PAPER COWGIRL IS BACK FOR YEAR THREE!!

I am very excited to tell you that the third annual Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat is being held June 24th - 26th, in Waxahachie, Texas, which is off I-35 south of Dallas.
And it's not called the Best Little Art Retreat In Texas for nothing!

It is an amazing weekend with the choice of different classes using different mediums, wonderful teachers and the best Texas (and a few other states will be represented - word has spread!!) artists/women/old friends/new friends that you would ever want to associate yourself.

Dale of Sea Dream Studio will be returning

as a teacher simply so she can strike her diva pose.

The above photo is a picture of the "Crown" swap at the 2009 P.C. Retreat

(Any one of those crowns would make Marie Antoinette beg)

Art + Laughter = peeing your pants Texas fun!! (Photo 2009 Retreat)

Most of you will remember my dear, sweet friend, Tina Wright, a woman loved by many, that passed this last January after a valiant battle with cancer. She was the co-founder of the Paper Cowgirl Retreat and she, along with Cindy Mayfield, co-founder, worked their bums off to make the retreats the best they could be. This year, after much prayer and thought, Cindy decided that Tina would want the retreat to continue on, so she *along with some little elves* have been working very hard for months! And the retreat just keeps getting better!

Sweet, wonderful Tina - she'll be there this summer, don't you doubt it.

If you're looking for a Texas retreat to attend, with very reasonable class costs, give-aways, fabulous swaps, wonderful sponsors (WHERE WOMEN CREATE and T.J. DESIGNS are two that I know of:), amazing food, shopping at antique/junk stores, the BEST scrapbook store I've ever been to, vendor's night *if you can't attend the retreat you are more than welcome to come to Vendor's Night*, and the most amazing women to spend a weekend with, then go to the P.C. blog and check it out!!

Vendor's Night - This is Texas, don't steal or we're gunna hafta shoot ya. Bring $$$

And, you can ask me any questions if you want. If I don't  have the answer I'll find it for you or direct you to the place your question can be answered.
I promise that if you come you will be blessed.

A girl geriatric attendee. We do not discriminate; we are Texans.

Oh! Oh! One more thing.
Geez, this is such an important part of the retreat, I can't believe I almost left it out! Whew *wiping my brow*.
One of the highlights of the weekend is when we have shots. You know, like at a bar? (I keep tellin' ya, this is Texas) Only ours are even better...................we have Frosting Shots! (haha - fooled ya) Homemade Frosting. Oh, man, I have to be rolled to my room every year!


On another note.....
Readers, y'all have been an amazing blessing to me these last l-o-o-o-ng weeks and I want to sincerely thank you. I'm working my way through all of the comments left on my last post and I will get to you eventually because I want to thank each of you individually for your support and kind words. I am so blessed.....

y'all are a blessing to me,
Jan

WE'RE HAVING A PARTY!!

Yep, my foot's in the air and I think that's what has made me susceptible; allowed me to say, "Yes, I'll play!", when I know in my heart, deep in my heart, that I should be saying, "Not on your life!". . . . .you see, it's a "WHERE BLOGGERS CREATE" party. . . .you know, pictures of my crack-house-resembling-studio posted for all to see. . .
To make this party even more fun, and to put me on a more even playing ground, y'all are invited! Oh, yeah. Each of you simply has to right click on the ad, save it to your computer and then put it on your blog along with a nice post like I'm doing (Just follow my lead:)

Now, you don't have to do the post, it would just be the nice thing to do; you know, to advertise the party and all. We want all of your friends to come, too.

I'm sure some are thinking this will be the perfect opportunity to clean up their work space since the entire world is going to get a glimpse into their world of creativity.

Not me. My foot's in the air, remember?

To borrow the words of another, I have become a blogoholic.

It's so true. . .between blogs and Facebook, I'm doomed to a life, well, with my foot in the air.

I start reading and I can't seem to stop - the blogs are never-ending! The stories and the pictures and the blogs that I hit upon that have me salivating and then thinking, thinking, thinking! I love it all.

The idea, Karen's idea, for this party came from 2 places. One was the fabulous publication, Where Women Create.

I highly recommend it - if you haven't broken down and bought it yet, then do so. And, buy me a copy, too, so I can stop spending 30 minutes a day at Hastings!

The second idea came to Karen from a woman named Denise over at BellaDreams.

She posted some photos of her new Studio space that were just wonderful. (I'm fixin to check them out just as soon as I finish plagiarizing Karen)

So it got Karen to thinking, "I bet there are hundreds of gorgeous studios and work spaces out there. Rooms that are whimsicalor (I'm not going to raise my hand, don't you either, but I'm kinda thinkin that Karen made up that word. . .) elegant, or clever or all of the above!!! (Note that she didn't mention Early Crack House)

So you are invited to join Karen and me and the tens of tens of other bloggers for Karen's first ever blog party!

Share your creative spaces!!

Is your space at the dining room table?

Do you have a room of your own?

Have you converted a closet?

Or are you like me?

You have a studio that is a total embarrassment, but, one that you know where everything is.

And, what do you do in there?

What kind of things do you create?

There is a little bit of voyeur in all of us don’t you think?? So, come on and join in the fun! To participate, just leave Karen a message on this post along with the address of your blog. She will add you to the link list on her sidebar.

On July 24th, post your photos and stories about yourselves and your creative spaces.

Then we will all have a great time coming over and visiting all the wonderful, creative spaces that y'all have made for yourselves!!

To help Karen promote this event - please take the party poster and add it to your sidebar as a photo with a link to Karen's blog

(http://www.mydesertcottage.blogspot.com/).

And, if you're feeling generous, a post on your blog about the party would be awesome!

Thanks so much!! I really hope to see you there!!!

It's going to be soooo much fun!

XOXO to the best readers in blogland,

. . . . . . .Jan

TRUE STORY

True story or not, I thought this was funny, but you know that sometimes the true stories may be objectionable to some because sometimes that's how life is. But, knowing my readers, I don't think anyone is going to be offended - this is one of those true stories that is funny.
A modern day cowboy has spent many days crossing the Texas plains without water.
His horse has already died of thirst.

He's crawling through the sand, certain that he has breathed his last breath - when all of a sudden he sees an object sticking out of the sand several yards ahead of him.

He crawls to the object, pulls it out of the sand, and discovers what looks to be an old brief case. He opens it and out pops a genie.
But this is no ordinary genie.
She is wearing an IRS ID badge and a dull gray dress.
There's a calculator in her pocketbook.
She has a pencil tucked behind one ear.

'Well, cowboy,' says the genie... 'You know how I work. You have three wishes.'

'I'm not falling for this', said the cowboy. 'I'm not going to trust an IRS genie.'

She smiled and said, 'What do you have to lose?? You've got no transportation, and it looks like you're a goner anyway!'

The cowboy thinks about this for a minute, and decides that the genie is right.

He said, 'OK, I wish I were in a lush oasis with plenty of food and drink.'

***POOF*** The cowboy finds himself in the most beautiful oasis he has ever seen.
And he is surrounded with jugs of wine and platters of delicacies.

The genie said, 'OK, cowpoke, what's your second wish ? '

'My second wish is that I was rich beyond my wildest dreams.'

***POOF*** The cowboy finds himself surrounded by treasure chests filled with rare gold coins and precious gems.

The genie said, 'OK, cowpunch, you have just one more wish. Better make it a good one!'

After thinking for a few minutes, the cowboy says, 'I wish that no matter where I go, beautiful women will want and need me.'

***POOF*** He turned into a tampon. True story.



The moral of the story: If the government offers you anything, there's going to be a string attached.



Now tell me, did I make any of you darlings smile?

xoxo,