Read A Blog - ANGELA HARRIS - Beautiful Packages.. My Mother''s Day.. Tags & Tagged.. ..

Since I'm on Vacation this week in California I won't get any artwork done so this is how I will use my new, yummy smelling ribbon. Thanks so much Marilyn for your kindness!

I had such a beautiful Mother's Day. I want to share some pictures of how nice it was. My husband & I had my favorite Italian lunch together. While the kids slept.

This is how I was spoiled. My favorite combo. Wine & Chocolate.

Here is the gift I made my mom for mother's Day. We were able to bring it to her in the evening & have a relaxing night just visiting.

This hanker chief was found at a flea market & I folded it into an envelope to enclose her small gifts inside. I had to reinforce the cloth with card stock. I also found this sweet old pin with flowers & her name on it from the flea market for about 25 cents.

I then made her crepe paper roses. A mauve Pink and sage green are her favorites & these roses will last long after Mother's day is over.

Here is a pretty simple screen booklet I embellished for her. An antique bow charm & antique lace accent the cover.

The inside has a picture of My mom lovingly accommodating myself & my sister when we were young. On the right are some of my favorite words to describe her.

What a perfect Day!!

On top of all of that, In the mail @ the end of the day was a surprise Thank you Package from Marilyn Healy! I'll tell you the whole story tomorrow with pictures. And If you've seen her work you know these pictures will be amazing! See you then :)

Speaking of Tags...

Well, This should be fun! I have been tagged by Rosa to list six habits/quirks of me....Hmmm.

1. I day dream quite often.

2. I make a "To Do " List for the next day every night before I go to bed.

3. I buy an old floral plate with gold embellishment almost EVERY time I go to the thrift store (I may have a problem:)

4. I only like to clean when I'm listening to my music.

5. I rarely ever buy sweets

6. Most of the year, I don't make my kids wear shoes.

That was actually pretty hard. It was hard to think of things worth telling because it's so normal for me.

Mother's Day Blessings to all of you!

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,

Hundreds of shells on the shore together,

Hundreds of birds that go singing by,

Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather.

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,

Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,

But only one mother the world wide over.

Sides 2 of the 4 screens

Ray of Sunshine Butterfly

This is a cheery one. She's a Ray of Sunsine that says "If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain."

Dance for the Moon Butterfly

Here is a dancing Butterfly with a dress made of an upsidedown clip art of a basket of flowers. I added some ruffles for 3 dimension and to mimic movement. & Of course she has to have sparkly flowers in her hair.

My Gift is My Song & This one's for You

This screen features a small sewn booklet of music sheets, newspaper and design cardstock. Here is a view of the inside.

A new & improved version of the original. I just realized this screen does not have paper from the Vintage Workshop, which is the point of the Swap. I hope they will forgive me this time :)

Here are the Thank you Gifts for the Swap Hosts Beth & Karla.

I hope they will enjoy their matching Angels

the Screens are packaged under this shredded paper in an old Party bubbles box. Here are the signiture tags I made to hang from the binder rings.

YAA stands for YourAngil Adornments. The name of my Etsy shop.

Although I'm still working on the packaging of the products & designing business cards, I'm excited about the Altered things & supplies available.

Her name is Ella because she looks so soft & innocent. I used an old beaded bracelet I had in my jewelry box to frame her picture.

I think I will name this one Marge. She looks sure of herself & she is stern & gets things done. Her bird nest hat will feature hemp with crystals strung on it.

Here is the next layer. The light blue & clear packaging was so clean & neat . The pink in the Raspberry Chocolate packaging was a compliment to the hot pink in the paris bag.

Here's some eye candy for you. This vellum Eiffel Tower clip art looks outstanding with thin string and a rustic looking hair pin. The hair pin, I am in love with. I will be using it in my hair for my Fox theatre date to see Alison Krauss in June.

Here is the complete package of everything that was in the bag. Kris managed to get so many wonderful items in there. My favorites are the handmade items because she does such detailed work. I'm very excited to go to her handmade shop & her supplies shop now because I know her work will be of great quality.

This mixture of supplies is just perfection. The colors compliment eachother beatuifully.

She must have read my string of food posts because I love the art of presenting food. I can't wait to create some of the dishes out of this book.

This candle smells so relaxing. It has rain in the name and I've had it on my desk burning to relax with at every nap and bedtime. Ahhhhh

& the yummiest thing in this picture, the Raspberry candies made by my favorite Chocolate makers Ghirardelli. I even thought about stopping by their factory in California but it was just too north for this trip.

Here are all of the lovely handmade items in the package. This journal has pretty little details like 2 small sequins on either side of a music sheet with a printed black paris and a handscripted in cursive blue Paris underneath. She used white 3 dimensional paint to outline the eiffel tower & black & white lace as accents.

After seeing this charming tag I am inspired to work with the sewing machine in my art also. Look at the hand sewn teal beads on the bottom of the black lace. Thank you for the attention to detail!

Can you see the faint cursive writing that says Paris on the back of the journal. What a clever addition.

I love this flower of scraps & a botton and a charm. I have the perfect place for it on another big handbag I have. Like I had said a while ago. She is so on top of things. She has a blog, 2 etsy shops of which she is in many teams , and sells occasionally on Ebay. Add in some homeschooling of 2 kids & I bow to your greatness! :) Thank you KRIS!!

What a pretty collection of bright blue glassware. It's amazing how I can shut off the "want" reaction after I see a high price tag :) Such a beautiful bubble glass votive holder but $21?

This was my favorite booth this trip. This green bed wasn't very sturdy but wouldn't it be so pretty outside as a "flower bed"? Those doilie hangers are very romantic. I just found the world of starch so maybe I will try to Mimic those too.

This isn't my favorite style but wow, doesn't it look so grand? These peices were so big and substantial. These things looked like they would have been in a mansion.

A cute cottage style

This woman had a very large booth and she had the art of product placement aced. Don't you just want everything in this picture. Like you should just pick up the whole setting and bring it home.

Isn't this a cool storage unit? This piece was hoding used Greeting cards but I think I could fit all of my craft trims & trinkets in it. Too bad it wasn't for sale. I'll be looking for something like this at the flea market.

And just because, Here is a picture my Dad took in his Garden of his Bleeding Heart plant. Isn't God the ultimate Artist? Wow!

My oldest "baby" is having his 4th Birthday today & while I'm getting everything ready for his Birthday Party this Sat. I thought I would show you the past Birthday Parties I've had for the kids. I know it's sometimes alot to ask to go to a Birthday party b/c there are so many but I am the Party queen. I Love to celebrate Everything! If something happened. I want to have a party for it. I will always, always have a Birthday Party every year for the kids.

Here are the 3 parties from 2007.

Jaedin's 3rd Birthday Party-Spiderman

A scrapbooking tribute to each year of his life so far. Made on a side of a diaper box.

The buffet table

All of the kids played in a big kid swimming pool & a baby pool.

Singing Happy Birthday.

He couldn't be more cute with his Mohawk and fake car tattoo :)

Valencia's 2nd Birthday Party- The Little Mermaid

Her own cake

These fish decorations I made for free with some Newspaper cut into fishes the stapled and stuffed with more newspaper. I then used different color crepe paper which is only .33 cents to make the coral that the fish would be swimming through.

I wrote this banner for her and drew on some mermaids. Then I used Mermaid fabric for less than $2 at Walmart & made a simple pennant banner.

Oh. I loved these favors for the other children who attended the party. The top of each treasure chest has their name on it. Why I didn't take a picture? I don't know. The boys received personalized treasure chests with crayons & Salt water taffy. While the girls received shell purses with earrings & crayons.

I hung some jewels hanging from the chandelier like jewels in a shipwreck.

I painted a treasure chest box that Valencia got to keep after her party. I put in the chest a fork (dingle hopper), Sea shells painted a metallic pink, & Salt water taffy as a snack bowl. Then used Ivy bowls with fish stickers on them to offer fishy crackers.

The buffet table

The cupcake plate. I made free cupcake toppers by cutting out figures on the cardboard cutout of a product & taping them to tooth picks.

Here's my littlest Mermaid Valoria when she was 1. I made both of the girls my best impression of a mermaid outfit. I used clothes they already had and then added sea shells for their tops. I glued on used and ribbon to make a skirt (the tail). I glued this tropical flower to a hairpin & doesn't she look adorable!

For Valencia's sea shell top I covered real shells with shimmery purple fabric & then glued them to a piece of ribbon to tie around her.

Valencia handing out leis.

Oh no! She caught a fish. Don't eat it! I will taste like Tempra Paint.

Favors. these cost a little over $1 each.

Valoria's Butterfly Birthday Cake

Window Decorations

Haindpainted Banner for Valoria

Collage from her Birthday Photo shoot

All dressed up for the party & in her wings.

Opening gifts. It was so much fun to get dressed up like a Butterfly.

For her Birthday Throne I hot glued (on a low setting) pink tulle & pearls & pink roses onto her highchair.

Getting ready for cake

So yesterday when I woke up I found that my youngest daughter had opened a drawer in my desk and gotten out my camera. The door that held in the batteries is now busted . This camera also has been abused by the children before b/c the port door that holds the memory card is broken off. I will be needing a really great camera for my blog & also our trip to California in only 2 weeks. Yikes! I'm so excited but it would be terrible if I didn't have a camera to use. I've read Nikon & Olympus are great but their prices of $500- 1,000 just won't due. Do you guys have any recommendations on good cameras on a modest budget?
Thanks for your help! Off to do more craft organization.

An angel Art doll

Starfish Wand Jewelry box

Vintage Container with crafting goodies

The goodies inside

Princess Valencia

Def: Enchanted- 1.To delight in a high degree; to charm; to enrapture
2.To attract and delight; entrance.

My beautifully wrapped package from Katie came today. I was diligently trying to organize all of the craft things that should not be in my laundry baskets in the kitchen & not so suddenly (b/c I was hoping it would come today) a knock at the door. It was such a pretty package, I knew it was going to be so fun to open. She took such care wrapping each layer that I had to take a picture each time I unwrapped something.

THE ENCHANTING WORK OF
KATIE ( RAGAMUFFIN GAL)

Opened the shoe box & there is this cute tissue paper

Unwrap the tissue paper & there lies a pretty blue & brown box

Open the box & here are the beginning of the goodies

a gorgeous glittered "A" with perfectly pink ribbon

A paper mache box with gorgeous trims & papers

along with a very sparkly pink notebook with start confetti

Great attention to detail. She even used star grommets.

& Here is the main prize. I can tell every inch of this woman is handmade. Her arms & legs move at every joint. Just beautiful!

Are we still going? Yes there is more!

A lovely treasure chest that was embellished by

intricate letters & a crown.

A look at the handle & the glorious stamping

I can finally show you my completed package for the Celebrate banner swap. This was my first swap. Aside from the shipping problems it went great. I'm happy with the outcome and I have a few things I would have liked to have done differently on my projects but if we held onto our creations they would never be done would they? An artist can always find an improvement. So here is the sign I made for Tamy.

CELEBRATE WHAT YOU WANT MORE OF!
I thought if she is Ga Ga for Garlands you have to send her a Garland right? So here is the finished result. I made it a little long so I was hard to get a picture of.

Whenever I see clouds like this I yearn to do art. Especially painting. Which I didn't do any of, but this was a dress form I found at the thrift store last week & this is what became of it after I altered it. I really have to take a before picture next time. Oh well. Create, Screw up, Learn.

Like my recent disaster of trying to mail out the Celebrate banner for my first ever swap. I mailed a box to Tamy last Monday. I used a pretty label on the front of the box. Rookie mistake I guess because the following Friday I recieved my package back without Tamy's address label. So I've also become aware of how inconvient the stores that ship hours are. As well as how pricey it's been lately to mail anything. All of the trouble is SO worth it & I have had so much fun creating my first couple of Swaps . I wanted to start working on my Spring time in paris swap but here's what idea's came to me instead.

I was able to go to my first flea market of the season and unfortunatly this was the extent of it. I did find some vintage chains and buttons for some projects to go in the Etsy shop. I wish I could show you the other precious things I found but that would spoil my Enchanted Swap with my partner Katie.

Here are the very fun goodies she added in my package. I've already dug into them and begun using them for projects. Thanks Tamy for being my first Swap buddy! I Loved EVERYTHING in my package!

I think my girls are really going to enjoy opening these in the future. This first suitcase box was purchased from Michaels for $4 with a coupon. On the inside of the lid I added a place to display my daughter's baby announcements and photos. This is a good way to keep our cherished documents from getting bent.

A round hat box makes a beautiful baby keepsakes box. I found a teal skirt at a consignment shop for $1. I made these adorable lace flowers by cutting the tops off of the girls old ruffled socks. I simply swirled the lace and used hot glue to secure a pink pearl to the middles. The strand of pearls I purchased for $1 at the Flea market last year.

My sweet babies Jaedin,Valencia & Valoria

The stage lighting

My husband & I

Lobby

Overlooking the theatre room

Oh my goodness! We had the most UNBELIEVABLE date last night. The Fox Theatre was absolutely gorgeous! What an amazing life that people have when they can live among architecture and art like that. Such luxury. And we are so blessed to be able to go there in our lifetime. Due to closings on the Hwy on the way to the Theatre we arrived just as the show began. The show was Celtic Woman. A group of 4 girls with beautiful voices. Along with a very lively, pixie like fiddler. I made a stop at the Restrooms before we went in to the show and it was decorated as though it were a Castle. The most intricate detail just in the Bathroom. I knew I was going to have to go back to take pictures but I was anxious to get to the show. (I am the crazy picture lady where ever I go)
As we entered the theatre the room was dark with soft blue stage lights shinning through the fog and a bright shade of blue lights displayed on the ceiling. I have never felt so small and yet so special. The sight of this room literally took my breathe away. I heard that saying before but had never experienced it. I couldn't believe it was real. This was the kind of art I can't even imagine in a dream. The music and the singing was great and my husband & I have decided it's now worth our while to learn the Celtic language. Even if we only use it to talk to each other. My husband enjoyed it so much that he said it "was the 2nd best idea I've ever had" next to marrying him of course!
The most wonderful and Romantic date we've ever had & we can't wait to go back in June to see Alison Krauss. I will show you the interesting pictures I was able to get. But you must go see the Fabulous Fox theatre website to see more pictures. Fabulous Fox

I'm SO excited to be in my first swap ever! The Celebrate Banner swap by Tamy at Ga Ga for Garlands.

I've been reading her blog for many months now & I am so lucky to be her partner in this swap. I'm already gathering things and can't wait to start.

When I saw these photos my 3 year old son Jaedin had taken I couldn't wait to show them! Isn't it amazing what a child will show you if you allow them too? He has now shown me he has a great talent for finding shots that need to be taken. He took this picture because he and his sister are always looking for things to point at in the sky. The words sun, moon, stars, plane, planets are all fairly new to them and he was taking a picture of the sun he said. What a gorgeous view! Here are some more artistic shots he took that day. I will make a scrapbook page of this family get together through his eyes.