Swap-so-Sweet

I was the luckiest girl in the Whimsical Jar Swap.  Hosted by .jessicarodarte.blogspot.com.   a totally talented artist and mom to three young children.  The sweet jar on top was created by Melinda in Utah, melindasfabricfancies.blogspot.com  It was filled with buttons & bells, pearls. tags, feathers, strings & ribbons.  Too many goodies to mention, and best of all pink glitter.  Smile.

Publish Post

  Deb, super talented gal from

garagesalegal.blogspot.com, was my second swap.  She sent a fun square jar with puzzle pieces on the front and quilling on top!  Quilling is nearly a lost art. It was also brimming over with goodies including a matchbox drawer filled with tiny-goodies! a tiny perfume bottle! a prism! and a giant box filled with lemonheads which went very quickly.

Thanks so much to both of you!

Pretty Maidens All in a Row

Aren't these dresses sweet as can be? There is a whole line of them, six in all.  The best part?  They were just a a little of what came in the paper bag swap hosted by Jessica at jessicarodarte.blogspot.com  I had a fab partner from New York, Sherry, and she sent me a whole box of amazing things. In a day or two I'll share what I sent in return.  I've had Sherry, ificouldsetmysoulfree.blogspot.com , for a swap partner before and she always does awesome art.

Happy to be in the Land of Blogspot!

For my 4 or 5 followers that may of thought there is something odd about my blog, there is.

My sight is a little quirky today because I cut and pasted it from another blog-sight. That is why my pictures are a little out-of-whack, as well as my writing, and you are unable to tap into the comments etc. However, after "Around the World in a Lot of Days" my posts are new. Wish me luck, I'll try and get this cleaned up and I'm happy to be out of wordpress and into blogspot.

My address is pretty much the same: http://bestfriendsarebest.blogspot.com

We'll be seeing you, Bridget

Around the World in a Lot of Days

Posted on July 16, 2010 by bestfriendsarebest

This is Anna and me after the performance of Wicked in LA. This little sweetie between us was in a starring role because the original star had fallen ill. Boy, was she excited. As an understudy I don’t think she imagined her day would come. Sort of like being runner-up to Miss America. “And if anything should happen that she is unable to perform………..like we find out she’s a porn star and not a virgin” LOL
Back to my regularly scheduled program….

Anna Marie is my world traveler and my oldest daughter. Her restless feet have seen five continents in her 26 short years, four in the last two years alone. But growing up in a tiny farming town that is nearly 80 % Hispanic the first country she hit was Mexico. She does a lot of scrap-booking, however I love to scrapbook too so, at times, I have taken it upon myself to preserve her memories. Her work is not as refined as mine but she is amazing when she journals which, definitely, trumps meticulous.

I wanted to show(off) the first two pages of her Mexico trip. I first drew an outline of Mexico. That was a trick for me as I always say Geography wasn’t my major and my husband adds, “Honey, Geography wasn’t even your minor.” LOL (bunny trail) My sister works for Alaska Air and when I asked her if they flew to St.Louis she, with all sincerity asked, “Is that a state?” She’s been with AA for three years! But I fly at a discount so who cares if she doesn’t know her states. Back to the page…I cut my pics into one inch squares for a mosaic and on the second page used a background of floral velum. As you can see, I inserted a star with a photo of Anna into the area that she lived. I used full photos to fill the country and random partial photos to fill in areas around the border. I used floral letters to pinpoint and spell the name of the city where she lived which I had to re-spell three times because, quite apparently, I’m an idiot. I won’t even try to spell it here. it was in Southern Mexico. She also went to Guatemala. Did I mention that my Anna travels alone? This is the only time I live through my child. A few years ago my husband, a friend and I decided we would run the Portland Marathon. We paid our dues (actually I think my friend paid our dues), we bought our shirts (actually I think my friend bought our shirts), we bought our pins (actually I think my friend bought our pins) and we all started training. Then one of us got injured (actually it was my friend that got injured). My husband and I went back to doing nothing, my friend kept swimming and none of us even watched the marathon on TV. But the next year my daughter ran the Portland Marathon. Good enough for me. Same DNA.

What more can I say, Anna travels and runs and I scrapbook, but I’m dang good at it!

Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again. Bridget

Posted in Me, Mine & My Art | Leave a comment | Edit

My Best Girl & Her Necklace

Posted on July 15, 2010 by bestfriendsarebest

This is “my best girl”. My baby. Victoria. Today she and her big sister are going to look for her first apartment! Her sister has traveled the world and had many apartments. Actually Victoria lived part time with my niece last year traveling back and forth the 50 miles to college and back. This year she will be close to school while her sister, Anna, travels 45 miles to teach school. Anna normally teaches calculus but this year is challenged to bring middle school kids who have no basic math skills–even simple addition– up to WA State standards. Go Anna!

Victoria's next step: College!

Victoria wanted me to re-create a necklace that she saw in a dress shop. I made her the one on the left. She was really pleased–she’s my gracious one–and the only one of my children who calls me mama. See why she’s my “best girl”? Anyway, she hung it on her rear view mirror and her friend, Miki,
was crazy about it. So Miki sent some beads home with her and the only ribbon I had available was sheer silver. You guessed it. My daughter may be gracious, but she’s still eighteen and she wants one in the same colors as Miki. Miki had said to keep the left over beads and I have plenty left over along with more ribbon sooooo…….I suppose, since she’s my baby, and my best girl, while I’m sitting on the sofa, doing nothing anyway, I could make her another one. Maybe she’ll give me her first one. Isn’t that what mom’s always get, their children’s castoffs. We give the best to them and take what’s left. That’s why were Mom’s and hopefully we’re are teaching them to be selfless as well.
I actually believe that is why I am not a grandma yet. I say that my children are, “Me, me, me, me, me. Oh, and what do I want.” LOL Actually, they are very generous with their Dad and I and each other, but a family of their own, not so much.
Tomorrow, another day, another craft. Or another crisis, it’s always hard to tell.

Posted in Me, Mine & My Art | 1 Comment | Edit

altered books…and more

Posted on July 15, 2010 by bestfriendsarebest

I’m just getting warmed up to blogging and I’m still learning but I know my friends, both old and new , will be forgiving.

First I want to say Happy Birthday to my First Born, my only son, Lyn. He will be turning 30 in two short days. July 17, 5:30 am. In celebration he is flying to Minnesota and from there he is taking a two week road trip through the mid-west: nine states, eleven baseball games, a few museums tossed in there and a flight home. I love my son more than anything but this is one road trip I’ll pass on. Take me to San Francisco.
Today I want to share one of my favorite things, altered books.
They are rather hard to photograph (maybe I’ll get better). For now I’m thrilled if I can get them from my camera to my blog. Forget about getting them in the right order or any semblance of order, for that matter. But you get it, right?……Wrong? Let me know.

Altered books can be big or small, thick or thin. They’re magical, if you can dream it, they can take you there,

These treasures require a hard-bound book from a thrift store, a lotta glue, a little paint, vintage & hardware & a sprinkling of wishes & day dreams. It is the wishes and day dreams that truly make altered books a little magical.

Posted in Me, Mine & My Art | 3 Comments | Edit