The post in which I do a 200 ITEM GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wowza!  I started this blog a year and a half ago and never imagined that it would turn into what it has.  I never thought that I would be doing my 200th post!  For me, this has been a journal, a documentary, a file, a place to speak my mind, and a place to call mine.  Along the way, I have cyber-met tons and tons of spectacular people.  I have learned so much about myself, about others, and about life.  Through my blog I have grown a lot.  I want to thank each and everyone of you for being supportive.  Whether you read my words, comment back to me, or pass along my links, I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of your life.  I cross my fingers everyday that I am able to provide something for you...whether it is a common mindset, a little inspiration, reassurance, contemplation, or just a happy smile that I pass along.  You make me feel special, and I hope that I make you feel the same.
I have always tended to be the one that starts something new and ends up putting it to the side and never finishing it.  With this blog, I guess I kind of thought it might end up that way.  Instead, it has blossomed.  For one of the few times, I have actually carried on!  For that, I want to celebrate.  This is a huge accomplishment for me, too!  As part of the celebration, I want to do a little GIVEAWAY!!!  I want to show you, my readers, how grateful I am for your encouragement along this journey of mine.  In celebration of my perseverance, my dedication, and my sticking-to-it-for-once project, I want to give one of my very special readers 200 THINGS.  You read that right: I WANT TO GIVE AWAY 200 THINGS to one very special and lucky reader that has made me feel successful!
To be considered for this giveaway, please leave me a comment.  In the comment, tell me what keeps you coming back to read my blog.  You can comment about things you like, things you would like to see, or pretty much any way that I could make this blog better.  I am all about constructive criticism (but please don't be down-right mean)!  In the comment, make sure that you leave an email address or other way to get in touch with you in case you win.  The lucky winner will be chosen on June 7th, so you have a week to get your comments in.  I will announce the winner shortly after that date.  If you are new to this blog, tell me how you found me and what caught your eye.  If you want to post about the GIVEAWAY on your site, leave me a link in a seperate comment, and you will be considered twice!!! 
 I love you guys, and hope that this upcoming summer is wonderful and sunny for you!  Thank you so much for all your kind thoughts and encouragement. 
Loves!!!

Sharing some inspiration....

I wanted to share some of my most recent findings with you.  All of these are such great ideas!

First is from Loretta at A Shoebox of Photographs Georgina Ciotti did this painting on the wall of her Barcelona apartment.  I just love bees.  I think they are so cute and obviously helpful.  I love that they are flying across the wall.

The next image is from Dom at Crafted. This is a fantastic little DIY that she has posted up on her blog.  I absolutely love the beautiful texture here.  This seems like it would be a really easy project for anyone to do.  I really want to complete it for our bedroom wall.  I think it would look amazing in a large scale!

This image was taken from Stephanie's blog Stephmodo She found them at Design Story.  I am obsessed with letterpress designs.  I can't get over their beauty.  Just recently I did some of my own letter-pressing and it is so rewarding!

Ms Jamie over at Inspired Mess is one of the sweetest ladies ever.  She found this quote at Proper Topper and it just makes me smile so much.  This is a philosophy I truly live by each day.  Everything that has happened in our lives has led us to this place we are at now.  Everything has made who we are now.  Don't ever regret anything (even the negative things) because they are what make you who you are.  To regret anything is to regret who you have become.

Flea Market Trixie has some really pretty ideas over on her blog. I want painted floors more than anything in my home.  I honestly can't wait until we can finally purchase our own home so that I can decorate it and make it truly our own.  Until then, I just keep filing away all kinds of pictures and ideas.  The high gloss just finishes this gorgeous floor!

Elise over at Elise Blaha is an incredible artist.  She creates the coolest mixed media books ever.  Not only does she have her blog, but she also runs a little store.  I want one of her books, but keep telling myself that someday I might have enough time in my life to figure out how to make something similar.  I'm probably just kidding myself, because her work is just crazy good!

Miss Kate O'Brian from Diary of A Renegade Scrapbooker has such a fantastic way of creating little mini-albums.  I love her simplistic approach.  All her work is crisp and clean.  Just love it.  I found her through Cartwheels in my Mind which is just super wonderful in itself! 

Mila at Loveology always has beautiful pictures up on her blog.  I'm not sure if this is a picture of her own or one she found, but it is beautiful.  I have been wanting to create some headbands for so long.  I'm not sure why I keep putting it off, but this one makes me want to make one right now!  I just love the patterned fabric strands that are used and how the bow on the side is just cute!

Well, there you have some great links to some fantastically creative people's blogs and websites.  Don't forget that my next post is going to be fantastic so you will want to check back soon for the 200th post GIVEAWAY!!!!  I'm really excited about this one.  In the meantime, go check out these lovely ladies and their beautiful sites.
Loves!!!

Pay it Forward!!! GIVEAWAY info and what's going on around here!

Hey all!  I just wanted to remind you of my Pay it Forward post I did a while ago.  If you are interested in this, let me know!  I want to make something special this you just for you.  If you would love some happy mail, comment on this post and then do the same thing for your followers!  I will then make something special and handmade just for you and send it to you before the year is up!  How wonderful does this sound?
I also want to let you know that in just a couple more posts, I will be doing a very special #200 post!  I have something great planned for this, and just a heads-up, there will be a really awesome GIVEAWAY during that post as well!  This will be just one of a few different Giveaways that I will be doing in the next few weeks so make sure to keep checking back.  You won't want to miss these ones! 
Today was my official last day of school for the semester!  Can I get a "hooray!!!!"  I was so happy to be done with this crazy semester.  It wasn't horribly hard, but I had to take a few classes I had no real interest in, so it was just a pain in the butt.  I've got a couple weeks off now before Summer classes start.  After my last final today, I went to sell my books back.  I turned in all of my textbooks and two of Mr. Fantastic's and all I got was $87!  Can you believe that?!?!  That was enough to pay for HALF of my Italian book for my first summer class that starts in June. 
This week is going to be slightly crazy.  I meant for it to be a calm week in which I got some rest and hung out at home doing nothing.  Well, that doesn't look like it is going to happen!  I was asked to come into work tonight for 5 hours and ended up working over 6.  Tomorrow our friend is coming by so we can go watch Thor.  I am also going to be doing some cleaning up around our really messy house.  It has gotten out of control the last few weeks because we have been so busy.  Wednesday I have to work again!  Thursday and Friday will be dedicated to some more cleaning up and some really long-awaited crafty projects.  I have to work Friday as well as all weekend.  Then it will be time to pack up and head to Michigan for a week!  I'm so excited to see my family.  I really miss them. 
Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful week.  Don't forget to let me know if you want to be a recipient of Pay it Forward, and please keep checking in throughout the next few weeks, as I will have some special posts and several updates, plus giveaways!!!!

Loves!!!

[Working On] Sunday: My Final Process Book

Hooray!  The semester is almost complete!  I only have one more final exam tomorrow.  As you well know, I have been working my butt off on my Process Book for my design class.  I worked tirelessly on it for weeks - wait, MONTHS!  Despite how much work I put into it, I still spent hours upon hours working on it this past week.  I worked on it all day on Thursday, did not go to bed, continued working on it all night, and then finally finished it on Friday just before noon!  I don't know, maybe I put too much work into it!  I feel like a lot of people were shocked when I told them how much time I spent on mine.  They acted like I spent way more time than them, and yet theirs turned out great!  Frustrating!  Oh well, I am super excited to finally share my final project with you.  I won't show all of the pages, but I will put up quite a few of them.  Feel free to leave me some constructive criticism.  I can't become a better designer if I don't know what I need to work on!  Thanks so much.

 

my cover (forgive me for the watermarks)

If I had designed my cover during the 80's

If I had designed my cover in the 70's

If I had designed my cover in the 60's

If I had designed my cover in the 50's

If I had designed my cover in the 40's

[Working On] Tuesday: Website Design

At the very beginning of the semester we were given a semester-long project of creating a website.  Now, I could have taken the easy route and used the school computers that have iWeb, but I hate being at the school outside of class time.  I would much rather be home with the Pugly puppy and Mr. Fantastic.  Instead I decided that I would use Dreamweaver.  Mind you, I had never used Dreamweaver before and I pretty much had to teach myself with a little help from YouTube!  Let me warn you that this is not a recommended way to learn this complicated software program.  A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into my stupid website!  In the end though, I am fairly pleased with the outcome!  I would really love for some of you awesome designers to check it out.  Tell me what you think.  Give me some feedback- constructive criticism is very welcomed.  Did I do anything wrong or what would you have done differently?
The guidelines for the website were:
1)  Had to be about web-art more than about information
2)  At least 20 pages
3)  Incorporate some way of documenting something personal and interesting in our lives
4)  and I know there were more, but they were so insignificant that they were easy to follow and don't even require a bullet point!
I decided to do my website on color.  Color is so important in my life and I couldn't imagine how sad I would be if I ever became color-blind.  I am greatful everyday that I have the ability to see in color.  This website explores the various things in my life that are important to me of each of the main colors.  I also included the scientific information that makes each color what it is.  There is also music too!  All of the music is royalty-free and each color comes from a different genre of music.  The music reflects how each color makes me feel!  So, here you go, the link:
Colors!!

Have a lovely week!  I'll be very busy studying as it is finals week, but the good news is that I have plenty of creative stuff to do as part of final projects.  I'll be passing along my final process book for you all to see toward the end of the week.  Look for it Friday, although it might take me the weekend to have it posted.
Loves!!!

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