lj friends, blog banners and pinkeep swap

Hello everyone! I'm so excieted because I think some of my "old" live journal friends have figured out how to link to me so my blog shows up on their friends lists! I hope that its working! I was trying to keep both the live journal and the blog, but I slowly left the live journal behind for the blogger site. having nothing to do with the company! I made quite a few good friends there! They know who they are! and hopefully they will be linking to me!!! (love ya girls!)

Did you all notice my new blog banner? My talented daughter Jennifer made it for me. I think shes gettign the hang of photoshop. she doesnt agree.. but I love the things shes done on it so far.. want to see all my banners? she made some and Kris Hurst made some..

the first three were made by the fabulous Kris Hurst and the next four were made by the also fabulous (My daughter!) .. Jen neroni be sure to stop and visit both of their blogs. I just love all my banners..

Now on to the pinkeep swap! the deadline for mailing out is quickly approaching. Hopefully everyone is done or about done and ready to mail! PLease Please Please.. remember to email me pictures of your creations. I really want to post them all at once. Arent you all exceited to see what every one made? I know I cant wait. I also cant wait to show you mine..

If anyone has had any problems connecting with their partner or if your running behind schedule, let me know. I hope everyone has had fun with this swap!

ok.. its shower, pj and ice cream time! nightie night!

Oh and if you havent left a comment in the previous post for my blog anniversary give away, take a sec and do it! the winner will be picked on friday!

blog anniversary giveaway!

OK.. finally.. I promised a blog anniversary giveaway.. and here it is a beary cherry little pinkeep!


I just have to say thank you to all of you that stop by to visit and especially to those who leave comments! I love your blogs and I have had soo much fun getting to know such talented and creative people this past year. people who dont blog, have NO clue! they think we're nuts.. but our lives are enriched by a different kind of friendship. We are inspired and challenged by the blogs of others and the comments we recieve from each other. Joining swaps is always fun and challanging.. I've made things for swaps that I would have never tried otherwise! Speaking of swaps.. thanks so much to those of you who have joined my swaps and also to those of you I've had the honor of swapping with through other's swaps. SO MUCH FUN!!
Ok, sounds like I'm giving some corny little acceptance speech of some sort! but really.... just Thank You.. for being out there playing with me!! big HUGS to all of you!
now leave me a comment and I will throw your names in a hat and pick a winner next friday!! Please share my giveaway on your blogs.. you can even post the pic if you want.. send some peeps on over!
Have a great day!
and to all of my girls doing the pinkeep swap.. mine are done and will be going in the mail.. tomorrow or monday.. I think I need address for amelia and sherrie.. please email me! Be sure to send me pics of what youve made girls, so I can post them! I can t wait to see what everyone is doing!!!
hugs! hugs! hugs!!

To all my very creative and talented blogger buddys! I need your ideas.. A dear friend of mine has breast cancer and just had a masectomy. ( she is doing awesome by the way!) We are throwing her a PINK party. I'm looking for ideas.. pink foods, pink games.. "boobie"prizes, invitation ideas.. we are all going to dress in pink, some of us I'm sure a bit over the top! I would love to dye my hair pink for the occasion.. but I wont, I wouldnt want to have to be stuck with it!! (I do have to admit though, I've always wanted to have pink hair! These are some crazy girls, that like to have a good time.. so almost anything goes.. I'd appreciate and look forward to any ideas you all have!
thanks girlies!

odds and ends...

Oh lookie what I recieved from sweet Sherrie of sympletymes. I've been having fun getting to know her the last few months. she is a sweetie! I also recieved the same award from the wonderful Sarah of gypsy mermaids life. Thank you girls! So now I need to pick 7 blogs to give thsi award to... that will be hard because I love so many blogs out there! I'm saving the rules and people nominated for the end of this post! so read on...

Look at these sweet little creations! These are pictures that didnt get posted yet from the miniature doll and bear swap! this wonderfully adorable tiny puppy was made by Nancy Dontigney and it went to the also very talented lori V. And Lori made this sweet and precious little bee bear for Nancy. Arent they the cutest darn things! I love them both!

I have been busy working on my pinkeeps.. ONe is finished! here is a sneak peek of one of the ones for the swap.. but its a secret! I cant show the whole thing yet.

I hope everyone is having fun working on their pinkeeps! Im hoping to finish up another one of mine this weekend. but I'm on call and I have a party to go to .. so we'll see. I do hope on call is quiet! its going to be too hot to be out working!

Ive joined a couple other swaps.. a vintage apron swap at Mica's and this is terrible, but I joined a "wand swap", but I cant remember where!!!!!

I do hope the person contacts me! I also signed up for the sweet and sinister halloween swap at artsy mamas .

And girls, I have in the works a halloween doll swap! Just think of the possibilities!! pumkinhead dolls, witches, black cats.... I cant wait.. but that will have to wait till the pinkeeps are done! HEy, if you think you might be interested in the halloween doll swap, let me know, Id like to see how much interest there is.. I think it has the potential to be a big swap.

so, on with the award info!

The rules for receiving this award are:
1)Put the logo on your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on yours

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

So I need to pass this award on! I can do that. there are sooo many out there. everyone who I visit deserves it!

Julie at equus villa

Carol at sassafrass and lulu

Amelia at sweet folk art

Tania at farmchicks kitchen

Ruth at whispering oaks cottage

CatieAnn at CatieAnns corner

Jo at oldflowers4me

Ok, so I chose 7 wonderful blogs. I easily could have choosen everyone on my list and then another 20 that I havent gotten around to adding to my list yet!

see yas later girls!

major irritation here! (how do you spell irritation anyways?)
why are some of my pictures X'd and blank? this annoys me very very much.. Its been that way at flickr too lately.... whats up with that junk???

in other news. ..
laundry and gardening day.... and hopefully a trip up the road to sit by the lake for at least a half an hour or so! and after this lovely 4 day weekend, its back to work tomorrow.......................... blaaaaahhh!
I was supposed to be a princess... and princess'es dont have to work unless they feel like it!
maybe I'll take pictures of my overgrown and very neglected "gardens" to post later..

oh oh oh ! and I finished one of my pinkeeps.. cant wait to show it!
ok must get busy!

swap badge and beach day

Look girls! Sandy designed a pinkeep swap banner for us! thank you so much Sandy! so please post it on your blogs girls! Hows everyone doing so far? I cut some pieces out today and didnt like the way things were going together.. so I'm changing directions a bit on mine. I cant wait to see what everyone is going to do!!

been to the beach all day today.. got a little more sun.. I went with my daughter bethany and her friend. we played in the lake for hours! well they did.. I was in for quite a while.. but they had me beat by at least an hour and a half! the water was beautiful! I just need to be at the lake ... like everyday... I love it there..

So here are some crazy pictures...of beth and I on the way home from the beach.. I didnt keep my camera on the beach or I would have taken pics there. It was locked in the car with my purse. we had a great time. the weather was perfect.. the sun was in and out of the clouds, which was good!
bethany is always singing and dancing in the car..... I would have posted a picture of her sweet friend erica but the picture came out terrible and I wouldnt do that to her!Hello girlies! boy is my hair white and wind blown in this picture! I Skipped all 3 graduation parties today! I feel a bit bad about it, but when we got home from the lake, it was too late... I made tacos for dinner, took a shower and put on jammies!! I really am supposed to go to the beach again tomorrow with a girlfriend.. but I think its supposed to rain! glad I went today! see yas later! got to go putter with some pinkeeps!

ahhh the weekend....

Today is the start of the weekend for me.. I have tomorrow and monday off. no big plans.. at some point I have to get grocerys and do some laundry.. but other then that.. its a whatever I feel like weekend. I do want to start my pinkeeps! and I also want to come up with a giveaway for my one year blog anniversary.. (which is now past!) I also have my vacation swap to work on. I really should dust and clean my house.. and I have garden work to do..
I am feeling a bit tired out tonight for some reason... or lazy. Now that I think about it I do have things going on this weekend! tomorrow is the sidewalk sale at two of my favorite stores, I'm supposed to go there with a friend.. Saturday I have three graduation parties to go to... dont know if Im going to them though!! and sunday I'm supposed to go to the lake with some friends! MOnday.. no plans.. well... we shall see how the weekend unfolds and just what I do end up doing. for now.. I'm going to make a grocery list, and drink some water.. got a little headache going on.. need to get rid of it!
Do you like my new little bear? I just finished her last night. thats the one I took to my aunts cottage and to the ocean! Normally I start and finish them in a day.. this one took forever.. I guess I just was busy doing other things! her name is rosalea!
I'll be back!

oh yes... we had fun!

we had a ball on the forth , spending the day with our dear friends.. watching 10,000 firetrucks in the parade... (there are way to many fire trucks in the parade.. and why????) I didnt buy anything at the craft show.. I saw a couple things I liked.. but couldnt imagine where to put them!

then in the afternoon we hung around the pool sipping pina colodas! and getting some sun. Of course we then feasted on wonderful grilled burgers and hotdogs and great salads and goodies. I ate too much.. but I always say, "it takes a lot of food to maintain my figure!!"

We stopped home to get ready to go to the fireworks.. I made two huge bags of buttered popcorn to pass around and off we went. Im posting two videos here for you.. one is of a minute or so of our fireworks, the other.... there is no picture.. but you will hear me laughing! I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it!

I was laughing at this.. I know you can barely make it out, its my girlfriends son.. he was dressed in black with glowsticks sewn on.. he was a stick man.. sooo awesome in the dark though you cant tell in the picture.. but the funny part was when the the middle glow stick came undone and was dangling between his legs! boy did I get a laugh out of that!

here is a better picture .. this one is actually from halloween.. (see the fallen leaves!) But the costume is the same, only this time his glowsticks were blue... anyways.. it was pretty funny!I need to share this with you! isnt she the cutest thing ever? I did a one to one swap with sweet Jillian. We swapped princesses.. I made her a fairy princess bear (posted a few posts back) and she made me the sweetest little princess of miniatures doll! she is perfect! I love her! Thank you jillian!

Speaking of wonderful gifts recieved.... look at these babies! from my dear sweet wonderful friend Brenda R who I work with. We have each other for secret pals at work.. not so secret though.. we fixed it, so we would have each other.. I made her a raggedy ann, but forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her! anyways.. arent they the cutest !? they are lori mitchell dolls, which I have quite a collection of. I love them!

OKeedokie.. I should get off this computer and get busy here somewhere. I'm hoping to get started today on something for my bloganniversary giveaway.. and also on my pinkeeps! so be sure to check back soon... heres a picture of Jasper from last 4th of July.. its jasper sam! Have a happy day!!

pinkeep swap and 4th of july

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Finally, Im getting a chance to get at the computer to post a new entry. I've been busy the past few days.. working on my altoid tin swap.. which I think turned out really cute....shh... its a secret though! .........making jam, working, cleaning , and tonight I had to make some salads and stuff for the 4th of july. We spend the 4th every year with our closest friends . OUr town puts on a craft show, parade, chicken bbq, several small music concerts through out the day, tractor pulls, and then in the evening the buffalo philarmonic plays and afterwords we have awesome fireworks ! we hang around in town in the morning and for the parade and then go to our friends house in the afternoon to cook out and hang around visiting and swimming. then we head back up to town for the fireworks. We always want to go to the philarmonic, but we're usually too comfy and full and end up staying til its time to get ready for the fireworks! anyways.. we have a great time. And this weekend the weather is supposed to be perfect here!

I made strawberry pretzel dessert, brocoli salad and develed eggs tonight. I also premade all the hamburgs, so it wont have to be done tomorrow! so I'm about good to go! did you ever have the pretzel jello stuff???? it is sooooo goood!!

so anyways happy fourth to my american friends.. and happy weekend to my international friends!!

NOw.. on to swap news:

There are 13 of us doing the pinkeep swap. a very managable group I must admit! it would have been nice to have a few more.. but this is a great group! I do hope I didnt leave anyone out. If I did... give a yell...and I'll fix it!

our group consists of:

barb , amelia , Catie ann , Fran ,

Cindy , Kathy , Sandy , Carol ,

susan , Sherrie , Jillian , Gina and Me

So girls.. go ahead and design and make a special pinkeep (pincushion) of somesort. there are no guide lines..use your wonderful creative imaginations.. I have several ideas of my own.. and cant wait to get started myself! mail out date is August 1st. so that gives us all plenty of time. make sure you connect with your partner and PLEASE make sure when you finish you take a picture and email it to me so I can do a postof them all! Lets make some really awesome pinkeeps and make everyone who didnt sign up wish they had!!! (hehe!)

well, let me close with a picture of these sweet little mushrooms/toadstools made for me in the toadstool swap by julie webb. arent they cute? I put them on a shelf and put a tiny bear under them.. Im thinking I might need to have a gnome bear! ok.. its late and i've got to go to bed! good night all!

one more thing... dont forget I'll be doing a bloganniversary give away... so make sure to come back soon! I hope to get to in sat or sunday!

so much work to do!

oh me oh my.... i need a maid and a gardener and a cook... and a personal trainer while I'm at it... and more time.....and another vacation!
I still cant believe that I actually was hanging 800 feet above the ocean from a parachute!! I must have really lost my mind on that vacation!! I havent forgotten the pinkeep swap or my one year blogversary give away.. but I really have work to do around here... more then i can ever get done... but I'll be back later!! hugs to ya'all!