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While in Texas at Round Top, I'm going to visit the legendary Sweet Tee of Garden Antiques Vintage and mingle at her extraordinary blog party!  Yee Haw!    I think I'm more excited about meeting everyone than I am by the lure of the flea market. 

There is a contest at the party for the best presentation of your appetizer. I hadn't planned on doing anything, since we planned  the trip at the last minute and I had no time for getting any of my regular stuff done let alone make up a contest entry.

But during my Bella party on Saturday,some of us were making  crowns from 20 gauge black wire.  I foofed mine up with white millinery flowers, velvet leaves, and this cookie press piece that had a Lonestar on it. (well, it looks like a Lonestar to me!)  Then, when I looked for something to make a flag with, I saw the words "the Texas Company" staring up at me from an old magazine page laying on my desk! How perfect.

That clinched it, this was going to go to Teresa as a hostess gift.

I even had some rusty old, toy garden tools to add to it. I wired them to broken chunk of wooden trim and added her blog title on a little banner to the front of it all.

It still didn't dawn on me that it was more than a hostess gift until we were talking about the crown another bella had made and saying hers would be a nice cloche.

Then- Yee Haw!  I realized mine could be a cloche too.  So, I set it on a pretty, vintage plate and now I'm not going to the party empty handed.  (well, I would have brought some wine, at least, but now I can bring a plate of treats in style)

I have no illusions of winning. I've seen Lisa's creation- and it deserves a big Yee Haw!  And I hear that everything is bigger in Texas, and that the displays will be over the top. Can't wait to see them all!

Meeting other bloggers is such a treat.  I always feel like I already know them when we get together, there is so much to talk about. 

I wish I could meet the lady that made these goodies. But I don't think a trip overseas is going to pop up like the Texas venture did.

Before my trip South, I received these lovelies in the mail from Dorthe. I fell in love with her driftwood fairy and had to buy it from her Etsy shop. I was pleased and surprised to see just how reasonable the postage was for it!  She also made a giftie to send along, this sweet blue pillow.   And all wrapped in the most pretty way.  Don't you just love her?

and you'll get 20% off of every purchase!

I'm going to Round Top!!!  Yee Haw, Y'all!! 

This is the best kind of trip. Beth emailed me out of the blue a few days ago and said, wanna go? And so off we go. We are meeting up with blog friends, Jodie, Lisa, Suzanne and Charlene.  And best of all, we get to attend Sweet Tee's Big Blog Party Hoe Down.

So, of course, instead of doing all the dozens of things I should be doing before I go out of town, I sat down and made myself a necklace to wear to the party.

And I made a book.  I know I shouldn't have, I had other things to do. But after making all the swap pages (previous post) and having such a good time with them, I was dying to make more. 

The interior of the book is made quite a bit like the swap pages, with the crazy quilt wallpaper patterns.  I tried out  this Sealah No Sew tape instead of glue on some pages and it is wonderful stuff.

I also used it on these cuffs, and was amazed at how much easier they were to put together without icky, gluey fingers all stuck together and making a mess. 

You can get some from my pal, Kay Ellen. Her mom is the inventor!!

Most of my day was spent puttering around not doing what I needed to do. I got into the salon for a hair makeover.  Which means about 2-1/2 hours of sitting  and reading a magazine and thinking about all the stuff I should be doing if I wasn't too vain for the Texans to see my dark roots.

Like it matters. From what I hear, I'll be sweating like a pig and keeping the sun off with a hat the whole time.  At least I'll have a pretty necklace on, and no dark roots hiding under the hat!

Do you ever take a photo of yourself in a mirror? I sure felt goofy doing it and look kinda goofy too.  But, my husband is out of town and Sugarwings was going to be the only person to see my new hair do while it still looks salon fresh!  My hair rarely looks cared for! I needed to document it.

I did make time to wrap up the packages that needed to be sent out before I left for the Lonestar State.  And I figured out how to do discount coupons in the Boutique!!

If you type in the word "Roundtop" (one word, capitalized) you will receive 20% off all purchases in the shop until Sept. 30th. I kind of need to pay for the spur of the moment trip somehow….

Although, honestly, every corner of my studio looks something like this. What makes me think I need to buy anything at a flea market any way????  I told Lisa that I am coming as a tourist not a shopper, but she doesn't believe me and is gearing up to wrassle me over the best deals.   She has also thrown down the gauntlet and challenges me to find a millinery confection for under $10.

I think she doubts my hat whispering skills! But I'm not going for hats.  I'm going for the atmosphere and to hang with blog buds. I'm still feeling shaky from watching Hoarders.

My teeny Agnes Rosebud still has not grown into that big name. She is so tiny that she walks right through the pickets of our fence, so I can't leave her alone.  I'm taking her to Beth's house for the weekend to play with Button. Beth's husband is one of her favorite people in the whole world, so she'll be thrilled.

In Kansas, the sparkling rhinestones are ripe for the picking. I wonder how plentiful they will be in Texas?

Well, I've frittered most of my day away, between vanity, playing with Sealah Tape, and running around the park pretending to cast magic spells on Sugarwings.  I need to go and pack. Please forgive me if I don't return comments while away, but also please leave one, I love to hear from you!

And each comment enters the drawing for a gift from the Romantic Gothic Ghost class.

Oh, before I forget! Have you seen this yet??? A party in honor of Practical Magic! How could I miss this one?  Please join me, I'll be writing my post in advance for Saturday's link party. 

I should be feeling pruny after all this time submerged in Mermaid land!  But I am still just loving it, and enjoying unpacking all the projects and gifts.  This is my pillow from Holly's class.  Beth finished the stitching for me, since I am a crappy sewer. We traded, I painted the face of her mermaid.   We also traded with packing, she packed all the sewing things, I brought painting supplies and paper clay.  That helps when it comes to getting ready to go, and making it all fit into a suitcase.

I was happy to paint the face of her mermaid. I LOVED this class.  Here is my girl.

This one is Beth's. 

A few other people asked me to help them out too. I think I did about a dozen or so. 

Jenny Hernadez outdid herself, she made each of us one to paint, plus made all the stuff we needed to create one of our own. It didn't have time to dry to finish, that is why she put two in the kits for us.

I decided to go with a Grammy/Sugarwings set for my two.  The one that I got to mold has a lumpy, grammy body.  And a hysterectomy scar, complete with belly pooch.

As well as a saggy old lady butt.

My larger one still is not all finished, I've got some work to do on the box, I'll cover it in matching wallpaper to the other one.

Now, I've got to put away the paper clay mermaids and go play in the water myself. We are off for a trip out on the lake with some friends.

 

What a week! Its hard to get back to reality today after such a pampering time in California. First at Kim's over the top, wonderful event, then a few days with my husband at Rancho Las Palmas. 

By the way, if you have heard that Kim throws the best art events and pays attention to every little tiny, pretty detail of the weekend, its true. No exaggerating. She's got some SKILLS. Mad skills.

Plus, she's fun.

The hotel she chose for the art-a-thon couldn't have been more perfect.  And the teachers? I learned something from each class.  I'll have photos of the classes later on.

I grinned so much that my face hurt. And I tend to ruin a lot of people's photos by closing my eyes. Jessi says its because I smile too big.  But there was no stopping that.  So, there were LOTS of times we had to take and retake group shots because I had my eyes closed. Me, every time, no one else.

But I had a lot to smile about!

Not only did I  hang with old blog friends, get to meet new friends, and learn lots of good tricks from the generous teachers, I was on a winning streak!

I won 2 drawings during the event itself, plus got a giftie for answering one of Julie's questions during a game.  Then, while at our Long Beach/Orange bus tour and shopping extravaganza, I won two door prizes, including this glam apron. Perfect for Silverbella, huh???

Then, I found out that I am a winner in the Where Blogger's Create party thrown by Karen Valentine.  Everyone has been telling me to go and buy lottery tickets while I was on a hot streak of good luck.

Jo Packham chose three winners from the studio show and tell to be featured in her magazine.  I was wowed by Laughing with Angels and am so glad that she won, she had my vote.  If there had been voting. Her place is dreamy.   And there is non stop vintage goodness at Old Grey Mare. I'm honored to be in their company.

Yep, I'm pretty lucky. Not just for the prizes, those are just the icing on the cake.  And I do love cake.

I'm pretty lucky to have a handsome, funny, lovable husband who whisked me off to a romantic getaway.

He's not bad on a daily basis either.  

The weather in California was perfect. Even in the desert, it was just as the cliches say, a "dry heat" and not as sweltering as it is here at home in the Midwest.

And everything is so pretty out there.  This is a house we walked by while heading to the beach.

The food was great, and everything I ate was just as pretty as a picture.

The stores in the city of Orange had me wanting to move to CA.  And while everyone was warning me that I wouldn't like the prices, honestly, I didn't think they were that bad.

At the Long Beach flea market, I found good deals on old hats. This one, covered in pale pink roses was only $10. 

But my best deal of the day was a duffle jammed full of Ariel paraphenillia for only $20.  Sugarwings is having a birthday soon, and this will be  the theme for the party.  Kim gave me handfuls of shells left over from the tablescapes, and I have plenty of other mermaid decor from my projects, prizes, and gifts.

My husband was fully prepared to have this Ariel duffle as his carry on too, but we were able to stuff it all into his golf bag.

I'll leave you with some photos of a few of the wonderful people that I got to play with.  I wish I had photos of more of them.  (Nice to meet you, Kathleen!!)

This is Joy, who co-hostessed a martini gathering for us.

Talented Kay Ellen and my buddy, Beth

Cynthia co-hostess of the cocktail bash, sassy Jessi, and baby doll Sherry

Generous Valerie (who I wish I had gotten to know up at Silverbella! I hope to spend time with her there this year)

The beauty queen, Andrea

Classy Charlene

Danielle and Cheryl, two of the nicest people you could ever meet. 

Majia who regally held court in the lounge.

And I was so happy to meet Karin! She is every bit as nice and as funny as she is on her blog. 

And these two aqua marine mermaid queens are Jenn and Christine

I will be away from my computer for a few days, but have some fresh posts scheduled for while I am away. I won't be able to answer comments, and all packages will be mailed on Monday the 14th.

But please do leave a comment if you'd like to be entered in the JUNE GIVEAWAY.

Sugarwings and I were happy to have an afternoon with the pups on Monday after unpacking from the weekend trip to Omaha. A friend found this hand made vintage princess gown at a thrift shop and our fairy princess had it on all evening, doing plenty of curtsies to the puppies and calling herself "my highness".

Remember that I had prizes for the Oz names that readers entered for the Name the Puppy contest? Well, since I changed Glinda's name to Aggie Rose, I thought I should send a prize to my cousin Paula who suggested the name Agnes, after our Grandma Downey.  When she first suggested it, I told her that I wouldn't waste that name on a pup we were sending on to another home. But since we decided to keep one, I just had to use it and sent her a little "dog tag" as a thank you.

There hasn't been much creating time lately, with the busy weekend away, and now a trip to Indiana to see my sisses.   Sugarwings, her daddy. and his loved one are coming along, but we aren't sure about the pups. My Sissy says they are welcome, but I'm afraid that 4 babies might be a bit overwhelming for her.

We're not sure if we can leave them behind, though…  Sugarwings and I are slightly obsessed with them.  You might have noticed.

I certainly cannot leave them at a kennel.  A friend could come by to check on them twice a day and Ryan will be here to check on them at night, and dump their litter box. I mostly worry about them being lonely, those guys are used to attention all day long.

My husband thinks I am a bit silly over the whole thing, but I take the puppy responsibility very seriously.  Having a litter of babies is a commitment to nurturing them until they go to their new homes as well as finding just the right homes for them.

One will leave next Tuesday and another goes to Beth soon.  Of course we
will still get to keep our teensy Agnes Rose, having her will help us
when we have to say goodbye to the others.  There is still one available if you are interested… Did I mention that they are litter box trained????

While we had Sugarwings in Omaha at the zoo, circus and water park, her Hippy Chick Mommy took advantage of the time on her own and took a trip to a music festival.  When her mommy got back tonight, that fairy girl flung herself into her mom's arms, she was so happy to see her. 

Sometimes the best part of a trip is getting home.

Today, I made a get well card with a fairy portrait for a little girl who is having spinal surgery this week.  I wrapped up one of my Grumpy Fairy books as a gift for her too.  She's 10, but I think she still likes fairies. Heck, I'm almost 52, and I sure like them.

Their eyes aren't open yet and that worries Sugarwings. I caught her taking a blue marker, preparing to draw eyes on one of the pups to help them out. 

Sparkle has been hanging out with me a bit more than usual since Twinkle has her paws full.  Normally, Sparkle spends her time on a pillow with Bookie, both are elderly. She is blind and mostly deaf, so isn't too adventurous, but this time of year makes her feel young again, and she's happy to be outdoors sniffing around while I do yard work.

Spring makes me feel younger too, until AFTER I'm done with the yard work. My aches and pains let me know that the youthful feeling was just an illusion. About now, I'm wishing I could crawl up on that pillow with the old dogs.

We've had some drama today.  We hired (and gave a down payment to) some tree trimmers.  Well, weeks later, no work was done.

They finally showed up last week, and trimmed this tree down to one limb. Trouble is, that is the limb that hangs precariously over our roof, the one branch we wanted gone before the next storm did it for us.

They have not been back, but the sheriff and the guy who owns the equipment they left here came to see us today.

It all ended OK (so far), with my husband (on the left) hiring the lift's owner to help him finish that branch the tree guys left.   My husband loves to play with his chain saw.  This is new though, he's never taken out a branch over our cottage, normally, he cuts firewood out in the Fairy Forest.  I'm terrified of the whole process, heights and chain saws both are big on my list of things to avoid at all costs.

But, I'm lucky they don't frighten him, this tree needs to be fixed and we are already out a few hundred bucks.  But a little fear wouldn't hurt him, he worries me up there. I over heard the lift operator call him a mad man. 

I own a small hedge trimmer that is battery powered and can hack away at shrubs and small branches with that myself, but always feel like I am in danger while doing it.  There is no way I'd pick up a chain saw.   I've been known to cut through the cord of my trimmer more than once.  Imagine the damage I could do with a real weapon like a chain saw!

Around town, lilacs are blooming in a magnificent way.  This is the best year I can remember for them.  My own plants are bursting, for the first time in the 20 some years we have lived here.  I kind of thought our old bush was done for, but this year it surprised me.

Its been a productive day, I've wrapped packages of purchases from the Boutique, done a little fairy picture, some yard work, and dealt the sheriff.  Not only that, I got some new items listed in the shop too.

There are a few Peat Pot Fairies in there, as well as some kits to make your own. 

Or you could just sign up as a follower on Google Friend Connect and be entered to win one...

Right now, I'm going to go out and make sure my husband and his chain saw are still doing well.  And the roof of my house.

If all is safe, I'm going to get a few more things listed, that is unless I've curled up on that pillow with the old dogs to recuperate from the yard work.

I'll leave you with some pictures of what's new.

The snow and cold are starting to get to me.  Even though we aren't snowed in anymore, the cold itself seems to be freezing my spirit and slowing me down.  This week between Christmas and New Years has such a feeling of limbo to it anyway, with the cold added, I'm kind of out of it and need to get re-focused.   Maybe a good shopping trip is what I need? Some fun, new junk to play with? I feel like I've overdosed on NEW stuff from shopping too much at real stores instead of junk shops and antique malls while buying my family's Christmas gifts.

I did pop into the Lawrence Antique Mall while downtown on the 23rd to pick up a gift certificate, and found this little girl's gorgeous gown for $18! It came with a full slip too, very lacy and lovely.  I can't wait for Sugarwings to wear it!

Or maybe I need to throw a craft day?  My studio is overflowing, so shopping therapy probably is not as smart as craft therapy.  Maybe if I invited some arty buddies over, I could get myself moving. 

Or I could just get my butt in gear and take down some of the Christmas decor and put it away. Then start on taxes.  YUCK! No wonder I don't want to do anything, the stuff that I need to get done is NOT FUN.

Plus, I think I'll leave up my holiday decor for just a bit longer. I got it up late and would like to enjoy it a while.

As a matter of fact, I just hung these snow flakes today!  They are the ones I made from hand crocheted medallions from my late, great, Aunt Caroline.  I mixed a half cup of liquid starch with a hand full of fine glitter, soaked the "snowflakes" in that, then spread them to dry. After they dried, I added some embellishments of millinery, pearls, or crystals to some.

Hmm, I'm thinking calling on my friends for a craft day AND doing some shopping will help. If you need some shopping therapy, please don't forget that I have my Boutique and Etsy shops half price until January first!

 
Here's how the sale works:

1- If you see something you want in the shops, go ahead and pay with Pay Pal like normal. I'll refund your 50% discount.

2- If you need to pay by check, contact me for an invoice and I'll mark your purchases sold before someone else nabs your bargains.

3- If you buy from both shops, I'll combine shipping and send you a postage refund for the extra.

4- Sometimes, multiple purchases from my boutique can cause shipping to go sky high. Don't worry, if it grows too much, I'll refund the overpayment.   If I knew a better way to reset the shipping charges, I'd do it. 90% of the time its fine, but sometimes it seems outrageous. But then, I'm a pretty thrifty shopper myself, so get scared off by some of the shipping charges I see online!

By the way, CAN you get to my shop??? A friend says she cannot open it.  Please, please, let me know if you have issues with it!! Thanks!

Feel free to copy this old card and print it if you'd like to use it in your projects!

Jessi is
having her annual cookie party, but I am busy with Miss Frenchie's
Holiday Broncante this weekend and couldn't bake any cookies! So, green
living recycler that I am, I decided to recycle an older post about some
hand painted cookies. Complete with a baby picture of my Sugarwings, with a big smile on her tiny little face.

Thanks for hosting, Jessi! I'm pre-posting this, since I'll be busy setting up the sale while the party is going on, but I look forward to blog hopping and reading about all the cookie party stories when I get back. That is one of the joys of a virtual party, it never ends!

Which reminds me, I've been thinking about hosting another "What do you LOVE about your Holiday Home?" What do you think? 

Sugarwings Sugarcookies

You add food coloring to clear Karo Corn syrup to make your "paint".

I used coffee stir sticks to mix the colors.

After baking a batch of sugar cookies, I spread white canned icing on one at a time as I was ready to paint them.  If you ice them ahead of time, the icing sets up too hard to paint on.

I dipped a brand new paint brush into the food coloring and started to paint.

For a rose, I used the red food coloring in the clear syrup, and
swirled it around, mixing it with the icing itself, which made some
areas pink.  I went back with a dot of red on my brush to add a center
of the rose.

Using the green and yellow colors, I added leaves and vines.

On some cookies, I used colored sugar sprinkles on the edges. (that also needs to be done while the icing is still soft, not set up)

Keep a glass of warm water handy to rinse the brush out often, it will get clogged up with globs of icing.

After rinsing, make sure you dab off all excess water before dipping into the paint again.

You can also paint direcly onto the cookie, without icing, for  a different look.

I start with the lightest colors first, and add darker ones as I go. 

When you are finished painting, colored sugar lightly sprinkled onto
the cookie is a pretty touch, a little like adding the glitter to a
collage project! 

I didn't have a butterfly cookie cutter, so I free handed the shape
with a knife and cut it out of the dough. I suggest using a cookie
cutter instead!!!!

I like to store my painted

cookies under a glass cake dome, but
before I do, I let them air dry for a couple of hours at least so they
don't stick together.