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Look what came in the mail today! I haven’t had chance to read it all yet, I need to save some for when I have time to savor it.  This is one magazine that always has one beautiful photo after another, and never disappoints.

Since I enjoy this publication so much, I really appreciate being included in the pages.

The theme I created for was "burlap". I used the rough fabric to make some labels for old bottles, and embellished them with some doodads I had around, like a watch face and some millinery flowers.

I did take time to read one article right away. My buddy, Carol, has written a heart felt story about her mom, and her laundry day memories.  It was especially touching for me to read, knowing that her mother, Stella Mae, passed away last week. 

This was a sweet tribute to Stella Mae, and Carol should be so proud of what she has written about her.  I’m sure her mom is proud too.    

Normally, I am a world class sleeper. I’m out like a light most nights, but yesterday, I was tossing and turning.  So I was up before 5am, and started painting charms.

They are metal charms that I have glued watercolor paper too, painted and covered with paper glaze.

There are birds, crowns, cuppy cakes, roses, and tea cups full of flowers. Getting such an early head start, sure had me get a lot done. Not enough that I want to set my alarm for 5 am tomorrow, though.

This big, round charm was a broken bit of old jewelry that I turned into a centerpiece for this jewelry box.

Although the box isn’t done yet, it already looks better than when I started.  I bought this red, crown shaped jewelry holder for $1, and then primed and sprayed it silver.

The paper glaze is still wet on the rose painting, it looks a bit cloudy yet. And I am still gluing sparklies to the piece.

I’m thinking a few tiny millinery flowers would be nice too. And of course, the interior needs to be all decked out so that it is a proper space to store gems in!

The box will go with me to Silver Bella (yes, I know, you are all getting tired of hearing me yammer on about that event, but I am afraid it is just going to get worse and worse as November approaches)

Beth gave me these jewelry displays, (I should have taken before photos. )

They were a beat up white.  I like age on a piece, and love a great, old patina. But that isn’t what this was, it was just dirty white.

So, I spray painted all the displays a shiny silver, which needed to be taken down a notch.

I roughed up the silver paint with sandpaper, then rubbed ink over the area.

To keep the ink from rubbing off, I top coated with clear poly.

There is a spot right outside the back door of my studio where Sugarwings and I like to spray paint stuff.

Afterward, I rake the rocks around and they all look so pretty.  I have all colors of rock out there now, from the different sprays that I use. 

The fairy Grand baby thinks it is fun to pick up the painted rocks and plunk them into a bucket, then dump them on the floor of the studio. I guess she figures they belong in there with the other art work.

Too bad I don’t have more of these display pieces!  I’m happy with the way they turned out, and a pretty display goes a long way in making the stuff for sale look good.

Well, I’m off to paint more crown charms.  Don’t forget to leave a message if you want to enter the Sweet September Giveaway!

You know you can just about always find PINK here, but I never remember to join in on Pink Saturday, hosted by Beverly.

Today I remembered! I just hope I didn’t sign up too late…

Here are a couple of photos from pink millinery packs that I listed on Etsy today.  I added these faded pink trims to the packs, they seemed so perfect together.

While working away at the computer, this was my view.

Poor Twinks, wondering if her mommy was going to stop slaving over her Etsy shop and pay attention to her.

So, the two of us went out into the garden, during a break in the rain. Yesterday was a day of solid downpours and tornado sirens.  Today is just soggy.

September is a good time in the flowerbeds, the heat of the summer is gone and the plants get a final burst of glory before they get cold and die off.

Seems like I wait all year for the yard to get to this point, of fullness.

I wonder what it would be like to live in a climate where you don’t need to spend an entire summer waiting for the flowers to get nice and thick, just in time for them to start dying off?

This summer, I have fallen in love with pink foliage. 

Especially with as much shade as I have around my yard. The pink leaves have a nice glow in places where flowers never do well due to lack of sun.

And just when I gave up on my morning glories, the first blooms showed up!

My theme, is EASY.  I don’t plant anything that takes any work, no pinching back, no staking. Its all stuff that goes into the ground and is left to its own devices.

Which is why I LOVE the Knockout Rose. What a brilliant concept! I could just kiss the horticulturist who developed this plant. It is the only rose I have even been able to grow, because, it grows itself and is no work at all.  I’ve planted them everywhere and each one has thrived.

This has a been a good year for the moss rose too.  I didn’t plant a single one, they all came back from seed!  And lots of them too.

Poor Twinkle, would have been happy to spend the day outside walking around the yard with me, but I had some studio plans to get on with.

I got this pink cabinet out to line with old wallpaper, and when I laid it down, I decided it made a better display on its back, as a box, than standing up and being used as shelves.

One of my favorite pinks, is my studio wall.  I only painted one wall this way, so it isn’t overwhelming, and it is just right for me. I never get tired of it, and haven’t once though about repainting.

And I am a serial painter, not many walls escape my brush for this long.

Years ago, Beth made this apron for me, and I really enjoyed the barkcloth crazy quilt look of it, but it was too long and not as comfy as I’d like it.

So, finally, I cut it in half, took out the midsection, and put it back together shorter.  I added some fabric from a vintage table cloth as a belt to re-hook it together, and a pocket at the top made of half a doiley that Lori had given to me.

And in honor of Pink Saturday, I added some pretty pink lace to the Sweet September Giveaway.

It now includes:

1. * a white sheer apron
2. * Sugar and Creamer set
3. * A cruet "vase" with a moon charm
4. * a selection of my favorite teas
5. * and a vintage minty green doily
6. * a flocked white vintage rose bow

Leave a comment on any post if you want to enter!

Sugarwings came to visit for a while yesterday.  I still haven’t got her to try on the ‘new’ vintage dress from Beth, so that we can have a tea party.  All she wants to do is her artwork. I can’t complain, since I am  usually just as bad myself.

She still enjoys playing dress up, but now, it is the art apron that Robin made for her that she insists on wearing, not  her tea party clothes. 

Have you ever noticed that you can’t convince a two year old to do something they don’t want to do?

So, we hang out in our art studio and create together.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon at all, but I really, really want to see her in the blue vintage dress!

Remember my box full of plucked and sorted millinery blooms?  I sorted and packed a lot of them up to sell at Silver Bella.

This old wallpaper covered box is the perfect display to sell the flowers out of, too!

I bagged up over 100 packs of flowers. What a nice feeling, to have this done and ready to take up to Omaha for the "Market Faire" night!

But don’t worry about me, I am not giving up ALL my beloved blooms!! I still seem to have plenty….

The cabinet is full of hats waiting to be harvested.

And is is really surprising how many roses will fit in one jar.

This terrarium is my solution for keeping small flowers handy for artwork at my desk. It held an awful lot.

Here is the before photo of the container. It has plexiglass sides, so isn’t heavy. I might empty out the flowers and take it with me to Silver Bella to use as a display to sell something or another out of.

All of these "befores" are now sprayed silver, with a hint of iridescent paint over that.  The teeny jewelry box will get a further makeover. For that one, the silver paint is just the beginning. And I might make a fairy to put inside the dome.

A Bella-riffic fairy, someone all silvery and glittery!

While I had the spray can out, I put a coat of shiny silver on this previously black shelf from the Goodwill store. Sugarwigns and I found it there yesterday for $5.95.

The best thing about this shelf?? It folds up!!

It will be a good display piece, to fold up and slide under the seat to take to the sale.  My pal, Heather is flying in to KC to stay with me (along with Natasha) and drive up to Omaha together.  Heather will also be a vendor, so I offered to bring up some display pieces for her too.  When you are shipping your goods out, like she is, it is hard to figure out an attractive and simple set up to sell them from.

I promised her I’d have plenty of stuff for us to use.

Beyond spray painting, bagging blooms, and babysitting for a fairy girl, I haven’t accomplished much. I’ve been drawing on some Scrabble letters, just because it is mindless and easy to do.

I guess I am worried about Sugarwing’s little family and hoping they can keep together.  Its hard to concentrate on artwork, while my heart is breaking over their problems.

So, I’ve been working on projects that I can do while fretting.  I’m doing some Etsy listing, and added a few things today.

Isn’t this bow cute? It’s plastic and is flocked. I listed a handful of these and some matching roses. 

They are all from the box of goodies and birdies I bought from Beth. (I’ve priced them at 6 for $3)

While packing up posies, I thought I should add some to my shop too.

It just occurred to me to add a cute flocked rose and bow to the Sweet September Prize Pack, so I took a little break and went to snap this photo. 

Along with the flocked pieces, there is a glass sugar and creamer set from the auction last week, a sheer white apron from the flea market, and a cruet  bottle , that I’ve added a moon charm to.

All comments all month count.

Oh, my, I just went to Beth’s blog to add a link and ran into something quite bizarre!  Canning Karla is there as a Kansas Belle.  Freinds with photoshop are dangerous to have.

On a sad note, have you heard about the Nie Family tragedy? I cant’ even write about it, it is so sad.

Kim is raising money to help out, and I am donating this china shard necklace. If you want to bid on this or any other item in the auction, please go visit Kim and help out!

Since I have been selling Halloween themed kits and flowers, I thought I should make something with the stuff myself before the supplies were all gone! 

This wallpaper reminded me of the walls of a haunted house, and the piece of jewelry looked like a spider web, so that was the basis for the whole piece.

sold, thanks

The brooch was too shiny, even though it was old, so I aged it with black, then drew a spider web around it on the Victorian photo album mat.

Everything on this collage is old, except the photo, and it is a copy of an old cabinet card that I tinted and added a jaunty witch’s hat to. The hat is cut from old black velvet ribbon.

"Twilight Dreams" is available on Etsy.

I doubt if I will make much more in the way of Halloween goods. I am going straight from summer to Christmas and getting ready for my vendor booth at Silver Bella.

Most of this week has been spent making wallpaper journal kits for Silver Bella and for Somerset Life.  I sent a box of them to Jenny Doh yesterday, and wrapped up the rest today.

I’m pretty proud of myself for getting organized and making tags! Of course, I have Beth to thank for that.

I was freaking out about how much I had to do to be set up for this event, and she calmed me down and told me to focus on getting something that would be for sale packaged and ready for the booth and I would feel better.

She was right! I made up labels and packets of embellishments to go along with the journals, then figured out a way to attach the packet to the book, so shoppers would know they were a set.

When I made the books, I picked a color theme for each, and filled it with old papers and then bound them together.

I tried to leave plenty of work for the artist who purchases one, yet still make them pretty as is.  It was a fine line on some of them.

Its hard for me to stop once I get to foofing….

There aren’t nearly enough journals made  up yet. Well, at least I hope I will sell more than a handful!

Instead of spending time making up more journals, I stopped after tagging all the ones that were complete.

Since I wanted finished, tagged products, set to go, I worked on bagging flowers up. What self control! It would have been so much more fun to make a few more books and piddle around with pretty papers.

I made the tags from some cuddlebugged wallpaper, then used it as a background for the flowers and the journals both. I will keep this paper as my theme for all the tags I make up for Silver Bella.

The back of the tag is the sheet music that Phyllis gave to me, that reads, "The Belles of Kansas Waltz".

I bought this toy trunk at a flea market for $1, and plan to fill it with bags of millinery flowers. I might need something bigger, not sure yet… Well, it would be NICE to think I needed more bags of flowers. I hope to sell a lot, at least!

Thank you, to everyone who left kind messages about Sugarwings and her family. Looks like they might not move in! I’d be soooo happy if my son and the Hippy Chick  keep their home intact and raise their  little fairy girl together.

Keep your fingers crossed for them all! 

If you remember, last time we saw these bottles, they weren’t looking so good….

I soaked and soaked them, using the denture cleaner with the foaming bubbles. No, that is a toilet bowl cleaner that has foaming bubbles, isn’t it? But the denture tablets do foam up and are supposed to bubble off the grime. 

Well, they didn’t do a bad job at all, but there were still some oogey places left, and I grabbed a handful of gravel and swished it around inside and that took care of it.  I got a lot of good advice about rice and vinegar, which I think I will use next time instead.

The bottles  didn’t have to be perfect, I wanted them to still look old, not brand new, so I was happy with the way they were still a bit cloudy, (but clean.)  I added some doodads to a couple of them already.

The pink ballerina picks and tiny stoppered pots also got a make over.

I broke the pick off the dancer, and poked the stub into a hole I had made in the cork, added glue to hold it in place, then decided to add a mother of pearl button for stability. I think it looks like moon glow behind her.

One of the hand blown glass vials got the same treatment for its cork, but this time, I covered the front of the button in old wallpaper.

The 2nd vial  has a cork aged with paint and ink, then topped with a rhinestone.

Both are filled with shiny objects, such as more rhinestones, crystals, beads, etc. plus some words cut from old sheet music about dreams or fairies.   

Both bottles are tied onto hand dyed silk ribbon that Heather gave to me, so they can be worn as pendants.  Lou Wanda and Lou Cinda are modeling them for now, while I decide what to do with them.

I think that if used properly, they could be good for granting wishes…. I just need to figure it out.

Sunday was Sugar and Creamer Day. Well, not really, but that seems to be what it turned into.  I went to an auction with Beth and ended up buying a few glass S&C’s.  I was buying box lots and these were in them along with the stuff I wanted.

(this photo doesn’t even show all of them)

Hey– I have a BRILLIANT idea!  How about if I give away a sugar and creamer set for my September giveaway?

I can fill them up with something too.  More details later for my "Sweet September Prize Pack".

I also bought a dozen or so more dirty little bottles to soak, and this pretty hand painted compote as well as some old trophies. Lately, I have been on a trophy buying kick. I don’t have a firm plan on what to do with them all yet, but eventually, I will come up with something. Maybe I will just award myself one every once in a while when I need a boost.  It would probably feel good to win a nice trophy.

Speaking of feeling good- I think Twinkle might be in love. Well, lets hope. This is Teddy, her beau.  She is staying at his house for a few days while they plan a family together. 

Which means that I would have puppies due the week of Silver Bella.  Hmm, bad timing, huh? But I want puppies, so I’ll make it work somehow! 

Do you think the hotel would notice if a dog was giving birth on my pillow while staying there?

Or would Pam Garrison mind if Twinkle had a puppy or two under the table during one of her classes?

I would promise to give the litter Silver Bella themed names.

At the auction on Sugar and Creamer Day, I mean, Sunday, I finally found just the right vessel for my 50 ballerinas that were a birthday gift from Beth on my 50th  in May.

Well, now it is only 49, Sugarwings has one that she uses to decorate her play dough cupcakes.   But that doesn’t mean that I lie about my age and tell people I am only 49 ballerinas old. I live up to being 50.

Fifty, really is a pretty good thing, I am liking this age.

Besides bubbling bottles clean, and then decorating them, I have been cleaning out closets in the cottage.

Sugarwings and her Daddy are moving in with us part time.  It is a sad occasion, I was hoping that my son could make it work with his cute little hippy chick.

But for now, the fairy grand baby and my little boy will be staying here with me.

Which means, my life will change a bit. I have Sugarwings over a lot now, but living here is different.

If I don’t answer all your comments and emails, it won’t mean that I am not enjoying reading them.

It will mean I have a few minutes on the computer before I have to go chase down a two year old fairy running abound and getting into stuff.

And if Twinks starts a family, there will the pitter patter of LOTS of tiny feet around here that I will be chasing.

Not a lot of big changes will be happening though. I still plan on posting a lot, because I can’t stop myself for one thing, I tend to have way, way too much to say.

Also, I will be selling on Etsy, and on Lollishops when it opens.

Here is a small Halloween craft pack made with the very last of my Halloween colored blooms!  I have two of these left they are only $5, and include 3 wallet sized Halloween pictures. sold

This is my last "deluxe" Halloween craft pack.  All of my orange and black flowers are sold or packed to be sold. I kept enough to make a couple project for myself, and thats that.

I just love this one, see the title of the sheet music? "The Ghost of the Goblin Man." And doesn’t the photo look ghostly itself?

This one is $22, but it is jammed full of lots of vintage supplies.

I want to thank all of you who came by my Etsy shop and bought up all my flower packs!

I still have 3 of this $9.00 pack left too.

  And please, do continue to comment, I’ll still be here and will read each and every one of them and will answer as many as I can!

sold

Why am I wasting my time? I don’t know why I am not creating much, piddling seems to be all that I am doing.  Nothing really constructive, just goofing around.

I glittered up the chalk ware dorky and gave her a pearl crown and matching chocolate pearl eyes, then made a collar and dog tag for her with ribbon and part of an old earring.

The glue is still wet, she isn’t really foaming at the mouth.

While shopping in Beth’s Bargain Basement, I found some cute doll and baby clothes.

And – ultimate bargain!! – they were  a gift for Sugarwings. I thought I was buying them for $1 each, which is a pretty good deal in itself, but she just gave them to us.  Beth is generous with stuff like that. 

Plus she took an IOU for the stuff I did buy, I’d forgotten my check book-oops.

Not that it was a waste of time to play with the new dresses, but really, how high on my priority list should playing with doll clothes be?

Especially when Sugarwings isn’t even here.  If she was, she’d be wearing this blue cutey, it looks like it would fit her.

But lately, all she wants to do is sculpt with play dough or paint. I can’t convince her to put on a pretty dress and play tea party with me and Twinkle.  She is obsessed with paint. I think I am beginning to understand how my husband feels when I lock myself into the studio to paint  and won’t come out.

This morning, I puttered around at a few garage sales, even though nothing in the newspaper looked all that interesting, and when I got there and saw them in person, they were even worse than described.

I spent a few dollars and got a couple little things with potential, though.  I picture this pink poodle all foofy with glitters and goobers.   She will be a poodle diva soon.

And the birds can be glittered, maybe one can nest in the crocheted basket?

But the bows, oh my, those are really, really nice as is!  They were 50cents for all three.

One garage sale had stacks of sheet music.  They were going for 50 cents each, but I always ask what the volume buying price is before I shop.

I was able to buy 25 for 25 cents each.

The deep colors are great on this one, but don’t you think that the woman is a bit scandalous to be wearing PANTS??  Of course, the cover does say she is the Heavenly Sinner" 

More rich colors on this one, but the lady seems sad. She must be waiting home alone while her man is chasing after that harlot wearing pants.

This cover is my favorite. As much as I loved the saturated colors of the first two, these soft and dreamy shades are more my style.

This assortment of stoppered bottles came free in the pink poodle mug.

Two are hand blown glass and I am not sure what their real purpose is.  One was filled with peppermint oil that I poured into the trash, and now my whole studio is scented with mint.

These can be re-made into fairy dust containers, don’t you think?

These little picks might be my best find of the day.

And of course, the best are the 3 pink ballerinas.  I am really attracted to pink ballerinas.  Well, that didn’t sound the way I meant it. Not that there is anything wrong with that.. I just meant the vintage plastic variety. Lets not start any gossip about what goes on here at Karla’s Cottage, OK?

There were a few mermaids in the bunch too.  I wanted to be a mermaid when I was little.  I knew I could never be a ballerina, because I am more than slightly clumsy and have no dancing skills. But for some reason, I thought I might have a shot at being a mermaid someday.

Now, these girls  aren’t picks, I wonder, are they cake decorations?

Keping with my day of puttering around and not really accomplishing much, I decided to clean these bottles from the flea market. Carol and I have plans for a group project with a few bottles and pumpkin heads.

Sounds odd, but when our magazine article comes out in the next issue of Romantic Country, it will  make sense.

First I soaked them in hot water.

Then, I dropped in denture cleaning tablets.

Still dirty. So I dropped in a few more.  The bottles were pretty cheap, but I spent $4 on the denture cleaner. 

They aren’t looking much better yet, so I will let them soak over night. I’ve heard this will work, but who knows.

Between the denture tablets and the peppermint oil, my studio smells like a dentist office.

TO BE CONTINUED

(OK, now you have to picture the voice of a soap opera announcer- or can you picture a voice? I must mean, imagine the voice-)

Will the bottles ever become clean?

Will Karla ever get the minty fresh scent of peppermint oil out of her studio? Or will Karla hear dentist drills in her dreams tonight from the over powering smell?

Will the chalk ware Dorky’s apparent rabies cause it to attack Karla’s toes as she works at her desk?

Will the scandalous woman in pants steal the husband of the daydreaming lady?

Will Karla quit goofing off with piddly projects and get any work done? Or will she sprout a tail and swim off with some pink ballet dancer?

Scrabble letters seem to be popular to work with, but I have never really used them. Recently, I was given a bagful, and thought I should see what I could use them for.

So, I just drew on a few with ink pens and will use the game pieces as accents in the swap bags I am making up, matching up the letters to each person’s name.

It was a quickie and fun thing to do and now I am looking for all sorts of places to use these tiles!

I added one to this aqua and purple tag that I made for a friend whose name begins with "P".

While I had the tags out, I finished off a few that I had started at Beth’s on Tuesday.

I was experimenting with her cuddlebug,  and embossed a few tags and some vintage wallpaper.

And, I figured it was time to start being inspired by the "Pre Bella, Get Inspired, Get Acquainted Swap" and use some of the stuff I received!

Heather had this ballerina on a card she sent to me, so I cut it out and glued it to the tag I made at Beth’s.  Dark ink around the figure really makes it look shadowed and 3-d, doesn’t it?

The flowers on this one and previous tag are from Holly. The velvet ribbon is from Andrea.

I was trying to do a trick that Beth uses a lot, with gluing bits of wallpaper into a  kind of crazy quilt look.  The two tags with the green ruffle are listed on Etsy, the other two will be soon…. if I can get organized and get it done, that is. 

Down in Beth’s Bargain Basement, I found this glass doored cabinet and decided to switch it out for the robin’s egg blue child’s hutch that I had been using as a glitter cabinet. This white one is more convenient. 

And now, I can give the hutch to Sugarwings, since I bought it for her to use in the first place. She says "MINE" every time she sees it, so I think she wants it.

Have you ever tried Martha Stewart’s glitter glue? It is 25% off at Michaels this week, so I bought a jar.  I got the kind with the brush attached to the lid, like  a little kid’s paste pot. It reminded me of the first day of school and the joy of dipping into a fresh jar of paste.  Seems like a fitting thought for the first week of September.

I am extremely happy with the stuff. The brush was fantastic for getting in and out of the crevices of the birds and roses I was glittering up.

And finally, I got the swap goodies packed up!

Here is a picture of all the gifts together, ready for the box. 

I added a few more things:

a bag of buttons

some cuddlebug tags

an old earring

chocolate

and the scrabble initials

  Everyone was so generous with the postage, I wanted to add some weight to the boxes!!

If you’d like to see all the photos of the swap goods, I have started a flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/876636@N23/pool/

Well, back to taping up packages.   

Progress! So far, I have 3 books assembled. It takes a while, because I am embellishing each page, and all are a little different.

I’ve made two multi colored, pastel books with lots of glitter for a friend’s daughter and for Sugarwing’s birthday gift. (hers will be laminated, because she is only two).  And one with all pink backgrounds for a gift I will give to the friend I am throwing a baby shower for tomorrow night.

Just in time to make a ruffle on this heart, I got a box in the mail from Heidi, full of goodies, including this pretty pink crepe paper.

Its sure fun to win a giveaway, even better when it is something that you really have a use for!  Thanks, Heidi!

On the 2 books I mentioned for the  older girls, there is a lot of glitter, all the wings are "sugared".

But on the 3rd book, for another friend’s expected new baby, I’ve left off the loose glitter, and only used Stickles, since it is not going to flake at all. 

For the text page opposite of the picture where Sugarwings is holding a magic wand, I made a wand to tie to the page.

And on the page with the tea party painting, there is an invitation to come to a party, "in the playroom, after nap time".

I haven’t used my treasured vintage papers on these books, they are more scrapbook style. But I’d love to make a book that is all old stuff for the embellishments, just for me!

Beth and I have plans to get together and make ourselves  each an embellished book, so I am sure those will be full of ephemera and special things.

But first, I have a job to do.  I have written magazine articles here and there, and consider it a hobby. A very fun hobby, but not a real job.

I take the jobs as they come, and don’t really push it.  If something interesting comes up, I consider myself lucky, but I don’t try to do this full time at all.

But, when it rains it pours!!

First, I have the inquiry from "Where Women Create" (not for sure, of course, just an inquiry, and I wouldn’t be the writer, or stylist on this one)

Then, Phyllis Goldstein, editor of many Harris publications asked me to do an article about a romantic bedroom. I’m guessing she’ll use this for Romantic Country and I’ll get to work with that Sweetheart, Fifi again.

So, I suggested my own, that I just redid recently.

Trouble is, I have to have the pictures and story done by August 25!!! Oh my.

My husband is home this week, I have a mess, a party, Sugarwing’s birthday, her Hippy Chick Mommy’s birthday, and whatever happened to my pact with myself to list something on Etsy everyday??

I need to get my friend, Diane (who shot the fall party pictures that Carol and I did for the next issue of Romantic Country) out here with her camera and equipment next week.  She says she’ll fit me in.

I’m lucky that I can spend a day with a good buddy while actually doing a job. It feels more like playing that working!

Phyllis also talked to me about some Valentine’s photos Diane and I did 2 years ago.

The last time I had an antique sale at Valentine’s Day, I had Diane come over and photograph some of the displays.

Here are some snippets, I can’t show you the whole picture, yet.

The story will be "What is your Valentine’s Decorating Style?"

I came up with that idea because the three displays are so very different, I didn’t know how to tie them together, so decided to write how to tips to achieve these three looks:

Whimsical and Fun

Vintage Cottage

Glamorous Elegance

I think I’ll enjoy writing this one! Trouble is, it is due Sept. 14th, and I have a trip and house guests planned. Oh well, writing usually goes fast once I have an idea, and these photos are already done and ready.

And I am not complaining, just trying to figure out how to get it done.  Whenever I do an article, I always figure it could be the last one I do, so I do my best to make it enjoyable and memorable. I know how lucky  I am to have these jobs dropped in my lap.

Well, time to get Sugarwings, she offered to help me bake cupcakes today. First I need to de-glitter myself from making all these books. or we’ll have some shiny sprinkles on those cupcakes. 

Remember my big plans to have a catered party for my 50th? Well, with the spur of the moment idea to go to DC, I ran out of time to plan  a big shindig and decided to change it to a mini party, kind of a girls night at my house.

I wore my ballerina fairy tiara and my jammies.  I think that now that I am 50, I can be eccentric.  Or at least be excused for being eccentric.

I kept the food simple, lots of Costco ready to go appetizers.   Here is the menu:

Crab Cakes

Quiche

Cheesecake

Cream puffs

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Olive Tampanade and bruschetta

veggies and fruits and dips

My flower beds are full of viburnum, so I picked a couple vases full of those, and added a rusty chandelier with tea light candles  for the centerpiece.

  Beth and I found this light fixture at the flea market last week for $4, I think I might just keep it on the table for a while.  I like the simplicity of it. 

Maybe I had my new camera out a bit too much???

You know your friends care about you when you get all your favorite obsessions, I mean collectibles, as gifts!  

My friend, Shanna, who is a stained glass artist, tumbled some glass for me to use to make stepping stones. Plus filled a cute pink tote with craft supplies, treats and GLITTER.

They all chipped in on a generous gift certificate to the garden center, along with seed packs and these cement flower markers.

For each of them, I made some party favors. Pretty little bottles (Beth  had bought a few hundred in a box lot last week at an auction and gave me a ton of them to use) decorated up and filled with a note.  Each note granted them the help of a guardian fairy.

I like to wrap up quotes cut from books, or write a little snippet of something to tuck into presents, and have done that before. I’ve also made a lot of decorated bottles over the years too.

Joy was making similar bottles, hers were filled with fortunes wrapped in sheet music.  I hope I haven’t offended her by making  these bottles as gifts for my party. I put my own twist on them and changed the look.

Blogs are so full of inspiration and beauty, I hope that all of us learn tricks from each other  and that our readers pull ideas for their own lives from the projects we show.

For all of my bottles, I used Vintage Workshop images, burlap, and various charms and doodads I had in my stash of vintage goodness.

I hope all of you are having a lovely Mother’s Day weekend, and  that fairies are watching over you too!

Here are the guardian fairies that Beth and I came up with to stuff the bottles. Some of them, you have seen before, but the list expanded, so I thought I’d reprint it:

·      “Pinkie Sugar Fly” will guard your windows from bugs flying in through tears in the screens

·      “Kitty Flitter Flower” watches over you during cat naps to bring you sweet dreams

·      “Tootsie Twinkle Tulip” is always ready to touch up your toe nail polish before you even notice it was chipped.

·      “Blue Bird Buttercup” sprinkles cookie crumbs for a trail to lead the blue bird of happiness to your door

·      “May Belle Lina” watches out for smudged mascara under your eyes.

·      “Flossy Flutterby” picks spinach or other goobers out of your teeth after meals.

·      “Pearly Pear” keeps an eye out for an earring that is about to slip off your ear, then tucks it back before it drops.

·      “Splenderina” This sparkling little yellow fairy touches your coffee with her magic wand to make it sweet and tasty without any calories

·      “Sweet Pea Tee Pea” checks the bottom of your shoes for trailing toilet paper when you walk out of a public stall.

·      “Blissa Expressa ” will speed you through the checkout stands at the grocery stores by magically opening up an extra cashier line for you to be first in.

·      “Dee Essella Delight” always keeps your Internet connection fast.

·      “Zippy Zooma Zella” will watch out for radar speed traps and whisper to your toes to lighten up on the gas pedal before you are caught speeding

“Spamicka Sparkle Sparrow” keeps the junk cleaned out of your email inbox and full of sweet messages from people you love to hear from instead.