Anatomy of a Book Review

You all know that excitement when you order a new art book and you're eagerly awaiting it's arrival short of stalking the mail person. The day finally arrives when the mail person delivers your package and the excitement is almost too much to bear and you daintily rip and tear open the box! What do you mean you don't do this?!?

As I've acquired so many books I've found that I've become much more selective then when I first started out. I usually try to look through the books I want at the bookstore first and then decide, but most times our local bookstore doesn't get the newest books in for quite awhile. If my withdrawals are too much, and I need a fix I'll give in and order after reading book reviews online (this helps some, but not totally since we're each look for something different in a book).

I'm usually left with one of the following feelings after reading a book:

1. I'm thrilled and think this is a keeper! It not only gives me great eye candy, but actual techniques, steps and projects! Its definitely a keeper and I'll put it on my shelf to use it as a reference book.

2. It's a nice book, BUT it's not what I had hoped. I put this in the category of it would be a great check out of the library book, but not one that I feel the need to keep on my shelf.

3. Disappointment, why did I spend the money. Thankfully this doesn't happen often.

So with all that said I received two books in the mail this week. I excitedly thumbed through them quickly and then set them down until I had more time when I could sit down with my favorite warm drink and peruse, drool and read through each of the books and really savor them! See my take on each of the books below:

Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings by by Kelly Rae Roberts (Author)--I love this book and find it very inspiring, with great how tos and tips along with eye candy. Its definitely one that will go on my shelf and I'll use as reference and as inspiration book.

Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques
by Cate Coulacos Prato (Author) -This one was nice eye candy from various artists but was a bit disappointing for me. I was hoping for more techniques then pictures of projects by other artists. It would be a great check out of the library book in my opinion.

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Crafty Blogger Blurb & Happy Howl' O ween!

Boy there are some awesome blogger blurbs today, I'm loving them....how about you? Leave me a post and let me know how you like the Blogger Blurbs?

Happy Howl'O ween!

Layers Upon Layers Artist Kerry Wilkinson plays with resin in a big way!

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Craftside has goulish wet felted eyeballs, a crocheted spider web sweater project, crafting with the Chrome Cowgirl, and announcing Quarry Publishing is sponsoring this year's Holiday Felt Club in Los Angeles with special appearances, signings and make & takes with authors, Angela Cartwright, The Crafty Chica, Lisa Sonora Beam and Stefanie Girard.

The Impatient Crafter™ Join Madge for part two of her gothically delicious free Halloween project. The Invitation.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See how I cut out a cool part of a pattern from The Crochet Dude's hot new book to crochet a two colored headband.

About Family Crafts Sherri offers several ideas for creatively displaying your child's artwork.

Cathie Filian Win a copy of Bow WOW WOW! and a $100 worth of craft supplies from Plaid - 1 grand prize and 24 other prizes!

Crafty Princess Diaries You can make any of these super quick jewelry projects just in time for Halloween, seriously, this Halloween! Otherwise, hit the bargain bins at your craft store for the after Halloween sales so you are prepared for next year!

Cross Stitch at About.com Check out the latest additions to the Stitcher's Photo Album - We've reached a milestone. The first page is now devoted to submitted photos of the free patterns from About.com Cross Stitch.

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Autumn Grls

Autumn Grls

Here's a little autumn digital piece I created using Paint Shop Pro (incidentally if your looking for a user friendly and inexpensive graphics's program I highly recommend PSP click the link above to read more about it--no affiliation). The fall picture in the background is compliments of my niece in Indiana. Out here in California we don't have very colorful autumns, so we live vicariously through fall from other places LOL.

I've uploaded some new freebie pictures in OTM's gallery HERE , so take a moment to download them and create your own digital work of art!

Happy Creating!

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Proofs in the Bottle

Hey remember my Soda bottle Mailart project I sent to my niece...? I finally have a picture of her with the bottle after it arrived at Notre Dame. It held up well didn't it? Now get those bottles out and send one of your own :-)

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Fun Play Day and Christmas Gift Idea

My niece was home for a visit from Notre Dame this week and we had a fun play day together where she made some Christmas gifts she could take back and give to her friends. She misted away using the Color Mists on mini canvas journals, then adding label brackets she colored with paint pens, next she added paper tags on the pages to separate for the alphabet. We sealed them with PYM II as the finale! Before she knew it she had 4 cute little address books to give to her friends. It took her all of 1 1/2 hours to make them accounting for drying time and all (we cheated and used a heat gun).

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Crafty Halloween Blogger Blurbs!

Check out the great Crafty Halloween Blogger Blurbs posted this week, what fun ideas!

Download and send a Halloween Postcard to all your friends.

About Family Crafts If you are in search of creative costume ideas for 2, 3, 4, or more, you have come to the right place.

Cathie Filian Check out the Halloween Videos from the Emmy Nominated television show, Witch Crafts, where Cathie and Steve, make some awesome Halloween Projects & party ideas.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world This week Craftside brings you a modern denim and plaid upcycled quilt block, 2 yummy recipes using sherry, Art Nouveau jewelry, off register screen printing designs and a call for entries for a new book- 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse.

Crafty Princess Diaries No more babies in your life to crochet or knit snuggly blankets for? No worries, the Crafty Princess has the low-down on a baby blanket contest as well as a non-profit group that makes blankets for babies in need.

Cross Stitch at About.com This week, Connie has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen - no, not cooking. Dyeing fabric instead. Find out more about all the ways you can change the color of your fabrics.

Layers Upon Layers Cyndi has gathered together her most popular tutorials on creating great background papers for your artwork.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Check out a ring project inspired by Sherri Haab's book Felt, Fabric, and Fiber Jewelry done Sweater Surgery style.

The Crochet Dude Drew has the perfect recipes for a Halloween party: Bloody Eyeballs and Maggots!

The Impatient Crafter™ Madge shares part one of her two part final project for Terrorific Tuesdays. It's a Gothically delicious tale of friendship.

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Quick Christmas Gift Idea

Here's simple & quick Christmas gift idea I

created using the following items:

• Bisque medallion (6 shapes to choose from)
• Rub-on
• Brass face charm
• Crystal Lacquer
• Chalk Inks
• Gold Leafing Paint Pen
• Leather Lacing
• PYM II

I used a large size rub-on image I had for the front of the necklace (make sure that the rub-on you use is a sticky one,use a brand you know to work well for you--I used a Rebecca Sower rub-on that came in a tin). I then removed the excess rub-on after smoothing around the edge of the medallion. Next I added chalk inks to the sides and the back (instead of chalk inks you can use paints, glazes, watercolors and pigment inks). I then made a puddle of the gold leafing paint on some acetate slide my rubber stamp through the paint and stamped onto the back side of the medallion. To finish it off I adhered a brass face using Crystal Lacquer and then sprayed it with PYM II to seal it and hung it from a piece of leather lacing (you can find this at most craft and bead stores).

*Alternative ideas decorating your bisque shapes*

• Paint with Acrylic paints
• Collage an image using gel medium or lament adhesive such as Crystal Lacquer
• Emboss using a rubber stamp image, embossing ink and embossing powder

Free Halloween Postcard

I woke up this morning to find that Herm and Ethel are baaacccck in time for Halloween! I found them sitting on the veranda counting cars! They've had a heck of a busy year traveling around.

Click HERE to see past Halloween Posts

*Download this postcard *

and send it to a friend

Digital Delight

For some reason the cooler fall weather makes me want to do more digital art and it's been far too long since I've done any digital pieces so it's felt good to work on my skills again.

Fable King

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Crafty Blogger Blurb Friday!

My goodness is it Friday again, time is just flyin' by! There's a couple new additions this week so check them out and enjoy!

The Swell and Spooky Life Swelldesigner is giving away a super swell vintage-inspired pumpkin man box in honor of Terrorific Tuesdays!

The Crochet Dude I Want My Mummy! Drew has a free Halloween treat bag crochet pattern that is super cute!

Layers Upon Layers Cyndi has updated her ever-growing list of posts covering different methods to do image transfers.

The Impatient Crafter Margot shares next week's Terrorific Tuesday Halloween Themed paper crafted jewelry project. Hooty the Halloween Hoot Owl!

About Family Crafts Take a few moments and tell Sherri and all of her visitors what your favorite way to save money is when it comes to craft supplies.

Cathie Filian Cathie Filian has a tutorial on how to transform plain candles with a few stamping supplies. Great for holiday gift giving and decorating! From the Medieval Lights episode of Creative Juice.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Peeking at you this week from Craftside are easy felted eyeballs, a dimensional surface technique tutorial, a creative inspiring exercise from the new book The Creative Entrepreneur and a paper and crystal necklace project from Jenn Mason's latest and greatest book, Altered Paper Jewelry.

Crafty Princess Diaries Are you thinking about stocking stuffers for you crafty friends yet? The Crafty Princess has a few ideas for you.

Cross Stitch at About.com Do You Suffer from Pattern Paralysis? Find out what it is and learn ways to treat it. Be sure to read all the comments and add your own!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery The "Eyes" have the vote with a super easy Eyeball Halloween Desktop Decoration.


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Bathrooms are overrated...

 

Ah there is light at the end of the tunnel...er, I mean  in the bathroom is more like it! Yes, the bathroom remodel is near completion if you ignore the fact that the toilet and sink aren't back in yet....minor details right? a functioning bathroom is overrated I'm sure!  Working on an old house is like a box of chocolates....you never know what your gonna get once you tear into it! LOL I know those of you who have ever owned an old house know exactly what I'm talking about...Yep, I see you nodding your heads out there ;-)    Son number 1 is going back home now after coming up to help us out and hubby will finish up the rest. It will be nice to have two bathrooms again!

How does this all relate to art....? well heck the bathroom job alone was quite creative...ohh that doesn't count, eh well I did work on some small projects amidst the chaos.  I made an address book out of the mini canvas journals I've started carrying at OTM.  It's a gift for a friend and  would make great gift ideas for teachers, friends and secret sisters!

I also discovered a new favorite product! Absorbent Grounds (white) by Golden's.  I'm not sure what other brands are out there, but I bought my jar from Michael's using their 40 percent off coupon.  I spread some on a mini canvas journal with a palette knife and then used a plastic "thingy" (how's that for technical terminology LOL), that I found which had small holes drilled in it... I basically smooshed it into the absorbent grounds and lifted it back up just to create some texture. The absorbent grounds has the consistency of frosting to me.

What I loved about the absorbent grounds is that my Color Mists worked awesomely over the absorbent grounds which for me leaves me with endless creative possibilities! 

For some reason I had such a hard time getting a un blurry picture so bare with me on the quality of the photos.

Inside Front-I added a pocket and tabs dividing up the alphabet.	The backside--I misted with Color Mists directly onto the canvas journal

Color Mist Photo Paper Technique

As promised here is another tutorial I posted to the OTM website. This one was created by Christy Grant, if you have a moment please check it out HERE.

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Crafty Blogger Blurbs

The Impatient Crafter™ In honor of Halloween, Madge has joined Terroriffic Tuesdays. This week she shares a free Crystal Web Collar she created for CYSWCSE Swarovski's DIY brand.

Layers Upon Layers Make a fabric collage, using digital images as your inspiration.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Stefanie, unlike Joan Crawford, embraces the wire hanger and her favorite medium-the sweater- to make a quick and easy Ghost Halloween Decoration.

About Family Crafts Find out how you can transform ordinary soda pop and beer cans into crafty masterpieces.

Cathie Filian Cathie's new book Bow Wow WOW! fetching costumes fabulous dog is now avaliable. Have a peek at the 36 different fun costumes and fashion accessories you can make for your pooch.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Halloween crafts are in full swing at Craftside with a GIANT web with a super cute spider from the book Fleece Animals, a papier mache skull with natural rust effects, and a found in the yard decoration inspired by Faux Florals in Glass. But Halloween isn't the only thing happening, there is my finished Crafty Chica Empowerment Guardian and a whole bunch of techniques using Angelina fiber from the creative mind of Susan Stein.

Crafty Princess Diaries The Crafty Princess found some cool crochet candy corn to make and enjoy, a great beginner's project!

Cross Stitch at About.com Stitch a spooky skull with glow-in-the-dark blending filament - if you dare!

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Color Mists Fiber Necklace Tutorial!

Have I mentioned our upstairs bathroom leak fiasco a few weeks back? hmm...no....well due to that we are now in the middle of a bathroom shower redo (for those of you that don't remember I live in a 100 year old house), and nothing is ever easy when it comes to fixes of course everything goes according to plan and smooth as buttah! Needless to say there has been no time for art this week. I feel rather like I'm living in the middle of chaos or the eye of a storm for some odd reason LOL Thankfully my oldest son came up to help with the bathroom redo. Having to step around and over things worse then normal has definitely driven my creativity out the window....anyone know where it's landed?!?

Instead of art I worked on getting more of my tutorials I had posted on the old site uploaded to the new site..... one of my favorites is the Color Mist Fiber Necklace that Joanne Huffman created awhile back. Please take a moment to check out her tutorial posted on OTM's website HERE and also take a moment to check out Joanne's blog and see more of her beautiful art.

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El esqueleto de Amor

Skeleton of Love~

You might recall my Day of the Dead post showing how I painted the skull recently. I thought you might like to see what I ended up doing with the painted skull...I used one of the artist manikins and painted it with gesso and then used a charcoal pencil and paint pen to make it look more like bones. I then carved out the painted skull until it fit perfectly atop the artist manikin head and then glued it with multi surface adhesive.

Crafty Blogger Blurb Friday!

About Family Crafts Want to surprise your neighbors this Halloween? These unique gift ideas will get your entire neighborhood into the Halloween spirit!

Cathie Filian Take a sneak peek at the Emmy Nominated, Halloween craft show, Witch Crafts on DIY Network and check out the complete project list (with instructions) from the series.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world There are crafty tasty treats this week at Craftside with an inside peek into the book Artisan Chocolates, a recycled book slider idea, design points from Singer Decorative Machine Stitching, eye and soul candy from the new book Knitting Art and a secret square altered art page tutorial.

Crafty Princess Diaries As crafters we have an advantage over most folks because we can often wear what we make. See what Tim Gunn from Project Runway has to say about what to wear this season and how accessories play a part.

Cross Stitch at About.com Connie's been having some fun with FurTaStitch floss. See what she's been up to and learn more about stitching with textured flosses.

Layers Upon Layers Be inspired by artist Nicola Dale's amazing book arts!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter™ Margot has made the executive decision to split her blog in two. Introducing the brand spanking new The Impatient Crafter™ blog! A new destination for all things crafty!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery A 10 commandment bracelet is in surgery this week and gets a make over into an asymmetrical necklace.

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Guilty Pleasure

I'm admitting to my guilty pleasure my sister has enticed me by gifting me a book for my birthday...I must state these are not the typical books I like to read so I was pleasantly surprised when I did like them and "got hooked!" The books are written by Stephenie Meyer and titled: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I have always been an avid reader, but sadly between business and having to steal time for art I quit reading unless a good author comes along that hooks me! That's exactly what with this new series did, damn my sister for tempting me with this drug! I'm very excited to learn that the first book will be made into a movie coming out Nov. 21st.

They're classified as young adult books, but none the less they have been fun to read. Although, I would consider them light reading and rather doubt they would win any great literary awards I did them enjoy. I think it helped that I had no clue about them and was not caught up in the hype therefore I had no preconcieved expectations so there was no disappointment on my part.

Read the following Summary from Twilight the book One:

Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

From School Library JournalGrade 9 Up–When Bella Swan moves from sunny Phoenix to Forks, Washington, a damp and dreary town known for the most rainfall in the United States, to live with her dad, she isn't expecting to like it. But the level of hostility displayed by her standoffish high school biology lab partner, Edward Cullen, surprises her. After several strange interactions, his preternatural beauty, strength, and speed have her intrigued. Edward is just as fascinated with Bella, and their attraction to one another grows. As Bella discovers more about Edwards nature and his family, she is thrown headlong into a dangerous adventure that has her making a desperate sacrifice to save her one true love. One of the more original vampire constructs around, this recording of Stephenie Meyers debut novel (Megan Tingley Books, 2005) is narrated with great style by Ilyana Kadushin, who makes the infinitely romantic tale of star-crossed lovers resonate with a bittersweet edge. Although Edward and Bellas romance and subsequent danger develops slowly, the pacing is appropriate for teens who want learn all the details in this suspenseful tale. An excellent purchase for both school and public libraries.–Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Witchy Witch!

Meet Zoraida, she's just flown in on Air Broom. She wanted to be here in plenty of time for the Art Muse Contest since she's one of the MCs!

	A face only a mother could love!
Close up of face I created using air dry paper clay.
	I used gray spray webbing first on the artist manikin giving her pock riddled skin. I then colored her with Emerald Isle green & Lime Jello Color Mists and sealed the entire doll with PYM II.

Crafty Blogger Blurb Friday!

Crafty Princess Diaries Are Halloween crafts on your list of things to do? How about a little lampwork ghost lariat? The Crafty Princess has a few other Halloween goodie ideas floating around in her head right now.

Layers Upon Layers Do you find yourself snapping pictures of things just for their texture? Cyndi wants to know what you do with these shots.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery Here's looking at you kid! "See" a pair of mosaic lawn eyes made from some old bowling balls.

The Impatient Blogger Come see the entries in The Impatient Crafter Happy Cute Make Kewpie Doll Challenge 2008!

About Family Crafts Check out this special events calendar to find out what holidays, birthdays, and other events are celebrated in the month of October; plus, find ideas for crafts, games, and other activities to help you celebrate.

About.com Cross Stitch Halloween is coming soon, but there's still time to stitch some designs to add to treat bags, t-shirts, or Halloween trees.

Cathie Filian Check out Cathie's top 10 pumpkin tips and cozy up to fall with recipes for a homemade butternut squash soup and an ultimate grilled cheese sandwich.

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Deli Paper Background Tutorial

I've had several requests for a tutorial on using color mists with deli paper paper so I've created a slideshow (I'll work on getting one up with static pictures for those that are able to view slideshows).

Why do I love deli paper? I thought you'd never ask! The type of deli paper I use is actually a sandwich wrap with a wet strength to it. What this means is that it looks and feels like tissue paper but yet its strong and durable. You can stature deli paper and it doesn't rip or tear yet it's thin and opaque.

Supplies Used

Deli Paper

Color Mists

White Gesso

Foam Stamps

Heat Gun

Step 1. Mist the deli paper using various colors working from light to dark

(Alternate using metalic colors to add shimmer and sparkle).

Step 2. Once your done misting the paper crumple the paper up to further saturate it.

Step 3. Mist further as needed while the paper is crumpled turning with each spray.

Step 4. Using a heat gun begin drying your crumpled paper--keep the heat gun moving so keep from over heating. As the crumpled paper begins to dry it will slowly begin to open up some--continue helping it open up as you finish drying the paper.

Step 5. Once the paper is dry smooth it out using your hands.

Step 6. Squeeze out some gesso on a palette, using a make-up sponge blot gesso onto your foam stamp and then begin stamping randomly onto your colored deli paper. **Tip-rotate your paper as you stamp to give it a more randomly look.

Step 7. Dry the wet gesso on your deli paper with the heat gun.

*Optional Ideas*

A. Once you dry the gesso you can mist the paper again and then dry with the heat gun.

B. Bring out the colors further by using chalk inks near the stamped gesso designs.

C. Stamp with gold leafing paint to give further depth once your gesso has dried.

Click HERE to check out more Deli Paper Backgrounds.

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Crafty Blogger Blur Sunday!

Cathie Filian Halloween is just around the corner so fly on over to Cathie Filian’s blog for some spooky new ideas and frightfully fun projects.

About Family Crafts Check out these spotlight crafts... Make everything from a sccarecrow candy jar to a Beaded Safety Pin Bear.

About.com Cross Stitch Connie has been feathering her stitching nest. Find out how she made her stitching spot work.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world Work and play are in full fall swing this week at Craftside with news like the Crafty Chica giving away a space on her cruise, a job opportunity for a Marketing Specialist at The Quayside Publishing Group, Lisa Engelbrecht signing and demoing at Barnes & Noble, and of course two fun craft projects; a funky recycled denim purse with motorcycle gear handles and tiny needle felted pumpkins.

Crafty Princess Diaries Flower power time! Tammy posts about a CFE over at CraftStylish for all your flower fanatics.

Layers Upon Layers One of the most frequently asked questions at Layers Upon Layers is how to do image transfers. Here are Cyndi's favorite methods and tutorials for each!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery See some pumpkins that are "carved" out of some cute sweaters and a classic saying in cross stitch.

The impatient Bloggger-What's your brand? Madge shares some thoughts about branding and a new demo reel in this thought provoking post.

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Another Día De Los Muertos Project

I've had some fun creating another Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) project. Here's my decorated Calaveras (skulls) to resemble the decorated sugar skulls that are made for the Día De Los Muertos festivities.

Supplies Used

Foam Skull (click link to order)

Sailor Pens

Zig Paint Pens

Sakura Glaze Pens

Gesso

Fluorescent Acrylic Paints (Optional)

Skull Size 4 1/2"

(Click images to enlarge)

*As an alternative instead of painting is to collage onto the skull using selected images.

Click Here for more Day of the Dead Products

Art Comes in all forms

I just had to share my husband's creation. It's not finished but I wanted to show a picture of it where you could still tell what it was. I sometimes forget what a great altered artist he is, and how much he inspires me! This is a wood burning stove he created for his garage. Its made from a large propane tank that was discarded.

Gifts of Hope

Kris and I created this altered birdcage for the doll to

hold in her hands for the Ties That Bind Project.

I finished my altered tie for the Ties That Bind Project to benefit ovarian cancer. It started out as a tan stripped tie and I colored it with Tahoe Turquoise and Platinum White Color Mists. Paper flowers colored again with the Color Mists and added the ribbon and foil butterfly. I had to laugh at myself because we're only suppose to decorate 8 inches of the tie and by the time I was done my 8 inches grew to 12 inches LOL I guess I got carried away and ended up having to make adjustments...whoops!

The message on the butterfly just in case you can't read it is Ovarian Cancer's slogan which really put things in to perspective for me on how silent this type of cancer is and gets easily missed.

Ovarian Cancer; it whispers, listen.

Please click the Ties that Bind Link to read more about the symptoms:

http://projecttiesthatbind.blogspot.com/

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Crafty Blogger Blurb Friday!

I'm starting to get caught up and on time again with my Crafty Blogger Blurb Links. Please check them out as they change each week. I always find interesting tidbits when I visit each link.

ENJOY!

Cathie Filian My hubby and I tested the new goats milk soap base at Michaels. Two thumbs up!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world What ever your medium there is information and inspiration a-go-go this week with a crazy quilt embroidery motif, bullet casing bracelet how-to, duplicate stitch wing pattern and tutorial, decorative paper stencil patterns, and the altered book technique of "Highlighting Text."

About Family Crafts Let everyone know... What holiday season inspires your creativity the most?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery The "heavy guns" were brought out this week at Sweater Surgery with the band sawing of shotgun shell up cycled jewelry and the leather work gloves used in the creation of cairns.

About.com Cross Stitch The 2008 Cross Stitch Forum Ornament Exchange is on - find out how to participate then create your ornaments and enjoy.

Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy is still thinking about the good ol' days and tie-dye. Here's a great video she found on YouTube that gives you the 411.

The Impatient Blogger Who knew hook rugs were such a hot button topic? Madge continues to ponder the future of the craft industry in this sequel to last week's post.

Layers Upon Layers Mixed media artist Christy Sobolewski shares her artistic passions.

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