Happy Spring!!

Here are a few homes around our favorite park at Round Lake. It really does look like Spring! With Easter this weekend, I had to include the beautiful old church overlooking the lake. You know, church has always been special to me. I grew up there. I've spent every Easter morning in church, singing "He Arose". I have to tell you, not a year goes by that I don't have a lump in my throat thinking about the words to that song. It's so powerful the miracle of Christ loving us so much that He would come and die for us. Thankfully, the story doesn't end there. The chocolate bunnies and egg hunts are fun, but I'm so glad there is more to celebrate on Easter than that. My hope for you is for you to have a very blessed Easter Sunday and that you know just how much you are Loved.

I've been tagged!!

The lovely Amy of Razzpizazz boutique tagged me and I was so honored. I always find it interesting to read these about everyone else. So here goes.....

1.Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics.
That would be my kids and holidays.
2.What are two of the best places you have been to?
Well, I would definitely say Venice and Paris.
3.Name two things you do everyday.
I drink coffee with my husband without fail and I always tell my family I love them.
4.Name two things that pretty much everyone knows about you.
That I am a christian and that I always love to laugh and have fun.
5.Name two places you wish you could visit.
Florence and Switzerland
6.Two things you may not know about me are....
I am deathly, insanely afraid of dogs even though I own an 80 pound german shepherd!
I have a strange obsession with buying journals and daytimers.
7.Name two nicknames you have ever had sometime in your life.
Lolo and Sweet Pea
8.Name two interesting jobs you have had (good or bad)
I have had soo many jobs in my life, but one job I had, I gave out free samples of fresca in a grocery store. I also worked in banking for many years and missed being robbed twice by strange "coincidences." One, I was supposed to fill in at another branch and then they cancelled it. They were robbed that day. (I was 8 months pregnant at the time) The second time, we were robbed the day after my last day on the job.
9.What are your top two fun things to do after work?
I homeschool and work out of my home studio, but for fun I love to watch the food network and try new recipes. I also love family night with pizza and a movie.
10.Name two things you would like to learn.
I want to learn how to play the violin. My dad bought me one and I have yet to start taking lessons. I would also love to learn how to make stained glass.
11.What were the last two songs you downloaded?
I saw what I saw, Sara Groves and Alvin and the chipmunks for my kids!
12.What were the last 2 books that you read?
I've been reading the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley.
13.What tv shows or movies from your childhood do you still enjoy watching after all of these years?
Without hesitation it's I love Lucy! I can watch it forever. Second would be watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons with the kids!

Now I'm tagging....

Roxie/ Jorabeels
Karen/ Sweet Necessi-teas
Christine/BellaColle
Sarah/Vintage Lily

Thanks Amy, that was fun! I hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Warm HUgs~~
Lori

~New Designs~

Oh Lala! I love French themed crown jewelry. I think these are some of my favorites. They'll be for sale on the website soon. I now carry glass glob style pendants and have added in beveled glass 1" pendants. I love the way they sparkle...
Here's some more monograms made from 1920's sheet music....
Here are just some miscellaneous designs....

Here's some of my new Easter/floral/Spring designs. I used beveled glass and vintage papers. These measure 1"x 1".

Have a fabulous weekend~
Lori

Yeah!!! Karen & Eileen~You Won!!

Goody Give away!!
Ring from Marie!

Gorgeous flower shop.
Ready to shop even in the rain!
Congratulations to our winners, Karen & Eileen of Forget Me Not Dreams! I hope you enjoy the goodies I bought for you in Paris! There is gourmet chocolate, french mints in a collectible tin, a couple of French postcards, more chocolates and my favorite french sugar in cute little packages. Enjoy!

I wanted to show you the beautiful ring Marie, our hotel concierge gave me for my birthday! Isn't it beautiful?? The ring story is in the post below if you want the details. Thank you, Marie!

I couldn't resist adding more pictures. I am ready for shopping with my "weekend in Paris" bag tucked under my arm ready to go. I love this bag! I couldn't believe what all I could fit in it. It's so ironic to me that I named this bag,"weekend in Paris" on my website and then it actually was used for that! Who knew? It's a great bag and it's on my website under Ellenay Bag if you'd like to have one for yourself. It's made from oilcloth which makes it waterproof. That was awesome since it was a drizzly day in Paris while I shopped. It opens up to hold a ton of goodies! Perfect!

Congrats again Karen & Eileen! Send me your addy and I'll send your goodies right away! xo

Paris scrapblog

Paris highlights

I tried to make a scrapblog, but I can't see it on mine. Here's a few pics and highlights of our trip. First of all, thanks to all of you who guessed where we were going! It was fun buying the little gifts for the winner(more on that later) We started off by getting on the metro which goes through some pretty shady areas. I was glad we weren't stopping there. We ended up in the latin quarter on a street with our luggage and a light drizzling rain. I was so excited that nothing could have diminished my being in Paris with my sweetie on my birthday. We started out looking for our hotel and finally found it behind these gigantic doors that led on a cobblestone path to our hotel. The staff were all so friendly while we waited in the cafe for our room. We decided on breakfast and had a hilarious "conversation" with the waitress since she couldn't understand that I wanted cream and sugar in my coffee. If only I'd known they always bring it with the coffee on the serving tray! Oh well! We laughed and they were great. We met the sweetest American in the cafe named Judy. She was adorable and told us some great extra places to visit. Thanks, Judy! We then headed out on foot and visited as many sites as we could. It was cold, windy and drizzled every now and then. We took the river boat tour on the Seine river and got off at each stop. That was really nice since the boat was heated. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at a cute cafe. We probably ate one too many pastries, but come on! I had the best chocolate eclair I've ever eaten. They wrapped it up nicely with vintage themed bakery paper in it's own little box. My husband became obsessed with the crepes and couldn't stop eating them. I had a bite of his, but had croissants and eclairs mostly. We shopped and ate and took tons of pictures. One amazing thing that happened was our hotel consierge. She was named Marie and had on this beautiful ring that I noticed. My husband complimented her on it and told her it was my birthday and that he wondered where she got it. She told him the shop and so we headed there to see what they had. Of course, it was gone and they had nothing like it left. Later as we came back, she asked if we found the shop. We told her we did and that they were out. She took the ring off her finger and said "Happy Birthday!"--"What???" I said!! No way, I can't take your ring! She insisted and wouldn't take no for an answer. I couldn't believe it! It was soo sweet of her. I left my card and a gift certificate to my website when we left. I will always cherish that ring.
I've already written a book, so I'll just add some photos now of my best birthday ever. I will post the winner sometime today with pictures of your prize.

Have a lovely week~
Lori