Weekend Fun

The weekend, a time for relaxing, sleeping in, spending time with family, and just doing something you enjoy. This weekend my sister and her family came for a visit. They only live a couple of hours away but you know how life gets busy and before you know it months pass without seeing each other. We decided to take a trip to the Strip District. I have posted about this wonderful area of Pittsburgh in previous posts. It is one of my family's favorite places to visit. We had breakfast at one of my mom's favorite diners, Pamela's and then did some shopping at all of the wonderful shops. Because this trip was in honor of my mom's birthday, I thought it would be nice to take a picture of her and all of her grandchildren. I love this picture. Believe me this was not an easy one to capture. It's hard to get three silly boys to stand still and smile without making silly faces at the camera. I reminded them it was for Grandma's birthday so they finally behaved themselves. Oh boys will be boys.

After the Strip District I decided to take a little walk around the local antique store. They were having a sale---anything with the color blue was 15% off. Oh I surly could find something blue. And guess what, I did!! I have a love for vintage children's books. I find the illustrations to be so delightful and innocent. I found two of the sweetest books (both with blue on the cover) I scanned one of my favorite images to share with all of you.

The other book was filled with nursery rhymes and the accompanying sheet music. When I opened the cover I had the instant idea to incorporate these sweet images into note cards for my shop. Here is what I came up with.........

Simple but sweet. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend doing all the things that you enjoy.

With a Little Help from My Friends..........

...........Dandelion Wishes at Sweetpea's is officially open. For the past three weeks I have been working nonstop on items for my little shop. There were so many things to accomplish before my deadline of April 1. Collecting items for my display, making inventory, pricing inventory, and preparing all the little things to make my shop special. I have had the display set up in my living room for weeks arranging and rearranging to get it just the way I had envisioned it my my mind. I must say I have been blessed with so many friends and my family who provided me with so much encouragement and support. When I started to become overwhelmed with the task of labeling and pricing all the merchandise it didn't even take a second for my friend, Heidi to volunteer to help.

And when the day finally arrived to set up shop, my mom and my friend, Joyce were right by my side to lend a hand.

I am really excited and pleased with the ending result...........

I am not sure where this little adventure will lead but I am so looking forward to the journey.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

This day in March is the day we celebrate my Mom and her birthday. Today we celebrate all the special things about her that makes us love her so much. 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. There are so many things I love about my mom I couldn't possibly list them all. Her unconditional love for me is such a blessing and something I cherish. We had a lovely day. My friend, Heidi, invited us to her home for the most delicious lunch. What a nice time we had laughing and spending time with each other. Heidi has the sweetest little dog named Jazzie who just could not be left out of the celebration. Later in the day Mom came to my home for dinner and for a little bit of crafting afterward. We worked together making cards to be mailed to members of her church group in need of cheering up.

Alex ventured in to say hello and because it was Grandma's birthday agreed to pose for a picture without too much convincing.

Happy Birthday Mom. I love you so much!!!

A Swap for All Seasons

When my very good friend, Joyce, mentioned that she had joined a Spring swap my first thought was "Oh that's nice---Swaps are just not for me. You may be asking yourself what exactly is a swap??? A swap happens when a group of Internet friends decide to exchange names with each participant receiving the name of a partner. The swap has a host who organizes the event and assigns a theme. The goal is to get to know your partner through her blog or through e-mails and keeping with the assigned theme search for special treasures that your partner will love. I thought the idea sounded like fun and had joined two swaps in the past. After putting much thought into the gifts for my partner, I received nothing in return. It was a very big disappointment. Joyce assured me that this would not happen in this swap-- "The host, Linda, is a lovely lady and her swaps are organized and so much fun." After receiving a thoughtful email from Linda and reading her beautiful blog, I felt reassured and decided to give it another try. Oh my goodness am I glad I did. I was assigned a partner (also named Linda) and began to get to know her by reading her wonderful blog, Lambsworld. After exchanging emails I set to work hunting for special treasures. I will post pictures of them in another post as her package is still in route and I want her to be surprised. But I will show you pictures of what I received in return. I am overwhelmed with excitement and gratitude. First of all this is the top of the box my gifts were mailed in. WOW!!! The mailman just smiled at me as he handed me my box of treasures. I carefully opened the box from the bottom so that I could save this masterpiece. These are the wonderful goodies I found inside..........After opening all of these lovely gifts, my little helper Emma could hardly wait to open her favorite of all ----the M & M's

Thank you so much Linda for all of these wonderful gifts. I could not love them more!!!!

WELCOME SPRING

At long last Spring is here!!! As if my daffodils and crocus's were anticipating this day as much as I, they have begun to poke through the chilly ground to feel the warm sun on their petals. I love this time of year when everything is fresh and new. I recently came across this sweet little poem. It speaks of so many of the things I look forward to in this season.

The Call of Spring

When Spring begins

again to light

Our happy world

With colors bright,

The robins all come

Back to see

How beautiful

The earth will be.

With crocus gold,

And daffodils

Lighting Meadows,

Fields, and hills;

With leaves of green

And tulips gay,

And birds arriving

Every day.

Before I close this post for today, I want to share with you another little project that I have just completed for a Vintage Spring Swap hosted by A Swap for all Seasons.

I created this photo banner using some of my favorite vintage supplies. A page from a French novel, sheet music, seam binding, and a scanned image from a vintage greeting card. The card images have been sewn on the corners to form a pocket. A 4 X 6 photo will slip easily into the corner pockets to complete the photo banner. I had such fun creating this banner and I hope my swap partner will enjoy it.

I wish you all a happy first day of Spring. Enjoy all the wonders this day brings.