~ Five Sisters ~ wooden mini-dolls dressed in finery

 

 
 

-- darling dollies made with gemmielous, scrunchy ribbon, patterned paper, doilies, posies, pearls, burlap scraps, felt, buttons, lace trim, and more. 

Hope you enjoyed meeting my sisters. They're pretty cute :)

see you later...

~ Vi

~ Birthday Blog Hop ~ happy birthday Reenee!

   ~ 'Tis the day!! :) Everybody, and I know especially Nicki... has been looking forward to this special day to celebrate Reenee's birthday! I take this moment to say a big, warm thank-you to both Nicki and Reenee (the most awesome mother-and-daughter team) for letting me share a part of their Clear-and-Simple adventures. it has been SO MUCH fun to be part of the team, and their emails, design-team instructions, and group network are so warm and fun. The best of the very best!

So -- Reenee, here are your birthday flowers first of all...

 
some of my very favorite kind: carnations...  and I hope you will love them too..

seeing that I needed some pretty flowers to fill my pots, I skipped out to pick those growing by the mailbox at the roadside..
~ not really, but I wish I could ~

 


I made a card for you too -- with special stamps from our favorite company ...



Lots of etsy goodness here... joyafibers wood-buttons (so cute and fun) -- buttonsandsuch lace trim (tea-dyed in my kitchenette) -- layoutsfromtheheart posies -- the BEST button twine from endlessinkabilities -- and beautiful papers from jenniferscozycottage.


Have a happy, blessed day, Reenee. I hope you will be surrounded with your family and all their love, the very best gift in the world.

If you have come to my blog from Tracy Schultz's blog you are in the right place.  If you are visiting with me first then you will want to start this special birthday blog hop from the beginning at Clear and Simple Stamps. --------> Now on to your next stop at Ryann Salamon's blog!

here is the complete list, if you get lost... make sure you visit everyone! or Reenee might bonk you on the head for missing out on all the fun.

Clear and Simple Stamps {blog}

 Kim Howard

Cristina Kowalczyk

Heather Pulvirenti

Jen Tapler

Susan Raihala

Sarah Martina

Dana Grothaus

Beth Matson

Tracy Schultz

Viola Mahr

Ryann Salamon

Simone Pursiful

Sue Berker

Eva Dobilas

Ayana Posadas

Maria Levine

Stephany Zerbe

Ashley Newell

Regina Mangum

Lori Tecler

Clear and Simple Stamps {FB}

^^BLOG HOP PRIZE^^
A surprise package of CSS goodies... picked from a few of Reenee's favorite products and sent out to the winners! Each package is valued at $50.  In order to qualify for the prize, leave a birthday wish for Reenee on our Facebook and/or Clear and Simple Stamps blogpost (This way those who are not big on FB can still have a chance to win)..  We will pick two winners - one winner from FB and one winner from the CSS Blog.
COUPON CODE
And for fun - we are giving everyone a 15% off coupon (good for today only) when shopping at CSS. You will just need to enter birthday15 in order to receive the discount (this coupon will not be valid with other offers and is good for one day only)...

Ok? ready to carry on in the birthday fun? hop on to the other ladies, leave your love for them and Reenee, and have a happy day full of birthday cheer. I know this is going to be a good one for me :)

~ Vi

~ Thankful Cards ~ and the giveaway winner

hey, hello!! I'm back :) ....... after a long week and a long day today.

The giveaway winners .. I know, I know, but you're going to have to wait till the end for me to say who they are!



first, something I made early in the week.. it came in handy later on when I wanted to write a quick thank-you note. A little cutie-pie cherub and little bits of ribbon and lace (and um, burlap again. pardon me!)



And -- one more thank you card. I need to make more of these; I think I don't tell others enough when I'm thankful for everything they've done for me... (and if I could, I'd send one to each of you!) :) --

**lesson of the day: be grateful**

I'm too tired to talk much more tonight, but I want to share the winners of the giveaway...  We went allll the way to 98 comments, and that was REALLY special!! I didn't know so many of you read my blog! So... since we went way over 50 comments, I picked two winners (random means: putting all the comments into a folder in my email, closing eyes, and scrolling up and down, and clicking at random :D) ...

- Barb Nichols 

- Betty Bourassa

I'm going to pop an email to you ladies; if you'll reply with your addies I will mail off your goodies early next week. I want to thank all of you for dropping by, and saying your kind words. It makes me feel so fresh after a long day .... who knew that so many of you drop by to visit? You've made me more willing to carry on in my craft journey!

~ Vi

~ Clear and Simple Stamps March Release ~ Just My Style

***my blog giveaway below is still going on till the weekend***

Whoops! I said I wouldn't be back till Saturday or so, but here I am. I just couldn't keep away... and after-all, I'm not as busy as I thought I would be.

   

First of all, I'm here to share with you CSS' March SOTM -- Just My Style -- perfectly beautiful for the most girly-girl in you! I love this stylish stamp set the more I use it.



It's a dream set. Now I can make paper-pieced purses, and trim them with lace and pearls. Yum!! that little sentiment is a part of the set too.. and a little bit of MemrieMare's scrunchy ribbons, with mulberry roses (you can purchase some here) and lace trims ..

 

Another card -- because I love purses.







I love it when all the little stamps fall into place together and make a card look the way you want it..


I tell you, that Maya Road chipboard dress was just waiting for the perfect hanger to come along.. and it did.. they fit together just perfect .. I just have to *grin*!





 

and.. I'm running out of time because I still do need to get to practice. Just one last thing, and that is a huge, warm, hug to my friend Melis ... she's doing a giveaway on her blog today with one of my blog-headers. I was dismayed (ha!) to find that those in the store are selling a little too fast and I need to list more, or the winner of the giveaway won't have anything to pick from ;) ... so I have my work cut out for me. And if you'd like to see more of the headers I've designed.. visit these lovely ladies:

Laura McCollough <-- fully customised blog-header design

Geri Freeman

Heather Jensen

Stella Schenkel

Cherry Nelson <-- cherry, I hope I got your last name right :)

Deb Saaranen

and of course Melissa Phillips

Thank you to all of you dear ladies for letting me design your blog banners.

I have to hurry off now, so I'll see you all again for the weekend, with the goodie-bundle winner picked out too.. have a sweet day.

~ Vi

~ Beautiful Burlap ~ handmade burlap gift bags and a giveaway

Oops -- I shouldn't have gone off a whole week without anything to share, but today, I'm back, for a little burlap love.

On to the fun things! I trailed after my mum and sisters to "arab street" (a cute, old, antique-y place here in Singapore) to find material for our choir girls' dresses for our next season  and I found a big roll of burlap in one of the stores! .exactly.what.I.wanted.

 
 So I asked the "auntie" to cut half-a-meter for me, and I took it home and snipped it up and made these little gift-pockets.



trimmed with real, crocheted lace and fairy wings, tea-dyed buds and a felt rose. And the most beautiful chandelier drops I found in a beads-and-trinkets store.



little lockets and key trinkets I found somewhere on "arab street". these stores are nameless and I'm not sure I can find them again next time. *frowny face*




And I made a card with a little burlap too.. here 'tis..



 

   .. see the cute wall-panels behind my card? I picked it up for just a few dollars at the wonderful beads-and-trinkets store ... the old fashioned kind of place with lots of cute things to pick over -- and I just love that little panel! here's a full photo -- darling isn't it?

 Last of all... today is...

 

 ~ give away day ~

... here are some of my very favorite goodies that I used in the creations shared today... and I would love to give a bundle of them away to you as a "thank you" for all the times you've come to visit. whether you come often, or this is your first time popping in, just say so.. I love to get to know my readers too :) 

only one rule: if you don't leave a comment, you don't get to be picked. Easy? you can say anything you please in your comments. Niceness not enforced here :)

*sometimes, just sometimes, I feel cranky and don't participate in giveaways... if that's you today, please do still leave a comment because I'm just aching all over to know just who reads my silly blog... will you? you're a dear!*

Next weekend, I will be back and draw a name. And if we go more than 50 comments, I will pick two winners. each will get this goodie bundle...

~ my favorite mulberry roses ~ chandelier drops ~ locket-trinket ~ key-trinkets ~ tea-dyed buds ~ my favorite, favorite tea-dyed lace trim ~ all tucked up into your very own burlap baggie, ready for you to dress up for yourself.

Ok --- see you then. Next week!

Happy weekend!
~ vi