Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my Moms birthday--a day that I truly celebrate. 

I celebrate her birth, her love for me, and our friendship. I celebrate the blessing she is to not only me but to everyone she meets.  I celebrate her kind spirit,  sense of humor, nurturing way, love of the Lord, willingness to share her talents, friendliness, wisdom, love of adventure, and joyous heart.  I celebrate the wonderful example she is to my son.

We started the party yesterday when Heidi, my mom's very good friend, Ruth and I all went to lunch.  I even brought a surprise visitor (Alex) to brighten up the day.  Getting him to take a serious picture takes some work (lol) But for Grandma he complied.

 

We continued the birthday fun at breakfast this morning with my Aunt Kathy(mom's sister)--who just happens to share the same birthday.  She was born on my mom's third bithday.  I try each year to make my mom's gift.  She always says not to buy her anything so I try to find something unique to create for her.   This year I knew as soon as I saw the beautiful art of Michelle Palmer that I had found the perfect thing.  Mom loves birds so I purchased three pen and ink sketches from Michelle, made them  mats of vintage sheet music, notebook paper and a page from a French book and framed them in a vintage frame. 

I covered the back of the frame with an old file folder and attached the names of the sketches with Michelle's signature.  My mom was delighted with her gift. 

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you with all of my heart.

Vintage Easter Blog Hop

Welcome to the Vintage Easter Blog Hop!!! This hop is being hosted by Joan at Anything Goes Here in celebration of all  vintage treasures relating to Easter.  After you take a peek at my Easter Vintage,  hop on over to her blog to view the complete list of all those who are participating.  I took a minute to look at some of the posts and believe me there are some amazing treasures out there.  I hope you enjoy my little contribution......  

First a few vintage greeting cards and sweet Easter images.

This Hummel figurine entitled "Playmates"  is not ment for Easter but I adore those little bunnies.

 

I am not sure how my Mother will feel being a part of a VINTAGE Easter collection(hehehe)  but these pictures of her and my Aunt in their Easter best are priceless and I just had to share.  Mom is on the right in this photo....

and on the left in this one.

This photo is of my Mother-in-law (the little girl sitting on the steps) her Mother and her two sisters all decked out in there Easter bonnets.

The last Vintage Easter item I would like to share with you is this wonderful basket. I came across it when cleaning out the attic of my Grandmothers home after she passed away.  I loved the look of it with it's strips of braided straw. It became even more of a treasure once my mom told me what it had been used for.   This was the basket used by my Grandmother to carry a sample of their Easter meal to church to be blessed by the priest.  Once the blessing was given the meal was carried home and enjoyed by all.  Eventhough we no longer carry on that tradition, I love that this basket was something used by my Grandmother.

 

Thanks for hopping by to take a look at my Vintage Easter and for spending part of your day with me.  I wish you all a Blessed Easter.

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop--Button Challenge

It's that time of month again!!!! Time for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. I have participated for the past couple of months and had such a wonderful time meeting fellow crafters and viewing their art, I just had to join in the fun once again with March's challenge.   When I logged onto Papertrey's site to check out what this months challege would hold, I read the first line--"Calling all button lovers!"  OH THATS ME.  I love buttons--the shapes, the colors, the different sizes.  I am excited to share my project but I am even more excited to see what others have created.  With Easter on the way, I decided to create a card using some of my favorite new products from Papertrey Ink. 

I love the color combination of this patterned paper from Papertrey Ink called Egg Hunt. It mixes so well with their clear stamp set also called Egg Hunt.  It was fun to use the sweet little egg die to cut out a perfect egg shape all ready to be decorated.  The button border gives the finishing touch to my card.  Thanks for taking a peek at my button project.  Don't forget to hop on over to Papertrey Ink to see what wonderful projects await you. 

PS I recently did a blog post showing how I store my buttons.  If you would like to read all about it just click HERE.

Welcome to another Rednesday

It's Wednesday---you know what that means----time for another Rednesday post.  It is amazing how many red things I am finding around my house.  I have been having such fun sharing them with you all.  I even find myself thinking about it during the week.  I see something fun and red and I think to myself "Oh that would be a great thing to share on Rednesday"  I am not sure what that says about me---maybe I have a sickness (lol)  Oh well here are my red treasures for today.....

I can always count on my friend Joyce to come along with me on an afternoon of treasure hunting.  We decided to visit our local antique store on Friday.  I think I may have actually squealed with delight upon finding this treasure.  What could be better than a red polka dot apron.  This was a definite keeper. 

After doing a little more searching I came across this little beauty.  It was a little out of my price range but it was still fun to take a picture of.  Can you see that wonderful  red Coke sign tucked into the corner.....

We had such fun--laughing, treasure hunting and just enjoying each other's friendship.

My next red item was purchased this weekend as well.  There is nothing like a Saturday trip to the Strip District.  I have posted about this Pittsburgh treasure several times before.  The name is silly and may give you the wrong idea(hehehe)  but  for those of you familiar with Pittsburgh, you know that this is an area just east of the city known for it's wholesalers, restaurants and fun funky shops. There are so many ethnic groups represented in the Strip and the street vendors are plenty as well selling everything from food to T-Shirts.  After eating breakfast, Alex and I did a little shopping.  Being that it is the Spring season, the artist market was open.  I was quickly drawn to the table selling the most adorable things from felted wool.  The artist visits flea markets and Good Will shops in search of wool sweaters and turns them into items such as these...

Thanks for visiting me today on this Rednesday.  I hope you enjoyed my red.  Don't forget to visit It's a Cherry World to check out the all the other wonderful contributions.

Well tomorrow is the Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop.  The challenge this month is all about buttons.  My favorite.  I have not even begun to complete my project so I am off to create.  I would love for you to visit again  tomorrow to see what I come up with.  Unitl then...

Happy Rednesday :)

A Vintage Alphabet Party

Everyone loves a party and there is one going on over at the  Etsy Cottage Style blog.  It is a vintage alphabet party.  A letter/s is assigned to each month and all you need to do to participate is post something vintage that corresponds to that letter.  I have been following along but this month I decided to also play along.  The letters for the month of March are C and D. 

Cis for ....

This clock belonged to my Grandma Gulyas.  I can still remember her coming for visits and bringing this clock along to wake her in the morning.  I wish you could hear the alarm on this clock.  Not only did it wake her and the rest of the sleeping members of the family but I believe the whole neighborhood as well.  I love this old clock ---a piece of my Grandma that I will forever cherish.

C is also for.........

This cookbook was given to me by my neighbor.  It was a gift given to her in 1956.  I am so grateful she decided to share this treasure with me.  I have taken a few photos of my favorite pages.  The graphics are wonderful and you will be sure to get a giggle at some of the captions. 

 

D is for.......

This sweet little doorstop belonged to my Grandma Smisko.  She had these clusters of grapes resting at the foot of each door in her home.  I can remember when I was a little girl being fascinated with the tiny flowers encased in each grape. 

Thanks for taking a peek at my vintage alphabet treasures.  Don't forget to hop on over to Etsy Cottage Style to enjoy the rest of the party.