Color ME Beautiful!!

Just found out today that my "Meandering Birdy" bag made it into the "Color you Beautiful" voting contest on ETSY! Lots of gorgeous and colorful items there---stop by and see, be sure to vote for your favorite, and wish me luck!! :o)

Operation Aborted on Blogger Blogs??

God's Smile (taken from a recent E-mail)

Are you getting error messages and bumped off of blogs lately?

Noticed a decline in the number of comments you have gotten lately?

I am on Internet Explorer and have been getting "Operation aborted" error messages and bumped off of Blogger blogs all over the place lately.

I checked into it and found the following in the "known issues" on Blogspot:

""Some users are seeing an 'Operation Aborted' error message when trying to load their blogs from Internet Explorer. We're looking into this and will update this message when we have a fix.We apologize for the inconvenience.

Update (May 26): We are still working on resolving this bug. This only affects viewers using IE to view the blog; for right now, blog owners can either move the Followers gadget lower in their sidebar, or remove it altogether. Either action will eliminate the pop-up dialog box in IE.We will update this post when a fix has been made. — latest update on Thursday, May 21, 2009""

Sooooo, I guess if you want everyone to be able to view and comment on your blog, you will have to move your "Followers" widget down lower on your sidebar or get rid of it for now (I was having the same problem with my blog and just moved it way down the sidebar and that seemed to fix it).

Sidenote: This lovely gal, Jessica Smutek, did a little article on her blog about SEO and used one of my little Page Percher's as an example! Check it out!

Inflammation

I know I've been pretty scarce around here and I just wanted to pop in and let you guys know a little bit of what's going on--I've gotten quite a few emails asking if everything is all right (you bunch of sweeties!) and just thought I'd say a few words.

I've been having some health problems over the last several years that have to do with joint pain and swelling--I've been tested for everything but they really can't pinpoint just what is going on. Well, recently (the last 4 months) it has basically gone into overdrive! My knees are swollen up like cantelopes and I can't bend them, my hips hurt like hell, it's in my neck (can't hardly turn my head or bend it up and down), it's starting to work it's way down my shoulders now (yeah!) and it's in my right jaw (hurts to chew and my teeth don't fit together right because of swelling).

The docs did a bunch of tests and one of them measures your body's inflammation--the usual test result on that one tops out at 20, mine was at 54. They retook the test 2 weeks later and it was at 82. This lit a fire under my doctor and she scheduled me for surgery (the next day!) to biopsy a piece (approx. 1") of vein from both temples to make sure that my veins arent' inflamed too. Happily, the veins are fine. Whew. They have determined that I have an auto-immune disease.

Anyways, they just started me on a medication that should bring down the inflammation, but it has some really scary possible side effects! AND it takes anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months to work! Arghhh! I took the first dose on Wednesday--it wasn't too bad, made me sick to my stomach, dizzy, and tired, but didn't do a thing for the joints and pain (yet).

I'm hanging in there, though, feeling positive about the outcome, and am looking forward to getting back to my crafting and computering and such. I'd appreciate a prayer or healing thought for this medication to do it's thing and get me back up and running!!

Lucky, Lucky Me!

Wand by Ann Denise of Whimfancydesigns


Oh, you are all going to be so jealous!

StarryDeb went to the ZNE convention and met some wonderful, creative people there...and then convinced some of them to give up the goodies for a blog giveaway.


Crepe paper and other goodies---read the names on the packages and then go visit them!!! Great shops!

Guess who won it? !!

Beautiful TussieMussie and matching tag from ivacreations


It's all so wonderful! I'm thrilled with every little thing...thank you so much to all the contributors and a special "Thank You" to Starry Deb--she is the greatest!

Oh, and one more thing.....The Olde World Shoppes blog was sweet enough to include my aqua roses sachets in their latest blog post--stop by and visit, and check out the other lovely ROSE items that are featured there, it's a treat, I promise!

New Animoto Video

These are so fun to make...head on over and do one yourself and leave me a link here in the comments so I can check it out!

(You'll have to scroll down the side bar a bit to pause my music player so you can hear the music in the video.)

And the Winners are....

Yeah! Through some highly complicated and technical procedures involving bits of paper and blindfolded eyes...We've chosen the winners of the Glazing Review Giveaway. Drumroll please....

Winner #1 is Blondie~Vintage Primitives

Winner #2 is Kathy ~ Catnip Studios

Winner #3 is Pinky

Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all of you who take the time to stop by and leave comments--I just love reading your comments! They make me happy :o)

Memorial Day Parade

Happy Memorial day everyone. Big thanks to all those who are currently in the military, were in the military in the past, and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We really appreciate you. God Bless.

As usual, we went to the Memorial Day parade today. It is always yucky out for this parade, don't know why, but it is! This was actually a little better than usual in the fact it didn't rain or sleet on us this year ( whew!) but it was still cold and windy and overcast. This is the view of all the half frozen people lined up across the street from where we were sitting. It looked to me like the epitome of one of our Memorial Day parades (don't forget your blanket!).

Both the kids were in the parade againt this year...Joe with his ROTC group and Linds with the Danceline.


Suprisingly, Linds finished getting ready for the parade first and was able to spend a little quality time with Daisy before she left.
Joe was close behind...but he had an excuse, he had to press those dress blues and shine up those shoes!

He's looking handsome as they march along...he's holding the blue ROTC flag.

And...here comes the girls! Sadly, most of my pics turned out too blurry. except this lovely shot! (yes, that is called sarcasm!) ...Linds is the one on the far side with her face half covered with a pom pom! LOL

A good day, we all came home full of fresh air and exercise...grilled up some steaks to go with our nice big salad and enjoyed our family--all thanks to those wonderful men and women who fight for our freedom.

Oh, don't forget to sign up for the giveaway in the post below this one :o) Drawing to be held on Friday. (May 29)

An Experiment and a Giveaway!

Have you ever been faced with the problem of too many choices? I know you have, lol! This is what I was dealing with after making some new little collage magnets on formica tags....what to seal them with.

I happen to have 3 different glaze products in my stash:
Diamond Glaze by JudiKins
Royal Coat Dimensional Magic by Plaid
Aleene's Paper Glaze

It just so happened that I had made 3 different collages...so I decided to do a little experiment and figure out, once and for all, which product was the best coating for my magnets. I tried to use the same technique for all three. They were all done in the same place on the same day, right in a row. They had the exact same drying time--I applyed the glaze in the late afternoon and let it dry (untouched) overnight. I checked them early the next morning. All three were properly dry and had a nice smooth feel....no stickiness or gooey spots.

On this first magnet I tried the Aleene's Paper Glaze. It came out of the bottle really thick, I had a hard time getting it to cover the image in a smooth manner. I smoothed it out as best I could and looked for air bubbles, which were difficult to see due to the thickness of the glaze.

What is nice about the thickness is that you don't have to worry about it running over your edges, and you definitely will only need one coat!

This dried nice, but the finish is a little lumpy looking and there are a couple spots where it's apparent that I didn't put the finish on evenly and there are a few air bubbles that didn't pop.

I'd have to give this one a C-.

On this second magnet I tried the Diamond Glaze. It has a really nice consistency out of the bottle, flowed on smoothly and was just thick enough to hold it's edge without running over. I liked the ease of use.

The big problem I had was a lot of air bubbles showed up, even though I was careful to start the flow on scrap paper before applying it to my project and tried to work slowly and keep air out of the procedure. After applying it, blew on the surface to see if the bubbles would pop....nope. I then grabbed a pin and attempted to pop them....nope. Then I gently lifted the piece and dropped it on the table hoping the impact would pop them....nope. The only thing that really worked was to take the tip of the pin push the bubbles to the edge and then off of the project. This actually only worked on the bigger bubbles.

It dried very nicely--I like the glaze this one has. One thing I did notice was that the paper actually lifted off the tag surface along one edge. I'm not sure if that is the glaze's fault or if I didn't glue it down properly (I thought I had??) There are quite a few air bubbles that showed up even though I thought I had most of them. Also, I used a Sharpie marker on the top paper and it bled a bit.

I think there may be a learning curve to using this stuff, I'll have to give this one a C.

The third magnet got the Royal Coat. This also came out of the bottle really nice...a titch thinner than the Diamond Gloss. I put it around the edges and it seemed to hold the edge pretty good (I did have one little spot where it flowed down over the edge) and then proceeded to fill in the center area. It filled very nice. Once filled I checked for air bubbles.... there were only a couple and I was able to pop them with a pin.

This dried very nice, has an almost wet look to it. I like the shine. No problem with air bubbles either! Yeah. I think I've found my product!

This one gets an A.

HOW ABOUT A GIVEAWAY??

So there ya go! I'm thinking that I'll add some ribbon to the top and put a nice magnet on the back and see if any of you lovely Reader's would like to have one of them ??? Warts (bubbles!) and all! LOL If you don't mind a couple bubbles, please just leave me a comment here and I'll have a drawing for each of them (3 names will be drawn). They actually did turn out pretty cute, even if there are some flaws :o)

I'll do the drawing on Friday, May 29th.

Sidewalk Sales!!

Hellooo! I've got good news for all you bargain hunters out there! The Etsy Twitter Team is having a Sidewalk Sales event all this week! We have a wonderful a wonderful variety of sellers involved--I'm sure you will find something to smile about! Just click the pic above and it will bring you to the place with links to all the shops and the sales they are running. Have fun shopping!

Lucky 7 Bird Bag


I am running a FREE SHIPPING Special (on all purchases totalling over $20)---

Free Shipping to anywhere in the US and Half-price Shipping for International packages.

PLUS! each packages will get a special little free "thank you" gift tossed in, because we all love to get a little something extra, right?!

Go ahead and make your purchases, put "Etsy Twitter Rocks" in the note to seller, and I will refund the shipping fees back to your Paypal asap.

Monkeying Around Keychain Wallet

Red Roses for a Blue Birdy

Simply Blue Bird Bag

Pish ** Posh

I've always wanted to do one of those paper banners...and I finally did! Some fancy schmancy new papers, scallop punches, lovely smudgy brown ink, fancy script lettering, and a beautiful variegated ribbon to tie it all together.......

Yes....it says "PISH POSH". I love that saying! Cracks me up.

Daughter: "Mo-ommmm, I don't have anything to wear. Mommy, I just love it when we go shopping together....We NEED to go shopping."

Mom: "Pish Posh"


Son: "Mo-ommm, You are so sweet and loveable and I love you so much!! Do you think you could let me take your car out cruising with my buds...we promise not to crank the stereo and mess with every button in the car..."

Mom: "Pish Posh"

Husband: "Honeeeeey...You are such a doll face and I love you sooooo much. Oh, by the way, I'm thinking of inviting all my buddies over for a "few" beers and cards...do you think you could get the house cleaned, go shopping for food and beer, and then whip up some of your famous tacos?"

Wife: "Pish Posh"

Kitties: "Mew, mew, meow...purr purr, scratch post, wink, meow"

Mom: "Pish Posh"

And, by the way...when did Blogger start making it such a pain in the ARSE to move pictures around?? Did I miss something? Help.