Sunday

An ode to Jars...

Mish did a heartfelt post recently on what Jars mean to her. Though it has taken me a while to get this post written up, the same thing has been on my mind for a while now. Like Mish, my craft room is full of jars.


I've been following Mish's blog for a long time, back in August 2008, she gave us a tour of her craft room. When you read her post, it really becomes clear that Mish loves "REAL things like wood and metal and glass" and I have to agree with her. REAL wood and metal and glass has a personality and a weight and unique textures that plastic can never match.  I remember thinking way back in 2008, that if I was to design my perfect craft room, it would have to be like Mish's, full of real things.  Full of wood and metal and, of course, glass jars! 

Slowly, so slowly, I been a-collecting:


 

The two cookie jars you can see (top right and bottom middle), were a gift from a favourite friend. The two tiny cork-topped jars stacked on top of one another were my mothers, from when she was a girl and the others are all op-shop finds. And I love them all. 

My favourite, you ask?
That would have to be the green-tinged hexagonal jar in the top middle. At the moment, the jars hold my ribbon collection and other various odds and ends. I think I may need to re-vamp their contents in the near future.

I fully intend to continue collecting, simply because I like them. I like their weight when I lift them down from a shelf, I like how the sunlight streams through them and sets the ribbons ablaze with light. And, I actually like that I could drop them anytime on my concrete floor and smash them to smithereens. It makes me appreciate their beauty, today, all the more.

So thank you, Mish for sharing what jars mean to you. It's made me consider what they mean to me. Jars don't remind me of my grandmother or of canned fruits and veggies, but they do remind me of this wonderful hobby and all that I love about it, and I am thankful for that. To me, glass jars are wholesome and time-honoured and it makes me happy to rescue them from an op-shop. I have to love them though. I don't bring any old cheap junk home, I have to love them, and these I do. Funny thing to love, eh?

xx Alyssa

Saturday

Two links...

These were the two cards that got saved to my desktop today for future casing.
Each is really, really beautiful, even though they are two different styles.
LINK
LINK #2

Hope you enjoy,
xx Alyssa

Thursday

New Link to a Fantabulous Card

Even thought I have a bit of a CAS style I can still appreciate other styles, particularly this pretty vintage goodness:
LINK
Its never to early to start on Christmas card right?
xx Alyssa

Sunday

New Beaut card

Wow check this out!
Amazing,
Elegant,
Charming.

xx Alyssa B

Saturday

Such sweetness

Utter sweetness, all four of them!
See {here}
xx Alyssa B

Thursday

Vintage Spools of Gorgeousness

Check these out-->link
Oh the undeniable cuteness...
xx Alyssa 

Such cuteness...

such perfection.
The snow page, the second one, is cute stuff I tell you.

Check it out

xx Alyssa

Tuesday

Colouring Champion

Clearly, Anna Wight is a colouring champion

She just knocks my socks right off

Link to her fan-tab-ulous card can be found  HERE

Amazing right?

xx Alyssa

Monday

Epic Awesomeness Ahead

That's right, my friends, I'm just going to make up words as I go along...

Today's wonderlicious card comes from Paula Tracy, another boy card, but this one for a 'big' boy, check out the link to see what I mean. {Link}

This is not an old posting like the pervious link, in fact it is Paula's newest blog entry, but it was the card that took my breath away today and so it deserves this recognition, well I think so anyway :)

xx Alyssa

Sunday

"Most Awesome Card Discovered Today"

I'm starting a new thing, called "Most Awesome Card Discovered Today".

(That's its unpolished working name obviously)

I'm always checking out different blogs and bookmarking my favourite cards so why not share them here for all to see?

The key word in the working title is "discovered", which means that it doesn't have to have been made today, just happened to have been found by myself today.

For example, today's card was made by miss Monica K. back in April and I happened upon it while trawling her previous blog entries this morning. It's such an awesome card for a four year old boy, I though I would share. 


Feel free to check it out HERE

xx Alyssa B

Saturday

First Project Publication

Exciting things have been happening lately. For instance, my first group of cards were accepted for inclusion in 'Cardmaking Stamping and Papercraft' magazine!

And, (can you believe it) this issue was also my first cover!
Yep that's me up in the top right corner:
For the first time Papertrey Ink stamps have been included in an Australian magazine. I used the wonderful 'Bloom' set, a favourite of mine. You will have to turn to page 38 to see the full set of cards, or after the mag's on-sale date, I will of course share them here.

Congratulations to all the other contributors.

Much love,
Alyssa B