Get Paid To Promote, Get Paid To Popup, Get Paid Display Banner

Infamous Writers Hockey Pool: Week Three Standings

The thrill of Victory…

And the agony of defeat…

can drain

Round one is in the books. Adios Montreal, Pittsburgh, New York, Buffalo. So long Chicago, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

And while a couple of poolies took some pretty good hits, we're all still standing and everybody still has a shot -- even if it's a long one.

Sort of like the Federal election.

And straying off-topic for a minute longer, am I the only one who watched that Vancouver video up top and felt a little twinge of dispatches from Tehran during the Green Revolution? Only instead of "Allahu Akbar", there's a bunch of guys screamin' "Looooouuuuuuu…"

Maybe this is one of the ways we show people how Canada is different from the rest of the world. We don't let any of our politicians get into a position where they can feel comfortable bossing us around and if we shout anything from the rooftops it'll likely have something to do with hockey.

So, two things as we roll into Round Two.

First and most important -- there's a new IWHP contest inspired by Shae Weber's post game appearance last night. Did you see that dude's playoff beard!? I thought any minute he was gonna start screaming "Tonight we dine in Hell!"

shae weber beard

I mean, it's barely Round Two! If the Preds go much deeper he'll be tripping over that thing. I didn't realize that if you wanted to play in Nashville you had to look like one of "The Oak Ridge Boys".

But hey, I was looking for a new contest for Round Two and Shae provided.

So, at the end of Round Two, I'll be awarding a trophy for "Best Playoff Beard" in a contest we're calling "The Hirsute Pursuit". Send your photo entries to seraphic77@gmail.com .

Entry is open to current poolies and anyone else so bored they actually read these weekly update posts. The picture doesn't have to be of your own beard (although that may garner extra points) and photo-shopping is allowed.

Entries close when the last Second Round team is eliminated and will be judged on size, forestation and creativity.

Second point this week is that the pool standings reveal the return of the Dreaded Pascoe.

Will Pascoe has won or placed in the top three for three years running and -- "He's Ba-ack!"

I used to wonder how he managed to survive, given his writing skills and all, but it's become apparent the nice people at Pro-Line probably have much to do with keeping baby in new shoes.

God help Las Vegas if any of his LA deals come through.

Alex House now sits in second with Stubinski and Racicot close on his heels.

Last week's leader, Denis McGrath, has retreated somewhat. But then he is in France.

And I'm told still haunting Parisian Sportsbars muttering "Je suis la Bombe". I'm not sure if that's related to his pool success or a personal assessment of "XIII".

The Third week of the NHL Playoff Marathon gets its full launch this weekend. Next update is Monday.

Game on!

11pool32

Opening The Netflix Can Of Worms

netflix can of worms

Throughout the last months, Canadian broadcasters, cable and satellite companies, independent producers and Creative Guilds have all requested that the CRTC step in to regulate the first over-the-top video provider to make significant inroads into Canada -- Netflix.

For those unaware, Netflix is an internet streaming service which offers (for a subscription fee of $8/month) several thousand movie and TV titles that can be viewed on televisions, computers, various mobile devices and cellular phones.

In the strictest terms, Netflix is not a broadcaster and therefore not bound by CRTC regulations.

It doesn't send the same program to all its subscribers at the same time, doesn't schedule, doesn't run or sell advertising, doesn't do news, sports, weather or local programming. Basically, all they do is deliver as much video content as their customers wish to consume.

They also don't take up channel space, nor do they intrude on the frequencies and spectrum which the government has generously provided to traditional Canadian broadcasters.

Netflix also doesn't enjoy any of the protections and benefits our Government provides to Canadian broadcasters in the form of:

simulcasting

genre protection

expanded commercial time

development funding

production funding

funding for program acquisition

multiple windows for achieving Cancon requirements

or…

looking the other way while broadcasters repeat the same programming over multiple platforms which are all separately billed to customers unable to unbundle all the unwanted or unwatched channels carrying them.

At the moment, 71% of the cost of all Cancon is paid by Canadian taxpayers and consumers, who then pay again to access that content via cable, satellite, additional channel bundles, the internet and wireless services.

But…

Netflix doesn't have Canadian content requirements or make the financial contributions Canadian broadcasters and cable & satellite companies are required to make for its production.

So while arguing that they themselves should be allowed to decrease their own Cancon commitments, our broadcasters are demanding that Netflix be required to increase theirs to some CRTC proscribed level and pay into the Canadian administered production funds.

Probably so they don't have to fork over as much of their own money.

Independent Canadian producers are all for this because the funding provided to and distributed by the Canadian Media Fund through the current system is virtually the only production money any of them are able to raise.

And Canadian Creative Guilds are likewise onboard because increased Cancon or another revenue stream feeding the current funding system seems bound to ensure their artists keep working.

Even if past history doesn't support that argument.

Meanwhile…

Netflix contends that it isn't a broadcaster, merely an online video rental service from which consumers pick and choose what they'd like to watch when and where and on whatever platform they want to watch it.

They point out that they already carry a large number of Canadian titles for which they have purchased streaming rights from the Canadian producers (many of whom are among the very broadcasters and producers now aligning against them) and they intend to purchase (and fund the initial production of) many more.

feature24

Indeed, when you log into Netflix in Canada, you are immediately introduced to Canadian titles. No endlessly searching the TV dial during any hour of primetime as you do with channels belonging to Bell, Shaw, Rogers and occasionally the CBC.

And about the only negative thing they've had to say about their foray into the Canadian market (despite being immediately constricted by revised streaming speeds and download caps to discourage prospective customers) is that the fees Canadian ISPs have instituted to protect their broadcast divisions are greatly inflated. ie: The extra gigabyte Shaw or Rogers insist they must charge $2 to $5 for actually costs those ISPs less than a penny.

We could get into a long and complicated discussion about whether Netflix contributing to Cancon funding would increase the production of comedy, documentaries and drama in Canada. It might well do that since most of what the broadcasters currently spend goes to cheap reality and information programming.

But since any Netflix contribution would go into a funding pool that the broadcasters ultimately control, there's no guarantee it won't also be used for what best suits their own needs instead of what Netflix subscribers (or anyone else) might want.

Or perhaps more accurately -- it would go toward the continued funding of films and programming the vast majority of Canadians have already overwhelmingly rejected by their television viewing choices and at the box office.

As always, however, the final refuge of scoundrels remains patriotism and our broadcasters are predicting the demise of home grown programming if Netflix isn't brought to heel. In the end, all these arguments really boil down to who's making the money and little else.

Bell, Shaw and Rogers own virtually all of the broadcast networks negatively impacted by competition from Netflix. They own the Video on Demand systems which charge up to $5.99 for some of the same single titles accessible for $2 more on Netflix while the consumer continues to receive everything else he or she wants to watch for the rest of the month…

On their TV…

On a computer or iPad…

On a mobile phone.

And up to now, our media conglomerates thought they were in the catbird seat when it came to selling access to the American and foreign made movies and television series for which they held the Canadian rights via the Internet and wireless services they also own.

But now Netflix is repeatedly end-running our media giants. They've commissioned exclusive dramatic content for the Canadian market. And they've signed deals to stream all the product now being distributed by Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony, MGM and Warner Brothers. 

Moreover, they are aggressively buying up such popular titles as "Mad Men" paying that show's producers $75 Million for streaming rights alone.

The Netflix message is clear. Make programming people want to watch and we'll buy it. Continue to make the cheapest possible shows that serve the parochial biases so often encased in traditional Cancon and you will no longer own a competitive option for the consumer.

The hard truth for broadcasters and the current Cancon bureaucracy is that Netflix strengthens content creators in their dealings with broadcasters; and especially those broadcasters unwilling to alter outdated models of content delivery.

Add to that the 69% quarterly growth in Netflix subscribers and it is clear that Canadians are no longer buying the sanctimonious rhetoric about "culture" they've been fed for generations.

And should the CRTC attempt to regulate Netflix, it opens a very complicated can of worms with regard to other Internet services.

Amazon, Apple, Google,  Best Buy, Walmart, Dish Network and DirecTV have all either launched or announced their intention to provide similar services.

Will the CRTC try to regulate all of them, set Cancon levels and extract tithes for access to the Canadian market? In reality, nothing is stopping them.

 videostore

But then, why were such conditions never applied to Blockbuster or any other brick and mortar video rental service that competed with and pilfered viewers from the broadcasters -- for decades?

What about Netflix's Canadian imitator in the snail-mail department, Zip.ca? Why has there been no call for them to require subscribers to rent a certain percentage of Canadian films? Where's the call for them to write a cheque to fund the next Paul Gross movie?

Why haven't broadcasters screamed about iTunes or AppleTV -- or is that silence caused by a pricing structure that just doesn't threaten them as much?

Or maybe are Bell, Rogers and Shaw a little more careful not to attack Apple and Google and others who create the hardware and technology they require to allow their internet and mobile customers to access content?

If they did, would it surprise you if Apple simply added a surcharge to Canadians buying an iPhone to recover their Cancon contribution?  Kind of an iPod tax in reverse. Maybe even "in addition to" an iPod tax if that idea ever flies as a way to "support" Canadian content creators.

Could our broadcasters be doing any more to drive the country further into the digital backwaters?

And what do we do about Facebook and Youtube?

dark facebook

This week, Youtube made a Netflix style streaming deal with 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Facebook is already experimenting with online viewing of "The Dark Knight", "Yogi Bear" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".

Facebook members outside Canada can already access these films paying not in cash -- but with their earned Facebook "credits".

Canadian Media Producers Association President Norm Bolen has already indicated Facebook is following Netflix's lead -- and therefore might also need to be regulated.

 norm bolen

Bless Norm's Cancon branded heart, but I often get the feeling he spends his weekends trolling local Mom & Pop stores to suggest they should add a few Canadian titles to the ethnic foreign fare typically found shelved where the cigarettes used to be -- and maybe slip a few bucks to the Canadian Media Fund to boot.

But how does one even begin to determine which of Facebook's multiple services require how much more Cancon? And what's classed as certifiable content in that forum to begin with? 

Moreover, how do you extract fees from a service that awards "credits" for purchasing movie streams by trying out games or "liking" humanitarian causes?

And perhaps more to the point -- what good does it do anyone if all these Internet services are forced to carry a percentage of Canadian content, but the audiences are constantly encouraged to watch American programming -- y'know like all the Canadian broadcasters do?

Or is the CRTC only concerned about movies and television and not shared music, animation, print material, games, photographs, etc. etc. etc?

You might be able to catalogue what percentage of the videos on Youtube are Canadian (or created by Canadians working outside the country in places -- well, like Hollywood). But Youtube has expressed an intention to also get into streaming the news.

royal you 

Doesn't a stream of the Royal Wedding potentially threaten a traditional Canadian broadcaster's audience numbers and revenue as much as streaming a movie?

Shouldn't Youtube have to cough up some dough to help the CBC pay Peter Mansbridge's airfare and salary?

And what about UStream? Both they and Youtube will be live streaming the next shuttle launch.

featuredcontent-978,298x163,b-1 

And if we do require Youtube and others to soften the blow of taking Canadian news junkies away from CBC, CTV and SUN-TV, could an argument be made that somebody needs to come up with some cash at the Drudge Report, Huffington Post and every other news aggregator and newspaper provider available on the Internet to support Canadian newspapers and journalists?

Shouldn't Grooveshark and Pandora have to kick some cash into funding Canadian music and be required to make more of it available?

What about the thousands of internet radio stations now accessible to Canadians via both aggregators and individual radio sites. The CRTC regulates radio too. Don't those people deserve the same protections demanded by our constantly coddled television re-broadcasters of American content?

Does anybody even want to begin cataloguing the tens of thousands of Internet porn sites selling subscriptions to Canadians who could be buying the same titles from the VOD services of Shaw, Rogers and Bell.

What's the matter, respectable Media behemoths, didn't want to mention that "X-tube", "YouPorn" and "Little Anal Angels" was carving off as much or more of your revenue as Netflix?

I can see Konrad now -- ordering in the big bottle of hand sanitizer before his next in-camera with Mirko Bibic or Keith Pelley.

Anyway, MLB.com offers a subscription rate competitive with what it costs Canadian viewers to access all of the Canadian TV sports services carrying Major League Baseball. NHL.com and NFL.com do the same in their respective sports.

Screen-shot-2011-03-09-at-10.58.59-AM-600x420

If we're going to require Netflix to carry Cancon and offset the broadcasters' funding contributions to drama, docs and comedy, shouldn't these websites have to kick in a few bucks to make sure the guys on TSN never run out of hair gel?

Or do Canada's sports broadcasters not want to piss off any of the real sports leagues so they end up presenting poker 24 hours a day instead of just 20?

Cheap alternative services have already led thousands of Canadian customers to cut the Cable umbilical. It's certain that advertisers will soon be right behind them.

Clearly, what's needed is not a new level of protection for broadcasters, but a new way of financing Canadian content that isn't predicated on supporting an outmoded and clearly dying business model.

Perhaps funding needs to be allotted directly to producers, allowing all the networks (and even Netflix) to bid for what they feel best serves their audience.

Perhaps we need to issue funding on a "merit" system, where if your last production failed to recoup and repay the fund, you don't get to go back to the well a second time -- replacing a system where failures are funded year after year after year.

Maybe we need to re-institute the "Bad-old" tax deferral days of private investment in media that encouraged private citizens to support film and television production. Only this time, instead of the government overseers rubber stamping all the corrupt practices, they could just do the job they were supposed to do and criminally charge anybody found gaming the system.

Come to think of it, maybe a few of those folks at the CRTC should take a look at the myriad of ways our broadcasters "game" the current system to see if their regulations are being implemented in the spirit in which they were intended.

For example…

the_littlest_hobo

What would our broadcasters do if Netflix and its imitators outbid them for all those old Canadian shows that are endlessly repeated across multiple channels and formats?

If "The Littlest Hobo" still counts as a half hour of 100% certifiable Cancon, long years after almost every artist (and certainly all the dogs) involved in making it are dead -- wouldn't Netflix similarly qualify? And by spending an equal pittance to show their commitment to Canadian culture too!

What's more -- there's a ton of 100% Cancon in the horror and thriller genre which has never been broadcast on conventional television here. God knows that's both a potential goldmine for Netflix and all those who made it in the first place.

And wouldn't such an MO, which is how virtually every Canadian broadcaster actually achieves their required levels of content, mean that regulating Netflix could end up hurting Canadian broadcasters by forcing them to spend more money on more up-to-date content?

From where I sit, Netflix could be the weapon by which we finally bring down an oligopoly which has always found ways to avoid making Cancon, avoid having to pay for or promote it, while forcing Canadians to pay higher cable and mobile prices than the rest of the world.

These guys have had 40 Years to create unique Canadian content. They've had almost 10 years since this digital revolution was becoming clear to anybody paying attention. There's no more need to protect their lack of foresight and provide the "level playing field" they fought to deny Windmobile and Techsavvy to make sure they didn't have to compete for customers.

Perhaps it's time for the CRTC to stand aside and force everyone in the Canadian film and TV industries to start thinking progressively and find competitive and innovative models that produce legitimate Cancon that meets a real audience need instead of what suits our own selfish purposes.

Because if we don't begin to make our own content, content we'll stand behind and promote like crazy, content designed to entertain and inform an audience, then pretty soon some bright light will come along with the "grey-market satellite dish" version of connecting to Netflix that will give Canadians access to anything they want to stream online and render our unending protectionist measures moot.

Oh -- wait -- somebody already has.

Painting, pruning, pixies...

and puttering too..... I have been very busy around the homestead lately, getting the yard ready for summer. The other day, after my two year old grandaughter left a perfect FULL set dental impression on my grandson's arm.... I thought it was befitting that I finally get around to painting on this huge frame I picked up at a yard sale for only $3. The Mod Podged paper was already in place. Loving the colors on this...My first thought was to make it into a chalk board, but I don't think that would hold up to being rained on. Its been kept outdoors for over a year already! What to paint? hmmmm... Why a very popular mantra of course, "Keep calm and carry on" I purposely put it side ways--- to further remind everyone (myself included) to keep calm-- crooked things bother me lolThen on to pruning.... I've got a lot of rose bushes on my property, and I'm always on the look out for more roses whenever I go to the hardware store or garden nursery. Last count I took, I had 35, and I've added more since then. I love 'em. This one is as big as a dinner plate. Everyone of the rose bushes has to have the dead heads cut off periodically. My most favorite thing to do in the yard is to prune, so its all good. I pull off the full spent heads of rose petals and toss them over my grandkids, its wonderful until they start grabbing them themselves..... I also have a collection of miniature rose bushes. I have 26 of them, so far. I've been lucky to find some mini roses at one of our local dollar stores-- next time I see them, I'm going to buy at least 30 more so I can have them lined up like little soldiers along the side of my house. Here is a photo of my gardening buddy "Puss-Puss". I stole her from my neighbor. Well, I guess those of you who know cats, know.... you can't really steal a cat now can you. No one owns a cat.... anywho, this once ferrel cat hangs out with me and is my constant outdoor companion when I'm working. I lurve her~
Lastly, pixies.... I've added some pixies inside cages that I've got hanging in various places in my grandkids play yard.... I added about 6 more to the area, here are just a few~ This little purple doll was a 10 cent yard sale find, a little hot glue to keep her curls in place, a smidge of wire to keep the wings that came off a broken butterfly in place and taaaaaa daaaaaaa instant fairy in a cage.Its adorable to watch them find the pixies and get really close to the cages and peek inside. The get so happy, its adorable I tell you!Well, now I'm off to go work on transforming this pinata of "Woody" into a Pirate pinata!Always having fun~

Pool Report: Wk3 Begins

it ain't over

No it's not! Not by a long shot.

This year's first round may be one of the most tightly fought ever. Yes, Phoenix were gone in four and New York and Anaheim weren't far behind. But the rest of the field looks like it may take the rest of the week to sort out.

I know you Vancouver/Chicago and Montreal/Boston watchers are already wrung out by how bizarrely both of those series have been swinging.

But imagine how the folks in San Jose and Philadelphia feel. They were dealing with bottom seeds too and those guys aren't going without a fight either.

And given that I pinned my hopes to the Tampa Bay Lightning this season, I'm loving how long their high-scoring tilt with Pittsburgh is taking.

So with all the ups and downs over the weekend, the IWHP (Infamous Writers Hockey Pool) is still anybody's to win.

Mr. McGrath still clings to top spot, something I'm sure he'll lord over the rabid NHL fans he encounters in Paris over the coming weeks.

From personal experience I know there's nothing the waiters in any red canopied sports bistro like better than switching the TV from boring old Euro-Cup Whatever to a Buffalo/Philly Game Seven. Especially if there's a chance it'll go to overtime.

Matt Racicot is close behind him, however. A thought that must give both of them pause.

Alex House and Tim Stubinski share third spot and -- whoa -- why, look who's climbed all the way from the lower depths to fifth!

Also making his move from the back of the pack is Mr. Dixon, out of the basement for a quick breath of clean air -- before he'll undoubtedly sink back.

By the time we get to the next report on Friday, the first round will be done, likely extracting a heavy toll on a few poolies in the process.

Dontcha love livin' on the edge like this?

The Standings as of this morning:

11pool31

Thrifted Treasures...

I always come across the bestest stuff.... this metal childs patio furniture was being sold for $20, I got it for $10!This absolutely fabulous lamp-- that still works, I bought for only $5. The round metal mirror was $1 and the green beaded tree was $1. Here is a close-up of my lovely new lamp! *swoon*This pile of embroidered and crocheted items was only $2. I've never seen this crocheted edging before... this crocheting was done using ric rac and gives it a lovely scalloped edge. This pile of old photographs, greeting cards, boxes and an old book was only $2.Lastly, this signed water color painting painted by the artist N. Taylor Stonington. My husband bought this for $3... online they sell for around $300 to over a$1, 000 buckeroos. Sweetie... I still don't like it! I've linked to Apron Thrift Girl's "Thrift Share Monday" and "Her Library Adventures "Flea Market Finds" linky parties.

Lazy Sunday # 166: Locked In A Vegas Hotel

I've never been able to shake how much I detest the Easter long weekend.


There it was, the first real break from school since New Year's Day and you spent the Friday being solemn, the Saturday getting ready for Sunday, and Sunday was all church and not getting your new pants dirty and relatives and ham.


Yeah the eggs and chocolate bunnies were nice but they never fully offset having to sit through endless Bible movies on TV and remembering to say something nice about your aunts' hats.


On top of all that, the weather in Canada is notoriously iffy this time of year, so it seemed that despite everybody claiming it was Spring, you always had to wait at least one more week before trying out whatever "outside toys" you got at Christmas.


Somehow, the other major holidays come with options. You can have a traditional Christmas or spent it on a sunny beach somewhere. New Years, May 24, Canada Day, Labor Day, even Thanksgiving you can pretty much do what you like.


Easter just feels hemmed in, kinda one note and joyless.


Sort of like being stuck in a distant hotel room or working in Canadian television.


But it doesn't have to be that way anymore.


This week, Tom Guilmette, a Boston based sports cinematographer and DP who also blogs extensively about camera equipment and shooting techniques, tried out a Phantom High Speed Digital Cinema camera in his National Association of Broadcasters (comped I hope) Las Vegas hotel room. The results are inspiring.


We've all felt trapped by a holiday, at loose ends in a sterile hotel room or stymied by how you break out of an industry constricted by financing, content rules and disinterested networks.


Of course we all know that in those circumstances survival comes from making your own fun.


What follows is what Tom was able to create in a couple of hours in one small room. It's a lesson in how much previously unaffordable technology is now available to virtually anybody.






Anybody working in television knows that you can have a ton of great ideas but they don't amount to a hill of beans without perfect execution. And with cameras like the Phantom, a lot more becomes readily available.


One room. One camera. And almost instantly, four minutes of eye candy. The mind boggles at what Tom could've created with the addition of one willing cocktail waitress -- or better yet -- a writer with a narrative thread.


For all that I've written these past weeks about the Canadian television industry being over with, moments like this are reminders that for every closed door, the universe provides an open window. What you imagine can still be realized.


Think of the possibilities and -- Enjoy Your Sunday.



Locked in a Vegas Hotel Room with a Phantom Flex from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.


For a taste of what Tom Guilmette was actually shooting in Las Vegas and more of what this amazing camera can do, check out the video here.

Happy Easter Everyone


Textiles

I seriously must single handedly have the largest collection of crocheted trims, table cloths & embroidered pieces ever amassed. Even more so, because I hardly ever use any of it! I did make a cover for this bird cage awhile back.... I think it turned out rather cute. The chippy bird cage and stand I picked up at a yard sale for $15.
This next bird cage was needing a cover as well... I just stitched the edges of a long rectangle piece of fabric which I added vintage crocheted trim to the edges of. Easy peasy...I have one of my beloved images that I simply treasure that I've made into a fairy inside the cage... I call him "Sweet Pete" I have him sitting on the swing inside the cage. I have over 30 bird cages of different sizes and shapes through out my home.... I know right?.... I think a few more cages might be getting some crocheted trim added to them as well.
I've linked up to Freckled Laundries textile linky party, and Beverly's Pink Saturday linky party.

Infamous Writers Pool: Week Two Standings

1cartoon aislin

I always wondered why they called it "Good" Friday. Cause it didn't seem like much "Good" went into why it's commemorated.

But I'm assuming on some levels it feels a whole lot less painful than what Montreal and Vancouver fans had to endure yesterday.

In Montreal's case I guess you could put their loss down to a couple of bad bounces. But what happened on the West Coast makes "epic fail" seem somewhat understated.

To put Vancouver's collapse into perspective, Chicago's never-ventures-beyond-his-crease Goalie has personally scored twice as many points in the last two games as the high-flying, goal machine Sedin Twins put together.

They say it's going to be real sunny on the West Coast this weekend -- meaning Golf season can get into full swing. Gee, and just about the same time as last year.

vancouvers_only_cup_hat-p148316213798480505qz14_400

Meanwhile, those old guys in Detroit dropped an anvil on the wily Coyotes, perhaps marking the end of hockey in the desert. And by the time the next pool report comes around on Monday, it appears certain a couple more series will have come to an end.

bryz

So this will likely be the last report where everybody (okay, except me) still has a full roster of players.

But I still managed to move up a couple of slots and Dixon is finally out of the basement. But taking off like a rocket this week is Denis McGrath, who should have a bullet next to his name after zooming from 13th to first in less than three days.

Matt Racicot and Alex House fill out the remaining top spaces.

Remember that you can check your positions online at anytime. But we'll be back to update you on Monday.

11pool22

Swappin' fun

I recently received a couple of boxes of goodies in the mail. The first box of goodies was sent to me from Betty Villalobos. Who doesn't have a blog... just yet. I love-love-love the tag she sent along with a box full of goodies. I simply adore cats, so this is absolutely perfect for me. Honestly, the photo does not do justice to the workmanship that went into this tag. It is 3 dimensional and exquisite~ She also sent along some yummy chocolate, two bundles of to-die-for fabric, an adorable cup and a Tim Holtz metal book thingie. Thank you so much Betty for your generousity, now get off your hinny and start a BLOG!! I would love to see more of your creations as I'm sure others would too! I was invited to join in on Vivian's Easter ornament swap. Vivian Neroni of vivs-whimsy, the swap hostess, made these two ornaments... A felt egg, and a felted chick hatching out of an egg. Super cute huh? This ornament was made by Valeria Kraft of Glittery Daze and Nights. Simply darling!Theresa Whitmore of Sycamore Moon Studios felted this whimsical bunny. Charming little bunny isn't it? Rebekah Conklin from Full of Bliss Creations made this felted bunny. The attention to detail is amazing.
This bunny head ornament was made by Cyndi LaChance from Holiday Sparkle. Super cute!
I haven't brought out anything "Eastery" this Easter--- so I've just got all of these beauties tucked inside a crystal bowlie for my family and friends to admire~
I did hang this beautiful cross in front of a mirror, recently bought for only $1.50.... isn't it beautiful. I guess thats the best "Easter" decoration isn't it~