V-day Cards - Free of Charge

I'm so beyond excited at this moment

to share with all my wonderful blogger pals

something that has me beyond giddy with pride.

I'm blessed to be friends with one of my biggest digi idols

Julie of Minitok

and this winter she contacted little ol' me

to collaborate on a very cute, very fun little project!

And the best part perhaps,

is that we are offering our work to you

for FREE!!!!

So if you haven't yet spent a small fortune

on your children's v-day cards

put some paper in your printer and save that hard earned cash

for a romantic night out with the one you love!

Just pop on over to Minitoko land to find the link :D

I'm perhaps Minitoko's biggest fan! I almost have every single kit

that Julie has fabricated from her inner kung fu digi genius mind.

In-fact I had the honor of playing around with her newest digi kit

which she hasn't even yet released!

Yupp, it's based on our v-day cards

and I'm not buttering the bread too much at all when I say

"BEST KIT EVER!!!"

But until this oober sweet kit is released here are a few of my favorite

Minitoko kits that I just can't live without

These adorable "cookies" will no longer be available after tomorrow!

Reminds me of my empty Oreo package I found on the counter this morning!!

Nothing is more sad then when you miss out on the last cookie :(

Well I hope you all enjoy our work!

~HUGS~

Word of the day : Excited

Last Night Hubby and I went out on a date

and I'm not sure if is was because I hadn't seen him

in over a week

or anyone else for that matter

as all of our cars seems to currently be out of commission

and I live so very far from civilization,

but for whatever reason, last night felt just like the good ol' days

Back before the butterflies all flew away,

and holding hands gave you the goose bumps.

We went to see the Kings Speech

which I personally thought was rather wonderful!

Completely worthy of the ticket price and the $4 box of Butterfingers.

I'm quite excited about all the movies coming out in 2011.

So VERY excited about all the cartoon animations

I could just about pee my pants.

Although undoubtably ALL of them will come out in 3D

and for whatever reason finding a non-3D viewing has become quite an ordeal!

Curse these eyes of mine!

LOL that reminds me... have you seen Despicable ME?

Hubby got it for me for Christmas

and I'm quite in love with the quote

"Curse you, tiny toilet!"

LOL it's become my new saying when I stump my toe

or whatever else might irk me from time to time.

Anywho... I'm really excited about the upcoming movie

Beastly , which from the commercials reminds me the film Fur

which I recently discovered and fell in love with.

The costuming alone is well worth the rental price.

I love date night because it gives me a good reason to dress up

not that I really need a reason!

Really excited about my new shoe clips

I scored at a local antique shop for just $2.

I've gotten to the point of only purchasing very plain,

very inexpensive black pumps

as I go through them so quickly

hmm...

I wonder why I never thought to glam them up before?

I have a bit of exciting news to share with you

although you will have to forgive me

as I can only skirt around the topic a bit

but yours truly has started to do a bit of modeling

nothing big, but exciting and rewarding non the less.

I wish so very much that I could share

each and every shot with all of you

but alas ~ once sold the images are no longer mine

to do with as I please.

But keep your eye out -

who knows one of these day you might just stumble

upon an image of me

while walking down main street :D

Digi goodies from:

Kitschy Digitals, Pugley Pixel, Todd Design, and Minitoko

*ALL of which you can find links for on my left side board

Work in Progress - Doily Crowns

I've been working on some new ideas for my little shop.

As you can see from my little sneak peak they are quite different

from my usual very bright yoyo creations.

Understandably, both ideas are a little over the top

for everyday wear,

well unless you are like me that is :)

But I think that especially the crown style one

would be most sweet for young flower girls

I created my first doily crown using this tutorial from

Factory Direct Craft.

There are many similar tutorials available all over the web.

Not one that I read used the same fabric stiffener,

so I think you really can try whatever is available

to you at your own local craft store.

I so love how they turned the doily bowl into a flower basket.

Such a delicate touch.

I will be sure to share more with you soon

however, as I have no talent in either knitting or crocheting

it will take me a bit of time to source out all the doilies I will need

Photo frame: Kitschy Digitals

Bringing in the New Year with New Packaging, and YoYo Pretties

Happy 2011!

To be honest I haven't really started the new year off on the best note.

After weeks of suffering from anxiety attacks, and crazy mood swings

I lost it yesterday in fit of anger and pure defeat.

I had a good cry, the kind that comes without explanation

and the things that roll off your tongue seem so ridiculous

and yet feel so right.

Although I fought with my poor husband

to let me have a "time out"

he chased me right up to our room

and just held me as I cried uncontrollably.

yeah, like I said not quite the way you want to start off a new year.

But now I'm feeling much better

and hopefully now that i've gotten all that "crap" out of my system

I can get back on track for what I hoped to make of 2011!

One of the things I've been working on during the last few months

is piecing together a more profession, and charming way to mail out my orders.

it's a project that was way overdue

but it's not easy coming up with the concepts let alone the cash.

There is as I always hate a trial and error stage.

For example I found out that stamping is not for me

nor are business cards!

But I still wanted to send a "thank you" that seemed personal and special

and that might also not finds it's way to the trash cane instantaneously.

My solution was to have labels made that I could then attach

to vintage children's playing cards.

I've been really happy with the result - it's both practical, and whimsical!

I designed a new banner for my ittybittybirdy shop last August

along with a few other fun graphics

which I had made into a series of labels

created and printed by Playing with Paper.

I probably could have done all this on my own

but as I have iwork instead of Word

I have found label making extremely aggravating.

so I just ending up deciding to source the project out.

Most of my items will arrive in tissue paper or cute little lunch style bags

but for my smaller items I've come up with this really cute

collection of yoyo embellished boxes.

I'm really excited about these for kind of a dorky reason.

I never quite knew what to do with the one or two left over yoyos

that I no longer had matching fabric for

plus sometimes I make a bunch of yoyos

in some crazy fabric which turns out to be just that CRAZY!

I also have quite a stock pile of what is called B grade cabochons

and other small embellishments which I'm not that crazy about.

Nothing makes me happier than finding smart solutions for silly problems.

YEAH for up-cycling!

So what might you receive in these boxes?

I'm working on creating a whole line of jewelry items.

One such item that I just introduced into my shop

are double yoyo brooches.

These brooch pins are connected be vintage bead chain

and look smashing on a sweater, jacket,

or connecting your collar on your favorite blouse.

I can't believe the changes that my little shop has gone through

just in the last few months!

I can't seem to keep up - I need to find myself a yoyo making robot!!

if only - sigh^^

I hadn't realized until just a few days ago that I started this crazy

yoyo making adventure only just last year.

I guess when you really invest yourself into something

time just gets the best of you.

haha kind of like marriage :D

So now I guess I better get going on making sweet valentine pretties!

I knew I should have gotten started in December but

LOL I guess time just got the best of me in this too.

I really need to get some good shots of my new brooches on,

but every attempt just hasn't quite worked out

so I took what I was able to salvage

and made this whimsical little banner.

Well that's quite enough shop talk for one day!

Thanks for stopping by ~ Chelsea Ann