Simple Joys

I'm Famous!

I have this box on the bottom left corner of my blog site that says,"sites linking here."  I don't know how it got there, but I like it there.  Anyway, today I clicked on one that I hadn't noticed before:

http://www.counterfeitchic.com/knockoff_newsbriefs/

and this is what it said,

"And finally, it seems that rampant commercial copying has sparked a bit of do-it-yourself imitation as well:

• Project knockoff:  Reporter constructs copy of LV Tribute Patchwork purse:

A shopper-style bag with a gold chain handle, the Tribute Patchwork is made up of samples of 15 bags from the Louis Vuitton spring/summer and cruise collections.

However, it is the most counterfeited brand in the world - just one per cent of all products claiming to be made by Louis Vuitton are genuine. With this in mind, the Tribute Patchwork was created not just for aesthetic effect but in conjunction with the company's anti-counterfeiting unit, which is confident that this may be the first Louis Vuitton product that cannot be faked.

A Louis Vuitton insider said: "It takes all the best parts of the season's creations and rolls them into one. We are confident that the bag is utterly exclusive and that it will remain so."

Well, I've got bad news for Louis Vuitton - I've made my own.

• Pin pricked:  Gap sued for stealing copyrighted zipper flower design

Not only does Brooklyn designer Kate Cusack have to contend with alleged copying by The Gap, but enterprising crafters are working on -- and publicizing -- their own versions.

That's my zipper flower.  Just to set the record straight, I only made it to see if i could make one of those $70.00 zipper flowers.  C'mon now, how could I not try it.  $70.00 for a zipper flower?  I have never sold one, nor do I have any intentions to.  Putting it on my blog was simply to share it with my friends.  I thought it was interesting.  So sue me.

If you look above at the Louis Vuitton bags, she (Susan) did the same thing and made her own.  Yikes - watch out Susan you may end up on a counterfeit watch blog!

Just me and my PMDD in full force.

More Inchies!

I've made more inchies for the swap I'm in.  The inchie swap members are growing so I decided to make the second batch.  I did flat collage instead of dimensional collage this time.  I also decided to border them with gold paint and ended up actually bordering the first set too. The members in the Yahoo group are "inchied out" in the discussions so I'm going to just quietly stick a photo in the inchie swap folder - he, heh.

Here's some pics:

This is the whole second group:

Here are some close ups:

I painted "gardenia - looking" flowers on these and embellished with words cut out of a magazine.

The rest are just collaged with cut out images and words from a magazine.

Okie dokie - gotta get ready to go to the bead shop!  Bye!

New Earrings!

Despite just getting over . . . yes, I'm going to say it one more time . . . the "dreaded stomach flu," I just had to pop in for a short while to the Whole Bead Show at Ward Warehouse.  I called Val and told her I would pick her up from work and we could go until we had to pick up J.  I told her I think I could make it through without fainting, but if I felt faint I would just sit down (he heh - I really wanted to go).  I picked her up and we headed straight to Ward Warehouse.  We had 1 1/2 hours to browse and shop.  I did feel light headed a couple of times, but got through it okay.  We then started out to pick up J, when she called asking if she could go with a friend and her mom and meet me at vball practice later.  Well . . . I knew I couldn't stay out much longer because I wasn't feeling all that great, but I wanted to take advantage of the few free hours we had.  We ended up going straight to my home and created some new earrings with our purchases!  I tell you, it is ten times more fun to create together with your best friend than it is to create alone!  It was so-o-o-o much fun!  Here are the earrings we made.  Yes, we made 3 of the same earrings!  Woo hoo!  We love them!

 

Princess Eggwhites New Fashions!

Val's been working on some egg cozies. She's got another one in the making, but I wanted to post these since they were done and so-o-o-o adorable! 

Here is Princess Eggwhites with two adorable cozies to keep her warm.  She will be modeling them in this post to show you how wonderful her new ensemble looks.

The first one is crocheted.  It sort of looks like a crown for a very special egg - Princess Eggwhites!  Here she is wearing her cozy crown:

Her second ensemble is made of wool felt and covers her entirely to keep her extra warm and cozy.  She especially loves the brightly colored wool felt flowers that adorn her cozy - just in time for Spring!

We couldn't close the show without showing you the wonderful cotton fabric that lines this adorable cozy.

Stay tuned for more Princess Eggwhite fashions coming soon!

Inching Along With My Inchies

I made some progress on my inchies.  This is the first twenty five.  I think I'm pretty much done with this batch.  I might border it with  metallic pen.  I'm not sure.  Here they are!

Here are some close ups:

I love these tiny creations.  They are so fun and addictive!

Bitten By A New Bug!

Okay, the "dreaded stomach flu" is on its way out.  Yay!  I'm feeling better today.  I finally ate something without it running right through.  I had a delicious bowl of udon.  Mmmm-m-m-m.  It was such a good choice.  Sorry no pic.  I ate it before thinking of taking a picture.  Anyway,  I know it's been a while since I posted, hence the two previous posts about things that happened in the previous week.  Today, I had just enough energy to tackle something new.  I took it real slow, but enjoyed it thoroughly.  I've been bitten by a new bug!  No, not like the "dreaded stomach flu".  This one is a nice, fun, creative bug!  It's the "inchie bug!"  I've been seeing inchies all over blogland.  I've been intrigued for a couple of weeks now.  I was going to tackle the fabric inchies, when a Yahoo group I belong to introduced an inchie swap.  Just in time.  It's a paper inchie swap, but I thought what a perfect way to jump into the inchie craze.  Here's the backgrounds I did for the swap.  I looked at this tutorial and followed some of the steps - used the torn book page idea and stamped some images. I don't even know how many I will need because the sign up is open until March twenty-something.  There are 20 swappers listed so far.  I totally enjoyed making them.  I used watercolor paper, glued strips of torn book pages, painted with Lumieres, and stamped with a vine like stamp with white Colorbox pigment ink then heat set it.  I then cut it up into 1 inch squares.  Easy peasy and instant gratification!  The theme is floral so now I have to decide how to embellish these little beauties.  I love them!  Here's some pics:

Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest.  The shimmer in the Lumieres didn't come out in the pics, but you can get the main idea from these.  I'm kind of stuck now on how to embellish them.  I just want to make more backgrounds!

Happy Birthday J!

J received this beautiful bouquet from her Aunty Val for her birthday yesterday!  It's her first bouquet ever that was delivered for her.  When she came home from school and saw it she was so tickled.  The Precious Memoried balloon attached was adorable.  The family went to eat at Makino Chaya last night, but I stayed home with the "dreaded stomach flue" still attacking me.  The first thing she said when she came back from dinner was, "I'm so-o-o-o full!"  They all had a wonderful dinner.  Happy birthday J!

Happy Birthday Cards

Here are a couple pictures of some birthday cards I made.  My girlfriend Shelly started me on making cards.  I've done paper crafts and stamping for years, but never really got into card making.  I think I've only made a couple cards in all the years I've been doing paper crafts.  She couldn't believe it because I had all the supplies.  So I made a few easy ones just to get started.  Here they are . . .

I made these backgrounds and then embellished them a little.

Here are the finished ones:

Here's a couple close up:

Free Vintage Images

Hi.  I've been MIA for over a week.  We had a really busy week last week, and then . . . the dreaded stomach flu!   I do not wish this on anyone!  I literally slept on the bathroom floor.  Okay, sorry, maybe that was too much information.  Anyway, I'm still trying to get over the dreaded stomach flu, so I'm just popping in to let you all know that Lisa Vollrath is gifting free vintage images for your own artwork here.  The images are really nice in my opinion.  Perfect for ATC's and collages.  I'll post some pics of some cards and tags I made last week before the . . . dreaded stomach flu.