vanilla dreams

vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, freshly fallen snow,

fluffy clouds, crushed snowcone ice, angel wings,

cotton balls, uniball signo pens.....

whatever your fancy, sweet addiedesigns has curated a gorgeous treasury over at etsy featuring a collection of white items......and she's included my graphite birdie journal!!!

i'm absolutely over-the-moon to have my artwork appear with such beautiful items! congrats to all of the etsians included here......and thanks SO much addiedesigns!!!

party on.....

the dancing shoes have been danced in, we've shown off our party dresses, used our noisemakers, bobbed colorful balloons around the room.....and eaten cake......yes, we've eaten lots of chocolate cake!!!! the only thing left to do is hand out the door prize!!

mr. random.org chose number 49.....

.....and pat over at lost and found, that's you!!! woo hoo!!!

thank you everyone.....SO much(!)......for helping me to

celebrate my 500th blogpost! xox

i love a good party, and you made this one so special!!!

here's looking forward to the next one.....

party on, bloggy sweeties!!!

p.s. pat.....i'll be contacting you shortly for your address!!

doodle candy

what is it about crossing the threshold of your favorite office supply store? those automatic doors swing open, you walk in , breathe deep, and you can almost hear the angels sing. to me, the smell of vinyl notebook covers, paper pulp and printer's ink is almost as intoxicating as walking into a candy store (emphasis on the word almost......). i could spend an entire afternoon there, and sometimes i do......but i wonder if it's getting excessive when the cashier at register number three knows you by your first name.....or when people start asking you if you work there....

so during my last office supply adventure i found myself once again lingering in the pen and pencil aisle, but this time over on the side where all of the highlighters are.....and i brought a pack of these bic bright-liner highlighter pens home with me (i'm calling them "high-liner" pens for short)! they have a chunky chisel edge, so you can make fat marks, or use the tip to make skinny marks with them. the colors are pure happiness.....and i think that playing with them in my journal will be too!

i found my pack at staples, you can view them here

p.s. if you haven't already, there's still time to put your name in the hat for my blogpost celebration giveaway......you can do that here!

comments close at midnight (eastern standard time) tonight and i'll announce the winner tomorrow!!

five hundred hugs and a giveaway!!!

i'm celebrating today......in a five-hundred-blog-posts kind of way!!

five hundred posts!! woo hoo!!!

i've got my party shoes on, along with a fun hat and a cute noisemaker....

but wait, a party just isn't a party without a door prize, right?!

so i wanted to create something a little "five hundred" special .

it all started with this fun teal and black doodle paper

by elsie flannigan.....

and i couldn't resist adding a few of my own doodles using my white uniball signo pen!

then i covered a couple of davey boards with it......

after that, i found myself pawing through my party-paper-stash, and started folding all kinds of fun things to write on.....graph paper, plain paper, ledger paper, lined paper, colorful decorative paper.....and i even found some kraft envelopes.....for tucking in all of those other important papers that are top, top secret!

once it was all folded, i poked some holes in the boards and the papers, took six needles and some waxed linen thread and did some coptic-stitching.....just to bring all of those delicious papers together in proper party fashion.....

and just to make sure that everything is tucked neatly inside and won't wander off,

i added an elastic band to the side to keep it closed!

and presto.......a five-hundred-blogpost-doodle-journal-door-prize!!

so let's get this party started!!!

grab a balloon and a piece of chocolate cake (before i eat it all)!

and to make sure your name gets in the party hat for the door prize,

just leave a comment on this post by midnight thursday

(one comment per person, and please make sure i can contact you!).

i'll use the random integer to choose a name and announce it on friday!!

{important note: even with hats, noisemakers, and door prizes,

YOU are what makes this celebration so special!!!

my heart is filled with thankfulness that i have met so many

fabulous artists and sweet, sweet people over

these past five hundred posts.......

it truly is one of the most unexpected,

and greatest gifts that i've received!!

thank you for hanging in there with me, encouraging me,

and inspiring me.....

i give you five-hundred-times-ten bloggy hugs!!! }

edited midnight thursday: comments are now closed......

thank you SO much for joining my party!

winner to be announced friday!

inspiration monday

for times when you're inspired to do "something" but don't really know what that "something" is, inspiration can be as easy as peeking into your old journals and idea files.......you're bound to find something in that treasure trove that's sure to inspire you again!

or, if you're like me, you might just have some unfinished projects lurking in your creative archives. i created this autumn doodle about eight months ago with the intention of doing a "season series"......and as usual i got distracted by other things......and as a result, i seem to have completely skipped over winter and spring! yikes!

so i'm hoping that i'll have this colored in by the time autumn rolls around this year, and then i'll be back on track for a winter doodle......provided that i don't get distracted again (and there's always a very good chance of that....)

and now to get this painted in.....