An Anniversery, an Apology and Pink Saturday

My brother Greg, my biggest sister Nancy in the foreground, myself and my older sister Janet in the background at my Grandmother's house around 1966-1967

Thanks for stopping by today. I have not posted much over the past 2 months. This time of year is usually difficult for me anymore. I debated sharing this with anyone but decided to go ahead and do it. Two years ago on the Saturday after Thanksgiving my older brother died. It was quite unexpected. He was only 48 years old. Now when fall hits I tend to fall apart. Some days it is all I can do to go to work in a kind of stupor.

It has been very hard this year for me. I am still trying to allow myself to grieve. I go to a group therapy thing on Thursday nights to help with that. There are some very kind men in that group that have become kind of surrogate brothers to me. I am grateful for their friendship and kindness. I would appreciate your prayers with this.

A while back I did a giveaway. At least it was intended as a giveaway but I still haven't sent out the prize I am ashamed to say. The winner can expect some extra stuff as a kind of penance for not sending it months ago. I got sick and then fell apart emotionally. I apologise.

Pink Saturday is one of my favorite things and I am trying to get back in to the swing of things and do what I love. So hopefully I am back and won't disappear again. Below is some of my favorite material. I found it at a rummage house years ago and have used it in various ways since then. I am getting ready to turn it into curtains for the living room to go with my new blinds.

My new blinds below- I found them at Antique's Plus here in Lawrence just north of the bridge.

Below is a comforter i crocheted ages ago and i use in my living room in the winter. Resting on top of it is a little bag of christmas ornaments I made along with some gift tags I made. They were all part of a giveaway a co-worker did at her second job. She teaches Jazzercise on the side and she was the one teaching on Thanksgiving morning. She told me she had decided to do a giveaway and I offered her some of my goodies to put in it. The funny thing is a friend of mine how happens to be my boss's wife won it! I have been working on packaging up some of my christmas goodies to sell at Antique's plus and if I ever get my act together in my new etsy shop. Keep your fingers crossed as I need all the help I can get. Hope your Pink Saturday is a delightful one. Don't forget to go visit Beverly and all the other ladies participating today! Click here to visit them- http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com .

Hope your Monday is a beautiful Blue-Just a few pics for you today.

A rainbow over Lawrence a couple of weeks ago- I kinda tweaked it to bring out the rainbow more.

This is just south of town-You can see Lawrence in the distance.

Go over to Sally and say hi to everybody particpating today for Blue Monday! http://smilingsally.blogspot.com .

Hope you all have a wonderful Blue Monday!

Sunrise

At the Depot

Foggy Morning Sunrise


Don't forget to check out the other participants at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com for Blue Monday! Thanks for coming by.

I just got these wonderful ATCs in the mail Thursday- They are from Two Crafty Mules ATC exchange- I showed the ones I sent a while back and now I have these beauties in their place. Each one is from a different artist. The first one is from http://Junkgirl-studio.blogspot.com .

This next one is from Cindy Hamlin at http://cindyiscrafty.wordpress.com .

This last one is from Angela Dasner at http://angiebeth.blospot.com

I also got an altered domino necklace from? Whoops I ripped it open too quick and now I don't remember which person sent it. I had trouble getting a good picture of it. I will try again. Wanda also sent an fun altered domino as well. I think I will try scanning them and see if they turn out. Go check out their sites. You won't regret it. Wanda is also going to be doing an inchie swap for Thanksgiving and a christmas ornament (handmade or altered) swap too! I've already signed up for both!

Just thought I would share a few pics of my walk the other day. I went out looking for some leaf pics-only got a few since most of the trees weren't turning yet. Perhaps I will have more luck this weekend.



This is just a few blocks from where I live- my neighborhood is called Old West Lawrence. It is full of houses that were built from the 1860's through the 1950s(mostly older though). My house is on the very edge of the neighborhood and was built in 1941( it is tiny-750 sq feet and that counts my back laundry room!)

There are a few brick streets and some brick sidewalks here and there and wonderful alleyways. i love alleys-they feel like home to me. This is one of the neighborhoods I grew up in and definitly my favorite neighborhood to live in.

Well I will see you later. Have a great and glory filled week.

This is my entry for last week's challange of "numbers " on the Artsy Girl Blog. This week it will be " Orange and Blue". It almost works for that too. Go and see what everyone else came up with at http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ . You will enjoy it.

Blue Monday

Happy Blue Monday to you all. I hope this Monday finds you healthy and happy. Below is a picture I took yesterday a.m. off the top of the parking garage downtown- The sun was just coming up and we had a beautiful blue sky. It was absolutely a perfect fall day.



Yesterday I went to the Baldwin City Maple Leaf Festival-unfortunetly the trees just are not turning yet. However they did have a wonderful quilt show going on and I nabbed a few pictures of pretty quilts. Here is one of the blue ones.

Below is the Rachel Ashwell shabby chic shower curtain I have in my bathroom. I fell in love with it when I saw it. It meant I didn't have to repaint the bathroom and it incorporated the pink and green I have in the rest of the house.

Don't forget to go check out all the ladies particpating today at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ .

So glad you could stop by today for Pink Saturday. I hope you all had a good week. I have been fighting a cold/bronchitis so I guess it really is fall. Today I am going to work then to the wonderful Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City. Tomorrow I am going to Baldwin City to the annual Maple Leaf Festival to take some pics and visit a friend who is a vendor this year. I should have some fun autumn pics to share afterwards. Today I have a picture of some birds my sister Nancy has been making for herself. Pictured with the birds is a sweet tag made by Sunshine and Raviloi-go check out her site- she really has some wonderful stuff-she is listed on my sidebar under my blog list.




Next is a sweet painted tray at Antique's Plus in Lawrence. I have my eye on this.

This is just a silly little fairy paper doll I made. The template for it can be found at: http://TheEnchantedGallery.com

Don't forget there is plenty more pink to see with the other ladies participating in Beverly's Pink Saturday. Just go to http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

http://bigartadventure.blogspot.com/ is a fun site that gives weekly challanges. Last week they gave out a challange to use a regular tin can and make something with it. They gave two examples that were quite varied in their approach to the project. I thought it would be fun to do so I tried it. The above picture is the result of that .

It is supposed to be a tree spirit or a Dryad. I can't wait to see what they do for this next week. Stop by and check out their site-lots of interesting and beautiful things there.

Mind Wide Open Challange for October

I accepted the Mind Wide Open Challange this month. If you are not familiar with Mind Wide Open you should check them out. I have a little button on the right side of my blog that will take you right there if you click on it. I have wanted to participate for awhile but have not found the time to do so till now. I had much fun while working on it but I wish I could have found more time to do it. Oh well, the important thing is I jumped in and swam(but I don't think I'm ready for the English Channel yet). Mind Wide Open gives you an image to use as a jumping off point for your project. They do this one time a month and you have a week to get it done. There are some very talented people participating and I just love to see what these creative people come up with! This month they gave us a sweet pic of two little girls and the word prompt"All dressed up" which we could use if we wanted to. I decided to do a jewelery box with the image. Below is the results. I am happy with how it turned out but I can look and see things I would change. That is okay. Primarily this is a learning/stretching experience for me. One thing you may not know about me is I hate to be the center of attention. I was very, very shy as a kid and my defense mechenism growing up was to try to be as invisible as possible. It is less likely to have people who make your life hard if they don't know you are there. Fast forward to the present and I still struggle with this. Blogging for me is practicing letting myself be seen a bit. Easier than in person. I love art. I love crafting. I don't have illusions that I am terrific at it but I want to grow and stretch and learn all I can about it. I lose myself in the process and I find that very, very freeing. So many possiblities with it. I am happy that I did it and let myself share it with others. I didn't let fear hold me back this time so I feel victorous! Hope you have a great week. Go check out Mind Wide Open. You will be glad you did. So many talented and crafty people! Sweetpea Sue .

Halloween Crafting

I have had the funnest time working on halloween crafts this year. What got me started was Heidi's Very Vintage Halloween Swap(Scroll down to the earlier post to see what my partner sent me!) One of the items I made was this black glittered BOO banner and some Halloween tags.



Here is a closeup of the kitty and the orange polkadotted clothespins that tether the kitty to the banner. I have been selling the BOO Banners at a friend's store here in town. If anyone of you would be interested in one leave me a comment on my blog with a way to get in touch with you and we will talk.
These next 3 are my first ATC's I have ever done! I call them Salem's Most Wanted. The one on the left is Helen-(potions Master) the one in the middle is Hepsbah(Head Mistress) and the one on the right is Helga(star pupil). Wendy Eash at http://craftymules.blogspot.com/ hosted a Vintage Halloween ATC event. You should definitly go by and check her out. She makes the most amazing stuff! I still haven't gotten the ones I will be sent yet but you will see them as soon as I do- Thanks for coming by and don't forget to scroll down to my earlier post about the Very Vintage Halloween Swap!

A Very Vintage Halloween Swap

What a fun and fabulous time I have had participating in Heidi's Very Vintage Halloween Swap! I have not had so much fun with Halloween since I was little and it is still weeks away! Well I had Teresa from http://plumwatercottage-evansville.blogspot.com/ for my swap partner. She sent me such fantatic goodies! It was such fun opening each tissue wrapped package( I took it to work to open and show my co-workers cause the postman brought me my package just as I closed the front door to return to work after lunch). Below is all of it together from the Queen of Halloween herself. See the fun BOO in the background?


First up is an adorable little halloween spoon. Don't you just love everything about it?
Next comes a wonderful pair of black earrings( I think Teresa makes these herself and sells them in her etsy shop! Stop by to see if she has a pair for you!).
Below is one of the sweetest little halloween pins I have ever seen. You can't read the writing but it says on top of the hat"Black Cat Fortunes" and on the front it says" Giving away your age".
Not really last at all but last picture here is a glittered up happy witch and her pumpkin. She looks ready for halloween doesn't she!

Thanks for coming by today! Hope to see you again soon. Don't forget to go to Heidi's blog http://foxgovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com/ to see all the particpating ladies!

Hope your Saturday is a bright and beautiful one. Just have a few pics to share with you today before I rush to work. The first one is of sunset at Clinton Lake. The next one after that is a little picture in my craft room.

The flowers are actually pink even though they look lilac here. I found that a few weeks ago at Locust Street Marketplace. I loved the shabby chic frame.
This next pic is some fun pink at Antiques Plus. They have a whole shabby chic section, Pink and White and a Black and White area too.
I remember someone sharing some sweet little planters recently(but I can't recall who. I hope they see these since I think they are adorable.
Don't forget to go check out Beverly and the rest of the pink ladies at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Wednesday Wonders

Glad you could make it by today! The week always gets so jammed pack that I never get done everything I need to do much less want to do. Yesterday during my lunchtime I decided to go look for some fun things to take pics of. I decided to go to the church I grew up at and see if I could take pictures of the wonderful stained glass windows. The first picture is of the window in the choir loft where the pipe organ is. I am afraid it is a little bit blurry but I still like it.

The second one is Jesus our Shepherd. I love this window.
When I went for a drive on Sunday I took pictures out by the lake at sunset. Here are 2 of them. I have more on my flikr.com page. I haven't downloaded all of them yet. It takes forever!

After I went to the church I grew up at I still had some time left so I decided to go out to the cemetary. This week on shades of inspiration group at flikr.com instead of colors we are doing pics with either rock paper scissors or a combo of any of those. This little angel is marbel and sits on top of a family plot stone. I think it is really sweet and serene.

Last but not least it is time to announce the winner of my giveaway-It is Kat of Kat Collects!
Kat I need you to send me your address so I can mail out your prize. If I don't hear from you in the next week -by October 7th I will draw a new name on October 8th.
I hope you all have a wonder filled Wednesday.

Blue Monday in September

Glad you could come by for Blue Monday today. I hope you all had a nice and relaxing weekend. I decided to go for a drive yesterday evening. That is something I just don't do anymore with gas prices as high as they are. I went out to our local recreation spot-Clinton Lake to try and catch the sunset. I will show you those pics later but I did get one with some blue in it too and here it is below.

My dear sister Nancy is always giving me fun vintage items she finds. She likes to go to auctions and tag sales and she often brings me something from them when she finds something she knows I will like. This item has pears in it and I love pear motifs and have them in my kitchen. My grandmother Marie had a pear tree in her backyard and she made wonderful pear butter from those delicious pears. Does anyone have a pear butter recipe? I would love to have one. Since my kitchen is pink and green and this is blue, I keep it in my bathroom instead(it is blue).



Yesterday I also went to our local antique mall to see what I could find. I didn't end up buying anything but I did find this very sweet Holly Hobby record player. I thought you all would enjoy it with it's blue horn and all. I have to admit it really tempted me even though I don't have any records at all.
I love what it said: Start each day on a happy note. I actually have a little portable record player in my basement that was my grandmothers. I used to take all my records over to grandma's house when I would visit her and she would listen to them with me.


Connie at Living Beautifully http://connie-livingbeautifully.blogspot.com/ did a post yesterday where she challanged her readers to do the same. I told Connie I accepted her challange so here goes:

7 Things I plan to do before I die:

1. Visit my friends in other countries-Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.

2. Learn how to draw and paint

3. Learn how to play an instrument

4. Get my home more organised so no one has too much to deal with when I die

5. Learn to fly

6. Do some short-term missions work

7. See my Neices/Nephew's get married and Have children(if they choose)

7 Things I can do:
1. Bake good bread
2. Drive stick shift
3. Make an excellent stir fry
4. Embroider
5. Make my neices and nephews laugh
6. Crochet
7. Find my way in strange city with a good map.

7 Things I can't do:
1. Jump on a pogo stick
2. Keep an indoor plant alive for more than a year
3.Hold a snake(I just don't want to!)
4. Go up to top of the John Hancock building in Chicago(did it once and almost fainted!)
5. Calculus
6. Sing(Wish I could!)
7. Play an instrument

7 things that attract me to my Mister:
I don't have a mister so what would attract me to one:
1. Christian
2. Kindness
3. Gentleness
4. Merciful/Forgiving
5. Tall
6. Creative
7. Intelligence

7 Celebrity Admirations:
1. Robert Duvall
2. Audrey Hepburn
3. Corrie Ten Boom(author)
4. C.S. Lewis ( author)
5. Whoever invented air conditioning
6. Ted Dekker(author)
7.Karla Nathan(artist)

7 Favorite Foods:
1. Salmon
2. Broccoli
3. Cheesecake
4. Meatloaf
5. Black Walnut Bread
6. Mint anything
7. Chocolate

Don't forget to go check out everybody else at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/. Thanks so much Sally for hosting this fun event!

I almost forgot-any comments left today count toward my giveaway! I will draw a name tomorrow and announce the winner on Wednesday.