My First Award!

Suzanne, the ever-capable and oh-so-interesting Farmer's Wife, has awarded me the Arte y Pico Award.


Thanks so much for the honor, Suzanne!


And now I have opportunity to honor five creative people/blogs that I admire.


As always, there are rules:


1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award should list the name of the author and a link to his /her blog to be visited by everyone .

3. Each award winner should show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award .

4. The award winner and presenter should show the link of the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I have not been blog surfing much these past weeks. But I still have my favorites that I love to peek in on:

• Ruth at Artful Creations. A lovely blog chock full of pictures from her extensive gardens and photos of her latest painted designs - especially noteworthy are her painted vintage tin tiles!
• Abbie at Abbie's Place - Whimsy of a Staggering Woman. I find her sense of style so appealing - incorporating vintage images, papers, photos into collages - some digital. And she fills her blog with lovely photos of varied scenes, demonstrating a talent for groupings that I envy. Plus, she supplies me with antique papers...it just doesn't get any better than that!
• The ladies at Vintage Indie. I just discovered this blog, and amid lovely pics are tutorials, collage art, all sorts of yummy vintage-themed things.
• Deborah at Starry Night Impressions is an amazing collage artist. I especially love her Paris-themed compositions!
• Rhondi at Rose Colored Glasses - her blog is oasis of peace, filled with charming cyber-hospitality and warmth.

I hope you'll take a few moments to pay them each a visit.

Winner!

My gracious, the excitement just keeps building!
Cover feature, blog giveaway winner...and then the snow. I must be daft to count snow in June as one of my three 'good things'...but it was exciting (in a 'what-in-the-world?' sorta way)


Anyway, on Monday I received notice from fellow Cottage Style Team member Christy at Purple Treasures with the news that I won the giveaway to celebrate her "return to blogging"!

She's creating a special Goody Jar, customized just for me! My creative muse is doing the happy dance in anticipation. Lots of potential packed into these jars! Thanks, Christy!





I've shared her Mini-Etsy below. Click any pic to visit her shop & check out the fun supplies she puts into her 'Goody Jars', along with her other items for sale.

Seven - count 'em - seven little known things

I have been tagged. In a shameless knock-off of David Letterman's nightly countdowns, here is my "Top 7" countdown list of little-known facts about me:

• #7. My big toe is over 1/2" longer than the rest of my toes, which are quite petite. The contrast was striking when I was younger, and I was called "Monkey Feet" whenever I wore sandals in grade school.

• #6. While eating oyster stew made from canned oysters, I found a pearl. Seriously! My father/brothers hunted birds and I was accustomed to finding buckshot in meat, so I put it on the side of my plate without a second thought. When my dad asked what I found, I replied, "Oh, just a BB." Duh! I was only in 3rd grade, so I am cutting myself some slack on this one (but the phrase "oyster shooters" suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.) Unfortunately, I soon lost my tiny pearl in the green shag carpet in my bedroom, and it has never been seen since. Who know what lurks in shag carpeting?
  

• #5. I began a green M&M collection when I was in Junior High. Since everyone in the 70's knew green M&M's made you...well, you know what they were said to do. (If you don't know, go ask someone who was a teen in the 70's). I decided I would save mine. My brother, 8 years older, ate my entire collection (several hundred) when he was home for a visit. Apparently he either didn't know of their fabled effects, or he had need of them. He didn't mention how 3-year-old M&M's tasted. So much for saving for the future.

• #4. While in high school, people frequently told me I looked like Kimberly (Dana Plato) on the popular TV show, Different Strokes. "Wha-choo talkin' 'bout?"
  

• #3. I'm 5' 4" tall. My handsome husband is 6'8" tall. I could stand under his outstretched arm with room to spare. I've always suspected the women's basketball team at my alma mater resented that I hooked one of the tall basketball players on campus. There were looks directed my way that could not be construed as friendly.
  

• #2. As a child, I had a re-occurring nightmare about falling off a cliff. Since I lived in very flat Minnesota, it was an irrational fear. When I visited the aforementioned tall handsome fellow--now my fiance'--shortly after he moved to Idaho, he was eager to show me the beauty of the area. He drove up an extremely narrow 'goat trail' near Lolo Pass in Montana with a fantastic view of the mountains. I was speechless with terror. The view from my passenger window was straight down, and I was convinced my nightmare was becoming reality! I'm sure the dents left from my death grip on the door's armrest are still visible. (In his defense, he was not aware of my childhood fear.)
  

• 1. In 1988 I drew one of the rare and much-coveted moose hunting tags in Idaho. My husband was excited and acted as my guide. It snowed heavily during the hunt and, as a result, I was not able to knock down a moose. However, I did become knocked up...we embraced our first baby 9 months later. (Green M&M's not required.)

There you have it - seven things. Who do you have to thank for this? So glad you asked - Deborah at StarryDeborah wanted you to know these obscure tidbits about me.

Now I get to name names and have them search the dusty corners of their brain for personal trivia. First, here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So,
Heidi @ Paper Filigree with a Pedigree, who creates exquisite paper filigree art.


Michelle @ My Bella Colle, a new blog friend and collage artist.

Ruth Welter @ Artful Creations, a talented painter whose work I've admired for years.

Life in Red Shoes, a blogging friend who I don't think has been tagged before.

Suzanne @ At Home with the Farmer's Wife, a bright spot in my day and certain to have amusing things to share.


I don't have any others since many that I visit regularly have already done this. If you are reading and want to do it, consider yourself 'tagged'. And if you were tagged and don't want to participate, I TOTALLY understand. Have fun and thanks for reading!

Paper Filigree Exhibit

A talented paper filigree artist, Ann Martin, is featured in an exhibit now showing at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvannia.

"The Spirit is Quilling: Rolled-Paper Filigree"
runs from May 24 - June 15, 2008.

Ann has a fresh, crisp style which embraces Thoreau's famous philosophy: simplify, simplify. Her work demonstrates an array of artistic paper filigree techniques in her signature style that avoids the fussy frills often associated with paper filigree. I have been an admirer for years, as well as having the privilege of her warm friendship and helpful critique of my own work.

I encourage anyone in the area to visit this unique exhibit, running concurrently with "Beyond Content: Decorative Wooden Boxes." The paper filigree exhibit also features two antique paper filigree tea caddies on loan from another museum. I hear the colors on these 1700's pieces are quite remarkable for their age. What a wonderful opportunity to view some historic art pieces!

The Brandywine River Museum is located on US Route 1, not far from Wilmington, Delaware. (click for map and directions) It is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

I'd love to attend, but Pennsylvania is a tad distant for a weekend jaunt from Idaho.
If you do see the exhibit, please share a comment here and tell me about it!

A warm welcome to all the visitors from various quilling groups that I see are popping in to read. Don't be shy....say 'hi'! (click on 'comments' below any post for the comment box)

I've been 'branded' a GN

[sigh]

I fear my carefree life of blogging is done...kaput...over before I've barely begun.

My few readers are doubtless wondering what has brought this on.

I'll tell you...careless comments, that's what.

Who would have guessed?

I try to keep my 'grammar nazi-ish' tendencies in check, really I do. While I can't help noticing mangled and hemorrhaging English usage at every turn, I try to avert my eyes and pass on, pausing only to assist those I know and love or those who call out for help.

But occasionally I forget myself. In an unguarded moment, when challenged to spot a typo, I carelessly admitted to noticing such things. I blame it on a natural love of words and past training/employment. I try to keep it hidden, squelching the urge to leave red notations in my wake (except for my children's writing, that is).

But that's all it took. One thoughtless comment...and now look what's happened. I've been gleefully claimed as a personal "Grammar Nazi!"

Now everyone is going to be reading her blog, eyes on the sharp lookout for mistakes. And I shall be found wanting in my titled role, revealed as a rank amateur grammarian before the entire www community...Bill Gates and everybody!

Even worse, my own writing will be subjected to greater scrutiny. People will come here expecting to find all my i's dotted and my t's crossed. Boy! are they in for a surprise! They'll find posts riddled with errors that any self-respecting Grammar Nazi would never allow...tense changes, mixed metaphors, dangling participles, you name it.

Stuff happens.

Typing fast and not bothering to proof my musings is partly to blame. Worse yet, sometimes after polishing a portion I totally miss some glaring error - like verb/noun agreement. Hey, it worked perfectly in the original draft...I just forgot to check far enough back is all. An honest mistake...could happen to anyone, right? While I can give all sorts of reasoned excuses, I'm downright embarrassed by the number of typos and errors that somehow manage to slip into my posts and comments. The little buggers just leap in! Honest!

So I have two choices: become uptight and paranoid about my future postings for fear of revealing my own ineptitude through countless mistakes, or lightheartedly pooh-pooh my newly acquired 'honors'.

I choose the latter.

Pshaw, I say...in my very best 'Bertie Wooster' imitation.

What's more, I offer this meek disclaimer: I really only admitted to grammar nazi-ish tendencies. What unnamed persons read into innocent, unguarded comments really isn't MY responsibility, right? While it's true that I did offer to help out, the person claiming me has little need of my vastly over-rated skills. Her blog is a treat, with well-turned phrases and insightful observations. (An occasional error pops up, but I suspect she's afflicted with the same little leapers that plague me.) I go there for an enjoyable read, not to work! Besides, I rarely carry a red pen when I am going to be nine miles from anything.

There.

Am I off the hook now?

I didn't think so.

Drats...

[muttering]

...where did I put my red pen?

(source)

[Thanks for the honor, Suzanne....I'm delighted and highly amused!]

Thanks Abbie!

Not only did she surprise me yesterday with a lovely post featuring my paper filigree work, today she shared several vintage graphics...freebies to download. Please stop by to pay her a visit (just click on the title and it will whisk you right over!)

And a warm welcome to all those coming by for a peek at Abbie's urging. You will have to page down a few entries to get to samples of my work. Or you can visit my website www.gemstatequilling.com and look through my galleries there. Please email or leave a comment if you have an idea for something and want to consult with me on the possibilities.

You are a gem, Abbie...so glad I met you on Etsy!