So thankful for moments like this....

Keeping a blog, website, youtube channel and more is often a big responsibility. But the wonderful comments and feedback I receive is better than any paycheck I could receive. I am amazed at how far I've reached sometimes, and I'm almost overwhelmed by the amount of people who have been inspired by my sharing. The other day, I received an email that just made my day. It was from Elena, in Barcelona, and I was so touched that I asked her if I could share it here. This is what she said:

Hi Tresa!

My name is Elena and I'm Cuban, but currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
I’m writing to you because I wanted to thank you personally for your blog and the tutorials that you’ve been publishing in Youtube. I came across your space a couple of months ago and, sincerely, helped me a lot. I have learned many new techniques and your videos are always inspiring. From your blog, I enter the virtual world of Scrapbooking and I’m still fascinated with it.

I recently saw your prize related to the question about the glitter ... I didn’t answer ‘cause the truth is that I can not imagine that there might be something that doesn’t look better with glitter, but the fact is that, on seeing the great prize you finally offered, I felt very sorry!
I would like to invite you to visit my blog dedicated to Scrapbook, in which I’ve been publishing some works that use some of the techniques I learned from you. I always give you the credit you deserve!. I’m still a beginner and don’t have almost anything but paper, cardboard, water pens, scissors, glitter and a lot of enthusiasm… Here is the address: Pelusa’s Scrapblog. (Although I speak Spanish, I write this blog in English).

Greetings!

Elena


Here is a mini album that Elena posted, based on my video instructions. I love how little album turned out! You can see more of her work on her blog, stop by and leave a comment!

Need a Giggle?

This probably explains why it takes me so long to make a video.

'Tis the Season... for Glitter!

There are just so many ways to apply glitter, this is just one... "glitter 'n tape technique". If you haven't tried it yet, you just gotta! So simple, and it really sticks. Some tapes work better than others, but almost any clear tape will work. Heck, you don't even need clear tape if you are using colored glitter. Whatever you choose to use, be prepared to sparkle!

Just a note about the music... since I'm making a Christmas card, you'd think I'd have Holiday music. But come on, how perfect is a song with the chorus "Don't you know, everywhere I go, I got the shimmerin' light on me." How could I pass that one up? And glitter and rock 'n roll go hand in hand, right?

Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Blog Candy Glitter card contest. The winner, selected by random.org, is Leslie! I'm sending Leslie the featured card in my upcoming video, which should be released in the next few days (watch here on my blog or on my youtube channel).


I was thinking that just one card wasn't much to win, and I realized that I've used glitter in three of my latest videos, so I'm sending Leslie all three of the cards shown here. Want to know how to make each of these? The bat card is here and the leaf card is here.

Congratulations Leslie, make sure you contact me with your mailing address so I can send your prize!

Sparkle On!

Glitter, glitter everywhere. This describes my house right at the moment. I'm working on my newest video tutorial, and it's all about the sparkly stuff. Should have it done in the next few days, but until then, here's a sneak peek of the card from the Glitter 'n Tape Technique video.

If you haven't entered for a chance to win this card, the drawing will be held Friday, Nov. 20 so there's still time! To enter, scroll down or click here for the Blog Candy info.

This Makes Me Happy

I love this video, had to watch it a few times.

Blog Candy! A question for my sparkly readers....

Ahhh, glitter, that sparkly magical stuff. It adds just the right touch to so many projects. But as a die-hard crafter, I know that the old saying "everything's better with glitter" isn't entirely true. While beautiful, our sparkly friend just seems to end up in the oddest places. Ever spill glitter in your lap? There are some things that DO NOT look better with glitter.

Tell me where glitter doesn't make things better, places that glitter just doesn't improve, or stories of glitter gone wild. Post in the comments below where glitter does NOT belong.

I'm going to give away my latest card created just for my Glitter Video. Drawing will be a chosen randomly from all comments. I'll post the winner on Friday, November 20th.

Under the Sea

A little late for Halloween How-To, but if you're looking for ideas for next year, how about this little mermaid?

She's really cold in this picture, we were about to go inside, so this is my squatty mermaid. Nice shoes. All the mermaids are wearing them these days.

If you can sew a straight line, you can make this costume. My dress-making skills were not called into play on this one, it was down and dirty Halloween sewing, so it only took about an hour to create most of the costume.



I started with a trip to the fabric store and bought a half yard of the metallic blue dot fabric (because it was the most expensive), a yard of the green satin and shimmery blue netting, and two yards of the bright blue tulle netting. Less than $10 for everything.

The top was a recycled one from a princess Jasmine costume, here's how make one in a jiffy. Start with a flesh colored top (or sew one like I did). Use wonder-under and some sparkly fabric scraps to iron on some shell shapes onto the front, for a little-mermaid style bra. You'll notice the blue turtleneck peeking out at the top of this shirt. I make my costumes extra big so kids can wear their costumes OVER their coats. Try putting a snow suit under a skin-colored shirt, it's hilarious and slightly shocking to see a lumpy bare-tummied kid going house to house when it's 40 degrees outside.


To make the skirt, measure your kiddo from waist to ankle. Then ask them to take a big step and measure the circumference around both their knees. This will allow them to walk in the skirt and not have to waddle. If you have an older child or you're making this for an adult, go ahead and make it very tight around the knees. This will make it even more mermaid-y, but it does make it tough to run from house to house trick-or-treating, so little ones need the extra room at the knees.

Using the length and width measurements you took, cut out a big square/rectangle from your satin. This will be your skirt. Sew this into a big tube with a gathering stitch. Pull the gathing stitch until the skirt is knee high at the front (see the pictures). The back will drape down longer. Add an elastic waist at the top of the skirt.

For the tail, fold the netting long-wise so that it's about 4 layers thick. Gather all 2 yards. This takes some time squishing it all together, but it's worth it. Attach it to the bottom of the skirt. Again, squish it in there, ugly sewing is allowed on Halloween costumes. You can always cover any huge flubs with sequin trim and a hot glue gun.

Use the sparkly blue fabric (which is awesome because it doesn't ravel so no hemming needed), to make a sea-weed belt to wrap around the waist. Use your leftovers to make fingerless gloves and hot glue the same fabric over a plastic princess crown. The sheer blue net fabric is pinned to the gloves and the back neck of the shirt, for a cape-effect, no need to cut the fabric unless it's too long.


The beads and blue hair band are from the dollar store, and face-painting courtesy of Mommy. If you're not a face-painter, just lots of blue eyeshadow and blue lips made with lip gloss and powdery blue eyeshadow.

A Little Sightseeing

This is what's cool about having an airplane. A few weekends ago my husband and I needed to get a way for some much needed together time, and we didn't have much time. Just a beautiful afternoon and the two of us in my husband's plane. We took off from Spokane, flew over Lake Coeur d'Alene, ID and touched down at St. Marie's, ID. Driving there would have been about 3 hours round trip, we were in the air about an hour total time. Absolutely beautiful weather and scenery, flying low and slow over the tree tops. One of those days you want to remember forever.

Check out this picture. We were very low, flying in between in between two mountains, and you can see the shadow of the plane on the hillside next to us.


This is the end of the St. Joe River. A "river in a lake", it extends several miles into the lake. I've never seen it from above, but even from the road alongside the lake it is pretty amazing.


There's a boat going up the river. Isn't it cool how the lake is on both sides of the river?


Last photo, it was getting late and time to head back to the kids. Long shadows on the ground showing an end to a beautiful day!

Award Time

Thanks so much to Christine and Haley for this fun award. This one-word answer thing is awfully tough, if I knew there was going to be a test I would've studied....

The Rules are:
1. You can only use ONE word!!!
2. Pass this along to 5 of your favorite bloggers!
3. Alert them that you have given them this award!
4. HAVE FUN!!!

I'm not really a one work kind of person, so this is a very tough quiz and I cheated a few times. Here we go...
1. Where is your cell phone? Charging
2. Your hair? Bobbed
3. Your mother? Organized
4. Your father? Talented
5. Your fave food? Thai
6. Your dream last night? Scary
7. Your fave drink? Coffee
8. Your dream/goal? Organization
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Messy
11. Your fear? Confrontation
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
13. Where you were last night? Computer
14. Something that you aren't? Organized
15. Muffins? Poppy seed
16. Wish List Item? Stove
17. Where did you grow up? Washington
18. Last thing you did? Scrap Club
19. What are you wearing? Bikini. Not.
20. Your TV? Mostly On
21. Your Pets? Elderly
22. Friends? Cherished
23. Your Life? Chaotic
24. Your Mood? Distracted
25. Missing Someone? Dad
26. Vehicle? Van (ugh)
27. Something your not wearing? Bikini
28. Your fave store? Ross
29. Your fave color? Orange
30. Last time you laughed? Recently
31. Last time you cried? Recently
32. Your best friend? Dog. No, my husband. No, my dog.
33. One place that I go to over and over? Grocery store
34. One person who emails regularly? Me
35. Fave place to eat? Home

Whew, that was hard. Now I'm passing this along to some amazing artists who inspire me:
1. Tracey Mason Studio Photography and cards to drool over.
2. Karen Pederson Beautiful art and a wonderful spirit.
3. Lisa's Creative Corner Look up clever crafty chick and you'll see a picture of Lisa.
4. The inspiration Institute Bren Yule, the diva of divine, a girl after my own heart.
5. Inky Heart Sally Lynn MacDonald's artwork makes my mouth hang open. Really.

Is this my kid? No way!

So pretty, that's all I'm sayin'.


Okay, maybe I'll say one more thing. What the heck happened to the last 17 years? How'd she grow up so fast?

Creative University Registration Now Open!

Won't you join me at Creative University 2010? This is my annual retreat that just gets better every year. If you can fly, drive, swim or crawl to this event, you gotta go! Check out the website for more info.