happy mail (winners)

Jena #220, on November 5th, 2008 at 11:26 am Said: 
Yesterday I mailed a book on swords to my BIL. My son saw it at his book fair and asked if we could get it for his uncle as he knew he was interested in swords. I wanted to save it for XMAS but my son wanted to send it now so we did.

Alex S. #3614, on November 5th, 2008 at 8:54 pm Said:
I sent out a card to my friend in Wisconsin. I haven’t talked to her in a long time!! Hopefully she’ll call and we can set up a visit soon. (I know…I can call her, too!)

scrapycandy, on November 5th, 2008 at 9:35 pm Said: 
My neighbor discovered a serious leak that lead to dry rot, dangerous mold, and some serious deconstruction of their house. So, I sent over a “happy” scarecrow to let them know that they are not alone and a challenge card I had made. We all need some love don’t ya think?

Melinda, on November 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am Said:
I just sent one a few days ago to a friend who is recovering from a surgery. Thought she could use some happy mail!

Tona, on November 4th, 2008 at 10:51 am Said:
Yesterday I mailed a thank you card out to a Fiska lead & today I’ll be mailing out a thank you card to my secret sister from a swap onthe Fiska site. No matter who you are I think everybody always enjoys getting some happy mail and when it’s a surprise it’s even better.

tina ebarb said:
sent my dad a sweat little note just had surgery and been off work and needed a pick me upper

e-mail me (mflaum@comcast.net) with your addy, then watch your mailbox!!

I have three personal assistants.

well, virtual assistants. They improve my quality of life, I am totally addicted, and don’t know what I would do without them. Therefore I’ve decided they are virtual assistants. Sweet, no? Let me share, as they could be yours too…

1. Google Reader. your blog (assuming I subscribe) gets an update? I know. I read. Enjoy… all from my homepage.

2. www.amazon.com  The temptresses at amazon know how to enable me when it comes to books and have introduced me to authors and series that I wouldn’t have otherwise found. Of course rating books is VITAL for this to work, but the recommendations are really good, and I generally LOVE books I get. Can I tell you how I adore logging on (more often than I care to admit) and seeing what “welcome back May, we suggest…” is new? Love it. Knowing about pre-order books? Love it. I’ll probably blog about it even more I love it so much.

3. My newest assistant, www.pandora.com was introduced to me by Angela Daniels just yesterday. We were chatting on the phone the other day and she mentioned it… and I was intrigued but forgot. Then yesterday I looked it up and whoa. How did I ever type on this computer in silence? I ask you how? It’s FREE, you start with any artist or song and build your own radio station. Oh man. SO FUN AND ADDICTIVE! Then, they will put songs with similar qualities and you can further customize by thumbs upping your faves, thumbs downing ones you don’t like (they won’t play again!), and adding more ‘seed’ artists/songs to your station. Oh- and you can also have more than 1 station.

I’m hooked. I have 4 stations now, and it’s awesome. AWESOME. go try it.

I’m off to watch TV and ‘veg out’ for the night. Haven’t done that in forever!

brocade and damask

First off, sometimes I see these terms used and I get one confused from the other. Let’s start with this:

brocade
–noun 1. fabric woven with an elaborate design, esp. one having a raised overall pattern.

damask
-noun 1. a reversible fabric of linen, silk, cotton, or wool, woven with patterns.

Yeah, neither of those help me much. Even the wikipedia pages for damask and brocade don’t help much in defining things. Seems pretty broad spectrum if you asked me. Oh well, I won’t worry about defining them. I’ll just love. See, recently I realized that I’m collecting more and more fabric and decor items that have a brocade style pattern on them (though a few say ‘damask’) and I am getting downright girl-crushy on it all.

hg-brocade

The above Heidi Grace pattern can be found in fabric as well as paper. YUM.

mm-brocade-2

This MM brocade makes me want to sip tea and watch Pride & Prejudice and Emma on repeat.

target

Check these dishes from Target. They list them as “damask” pattern. They make me happy and they are HIGH on the wish list I’ve got going.

pink

Finally, check these pink paislee rub-ons. (SWOON)

I could keep going all day, and it’s interesting to me that I’m only just now noticing how much I love and collect brocade and damask stuff. I’m on the prowl now for some stamps and fabric too. Yes, I will be keeping my eyes wide open. But first, off to create something with supplies I have here on hand!

truffle month.

I love pie. I love chocolate. So when “pie truffles” are announced at our neighborhood See’s location you KNOW I’m gonna jump on that. Today we stopped at See’s to pick up a box of their new pie truffles on our way home from the gym. (yes, really)

Then after lunch I got an e-mail from Godiva announcing THEIR new fall truffles are in, and that it’s truffle month. Who am I to argue? Apparently I’m meant to consume truffles with my afternoon tea!

godivas

Those godivas look SOOO good!

(and a seasonal lovely photo from see’s below…)

sees

So, if you are a chocolate person go get yourself a truffle. Don’t make me celebrate truffle month alone!

brads

Sharing a glimpse into my craft life here…

I like brads. They add a decorative element to my page, dimension, and not to mention they can attach something (ribbon, paper, flowers…). Since I use them so often I save them separate- and they’re on my desk within reach (without having to stand).

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All my little brads are in this little cup. Once in a while I have to dump it out to find a specific brad, but that’s rare. MUCH easier than storing small brads in their packaging! (I’m a big fan of getting rid of packaging asap!

016

this is an oversized martini glass my mom bought me years ago. I used to have beads in it. but now I  keep all those over-sized brads I collect. Works good, and mostly I leave them on their cards until I’m ready to use.