She is Crafty

Hey Everyone!

I am so happy today:) I have been having a wonderful time creating everything from cards to boxes to tags. I am still in the middle of creating my other blog entitled. "Tag You're It".

I am really enjoying the whole blog thing.

My new place to shop is Etsy! If you haven't been there you simply must and for many reasons. One reason I love Etsy is because most of the items are handmade and very creatively designed. This brings me to my second reason. The artist selling things on Etsy find creative ways to recycle items into fabulous pieces of art. The prices are wonderful and sellers and buyers are from all over the world.

Just like the online game of Second Life, I enjoy meeting and having wonderful conversations with everyone from around the world. Speaking of Second Life, my items for sale can be purchased through the online game of Second Life. So, if you are in the game, drop by my shop and order up something. It just may help you....

Enjoy Life!

Take Out Box Kit Number One

Hey Everyone!

I have these wonderful take out boxes. Inspired by the online game of Second Life.

In the game, Spring is just around the corner and everyone is excited about new things.

Artists are busy creating lovely textures and fun things to work with in the game. Such creativity has inspired and dare I say motivated me to create these "Take Out" boxes. These are small take out boxes designed for many possibilities. I used patterned card stock so they are not designed to put your Chinese delicacies in them:)

You could fill them with anything from paper clips to chocolate kisses. I don't have to tell you which I prefer:)

Anyway, this is the first kit I put together and more are to come. There are four boxes in each kit and they ship flat so you will have to put them together. They are simple to put together but if you get stuck, fell free to email me.

Enjoy Life!

V Butterfly

I had so much fun today playing in photoshop. Here is a picture I created. Don't ask me how and what I did because I have no idea. I was playing until I stopped and this is the result:)

I like it and hope you do too.

Enjoy Life!

Pillow Box

I have had so much fun traveling around in the online game of Second Life. The sights and people are irreplaceable.

Today in rl I made a pillow box inspired by the game. I had such a great time. I can't make up my mind as to what I want to put in my pillow box. My first thought is always..... chocolate:) This time however, I want to think "outside of the box" and do something different. Ummm, let's see. Well, this might take some time to figure out. Until then ....

Enjoy Life!

My Onesie Mini

Well, I had a blast working on this mini album. What is interesting to note is that I am only on the first page:)

Choosing the right embellishments and picture proved to be a bit time consuming but well worth it.
I am still on a quest for a free journaling adobe brush. I admit I am fading fast as I can't seem to find one.

I shall push on and .....

Enjoy Life!

Pin Up

This was an fun way to make use of my old clothes pins. Does anyone hang up clothes with them anymore?

Anyway, I created these and really enjoy finding uses for them now. From clipping down my chip bags to hanging my family photos, I LOVE it! It's one of those things that helps me ....

Enjoy Life!

Onsie

It has been awhile since my little girl was in a "onsie" but I saw this wonderful onesie mini album online and decided to make one too. I have just started but I'll share what I have so far. It is simply chipboard and patterned paper right now. It is bound together with binding rings.

I think I will have a great time embellishing the mini album. It could get emotional as I travel back in time when my teenage daughter was a very little girl. All in all I'm sure I will ....

Enjoy Life!

Tag Along

I had some fun tonight with my embossing tool. I hope you like the tags I made. It was truly a great creative experience.
To be honest, I was a bit scared because the embossing tool can get really really hot. I didn't want to start a fire. That would not be a good thing.
This week is going by quickly. We are having cold weather where I am but I can't complain. There are so many out there who really have a serious winter. We just sorta play with winter. It can be cold for a bit but then wonderful weather is just a stones throw away.
Tonight is really cold. I am going hop into bed and snuggle up and ....

Enjoy Life!

England

Today I had a lovely time visiting London, England in the online game of Second Life. It did remind me of my awesome holiday there.

I was really amazed that my local grocery store is now carrying items I saw in England.

On my way home from church I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner and out of the blue I saw these lovely products. It made me very happy.

I love surprises. They help me ....

Enjoy Life!

Everything is coming up ROSES

I love roses and long to see them in bloom again.

Today I went roaming about the online game of Second Life and came upon this lovely rose garden. It did indeed inspire me to create my own roses, paper roses that is:) I had loads of fun doing it too.

It's the little things that fill me with joy. Once you find your inner joy it's easy to....

Enjoy Life!

Tag You're It 2

More tags, more fun! You like them? I hope so because I had a great time creating them:)

I am so glad to relax tonight. It has been a long week which is strange as we had a four day week.

Anyway, this week was one for the books. I am grateful to have time to regroup this weekend. I don't plan on leaving the house except to go to church where I will pray for strength for next week.

I love what I do but from time to time it can get stressful so what we all need to do when we hit stressful times is to pull out our relaxation techniques. I have a bag of them somewhere and I plan to pull them out and work on it.

What helps you relax? Whatever it is, go do it and ....

Enjoy Life!

A Calm Moment

Today was a stressful day:( I think because I am tired and ready for Friday evening.
I am so glad the work day is over. I am also glad to visit my friends lovely sim and relax. The sim was created and designed by Julia Hathor, the best artist to grace the online game, Second Life.
There is such a sense of calm that I feel when I visit. The sights and sounds are indeed in Second Life but I feel the calm in First Life.
Thank you so much Julia for sharing your gifts and for being such a fabulous friend to me.
Do you want to visit? Here you go: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Serenity Falls/41/93/22/?title=Serenity Falls
Go and ....

Enjoy Life!

Give it to me

This video made me laugh so hard! I love it:)
You simply must....

Enjoy Life!

Tag You're It

Creating this was fun. It's a tag for my album and it has a special area to journal on the back. I had fun picking out the fibers to put on it. I love the drama masks as well.

I did a cracked look which I was surprised worked. I saw the tutorial on this technique from one of my friends online and tried it out. I love utee:)

Creating is fun for me. It helps me to....

Enjoy Life!

Amazing

Don't tell my husband but this is the new man in my life:) Just kidding! I don't know Tim Holtz except through his amazing line of stamps and other crafting items.
I love what Tim Holtz has done for crafting. I have learned so much by watching his videos. I can't say I have alot of his products but I enjoy the ones I have.
Have a watch and maybe it will will inspire you to....

Enjoy Life!

Happy Valentines Day

Well, it's been sometime since my last blog and so much is going on. Let's see, the most recent is the.... SNOW! We have not been snowed in like others and we clearly did not have a blizzard by any stretch of the imagination but we had a bit of snow Friday night. It was absolutely beautiful. By Saturday afternoon it was a beautiful memory.

I have had such fun playing and creating in and out of Second Life. I am now armed with a great tool called, ATG. It is a wonderful adhesive tool. It's on the pricey side but well worth it. This tool is a must if you craft. I have learned that spending my money on one good product is worth more than spending my money on stuff I'll have to throw away because it doesn't work after using it once or twice. It's just not worth it. Buy the right tool for the job and march on.

I found.... CHIPBOARD! I have been creating mini albums and I discovered all of these chipboard pieces in the craft stores. I decided I wanted to make some of my own. Well, I had a rocky start, to say the least. It was fun and there was great entertainment value in it. I learned what not to do and thought I would share my first pieces with you. With any luck I will get better and show you some better looking pieces later:)

Next, I began to create tags for my mini album. Creating tags was a great deal of fun. I plan to do some Viv Writer tags and a line of tags called, Scenes from Second Life. Here are a few of my first tags. I don't mind sharing them with you as everyone has to start somewhere and I hope to grow from here. I do plan to sell my tags in my etsy shop so email me if you would like the name of the my shop and the link to my shop.


Well, I think that is all for now. It's Valentines Day so I hope you all have a wonderful, romanctic day and enjoy the love of your life. I made these lovely pillow boxes with m&m's for the sweet people in my life:)

Be sweet and....

Enjoy Life!

Back to Cranberry Cove

Yeah! It's back to Cranberry Cove in the next episode of The Adventures of Viv Writer. You simply must read it and tell me what you think. Visit my shop and get you a copy:)

Enjoy Life!

My first tag using Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Well, after seeing all the tutorials and such on the Tim Holtz distress inks, I decided to try it out myself. I must say I had a great time. It was fun but I would suggest getting more than one color of the Tim Holtz inks. I actually got four different colors but they were all in the same family of colors. Next time I would get different colors.

This bicycle stamp is one of my favorites. I loved creating this tag with vintage distress inks and stickles. Playing and creating was so much fun!

I would love to get a journal stamp for the back of the tag so I could say something. I'm going to give this tag as a Thank You card to someone who gave me a gift today:) I thought it was cute.

Enjoy Life!

Feeling awful

Today was a snow day and I am feeling awful. The child in this picture sums up what I feel like right now. I've got a terrible cold and I want to replace my nose with one that is not stuffy.

If crying would help I would do it but as it is I think that would require energy I don't have right now.

I am going to try to make a cup of tea with honey and lemon. That sounds like a simple task but when you are not well, it takes hours to do the simplest of things.

By the way, I got this picture from a Tim Holtz tutorial. I want to give him props as I have loved all of his tutorials and maybe one day I will try them out.

Well, it's back to making my tea. I do hope I feel better soon so I can ....

Enjoy Life!

My Pink Stamper

I love the pink stamper and I hope to make some bread today too:)
Click for a link to her youtube videos. You will be amazed!

Enjoy Life!

Beautiful Cottage

I purchased another one of Julia Hathor's cottages today. It just came out earlier today and it is gorgeous. Her work is simply the best!

If you would like to get one too here is the address: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Serenity Falls/14/120/22/?title=Serenity Falls

I wish I had somewhere to place this one but I don't. I purchase cottages and other works of art because I want to support the honest hard working artists in the online game of Second Life.

Julia is a dear friend but she is also a fabulous artist Second Life could not do without.

Enjoy Life!

Guess what?

Isn't this lovely? I ordered it today. Collecting handmade pepper mills has been a bit difficult for me as I tend to give such treasures away to my treasured friends (or those I thought were my treasured friends). I've actually made the mistake of giving one to a non treasured friend once so the rest are in the hands of great people and I am really happy they have them.

So, I would like to say I will add this one to my collection but knowing me I just don't know how long I will have it. If I do give it away, I hope it will be to someone who really is a treasured friend.

Bert makes them and he is still getting better from a serious heart attack right now I was sad to hear. He is a fabulous artist as you can tell from just one of the many pepper mills he has created. I do hope Bert is able to continue what he loves to do for as long as he chooses to do so. Love ya Bert!

Enjoy Life!

A Round-Heeled Woman

One of my favorite actors, Sharon Gless, is not only an actor but a creative and intelligent business person.
She hired a playwright to turn a novel into a play she is currently in. I have not read the book, yet, but understand it is very good. The play runs until Feb. 7th.
I wish I was not afraid to fly or I would go. It sounds like something I would simply love.
Anyway, I hope to get the book soon and be satisfied with that.

Enjoy Life!

Think Summer

Today was a winter day, for real. For some they rolled around on the ice making a day of it somehow. The rest of us stayed in and was content with that.

I had a lovely day creating and looking out at the winter wonderland.

I couldn't help worrying about those that had to go out in the ice. I kept them in my prayers.

We don't often get a wintry mix so it's exciting when we have one.

Even with all the joy of the day, my mind did drift back to the warm and sunny days of summer. Several times today I thought about what I was going to do this summer and looking forward to warm weather provided some entertainment value.

Well, hopefully the bad weather today won't bring about any difficulties for people. Join me in praying for those who have to go out in ice.

Enjoy Life!

Culinary Talk

I love Victoria's Sculpts! She has this texture fat pack that is so much fun to play with. I love pots and pans anyway, so this was right up my alley.

She has tons of other items available for purchase as well but these colorful culinary treats really tripped my trigger.

If you like please visit, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tieut/71/17/80/?title=Tieut

Enjoy Life!

Vintage Village

Well, I've been wandering about the online game of Second Life and found this wonderful vintage village.
Here are a few snaps from my visit.

Enjoy Life!

Wonderful Napkins and then Cards

I love this vintage picture! Actually this artist made them into napkins and later another artist used the napkin to make a card. Amazing stuff really.

The vintage pictures are wonderful and the artist was kind enough to put information about the person in the picture and then added her own "sayings" to them. I find them humorous.

You just gotta laugh. It's healthy and fun:)

Enjoy Life!

My Wooden Stamps

Creating my wooden stamps was so much fun I want to do it again. I will probably use a different company because the one I used is a little outside of my budget. I will say however, they did a fabulous job and it only took two days. That might be worth the money for some. If you know of a good company, email me at vivwriter@gmail.com

I would also like to explore other types of stamps too.

Enjoy Life!

Muffins

I have a confession. I love muffin.... tops. I find them the most delicious part of the muffin.

Today I ate the muffin tops and left the bottoms. My family was not happy about it but it made me happy. I gotta work on my bad ways. If I could just find someone who likes muffin bottoms it would work out fine.

Still Writing.... and you?

I love stamps!!!

Univ of Michigan

I have great memories of my time at The University of Michigan. Today, I ran across this picture of me at one of the football games. It was actually my first football game. I had no idea what I was watching. I still have no idea what I was watching. The crowd was fun though.
We had all sorts of fun playing and doing the wave. I can't even remember who won but I don't remember anyone leaving with a sad face.
I do remember the town of Ann Arbor stopping for the game. There was no real choice. There was more spirit there than I had ever seen. I don't know how the team is doing now. One of you out there email me and tell me good news.
If you get a chance to go out and be in a crowd of people cheering, do go an do just that. I don't have tickets to any of the Olympic games but I'll be home cheering. Go get your flag and get ready to cheer your team on. It will make you happy and you will...

Enjoy Life!

Fresh Fields

This was one of my favorite British sitcoms years ago.

Enjoy Life!

Cranford

Cranford

What a wonderful movie. I enjoyed many things about it but mostly, the acting. There are some who really know how to tell a story. Thanks you for entertaining us with this lovely historical piece.
Tonight is the the conclusion of, The Return to Cranford.

Wonderful.... wonderful

Oh, I have much to think about. Well, not really, as things go. I have had a few problems with my mac computer. Since the beginning really, but I will say the company has been wonderful, so far, in making corrections and the problems have been minimal.

I love my mac and really, at this time, miss working with it but I have a great need for a more powerful computer. So, here is where the conflict comes in. I love how mac portable laptops are but the mac desk tops have the power and value I seek.

I keep flipping back and fourth. Today, I have decided to go with the laptop but dare I say that by noon I will have changed my mind back to the desktop.

The good news is that either machine will be a welcomed change and be a positive move in my life. I am glad to be a mac customer and truly only use my pc unless made to. The price of a mac is more severe than that of most pc but I must conclude that you get what you pay for.

I shouldn't be so harsh on the pc but I suppose much of my disdain is coming from prior negative experiences that shut my pc down that I don't seem to have with the mac.

Well, I will continue to waffle about. I will admit I do find joy in debating the pros and cons. I'll get back to it then and ....

Enjoy Life!

Hokey Pokey

I am so excited to show you two of the many rubber stamps that I have created. This particular saying cracks me up every time I see it. I have created some other rubber stamps that I use for my card making. They were fun to create and I used my avatar, Viv, from the online game of Second Life.

I think I love coloring them in once I stamp them the most. I use water colors, colored pencils, and pastels to color.

I find it very relaxing and most of all fun. If it's not fun, why do it? So, go out there and ....

Enjoy Life!

Alpha Kappa Alpha Founders Day 2010 - January 15 | The News is NowPublic.com

Alpha Kappa Alpha Founders Day 2010 - January 15 The News is NowPublic.com

Feels like home

I went to one of my favorite places today in the online game of Second Life. Julia Hathor runs some of the finest sims in Second Life and I had to stop by and see the beautiful gardens she continues to maintain. You can purchase all things beautiful on her sims to include instant gardens, plants and incredible trees.

Go to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Serenity Falls/89/73/22/?title=Serenity Falls and be amazed.
Julia also has a wonderful talking raven on that particular sim. It makes me smile and yes it talks ALOT!
Please go and .....

Enjoy Life!

My Love

I love creating stamps and coloring them. This is one of my favorites. It is a Sara England stamp. I have a new favorite too. It's the Thomas Kinkade series of rubber stamps. They are absolutely lovely. I purchased the above one today and I'm so excited to use it. I am going to a class tonight to learn how to use all my new Thomas Kindade stamps. Wish me luck.

Imagine if the places in the online game of Second Life were available on stamps. Maybe one day it will be. There is always.... hope:)

Enjoy Life!