Singin' in the Rain...With Swaps!!!

Hi everyone!

Well, last night was the second "meeting" of T.E.F.A.L. (Tuesday Evening Fine Arts League) where the girls and I get together to watch a movie and enjoy some time without husbands, kids (well, Toot was there, lol), work, etc. Last month was "White Christmas" this month was "Singin' in the Rain"!



We have such a good time and next month's movie is "When Harry Met Sally". Do you have any movie suggestions for us???

In other (EXCITING!) news, I'd like to go ahead and get started on hosting a circle journal swap! 1. Because I love stuff like this and 2. If we start now we should be done by the holidays. Huzzah!

So what is a circle journal swap anyway? Well, long story short (at least for now), you start a mini scrapbook or art journal of sorts, mail it off to the next person who does a layout/page in your book, they mail it to the next person and so on and so on until you get it back all done up in creative glory for you to keep forever and ever. :D

I am currently taking sign-ups starting now through end of day Sunday the 10th. If you're at all interested, go ahead and let me know as I will send you an e-mail with detailed information so you can make an informed decision on whether or not you would like to participate. If you have never been a part of a circle journal swap before, I encourage you to give it a try! Whether beginner or super artistic ninja, I want everyone to feel welcome!

I am planning on keeping the group small until I see how much interest I get although I will accept 9 people max. For those in the circle, you can plan on mailing one journal once a month. Therefore you will have almost an entire month to work on one journal so keep that in mind!

A quick note: if you are interested in more info or you already know you want to do it, PLEASE e-mail me at justaddglitter @ gmail dot com, do not just leave a comment on this post! If I don't get an e-mail from you, I won't add you to the list.

My goal is to make this project as fun and stress free as possible so please feel free to e-mail me with any questions at all. Don't be shy, I'd love to have you participate! Unfortunately due to shipping times, this swap is only open to U.S. and Canada residents but never fear! I am really wanting to host an international swap of some sort but will have to plan out the logistics and it would of course depend on how many of you would be interested in that, so if you have any ideas let me know! :D

I hope you will join me! These are so much fun to do and it's a great way to get to know other artists and see their work up close! And if a swap or circle journal is on your 2010 Resolution/Artistic Goal list, here's your opportunity to cross it off! ;)

So in conclusion, if you have questions (I'm being purposely vague here to not write a mile long post, lol) or are ready to sign up, please e-mail me ASAP at justaddglitter at gmail dot com. You have until Sunday the 10th! :D

Have a great day everyone! :D

Starting the Year Off With a Blog...I Mean Bang!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Our trip to Mom's was tons of fun and we were sad to leave. My mom surprised me BIG TIME with this beautiful head band that she made for me:




Isn't that awesome?! I love it!

I've been thinking a lot about my goals for 2010 lately. I'm not one that's big on goals as a rule. lol But for some reason I've really been seriously setting up some goals for myself this year. I won't bore y'all with them all but there are a couple that involve the blog and I would love some feedback:

1. An idea came to me today that I'm really hoping will become something cool. Most of us crafty people have huge stashes of stuff we'll never even remember we have, much less use. (Maybe I'm the only one? lol) So today I got the idea of an artistic co-op. It would be a core (read: small) group of people that can pass along supplies that other people in the group might need for various projects they're working on (for instance: I'm in serious need of clock faces and gears, could be real or shaped paper/chipboard-it's driving me nuts that I can't find this! lol). You would pay postage obviously to send something to someone but other than that it would be free and it could be a way to share with one another and meet an artistic need without having to run to the store. :D We could start a Yahoo (type) group. What do you think?

2. I definitely want to do some more giveaways on the blog. Since money is an issue it would be mainly things that I make. Is that tacky? lol

3. I am currently involved in a circle journal swap with Gauche Alchemy but I really want to host my own circle journal swap this year. I would love to have people involved that have never done one before. This is a great way to share your work with other artists and to see their work up close. I would keep the group relatively small and would run a VERY tight ship in terms of things running smoothly and easily. lol Anyone out there interested in participating? I would also be interested in doing an ATC swap as well and would love to find some sort of swap where I could include those fabulous international artists I know!

4. And last be certainly not least, THE BACHELOR STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT! YIPPEE!!!!! lol So starting at some point this week (hopefully Tuesday) I'm going to post recaps of each episode in my own snarky type way. So heads up if you're not into the show you can skip that post. lol ;)

I think that's it! At least for now...lol. Please feel free to give me some feedback on these ideas in your comments or e-mail me at justaddglitter @ gmail.com. Now, I'm off to try and catch up on some blog reading, its been forever! lol

To end with, here's a video of Toot taking a stroll at mom's house. She's just barely holding on so it won't be long now before she's off and running! By the way, she's a little cranky at the end because I made her walk back and forth a couple of time trying to get some good video. lol

Have a great day everyone!

Have a Glittering 2010!

We're starting a brand new year full of creative possibilities, can you feel it?! I was able to get in one more scarf before the ball dropped:



I'm obsessed with red and turquoise at the moment. lol Well, it's time to get going on 2010! Thanks for making 2009 a great year at Just Add Glitter and Stir. Here's to many more to come!

2009 Blog In Review

Hey everyone!

We're headed off to my mom's house for a couple of days to celebrate the new year, how nice it will be to get away for a while! But before I go I wanted to wish you a very happy new year's! I'm so excited to get started on 2010 and look forward to accomplishing some big things next year!

I thought for my final post of 2009 I would list some of my favorite posts from 2009. I started this blog in January and thought it would be appropriate to do a sort of year end review, if you will indulge me of course. :D (Post titles are linked to the post, click read and enjoy!)

January - "Scraptastic!" - Total old school layouts of my Toot back in January. She was 3 months old in these pictures.

February - "Whole Lotta Nothing Going On" - Nothing much going on in this post either but I do use Toot as a way to get more comments. I think I'm funny anyway. :P

March - "The Most Dramatic Blog Post Ever" - Like I write in the post, this entry is so much funnier if you watch The Bachelor (which starts up again next week WOOOOO HOOOO!) There's also a layout of Toot that I still am in love with, what a cutie she is (to me anyway), lol.

April - "Friday Night Fab Five: This Happened I Swear! Edition" - I include a lot of embarrassing information in this post, don't say I never give you anything. :P

May - "Someone's In the Kitchen With Scrapbooks" - Some layouts from the kitchen cookbook/scrapbook I did for a friend's mother. I am really wanting to do this for my family's recipes one day!

June - "Sleep Poet, Unsleepy Maggi" - Holy crap, my very first visit to Sleepy Poet Antique Mall! One of my favorite places on Earth for amazing vintage goodness...

July - "I'm Dreaming of a Blog Christmas" - I had so much fun hosting my Christmas in July blog party! My fingers are still recovering from their comment leaving...

August - "Toot Take Manhattan, New York Part Two" - I am admittedly my own harshest critic. Ironically, I also think I am hilarious. (Am I using "ironically" correctly? Ah, blah whatever) So pardon me as I chuckle at "Toot" writing her first post. :P

September - "Tootie in the Sky With Ice Cream...And Lies..." - I still love this layout I did based on my Granny telling a big fat lie and getting caught for it. I can't wait to tell Toot this story when she's older.

October - "Welcome to the Blog of Horror...Enter If You Dare..." - This was the second of Vanessa's blog parties I participated in and I had so much fun with this post. I still think my Playlist of Horror is truly terrifying...

November - "This Is The Post that Never Ends" - I truly appreciate every award and/or tag I'm given! I have to admit though that I got the biggest kick out of answering the questions for these tags. This post also proves you should never try to blog when you're tired, things tend to get loopy...

December - The end of the year already?!

"Inspiration From the East" - I find artistic inspiration from so many things, most recently Japanese street fashion. The colors, the shapes, the styles all bring to mind things you can use in scrapbooking, art journaling or whatever your artistic poison may be...

And there you have it! The whole year in one blog post! Maybe I should just do one big long post at the end of the year instead of writing all the time...LOL ;) Thanks for a great year everyone! If I don't talk to you before, have a happy and safe New Year's...

See you in 2010!!!

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!



MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Friday Night Fab Five Four Three Two One...

Hey you amazing people and welcome to this week's Friday Night Fab Five where I list 5 things that I am currently in love with, drooling over or just all around adore. I just realized that this will be the last Fab Five until after Christmas! Can you believe it's like a week away?!

So this week's Fab Five is going to be just like my brain is at the moment: ALL OVER THE PLACE. lol Maybe some last minute gift ideas, thankfulness and a little Pee-Wee thrown in for good measure. Basically, read in amazement as I try to tie in all of these things into something about Christmas! lol Let's get it on!!!

1. The Baseballs

What do you get for the person that loves current music but lives a vintage life? Through my vintage blog, Circle 7-2099 I discovered the sweetest little blogger Miss Emmi who is my new BFF because she introduced me to this awesome German band, The Baseballs who create vintage covers of current songs. (This video is their cover of Rhianna's "Umbrella").*Instant Eternal Love* Thanks Miss Emmi!



2. Happy Mail

What's Christmas without a little something in the mail? Well, the always amazing Julie e-mailed me the other day to say that something was on its way to me and the next day I received a lovely Christmas card. So after I e-mailed her to thank her she told me that yes, she sent that but that wasn't what she was talking about that there was something else on its way to me. Wha??? She also dropped a couple of hints: vintage and "think Betty". Lo and behold, look what showed up at my house:



Thanks Julie, this was so very thoughtful of you and I am so touched you would think of me! I currently have some Christmas cookie recipes scanned from this book posted at Circle 7-2099 if you need some last minute baking ideas!

3. The First Annual White Christmas Watching Party

This past Tuesday my girls came over for some girly time and to watch "White Christmas together:



We had so much fun that we've decided to get together once a month to watch a different movie. I've named us "The Tuesday Night Fine Arts League" (a take on the club Lucy and Ethel were in on "I Love Lucy" :D). And get this: I was dressed to the hilt in one of my vintage dresses, complete with the vintage apron the awesome Callista gave me and do you know I didn't get one picture of myself?! Bad Maggi! Well, except for this one and you can't the whole dress, but you get the idea:



We had a great time and I think we've decided on "Singin' In The Rain" for our movie in January. Any suggestions for other movies? They don't have to be old or musicals! lol

4. Pee-Wee's Christmas Special

I don't think I can stress enough how much I adored Pee-Wee when I was younger. I was a HUGE fan of his show on CBS and his Christmas special was the BEST EVER! With stars like Frankie and Annette, how could it not good?!



5. Merry Christmas My Awesome Blogging Friends!

I was so touched that so many of you went to visit my mom's blog, I cannot begin to express my delight and pride to have all of you in my (albeit virtual) life. She called me and said, "I've got 3 or 4 comments on my blog!!!!" I was like, "Um no, you have like 20." Her: "WHAT?! Oh my goodness, they're so nice! What do I do now? Should I e-mail them all to thank them? Someone said she couldn't find Jello, I need to send her some, poor girl!" LOL It really made her day so THANK YOU SO MUCH, I really appreciate you taking time out of your blogging day to welcome her.

So let's end on a cool note, here's The Baseballs with their version of Beyonce's "Carzy In Love". Have an awesome weekend everyone!!

The Best Things...Happen While You're Blogging...

Hello everyone and happy Tuesday!

I am so excited because tonight is my First Annual Partying While Watching "White Christmas" and Eating With My Girls Party! WOO HOOOOOO!



A little back story: My friend Corrie and I L-O-V-E this movie! When we were kids we would watch it over and over, whether it was Christmas or not. We'd talk about how teeny Vera Ellen's waist was, whether Bob Wallace was way too old for Betty, sing "Sisters" together and discuss different ways we'd punch out that nosy chick Emma that eavesdrops and messes everything up. (Yeah, where's the scene with her apologizing for that?! And why didn't Betty just say, "Yo Bob, did you set this up as a publicity thing for yourself or what?" That would have saved so much freakin' time!)

ANYWAY, we love the movie. :) So then I was talking to a friend and found she loves it too and it just kind of snowballed from there and tonight I'm having a group of gals over to watch the movie and just enjoy some girly time. Everyone's bringing something, I've got the "Liverwurst and Buttermilk" cupcakes made (don't panic: it's just my pumpkin cake with honey cream cheese frosting, lol) and thanks to the fabulous Callista, I now have her Grandmother's recipe for Hot Buttered Rum all finished and just waiting for me...er, I mean us to drink! I've decided to wear one of my vintage dresses and am really looking forward to tonight!

Did you know:

-Fred Astaire was the first choice to play opposite Bing Crosby but turned the role down as did second choice Donald O'Connor.

-Vera Ellen plays the younger sister but she was actually 7 years older than Rosemary Clooney.

-Rosemary Clooney sang both parts in the song "Sisters".

-The boy in the picture of "Freckle Face Haynes the Dog Face Boy" is Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa in "The Little Rascals". (trivia from Wikipedia)

In other news, I've got a couple more pics of Christmas decorations, once again created by my talented Mother. One year she made me a "Simpsons" tree (I love this show, lol)





This is really love! When my parents split up, I inherited our old ornaments. My mom collected my most favorite ones from my childhood and made this shadow box for me. If you look closely, you'll see first grader Maggi in the top left hand corner. lol



Speaking of Mom, she has joined the blogging world! I am so proud of her because this whole blogging thing totally escapes her, lol. But she's jumped right in and even has one of her original Chex Mix recipes posted. Would y'all do me a huge favor by going over and welcoming her to our little blogging world? I would so appreciate it! Her blog is here.

I hope you have a great day!!!

Its That Time of Year...

I'm so ready to show you my newest project but its been raining here lately so no pictures to be had...boo! So instead I thought I'd share some of our Christmas decorations:

Here's our tree this year:

I love this ornament, it belonged to Chris' Grandparents:

And my crocheted tree skirt in its new home. I'm still so proud of myself for making this! lol

The fabulous Carrie from Tinkering L8 made me this super awesome wreath!

This is a long table in my hallway I decorated with our Christmas odds and ends (and yes, my hallway is orange. lol)

My mom made the next two pieces for me. I had bought these figure sets of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town". I gave them to her and she made me a centerpiece and wreath. Awesome!

And now for a sad Christmas tale...

I took Toot to see Santa and not only was she not glad to see him, I had to be in the picture to calm her down, her purple socks I thought no one would see are totally see-able and she looks completely done with Christmas. Well, at least I thought to put some make-up on before I left the house! lol

I'm so in love with this Christmas song:



Merry Christmas everyone, have a great day!

Family Pictures: Album Eight

Holy crow, are we up to album 8 already? What the heck am I going to do when I've posted all 11??? By the way, I should totally be crocheting Christmas gifts right now and instead I'm blogging for you fine folks and watching "White Christmas". What? I've got my priorities you know... :D

Oh and if you're new to my family albums, here's the low down:

These are some pictures from our Family Vault (i.e. the box of 11 albums in our den). You can read about and see the first one here, the second one is here, the third album is here, the fourth album is here, the fifth is here, the sixth album is here and the seventh is here.

As always: I'm sure it goes without saying that these pictures are not to be posted anywhere or used in any way without express permission from me. Period. I can be contacted at katamommy at gmail.com. I promise I don't bite! :D

Ready? Here we go!









I just love seeing these fun silly poses.



Check out the camera she's holding. This is a total shutterbug family for sure!






Me want kitschy Christmas...*drool*







Thanks for taking a gander at these pictures with me, I love sharing them with all of you!

Have a great day!

Roller Girls and Glue Galore

Hey everyone! Well last night's roller derby was soooooo much fun and today is Chris' birthday! Happy birthday honey!!! But let's back up a minute: here's some pictures from last night which was the last match of the 2009 Charlotte Roller Girls season. First of all, Toot L-O-V-E-D it! lol

Here's a pic of me and the birthday boy:

Because Toot was with us we did not sit in the "Suicide Seats" which is sitting on the floor.  Think of being in the front rows at Sea World but instead of getting splashed with water you could get a roller girl to the head.

 

Here's a group shot of the team and refs after the match:

 

They all had cool mean names like "Emmylou Harass" and "Ally Capone".  It was a lot of fun to see the girls play and they are currently recruiting.  Hmmmm...Think I'd make it as a Roller Girl???  LOL  In other news, I played along with a new challenge blog: Nerdy Victorious Scrapbookers. Actually, it was their DT call inspiration challenge but I played along anyway, lol.  (Anything "nerdy" is sure to get my undying devotion, lol)

Here's what I did:

Admittedly I do not do a lot of "me" layouts. I probably should but tend to shy away from it for some reason. But the nerd in me was entranced by the NVS collage on their blog and so here it is! :D This is about as "me" as you can get! lol Anything that I adore is here: pink, vintage, video games, kawaii, collage, bling, Mod Podge. lol Here are a couple of close ups:

I hope everyone's week has started off well, have a great Tuesday! :D

Gentlemen Prefer The Roller Derby and a Wool Suit

Okay, I know I've talked about PaperBackSwap.com before and I don't want to sound like one big commercial but I just had to share. I've traded some books since joining up and have been lucky enough to add the autobiographies of Marion Davies, Ginger Rogers and Jane Russell to my collection.

Speaking of Jane Russell, I was watching "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" the other day and decided to do a little research (this is all leading back to Paper Back Swap, I promise! :D) Come to find out, the 1953 musical starring Russell and Monroe was based on the 1949 stage musical which was based on the 1925 novel written by Anita Loos (who also wrote a sequel called "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" which was made into a forgettable sequel to the movie starring Russell (as Dorothy Shaw's daughter!) and Jeanne Crain). There was also a silent movie adaptation made of the novel in 1928 which has been lost unfortunately.

ANYWAY, all that to say that I decided to look up the original book by Loos on Paper Back Swap to see if I could find it and low and behold, someone had a copy which I quickly snapped up. I had no big illusions on what edition the book would be as I was assuming it had been printed and reprinted multiple times. So just imagine my exclamation of "HOLY MACARONI!" when I checked my mail today and saw this:



Yup, a 1926 (10th printing) edition of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". Can you believe it?!?!?! AND it has the most fantastic 1920's style illustrations by Ralph Barton:



It is just in beautiful condition for its age and I feel SO fortunate to have inadvertantly made such a find. So this lovely treasure will be a permanent fixture on my bookshelf. I'm also planning on harvesting Paper Back Swap for some free books I won't feel guilty cutting up and gluing to something. LOL :D

So let's jump ahead a couple of decades and discuss how fab it would be to own this 1950's three piece wool suit from Cheap Vintage.



Gimme gimme gimme! LOL

And last but not least...guess where I'm going tomorrow????



Oh baby, the roller derby....WOOOO HOOOOO! Last match of the season and I will be there with my Barbie skates on! Okay, I don't think I'll wear my skates which is a shame, they sure are cute...The husband's birthday is Monday and our friends: D & D are treating us to the roller derby which we are both super excited to go check out.

So what are your plans for Sunday? I've been hearing some of you are getting snow, how about sending some my way???? :D

Family Pictures: Album Seven

Happy Wednesday everyone!

It's time once again for some pictures from our Family Vault (i.e. the box of 11 albums in our den) and if you're just joining us you can read about these albums and see the first one here, the second one is here, the third album is here, the fourth album is here, the fifth is here and the sixth album is here.

And as always: I'm sure it goes without saying that these pictures are not to be posted anywhere or used in any way without express permission from me. Period. I can be contacted at katamommy at gmail.com. I promise I don't bite! :D










Oh what I wouldn't give for this huge Santa head to hang on my house. lol



Have a great day everyone!

A Love Story

Please press play before enjoying this intimate love story...

What Is Love?

During their honeymoon at Disney World, this moment finds our young lovers enjoying the view of the water while in Epcot Germany...

Me: *sigh* Isn't it beautiful here?

Husband: (leans to the side, screws up his face and proceeds to fart for the first time in front of his bride)

Me: What the? Did you just fart in Disney's Epcot World Showcase?!

Husband: Listen, we're married now. The gloves are off...

Is it the meeting of eyes across a crowded room?

Me: (attempting to foster open communication rather than answering all of his questions with "Nothing") You see honey, during that time of the month, I just don't feel like myself. I feel fat, ugly and blah and I just need a little extra encouragement. I know you don't fully understand since you don't have to go through this every month.

Husband: Well, we've been married for two years. That's kinda like being on your period, right?

The brush of a hand across the nape of your neck?

Me: (jokingly) No, I'm angry at you. Can't you see the steam coming out of my ears?

Husband: No, but I can see the hot air coming out of your mouth...

Sweet words whispered in your ear?

Ahhhh...sweet love...

Husband: "Hey honey, look!"



I asked my husband's permission before writing this post because I wanted to make sure he knew that I loved his being able to call me on my crap and his witty sense of humor. Thank you Honey for being a good sport and for making me laugh more than any man I've ever known! (Except maybe Will Ferrell. That man is hilarious!)

Love means never having to say you're not funny...