Pink Roses

joy...

Tonight both of my children will be home. Together. For the first time in 3 months.  They haven't seen each other since the day we took him to college: August 15.  I am SO excited. 

And of course (being human), I have unrealistic expectations for this magical reunion of ours.  My head is filled with Martha Stewart/Norman Rockwell visions that just won't happen.  But that's OK.  I can admit that to you. 

Elizabeth came home Saturday night and we have had some quality girl time.  Haircuts, shopping, pedicures, lunch, Twilight.  She has a whole week off, and is just relaxing.  It is so peaceful when she is here.  Tonight Christopher will blow in like a tornado, for 3 action packed days.  He and his friends will stampede through the house, raid the refrigerator, and head back out again...each of them will swoop me in their arms with a big hug and a "thanks" and leave me dizzy in the kitchen. 

This is my reality.  Not always neat and tidy.  Sometimes loud and messy.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Tonight both of my babies will be home again, and I am filled with joy.  One more thing to be thankful for this week.

vintage button swap...

I participated in a "Vintage Button Card Swap" at Silver Bella, and I wanted to show you the beautiful cards I received.  I am always amazed at  the different ways you can interpret one theme. The cards below are from:

Heidi Gordon and Ali Gripp

these are from...

Heidi Woodruff, Elizabeth Shea and Sheila Rumney

the cards below are from...

Hope Wallace, Stephanie George Hirshberg and Amy Powers

these are by...

Joanna Lewis and Stephanie Rojas

and last but not least...Julie Baxley

Thank you to Ali for organizing this swap, and thanks to all who participated...I will cherish these little works of art !

not quite done...

My last two Silver Bella projects are almost finished.  This was a Winter Fairy Shrine workshop by Kim Kwan.  We altered a cigar box to make our wintery vignette...

I used a vintage French postcard with beautiful handwriting for my background.  When Kim was passing out fairy wings (butterflies), she asked everyone what color they wanted, but when she came to me she said "I don't even have to ask"...she just handed me pink!                    How did she know?

  I didn't get to finish the outside of the box but it's pretty like it is, and I'm lazy, so I may leave it.  I really want to make another one of these shrines-they are like hidden treasures and I just loved making it.  Thanks Kim!

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My final Silver Bella workshop was "Santa's Secret Diary" with Pam Garrison.  We altered a chipboard book...

I used my own papers to give it a vintage theme, rather than a Christmas theme...

Collaging 14 pages took up the entire class, so I still need to embellish.  This will be a work in progress for a while.

I added an old flash card I bought in Texas last month

I'm glad I took lots of bits and pieces of vintage wallpaper

and sheet music

I want to make this my Silver Bella 2008 scrapbook, like Debby Schuh is doing...

and add all the Moo cards and business cards I got when I was there.  I'll show the finished project one of these days...hopefully before it's time to register for Silver Bella 2009!

workshop #3...

My third workshop of the day was taught by Pam Garrison, who I absolutely LOVE!  Pam brought one of her art journals to class to show us, and I swear it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. ART. She is so talented.  This project started with a game board, which we cut into a house shape...

We collaged the board, and added personal elements we brought from home.  A glass bottle was wired to the board to serve as a flower vase.  The suggested theme was "holiday", but I made mine in colors that could go in my house year round.  I placed my bottle off center so it wouldn't block the vintage postcard.

I wound 2 different sizes of vintage rick rack on a card and added a carved mother of pearl button...I like the way it turned out...

I probably won't use the bottle to hold a real flower, so I dressed it up a bit...

 

This is as far as I got in class, and I'm not quite sure if I'm done, or if it still needs something else.  I think I'll put some pearls from a broken necklace in the bottle, so that they will show at the bottom...

Portrait Rustique...

My second workshop was with Kim Kwan and it was called Portrait Rustique.  Leave it to Kim to make us leave the safety of paper and glue, and make us wear work gloves and use power tools!  We distressed old picture frames, cut mat board and wrapped it with burlap and chicken wire, and embellished away...

Everyone brought a stash of their favorite vintage items from home to use in their class projects.  I took a box filled with vintage paper:wallpaper, calling cards, postcards, ledger paper, photos...I also took a box filled with ribbon and lace, buttons, millinery, jewelry, game pieces etc.  All of these items added a personal touch to our creations and made them unique and original.

I was SO happy with the way every one of my class projects turned out this year.  Some of us were talking in class one day about how we like to hoard and collect this vintage stuff, but sometimes we hesitate to use it, because we are saving it for the right project.  Something worthy. We decided to just start using our vintage finds because it makes your projects even more special, and best of all...gives you an excuse to go buy more!  

recharged...

Here's a self portrait from Silver Bella, and while you may think it looks more like a page from "What not to Wear", I promise you, no one said a word!  My shirt said LIVE OUT LOUD and that's what we did for 4 fabulous days in Omaha.  Laughing and talking and hugging and crafting...I was surrounded by the most lovely, talented, genuine women.  When you meet a blog friend in real life, something magical happens.  My heart is full.  My creative battery has been recharged.  And I know how to solder!  Here's the first class I took: "Soldering for Virgins" by the amazing Sally Jean Alexander...

My charms are just bits of vintage wallpaper, and are far from perfect, but as Sally Jean said...

"Love and Embrace"...

So I'm loving and embracing the 3 little charms I made, and wearing them with pride!  Thank you Sally Jean for your amazing patience and instruction!

Silver Bella

I'm flying to Omaha, Nebraska early in the morning to attend Silver Bella, and I'm so excited.  The event actually starts Thursday night, but I'm getting there a day early to antique shop and enjoy the beautiful Old Market part of the city.  I  wanted to leave you with some of my favorite photos of last years event...Silver Bella 2007...    My class with Rebecca Sower...

a JOY banner class with Pam Garrison (I'm taking 2 classes with Pam this year)...

a bracelet making class with the queen Bella herself...Teresa McFayden...

a class with the lovely Charlotte Lyons, an 8x10 collage on stretched canvas...

and a class by the adorable Jennifer Paganelli, gorgeous decorated cones...

This year I am also taking a "Soldering for Virgins" class with the fabulous Sally Jean Alexander, and two classes from the wild & crazy Kim Kwan.  Five great classes, plus a group workshop, a luncheon with Mary Engelbreit, and a vendor fair that promises to be amazing!

This time tomorrow, I'll be shopping at Second Chance Antiques...here's some of what I bought there last year...

I'll be back on Monday with stories and photos...see you then my friends!

therapy...

Sometimes the best therapy for your problems is being able to talk it over with a friend.  That's what YOU did on my last post.  You let me talk it out, and I have been overwhelmed with your kind, caring, thoughtful responses.  I feel so much better.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being my friend!

In other news...I finally finished my swaps, and then got them all wrapped up...(let's call this deadline therapy)

I put them in cellophane bags, folded over the tops, and stapled a piece of paper lace shelf liner to the top (folded in half) to make a cuff at the top.  Then I added a leaf and flowers tied with a piece of seam binding, and a tag...I was going to rubber stamp the names, but got lazy and just wrote them.  I made a card and glued it on the back to cover my threads from sewing on the buttons...

Switching topics...I found a bag of these bottle brush Christmas trees at Goodwill this summer for $2.00...they are new and SO green...

I wanted to make them look old and vintage and shabby chic (craft therapy).   I tried to bleach them, but nothing happened...they were so stiff.  So I put them in a bowl in the sink and poured some boiling water over them and let them soak a minute, and then dipped them in bleach...

I took them out of the bleach while they still had a bit of color, yet they are all different...

I think I am going to glitter the bases (silver?) and glue on some old pearls from a broken necklace for ornaments... 

And I can't forget that I had a bit of "boy therapy"  this weekend as well.  Christopher arrived Friday night: tired, hungry, scruffy.  I enjoyed cooking and baking and washing his clothes, and just having him in the house.  He and his friends do this thing they have named "NO SHAVE NOVEMBER" in which, take a wild guess, they don't shave for the month of November.  They started it last year in their Senior year of High School, and now are doing it at college.  They will celebrate by having a "lumberjack breakfast" at Thanksgiving-all wearing plaid flannel shirts.  A contest to see who can grow the most facial hair in a month.  Boys.   Faces only a mother could love!

grief and gratitude...

It's been a bad week.  Monday afternoon I received two phone calls.  Back to back. Two friends, two deaths, two funerals.

The first was a friend of my son, a classmate since kindergarten, same Boy Scout troop...my ministers son.  18. Suicide.  Why?  My minister is conducting the service for his own son. What incredible strength.   My son is coming home for the funeral tonight, and I can't wait to get my arms around him. 

The second call was about one of my best friends, Sarah.  NO, this isn't possible...I just saw her on Wednesday, I just talked to her on Friday.  Brain Aneurysm.  We were the exact same age-3 days apart.  Why?

Sarah's funeral was yesterday.  Her minister spoke of grief, and how it was part of the process of healing.  He talked about how we were all asking "WHY?", trying to make sense out of things that made no sense to us.  He asked us to focus on Gratitude.  So I am trying to focus on all the things I have to be grateful for today, starting with the fact that I am alive, and that my son is too.

My friend Sarah was a diabetic, and had undergone 3 organ transplants in the past 10 years.  One pancreas, two kidney.  The kidney she currently had was given to her by her one and only son Nick.  Don't even get me started on that AMAZING kid.  Sarah was not currently having any health issues, but because of her history, she knew she wouldn't live to be 100.  She lived EVERY day to it's fullest.  ALWAYS positive. No regrets.  Her email address was "you are sunshine". SHE WAS SUNSHINE.  She was an inspiration.

I wanted to share with you the end of the phone conversation I had with my friend Sarah last Friday.  Less than 48 hours before she died.  We had talked for an hour about regular stuff... her son Nick was opening up a coffee shop this week-we were going to bake quiche and cupcakes to take to him.  We talked about paint colors for her kitchen.  Regular things.  As I was hanging up the phone I said, I'll call you next week, and she said...

Sarah: Suzanne...

me: yeah?

Sarah: I love you...

me: I love you too Sarah

Sarah: No, I mean, I really love you.  I never had a sister, and you're the closest I've ever had...I really love you and I wanted you to know...

me: I do know Sarah. Thank you, and I love you too.  Have a good weekend OK.  I'll talk to you next week when my parents are gone.

Little did I know I would never speak to her again.  What a GIFT she gave me in that last conversation.  No words left unspoken.  She told me how she felt.  I am grateful for that.  I've called all of my friends and family this week and told them that I loved them. Just in case. 

Contact someone you love today, and tell them: call, send a text, write a letter, send an email.  Share your gratitude.

May your weekend be blessed...

anatomy of a swap...

 

Silver Bella is next week and I just started on my swaps yesterday.  Some people have had theirs done for months.  I just don't work that way.  I THINK about things forever, and then just sit down and DO it.  The swap I signed up for is a Vintage Button Card swap.  We have to make 12 of our own button cards with 6 different vintage buttons on each. Here's my work in progress:I used some vintage wallpaper, and glued it to a piece of cardstock for strength, and then sewed on a vintage quilt square I bought at the Lakewood Flea Market in Atlanta...

added a little vintage baby rick rack from the Nashville Flea Market in Tennessee...

a calling card from who knows where...

I'll be adding a vintage velvet millinery leaf I bought in Texas last month...they were white, so I dyed them with coffee and tea...

  and of course buttons...

This is what my kitchen table looks like right now...creative chaos...just the way I like it!