Blythe Girls Get Their Own London Flat

Okay people. I'm only going to say this once. The Blythe sisters, Lilly and Maggy got their own apartment and have moved out. They are having an open house over on their new blog Blythe-O-Mania Untamed http://bly-me.blogspot.com/. They just were demanding too much time on this here artsy fartsy blog, and since they are spoiled, of course I complied. Now here's just one teaser pic, and from now on, only art here and blimey! Blythes over there. But, speaking of art, they did receive some great Re-Ment and Puchi housewarming gifts today from fellow ZNE member and artist Vicky Breslin, Miss Vicky of Cut-it-Up fame.

Time for some New Eye Candy. Yum!

I promised I would blog about the DH's famous chili, created after years of experimentation. It is so nice to have someone else cook!

Paul's No Longer a Secret Chili

1 lb. lean ground chuck, cooked with onion and drained

1/2 of a medium yellow onion, minced

Into a greased crock pot, add the above along with:

1 16 oz. can stewed tomatoes, seasoned for chili

1 16 oz. can tomato sauce

1 16 oz. can Brooks mild chili beans

1 16 oz. can water

1/2 pkt. chili seasoning (any)

Cook on low three hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so.

I also offer up on a different eye candy front one brunette Blythe who needs a name. She did manage to get out of her night shirt, robe, bunny slippers and rollers and into this outfit which includes a tiny knitted cardigan and matching hairclip from Feltland on etsy.com. Beautiful miniature work. Names in the hopper are Ainsley, Afton, Greta, Grace, Maggie/Maggy, Lisle. She is Lilly London's sister, as if that helps any!

Also: inspiration, found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12448123@N07/favorites/. I love looking at all the various photos on Flickr. In fact, there's a group for Flickrclickritis, and I am afraid I have it. But I am not alone, and it's a pretty clean vice. In fact, according to http://www.flickr.com/ home page, there were 3,396 photos uploaded in the minute it took me to type this sentence. That is incredible. Whatever you like, you'll find it there.

You can also find a little ego stroking within the amateur photographer community. In fact, I've had two photos invited to exclusive groups, one for all pink, all the time. Actually the group is Top 20 Pink, and for one brief moment, one of my photos was allegedly among the top 20 of the millions of pink photos there. The other award was for my front door holiday wreath, which was invited to Fabulous Holiday Trees, Wreaths and Garlands.

Meanwhile, on another e-front, I was invited to serve as a moderator for ZNE or VariaZioNE, http://zneiscrafty.ning.com/ where I will be manning the ZNE Verses- group poetry efforts pulled together and set to music and art. I can't wait! My other duty will be to somehow tie in the monthly ZNE Book Club assignments to the ZNE verses. We start in January with The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery by Karen Michel. Book club membership fees benefit Bernie Berlin's A Place to Bark (see badge and updated ticker at right). A good cause.

Lastly, I did not know it was Cyber Monday (until about 8 p.m.), but I did my fair share, having visited Lands End and ebay today. It was definitely Mail Mania Monday with great swaps arriving from Miss Mary Isabella of the snowman swap and super Magic and Mayhem ATC's from Faerie Zine http://thefaeriezine.blogspot.com/ members Julie Baxley, Catriona Allen-Bryce, Nichole Pennington and Brendalea as well as founder Lisa Kettell http://www.moonfairesworld.com/. Thank you girls! Lucky me!

We Now Interrupt this Sleepless Night for Some More Art and Other Creative Endeavors

Okay, so I wasn't even asleep or in bed when the biggest Christmas tree in the house (7') toppled over at 1:30 a.m. Really wasn't expecting that to happen so soon. We forget to put a brick on the feet of the stand under the tree skirt. Haven't had to do that in a few years, but I guess we have a new batch of curious felines. So, several broken ornaments, an awakened and grouchy DH, a run of the vacuum, and some Super Glue later, it was finally time to finish up some art projects.

My 4 x 4 Friday book page for the lace theme is pictured in the post below. That allowed me to feature my newest obsession, Blythe dolls. Lilly London now has a sister, as yet unnamed, who arrived today, an ADG Brunette #3. She quickly wanted to get comfy and put on her nightshirt, robe, bunny slippers and get her hair rolled. No problem. Lilly, on the other hand, wanted to keep trying on outfits, including her sister's new pink boots. More photo opps.

Following this, I was able to complete my paper clay snowman ornament for Viv on a Whim's swap, and it will be off to Mary B. next week. With one snowman head left, I decided to make an Americana paper box, using aged red, white and blue paper, canvas ribbon stamped "joy," from Random Arts, two sizes of gold tinsel, a brown crepe paper ruff and some gold spray glitter. This might turn into a Christmas present.