For the Love of Little Bella Marie...

This little beauty belongs to one of my BBFs (Best Blog Friends).

She is the granddaughter of Debbie from Texas which whom I have come to lean on every morning for my cup of laughs. Knowing how Debbie can still share laughter along side of worry for her little grand~angel Bella Marie is beyond me. The only thing that I can be certain of is that she's letting God take control & little Bella is obeying His commands as every day is a brighter day for her. She was born premature on 3-12-09 and weighed less than one pound. With everyone praying for her, she has received one miracle after another. Truly amazing.

Speaking of amazing things, there is a great group of girls that have rallied together to help make Bella Marie's recovery a little brighter...

At Junk Sistas, there will be a raffle starting May 1st for the most awesome prizes from friends that want to help little Bella Marie and her family.

I for one am included in this rally and I am donating this wonderful gift package...most of which I was lucky enough to find this week while junking with Sandy here in Louisiana...

Package includes:

One unopened 10 yard roll of vintage 5/8" Scarlet Red velvet ribbon imported from Switzerland.

One roll of vintage Supertone piano music paper (for a self playing piano) titled Cecile of the Hesitation Waltz No. 66517

3 sheets from a vintage 1915 Ladies' Home Journal (June) measuring 11X16 and printed on both front and back

12 sheets from a vintage general ledger dating back to 1949 & 1950. Some with handwriting and some blank.

This is not new velvet ribbon...this is VINTAGE OLD STORE STOCK to die for!!!! Looks and feels wonderful!!!!!

The piano roll is in pristine condition with vinyl tab in tact. Box is included.

All of these items are perfect for vintage paper art!!!!

So we need your help. Please click on the link here and follow the directions on how to purchase a raffle ticket(s).

Tickets will go on sale Friday, May 1st.

While you are there, you can find the links to many other blogs who will also be donating wonderful gifts that can be won with your ticket purchase.

There will be no shipping charges as I will ship directly to the lucky winner once announced on June 1, 2009. 

Please be generous as 100% of the proceeds will go to the family of Bella Marie to help cover medical expenses.

Thanks for your help and generosity in advance!

Shop til we drop...

Monday. Driving. Shopping.

Hobby Lobby: 2.5 hours

Worthmore's 5&10: 2.5 hours

Sonic: treat

Dairy Queen: heaven 

Trying not to lose Sandy again: ongoing 

Pierogies: Polish dough pies stuffed with mashed potatoes and cheese and onions that her Mom made. (She brought them frozen in her suitcase!) Yummy! with a little spice added of course!

Trying to keep up with Sandy: not possible

...I need a vacation from my vacation...

Wait until you see what we saw today with Sarah down in beautiful New Roads, Louisiana: priceless

Paging Sandy Marotti...

"Please come to the ticket counter, your party is waiting..."

This is what I heard for almost AN HOUR. Sandy arrived in New Orleans, got off of the plane and...I couldn't find her! Her cell phone wasn't working and I was in a panic! Was she already lost in New Orleans?? Noooo, she wasn't lost, she was just sitting outside of the airport basking in the New Orleans sunshine!!!!

We had a great time yesterday in the Big Easy...here's a few picks...

 

 

 

So these pictures below are to let you girls know that the whole time we were kicking it up in the French Quarter, we were thinking of you and wishing y'all were here...

On Bourbon Street...

And Cafe DuMonde...

and this is what Sandy looked like by the end of the day...

Just kidding (she's going to kill me when she reads this!) tee hee!

We really miss you Pam, Sandi and Geralyn!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday...

I have to tell you, I'm at a loss for words today. For many reasons and they are ALL GOOD...

One ~ Spring break is over and college boy is back at school and at his own apartment. The house is empty and I forgot how nice it was to have him home...even for a little while.

Two ~ The Silver Bella Yahoo group is online and I've been glued to my computer screen because I don't want to miss anything!

Three ~ I will be on vacation next week! Yay! So therefore, in my mind, I don't feel like working this week because I am too excited!

Four ~ Somebody's coming to visit from Pennsylvania! (No, not Dracula!) My sweet friend Sandy that I met at Silver Bella last year is coming down to Louisiana for the first time so I have been busy making a list of things for us to do (and eat). Flea markets, New Orleans, Casino, boiled crawfish and spending a day with  Sarah are must do's. We'll fit everything else in between!

Oh my, I'm realizing that my Wednesday is not wordless after all. Wordless is not one of my traits...

Please feel free to use the image above and have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Sa-weet I tell ya!

I have a sweet sister (Karen) who lives in Texas about 7 hours from me. I might see her once, twice, maybe three times a year if I am lucky. And yet, the miles can never seem to keep us apart because she follows my blog. She checks in regularly from a nearby library as she doesn't have a computer of her own. {So if you see a sweet long anonymous comment with lots of hugs & kisses at the end of it...it's her!}  ;)

She loves everything that I love from vintage to Victorian, from antiques to aprons. And that last word...Apron...lead me to write this post because of her.

I have mentioned her several times before but I really bragged about how sweet she really is here and about how she spoils me, her baby sister. And she did it again. Have you ever heard of Jessie Steele?

Well I never did until now as I am certainly not an apron expert but a huge fan and (semi-collector because I now have 6 aprons!). My first apron was one of my grandmother's when she passed away. It is well worn but I can't ever think of my grandmother without thinking of her wearing that apron. When she passed away, we were able to go to her house and pick up the things we wanted. I headed straight for the kitchen and there it was, still left hanging on the wall near the back door. Oh I could go on and on but I will leave all that for another story one day soon. See how off track I can get???

Back to Karen, my sweet sister. She gave me this wonderful little surprise...a 50's inspired full Kitchen Apron. The print is precious! I took it out of the bag, ironed it and...Oh my gosh...

I have never introduced you to Isabella! Shame on me for not giving ya'll the proper Southern introduction! Well shall we? Here is Isabella donning the sweet little apron Karen sent to me! Isabella is new, straight out of the cardboard box but I love her just as much as she'd be a vintage form. She's my first form and we'll have a lifetime of fun and show & tell together! I feel another story coming on soon!!!!!

Okay, I went off AGAIN!  I am getting back on track ... {sorry} ;)

See how sweet this apron is? Well, I went to the Jessie Steele  site and just died! There were SO many cute aprons! Full aprons, Half aprons, Hostess aprons, Chef's aprons...even the children's aprons to match! And get this...they even have the pot holder/mitts to match too! It's worth taking a look just to see the fabric. They have toile, floral, polka dots, pink roses, damask, cup cakes, candy canes, even snowflakes and more!

I just HAD to share this with ya'll. So please think of me when you find something sweet to share, I'd love love love to hear about it!

Thanks for stopping in and...

Karen? If you are reading this....Thank you again! I love my new apron! Doesn't it just look lovely sweet on Isabella?

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One more thing I want to tell you before Isabella & I go play...

Rachel at Yard Sale Mama is having a giveaway tomorrow (Tuesday) @ 5pm sharp.

Yeah, I know that telling you will shorten my chances of winning and all but it would be mighty nice of you to hop on over and show her some blog love...you just might win something! (& you get to meet my wonderful twin!)

I have NO idea what it is. It's a riddle and I cannot figure it out to save my life but maybe you can. (Personally, I think she's giving away her Christmas tree from last year, but who knows.) 

Oh, and IF you win, you better give me half!       a little? okay...maybe just the bow at least?     Fine then...go go go!   

Wait! One more thing...she's not my REAL twin, but I love her just the same (just in case you were wondering!)         ;)

I'm in Deep...

This has to be the BEST issue yet of  Artful Blogging published by Stampington & Company.  I've read each word, examined every picture and visited every blog so far. I've even left comments on several blogs to let them know that I enjoyed reading about them. Some of which I already follow and others I just had to add to my list! How exciting to be published in one of the greatest magazines out there.

And as for Where Women Create, I'll be honest...I just thumbed through the pictures for now. I'm going to save the actual reading for a rainy day...the studios are simply gorgeous!

And as I was sitting here flipping between the magazines and the computer, I came up with this phrase that I feel combined all of my feelings about blogging into one short sentence:

LIFE is a novel ~ i am the author of the ART i create...

I inserted it under my blog banner as a daily reminder that without life, there is no story and without art, there is no life.

Life and Art ~ they do indeed revolve around each other.

I think she likes it...

 

I made this banner for Pam of Frippery for her birthday. Her birthday is today, April 18th.

I met Pam and her husband Joe Receipts last year in Omaha at Silver Bella.

I had never been, she had never been and I was in the right place at the right time as I sat beside her. She was in my very  first class. Her smile lit up the room and I felt like I had known her forever.

By that night, we were at the hotel bar kicking it up and we just "connected". Her husband is such a sweetie and just joined right in with us girls.

They spoke proudly of their 2 beautiful children~

Oldest son Joe...

And young daughter Sadie...

By the second night, we shopped and had dinner. We talked about family, work, travels and politics...and we still remained friends ;)

I'll be seeing Pam again at Silver Bella in November. I hope to have drinks at the bar and have dinner with her again. I hope to shop with her at Second Chance Antiques and be jealous of the things she found before I did. I hope to be lucky enough to sit beside her in class again.

I am forever thankful of being at the right place at the right time!

Happy Birthday Pam!!!!

Pink & Green Wrap Up {literally}

Well I am just coming off of my pink and green cloud. Well sort of, as I still have everything that I received spread out so I can continue to admire it for a little while before I make my next creations with them!

I just wanted to give you a couple of pictures (well several...or okay, maybe a lot) of what I sent to my swap partner Kelley.

Our lovely swap hostess Sarah of The Gypsy Mermaid called it a pink and green swap. Nothing was mentioned really about craft supplies so I thought I would do something a little different because you know, I tend to bend the rules as I like to do things a little differently.  Okay, I just like to stir things up a bit! ;)

Now work with me here okay? All of the pictures that you see here on this post really do contain essential supplies that everyone needs to further enhance their ability to craft. I am convinced of it. I mean, wouldn't you like to have stuff like this?  Lucky Kelley has ALL of  this now but I'd like for you to join in on the fun too...

So here's my version of the swap story.   Ready?

Well, imagine this...it's raining outside. The forecast didn't call for any bad weather, this must just be a little shower passing through. You just got here...stay. Let's visit. Take your shoes off and relax. I'll just turn on a couple of lamps and light a few candles...

How about some green tea or coffee? Great! green tea it will be. Where did I get that sweet little Lefton China tea/coffee cup & saucer you ask? Oh, I found that at the last yard sale I went to. It was a steal for a quarter and I tell ya, those pink roses just caught my eye! Let's put the water to boil shall we? The tea will be done in no time...

It's alright, pick your feet up and curl up on the couch. Get comfy. I'll get a blanket for you. Here is the latest book from Nora Roberts, don't you just love her?

Well my heart! I can't believe you haven't read any of her books. I tell ya, once you open that cover, it'll be hard to put it down. She's one of my favorite story tellers...

I hear that whistle blowing...the tea is ready! Take this little rose beaded book mark with the lovely cross and just slide it in the book so you don't loose your place. Now there ya have it.

You can continue reading where ya left off after we have tea and chat for a while as I want to tell you about the sweetest friend I met. She lives in Michigan on a beautiful farm full of horses, that's her passion... Horses.

Darn that there tea is mighty good. Talk about it hit the spot. Now where was I...oh yes, her name is Kelley.

Excuse me for one second hun, the phone's ringing, let me get it. {Yes. what? oh no...for how long? Well, we'll just have to make the best of it now won't we. Thank you. See ya in the morning for coffee.}

Sorry about that but my dear sweet neighbor just informed me that the bayou has flooded the nearby bridge and they closed the road 'til the morning. I tell ya, living along the bayou is full of surprises down here in Louisiana. I hope you don't mind staying here for the evening. Go ahead and make yourself at home hun.

It's getting late. I'll go pour you a bath and set you down some clean linens, be right back. Just keep on reading that book, I won't be too long...

Have you been to that new Target lately? Well I went the other day and I found some things there that I ain't never saw before.

Like this bath sponge that's looks like a pretty flower but it's as stiff as a board...until you put it in the water and it turns into silk.

That's what the label says anyway. I never used anything like that before so go ahead, give it a try and tell me what you think. I tell ya, the stuff they come out with. Luxury, that's what they call it. Like what's wrong with the plain 'ole wash cloth?

Well how was your bath? I smell that lavender, ain't nothing like the real thing. Here ya go, I sewed a sachet full of it, comes straight from France, yes it does.

Go ahead and take it, I got some more. Put it with your favorite things, makes them smell nice.           You're welcome.

That rain just ain't lettin' up. Let me know if you would like some more tea. Hope you don't mind the dog snuggled up to you, that's it's favorite blanket you're covered up with.

Well hun, I think I'm gonna call it a night. It's time for me to go pamper myself with all of my goodies now. I hope you enjoy that Nora Roberts, she's a good one. And I want you to tell me all about it in the morning.

Turn off the lights and blow out the candles when you're done...goodnight sweets.

I hope you enjoyed the story. And the pictures. Now you have an idea of what kind of stuff goes through my mind while I blog.