This is my favorite find of the day.  I met with the owner, Wendy Senger this morning and fell in love with absolutely everything she had in her booth.  She gave me permission to right click and use her images for my blog, but the internet ogre strikes yet again!  This computer system at the show won’t allow me to do so.  I’m sure that it is an issue with virus safety in a public forum.

So here’s the direct link to her website:  http://mytatteredangels.com/ 

The spray has the most elegant shimmer to it, not overdone, but definitely a touch of glamour.  Her sprays have a color to them that will take a paper or image probably 2 or 3 tones deeper with the color very transparent so that what you have underneath shines through.  She’s tested her sprays on most inks and most printers, if your ink is not water proof, you may see some blurring as it is a water-based product, but the look is very misty and romantic anyway! 

The most popular items are Iridescent gold, pearl and her metallics.  Wendy said that she uses her smallest sized product for 3 shows before it runs out and she averages 500 tags per show so a little goes a very, very long way! 

I got a sample to test out when I get home and I’ll be sure to let you know what my experience is! 

I spent a lot of time today with the editors at Digital Scrapbooking Magazine (www.digitalscrapbooking.com) talking about submitting some kits for possible use in their magazine.  They are warm and wonderful (and amazingly creative people!)  I had lunch with two of their editorial staff and will feature their blogs later on.

Okay, I’ve delayed going out walking as long as I can… my feet are SORE!!!!  Talk to you all later!

In my blog contest drawing for the first half of the month…. it’s Candylady!  She has won her choice of my Victorian Christmas Gift Bag set or my Peony Cottage Quilt gift bag set.  So before I run off to Las Vegas for the week I wanted to let her and all of you know.  Congratulations!!!

Today’s the last day to post comments to win the Peony Cottage Quilt Gift Bag set!!!!  Find a post that doesn’t have a lot of comments and you’ll have a much better chance of winning!

If you thought still photos were a touch unnerving, try this video of a portion of the burn by incident!  My husband brought this home with him and I found it already uploaded on youtube so I am linking to a shortened version that is there.  I believe that this clip is 3 minutes or so long.  The event happened on August 14th from 3-8 PM

Cascade Complex Fire YouTube Video Link

I don’t know how to get the youtube image to display here, so I’ve simply included the link above.  For the record, Steve said he never felt unsafe and the firefighting team there was awesome.  There were three helicopters that were covering them that you don’t see in this short clipt, the batte went on for several hours.  He did also say that he "Was too ignorant to be scared!" 

I told you yesterday that there were some posts that had very few comments because of the summer season and that it would be a good idea to find those posts and add to them.  Well, that’s exactly what our winner did and there were only2 comments on the day that was picked!  Our winner this contest period is a very special person who gives away a lot of prizes herself, but finally got to win one… drumroll please

It’s Miss Lambie!!!!  Congratulations Lambie!  Now all you have to do is let me know which of the school quick pages kits you would prefer and I’ll send them off to you post haste.

Today begins another contest so remember, if you see a post that doesn’t have very many comments on it you have much higher odds of winning! 

I’ll be back to write more later today once I hear from my husband, so stay tuned!

I haven’t taken any pictures of my hummingbirds for quite a while, I keep forgetting to have Jacqui record them on digital video so that I can post them online for you to see.  It is such an amazing experience.  There are so many hummingbirds here right now that I fill 4 of these containers twice a day.

Tonight as I was feeding them, I decided to stand on a chair about 18 inches away and just watch for a while.  The first thing I noticed was that we’ve been invaded by a huge amount of Rufous Hummingbirds.  They are the rusty colored hummers.  Most years we’ve had two or 3, this year the populations seems to be about 60% of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and 40% Rufous.

When you stand as close as I did, they will literally fly inches from your face and you can feel the volume of air that their little wings move.  It feels like standing in front of a fan at medium speed.

The second set of pictures are some close up photos of the Rufous birds. 

I was amazed at the quality of the photographs that I was able to take.  This is just a moderately priced Fujifilm finepix with no special lens or strobe.  You can bet that these birds will show up in the future in some paintings!  I’m going to take a lot more reference photos while they’re still here.  Being able to capture them in various flying positions is very valuable for me. 

Anyone who has watched hummingbirds knows that they fight a lot, but until I stood as close as this, I never realized that they do actually hit one another. You can hear beaks click as the hit each other and several times I heard body blows that were quite extreme.  These are seriously territorial birds!

It’s impossible to actually count how many there are, but there are three feeders under this patio cover and each one was covered with 18-24 birds either feeding or within 6-10 feet in a holding pattern. Some times two birds will actually share a single feeding spot and take turns.  It make me wonder if their families work together to feed with a strong male guarding.  I observed that kind of behavior several times.  I’m going to have to find some more detailed books than I’ve read thus far.   Wish you could be here!

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

I adore the fall.  Every year I feel like I "come alive again" after a long hot summer when the first crisp, cool day of fall arrives.  So I’ve been working on some new kits in excited anticipation of those wonderful days.

"Golden Harvest" will have an assortment of papers, tags, frames and art that will combine quickly and easily to create anything you want to design to celebrate the fall all the way through Thanksgiving.

It looks like there will end up being at least two kits and a paper pack at this point.  We’ll see what more appears as I keep working on it.

I think that I’ll also create a special "For These Things We Give Thanks" book out of this art.  Each fall, we put ours on display and read through the entries from the last decade or so of our family life.  It is such a joy to read the entries of our vistors and friends that shared Thanksgivings with us in the past and some who will celebrate once again with us when we gather together in heaven one day.

Thankfulness isn’t something that we should think about and express one day a year… it is a way of life that we should practice every day.  What are you thankful for?  Who has been a blessing to you?  What has the Lord done for you and what changes has he produced in your heart for which you are grateful?  Take a moment today to think on these things and give thanks for the amazing blessings you have in your life!  If there’s someone special who you are thankful for, give him or her a hug (or a call or send a note) and tell them just how much they mean to you!

 THE SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  2 Cor 9:10-11
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
NIV

I am going to continue doing 2 contests a month, the first from the 1st to the 15th and the second from the 16th through the 31st.  The prize for the first half of the month will be on of my new School Daze Digital Scrapbooking Premade Quick Page Kits.

I have two sets coming out this week and the winner may select their favorite of the two sets!  So… remember to read my blog and comment on each day’s post to have an entry in the contest… that’s all it takes!  I love reading your comments, from your funny ones to the deep and thoughtful commentary to everything in between.

Both of these sets will be releasing this week at THE DAISIE COMPANY for $2.98 for 2 pages.  I will be putting together more school pages and will probably create my first mini-album out of these sets to sell in the store.  I hope that you’ll enjoy using these sets for some special child in your life!

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Here’s the final page of preview on "An Apple For my Teacher."  Someone had made a request to see what the musical elements looked like, so I thought I’d show the third page of the previews/product shots.

I have to tell you, I love teachers!  Every time I do a teacher-oriented product, I learn something… this time it was how to spell Mathematics!!!!  I’m a very good at spelling, but didn’t know that for my entire life I had spelled that word wrong .  In my new kit, I had left the "e" off of the book in the stack, but by the miracles of photoshop have corrected and uploaded the corrected piece so that next week’s kit will be perfect!

It reminds me of the day that I had two people from opposite ends of the country call me about a product that I had been selling for over five years with a spelling error.  I had a 16 x 20 matted and framed print for displaying your child’s school photos (actually we still sell it at 800-662-3333 if you’re interested).  In the center spot where the Senior photo will eventually go is a poem I wrote about taking time to enjoy your children as they’re growing.  In it I mispelled kindergarten (I spelled it "kindergarden")  For five years not a single person had noticed or if they did they hadn’t called to tell me and in the same day two kindergarten teachers called to let me know because they knew that I would want to correct it.

This brings me to explaining the proverb yesterday!  A couple of people expressed that they didn’t understand a part of the proverb I had selected.  Prov 27:5  An open rebuke is better than hidden love! 

The correction that my friend "Snapdragon" wrote to me creates the perfect opportunity to explain its concept to you.   In essence my friend openly rebuked me — pointed out an error so that I would have a chance to correct it.  Because I try to have a teachable spirit and delight in growing and improving, this was a blessing to me.  In this case an open rebuke doesn’t mean mean-spirited or hateful communication, but a correction.  The people who really care about you will also care enough to let you know when you are going in a wrong direction, making a mistake or are doing something wrong that could cause you or others harm.  This kind of person cares enough to risk their relationship with you so that you can improve and make changes in your life. 

The second part of the proverb is about hidden love.  Love that is never expressed (that is hidden) has no power in our lives.  Much damage in people’s lives has come from love that is hidden.  How many people have never been told by their parents that they are loved.  How often is a boss, friend or family member very quick to criticize and yet never communicates love and appreciation?  How many people have been so shy that they never make a move toward a relationship with someone who would have loved them in return?  How many people never express love and appreciation to those that are around them, though they might feel it in their heart.  Love that is not given expression and communicated openly accomplishes nothing in that other person’s life.  The open rebuke when given in a spirit of love (desiring the best for that person that you love) is better than love that is hidden and never acted upon or expressed.

One example of what I might say to express and live out this proverb in my daily life is to say to my daughter, "I love you enough to tell you the truth and perhaps risk having you not like me for a little while."   

Often the proverbs are written in a common communication technique of the time in which there is a positive contrasting to negative format.  i.e. a fool does this… a wise man does this instead….  Another thing you might notice is that many of the proverbs (and other portions of scripture) are actually written in a more negative from of expression than is the custom in our western culture. 

In other words,  as a whole our culture prefers to know what we should be doing than what’s bad.  Many of us will get the point much better if we turn the scripture’s truth into a positive form.  I like to pause and think of a way that I might rephrase the concept and find in it a positive action to take.

For instance in the proverb for today "The prayers of a person who ignores the law are despised."  This is a negative expression that speaks towards those "pious" sounding individuals that steal, cheat or otherwise do not have a character that is full of integrity and obedience.  A positive expression of this might read, "the person who’s prayers God loves to hear and answer is the person who knows and obeys both the law and the spirit of the law.  God delights in the person who is full of godly character not just acting the part."  Does this help a little? 

A word of explanation in today’s proverb, the Israelites were forbidden from charging interest.  If you made a loan it was usually to the poor and you weren’t to charge interest, but simply lend the money and eventually have it returned.  So the person who charged interest was a person who made money off of someone else’s misery.

THE PROVERB OF THE DAY:  Proverbs 28:7-9  Young people who obey the law are wise; those who seek out worthless companions bring shame to their parents. A person who makes money by charging interest will lose it. It will end up in the hands of someone who is kind to the poor. The prayers of a person who ignores the law are despised.  NLT

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

The winner of my June Blog Contest is Lori/Grammy of 5.  Congratulations!!!!!  Lori wins her choice of either of the scrapbook quick page sets that were introduced this month.  Just let me know which you want Lori and I’ll upload it to you.  Thanks to all who posted comments.  It helps me a lot to hear a two-sided conversation.  So, keep posting as the contest continues this month.  In fact, this month I’m going to do two prizes one for the first half of the month and one for the second.  So… post away!I have company over so I’m not going to make a long post out of this , so have a great rest of your weekend.  Hugs, AJ

Since I don’t have the time to write above and beyond the book I’m working on at the moment, I thought I’d give you another peek at "Summer Fun 1."  I have created some quick pages that I hope to get uploaded to Stacey today for Friday, June 29th as well.

If you have purchased or plan to purchase either of the "Tropical Breeze" kits, this kit will coordinate beautifully with either of them or their paper packs. 

I’ll show you a couple of Premade Scrapbook Pages that I created with this kit tomorrow so you can see a little of how the pieces will work together.

Today I go back to editing my book and will be painting a picture of my Uncle Johnny’s favorite plane.  One of these days I’ll do an aviation kit — having a daughter that flies and wants to do some scrapbooking will push me in that general direction!

THE PROVERB FOR THE DAY:  Proverbs 20:4-5, 7  "A farmer too lazy to plant in the spring has nothing to harvest in the fall.  Knowing what is right is like deep water in the heart; a wise person draws from the well within… God-loyal people, living honest lives, make it much easier for their children."   The Message

Have a blessed day!

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

It’s quite unbelievable to me, that so many of you would stop by each day, and also quite humbling!  So I’m going to celebrate with a special contest.  I’ll go over 50,000 hits sometime in the next 2 to 3 days (unless my Aunt links to me again then it can happen in hours )  The day that I hit 50,000 I’m going to pick a comment and that person will win one of my Tropical Breeze quick page sets. 

The set that is shown to the right and a set shown a few posts down will be available one week from Friday at THE DAISIE COMPANY STORE. 

By the way, the circular layout on this kit would make the front cover of a greeting card or party invitation really easily!  I show an preview of what that might look like in the kit.

So… get busy commenting and there will be a extra winner this month!

THE PROVERB OF THE DAY:  Provers 13:1-2  "Intelligent children listen to their parents, foolish children do their own thing.  The good acquire a taste for helpful conversation, bullies push and shove their way through life."  From The Message.

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Guess what?  It’s finally ready, just in time for your summer crafting and scrapbooking.  It’s my "Tropical Breeze" summer fun beach art kit.  There are detailed full paintings of tropical beach paradises, hibiscus, beach chairs, palm trees, and other wonderfully summery images.

The first kit will  debut in the DAISIE COMPANY STORE next Friday and of course, there will be quite a few of them to follow.  One will focus on Tiki bar syle layouts with tropical fruits and flowers, the other more on the beach scenes and tiki tropical bamboo elements.

I can’t begin to tell you all the fun things that will be available with this collection’s kits.  This has a detailed, hand-painted bamboo tiki alphabet, a fabulously fun vacation or cruise title set where you can spell out for example "Our Vacation in the Bahamas," or "Caribbean Cruise to Paradise."

Well… if I spend too much time here writing about it I won’t get the work done on all the additional sets I need to make!!!  Watch this blog all week as I’ll have little sneak peeks and snippets, IT"S COMING FRIDAY!

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Today is Friday and that means it’s a DAISIE DAY!!!!  The new Baby Love Tags ‘n Banners kit is out.  If you click on either picture, it will take you to my catalog at the DAISIE COMPANY.  (UPDATE: BABY LOVE 1 IS BACK IN THE SHOP, IF YOU PURCHASED IT BEFORE, PLEASE GO RE-DOWNLOAD IT AND THE REPAIRED PIECES WILL BE IN IT.  THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!  AJ)

Actually, I should have named it "Tags ‘n Banners ‘n stickers ‘n labels" but that would have been too long!  You’ll see in these previews the cute little word stickers and photo labels that I have included.  Almost all are in multiple colorways so that you can use them for boys, girls or either/or.

I hope that you’ll enyou  using these Baby Love sets in creating special gifts for any new baby in your life or for scrapping layouts of your children, grandchildren, nieces/nephews or any other special child who’s life you’re privileged to be a part of!

Oh JILLIBEAN… THE TURTLE WAS CREATED JUST FOR YOU !

Now… back to getting my next kits ready.  Be prepared for a BIG SWING IN DIRECTION!!!!!!  COWABUNGA,  summer’s almost here!

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

I mentioned about a month ago that I had a super-secret kit that I was working on… well, it's almost ready to bring out into the store and I thought I would give you a teensy weensy peak at it.

There's going to be all kinds of fun things related to the beach and to the tropics. It will be great for greeting cards or summer invites or for scrapbook uses (if you've been lucky enough to spend time in Hawaii or the caribbean!)  Wish I could show it all to you, but then I'd ruin the surprise!!!

So, if you're getting excited about summer, this should get you revved and ready to go play in the sun!

I'll try to write a little each day about my time with my family, but don't know for sure if I'll be able to.  Read yesterday's post below for the details.

Audrey Jeanne Roberts