Supply Swap is here!

I can't begin to tell you

how excited I was to receive

my package

from

the 

Supply Swap

I participated in with

Elizabeth 

at 

Creative Breathing

I spent a lot of time obsessing over my box that I sent to her.

So much so-

that I totally forgot to photograph it!

Which I realized this morning when I looked at

my camera card!

Can I blame it on Momnesia?

On to the GOOD STUFF!

Lots of pics so get your coffee....

Look at this adorable box!
I am going to use it to store some of my son's
keepsakes in!
Vintage items for boys are harder to come across than for girls
in my opinion...so I LOVE this!

Look at the sweet little folder she made for the inside of the lid...
she tucked lots of Vintage cards into the pocket!

 Some super sweet fabric panels...

  When you see a Tiffany and Co. box you get all tingly right?
She was wonderful to gift me two of her original little felted characters..
I just love them!

Some Christmas and floral pick goodness...

I have been wanting one of these
little treat baskets for some time now!
The cute little candle holders we used to use when I was a kid!

Lots of fun!
Cupcake picks, flowers, milk caps...
I love the little mushrooms and the bunny picks!
Isn't the chickie with the balloons so adorable?

 

More goodies and then a panel in the bottom that lifted out

to reveal.... 

Lots and Lots
of her
signature style Valentine greetings
from yester-year...
So cheery and fun...
I don't have many of these - especially this type
so I was thrilled to get my hands on all these!

One of E's handmade Valentine's!

I really like the delicate line drawings of these
birds on these playing cards..
I already have a use for them in mind!

A second box!
I only have maybe 3 sheets of vintage wrapping paper...
I knew this box was going to be amazing!

More cute fabric 
and lots of cards and paper!

Such colors!

paper...

paper....

and 
more paper!
Just love all the illustrative details...

Look at all this Christmas fun waiting to happen!

I have to say that this was probably my most favorite swap I
have participated in yet!
I love all the others...
but this was fun to share things you love to create with and some
things you had created.
I probably gushed enough to Elizabeth that she's tired of my e-mails ;)
I either really get her or she has intuition she doesn't know about!
Everything was so exciting and perfect!
I ripped into the packages like I was a 6 year old at Christmas!
Hope you enjoyed a peek!
Thank You a thousand times again
to Elizabeth for hosting such a fun swap!
You should really take a peek over at all her
talents over at 
Creative Breathing
you won't be disappointed!

Also sending good vibes and prayers
to Elizabeth as she recovers from her surgery!

Have a Happy Monday everyone!

Little bit of age...thrifty finds....

I know I haven't done

many thrifty finds lately...

I am trying to sort out

a lot of my collections and decide what I really love 

and then

(gasp!)

sell the rest!

Going through another box from storage

I found this lovely clock

that I purchased last year I think....

I don't even know if it really works,

but I remember my grandparents having one.

I loved to wind it up just to hear the bell chime away...

This one has wonderful wear to the case.

 I think I paid all of $2 for it!
Then a few weeks ago I found the little
framed lithograph of Mary and Jesus in a favorite thrift store.
I couldn't believe no one had purchased it already.
They were only asking $2.98!
The frame is a bronze color with some definite ago to it.
I just LOVE it! 
Not bad for one item I already had and another new find huh?

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Vintage Illustration Love.....

Here I sit again

with my 

Creative Person Attention Deficit Disorder 

I should be getting myself

 and

Little Keeper ready to head off 

to a SuperHero party for a 5 year old...

What am I doing?

Worrying about my swap box for

Elizabeth at Creative Breathing ...

trying to finish up

a belated birthday gift for my sis...

and

window shopping on Pinterest....

I thought I would share some

beautiful and cheery colored vintage illustrations

I have found recently...

 

  Hope you enjoyed them...

I just loved all the mixtures of orange 

within a lot of the graphics.

Most of the time I think

we look at the color orange and find it hard to work with?

I especially love the last one..

Violets are my favorite flower and this was very unusual to me..

I have seen and collected a lot of violet images 

but have never seen one with the orange added - I think it is so beautiful.

Hope this gives you maybe a little visual inspiration

for some crafting or journaling over the weekend!

Happy Saturday!

The Awesome....

There was a time when you were a little girl, 

and you woke up full of awesomeness..... 

You were ready to take on your day full throttle....

 You knew you were amazing....

You were Wonder Woman in your UnderRoos...

 You loved yourself and didn't know any other way to be than just YOU...

You thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world....

 even when you had missing teeth, dirt on your clothes, messy hair and mismatched socks . 

You were the Queen of your backyard fortress made of blankets...

You were a treasure hunter with fierce skills...

You loved your body, and the things it could do. 

You knew you were smart and you were kind....

You were a dreamer...

and you knew you would grow up

to be the worlds most amazing artist

and you were going to swim with

the dolphins....

30 some years later...

YOU are realizing you should keep waking up this way

and 

that you ARE

the

Queen of your own Castle...

You are thankful for the talent you were given...

You are Wonder Woman to someone special...

You are learning to take care of your body and treat it right...

You are smarter than ever...

and you are taking back kindness....

You have your own kind of beautiful and you still like to get messy...

You  swam with those dolphins

and you are making your OWN dreams come true...

The Awesome is still there

sometimes we just need a little reminder...

I originally wrote this after reading something a bit
like it but it was only a few lines.
I customized it to try and let more women relate...
especially us artsy types...

Every now and then we need to remember
that we ARE Awesome
no matter what the world has thrown at us...

Celebrating my Birthday today with a little self kindness....

Thanks Everyone!

Pirates!

Hi everyone!

Just a little bit of Arghhh for today.

I discovered yesterday that someone or something

may have been using my e-mail account...

 most likely

spam pirates....

So if any of you I communicate with

through e-mail have received anything

weird other than our usual correspondance

SORRY!

and if you get anything with a link in it 

don't open it

just delete.

I don't know that anyone actually received anything

but I just want to make sure.

I have made adjustments and I will get back to you.

 Hopefully the only Pirates in my future will be this one

who loves donuts!

Can you find the words?

As more of a visually creative

person...

I sometimes struggle to find the right

words to describe things.

Emotions, feelings, surroundings,thoughts.

I have to admit 
for my grammer freak friends
that I probably make quite a few flubbers on the ol' blog here.

As I sit here
 I should be doing my taxes,

I should be cleaning up...

Instead 
I wanted to share something 

that finally put into words 
an experience I have tried to explain -
 but couldn't quite find the right way to say it.

Let's just tell a little story too.

Years ago when I was in college...

I found a love of reading which I had long forgotten.

One of the books that captured my imagination

was by 

Francew Mayes 

"Under the Tuscan Sun"

I don't know what made me pick it up.

Tired of reading anatomy and biochemistry?

Her writings of Italy inspired an ongoing dream to travel there someday.

I held off.

Thinking I should go 
when I finally found the love of my life to share
 it with.
That you should not do things like this on your own.
That to be valid someone had to be with you.

Did I even listen to the author?

All these years later I wonder.

She embarked on her Italian journey on her own.

She was married - but the initial "crazy" idea was hers.

Fast Forward

to me 
this time last year...

 Spring in bloom

and

 I am finally about to embark on my

Italian adventure.

I decided to go it alone with a group of total strangers.

save the one Brave Lara that I knew online...
I needed it...
and 
I felt the time
was right.
I got a lot of criticism for going.
But you just can't explain to some people that this was more than
just a "vacation"...
I was blessed to be surrounded by
women who understood
where I was coming from...
One or two in particular!
You know who you are....

This was how I woke my first morning in Italy.

Not exciting visually...

but
 the SOUNDS are what made this morning 

magical...
(turn your volume up some)

 I knew I was in the right place

at the right time after I got out of bed and went to the window.

The beautiful yellow bird who was signing this song

was sitting atop the tree

right outside my window belting his heart out...

(didn't tape him b/c I didn't want to scare him once I appeared in the window)

I shared a lot of my photos

but it has been hard to explain

to others 

what

"just taking a trip"

did for me.

Especially THIS trip.

Earlier in the week

I found a copy of  a book by

Mrs.Mayes that I had missed somehow...

" Every Day in Tuscany ".

I just finished the Introduction

and already Frances has hit gold....

she finally put into words

what this trip

did for me

and I quote her

"It is paradoxical but true

that something that takes you out of yourself

also restores you 

to yourself

with greater freedom."

DO you know how great it feels to finally see that in WORDS?!

The weather here 
has brought my days in Italy back to me
through my senses.

I opened a tube of Shampoo that I had used when I was in Europe

- the smell even evoked memory.

How wonderful is it that we have all of these things to

transport us?

 Words, Smells, Tastes, Visuals, and Sounds.

 The Wisteria is just beginning to bud here

as it was there....

DO you have any experiences you can recall
by sense?
As an artist do you struggle to find the right words
but always the right visuals?
I'd love to hear about it.

Hope you are having a wonderful week so far!
Happy Wednesday everyone!

Spring Cleaning......

Follow my blog with Bloglovin......

Doing a little Blog SPring Cleaning!

 

Fellow Bloggers

  Have you added BlogLovin'?

Just trying to get Stats set up, etc.!?

Do I sound like a grumpy ol' woman when I say that

I kind of hate having to go to 2 different places now to check

my stats and followers, etc.?

Guess I better get over it!

Loving the Spring time change!

It is now light when we go out at 6 a.m. 

Have you had crazy weather too?

We went from 40 degrees to 70 the next 

and now today it is supposed to be 82!

No complaints here!

Have a Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

Let there be light.....

Finally

it seems we are out of the

oh so grey winter we have had here...

I just want to ramble a bit today...

This is the first time I feel like I was just in a big ol' rut this winter!

I completed several projects,

and

went to several meetups with my fellow

local artsy ladies...

but I just felt sort of BLAH for the last few months.

Leaving Italy last Spring I was on fire...

Eating right, exercising, getting things done!

Then December came and one thing after the other

just weighed me down for some reason.

We have finally had more than 3 days of sun in a row

here and the time change made all the difference 

in the world for me.

I completed this weeks ago...

(sorry so grainy - Instagram)

I need to look at it every day!

Up earlier, outdoors more, cutting back on the sugar!

Starting a new Yoga program!

I'm a bit sad that

I won't be able to attend Art and Soul this year...

just could not justify spending that kind of money right now.

I will be going to vendor night though and to a dinner the other gals

who are attending are hosting for us locals.

I've decided to have my own little

what I call

"Crafturday Night Live"

with a few girlfriends.

This way I can share what I have and my knowledge

with some of my friends who are curious about what I do.

Do you do anything to help yourself out

when you are just sort of stuck?

I'd love to hear about it!

Hope you are having a wonderful kick off to the beginning of Spring!

 

Easter Swap

To finish up

Easter Week....

here are some of my decorations 

and the swap I received from

Miz Honey Bee

at

Honey Comb Cottage 

 This is the Spoolie she made me...

This was the centerpiece of the swap!

I love how she placed it in the flower cup and the re-use of that green grass!

 This egg had all kinds of goodies inside!

I decided to split it up so that I could use both the top and the bottom in my Easter display.

Those little chalkware chicks I found for .25 cents at my fav. thrift!

 There is the beautifully glittered bottom

with a chick she gave me and some of my own goodies.

She also gave me the bunny on the left.

Love that he is so different!

 This vintage paper egg contained lots of candy goodness!

My son helped those to disappear before photos were taken!

The plastic bunny is another thrifty find.

I found a yellow, blue and pink one all for $1.

Miz B made me this neat corsage!

I decided to use it on the mantel and then next year I think I may

incorporate it into a flower arrangement or wreath.

How cool is that? What a nifty idea!

 These are most of the goodies that were in the glittery egg.

lots of trims and some cute laser cut wood pieces.

LOVE the bluebirds!

I just saw a few of these on another site and was wondering about them.

So I was very pleased to see them show up in my package!

I found the flocked bunny at a thrift for .99 cents

I used to have a brown one I got rid of years ago.

I was very happy to find this bright pink one!

The little chick on the right in one my mom made years ago.

The flowers I already had but on the same day I found the bunny I found the

flocked eggs as well. 

I threw them into the arrangement for as a last minute touch.

 

 This little deer came home a few months ago

for the same great price of .25 cents!

I am keeping this particular thrift store a secret!

It is not well known yet and I am keeping it that way!

Thank You again to Marlene for being such a great swap partner!

Another big Thanks to Sandy

at

521 Lake Street 

for hosting the swap... 

I see lots of participation with her

crafting circles in my future!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

 

Spring has finally Sprung!

It finally feels like a 

PROPER

day of Spring....

 Hope a little Spring

is peeking out for you too!

Tomorrow I'll show you the last of my Easter Swap!