Something to Share with You

On one of my recent treasure hunts at a local antique store, I found the sweetest little book. I have such a love for vintage children's books and when I saw the graphics in this book I knew I had to have it. The inscription inside of the front cover said "To: Gary Jr Love from Mother and Daddy on Valentine's Day 1960." From the look of the cover, this little book was well loved and had been read many times. I could almost picture a mommy and her son snuggled under a blanket reading together. I miss those days when my own son would say "Read it again Mommy." I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures from this book. They are for you to save and use on your projects. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Have a Happy Friday and have fun creating!!!
PS It is always fun to admire the work of others. I would love to see what you all create. Just post your link in the comment section so I can take a peek.

Tis The Last Rose of Summer

Tis The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone

All her lovely companions are faded and gone

No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh

To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh....

~portion of an Irish poem written by Thomas Moore~

As I was headed to my mailbox the other day I happened to glance over at my rose bush. To my surprise I noticed one last little bud standing so proudly as if it didn't know that winter was on it's way. I have checked on that little bud daily to see if perhaps it might bloom. I guess with the wonderful, warm Indian Summer that we have been having here in Pittsburgh that little bud decided that it would be safe to bloom. What a beautiful sight to see that pink beauty among all the colors of autumn.

When I awoke yesterday morning the temperature had turned much colder and there was a light dusting of white snow on the ground. I wondered how my little rose had fared in the cold of the night. To my delight it was more beautiful than before. The snow had fallen and lay on the edges of it's petals. It was as though I had taken glitter and sprinkled it all over each petal.
I don't know if it was because Winter is just around the corner or that this would be the last rose blooming in my garden for this season but to me it was the most beautiful rose I had ever seen. I am so glad that in my busy life that I did not miss the chance to enjoy it's beauty.

Craft Fair Success

Last year my mom and I committed ourselves to participate in several craft fairs. We had a great time but realized in the middle of our commitments that we may have spread ourselves a little too thin. By not allowing ourselves enough time in between shows to restock, the fun we were having turned into stress. This year we decided to participate in only two shows so that overwhelming feeling would not return. As it turns out out decision was the right one. Our craft fairs were a success.

Our first show was held last Saturday at a local church. They did a wonderful job of promoting the show to the community. It was estimated that 550 shoppers had passed through the doors. The show was so well organized and there was even a wonderful cafe where coffee and delicious sweets were served. We arrived at the church at 7:00am so that we would have plenty of time to set up our table. The shoppers arrived at 9:00 am and could shop until 2:00pm.

My mom displayed her beautiful hand made quilts and purses.

My contribution included my pre-made scrapbooks, handmade cards, art boards, and soldered charms.
We had such a lovely day. Meeting new people and sharing about our artwork. One of the nicest parts of the day was spending time with each other and our wonderful friends Joyce and Bethanie who had a table right next to ours. Take a look at all the beautiful things they had on their table...........
This past weekend we participated in our second show. This show took place Friday and Saturday. This was the friendliest craft fair that I have ever participated in. The only fee to get into the show was a non perishable food item that was to be donated to a local food bank. The room was filled with talented vendors and a wonderful table with the most amazing baskets for a Chinese auction. The proceeds from the auction benefited a non-profit animal rescue organization called Spencer and Friends.
This is Oatas, one of the rescued abused dogs. He was the sweetest yellow lab I ever met. I could not even imagine wanting to abuse him. It was such a nice feeling that we were helping to save innocent animals.
All in all two wonderful, successful weekends. I am really looking forward to next year.
Well I am off to work on the bunches of special orders that I promised to have completed for Christmas.

A Beautiful Addition to Dandelion Wishes

For some time now I have admired the beautiful blog banners on so many of my favorite blogs. I wondered to myself how they were able to create something so pretty. I just can not figure out the world of digital scrapbooking. One day a few weeks ago I was reading one such blog, Roxanne the Artist, and discovered the creator of her banner was her very own daughter, Beth. I quick hurried over to Beth's blog only to see another wonderful banner. I sent a quick e-mail to Beth to inquire if she would be willing to create a banner for me. I was thrilled when she agreed. I am so excited to show you the beautiful new addition to my blog that she created just for me. I sent her a few pictures of my family and described the things that make me smile. She took the time to get to know me through my blog and really captured my personality. I could not love it more.

Beth's blog is lovely---filled with pictures of her sweet family. Her photographs are wonderful and her stories have brought a smile to my face and at times a tear to my eye. I am so glad I have had the privilege to get to know her through our blogs.

If you are looking for that special something to add to your blog I know Beth would do a wonderful job for you too. Drop her a line....you will be happy you did

beth@bethsaxton.com

Thanks again so much Beth for all your hard work.

The Beauty of Autumn

One of the things I love most about living in Pennsylvania is the changing seasons. We have snow in the winter, sunshine in the summer, and flower blossoms that burst into bloom in the spring. But my favorite season is autumn. There is nothing like a crisp morning that melts into a beautiful sunny afternoon. The funny little grey squirrels are so busy at this time of year. You can't help but to smile at them as they scamper about the yard hiding food for the winder. I wonder if they really do remember where they hide it all. The colors of autumn are amazing. The way the sun makes the red, yellow and orange leaves shine so brilliantly. The bright orange of the pumpkins, cheery red of the apples, the brown of cornstalks, and the brightly colored fall mums are so refreshing. Even as the leaves fall to the ground and cover the grass, their beauty remains. There is something enjoyable about spending the day outdoors raking up autumns beauty. Even the blustery days of autumn are enjoyable. The comfort of being toasty warm inside while the leaves swirl about in the cold wind outside. The smell of chicken soup simmering on the stove brings back wonderful childhood memories.

I recently had the opportunity to visit a local farm while attending a field trip with Emma, the little girl I babysit for. I had been to this farm many time this summer to purchase corn on the cob but we got to go "behind the scenes" on this visit. The farm property was just beautiful.

Just in case you are having one of those blustery days where you live, I thought I would share with you something that keeps me warm. Brew yourself a cup of pumpkin spice coffee and add some pumpkin spice cream. There is nothing like it.

Have a wonderful day enjoying all of autumns beauty!!

The Jacket

I can remember the year Alex began playing football like it was yesterday. The year was 2000 and he was nine. He had already participated in the youth wrestling program for a several years so the shock of my baby playing a contact sport was not quite as great as it could have been. The boys would practice every night after dinner in a field behind the Intermediate High School. While the boys would practice, the parents would sit in our stadium seats and have coffee. Sometimes I even baked a sweet to share as we watched our little men practice such a big sport. There were times that the boys from the Intermediate High School would be finishing up their practice before ours began. I can remember listening to their deep voices as they siked each other up for the next game. I remember thinking how big and strong those boys looked in their practice gear. It doesn't seem possible that my little man has turned into one of those big, strong boys. Just where does the time go???

Alex is a Junior this year and through all his hard work and perseverance has earned the right to wear a Letterman jacket. We could not be more proud of him. They were measured for their jackets during the summer and just last week the jackets were distributed to the boys. There was a very nice ceremony where the jackets were presented to each mom and then she helped her son put it on for the first time. Family members were invited to attend as well so my mom being one of Alex's number one fans, jumped at the chance.




Alex is thrilled with his jacket and can hardly wait to wear it. I am thrilled that there will be no argument this winter about wearing a coat to the bus stop.

Is it time to PANIC??

Way back in the month of June when i first thought about the idea of participating in two local craft shows, time was on my side. "Oh I have lots of time to create" I said to myself. After all November was SIX months away. Well as all of you know, life gets busy and time flies by and now before I even realized it, my first show is in less than two weeks. It actually gives me shivers to type that. I have less than two weeks to create enough art to fill an eight foot table. Thank goodness my mom will be participating with me and has been a busy bee. She has wonderful quilts, purses, pillow cases and quilted jackets to display. But I must do my part to help fill the table. Oh there are lots of ideas floating in my head as to what to make it is just finding the time to actually create them. So starting this week I have decided to become stern with myself and actually get down to work.

One of my favorite projects to make are sweet little baby brag books. They make wonderful gifts for the new mom or grandma. The size is a perfect 6 x 6 so they easily fit into a purse or diaper bag. I make them using only the page protectors and bind them into little books.

Next I make the pages from plain card stock and sweet patterned paper. There are so many adorable baby prints I have lots to choose from. On this little book I used the Animal Crackers --Jack paper from Making Memories. I just love all of their papers.

For the final touch I create two journal tags and tuck them in between the pages.

The finished product looks like this.......

I really do enjoy participating in craft fairs. To share my art, all while meeting and chatting with those who appreciate it is a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Have you ever participated in a craft fair? I would love to hear about your experiences and the items you have for sale. Just leave me a comment---I look forward to reading all about them. Well my break is over---it's back to work for me. Happy Creating!!