New Stuff Around My House

 I thought it would be fun to show you some of the new stuff around my house. I have sort of a dark home so it is hard to get really good pictures of anything once it is on the walls.

Anyway, here is a set of thrifted portraits I got in Oklahoma this winter. I just love these old Woolworths pictures, gorgeous! The blue perfectly matches my turquoise blue hallway.

 I recently acquired the most perfect little vanity accessory....I am using a desert stand to hold my polish, perfume, lotions and the like...the top is the perfect place for some of my vintage broaches. (Don't mind the brush full of hair in the background--eeep---gross, just noticed that!)

 I have a hard time keeping all of my jewelry organized. This little plant hook will definitely come in handy--and my necklaces look lovely hanging on it.

 This photo frame wall is a work in progress. I've been collecting little goodies for months...and I finally made time to hang them up together. I don't have pictures in all the frames yet, but I think it will be awesome once it is done!

 This new-to-me-deer-paint-by-number is hanging above my vanity lighting and I just love it!!

Anyway, sorry for the weird lighting...I just really wanted to show my new stuff off!! Hope you have a fun weekend planned!!

Senior Pictures

I must admit, this was one of my toughest photo sessions ever! Perhaps it was the fact that we thought 9:00 a.m. on Sunday morning would be a good time for the pictures?? I had such a hard time getting a different facial expression or getting any sort of emotion from him....I couldn't make this kid laugh...when I tried, I only seemed to make him uncomfortable...and that made things awkward. All well, I think I got some nice shots anyway, he is a good looking kid...his mom will be proud!

Normally I don't....

HI everyone!!

Normally I don't make two posts in one day....but I am working hard in my studio making some lovely paper and ribbon garland for a 'jammie' party this weekend!! I am so excited! Anyway, I have a question for you...If you sew, you might be able to help me out. My bobbin gets all tangled whenever I thread it....and I am able to use it for a while, but once it gets to the tangled spot, I have to unravel the whole thing or else it just jams up my machine....any tips on making this not happen? It is messing me up and I need to finish this project tonight!

Here is a little peek at a photo shoot that I did today!!! Morgan is 6. She is amazing! I love her photos!!

We had to walk around in the woods in our pretty shoes....It was an adventure!!

While I am at it, I thought I would show you a sneak peek at my art journal for the 'Tell Your Story Class'. The class is wonderful, I am getting so many great ideas! To see a few more pages, check at my flickr site here.

Finally, my real reason for posting tonight......I NOW HAVE 100 FOLLOWERS!! YAY!!!!  Thanks for signing up to read my blog....I think that is awesome and I want to have a giveaway.....I am going to gather up some goodies and as soon as I have a good photo of it, I will let you know what the prize is....

And a huge shout out to Rinda at Gallo Organico....she always leaves me comments....Thanks for not making me feel like I blog in the dark! You are a great follower Rinda!!

{Butterfly} Parade

 My mom's birthday was Sunday so I decided to have a parade in her honor! A butterfly parade is perfect because she LOVES butterflies!! The images are from We Heart It.

 I love rainbows, this picture makes me so happy!!

 I think this is gorgeous!

 I just love that bow in her hair!!

 This is a sweet collection!!

 Her hair is cool, her dress is super cute and the netting is just lovely!

 So vintage!

 Another beautiful collection!

 This is just so cool!!

 I love making cards with butterflies arranged in this way!

 So fun, this is a neat thing to do with curtains! I love the feet sticking up!!

 This reminds me of a Color Me Katie pose!

 Gotta have the cupcake in there! YUM!

 Looks like butterflies from recycled papers--cool!

 Cool shoes, these 'post cards' are just lovely!

 Aw, butterfly balloons!

 Simply amazing!

 This would be beautiful to use in a wedding!

 Mail call!!

 Such a cool mobile!

 My mom used to have a jewelry dish like this when I was a kid--it was awesome, this is so pretty!

 I wonder if those are real? They are really cool!!

 This is just awesome!!!

 I hope you enjoy this lovely parade! Can you believe, it is almost May??!!!

Deer Karma,

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to go to a local thrift store for the first time. We have lots of flea markets, second hand stores and antique malls so there are many to explore in this area, and I had just heard about this one. I went by myself, which is unusual because I rarely go on such an adventure when I am alone.

This particular antique mall was a real winner. I found lots of good things including an owl trivet, a beautiful flower cross stitch, a jar of buttons, a tin match holder, and the most perfect white Japanese ceramic fawn. This was the first such fawn I have found at a local thrift store so I was thrilled to get to take her home. She was the most perfect little deer in the entire world!

I happened to have a large collection of things in my arms when I was shopping so I made a small pile at the front counter while I toured the store. I noticed a sign, quite frequently throughout the shop. 'You Break It, You Buy It' in green marker was clearly posted and I silently chuckled to myself, what clumsy oaf would break something in a store like this....haha.....As I shopped, I could hear the women at the front counter cackling loudly and talking about the nature of their work....I could also hear the twang of a country song playing softly over the speakers. The store wasn't very crowded, a couple of boys with their dads...a woman with her sister in a motorized wheel chair, a couple of old men, another lady or two prodding around with piles of thrifted goodies.

At one point, I was half-way through the store and I reached for a jar of buttons. I misjudged the location of a precariously stacked salt shaker on top of the button jar and much to my dismay, it tumbled off when I picked up the buttons and crashed loudly on the cement floor. The glass shattered and for a second after the loud smashing noise, there was nothing....The women at the front had stopped talking, and I froze in my tracks. 'You break it, you buy it...you clumsy oaf,' nice going.....

I heard the woman a the counter say something like "I know where that came from" and I imagine that she walked over to the little boys that were with their dads or somewhere else in a direction opposite of where I was standing. At that point I grabbed the intact salt shaker and checked the price...$12.00???!!!!??! Okay. Big decision to make here. Do I go up to the front and confess and pay the whopping $12.00 for a broken shaker...or do I kick the remnants under the rug and pretend that it never happened??

For most honest people, this would be an easy decision. But I really struggled with what to do. I already had a large stack of things that I really wanted today...and if I had to pay for the broken shalt shaker I would have to put back some of the things I really wanted.

I decided to compromise. I bought the jar of buttons from the booth....and kicked the broken salt shaker under some shelves. It would probably be weeks before anyone noticed that it was missing anyway. Besides, there didn't seem to be anything special about the clear salt shaker with a red lid. I ended up spending nearly $50 in the store so I felt like I was doing the right thing at the time.

A few days later, I was setting up a still life in my kitchen. I wanted to take some pictures for a photo scavenger hunt and I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of the white fawn yet! I grabbed some fabric and as I was trying to arrange it on a shelf for a backdrop, I set the little white deer down for just a second. Before I knew what happened, that beautiful-perfect-in-every-way-little-angle deer fell of the shelf, slammed onto the counter and smashed into 6 horrifying chunks. Oh no! I hadn't even gotten to take a picture of her yet!! Quickly, I tried to get my glue gun going and then super glue and as hard as I tried to put my little humpty dumpty back together again, it was uselsess with her fragile little legs, and that one tiny missing shard....she would never walk or stand or be beautiful again. I was so bummed. SO BUMMED.

Not fair. She didn't deserve to go out like that. That poor, sweet little deer did not deserve an ending so terrible. How could this have hap----oh wait......Karma.....right.....The deer didn't deserve it, but I definitely did. Right. My grieving period for the deer was cut completely short by the fact that I realized what had happened and why.

In a much related note....my one little word for the year is 'Give.' I haven't done much giving the past couple of weeks so I decided to do something for one of my students at school.

This little girl is so sweet and happy and special. I decided to buy her some new shoes and a new dress...I can't really tell you all the details of her situation, but she definitely deserves everything and I know she will be totally grateful. I went shopping for her right after school on Friday...and it felt so good picking out the things for her, just because it was the right thing to do...not because I want anything in return...I just want to make this little girl feel good.

On Saturday, I went to another antique mall....and I happened upon the most delightful family of fawns. Each one more beautiful than the broken white fawn from a few weeks ago. I knew they were meant for me.

I couldn't afford them all...but I brought a few home...and whispered to the rest "I'll be back for you" ....and I know they will still be there as long as I keep doing the right thing and being a good person.

Deer Karma,
I got your message. I will do better next time.....
p.s. thanks for the fawns.....
nellie

Stamp Carving and a Crawfish boil

A couple of months ago, my friend Carrie approached me about her upcoming crawfish boil. She really wanted to make the invitations and she needed help finding a stamp. I looked online and searched around but I had the same luck as her....none....So I offered to carve a stamp for her. I sent her some simple images to pick from and this is the one she selected...(I don't know where she found this....it wasn't one of my choices)......but she and her husband really wanted an authentic crawfish.

I started out by transferring the image, using transfer paper, onto linoleum. I could've used rubber or easycut, but the linoleum allowed me to keep quite a bit of detail. I actually transferred it twice, I didn't realize it until the end, but its claw was half off...so I had to re-do it....but I used this one for my photo because I forgot to take a picture of the second one.

After transferring the image, I carved away the outlines.

Then I cut off all the extra linoleum around the crawfish.

And then I glued it onto a wood block...I thought the rustic wood was quite fitting. I used wood glue and put a stack of books on it overnight so that it would be very secure. Just like a wood mounted rubber stamp.

I did a few practice stamps and made a few changes to make sure it looked right.

Here is the invitation Carrie came up with--so cute!! She used dark red paint instead of ink and used twine around the crawfish to make it look as if it had crawled out of the pan inside the card. Awesome idea!!

Saturday night was the crawfish boil...so much fun....I helped eat some of the 100 pounds of crawfish...it was so yummy along with the shrimp, potatoes, jambalaya, corn on the cob, and sausage--

"Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler'... "Let the good times roll!"