"AHHHHHHHHHH"                            

   dear god I love her reaction to a flash... even if it does take awful pics ;-)

I'm alive!!

I know, some of you may be wondering if I have been slacking, but really I am up to my eyeballs trying to plan out Azriella's 5th birthday party coming up in a few weeks. Her dress... *sigh* the dress is FINALLY FINISHED... (short of accessories and slippers).  Wait til you see it.  I am going to take pictures of her in it in the next couple of days.  Damn it all if it didn't finish it in time for the  PR&P auditions.  I don't think I would have made it anyways.  No offense to LiZ and Elizabeth because I think what they do is awesome, but I don't think the judges like my style... I submitted the Postcards from Lavendale as a backup entry (a damn good one if I do say so myself!) but it didn't make the cut for the auditions.  At least I didn't make something new and have my heart blown to smithereens like last time.  Oh well, I'm still proud of my creations and those outfits!!  And the contestants that moved on to the voting were pretty good this time around (I voted for CathGrace.  I have always liked that raincoat outfit, especially the umbrella!)  The funny thing is that they all had pockets... maybe that's why I didn't get picked this time ;-) (did anyone else notice this?)

In better news, I'm not sure if you have gone over to vote but Rikka from Ricochet and away is having her 2-in-1 challenge going on right now and I am a participant!

Voting goes on everyday through August and you can vote every 24 hours!

check out my first tooth just sprouting!

gotta love this!  and their new thing to do is walk down the hall hand in hand and smiling!  warms a mother's heart!!!!!!

And in more good news, I am an official crafter for the new season of So You Think You're Crafty (from now on I'll just abbreviate it to SYTYC, okay?!)  This is the big secret I have been sitting on for a few weeks now!!  I am sooooo excited!!!!  Are you excited?  I'm excited!  Go on over and VOTE NOW!!!  See if you can figure out which one is mine and then vote... just kidding... well, sorta ;-)

 WOOOO WHHHHHHOOO!  She's sooo excited for me!! BTW, that's a happy face... not to be confused with the "why don't you love me" and "pick me up pick me up pick me up...." and "i'm tired" face...  Secretly, it's just another awesome flash in the face pic! ;-)

So there you have it!  The reason behind my absence.  I have another secret (who know I kept so many!) a little later, but now I need to make some shoes and accessories for Azywella, I mean, Azriella (she calls herself Azywella).  Speaking of Azywella, a very dear friend of mine at work, Ken, one of our regulars wrote a short story called Princess Azywella and the Rainbow Kingdom!  Isn't that the coolest thing you ever heard?!  He actually is retired and edits books for a living now, so stay tuned for more info about the book's progress.  I read it to her for the first time a couple of days ago and she LOVED it!!!  No, I can't really share it on here (well, it's not really my place to now is it ;-) but I'll keep you all posted on how it's coming along!  Thank you a million times Ken!!!!!!

Too shy for the camera?  Try using a burrito to cover your face!

If you were in Northwest Portland you saw a lot of this on Wednesday.  Sigh* I can't resist putting them in those matching dresses!  And it's so friggin' cute to watch Sephira walk isn't it?!

"I got a rock. Rock, rock, rock.  La la la la. I got a rock.  Hm hm hm hm. Rock rock rock.."

"It doesn't taste very good though..." ;-)

Hope everyone is having a stress-free day!