**Event Reminder**

Next Tuesday, August 4th is the blog book release party for

Tara Frey's book Blogging for Bliss!

My blog will be the party headquarters and I have already begun a blogroll of everyone participating to the right on my sidebar. If you plan to post that day and do not see your blog mentioned, please comment with your url and I will add it. You will also find a button for the party on the right side bar (designed by Hope Wallace) that can be added to your blog.

ANYONE in blogland is invited to participate. To do so, on Tuesday, August 4th, post on your blog anything related to the theme of Blogging for Bliss. This theme can be interpreted any way that you would like. You could share the story of how your blog came to be and the evolution of getting to where you are now. Please point your readers back to my blog somewhere in your post so that they can follow the links and visit all of the other bloggers involved in the party. You can also copy the button below to include on your blog. Also, for those of you on Facebook, Tara’s friend Audrey has created a fan page for the book and mentions the book release blog party. You can find it all here http://tiny.cc/facebookbliss

Can't wait to see you then!

Guess who's back....

I'm back feeling reinvigorated and delighted to show you my new blog look created by Hope Wallace designs. Hope does such fabulous work and it was fun to see her in action creating the wonderful banner above while she was here on a visit. I love that it incorporates my style statement Creative Treasure. Hope you like it! The house is so quiet. I had to say good-bye to my dear sister, Laura when she left with her family on Sunday after spending almost 3 weeks together. I loved every minute of it!
Then Hope was here for several days staying with me and my crazy family. We had so much fun shopping, going to estate sales, parks and hanging out journaling together!Last Saturday Laura, Hope and I all went to Danielle's firestarter session. It was amazing and is very difficult to put into words.
Danielle is the author of the book style statement and the blog WhiteHotTruth.
The session was a mix of hearing Danielle's story and tips for the journey of being an entrepreneur, figuring out what we really want to get out of life and learing to expand to our fullest possible extent. It was truly remarkable and wonderful to spend the morning with such an amazing group.

Preparing for Hope to visit, we spruced up the house a bit with loads of flowers from the farmer's market.Hope fit right in and the kids loved her!! Here is Chloe and Hope rummaging through some vintage letters.
It was wonderful to see each other's journals in person. They are so much more amazing when you can actually hold them in your hands.

After the firestarter session we did a few pages in our journals while chatting the night away.

What an amazing couple of weeks I've had. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such nurturing connections to some amazing women.Bye-bye....it was fun!!

Treasured days...

It's been a busy week here with my sister and her family still in town. We've enjoyed day after day of guests, wonderful family feasts and lots of fun play time together. Last weekend I made up a batch of homemade hot buttered pretzels. They were a big hit. Yum! My sister and I worked on some canvases for little Hans' room and gave the girls a canvas to work on together.
They had a blast and came up with this wonderful creation. As you can see, they were quite excited about it! We won't all be together again until Christmas, so we're enjoying every minute. Nothing beats treasured days like this!! To make things even more exciting, I'm awaiting the arrival of my wonderful art friend on Friday and then on Saturday attending an amazing firestarter session with my sister and Hope conducted by Danielle LaPorte the author of Style Statement.

Days of summer...

Our week "up north" was unseasonably cool, but we still fully enjoyed the time away, soaking up family time and lots of new experiences.The first few days were sunny and clear. There were campfires, and s'mores...of course.Some of the marshmallows were as big as baby Hans' head!It was such a delight to meet my new nephew. He is cute as can be!My sister and I loved hanging out with our girls together.
There were some cool, cloudy days when we did lots of crafts.
We tromped through the woods looking for inspiration and supplies for our projects.

Took a trip into town for turtle races and ice cream.

Saw a family of loons from the cabin window.

The kids went fishing for the first time.

What a wonderful family vacation!

Off on summer vacation...

We're headed "up north" (as they say here in Minnesota) for our summer vacation. Just as we did last year, the year before and the year before that. My sister and her family are in town and I was able to meet my new little nephew Hans, who is absolutely adorable!! Remember when I made this for her homecoming with him? Here are some art journal pages I did this week reflecting on how I hope to see with fresh eyes and explore the world around me while I'm gone. I pasted in the list of "How to Be an Explorer of the World" from Keri's book. Hope to keep these things in mind when I'm away and take some time to relax and see life from a child's perspective.

I adore this little rainbow butterfly that Chloe drew for me this morning. What a wonderful color combo!Have a great week!

Thinking ahead....

A couple of really fun things coming up here. First off, mark your calendars for August 4th! This is the release date of Tara Frey's book Blogging for Bliss. I am so excited to be a part of this book with so many other bloggers! I will be hosting a blog party here on my blog on August 4th along with our fearless leader, Tara Frey, and hopefully with all those involved in the book. Check back for more details on how everyone in blogland can participate!!

** Grab the button below that Hope Wallace made for us if you'd like to play along and post it on your blog!**

I know it's waaaay early and I'm not wishing the summer away by any means, but I've already gotten some inquiries about how the Sweet and Sinister swap is going to work this year. Last year I announced the swap and private blog in July and had a huge response, so I guess people are getting in the mood again!

The Year of Color blog is going strong, so rather than adding a whole other blog, that is where all the Halloween action will take place. I will be announcing the Halloween swap and taking sign-ups in August.** You must be a member of the Year of Color blog to participate in the Sweet and Sinister swap.** If you sign up now, you'll be all set to register for the swap and besides you'll have access to the archives which began January 1st. This month we've already had an amazing striped project tutorial with our guest designer, Katie Runnels with tons more to come!

Regarding all of the wonderful Halloween tutorials leading up to the big day, we will have plenty. Our guest designer for September is the wonderful Kerry Lynn Yeary with a orange/copper theme and then in October, Candice Carpenter with a black and white theme. There will also be many more Autumn and Halloween projects peppered in by many other talented folks for loads of inspiration. So that's the scoop for anyone already feeling a little tug of Halloween planning. BTW- This was my display last year, no I haven't gotten my Halloween stuff out yet!!

Happy weekend....

Wishing you all a happy and safe 4th of July!

Here's a new inspiration board I made for the Jenni Bowlin class that just started over here. I just covered foam board with faux bois contact paper and put it in a frame. This class is going to be so much fun! Anyone else taking it??Here are a few other peeks around the house right now.

Hope you have a great weekend!