What does one do when they have wonderful friends who like to send FABULOUS presents?

YOU BRAG OF COURSE!

Thanks to all of you gals who sent lovely cards, notes and e-cards. The handmade stuff is what totally amazes me!

It's show off time....

from Maryann

sweet tooth? who me? I also love the adorable collage pieces!

From Kathleen

Hubby and I are planning a trip to see her this fall in Oregon...so I LOVE the book on Portland. We both like to shop. (Kath and I that is)

And just look at the beautiful pendant (lower middle)...she makes and sells these in her shop!

From Yiwen

Wonderful collaged tag...they make perfect book marks! And a handmade bracelet. And a sparkly purse. And a special little note too.

AND she's just a doll isn't she? 

From My best friend Judy

In the back there is a cute pair of leg warmers (made because I ranted and raved about a pair in Anthropologie in NYC). Also a cute hat/headband type of thing, that really looks cute on! There's a flower on the other side...what? I thought I had it facing the camera! DRATS! Lots of good cosmo fixin's and a book on felted flowers. All wrapped up in a big handy basket!

We really had a great Christmas...traveling, visiting, shopping, eating and hanging with friends. My Holiday visiting is not over yet, we have tomorrow night at his Dad's where we will ring in the New Year and have our Christmas too. And I am going to see my Dad in a couple of weeks, and spend the night at my sister's, she and I plan on having an old fashion slumber party. So still lots to do! SPEAKING of lots to do, I've got to run and finish knitting a hat for a gift for tomorrow night!

~~~HAPPY NEW YEAR!~~~

Hope you share the New Year with someone special too.

xoxox

posted by: sweetpeas at December 30, 2006 21:19 | link | comments (8) |
bloggy presents

And the winner is......

TAMMY VITALE!

That's right, Tammy won "La Fluer", a necklace I woke up and made after dreaming about it. It's always been one of my faves, and now I am glad it's off to a beautiful person like Tammy.

here's her story.

okay - this is a story of a very long time ago when I was somewhere around 22 (that would make it about 36 years). Times were interesting - it was the 60s mind you.

A friend decided to hold a concert in the wilds of Virginia (after the success of the big one in New York), had the farm rented and the tickets printed. Lots and lots of tickets. Well, the town's people pitched a fit. And the town father's finally gave in and made the farmer cancel.

So there we all were in my living room (10 - 15 of us) wondering what to do with all those tickets. Why - shoot them with rubber bands of course! Every last one of them. We, Gals against Guys, used the stairs, we used pillows from the couch and blankets to fashion our "castles" from which we zinged every last one of those tickets all night long.

And long about 4 am someone came up with finding ticket #1. I don't think we ever did find ticket #1, but I know we found one below #10.

Do I need to tell you I was finding tickets in that house for the next 2 years that I lived there? (and I'll bet there's still some in the floor boards to this day!).

It was fun and crazy and the talk of our crew for years - "hey, do you remember when Al had all those tickets...." and we were off down memory lane.

that's my submission!

Can't you just picture it all? It brought me back to my own 20's. I shared a house with musiscians, artists and writers. (we were the Dead Heads of the 1980's). Some of my favorite all time "gathering stories" would probably be tales from that crazy house on the lake in Sabattus, Maine.....it totally took me back. Thanks for sharing Tammy!

If you'd like to be INSPIRED, go visit Tammy's blog and see her incredible art. wow!

Thanks to all who sent in their funny stories....yes all were quite silly! My sister Marissa may get a little something extra this season, as she sent in a funny story in the comments section of the post.....something about red wine and curtains.

~~*~~*******~*******~~*~~

CONGRATS to my good friend Giao and Hubby David for bringing baby Quynh into the world! Hope you have a wonderful "baby's first Christmas"!!! Love ya girl! 

*~~~***~~~***~~~*

I'll be closing down Junque Revival for 2 weeks, so I can take a break and enjoy the Holidays. When I reopen, I hope to have some brand new wares, and a big ole sale to clean it out a bit. I'll let you know!

I'm also looking forward to starting a new bloggy project with a new bloggy friend!

AND.....I also have a new idea in mind that will take my writing a little farther, and hopefully yours too!

Collective Souls has not been forgotten....who the heck has Spring Fling anyway?

So as you can see....I pretty much have my New Year planned. I am cutting down to 3 shifts, (2 days a week) bartending, so I can have more time to work on Junque Revival, and my art in general. The schedule that I've had was making me exhausted, so between that and that weird stomache flu thing, I felt like I have gone through the past few months in a daze. Hubby has been trying to get me to cut down a bit anyway, so I think it's time. I am looking forward to entering more art contests, and submissions to various magazines and zines. He will just have to buy the groceries for now on I guess! hehe. Seriously, we have a bad habit of feeding off eachother, if one is happy, then so is the other, if one is miserable or in pain, then so is the other. (that's what you get for marrying your kindred spirit, so be warned!) teeheee.

So I probably wont be back until after Christmas!

Happy Holidays Chickee-poos!!!

I hope you all have a wonderous & enlightening Christmas/New Year.

posted by: sweetpeas at December 18, 2006 13:15 | link | comments (4) |
bloggy projects n such, junque revival news

Yarn & Stix....how could one go wrong?

YARN SWAP.......makes a very fine swap indeed!

Maria sent me this lovely package of beautiful yarns from Sweden along with some sweet treats! In turn I sent her some beautiful Maine Alpaca yarn, and locally hand dyed wool! I can't wait to see what she does with it! Heck, I can't wait to play with the wool she sent me!

THANKS GIRL!

I've been busy making Funky STIX! I may put a few in the shop this weekend, though I think many will go out for Christmas gifts.

They would look beautiful tucked in a knitted wrap, sweater, scarf or as a pretty hair accessory.

The scarf is a present I just finished for someone...but I'm not concerned, they'd never guess! It's got REALLY long tassles and is made from Rowan's "Summer Tweed". It's a silk/cotton combo and oh~so scrumptious!

I made these wider versions for chunky sweaters, wraps and shawls.

I'd love to know what you all think!

Don't forget! There's still plenty of time to win a Junque Revival necklace. Just read the previous post and get those fingers typing!!

posted by: sweetpeas at December 06, 2006 19:56 | link | comments (8) |
artsy fartsy, bloggy projects n such, junque revival news