The Winner of my Giveaway is...

Hi, friends! Just a quick note to announce that the winner of my first ever giveaway is.......

obsessed scrapbooker of Life in Smirleyworld

Her number was chosen by random generator:
This program will generate a random number between two numbers of your choice.
Enter a lower limit: 1
Enter an upper limit: 22
Random Number: 14

Thanks so much to all who played!! I really like doing giveaways! There will have to be more!

Elizabeth will be getting the summer edition of Artful Blogging, plus a bunch of other goodies that I have collected (some vintage goodness and fun scrapbooking stuff). I will post pics later of the goodies I am sending her!

Love, Lolly

I'm back...and MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!

I'm back...not quite 100% recovered yet, but getting better every day (it was bronchitis and for some reason it really threw me for a loop, but three rounds of antibiotics later and many cough medications...)...and and I am still missing my sweet cat Max, but taking comfort in my memories and my other four-legged children. Thanks to all of my blogger friends who sent me sweet wishes about my sweet boy.

OK, on to business. I am FINALLY starting to feel the creative juices flowing again, so am going to work this weekend on producing some stuff. In the meantime, I thought I would have MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! Blame it on not feeling well, but I actually bought two issues of the Summer 2008 ARTFUL BLOGGING magazine....doh!

SO, I would love to give the extra copy of ARTFUL BLOGGING (Summer 2008) away to someone! I will ALSO throw in a bunch of other fun supplies and vintage goodness (not pictured) to the lucky winner!! Each comment on this post will be entered in my giveaway. I think I will have the drawing on...let's say a week from today June 26. Just be sure that I have a way to reach you! I will post the winner after 12:00pm EST on June 26!!





Thanks, my sweet friends!

Lolly

I lost my sweet cat, Max...

Hello friends. I am so sad to tell you that my sweet little four-legged furry bundle of joy, MAX, passed away on Wednesday morning. I had dropped him off that morning at the vet to have surgery, then I headed home since I have been so sick. My Max was to have all of his teeth extracted because of severe gum disease and a raging infection. They gave him a sedative before they could even give him anestesia or intibate him (normal procedure) and within 2 minutes he fell over and his heart had stopped. They gave him CPR for about 15 minutes to no avail. The doctor thinks that the infection may have compromised his heart and it was just too much for his body. Also since he was a feral cat, we just don't know about genetics, etc. But without the surgery, he would have continued to have infection after infection and would have starved, since he wasn't eating enough to sustain his big body.


I am still in shock today and so very sad and depressed. I just lost my beloved Charlie in December and now my sweet boy, Max....Max was such a good boy. He was only 7 and I have had him since he was 5 weeks old when I took in him and his beautiful mother who were ferals - he was still nursing when I took them in. Max was a talker. In the picture below of him alone, he was "talking" to me, trying to get some message across. He was my social butterfly - always greeting everyone at the door. He was my constant shadow (much to the chagrin of my other beloved shadow, Freida). Max made me laugh with his antics. He was a friend to all of the other animals - not a mean bone in his body. You all know that my beloved four-legged furry children are the world to me and ARE my children. I miss him so much and I just wanted to share my thoughts with you all. There was such a depth of love in his eyes when he looked at me. I hope he always knew that I felt the same.


My dear Max - be free, be strong, know that you will be mourned and missed, that you have loved and are beloved. Be blessed my baby kitty, until we meet again.


Love, Lolly

My sweet boy, Max

Max (in front) with his mom, Mouse...

I'm still here!!

Peek-a-boo!! I'm still here!! I have been sick for the past few weeks and have not even had the energy for blogging....I have so many things to post about! I will hopefully be back soon!

~Lolly

Toy Day

Hello! Today is Scrappy Jessi's Favorite Childhood Toy party and I want to play!! Sorry for some of the blurry pics, but of course I waited until the last minute to look for some of these and then the scanner wasn't working, and then....well you get the picture!
Anyway, here we go. This is me at about a year and half...I loved dolls and stuffed animals and I loved my books....those Little Golden Books rock!!

Me again with my Raggedy Ann doll!

This is a new monkey I have now, but when I was young I had one EXACTLY like it.... I can't explain it, but I just have always LOVED stuffed monkeys.

Another new one, but one like I had when I was little...

Oh, this is my beloved little tiger that my beloved grandfather gave to me when I was a toddler. Obviously this little guy has been with me for forty years. My grandfather is long gone, but I just love this little guy. He proudly sits on a shelf in my studio.

Also this beloved stuffed bear of mine..little Teddie has been with me since I was an infant and also keeps little tiger (above) company on a shelf in my studio. As you can tell, I took these guys everywhere with me when I was young. They are tattered but very loved!

Here is an older me when I was about 8 or 9.....once again surrounded by stuffed animals and dolls and reading....note I was reading (and really into) Jughead and Archie....clearly that dates me!

A young me on Christmas morning with my new kitchen set....my sisters and I spent hours with that set and all the accompanying fun stuff that went with it.

You can only see one piece here but on this day, my sisters (they are the blond twins) and I received this fantastic block set and we literally played with that for years in so many different ways. I can even remember building "furniture" for our Barbies with the set!!

That's it for today! I couldn't find my pics of some of the other fun toys I enjoyed as a child................like the board game (remember those?) SORRY, Barbies and especially my beloved Barbie Camper, my Crissy doll, my Little Kiddles, etc.......I could go on.....

Thanks, Jessi for hosting this fun party!!

~Lolly

The wonderful junque in my trunk.....

I was lucky enough to participate in Junque in my Trunk swap hosted by Heather at Pretty Petals Boutique. My partner was the wonderful Elaine but she doesn't have a blog at this time (but she should!!)....Anyway, this first batch of photos is what I sent to her. The box (trunk) I made has a vintage picture of my grandmother on it.. what a beauty she was (and is - she will be 91 next month!)...I wish I had taken more detailed pics of all the fun goodies that were actually in the box, but I was running late in mailing the package and so it goes...anyway, here is a condensed visual of what I sent to the wonderful Elaine....







And here is the absolutely wonderful and quite stunning "trunk of amazing junque" that I got from Elaine......she truly went above and beyond and I am still in awe of all the unique goodness that she sent my way. She knew that I love anything cat or vintage cat-related and almost everything in the package was cat related...even the vintage cards had cats on them...unbelievable thoughtfulness.....first of all, this is the amazing flower covered box that I first opened...I truly did not want to open it - it was that beautifully put together....


And this is just a few pics of the amazing things Elaine sent me......











This was an absolutely fantastic swap and I had a great time giving and receiving!!
~Lolly

Easter Basket Goodness X 2

I participated in the fun swap hosted by Genevieve, Bella-Enchanted's Easter Basket Swap and was lucky enough to have TWO partners! Double the fun!!

My first partner was Elizabeth and this is what I sent to her! I apologize in advance, because I have the pics of the wonderful basket she sent me on another cd that I don't have with me at the moment....I will add later. Anyway, this is what I sent to Elizabeth....





My second partner was Carol and she was just a doll! This is the package that I sent her...it was a lot of fun to put together!




And this is the wonderful package that I received from her in return! Candles and lace and vintage inspired collage sheets with cats and animals that she cut out and wrapped with a ribbon, stationary, note cards, stamps and an amazing apron that I already have hanging in my kitchen (I collect old and vintage inspired aprons!) and more!! She really went overboard and I just love everything!





This swap was a lot of fun to participate in.
Even though I am addicted to swaps, I have also been in my studio working on some creations and business ideas and will post about those soon.

One more swap that I did participate in was the Alpha Stamps/Tallulah's Swap hosted by Lenna over at creativeswaps.blogspot.com. She is awesome. Mine are soooooo simple compared to some of the other creations that I am almost embarassed.....next time I sign up for her swaps, I will go all out!! Here are my creations: