It's Class time again!

 A couple of months ago a taught my lace journal class to an awesome bunch of women.

(Aren't they  pretty???)

We had so much fun and they were so so encouraging that they convinced to teach some more classes here at my home in Scottsdale Az.

Back in  2010 (has been that long ago already?) I was so thrilled to have my first piece published in the Sept/Oct issue of Somerset Studio.

The girls all saw the piece and suggested that I teach a class for it, and so....

I am!!

The class will be held on Sept. 22 right here in my home again. I have already had several women sign up (thank you) but wanted to open it up to anyone else who would like to come.

The class will probably take all day and I will serve lunch. The fee for the class is $75.00

and you will need a basic crafting tool kit plus a few other things that you probably already have.

Please email me at karenvalentinedesignstudio@gmail.com if you are interested in taking the class and I will send you all the info.

Happy Birthday Sweet Salvage

 I can't believe that a year has a gone by, since Sweet Salvage first opened their doors and introduced the Phoenix area to "occasional sales" I remember my first visit there. I was soooo excited!!! The anticipation of a store of this kind, the heart racing in anticipation of  finding that unique treasure....

 I have to say... After a year, my love affair with Sweet Salvage continues. I am always in awe of the gorgeous vignettes, the creative displays...

and the variety of found objects that have for us.

  There are always fun pieces of jewelry too.

 I also like that are always lots of wonderful goodies to re-purpose in a piece of jewelry or artwork.

 I think I have a chair fetish. :)

More yummy vintage goodness to use in an altered art piece.

 I love how they mix the industrial pieces right in with the feminine, girly stuff.

(okay, maybe not in this photo, but you will see it all there!)

Wouldn't those blue lockers be fabulous in art studio???

 I don't know if you guys remember the bakers rack from a post I did on the Embellished house last year, (click the link if you want to go see it) But they had a great bakers rack that they used to display their jewelry pieces.  Well, wouldn't this one work great for storage too???

 More great industrial storage.

 Okay, I think I have a pillow fetish too. :)

And just so you don't think I only like neutrals.... I'm in love with this teal...

 And this green!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my to Sweet Salvage again. There are sooo many more wonderful things to see there, but I just can't show them all.  So I pick my fav's, and hope you can go there and discover your own treasures. I also heard that they bring in new things all weekend long, so you don't have to worry about finding an empty store!!

Now on another topic...(sort of related) My friend Kadee from KadeeWillow is having her first giveaway, and if you live in the Minnesota area you are going to want to go visit her!!!  She is giving away a ticket to the early bird showing at The Junk Bonanza in September and the most adorable tote to carry your haul in!!!  See it down below?? Isn't it soooo cute?? Anyway, pop on over there and sign up! You are going to love her!

Enjoy your weekend my friends! I hope it's filled with fun!

From the bottom of my heart.....

 It's hard to find the words to express to you all how grateful I am to everyone who took the time to leave such sweet and encouraging comments for me after the last post. You don't know what a gift that was for me, and even though the issue has been forgiven and forgotten, I will always have those comments to look back on if I ever need a reminder of how amazing the women  in Blogland really are.  I would be a much less fulfilled and happy woman if you were all not in my life. :)

So... Thank you so much ladies!!!!

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While trying to visit and personally thank everyone who left a comment, I ran into a few blog type issues that I thought you might enjoy a little information on, plus a few bits of random blog info. Some of this stuff you may already know about, and some you may not, so I hope you find some of it useful.

1. There were several women who left comments for me that don't have a blog. That's fine, but there was also no way for me to contact them. If you are a blog reader, but not a blog writer you can still fill out the Blogger profile and make your email address available, so that when you leave comments, the recipient can respond to you.   (So thank you so much to all the ladies, that I was unable to contact.)

2. Speaking of the Blogger profile... That may be going away and replaced with the new Google+ profile in the near future.  If you have started a blog recently, you were given a choice of one or the other. It's important to know, that unlike the Blogger profile, you have to manually add your blog addresses to your Google+ profile or they won't appear. When someone clicks on your name to be taken to your profile and then visit your blog(s), they will hit a dead end if you don't add it yourself.

3. Did you know that when you are on a blog and there is no "Home"button, you can just click on the header and it will return you to home page of the blog??

4. Sooooo many of you are still using Internet Explorer as your browser. I understand why... it came on your computer and that's the one you have always used. Did you know that quite often you are not seeing things they way they are supposed to look?    I have to use a special website, to look at how things look in Explorer before I publish a new design because quite often, it looks great in every browser besides Explorer.  Any site that is very graphic based (like our blogs)  doesn't work to it's full potential in Explorer. It's the first question I ask someone when they are having problems and 8 out of 10 times, that problem is solved by switching to another browser. Before Google created Chrome, it #1 rcommended browser was Firefox. Now of course it's Google chrome and truly both are excellent alternatives to Explorer. They are free and easy to download. I always think it's a good idea to have a choice of two different browsers on your computer anyway. Give them a try. You will be happy that you did. :)

5. Have any of you noticed that sometimes when you do a post, you wind up with a whole list of links that are not yours at the bottom of that post??  If you want to prevent this, go to your layout page and click on the "edit" button under your posting area.  Un-check the box that says "links to the post" and then hit save. Now people will not be able to add random links to the bottom of your post.

6. One last little bit of advice. It's so nice when I get an email and that person has a link to their blog under there signature or sign off. If you always put a link to your blog in your email correspondence, the recipient can go visit your blog and know exactly who they are speaking with. You may also get new visitors to your blog that may not have found it otherwise. Promote yourselves girls!

Have a wonderful week ladies and I will see you Thursday for another Sweet Salvage adventure!

The Man Behind The Curtain

Have you ever had something happen to you, that time warped you right back to those awkward days of High School? You know the ones where you were insecure and got your feelings hurt every time someone said or did something that was unkind towards you? Well, that happened to me today. I was really quite surprised by it. I was going along having a perfectly nice day working at the computer when I got an email. As soon as I read it, I knew it was a mistake. It was not an email sent TO me, but an email that was ABOUT me, but meant for someone else. It was short, simple and it hurt. I shouldn’t have let it bother me. After all I am a 48 year old, confident woman aren’t I??? Petty little comments should roll right off my back. But they don’t. Instead, they turn me into an awkward 14 year old again, wanting so badly for all of my classmates to like me. But you learn very quickly in High School that not everyone is going to like you, so why did this sting so much?? I supposed that Blogland has been a safe haven for me. A place where I can look at the world through rose colored glasses and believe that everyone who hangs out here, is kind and generous, and well.... a friend. I mean it when I say things like, “hello my friends!” Because that is how I think of you all. For most of my life, most of my friends were boys or men, because for the most part, girls were mean and catty and unkind. When I discovered Blogland I developed friendships with more women than I ever imagined I would. It was great because you all filled a part of me that was empty. I know we put our best selves out here in Blogland. So much more so than in the real world. That’s what I like about it. The “real world” can be ugly. Out “there” people tend to be negative and try to make themselves feel better by bringing down others. Blogland is beautiful. Here we are positive, and encouraging. We strive to lift each other up instead of bringing each other down. I like it that way. But today, I saw the “man behind the curtain” so to speak. (forgive the Wizard of Oz reference) and it shook me a little.

I’m sure I’m over reacting. In fact even now I’m telling myself to put on my big girl panties and get over it. And in truth, after being allowed to vent to you all I feel much better. I know in my heart that I have many, many “true” friends here in Blogland (and in real life) that I am so grateful for. I guess we can’t please everyone can we???? So thank you for your patience in  letting me ramble on.

I think I would like to leave you with these words of wisdom by Mahatma Gandhi....

Blessings from Friends

Hello my friends! So sorry I have been gone for 3 weeks!!! I think I had a party hangover!!! LOL!! I must admit... I still have a few more party guests to go visit, but I promise I will get there soon!!!

 I wanted to share with you all this most lovely gift I recieved from Suzy of Suziqu's Threadworks.

Suzy is a most talented fabric artist who makes fabric journals that are absolutely yummy! She lives in Australia and we became friends last year after I followed a link over to her from Pinterest. Well I did some blog work for Suzi and she very sweetly sent me this lovely wall hanging as a thank you. (She didn't have to, but I'm sure glad she did!! LOL)

 The details are just lovely and I will proudly hang it in my studio to remind me of her friendship ans marvel at the way Blogland can make friends of women from all the way on the other side of the world!!

The other thing I wanted to show you is this gorgeous scarf that I purchased from Stephanie, The Queen of Dreamz. I bet a lot of you saw it in her Where Bloggers Create party post. I fell in love as soon as I saw it. (I have a thing for scarves) When I inquired about it, I was so surprised no one had snatched it up!!! I immediately bought it and have already worn it. Stephanie makes these scarves from vintage materials and her prices are soooo reasonable! I love my scarf and I love my wall hanging!  Thank you so much ladies!!! You make Blogland a beautiful place to be!!