~* a magical bluebird wand *~

I am continually inspired by so many of you. And over the years, I'm honored that I've gotten to know quite a few of you personally. One of these precious friends I am grateful for is Anita from Castles Crowns and Cottages. Anita always touches my heart through her inspirational blogposts. Anita is a French teacher who has a gift of using beautiful imagery combined with her natural gift of writing to create inspirational, powerful messages every week. Besides being a gifted writer, Anita is an amazing artist. She created this gorgeous bluebird wand for a giveaway. I am thrilled to say that it is on it's way to my home! Anita, now I have a piece of you in my studio to inspire me!! I am so happy to have this wand - she's already been magical and I haven't even got her yet! We all could use a magic wand to keep us smiling!!
Merci Beaucoup mon amie!
xOxO

~* finally, a peek inside our new house! *~

It's still a work in progress unpacking and settling in. But we're getting there! And we're very grateful to be in a home again! Have a great weekend everyone!
xOxO

~*chippy wall art on eTsY!! *~

It has been a lot of fun decorating our new house! Of course, I have been shopping a bit, and etsy is one of my favorite places to find unique home decor....especially wall art. I wanted to pass along these two sellers that I purchased artwork from. One of my finds was a custom vintage inspired, distressed wood sign created by Castle and Cottage that is perfect for our kitchen! It says " Famularo Cafe - Fine Armenian and Italian cuisine, Paris!" Gotta love that!!!
I also bought this huge chippy letter "F" from The Back Porch Shop . Both items are so well made and created by very talented ladies! If anyone is looking for some cool wall art, definitely check out these sellers! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!!! xOxO

~* Happy Easter, Remembering the Armenian Genocide *~

Today is an important day to many Christians, especially Armenians. It is the Feast of the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. April 24th is also the remembrance day of the Armenian Genocide that took place 1915 - 1917 by the Ottoman Empire. One and a half million Armenians lost their lives. This is the first time since 1915 that Easter and the Remembrance Day have fallen on the same day. It's a meaningful coincidence. Armenia was the first country who held Christianity as it's nation's religion. The Armenian people were brutally killed because of this faith.

Every once in awhile I test my Armenian cooking skills, so today is perfect for that. I'll be cooking Armenian pilaf & lahmajoon (Armenian pizza!) Wish my aunts in CA could be here! Hope everyone has a wonderful day with their loved ones.

'Bari Zatik' - Happy Easter

xOxO

~* rEjOiCe *~

"Rejoice" ATC created with the super cute Pink Ninjas 'Wonderful Life' April kit. Available for only $30 at the Pink Ninja Addicts shop on etsy.

xOxO

~* Gone but Not Forgotten.... Shell Kepler *~

Some of you may remember gossipy nurse 'Amy Vining' years ago on General Hospital played by actress Shell Kepler. Shell wasn't just a talented actress, she also was an amazing fashion designer. Her popular Lacy Afternoon clothing line sold on HSN and was worth millions. Not only did Shell sell her creations, she also wanted ladies to be creative with their own clothing. So she added to her line "Make Fashion Magic" kits loaded with glue guns, glittery glue sticks, and embellishments such as rhinestones, buttons, pearls and ribbon rosettes for ladies to spice up their wardrobes. It was these kits that inspired me to start using embellishments not only on my clothing but on my layouts as well. I created my own 3-D scrapbooking accent line called 'Button Kisses" which I sold on ebay and to a few scrapbooking stores. Adding dimension to layouts at that time was daring (and I caught some major slack from scrapbookers!) Back then, this was over ten years ago, there were no 3-D embellishments in the scrapbooking marketplace. Today it's a whole other story.

Sadly, Shell passed away in 2008. I still can't believe she is gone. I'm honored to have Shell's personal glue guns that she created magic with. So a little part of Shell is always with me in my studio!

Thanks Shell ~ I'll never forget you!

xOxO

~* Layout created using Maya Road rub-ons, patterned paper and Thickers from The Pink Ninjas "Wonderful Life" April scrapbooking kit available for $30 on etsy here. *~

~* Pink Ninja Crop - April 30th - Oceanside, CA *~

Join Ninja Masters Ally & Nely for an all day crop located at a beautiful beach front home in Oceanside, CA! The cost is only $25 which includes lunch and dinner! For more information and to reserve a spot, e-mail pinkninjaaddicts@yahoo.com

xOxO

~* HiPPitY HoPPitY... *~

... Easter's on it's way!!!!

xOxO

Bunny tag created with the Pink Ninjas April 'Wonderful Life' kit available on etsy for $30 here!

~* Pink Ninjas - Wonderful Life *~

the icing on the cake!

I have designed a few cake layouts in the past and they have always been fun to create. Awhile back I purchased an adorable Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake" kit from Laura McCollough of A Kiss on the Chic. Her friend had made some pretty wood cakes for these kits. I loved the embellished standing cake that Laura made and it inspired me for this layout. I traced her cake onto patterned paper, used some pop dots for dimension and embellished it with

the Pink Ninjas Wonderful Life scrapbooking kit which can be purchased on etsy for $30 here! The Pink Ninjas have 2 awesome guest designers this month: Georgia Keays and Dina Wakely! So please check out the Pink Ninja Addicts blog this month to see their creations!

xOxO

~* CaRRiE's creations from PiNkAdOO! *~

I was admiring my friend Carrie's digital layouts from Pinkadoo and she was sweet enough to offer to make some digital layouts of my kids for me! I am so intrigued with digital scrapbooking because it is something that I definitely cannot do! Carrie is very talented. I came across her etsy store a couple of years ago and fell in love with her creations. She was the one who got me started with ATC making. Now she has found her niche with digital scrapbooking and I am so happy for her! She recently became a creative team member for Creative Victorian Designs. If you love digital scrapbooking, please check out Carrie's creations on her blog. Her work is beautiful. And she is a sweetheart!!!!

Thank you Carrie!!!! ~* i l-o-v-e these! *~

xOxO

~* "It'S a WoNdErFuL LiFe!" *~

very wonderful and very PinK!

I am so happy to announce that I will be joining the Pink Ninja Addicts as part of their design team! Ninjas Ally and Nely have a unique and trendy kit club that I've fallen in love with since day one! I've purchased several of their beautiful kits in the past and I always am inspired by them. This layout of Kylie & Michael, my dear friend Kelly's kids, was created using this month's April kit called "wonderful life!" It is available here on etsy.

There is also a "wonderful life oner-upper kit" which has some extras added. Both kits include pretty patterned papers, pink glittery Thickers, Maya Road flowers and rub-ons, hand made crochet flower embellishments, adorable cabochons, chipboard flowers, tulle and much more. cute - cute - cute! I'll be showing more designs with this kit throughout the month. And a huge thank you to the Pink Ninjas for allowing me to be a part of this awesome team!!!

ninja deb

xOxO