Saturday, July 25, 2009

More Marie Tags

Well this week I received more of my tags from Arielle's Marie Swap. It has been fun coming home to beautiful tags in the mail. So varied an each so wonderfully made. I shared the first to arrive from Sonia Crouse and Beth Jaffe in a previous post. Now I have six more to show you....
I Love the "Queen" tag as I can apply it to me as well as Marie, she also sent me a lovely bonus of beautiful silky seam binding on a little clothespin, from Andrea Tarling Vintage Paper Bella
The lovely large tag is from Sarah Elder, pretty in pink and some "bling" too, My So Called Junky Life
I had to show the back of Sarah Elders'. It is as pretty as the front!
Love this Pink Marie from Debi Huntsman, Life in My Studio and a pretty little floral blue Marie from Jessica Rodarte, Kid's Napping? I'm Scrapping!
Here is a blue Marie from Blanca Medina Magic Moonlight Studio and Arielle Weinstocks' pretty pink Marie Le Vintage
I thought I would show you all of them so far. The one I made and the one from Terri were a personal exchange. So we will have 12 when all said and done.
So far I have 8 tags. I am still waiting for Debra McNutt and Leslie Patton. Hopefully they will appear soon. These tags are so pretty I would have to be hard pressed to ever use them. For now I will take down my birds on the mobile, and replace them with these beauties! Thank You Ladies!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Where Bloggers Create

Here it is "My Studio"
a.k.a. "The Cra(p)ft Room
I am so excited to be a part of this "Where Bloggers Create" event. I do all of my "work" here, and occasionally at a friends home (Hello Terri: http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/ ). Please turn off the player on the bar to the right. Then click on the video and enjoy.
I am so fortunate to have a daughter who is more savvy at all this computer stuff and was able to splice together my before, and after "flip" shots showing the process of renovating my room.
My husband was a dear and helped patch, paint, and put together the shelves. I had posted some of this earlier in the year but here is the before and after.
The Shelves are from "Ikea" they are the Expedit line. The cloth baskets are from Target. I used my Christmas bonus ( a Target card) to buy them. They are the larger baskets, not the 2 for $10.00. The Drawer Unit also from Ikea part of a clearance. Shoe hangers from Target, as well as the kitchen island (Clearance 75% off). I have to admit I blatantly stole the idea of the shelves and island from Donna Downey. Although she obviously has a much larger room (she has two of the large Expedit units), I loved the idea of the basket storage. She uses the smaller baskets, but I wanted to be able to fill them and utilize as much of the cube as I could.
Yes, I create here and as you will see my computer is in this room so I blog here too. I have a camera in my computer and would love to try "virtual" creating with others. I think it would be fun to work on a piece and be able to share with someone at the same time. Come on Terri and Nancy let's go!
Please visit all the people participating.... just click on the tag in the left task bar or here:

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Please Pray With Me for Renee and her Family

Today at 9:30 am Renee's sister Jacquie will have brain surgery to remove the tumor. At the same time her son Sheldon will be having surgery to remove the tumor that is hemorrhaging in his intestines. If two people ever needed prayer and support at this time then surely it is these two. Please join me in sending positive intention and prayer to them, and to Renee at:
I ask you to please think of them. Dear Renee I pray that God in his mercy is by your side and your family today. May his divine intercession protect and preserve your sister and nephew today!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Pray for Them, a Call for Help

I am asking for anyone reading this post to say prayers, or at the very least send good vibes to my dear blog friend Renee and her family. Renee has IBC (Inflamatory Breast Cancer). Her mom was recently hospitalized, then her nephew, whom they now find has stomach cancer (he is 25, the same age my son found out he had cancer). To make a bad situation even worse her beloved sister Jacquie was hospitalized with numbness and stroke-like symptoms last night. They have found a tumor, and yes, they think it is cancer (she is Sheldon's mom, the nephew with stomach cancer). This lady has been throught so much, she is very aware of what her sister and nephew have in store. She just needs some positive support and I think we can all help. Her burden is great and I am hopeful that our prayers, and support can help her and her family get through this. Please visit her blog and let her know we are all praying, thinking of them, and offering support. Her blog is here:
Please join me in letting her know we here in Blogland are pulling for them.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Pullip Doll....MIR

This is MIR, she arrived this weekend. I have been waiting since April for her. At the time I was excited and willing to wait. I ordered her from "PullipStyle.com" . Well she is very pretty and very delicate. Unlike my boy doll she is very pale and her eyes are a bit bigger. I do love her makeup. 
Do you see the "Dragon" Kanji in her eye? She also has a luck Gem in a pouch on her waist.
Here she is from the back. Her (pretzel) braid clips on. I should have shown you the kickin' red platform boots she has on
Here she is with Sebastian. You can see here her face is a bit wider and her eyes just a bit bigger. I think my guy was happy to see her.
Now for the "bad" news. She arrived stained, and there is a flaw in her leg. I contacted Pullip style and although they state they stand behind the product they are now skirting the issue. It seems Jun Planning went out of business and sold it to another company. No one was notified and they never updated to tell us. Now I guess they figure I am just stuck with inferior product. These dolls are not cheap. The owner feels that collectors are willing to over-look the flaws for these dolls. When I asked for resolution he passed me off to some Japanese web-site. Well I am not taking this lying down. His site clearly says they will represent and arbitrate with the the company. After all they sold it to me. We will see. I know after running Terri around http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/ , she had to finally put her foot down and let them know she was not going to accept their excuses for not following thru, they finally credited her. I only hope they do as much for me. 
I do plan on reporting them to the BBB and being very vocal about my experience with them, and if necessary seek legal action. Let us hope it gets resolved before it gets that far..

Friday, July 17, 2009

Terri, Lavender Fest, and Birds.

So my friend Terri ( http://terrisbloomingideas.blogspot.com/ ) called me earlier this week asking if I would join her, and go to the Lavender Festival in Ray Township. I have to say it was a beautiful day for it. However, there wasn't much there I could afford (except the honey, and a couple of lavender plants). Still we had a nice time, and they did have some very creative and beautiful items. Terri and I decided to leave and go check out the sidewalk sales in Romeo. We found these lovely lotions, and the "Lavender" chocolates (pictured below) at a shop called Gabriel's Garden. They had a booth at the Lavender Fest too, but we could not get around in it to see everything. The store was much nicer and not as crowded.  We stopped for lunch, then off to check out all the sales. After Romeo we stopped off at Marcial's Greenhouse. They have lovely eye candy, neat decor items, as well as plants and garden items. We didn't buy anything, but had fun looking and playing with their kitten. On the way home my daughter Kim called me to tell me they were having sidewalk sales in Rochester too! 
So off we went to downtown Rochester. We walked, shopped, and stopped in 'Beyond Juice" for great fruit smoothies. Terri found herself some sunglasses. I found a clock, and some china figures (five pictures below) for half off at the local resale shop. I thought I should share some photos. Although I took "none" when we were out, I did take a few here at home. First, the items I bought at Gabriel's Garden.......
Below is the beautiful Seth Thomas clock I found today in Rochester, at WhoRu resale shop,everything except furniture was half off ( and it was a good deal at full price). I wound it and it works! It is keeping time and it chimes.  The key, and pendulum were intact. It's in great condition too!  The two bottles in front contain the Blueberry Honey, and Lavender Honey I bought at the Lavender festival today. They also had a Peach and Lemon flavor,( I have already have a lemon honey) the Peach has a medicinal taste to it (yuk), and well, the blueberry tastes just like blueberries which made it a clear choice for me! I can't wait for a cup of tea (for the Lavender honey) and a hot biscuit with the Blueberry honey. Yum!
I thought I would share with you a few "bird" items from my collection. A bank (my daughter Steph bought me from a sale she found), a wall pocket with a parakeet(from my older post, my honey bought it for me), and an unusual swan I found. I fell in love with the beautiful flowers on her. They are so much prettier than in this photo
Do you see the neat swan (I think it's a swan?) watering container? Very cool, and rare, I love it. Oh, and a few of my "Jummel's". The doves are a "perfume" lamp. You place a drop of perfume or oil in the little well located in the back, and when you turn on the night-light it warms the perfume, releasing the scent, cool huh? I have another one upstairs. It is a carriage with birds on it.
I had found the tiger "salt & pepper set" a couple years ago at a sale. Then today when I was out with Terri in Rochester I found a Lion, Elephant, and Cheetah. I think they blend right in. Hey this could be a new collection..... zoo animals? (Good lord stop me.....)
To think this all started with a single Canary salt shaker. Yes, a salt shaker in the shape of  a sweet little bird. I used to raise, breed, and sell Canaries many years ago. The Canaries were a lot of work, but they sang so lovely. These birds are much easier to keep. (and if I miss the bird-song, I have a tape I can play)
I also have a collection of "Hummel" look-a-likes that were made in Japan. I lovingly refer to them as my "Jummel's". Now I know what your thinking, do I really need one more collection? No? I guess I just cannot stress enough the whole "illness" thing can I?
Look! The little yellow bird figure below is a whistle!
The two pale green swans below are actually candle holders. Occasionally I find something non-bird that I just love, like Mr Squirrel (I had started collecting them for Kim, we tease her about them. She loves "owls" but I often give her squirrels. Just because I can), or like the little skunk toothpick holder in the above picture,  and isn't that a squirrel toothpick holder there too? I do believe it is.
Even more bird-y goodness here. You know I have only ever bought the "same bird" once? Really, don't ask me how I manage to remember what I have, I just do.
Somehow this nutty gator managed to make his way into the cabinet? He has a thermometer in the front, well at least we know the temp "inside" the cabinet!
Okay, I am just going to repeat,  it's an illness......
This is the cabinet where all, okay, many...most....uh, some of my birds reside. Although you have seen that some have migrated to other parts of my home. (I also have a 20 gal tub packed with them downstairs. I never unpacked when we did not move. Perhaps also a box or two....I know one had my duck lamp in it.... okay, one more time, say it with me ..."ILLNESS")
I warned you. To be fair though, the whole top shelf has china on it (which has spilled over from the cabinet in the dining room... we won't go there, at least not today). There are a few cups a butter dish, a creamer, and a cute "squirrel" teapot on it. I didn't take photos of the bottom shelf, it was getting to be a bit much, even for me.

A Very Nice Surprise..

Stef Hughes has been commenting on my blog for some time. We got into a conversation about being Catholic, Icons, etc. She is such a sweet lady and I had a couple item I though she might enjoy. So I sent them to her. In return she sent me this very nice surprise. A wonderful card she made (she is a Stampin-Up demonstrator, check out her site, they have some neat stamps). Please check out her blog, she makes very pretty cards, here:
http://glitterbabegreetings.blogspot.com/
Thank You Stef, I will put the images to good use and I have never tried the felt flourishes before, so it will be fun to use them!