What happens in Chantilly stays in Chantilly...

Well I can't believe that I didn't take party pics while I was at the DC Big Flea. I'm trying to move past it but of all places! And I don't even mean blackmail photos (which are easily acquired), just plain (well...not PLAIN) fun. Anyhoooo, when I return home I shall post some photos of the fab little figurines I got Friday afternoon. Ohmagawd, I hit pay dirt!!!!! Lots o' collages coming out of them. Yippie! We are now in Vegas so later today I'll make my first couple of posts. It took several hoops of fire to get online so I'm already two days behind and lots of photos already-I know your nails are being bitten so I'll hurry...

Happy Birthday Mellie!!!!

Oh boy, today is Mellie's birthday! I've been spending several splendid days preparing and looking forward to this fun event. Mellie, Hope, Janine, Karen, and I met at Eggspectations today to celebrate. Sorry about the not-too-great photo of us but our waiter was taking it into the sun so... Here's Mellie with the first gift I requested her to open~Foof-a-Life!

And the inside where Teresa "autographed" it. Actually she was so kind enough to send a copy to me herself as I was having a hard time getting one and I didn't want to press her by asking a further favor but she sent an invoice with the handwritten note, "Yay! Hope you like! Teresa", so I cut it out and taped it to the inside cover and told Mellie it was an autographed copy. She caught on pretty quickly but was still tickled foofy.

A fun pile of gifts waiting.

Karen gave Mellie this fab antique card/chip bag/display holder which Mellie immediately placed her cards on, how cute!

Janine's wrapping is always such a treat and this one is no exception...the gift equally fab...a great wire frame with a stand with a funny photo of herself in it (sorry I didn't get a photo of her photo).

Sweet Mellie never goes anywhere without gifts even to her own birthday party. So she made each of us a beautiful banner with our names and initials on them, here's Janine showing hers off...

...and Karen showing hers off.

And since this blog is all about me, I have to show off my gift wrapping 'cause I had great fun creating the collaged box with Catherine's, of Red Shoes, little pixie and I love wrapping gifts.

While we were together, I delivered Hope's order to her. If you look back to the artist party back in May there's the photo of Hope placing her order for a collage with a particular antique figurine she found in my studio room. So here it is.

My bad that I didn't get photos of Hope's gifts for Mellie. She gave her some of her new collage sheets and a set of her newest birthday greeting card. Miss Sweet Mellie gave each one of us one of the cards after Hope said she'd replace them for Mel. You can see her new cards and collage sheets by going onto her website~Paper Relics~(listed top right, highly recommended). We all got great treats but the best is the gift of great friends and wonderful company and conversation. Friends are such precious blessings.

Why I love mail part, well, who can keep up?

Oh boy! Two days in a row. I still can't reveal what I received yesterday until after tomorrow...are you still with me? Anyway, TODAY this was my special treat~a big envelope from Shelley (Gypsy Wagon)! Check out the front of the envelope, I was satisfied just with that, closed and all... ...then I turn it over to open it and here's the back and, again, how cute?

Inside is a copy of the Texas Highways magazine she had been telling me about (remember, we have that Texas, among many other things, in common. As if that wasn't more than enough she included a beautiful card with a sweet note and AN ART TAG. Pick me up!

Here's a close-up of the art tag. Oh my dear goodness, I'm launching into a Sound of Music song, "I must have done something good"!

Thank you so much, Shelley, I'm inspired to "cook" up a treat for you now...

I Love Mail!!!!!

Even if I set it up myself, I still get a thrill especially when I get several packages in one day. Not that I do that very often but I am using some of the items for Mellie's birthday THIS WEEK. In addition to the button cards from the swap I also received my order from Catherine at Red Shoes Home Goods. Check it out!!! I love when orders come dressed like a gift from a bff. Here's the BOX she made and what it looked like just opening it. I could have lived happily ever after with just that. THEN I unwrapped the order part of the box (the beautiful soaps were a gift) and voila! I'm embarrassed that my photos don't do these little guys any justice so you'll have to check out her website that I have listed under my links. She's the one of the fairy door fame in case you've heard, if not you need to stop doing chores and start spending more time online or have good friends who keep you up to date on the important things in life. I'm lucky!!!!

Got My Button Cards From Speckled Egg Swap!!!

And the envelope please...from top left and going counterclockwise~from Barbara Burkard, from Suzy Spence, from Speckled Egg, from Angie Hall Haviland, and from Heather. I love every one, and look how different each one is from the other, that makes it so much fun and wonderful. Thank you so much ladies and for hosting, Heather!