Yikes - it's August?

I know I've been a horrible blogger this week - I really do have a ton of stuff to get posted if I can just find some extra time!

But to make it up to you I'll leave you for the moment with my happy find of the day. The incomparable Suze Weinberg has a blog! Seriously, she is absolutely amazing and her blogging style will inspire you, make you laugh, and make you want to be her BFF (yup, I'm her new stalker)! I spent a good chunk of time at CHA (eek, PROMISE I will post more than just a few of the videos I took!) just watching her create (kind of a CHA tradition for me - spend some time soaking up the Suze inspiration!). I had a million things I SHOULD have been doing but it's just so hard to walk away until you see what she comes up with next! Anyways. Go check out the blog. Subscribe to the feed. And don't forget her favorite saying - "There are no mistakes - just opportunities for embellishment!".

Oooh! And also, check out Irene's blog today for a great tutorial on distressing acrylic. Her tutorials are always great but I REALLY love this one and intend to play with this later today (sigh, in between errands, a quick trip to Champaign, picnic lunch at school with the kiddo...)!

And to wrap up this morning's ramblings, here's a semi-failed pendant. I used one of the pendants from Provo Craft. They are nice and heavy and sturdy and should have been perfect. And would have been if it didn't turn green immediately in spots from the Glossy Accents. Which if there had been any green in the piece to begin with might not have been so bad. But I just don't like green with this particular piece.

I started with a piece of 7Gypsies paper (cut from the swatch book of the new line from CHA, lol, I was just so desperate to work with this line!) and added just a touch of Scribbles to glitter up a few of the lines. Then I added a tiny Prima and a faceted gem (note to self - Glossy Accents really removes any faceted effect - looks more like a mirror in person). I truly loved how it looked at that point and was excited to fill in the pendant with Glossy Accents and wait for it to dry. Well. This is how it dried. I guess you live and learn!

New website discovery! Craftcritique.com

See, Sitemeter can give you fascinating information! When browsing my referrals today I saw one from a site I'd never heard of (or maybe just wasn't paying enough attention - Hi Colleen and Julie!) so I went to check it out. Remember my post from a few days ago with my favorite holiday projects? Want more? Craft Critique is finishing up a 3-day carnival in which they have linked tons and tons of great projects! :) Thank you so much for including a couple of mine! I'm heading back over to check out all the links, but wanted to run back here and share my find first! Seriously - just looking over the site, I'm thinking I could spend a couple of days in here checking out all the products and blogs and companies and everything they have reviewed (not just the Christmas carnival, lol)! Good stuff!!!

Linking you to my inspiration and RAK

I'm not finished with Christmas projects! Want to know why? Because there are tons and tons of gorgeous projects out there that have inspired me to do even more! I wanted to share some of my favorites with you today - some are on blogs, some on message board galleries, all are total eye-candy! They are in no particular order, I just kept adding, lol! Also please note I've tried to link just to the project I'm in love with for this post, but these are some seriously creative ladies (and a gentleman!) - poke around their blogs and galleries - you won't be disappointed! Enjoy!!

Chipboard trees by Shari Carroll for Hero Arts

Box Wreaths by Leah Fung

Wooden Holiday Houses by Chris Rhys for Say it With Letters

3D Star Cards on the Scrapperlicious blog - I have no idea what her name is, but I LOVE her work!!! Definitely a blog to peruse!

12 Christmas Tags by Tim Holtz - go see all 12!

Christmas Countdown Clipboard and Paper Houses by Linda Albrecht

Acrylic Christmas Village Albums by Camille McClelland - there simply are not words for how beautiful these are! Definitely click the link to go look at the detailed pics on Ebay...and for those looking for a Christmas gift for me, lol...

The rest are all on 2Peas - my Christmas bookmark folder there is seriously PAGES long, lol! But here are my absolute favorites:

Paper Wreath

Christmas Planner (ok, so I guess I can make one for 2008, right?)

Wall Hanging

Card Holder

Now that I've shared MY favorites, I'd love to see some of YOURS! Leave a comment linking me to your favorite Christmas projects (yours or someone else's but please give credit!) - I can't wait to see what I have missed! On Tuesday, December 18 I'll use my super-sophisticated method of selecting a random winner (i.e. call a friend and ask for a number between 1 and ?, lol) and send out a little Christmas RAK that I'm busy putting together right now - I'll put up a pic later!