyZ_pzmACqQ/s1600/IMG_4456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui3gVRgSyXP_dc487i3yyvwdF5Ahbu9ebOpunQpld9BGfOTFU9Tsh27tIBUldiEVX7oE03_Xc8zal3Y-vrhMRIXznt33bhzzDLjNHJxq3OlIqGigeJwhHlah8_idbpKaGhyZ_pzmACqQ/s640/IMG_4456.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Peel off the rubber from all your snowflakes. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IdIEopEG_t-TrHfzF54K1Jss-TIVW4AuEDUpVVSYW3D6jeS2-yDrEvzjhMjc_47e6OUhx-6T0Rbc4eM9OtcbmTvQLBg9kBs0eW2rQkgNGLsYb0syKSSxRe8CZ7eqBD4_MNiE0ixLsqw/s1600/IMG_4457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IdIEopEG_t-TrHfzF54K1Jss-TIVW4AuEDUpVVSYW3D6jeS2-yDrEvzjhMjc_47e6OUhx-6T0Rbc4eM9OtcbmTvQLBg9kBs0eW2rQkgNGLsYb0syKSSxRe8CZ7eqBD4_MNiE0ixLsqw/s640/IMG_4457.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Next, get out an eraser, and begin to erase the little spray dots that you made with the tooth brush. You could do these all with your finger if you're a real glutton for punishment.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">Also, now you can erase any pencil lines that might have been hiding under the masking fluid. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">If there are any white spots that you didn't intend to be left white, you could touch them up now with a bit more paint. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia;">And now you're finished! This would make a cute Christmas card, don't you think?</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4034507932911050130.post-36483841011478040372010-11-01T12:03:00.000-04:002010-11-01T12:03:05.873-04:00Christmas Baubles Giveaway<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMeo5-CjH2FZWLduJtFhOdukobH0OwmVNUUvVazicD7jsoRYg7589HE3kmh4I8TpXG9ezW9hrtc2Qy7MSZUs5b6ZuzeYnStCz7mZ7mpfAfzCfTF3mmon9LSrQZyZPSgy8t-SOaKpKi4s/s1600/retro+ornaments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMeo5-CjH2FZWLduJtFhOdukobH0OwmVNUUvVazicD7jsoRYg7589HE3kmh4I8TpXG9ezW9hrtc2Qy7MSZUs5b6ZuzeYnStCz7mZ7mpfAfzCfTF3mmon9LSrQZyZPSgy8t-SOaKpKi4s/s640/retro+ornaments.jpg" width="536" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>I have some new retro ornament rubber stamps in my shop, and thought it would be fun to give away a set! There are no conditions for this giveaway-no need to follow my blog or "like" my </strong></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheMayberrySparrow"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>facebook</em></strong></span></a><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong> fan page-but feel free to do either if you wish.</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong></strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The only rules are: One entry per person, and entries must be made from humans only. No pets posting on behalf of their masters. (hehe.) </strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Open internationally.</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Contest will close at 11:59pm on Monday November 8th. The winner's name will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday November 9th.</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>To enter, simply comment. Good luck!</strong></span></div>Corrabellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16810880703089633226noreply@blogger.com48