I want to celebrate!

Tiramisu Cake - YUMMY!

 

Today is my birthday, well it still is here in Colorado.  Yes, many moons ago my poor mom went into labor 2 months too early (I have always been in a hurry!) and after a long labor (because I am indecisive and after I decided I wanted out, I decided I wanted to stay in) the world was graced with my presence.  I was only an itty bitty thing weighing in at a mere 3 pounds.  My mom has told me that they had to cut the newborn diapers in half to fit me.  This was back in the day when a preemie baby wasn’t to be touched and I spent 2 months in an incubator (yeah, that’s some therapy fodder right there) but I was perfectly formed, had all my eyelashes, fingers & toes and wasn’t all wrinkled like a chicken which is how Mom described her first born, my brother.  In fact, she cried and said he wasn’t her kid when she saw him.  Hehehehehehe!  Anyway. . .

So I want to celebrate with you all by sharing some of my fav internet links; now I literally have hundreds of links so I imagine this will be just one list of many, I figure for this batch I want to focus on freebies and stuff that might be a little hard to find.  I have received no compensation (although I am always up for goodies – hehehhe) for inclusion on my list and if you have any awesome places you’d like me to share on my next list please send me a note using the Contact Me form over there ------ >

Ready? Let’s go!

 American Science& Surplus - don’t pay those crazy prices for little glass bottles! They have them here, tons of them, some with corks, some with screw tops, and some with no tops! Bottles are just one of the hundreds of things you didn’t know you needed until you shopped here.  There is a small order minimum of $10 but if you have any trouble meeting that you aren’t looking hard enough.  People lucky enough to live in Chicago or near Geneva, Ill can go and actually shop there.  I am seriously wishing I could take a weekend trip to Chicago! Be prepared to spend many an hour just browsing through this store.  I have been a customer for a very long time and I absolutely LOVE this place.

Red Lead Paperworks - these Art Sisters have the coolest stamps and stuff to play with – and they always have sales, some really cool swaps & freebies when you sign up for their newsletter.  I look forward to their emails because they are just so inspiring! Also, they have a brick & mortar store in St. Louis, MO where you can go play.

Font Squirrel  Free Fonts – please don’t ask me how to download and get these to work as I really don’t know how I do it. . .sometimes it works for me, sometimes not.  But they are free :)

Bill’s Antique Photos - Free Pictures! I have spent many an hour browsing through this site and while it appears to not be updated any longer, there are hundreds of photos you can save & use. 

Artfully Musing - Artist Laura Carson’s work is amazing and while she does sell collage sheets (that are remarkable) and such she also offers some great free images and tutorials like I have NEVER seen before! I love Halloween and she made this astounding Apothecary last year as well as ran an event for other’s to make one as well.  Laura thoughtfully has video and PDF files explaining her process from how she made the actual items, including books, bottles, bits of this and that and where to get them (!) to how she put it all together.  She is a designer for Retro Art Café which is next on my list.

Retro Art Café carries all kinds of mixed media goodies and is THE place to buy Coffee Break Designs which are so much fun to play with! The site is run by Kristin Hubick an artist in her own right and she has fantastic art swaps all the time & some great sales.  In fact, their regular prices aren’t that bad either!

That’s it for now and by no means is this a finished list, it is just a few places off the top of my head so please don’t be mad if you or your store isn’t on here – plus you can’t be mad at me, it’s my birthday!  OK now it’s time for some birthday food!  Have a great weekend and thank you for reading my blog ~