Cool Stuff I want to Win!

Luckily Patty from Broken Teepee reminded me this morning that her giveaway has started for Corel Paint It, which I seriously want to win. You can see all the cool things she's done with it over on Priscilla's blog. It looks like so much fun to play with. You can turn pictures into watercolor paintings and other cool special effects. You can go over and enter to win here until June 9.

While I was entering this contest in every possible way I discovered that she also had 2 other giveaways going that I would totally love to win. She is giving away a $40 Gift Code to Right on the Walls to one lucky reader. She reviewed the very cool bird display at the top which you can read all about here. This giveaway ends June 1 so you need to enter soon if you are going to beat me to this one.

And finally you all know how much I love taking pictures and my favorite way to display them is to make photo books. Patty is also currently running a giveaway for a Custom Cover Photobook from CVSphoto.com/ You can enter to win this giveaway here which ends June 7.

So I think that about covers all the possible ways I can enter. I had better win at least one of them don't you think!

Happy Memorial Day!

Americana Patriotic Pap...

Fishstikks

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  Patriotic Dove of Peace...

  windingvinede...

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  Americana Abby Primitiv...

  Skunkhollow

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  Shabby Americana . U.S....

  SucreEtCannelle

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  Primitive HP Flag and C...

  Primgal

I hope that you all are enjoying your Memorial Day festivities, whatever that means to you. I have made my pasta salad and we will be heading over to my mother in law's soon for the requisite barbecue. I'm hoping that I won't do too much damage to my new diet with those irresistible cheesy potatoes.

I put together a treasury east, such a fun way to waste time, of some unique takes on Americana. You can check the entire list out here. Wouldn't it be cool if it made the front page. Of course it will never happen because Etsy would never put something up that was relevant but one can always dream.

Got my new shoes On!

I've talked before about my shoe issues. I have a strange compulsion to buy shoes but rarely wear anything other than my well worn Birkenstocks. After my broken ankle I went on a silly shopping expedition from my couch trying to find comfortable shoes that would fit my highly swollen foot, while still fitting on the good foot. This was a failed mission. I have been wearing my silver and brown birks for the past few months. The silver fit fine but the brown have a strap that cuts right at my most swollen part of the ankle, creating a bizarre bubble effect by the end of the day. I will refrain from showing you a picture for once!

I was briefly at the Warrenton Outlet Mall recently and wandered into the SAS Outlet, which stands for San Antonio Shoes. They are Handcrafted shoes made from the hands of Master Craftsmen all done with fine leather. I spotted the perfect solution to my problem. They are called The Cozy and totally live up to the name. They are so soft and felt like putting on an old friend from the first moment. The great thing about them is that they have Velcro which allows me to tighten or loosen the strap to a wide degree throughout the day as needed. I don't think they look any more old ladyish than my Birkenstocks. I can even feel good about the fact that they were handmade and can watch a video of how they are made on their website.

They also have some other styles and I might have to invest in a pair of their black shoes for the Fall. They weren't cheap but you get what you pay for. When you have foot pain you realize how important good shoes are even more strongly.

Southwest Dreaming!

So I was playing around during my lunch hour with the new treasury east on Etsy. This is their new method for curating treasuries which allows you to create a treasury at any time and it will stay active indefinitely. You can have as many treasuries active as you care to waste your time making and keeping filled. As I was doing my EC drops today I checked out the Etsy shops of the handmade bloggers I frequent and put together a Southwest themed list.

My vacation to New Mexico is less than a month away and I am getting super excited! I found some amazing items in rich colors of the Southwest including but not limited to turquoise and deep orange, two of my favorites. I tried to copy and paste it here but it came in with them one at a time. You can see it in all of its glory here, click on the items, and leave comments if you so choose.

Lenox Knit's Blog Buddies Southwest Theme

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  Colors of the Desert Co...

  Alterity

  

• Batik Butterfly Handbag

  kreatedbykaren

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  Copper and Turquoise Be...

  arosebyname

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  Rising Sun - Beaded Nec...

  ThreeFatesDe...

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  Joy - a faux mosaic

  ArtByKristin

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  Bright Rainbow Temari

  luckygirltrading

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  Handmade Wristlet with ...

  TiLTcreations

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  Handmade Tipi Treasure ...

  storybeader

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  turquoise and red fring...

  randomcreative

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  JEWELS of the SOUTHWEST...

  SplitRockRanch

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  SALE - Turquoise Earrin...

  BrokenTeepeeD...

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  No Horsin' Around - Ric...

  happygoatsoap

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  Ziangle (2)- Hot chilli

  daxdesigns

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  Margarita Lime Bubbling...

  thesoapseduction

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  Shades of Turquoise Gla...

  WillOaksStudio

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  Knit Clutch in Desert S...

  nfall2rt

I also found some shops with great specials going on and I thought I'd share them with you:

Alterity Button Jewelry:
******Spring Special******
FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE

Three Fates Design:
FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING. All sales go to help pay for Yoda's surgery and after care. Please stop by my blog for more info and updates.

Dax Designs Bead Art:
NEWS FOR MAY - FREE SHIPPING.
I've introduced FREE shipping to celebrate reaching 200 shop hearts this month.

Random Creative:
May 2010 special: Take 15% off and get $1.00 shipping on any item tagged "turquoise." Refunds will be issued via Paypal. Please convo me if you don't see a turquoise item that suits your needs/preferences. I'm happy to create a custom listing for you with the same deal.

Happy Goat's Soap:
Shop Special:
~~~4oz BARS 3/$11~~~3oz BARS 3/$10~~~6oz BARS 3/$15~~~

Broken Teepee Designs:
FREE worldwide shipping is included

TiLT's creations:
Clearance sale going on now on all discontinued styles...

Happy Birthday Savannah

I am pretty much worthless this weekend. I'm not feeling good and basically slept the majority of the past 24 hours. My body obviously needed some chillax time. Since I really can't come up with anything interesting to say I will just leave you with some cute images of my niece Savannah who turned "free" today. That is how it sounds when she says it anyway.

The last shot is with her very best friend who lives next door. They are quite the team let me tell you.

Kate's Big Weekend

I survived my trip to Dallas although I have been absolutely exhausted all week and my foot is incredibly swollen but all in all it was quite worth it. This weekend was Kate's first communion and although I'm not a practising Catholic nor her actual Godmother it was important that I be there for her. I have become her de-facto Godmother as her actual one doesn't remember nor seem to care that she is. Angie now just say that I am both Jess and Kate's to make it easier.
Kate is probably the closest thing to a mini me that I will ever come without a daughter of my own. She looks a bit like me with her big blue eyes and long curly hair and her spirit is all Paige. She is a true free spirit and really doesn't care what anyone thinks of her which is rare in young girls. I don't think that I developed such a complete self awareness until I was at least 18 years old.

When my sister asked Kate if she wanted to wear a veil for her first communion Kate said that she wanted to wear a feather in her hair. Angie said that she might be one of the only girls without a veil and would that bother her, Kate said no why should it. She couldn't understand why it would matter if she was the only one that did her own thing. So she wore a big white feather which my Mom was concerned looked a bit too much like a boa but I thought was perfect.




She looked just like a little bride in her long white dress and perfectly curled hair. My mom got her a pearl necklace and I got her a cross bracelet with sparkly cross earrings from Sara Libbey Jewelry.




I'm so proud of the amazing and independent person she is becoming. It was painful to leave them again and I teared up thinking about all the little events I'm missing with them so far away but I'm glad to at least be there for the big ones. There is a possible light at the end of the tunnel as my brother in law just got a new job which has a possibility of them being able to move back to Missouri in a few years. I don't think it would be fair to the girls to uplift them again this soon but at least there is some hope now.

Random Updates

So I'm making a very quick jaunt down to Dallas for the weekend. It's Kate and Savannah's birthday week and Kate has her first communion this weekend also. I'm riding with my parents and Uncle Jack which should be quite an adventure. I love each of them dearly but being in a car with the 3 of them for 10 hours is clearly too much of a good thing. I'm very sure that they would say the same about me.

Mom and Jack will be staying for another week but Dad and I will be heading back on Monday. I got us a book to listen to on the way home called A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail which I thought Dad and I would both enjoy.

I ended up buying my telephoto lens off of e-bay as I discussed here. I had to let go of the idea of getting a 75-300mm with IS for under $300. I settled on the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS Lens and I am actually pretty happy with it. It was a refurbished by Canon with a UV filter for a very good price. It has a great zoom and is incredibly lightweight. It is actually lighter than my 18-87mm. If I could do it all over again though I would definitely go for a single lens that covered all of that range like the Tamron AF 18-250mm. You live and learn and I'm happy with both of my lenses so I'm not going to complain.
The above shots were from last week, prior to the new lens, when I took Ani out for a little adventure. She was a bit scared of the old cemetery which I was surprised by. I think of it as a really cool place to photograph and forget about the creepy factor. When we were leaving and I was apologizing for making her uncomfortable she said, "sometimes I think you forget that I'm only nine Aunt Paige." I laughed and said that she was probably right. The other two shots are from driving around some back roads. The little orchard I caught right at the "golden hour" of dusk as my teacher calls it.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell from the trip when I get back.