Saturday, December 29, 2007

A Christmas Story


Well, I've lived to tell. A week ago I didn't think that would be the case! So much to do and it always seems like so little time to get it all done. But in the end, it's always so worth it. This is proof of that. See those happy faces? Lots of memories made. So grateful for all of my many blessings. Especially, my family and being able to spend time together. It truly is one of our favorite places to be.

Short post tonight as I'm still recovering from all the hoopla. Looking forward to getting back to a "normal" schedule in a week or so, but trying to enjoy this time to snuggle in and relax a little. Hope this finds everyone basking in the warm glow of sweet Christmas memories.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Waitin' For the Man with the Bag


Yes, still blogging. Still wrapping, crafting and other such nonsense. And trying to avoid more cleaning. I've made alot of progress over the last few weeks, but there seems to be a never ending list of things to do. That's how it is when your a procrastinator. Even the best of intentions come back to smack you upside the head for not acting upon them earlier. Oh, well. It will get done and tomorrow I'm focusing on my family and spending time with them. The rest, won't matter at that point. I'll just pick up the ball the next day.


And if you think I'm crazy for the litany of things I'm doing at the final moment, well check this out. Yes, mom couldn't bear that my tree was going topless! She made this star from paper and we glittered it together this afternoon while we made peanut clusters. TA-DA! instant heirloom!See? It runs in the family. :)


I'm off to wait for the man with the big red bag. We've been tracking him on Norad and other sites. Lots of fun with a nine year old who still believes. We've all been ordered to be in bed by 8:50 pm tonight! He just.can't.wait!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Wrapapalooza

It's crunch time, folks. If you're the one in your family primarily responsible for holiday happiness you know what I mean. I've been wrapping like a fiend and I'm nearly finished. Just two or three small gifts left and the wrapapalooza at my house will be over. Well, except for a few Santa gifts (ssshh, don't tell!).

I actually enjoy wrapping, but at some point you begin wishing you were through. Here are few of my favorites this year. I hope the recipients enjoy opening them as much as I did getting them ready. You can see I'm clearly a fan of the velvet ribbon!


Well, I'm off to clean up my wrapping mess. Now that I can check that off, I'm on to the many other items on my list. Just in case I don't get back here before the big day, have a wonderful holiday. May the blessings of the season be yours.
Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

O, Tannenbaum


Our tree is finally up. Thanks in no small part to Mom. I was so touched this afternoon when she shared why it was so important to her that we get our tree up every year (it's always such a struggle for me). Mom said one year their family had nothing at all for Christmas and my grandmother was frustrated and angry and didn't want to even put up a tree. Mom said she and her sisters and brother were really disappointed and upset. So that's why every year Mom stays on me until I get with the program and get a tree up. Several years, my sister, Marisa has picked up the baton even so far as to accompany me to the Christmas tree lot. Mom, thanks for reminding me what a privilege it is to have a tree with twinkling lights, beautiful decorations and a warm home in which to display it. Now it seems more official that Christmas is coming.

Let the merriment begin!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

My Favorite Things

Updated: photos added. Thanks for your patience!




I was driving to work this morning listening to my newest Christmas cd-Michael W Smith's, It's A Wonderful Christmas and as I noticed the geese flying against the grey sky, I was reminded of the song, My Favorite Things. You know the line, "...wild geese that fly with the moon on their wing"? In keeping with the favorite things theme, I thought I'd share of few of my favorite things this holiday season. I hope some of you will leave a comment and share some of your favorites of the season as well. ;)

  • Clementine oranges

  • Peppermint everything-have you had the Trader Joe's peppermint cookies? YUM!


  • Handmade gifts (the photo is my fav one to make so far this year)

Love all the sources for inspiration this year. Have you been watching Martha? She had darling make it yourself tassel earrings and handmade cufflinks and leather cardholders on her show today. CUTE! You can find info on the Blueprint or Martha's website. Love what she said about blogging today and how she interacted with her young editors.


  • The music of Christmas-loving my newest one by Smitty-all of his Christmas cd's are among my favorites, but this one is just beautiful. Also love old favorites from Jewel, Shawn Colvin, The Isaacs, Harry Connick. Music definitely sets the mood-makes grey skies soothing and comforting, especially after seeing them daily for a couple weeks! The Pottery Barn Christmas collections are wonderful, BTW.


  • Memories of childhood Christmases, but also memories of travelling with the (college) choir at Christmas-those were magical times. Our professor loved Christmas and it was a highlight to visit their home after our "home" concert to see their magnificent tree and vast collection of heirloom ornaments. This is the photo of Jeff I mentioned in a previous post.



  • Packaging-check your junk mail this time of year for lots of eye candy and inspiration. Are you collecting the stamps from your Christmas cards? HINT: anything in a cellophane bag looks great!


  • Cherry red, bright blue and green with silver AND gold-very vintage, but also loving soft blue and pink and white, always lots and lots of white.


  • Comfort & Joy E-zine-best thing I could've done to stay inspired and get my handmade gifts completed this year.


  • The Figgy Pudding line of doublesided papers from Basic Grey. Here are the pocket cards I made with some of those papers. I love this idea!



  • Martha's Christmas line at Macy's-have you seen the butterfly boxes/ornaments? Beautiful!


  • Velvet ribbon

  • The Holiday (my new must watch dvd this time of year), but also love Holiday Inn, Christmas In Connecticut and White Christmas.


  • Starbucks gift cards-pass the cheer!

And, if you're keeping track there are only 12 more shopping/getting ready for Christmas days left! It's crazy how we all dash about at this time of year, isn't it? And dash away I must--don't forget to share your favorites!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Holiday Vignettes




Thought I'd share of few of the vignettes that are coming together as I pull out our Christmas decorations. I've been particularly inspired this year by Rebecca Sower and Heather Bullard. I know I've mentioned them before, but you can check them out on their blogs HERE and HERE. BTW, Heather has a fantastic online store and you can purchase handmade art by Rebecca from her Etsy shop.




So fun to get all the decorations out each year. Like visiting old friends. Some of these are old favorites-special finds. This is one of my very favorites.
This is Sad Tom-seriously, that's the name the designer gave him. They are very hard to find as are the Billy Buttons snowmen that Dept 56 put out years ago. I always place Sad Tom near the photo of Jeff as a toddler crying on Santa's lap. Jeff's mom shared this photo with me which was in their hometown paper one Christmas. I'll have to share that later on, but you might be able to see a little peek of it in the background.

Just like everyone at this time of year, I have lots to do. The lists are long and distinguished. Much more than what I actually have time or energy to do! But I'm making progress-I about have the snowman project wrapped up-literally and now I'm on to make a few more things. Loving the homemade holiday idea, but it is time consuming, that's for sure. Super energized by my Comfort & Joy e-zine and so that's really helping to keep the momentum going. Still hope to get the tree up Sunday evening and some baking done this week as well as getting a family photo made and the accompanying cards out.

For now, I'm off to make brownies for my sweetie. Have a wonderful weekend!
P.S. Did anyone see the very cool idea Martha had on her show yesterday using newspaper or other paper scraps, a knitting needle, clay and diamond dust? Very cool. I'm sure the directions are on her website. I hope I get a chance to try it!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

DIY Stress Relief

It is only December 5th and already many are feeling the effects of the holiday rush. I was in the post office today and there was nearly a brawl because a worker had changed the number roll and the numbers were all of out order! Finally, someone had the bright idea to line up in the order we came in. Geesh! But, if you are already stressed and can't get from underneath your to-do list then pour yourself a glass of wine, make a cup of tea or grab the chocolate and check out a couple do-it-yourself stress relievers.

The first was sent to me via email tonight. Click on this link to Elf Yourself. You can load up to four different photos and you can even record a message with your own voice. This is hysterical! The only trick is choosing a photo that can be sized correctly. I gave up after awhile, but it is really funny.
The second stress reliever is the project from Day 3 of my Comfort & Joy e-zine. Take several glass Christmas ornaments (I chose gold 'cause that's what I had laying around) and remove the
hanger.
Place the ornaments in a heavy ziploc bag and seal closed.
Then proceed to break the ornaments into teeny tiny pieces using a rolling pin, icecream scoop
or other heavy object.
This not only relieves stress, but will leave you with beautiful glass glitter shards you can use on
all kinds of holiday projects. It's a two-fer! And if you have broken ornaments this is a great green idea for recycling them into something else. I'll share what I did with my glitter soon. And since this is truly glass glitter, be sure to keep it out of the way of children and pets.

Okay, I'm off to work on my own to do list. If you're feeling stressed I hope you'll try one or both of these. Otherwise, just stop, breathe and remember the reason for the season. :)

Monday, December 03, 2007

A Work In Progress

That is me-a work in progress. Always starting something and struggling to complete it or get it right and never quite getting there. In fact, I feel like that sums up my life in general. However, I think it's good to constantly be working on things and especially to be striving to evolve as a person. The apostle Paul said, "I press on...straining for the goal". I want to be a better mom, friend, sister, wife. I want to be the person that God would have me to be. Most days I fail miserably. Today's one of those days. House in shambles, take-out food for dinner, shooing Brady off to bed, knee deep in making Christmas gifts and shopping online, words chosen poorly throughout the day. And rushing, always rushing.

Photo is one of many works in progress on my kitchen island tonight. This is the project for Day 2 of Comfort & Joy. Not quite finished, of course! Oh, well. Tommorrow's another day and another chance to get right.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Comfort & Joy

The clock is ticking-only 24 shopping days until Christmas! Where does the time go? Well, I'm trying to make the most of it and as usual have probably bitten off more than I can chew. As if I didn't already have plenty to do, I signed up for the 12 Days of Comfort & Joy E-Zine that Teresa McFayden is hosting. Today's project -a gift diary was perfect since I was trying to make lists and get organized this morning. Just loved Teresa's sample, but for once broke away and kinda did my own thing. I know, can you believe it?!


Basically, we just embellished a litte notebook to carry lists and notes about the gifts we're shopping for. Of course, Teresa used a vintage date book and replaced the inside pages with cardstock. Like I said, I did mine a smidge different and a little less complicated. It's not super Christmasy on the outside either. Lately, I am really loving these Amy Butler papers and these out-of-the-ordinary Christmas colors that I carried over from the banner I made recently.
Loved that the ledger paper had a "25" on it. Put tabs along the edges to jazz it up and also to have a spot for favorites of this year-songs, colors, stores, etc-things I want to remember next year and beyond.
I even dated my diary hoping to maybe follow Teresa's lead and do this annually. I also followed her lead and set aside pages for those nearest and dearest to me. I used vintag-y Daisy D's cardstock tags-I have a thing for Christmas tags so I thought this was fun to label my pages this way.
And I made a little ribbon bookmark with this beautiful crushed velvet ribbon and a couple buttons-my ode to Rebecca Sower.


This is a really quick, satisfying little project and now I'm organized and ready to get my shopping done. I'll add more details and embellishments to my diary as I go along, but wanted to make sure to at least get the basics done today. I didn't want to get behind on the comfort and joy the very first day!. I definitely want to add a pocket for receipts and maybe even one for ticket stubs. And I'm naturally on the hunt for a Creative Imaginations Christmas swatch book of rubons to use on my cover page which Teresa used in her sample. Yep, still a copycat at heart.
Can't wait for day 2 of Comfort & Joy. Happy shopping!
Oh, yeah-the seal punch-that is from Martha. It was a total splurge, but I am SO loving it!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Oh, what fun it is to



play with glitter



be crafty



drag out the Christmas cd's and listen to holiday music



make handmade gifts for those you love




and play with new Distress crackle paint from Tim Holtz-yippee!




And yes, it's Saturday again and this is how I'm spending my day. No worries-just right!


What are you doing today? Can't wait to share about a little holiday inspiration I'm participating in beginning today.




Also, if you're in to the comforts of home and a handmade holiday check out Rebecca Sower's blog for some inspiration. She is original, honest and impeccable in her taste. enjoy!


P.S. This is my new friend, Sam. He's hanging out with me and Jack today. You'll have to excuse him as his glue is still drying. He wasn't quite ready for his close up, but I had to share. He reminds me of someone. Hmmm.....can you guess who?

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Who's To Blame?

I guess it's the Christmas music, but I am SO in the holiday spirit tonight.
This is Jack. He's one of the little snow fellows I've been bringing to life. He and his friends are so cute-if I do say so myself! Here's a peek at how they'll eventually look. Well, minus the jingle bell. I forgot to purchase jump rings at Michaels. I did slip one into the cello bag with some faux snow and wee! what fun! They're really going to look sweet all packaged up with a candy cane. :)




And look what I exchanged for my chips at Bread Co. Aren't these darling?!? Not sure what I'll do with them, but I couldn't resist. Whoever did their holiday marketing this year did a great job. Even the paper they wrap your sandwich in is uber cute!




Can you tell what colors I'm loving this year?! Okay, I'm off to paint some more carrot noses!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

(beep) Turn the Page...


Remember the books with the record and it would *beep* and tell you to turn the page?

Before we turn the page on the calendar I wanted to share a few photos from our Thanksgiving Day celebration. We love spending time together and I think it shows! What a fun, relaxing day-so good to spend it with the ones you love most. Teasing, laughing, inside jokes-all the things that make family, well, FAMILY. Love you guys and can't wait for Christmas morning. Let the countdown begin!

We're already gearing up beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas tonight and starting our Advent chain. I'll be finishing up those snowmen this week and starting some other projects too, including an indulgence-12 Days of Comfort & Joy with Queen of the Bellas, Teresa McFayden.

Off to bed with visions of decorating and crafting and wrapping in my head!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Cheap Therapy



My husband doesn't believe me when I say the cheapest therapy on earth has to be paper and glue. Spent the day doing what I set out to do-just playing. And manged to get all my snowmen
made.
Well, started anyway. Inspired by Pam Garrison and Colleen Moody, I decided I would make snowmen ornaments for our Sunday School kids. They have to air-dry for 24 hours and then I'll paint them up, throw on some glitter and velvet ribbon and a jingle bell or two. This is just the BEFORE-stay tuned for the AFTER when they're ready for their closeups.

I was also able to put together the Bella's Banner kit I purchased from Pam Garrison at Silver Bella. The base of these are chipboard cards from Maya Road.
Covered with patterned paper designed by Amy Butler, vintage wallpaper and book text and embellished with my fav glass glitter, these were a blast to work on. I was super nervous tho' to freehand the letters, but managed pretty well for my first time, I think. I'd like to make another one of these if I can get my hands on more of the chipboard cards.


What a relaxing day. Sure beats fighting the crowds in the stores! And while you can debate whether it's the cheapest, there's no debating it's my kind of therapy.


Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I'm Dreaming...


of a 4 day weekend! A weekend full of family, fun and relaxation. Looking forward to spending the day at Mom and Dad's on Thanksgiving Day celebrating with our own comforting traditions. Unfortunately, most of them involving food! Hey, guys do you have your gift exchange lists ready? All of the adult children in my family have been exchanging names after dinner for the last several years. It's really silly 'cause none of us needs anything, but we have alot of fun. Somehow, my sister and I always end up with each other's names. :)


I'm also looking forward to a very rare Saturday with Jeff home from work. We're planning to see the new Disney movie, "Enchanted", but mostly just hanging out and doing what most families do on Saturday's-whatever we decide to do! Also on my list, if the weather doesn't take a total dive, is to work on painting the cabinet for my studio and to work on Christmas gifts for my Sunday School class-so excited about these.


Right now I'm looking forward to Friday morning-XM radio on, white chocolate mocha from Starbucks and working on my Pam Garrison projects from Silver Bella. Time to reflect, rejuvenate and gear up for the Christmas holiday. I'll be making my lists and getting organized. Oh, and dragging out decorations and getting some of them up.


Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Sweet Dreams!


Photo is two of my favorite little dudes taken last Thanksgiving day at my sister's.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Very Bella Weekend

To say the least, last weekend was like a dream. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to be among so many creative and delightful ladies. Many of these women own businesses while others have managed to find their bliss simply for their own pleasure. All of them passionate about one thing-paper arts! Here's a little recap of my Silver Bella weekend and a peek at some of the projects we made.

Tam and I headed out after work on Thursday and arrived in Omaha about 10:30 pm. After picking up our welcome paks at the Hilton, we headed for our hotel just in time to get settled and to bed for our early morning wake-up call. Friday morning was a full day beinning with a class with Rebecca Sower.


So cool to meet her and have her share with us some of her tips and tricks. That's always my favorite part of taking classes. She was just lovely-very gracious and kind. Even the way in which she packaged the kit demonstrated the care and detail she gives to all she does.


Here are some of the vignettes we made in her class. These make great stand alone gifts, but would also be beautiful tied onto a package or as an ornament on the tree.


Our second class on Friday was with none other than Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom. Yes, can you believe after gushing about wanting to take a class with her I actually did?!? I was so impressed with how down to earth, engaging and fun she was. She was sweet enough to give each student in her two classes the materials for each class. In other words, you actually got to take both classes. How cool is that?!?


Here is the banner I made in her class. This is a terrific project and would make a wonderful hostess gift. Can't wait to make a bag or apron out of her gorgeous fabrics and maybe even try on her beaded Christmas trees. One of the gals at our table was smart enough to trace the pattern before she cut hers out and shared it with us. I probably had the best time in this class. It was so relaxing and we had great gals at our table and ended up sitting together at lunch, too.

And the luncheon-WOW! I do alot of events so I totaly understand what all went into planning the entire weekend and no detail was overlooked particularly the luncheon. The room just shimmered and was so, so pretty. The table was decorated simply, but very elegantly.


Here's Tam at our table just beaming because that's how we felt the whole day. We were treated so well!

The only glitch we were aware of the entire weekend was that the guest speaker for the luncheon cancelled at the last moment. Bummer. But what a delight to have senior editors from Country Living magazine pitch in for a Q&A session. They happened to be there along with photographers doing a feature on the event. Look for the Silver Bella feature in the October 2008 issue. WOWSER!

After lunch on Friday, I had my class with Pam Garrison. The project was called "Jack on the Box." What a cute, cute project. And not totally difficult, but very detailed. Needless to say, it's not quite finished, but I hope to complete it soon and will share it with you. I was a little freaked out anyway and super nervous to be in this class with folks like Charlotte Lyons and Cari Kraft. You know, I love PamG's aestetic and even purchased a kit from one of her other classes. I'm hoping to work on it next week.

That was just the first part of day one. It was so fun and exciting to see so many we only knew through their blogs and the online world. Exchanging MOO cards and talking as tho' we've know each other for years. So wonderful to meet gals from all over that share the same interests for all things pink and blue and glittery. We met gals from Wisconsin, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Nebraska (of course!) and California just to name a few.

On Friday evening, we attended the Silver Bella vendor faire which had evolved into more of a costume party. The theme was junk gypsy so we put on our best cowgirl glam and spent the evening shopping and enjoying an hors devours and dessert buffet. And what a fabulous assortment of vendors it was. I was already familiar with some of their online shops such as, Heather Bullard of Present Past and Jenni Bowlin. I made purchases from them as well as new discoveries such as Raised In Cotton. What a fun time! This is me and Tam with the head Bella, Teresa McFayden. I also met Coleen Moody who was the Bella willing to switch with me so I could be in one of Pam Garrison's classes. I'll share more about her later, but you can see some of her amazing art HERE.


On Saturday I took two classes with Carolyn Peeler who is the creative director for Melissa Frances. The first class used one of their new Open Up albums-the star and some of their gorgeous papers. I learned one of the coolest techniques in this class. Using a waterbased ink in a spray bottle, you spritz your paper-in this case she used a vintage dictionary page. Then since the ink is waterbased, when you use acrylic paint-also waterbased or water and reactivate the ink you get a really cool varigated effect. She had us use bubble wrap as a stamp with cream paint and stamp on top of the spritz'd paper. But the magic really happened when later on she had us use Sally Jean's charcoal pencil antique treatment and when we reactivated the ink with water to smear the charcoal then this is what we got. Lots more to add to this fun album, but wanted to share this technique which I think is awesome.



I can't wait to use this technique again-very, very cool. We also learned to cut and assemble this beautiful flower made from upholstery fabric.


This would also make a great pin! Yeah, you know I'm making a couple of those!

Most of my day Saturday was spent hanging out in the fabulous Omaha Hilton hotel since I had the bulk of my classes on Friday and Tammy had most of hers on Saturday. I'm hoping she'll share on her blog some of the projects she made. We had a couple of classes that were different and she was fortunate enough to take a class with Jenny & Aaron and her project turned out fabulous. BTW, Jenny & Aaron have a very hip style that is all their own-you can read about them and their art HERE. I loved chatting it up with Kim Haynes who was on hand as the event photog. Talk about down to earth and the ability to put you totally at ease. Here's a photo she snapped of me and Tammy.



The light streaming through the windows that day made everyone look so fabulous. This is just a scan of the original so it's not as crisp. Check out Kim's blog and website for more info about her Oklahoma City based business HERE.

We set out Sunday morning for a fabulous brunch at one of the local eateries, but didn't find any open other than a little bakery and coffee shop. We did enjoy great coffee and pastries, but were sad that none of the local shops opened until Noon. So we headed back home on the lookout for a cool antique mall. And we found two great ones next to each other! Just outside St Joe's, we stumbled upon The Rusty Chandelier (how could we NOT stop there?!) and Jesse James Antique Mall.



Here's a couple of the great things I picked up. I'm totally loving the scale-I had passed up one similiar to it before, but not in this color which is too perfect. And although I had a small collection of the westies, I was so excited to find this one with pink accents.


Like I said, this was a dream of a weekend. In fact, it's taken me a week to catch up on my sleep and get organized and motivated enough to complete some of the unfinished projects. It certainly has kicked off the holiday season in true Bella fashion. I'm ready to start making lists and get busy. My goal is to make most of my gifts this year so I'm off to clear out my studio so I can get to work. If you're looking for me between now and Christmas Eve, I'll be the one with glitter in her hair!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

psss.....


wanna know a secret? i'm getting really jazzed about the holidays. i can't believe thanksgiving is next week! can you? do you think it's too early to begin listening to christmas music? i'm dying to dig out all my cd's. it was so fun at silver bella to have christmas music playing in the background of some of our classes. can't wait to finish up some of those projects this weekend-think i'll just have to put on the christmas tunes. i usually buy at least one new christmas cd each year. technically, i already made that purchase-michael bulbe's ep from itunes. but don't tell! ;)


we have had several beautiful fall days this week. really enjoying the leaves and the sunlight-so pretty in the afternoon before the sun starts setting. trying to take it all in since it lasts such a short time. when we were in nebraska last weekend we noticed the trees had lost most of their leaves already. always so good to be back home again as john denver would say!


still hoping to post about my weekend at silver bella. it's been fun seeing our photos and blog links show up on other bella's websites! this is quite a network of glittery, fun, crafty gals. i'm still so overwhelmed by it all. here's a great blog of a gal i met there. she and her pals have a shop in kansas city that is only open on saturday's. they have some great stuff-can't wait to vsit their shop. check out her blog HERE.


okay, it's thursday and i'm still exhausted from last week so i'm off to put on some comfy cozy clothes and settle in for the evening and get ready for grey's. total tv junky that i am. until tomorrow...

Monday, November 12, 2007

Happiness To Me


What an amazing weekend I had at Silver Bella! I can't wait to share about all of the amazing gals I met, classes I took and projects I made (well, started). I'm still decompressing and trying to recooperate from lack of sleep the past week so I'll be back with all the details soon.

Until then, want to send a shout out to my BFF Tammy-HOLLA. I'm so glad you were able to go along and hope you had a great time. This is me hanging out in Rebecca Sower's class on Friday morning. Thanks to the uber talented Kim Haynes for the photo. Making stuff and being around women with the same passion for artistic pursuits-that is happiness to me!

Be back soon.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Ready, Set...


Just a few more to do's on my list and then I'll be pretty much packed and ready for my trip except for last minute things in the morning. And what's that you say? Where am I going? Why, to Silver Bella, of course! I'll save you from reminding you how excited I am. But in case you're wondering, here are 5 things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order).

1. spending time w/ my BFF

2. taking a class with Pam Garrison

3. hob knobbing with the who's who in the paper arts world

4. coming home in the Christmas spirit with gifts already made

5. the junk gypsy themed party on Friday night


Can't wait to share all the details when I return. You will not believe the attention to detail that has gone into this event. Even the tickets for each of our workshops has been artistically created by the teachers and designed to be souvenirs.

Ready, set, let the glittering begin! YEE HA!