Dawn,Look what I found!!!

Look what I found in my box of my Momma's things!!! I had given my sister all of the papers that belonged to Mom so that she could go through them, in her own time, and then we could get together and divide them someday. (It has taken me over two years to go through "my boxes" because it is so difficult & I miss her so much.) We took all of the boxes of dishes,etc. and we divided them up equally with my sis, my brother, & me. In one of the boxes that came to me I found these two lovely books. I immediately thought of Dawn Edmundson at The Feathered Nest! The "Merry Tales" book is dated 1906 to Master Herb Johnston, my Grandpa J. (Don't you love it the way they used to title a baby boy, "MASTER"?) Anyway the other book, "Tiny Folks Alphabet" is dated 1899! Can you believe that they have survived so well after 100 plus years? I am in the process of scanning each page, just for our family posterity. It may be a long time coming because the books are so brittle. (You may use these pictures in your art work but please "share" with me what you come up with. I would love to see some of the different things that you artist gals come up with! Please do NOT sell these prints as yours.) For those who are "new" to blogging you can right click on the prints and save them to your computer files.

Inside of the front cover of the "Merry Tales" book was a loose leaf beautiful picture of these two children. I adore the way the one kid is laughing. Is she rolling her eyes or what? It is so very cheerful and makes me smile just to see it. I know that Grandpa J. would have gotten a big "kick" out of my falling in love with his grammar books. The first snapshot is of my Grandpa when he was around two or three, (according to the writing on the backside of the picture). I cherish all of my family photos but this one is especially dear to me. The second photograph is the picture that Grandpa sent to my Grandma when they were dating. I have always thought he was quite dashing. Even when he was much older & snow white hair, he still had that "movie star" look but maybe I am just prejudiced. I sure loved him & love his memory, just as much.

I have saved the pictures in a large file so that you can get a good copy of the pictures. From time to time I will try to post some of the other pictures. I do hope you will enjoy my treasures...I sure am!...Sharon

I WON at The Feathered Nest 900th blog!!!

Dawn of The Feathered Nest choose my blog to win her 900th post giveaway!!! I am so honored to have "anything" from her creative hands & heart. She is such a lovely person and so generous with the talents that the Lord has blessed her with. I started blogging in May 2008 because of her encouragement. She has truely blessed my life in so many ways but most of all because she truely cares about each of her followers. When I talk with her she always makes me feel that I am important. That is a true gift of love. Thank you dear Dawn for the beautiful Journal that you made while nursing you son back to health & laboring over the love of being a new grand mother. I know you are cherishing each second spent kissing those precious little cheeks!! (I would love to see some pictures of Grandma with the new baby,,,hint hint)

Look at this beautiful barn and the lavender flowers shining in front! Because of Dawn I found another wonderful, brand new blogger Linda K. of White Linen~Lavender! She has such an interesting blog about her family in Wisconsin and she makes lovely art work for us to use. If you have not already done so...Check her out. She is new loves seeing new people come by. I find it is hard to get with the right group that seems to "fit" my style, well she sure fits mine and I thought I would introduce her also. Dawn ran a spot for her a while back and she has had several people finding out what a treasure she truely is to the blog world.

I want to personally thank each one who has so generously stopped by to see what I am up to on my blog. You truely "make my day " when you leave a note! I get kinda discouraged when I don't know who is "out there" and IF my work on this blog means anything to anyone...I know all bloggers go through that period of time when they wonder if the time is worth it but your kind coments has helped so much. I must start showing you some of the jewelry pieces that I am working on...soon, I promise...sharon

Freebies at The Feathered Nest

I just read that Dawn (The Feathered Nest) is having her 900th Blog Giveaway!!! WOW! 900 Blogs is alot of work! Check it out!

Katie: 13 years old

Beth: 11 years old

I have been going to do this for 13 years and last night was the night. I got busy last night and started on a gift for my daughter for her Mother's Day. I started with a snapshot of my two grand daughters. I then cut the silhouette out of black card stock paper. Next came my Photoshop creation. I used around ten brushes from my files to create the background. In my flower file I found this lovely pink rose bouquet. I ran the silhouettes and the flowers through the printer. I made several copies of the flowers so that I could cut them out and make the 3D. I then added spacers between the back ground and the silhouettes to bring them out just a little. On top of that I put spacers between the flowers making a total of three layers. I do hope you can see the details, if not just right click and they will enlarge for you.

Once I get them framed I will let you have a sneak preview before I give them to Melissa to hang on her wall. I will have to keep one for myself & I think I will also mail copies of them to their MiMi in North Carolina.

I did not get any beading done because the layers of cutouts took all night long. I have been working in the yard all day long. Well, off to finish up on the framing and maybe some bead work too.

Right Angle Weave, Anyone!

I have been working on the yard so I haven't gotten much done in the beading area of my life. I had these "spacers" from another bracelet and I really liked the design feature so decided to make another bracelet. I used a right angle weave out of luscious golden black larger beads (size 8). I added the spacers as I went along on every fifth row. (I like using odd counts whenever I want to make pieces come out correctly) From there I just made it up as I went along. My favorite colors are usually purples, emeralds and bright colors but this bracelet "told me" what to do. I ended up adding a bright gold Checz bead on the top to add drama to the spacers. I wanted the closer to be hidden so I just added a hook and eye. The bracelet went pretty fast but sometimes I think it is just the mood I am in whether it goes smoothly or not. I have not felt challenged lately so I must get out my files and find something to "get me in the mood" again. There is a huge stock of beads (plus a lot of money invested) above my desk just waiting to become something beautiful.

Today was a perfect Sunday! We got up early and went to church...good...then a quick lunch..okay..then a long nap....very good! So I guess I am up a long night. I shouldn't have slept so long but it was so nice being snuggled up with my dog, Sweetie. I just could not get around to making myself be productive today.

JoAnn has a saying on the header of Moss Hill Studio http://mosshill.blogs.com/joannas_journal/ that I just can't get out of my brain. "Do not look at your gifts as a possession, but as an expression of WHO gave them to you!" (This saying can be taken two ways....the love gifts given one to another or the talents/gifts that God has given us; I prefer the latter.) Since waking I have had a this fellow blogger on my heart and I just can't shake the concern & prayers. Her husband is in need of all of our prayers. Please keep him & her in your prayers. I KNOW there are a band of prayer warriors out there. There are times when ONLY the Lord can help. Please, if the Lord brings them to your mind, whisper a prayer for them. (Isn't it wonderful that we can touch each others lives through prayer?) Also, be sure to check out her blog today.
Bless you on this beautiful spring day...Sharon
P.S. Thank you for stopping in to read my words. You are greatly appreciated!

Spring Flowers Everywhere!

Blessed, blessed SPRING!!! Thank you, Lord, for all of my beautiful flowers! I am truely BLESSED!!!

I received a Kreativ Blogger Award!

I received a sweet award from Lynn at Lynns Lovelies ( http://lynnslovelies.blogspot.com/)!!! How kind of you to think of me. I am so new at the blog world that I do not know much except that blog land has been kind to me. Through your encouragements and kind words, I think I can make it to my first anniversary, after all. A gift is not as sweet unless you can share it with others. I would like to pass this gift on to others that have made a difference in my blog life:

Cora from :http://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/

Tracy: http://lacedwithgrace.com/
Dawn: http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/

Yvette: http://thecharmhouse.blogspot.com/

Miss Rhea: http://sweetnshabbyroses.blogspot.com/

Margaret: http://blog.thefrenchbear.ca/

Tammy: http://alittlesomethingaddeddesigns.blogspot.com/ My daughter-in-love

Thank you for 11 months of sharing your lives with me! Sharon

Clearly Vintage ROCKS!

FYI!!!!

Have you been to Cora's, Clearly Vintage blog yet? (http://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/) The Clearly Vintage blog is just full of lovely pictures of the vintage era. I have been in contact with Cora and she said she would be glad for me to give you the heads up IF you don't already know about her blog. I know that Easter is over with until next year but she posted lovely Christmas cards on Friday for "early" creative spirits to begin to design with her gifts. She has been around for quite a long time and I have enjoyed reading her past issues. When one is very new to blogging it is always hard to find "my place in the line" so I have decided to go back to my original plan to use my blog as a diary, of sorts, for my records. I am not an author, nor are my words inspirational, (like so many of you are) I am just me and therefore I will tend to ramble to myself from time to time. I welcome each one of you to view anything that I post by right clicking on a picture. Thank you for stopping in and hope that you will come back again, from time to time....Sharon

P.S. Be sure to stop in to Cora's lovely posts!!!

Creating Gone Wild!

This is the finished product of my creating gone wild! Do you remember the "Holler for Hoops" that I created a couple of days ago? I just could not leave well enough alone......
What is this mess, you ask? I wanted to show the process that I went through to make this newest bracelet. It started off with a pattern by Jonna Holston of Kernersville, N.C. that I got out of the Bead & Button Magazine. I had moved this pattern from desk to desk, I filed it a couple of times and kept bringing it back out, hoping to "someday" get around to making the earring. Saturday Melissa came over with that very pattern made up & it was lovely. The ear ring was relatively easy so I made four pair in different colors. As I was making another pair, I laid one on top of the others. "Now wouldn't that make a lovely bracelet?", I thought to myself. So I made eight separate ear rings and started playing around. I thought maybe I might make a continuous petal effect so I stitched together three of them. Then I realized that the "petal" effect was eventually, going to cover up the copper crystallized Czech beads. So I sewed three more together and thought I could hook them together in the center but it just did not look the way I wanted. I then sewed two of the earrings opposite of each other and added a larger Czech bead in the center of the two ear rings. I proceeded to sew them all together in the fashion that you see in the finished product. Beading is very very time consuming but when one enjoys the process, time just seems to pass so quickly. When I looked up at the clock, my eyes were very strained but even then I could not believe that I had been beading for 12 hours with very few breaks. It was 6:39AM!

I wanted to thank Jonna for the great pattern that lead to my newest bracelet. I hope that she will be pleased with the results.....Sharon

HAPPY EASTER Everyone!

Since I have gotten back to beading, I have been very busy. I made these copper and green "Holler for Hoops" designed by Jonna Holston. (I am going to "try" to include the names of the pattern designers each time to give them credit for their work.) I am in the middle of making the same pattern out of blacks and silver & will show them to you later.

I posted this bracelet a couple of days ago but I just did not like the white bead in the center so I "ripped" it apart and remade it with a lovely copper bicone bead. What do you think? I like it sooooo much better.

I was up until 6:00AM beading. This is one of the projects I have been workin on. Lynn from Lynns Lovelies wears alot of black and silver. So I naturally thought of her while making this Russian spiral. I made earrings to match. What do you think Lynn?

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining & "it is well with my soul"!

After the tornado's went through, the wind died down, and the hail stopped ruining my spring blossoms, the storms passed over it is good to see the warm sun. We had terrible storms last night. But today the sun is warming the earth. Thank the Lord for the storms & most of all for the blessed rain. We have had drought for as long as I can remember. Maybe it is finally over and the grass will again turn green but in that same breath so will the weeds!

Tommorow is Easter. What a blessed holiday! We are so glad for new starts and new beginnings. God bless you on this day....Sharon

Vintage Inspired Jewelry giveaway!

Have you seen the lovely ear rings that Kathi (Vintage Inspired Jewelry) is giving away? Check out her lovely store on Etsy. She has "my kind" of beautiful Victorian goodies! https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHeTsr3-QzY7ll2ZibhBU-uSrl1U9z6VyZx5CEqkQrxArwM2sQlOCoQ8WYLaHlcloNE62Fx_S_ieor7FqYzJnuqKECfC6h098Q3-IjWZ-73Bey1LLYmhD10e7Z3KFknSYiG1oyTsrSurg/s1600-h/il_fullxfull+giveaway.jpg

Beaders Block Undone!

My lovely daughter, Melissa, has been so concerned about my beaders block that she has come over for three days in a row trying to get me back to where I was, enjoying beading. She had figured out a new stitch and was so excited about it that I just had to pick up my beads once again. This is what we created!!! It is an easy quick bracelet so I made a copper one, a blue pearl one, & a rust with blue accents. I am going to work on a necklace, using this same stitch.

Today is my beading/prayer day and I will make good use of all of the minutes on this gorgeous sunny day in Georgia. I will write more later IF I get done what I am planning. Have a sunny day, where ever you are...Sharon

I am featuring the necklace that I recently created to give you a look! My computer was not displaying colors the way they should be, so my son in law fixed it. The center drop is surrounded with a gorgeous mauve seed beads (but in the picture here it looks like a gold.) The outside is done with a peyote stitch and embroidered onto a background of luscious ultra suede. (The ultra suede also protects the back from scratching the foil on the back.) What a pretty spring look this will be with a nice Easter dress!

On Saturday it was almost 70 degrees, the sun was shining on our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I came home and weeded three of our flower beds and had a lovely day basking in the sun. When I came to our center flower bed these lovely "pink" daffodils were holding their heads high. I HAD to take pictures to make spring cards from. The centers of the daffodils are a dark shade of dusty rose, what lovely faces they have! But the pictures turned out yellow for some reason. Look at that beautiful blue sky with the yellow Chinese roses in front showing off. My tulips are just about gone but I took a few pics of them just to keep alive their memory. Sunday is was warm but windy. Then Monday early a cold front moved in and things drastically changed in Georgia. (I am so distressed for all of the spring flowers coming out to freeze.)

This gloomy cold day has caused me to stay inside. I surprised my hubby by cooking roast, gravy, potatoes with carrots, plus biscuits! Yummmmy! Good ole' county cookin'. I made a couple of Easter cards, several Bible markers for Easter & packed up a couple of boxes that I need to get sent out. I even had an hour for a nap. What a lovely time to just rest & do what I like best.

Reading your blogs is a time of relaxation and reflection. Some blogs are so refreshing and up beat, some are devotional, some are creative, but each one gives me a glimpse into your personalities & priorities. I do enjoy reading about what everyone is doing & the comments on each blog to see how you have affected each life you touch.

It has been almost a week since I laid down my beading and have dedicated this time to prayer, reflection on MY priorities, and creating cards that have meaning to me. Like I said, it is a time to do what is best for me.....God Richly Bless each one of you during this week of preparation for Easter...Sharon