Season of Friendship Swap from Jan

I participated in the Season of Friendship swap that Amy of Bumble Bee Lane hosted and was partnered with Jan MacKay of My Primitive Nest. We were able to pick one season that we loved and answered some questions about prim things that we enjoyed. I picked spring as my favorite season.


We were to read each others blog to get to know what each other liked and of course Jan and I exchanged emails. We discussed favorite themes, color preferences, and such. Armed with our knowledge we were to put together a swap package that was our partner..

Jan sent me this cute sewing box with a pin cushion on top. I had posted a while back that I lent my pin cushion to a neighbors daughter and the pin cushion was never returned...boy did Jan do her homework on that one. I don't think I'll be lending this one out!


Jan also sent this cute bunny. I know that I have shared my recent bunny purchases from etsy, but had Jan read my blog that thoroughly to find my post about our real lop earred bunny, Toonies? I think that post is over a year old...wow! Was she ever thorough!


Imagine my surprise when I opened the sewing box and there was this cute little mouse hiding inside. I am a huge Mickey Mouse and stuffed mouse fan...the real ones that scurry around, not so much!

There was also a cute little bird, lip balm, a pad of paper....you know me, the list maker, and a craft picture frame in the box too. Thank you so much Jan for being a great swap partner. Everything was lovely.

Jan's package is on it's way to her as we speak. Seems as I ran the printer out of ink and it refused to print another thing til I was able to get a refill, so with that all take care of, I was able to print the label to send Jan's package on it's way. I'll share what I sent her at a later date...don't wanna ruin the surprise.

Until next time...

Yummy Wild Raspberries

Look what the hubby brought me home the other day. All those lovely wild black raspberries! We own 6 acres rurally that he gardens on and there are all these wild raspberry plants on it. He and Ian spent some time the other day picking these beauties.

Last ones that he picked for me, I made jam with. Hardly got any as the male folk in the house devoured it! He said there are more rippening, so hopefully he will get a bunch more...that's if he can beat the trespassers, who help themselves to the berries. I keep telling him to get me a shotgun and if I catch them, well they won't be back on our property again.

Until next time...

Swap Sent To Tam

Recently I participated in a swap that Tammy, A Primitive Place had. It was a secret friendship envelope swap. I had Tam, Scentfully Country Gal, as who I was sending to.


Since everything had to fit into an envelope, I had to really think about what I was going to make. Decided on a summer themed swap and set about making some things that could go in the envelope that the post office wouldn't break, mangle or smash.




Decided that wood blocks would be pretty safe in the envelope, so made a set of stackers themed for summer. In a recent Create & Decorate magazine was a set of watermelon plant pokes desiged by Patti of Raspberry Lane Primitive, well I decided to make them bowl fillers instead as the stick part would present a challenge for the envelope.

I also made a set of painted fabric stars in an americana theme. These started out just a bit differently and ended up totally handpainted. Both the stars and watermelon slices would be perfectly safe for their trip in the envelope through the post office. I am happy to report that even though the envelope was crammed full it has safely made it to it's destination. Yippee!

Be sure to pop over to Tammy's blog and check out all the wonderful swap items that were exchanged in this swap.

Until next time...

Can You Guess What It Is Win?

Denise over at the TheKrazyKraftLady blog had a guess what it is giveaway. She had lots of guesses for what the object was and I was the lucky correct guesser. What a fun way to have a giveaway.

Anyway, Denise posted this picture...



Living in the home state of the Preakness for almost the past 30 years, I've been privileged to see quite a few interesting hats that the ladies would don to the event. They will dress up in their finest dresses and most outrageous hats. So when looking at the picture, I thought, that looks like an interesting hat that the women that go to the Preakness Stakes would wear. So that was my guess...an upside down hat.

You'll have to pop over to Denise's blog and see her post where she models her hat for us. I have to say she looks lovely in it.




Denise sent me the beautiful stitchery in the first picture. The post office managed to break the glass into pieces, even though it was thoroughly wrapped and packed. I will make a trip to Home Depot to get a replacement piece. I already have a spot picked out for it to hang. And if the stitchery wasn't enough Denise also sent me that cute little sheepie. He is too cute. Now the hubby has to make me another peg rack! LOL! Love making some more work for him to do! Heehee!

Denise also has a selling blog where she lists her beautiful creations for sale. If you've never visited, be sure to pop over and check her out.

Thank you so much Denise for hosting a fun giveaway and for the lovely gifts.

Until next time....

My Secret Friendship Envelope Swap Came!

I participated in a secret friendship envelope swap that Tammy over at A Primitive Place was hosting on her blog. We didn't know who we were receiving from and were sending to someone different....sort of nice to be surprised.




One requirement was that the items that you were sending had to fit inside a 10x15" envelope. So that could be either easy or tough depending on what your craft is. Anyway, imagine my surprise when my envelope arrived and I recognized the return address immediately. Brenda from PineTreePrims was my secret partner. I've know Brenda for years and yes, I said years. We met on a delphi painting forum and have been friends ever since. Although we've never met in person, we have talked on the phone quite a few times and I just love her to death!




And while Brenda has hung up her paint brushes for now, she has taken up a new craft and I have to say, she is pretty darn good at it too! Look at the lovely stitched pin keep that Brenda made.








And I have been drooling over the many candlemats that Brenda has been sharing on her blog these recent months. I am so loving this cute americana one. I'm thinking of taking one of the flameless pillars and painting it americana to put in the center. I think it will look great there.





Brenda also sent these 2 little presedential ditty bags. I will take some of the lavender from my flower bed and dry it to put inside. Note to self: cut some lavender. I've hung one off a peg just inside my front door and the other off the peg shelf at the top of the steps landing. They are just too cute!


Brenda also sent me a halloweenie candle mat. I better paint another flameless pillar for when halloween rolls around I can display it properly. Oh and the jar in my first and second picture....betcha wondering how that came in an envelope. Well the jar didn't but the label and a bag of cracked corn did. Having a ton of old blue mason jars around here, I went and modgepodeged(gosh is that a word? Guess if you do crafts it is!) the label on a quart jar and filled it will the cracked corn. I'm loving it!

Anyway, I love, love, love everything. Brenda sure spoiled me. Thank you my friend. And Tammy thanks for hosting this fun and awesome swap.

Until next time...

Happy Father's Day

To all the dads out there, Happy Father's Day. Hope that your family treat you like the king on your special day.

To the wives of the king, guess we can all not bug, nag, or honey do them for one day? Whatcha think? Nah! No rest for them! I got my "honey do" list already to go! LOL!

Until next time....

Lookie What Came In The Mail

Yesterday I received the package I was expecting from Hickory Hill Primitives. I had ordered a small pantry cake and the cutest little whisk broom. But first I guess I should tell you how I came about finding Jen's website.


Her good friend Lynne had a giveaway. You probably know Lynne from her blog, A simpler Time . Anyway, while I didn't win Lynne's giveaway, she was offering a second prize to the first person that could tell her the name of one of 2 dolls on her website. So popped over to Lynne's site to have a look around and wouldn't you know it, found the dolls, went back to her blog and posted the name. I won a $10 gift voucher towards anything from Jen's website, Hickory Hill Primitives.



As luck would have it, Jen was also having a sale on her website and still is, so I was able to purchase 2 items for a little more than the cost of postage for both. the pantry cake I purchased I will be making a shoo fly screen and round noodle board for it real soon. Already have the screen strainer for it.

Isn't the little whisk broom too cute? Already found a hanging spot for it. Anyway, when you are surfing the net, be sure to pop by both ladies websites and see all that they have to offer.

Until next time....

Women Power!

Now, I'm not man bashing, but celebrating my woman-ness! LOL! I recently made some new signs that had an empowerment kinda theme going on... The one above is oh so true. Women get lots of things accomplished in their day. I know I usually can run circles around my hubby in getting things accomplished.


A perfect sign for the laundry room. Living in a houseful of 4 males, they rarely see the inside of the utility room except when passing through on their way to the bathroom! LOL!




A more updated version of the woman scorned comment! I love this one...watch out when the boys get me mad! When Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! LOL!




And of course this one speaks to a woman's ability to mutli-task...women know how to use their time very productively!LOL! These as well as other sigsn can be found on my website. Pop by for a visit.

I'm A 10!

Just ask my hubby! LOL! Well maybe not a perfect 10...maybe a 9 1/2! Always need a little room for improvement!

This weekend I went shopping with my friend Cookie. We went to our favorite store to shop at...Kohls! They were having a good sale, we had a 20% off coupon and I had a $10 gift card that Kohls sent to me for being a valued customer for my birthday. So off we went to Kohls and 4 hours later came home with a few new things. So you are asking yourself what does shopping at Kohls have to do with being a 10? Good question and read on...



As most of you know, I've been dieting and exercising to lose weight. I've lost 28 pounds so far. So while shopping, I decided to try on some capris. Well I went for the usual size 12 and guess what? They were too big. Be still my heart! It can't be! I ran back out to the capri display and picked up a size 10. Went back tot he dressing room and tried them on...they fit and looked wonderful too! OH MY! I'm a 10 again! LOL!

I haven't been in size 10's for a long while...probably 6+ years, so it felt good to finally be back there. The past 2 weeks I've been stalled in weight loss...haven't really lost any, so I started reading and evaluating why. I came across some information on BMR. What BMR is, the rate at which your body consumes calories at while resting, your basic metabolic rate. So I calculated mine, then multiplied it by the activity level factor to get how many calories I should consume in a day to maintain my current weight. You've gotta know what you have to have in order to know how much to cut out. So with that calculated, I now am ready to eat to loss weight again...yep, you heard that right. I will be eating more to lose weight.

Seems like I might have put my body into starvation mode, which doesn't allow you to burn the excess fat stores. Oh my, our bodies are wonderful in its ability to persevere through tough times. Anyway, in about 10 days or so, I will know if I am on the right track or not. So starting today I have to consume 2100 calories a day. Hopefully, with the activity level that I achieve each day, I will burn about 500-600 or so calories each day which should give me approx. a 1-1 1/2# weight loss each week.

I know, overly complicated sounding and so boring, but I think that the reason most women go off diets is that once they hit a plateau and the weight stops coming off, they stop dieting and watching what they eat, since it doesn't appear to be working anymore. I also spoke with another neighbor who is a personal trainer and she said the #1 thing that people who are trying to lose weight do wrong, is underfed their bodies. We try to get by on the fewest calories, which barely fuel our resting bodily functions let alone our activity level functions so our bodies go into starvation mode and start to build up fat stores instead of burning them. So wish me luck on my jump starting the weight loss process again. I have about 10 more pounds to go.

Until next time....

Some More Beeswax

I purchased a few more molds to make some more beeswax ornies and another votive. I really am liking working with beeswax. It is such a change of pace from painting. This votive holder says "Good Huswife" on the front and has 2 fraktur on each side of it. A wax dipped, cinnamon brushed flameless votive was inserted inside of the middle of the votive holder. The votive holder has been brushed with cinnamon.


When I saw this log cabin sampler, I knew I had to purchase the mold. I am absolutely loving it. I added a rusty wire hanger to the top so as to be able to hang it off of a peg, cabinet knob, tie on a basket, or to hang on an everyday prim tree. I added a black and mustard homespun fabric strip along with a piece of cheesecloth to the wire hanger. A small metal rimmed coffee stained hangtag which says "Homestead" has been attached with a rusty safety pin to the fabric on the hanger...I think it's prim perfect.


I also purchase this Eagle mold. It's so patriotic perfect for the upcoming summertime holidays. Again, I have dusted the ornie with cinnamon and attached a rusty wire hanger. Black and mustard checked homespun along with a piece of cheesecloth has been tied around the wire hanger. A coffee stained metal rimmed hangtag which says "liberty" has been added to the fabric strip. It looks great hanging off my new peg rack.

These as well as the others that I had in a previous giveaway will be available on my website.

Until next time...

A Monkey Love

Isn't this little sock monkey that absolute cutest? I am so smitten with it! I purchased it from Cyndy at CraftyStitchers etsy shoppe. I remember as a young girl having a sock monkey and he was so well loved too!


And when Cyndy shared this little cutie on her blog, well I couldn't resist getting her too! She is the smallest raggedy angel but with such attention to detail, but I knew it would be so, since I already own another of Cyndy's raggedies and it is topnotch!

Anyway, if you haven't taken a peek at what Cyndy has to offer for sale, stop by her etsy shoppe...you won't be disappointed.

Until next time...

Let's Hear it For The Red, White and Blue

I know I'm a little late for Memorial Day but since we celebrate such patriotic holidays over the summer months and with flag day coming up, thought I would share some of my newest Americana signs with you.



I added a new Americana typography sign to my etsy shoppe. And a small America sign too. Nothing says summer like the ole red, white and blue!






And while still in the red, white and blue mood, I made a new set of salt dough bowl fillers. These will be available for sale on my website.

Until next time.....

Rainy Day Projects

I just love rainy days, especially when I can get the hubby motivated to make me a few things. So a few weeks ago, we had almost a week of rain. Since the hubby has his own lawn service business and rain and grass cutting don't go together too well, what better time to put the hubbies other talents to use.


I had the hubby make me a new shelf for the hallway just like the one only smaller that he made for my bedroom and a simple peg hanger for the entrance way alcove. I am still busy decorating and adding things to them but will post pictures once I have them all tweaked out.

The hubby also made me another different shelf too...still need to paint that one and get it hung, but will share pictures when I get it done. Gotta love a man that can not only make a lawn look pretty but isn't bad with the woodworking tools too! LOL!

Until next time...