Summer Memories part two

As promised here are a few more of my favorite Summer memories.......

I am not sure if I have mentioned before what a talented artist my husband is.  When we were dating he would draw all the time and then for some reason--maybe life's busyness--he put his drawing aside.  This Summer he was asked to participate in a local art show called "Art all Night".  It was held in Pittsburgh at the former Iron City Beer Brewery.  With some encouragement I convinced him to give it a try.  He decided to draw one of our favorite pictures of his Grandfather as a young man.  Here is the original photo...

And here is the picture Alex drew...

I am so proud of the way it turned out.  He decided to give it to his Mom for mother's day.  Needless to say she was thrilled.  We had a great time at the art show.  I must admit that it was a little more culture than I am used to and some of the art pieces were---well let's just say they were interesting and leave it at that.   These next few pictures are of  pieces that I just loved.

Some other fun pictures from the evening....

This next memory has become a tradition in our family.  Every year, in late August, the church in Alex's childhood neighborhood holds a Summer festival.  There are games, rides, a petting zoo, yummy food, and the best part--a GIANT flea market that lasts the whole week of the festival.  When our son was a little boy, he could hardly wait until it was festival time.  Now that he is all grown up Alex and I  go to the festival together---it is like a date :)

If you look closely behind that giant root beer float that I am enjoying, you can see the "beautiful" red and silver necklaces that Alex won me.  I know you will all be very jealous :) There is nothing like festival jewelry.(hehehe)   This year we met Alex's brother Stephen and his wife Kim.  Kim is due to have their first baby any day now and they were hoping that the walk around the fair would encourage their little blessing to come out and greet the world----we are still waiting. (today is the official due date)

This last Summer memory is one that we just made last night.  Pittsburgh has had the new baseball park for several years now but Alex had never been inside to see a game.  My mom was offered tickets to last night's game and invited Alex and I to come along.  The game itself was terrible--our Pirates lost---but the park was beautiful, the weather perfect, and we had a great time enjoying each other's company and taking lots of pictures....

With today's chilly weather, it is a definitely a reminder that we only have a few more weeks to make Summer memories.  I hope you all were able to make special  Summer memories of your own.

Look what the Mailman brought.....

Just a quick post tonight along with a promise  that Summer Memories part two will be my next post---I was just too excited to wait  to show you what I received in the mail on Friday.  For some time now I have been admiring all the beautiful fabrics that are printed in Japan.  The tiny flower prints, wonderful soft colors, along with the checks and polka dots are all so dreamy.  After much contemplation I finally decided to purchase some of these amazing fabrics. 

Oh how I can't wait to create something fun with this fabric.

Since I am sharing new fabric purchases here are a few more that I have added to my collection over the Summer.

My fabric collection is growing by leaps and bounds.  It is beginning to overtake my studio.  I think I may have a fabric sickness (hehehe)  Just so that you don't think I am a collector only,  I want to share with you a fun little Christmas elf that I just finished using some of my new fabric.

His little face makes me smile. 

I will close this post quickly tonight so that I can return to my new fabric. 

Happy Creating

*****UPDATE*****

Several of you have written and asked where I purchased the floral fabric.  I found the sweetest shop on etsy   sewdeerlyloved.etsy.com   If you need some inspiration there is a wonderful blog as well.  Have fun shopping :)  

Summer memories part 1

 Is it really August already?  It seems as though it were just yesterday that we had the whole Summer ahead of us.  But here we are in the "dog days" of Summer.....

Drew's mommy will be headed back to school next week so I will have my little "weekday" buddy once again.

I do love the Autumn season and I look forward to all it has to bring.  But Summer also holds special memories as well.  I thought I would share a few of this Summer's memories before it passes us by. 

A few weeks ago Kate, Emma and I had a sleepover at my Mom's house.  Even though I don't babysit them any longer, they are still such a special part of my life.  I love the time I spend with them.  They are growing up so fast. 

When we have our sleepovers, I always let the girls choose a project.  This time it was doll making. 

We did a little sewing.......

Ate a lot of ice-cream.....

And had tons of fun.....

I am so blessed by these girls.

The next Summer memory is  so very special as well.  My Mom, sister, and I hosted a memorial picnic in honor of my Dad.  It was held over Memorial Day weekend and we had the perfect day.  Family and my Dad's closest friends were invited to share in the day.  We made all of my Dad's favorite foods, played his favorite music, made posters of all our favorite photos and asked everyone to come ready to share their favorite pictures and memories.  One of the most special things about this day is that it allowed us to reconnect with my cousins that we had lost contact with for the past 30 years.  What a wonderful reunion we had.  My Dad would have been so happy.

(me, my Mom, my cousin Peggy, and my sister Andrea)

 (my cousin Bobby, cousin Peggy, me, my sister Andrea)

When I first began writing this post I thought I had just a few Summer memories to share.  As I continued writing I found that I have more memories than I thought to share with you all.  I decided to make this a two part post.  Before I close part one of "Summer memories" I will share just one more.  It is one that I am very excited about and one that I have been keeping a secret for some time now.  Cricut Magazine has once again honored me by publishing two of my projects.  I had to wait to tell you until the magazine hit the newsstand. 

I knew that the magazine would hit the newsstand in August but imagine my surprise when I opened this email to find my shadowbox had also been featured in the Cricut on-line newsletter Click on the red link above to check it out :) 
Stay tuned for part two---I have lots more to share :)

Skip Along Designs

Isn't that a happy name for an etsy shop.  The owner of this shop is Dee and she has filled Skip Along Designs with so many wonderful vintage images that I just had to share this shop with you.  The best part is that she continues adding images so each time I visit it is like Christmas :)  First I will show you what I created using some of her images and then I will give you the link so you can visit her too. 

Ok now "Skip" along over to her esty shop and take a peek at all the other wonderful images.

Skip Along Designs

I had such fun making this bunting banner I just had to make a few more.  For the first one I used my Cricut to cut out the letters to spell "Precious" from some of my reproduction 30's fabric and then using a zig zag stitch attach them to the purple polka dot fabric.

Cutting fabric with the Cricut machine is very easy.  Just back your fabric with "heat and bond".  With the fabric side up, place the piece on the Cricut mat.  Make sure that the pressure level is set on max with the speed level set to high.  See -----easy peasy.

This next banner I left plain.  I just love this fabric and I didn't want to cover any of it up :)

I hope you will all take a minute to visit Dee.  I know you will not be disappointed !!  Tell her Mimi says HI   :)