Finding Inspiration

I seem to be going down a path of neutrals and natural lately.



This image is from the summer issue of Flea Market Style. I can gaze and gaze at this page and I don't seem to get sick of it at all.



Loving the colors (or lack there of) on the cover of the latest Artful Blogging. And the articles on the inside don't disappoint either. But that's no surprise.

The four current projects I'm working on are, at this point anyway, in neutrals and the one I'm about to start, though still in my head, is headed down the same path.



As for natural, well, I'm there too. Must be all the time I've been spending outside... between rain storms, that is.



I purchased both of these sets of tags from Brandywine Boutique. They are stunning!



And these I purchased from Star's Fault.



And speaking of, I have become infatuated with her blog! It's one of those places where I just feel at home when visiting.

Like Eileen, I want to create a Garden Journal and all of these tags and cards will find their way into it , I'm sure.

And I would like to send out a Thank You to Tina, for two reasons. First, I found Star's Fault through her blog, and second (the main reason) is because she was kind enough to award me with Neno's Award.



THE AIM OF NENO'S AWARD IS:

1) a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2) to seek the reason's why we all love blogging.

I would like to pass this along to each of you who are reading this. Y'all are the best!

Hope the rest of your week is a beautiful one!

The Catch-Up Post

Last week was Spring Break for us, and while I had no planned intention of disappearing for the week, well obviously, it happened. So, now I'm going to play catch-up and try to shove everything into this one post.

Normally on Spring Break we do some sort of family thing... camping, road trip somewhere, or maybe activities around the Dallas area. Not this year. This year was completely different.

E flew to Hawaii for most of the week with the school band and orchestra. Let me tell you, I went to the same high school as this kid, but I don't recall trips like this ever happening. I think maybe my Freshman year the French Club took a trip to France in the summer. Well, I was in the French Club my Sophomore through Senior years and as far as I know there wasn't a trip planned during that time. Oh well, I can't really complain, I've been to some pretty fabulous places since high school.

So anyway, of course I do not have one single photo of the boy in Hawaii. It seems to be my experience, that getting a teenage boy to take a camera with him on a trip he is making with his peers, is next to impossible. I'm hoping that maybe someone else who went, will be post photos somewhere and he will be in at least one of them.

While E was lying on a warm Hawaiian beach, the Farmboy took the other two skiing in the snowy Colorado mountains. The Farmboy loves to ski. He grew up in Colorado and any chance he can get to go up there and ski, he jumps at. However, this was a first for both Pretty Lady and Capin' Davy Cannonswine.



So the plan was, while Capin' Davy Cannonswine was in snowboarding school, which he was beside himself excited about, the Farmboy would take Pretty Lady up the mountain and teach her how to ski. She did really well and enjoyed it, despite being so sore afterwards.



Here's Capin' Davy Cannonswine, pre-broken arm. Yep, you read that right. Let me give you a little background on this kid. By the time he was 5, I believe, he had stitches put in his chin at least 3 times. Anytime we go anywhere that has a body of water, whether it be an ocean or a very small stream, the Capin' will accidentally fall in. Gravity is not this kids friend.

Day one was snowboarding class. At the end of the day, the instructor informed the Farmboy, that the Capin' likes to go fast and falls a lot. He also said he didn't think the boy was ready to go down the mountain yet. So, day two was snowboarding class again. He did much better on this day. Day three, their last day of skiing, the Capin' was released from class, but it was decided that he would continue on the slope he had been on the previous days. This slope, "The Magic Carpet", is watched over by instructors and other such people. After watching the Capin' for awhile, the Farmboy walked down to grab his camera. Before he made it back to where the Capin' was, the child had fallen and fallen just right on his arm. So after a trip to the hospital and an x-ray, he was put in a splint, which really isn't much different than a cast, for a stress fracture just above his wrist. At least he waited until the last day.

While all of these exciting events were taking place, I was at home. My plan was to take advantage of everyone being gone and get some serious crafting and organizing done. But, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." and I hardly got anything done.

However, these things did happen over the course of the week...

I was awarded.

Thank you so much Tina and Tracy! I really hate having to pick only a certain number of people to award. There are so many wonderful people with wonderful blogs out here, that I'm awarding everyone!

LolliShops got a facelift this past week. It looks really great and so many fabulous shops will get noticed now, with the new handpicked items mosaic. Go check it out!


And, I was tagged by Viv. I'm to share the 6th photo in the 6th folder of my pictures.

This was Mother's Day 2007. E and the Farmboy had just surprised me with new patio loungers. It's a good thing E has zero interest in his mother's blog, because if he saw that I had posted this photo of him, well, let just say, he probably wouldn't be too pleased. HeeHee!

I think I'm going to stop here. I do have a couple of items I found at an antique shop to share, but I haven't photographed them yet, so next time.

Now, I need to tackle the mountain of laundry everyone brought home. Have a beautiful Monday!

Monday News

Wow, it's Monday again... so soon! We had a great visit with my dad and now he's back on his paradise island. But, my mom will be here in a few weeks. How was your weekend?

I have received two more awards and as usual, have forgotten all the rules.

This one is from Tracy of Tide Up Memories. Tracy started her blog not too long ago. You should go by and visit her, she's a sweetheart!


And this one is from Cindy of Yapping Cat Studios. Cindy is one of the cowgirls who round up Paper Cowgirl here in North Texas. If you're in the area, you should check it out. But make sure you don't take my spot when registration comes 'round!


Thank you ladies. Y'all are really too sweet!

Looky what I got in the mail Saturday.

Stunning, aren't they! They are from Art-e-ology . Lori had a blog post awhile back about these ledger pages. I've found that a lot of times when you purchase ledger pages, the top couple of pages will be really lovely, but then as you meander towards the back of the stack, there is less writing on them. Which is understandable and somewhat expected. Not these babies. Every single page, front and back, has this amazingly gorgeous script. I seriously don't know if I'm going to be able to cut these up. We'll see.

I'm off to the eye doctor now. Yep, I'll finally be able to retire the scotch taped glasses and will no longer be such an embarrassment to the family... heehee.
Have a beautiful Monday!

Retreats are a Good Thing

(I know, Fredericksburg is misspelled. But, I already had the stickers down and really, I misspell everything anyway, I figure one more isn't going to hurt)

The last four days have been very good. I packed my bags and left for a scrapbook retreat with some good friends.



It was really nice to get away from all of the everyday tasks and the regular schedule. (Holy crow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.)



I decided to start a new project during this trip, because really, I don't have enough half finished scrapbook projects piled up already.



I purchased this kit from Scrapologie several months ago, specifically for the photos of our 6th wedding anniversary trip. And added a few things from my own stash to it.



Keeping in mind that I am extremely slow when it comes to creating of any kind, this is all that I accomplished in 4 whole days. I haven't even done any of the journaling yet.



*************

On another note, I've been awarded this award by two very sweet bloggers. Both Tina of Tinybear and Jenn of Mysteries of the Juniper have passed this on to me. Thank you ladies!

Here are the details:
"The award is forwarded to charming bloggers who invest in the PROXIMITY of space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. The authors ask that you pass this award on to other blogging friends and include their link in the post. Notify them to let them know that they have been given the award. So please spread the love!"
I would proudly like to pass this award on to the following friends, in no particular order:

Nina of A Little Moment of Peace
Cheryl of Texas Bass Hall of Fame
Joanna of Sweet Finds
Allie of Under the Texan Sun

Okay, I realize now, after going back and reading this post (good grief is it choppy!), that although retreats are a good thing, they can cause serious "retreat hangovers". I'm feeling it in a bad way.

Have a beautiful Monday!

Not Deserving

I have really gotten so bad about this. I received two awards before Christmas and am just now getting around to posting them.

The first award was given to me by Renee of The Chateau of Remnants. Renee gave me the Butterfly Award.

Thank you Renee!

And the other award, was the Marie Antoinette Award. My Texas Bella friend Shannon gave me this one.

Thank you Shannon!

Just last week the darling Elly of My Everyday Things awarded me The Spreader of Love Award.

Thank you Elly! You are so sweet!

Quite honestly, I can't, for the life of me, remember the rules for either of the first two awards. So, I'm going to break the rules here and if you would like any or all of these, please feel free to take them. Because really, we all know everyone in this fabulous community deserves them!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Welcome to the Awards Ceremony! I have been honored three times recently. Yes that's right, three times!

The first award is the Tree of Happiness Award. My sweet friend Diane gave this to me.

This award says...
"You have just received the tree of happiness. It is scarcely
a small plant, which depends on you to grow firmly and strongly.
Plant it on your heart, water it with your smiles and kindness,
feel the aroma of it's flowers, savour the sweetness of it's fruits
and protection under it's shade with whom you love."

I now have to share 6 things that make me happy (this is the hard part... there are a whole lot more than 6 things that make me happy):
1. Life
2. My Farmboy
3. My children
4. Creating
5. Being able to spend all day creating if I so wish it.
6. This awesome blogging community

Now I will nominate 6 people to accept this happy award (okay, no, this is the really hard part):
1. Joanna for listening to me babble all day long, every day. (She is sporting a new look by the way, and I personally think it looks marvelous!)
2. Dawn because her sweet giving-self totally rocked my world this morning in an email!
3. Natalea because she let me join her swap and she is so giving too.
4. Sherry because you are a good friend and I believe that trees can help us find strength and peace when we need it.
5. Whitney because our friendship began here and has grown very strong and beautiful just like a tree.
6. is for anyone else out there in blogland who would love to have this award. There isn't anyone I've met who has not passed on a little happiness to me in one way or another.

Award number two also comes from Diane! This one is the Blogging Friends Award.


Here are the rules:
1. Use the Twinks Bank icon
2. Nominate 5 other people only
3. Four (4) nominees have to be dedicated followers of your blog
4. One (1) has to be someone new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
5. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

I nominate:
1. Lori since the first day she read my blog, she has left a kind words for me.
2. Jenn whom I am so glad for having met this past summer.
3. Allie it's always a pleasure to read her comments.
4. Brenda she has jumped right in to my little world and always leaves words of wisdom for me and I appreciate it very much!
5. Elly I have just met Elly through LolliShops and linked her up today. Her blog is really so fresh and inspiring. You know, it reminds me of a breath of Spring air. I know that probably sounds corny, but I really truly believe that.

Award number three is from Natalea. In all of her sugary sweetness, she has given me the E is for Excellent Award.


Really, I think every blog I read is excellent, otherwise I wouldn't read them... right? But 5 must be nominated so:
1. Karin OMG, she cracks me up!
2. Tiffany OMG she cracks me up too!
3. Brenda again with the cracking up. I really like to laugh, can you tell? It all goes back to that "happiness" thing.
4. Wanda there are a lot of reasons here, but if for nothing else, her blog has a rating of "genius"! I'm hoping some of that rubs off on me.
5. Sadie because Sadie has and is doing the most excellent job when it comes to LolliShops!

Whew! I think I'm all awarded out, but I really do feel honored. Thank you everyone!

Thank You...

First I would like to say thank you to Jaime of Always Inspired. I won her Pairs Banner giveaway!


Isn't it lovely? Thank you so much Jaime!

I would also like to thank Sherry of Esprit* d'Art. She has been so sweet to gift me with this wonderful award. Thank you Sherry, I really appreciate your kindness!

With the acceptance of this award, are some rules.
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Here are the wonderful ladies I am passing this award to, in no particular order:

To my newest friend Diane of Diane's Musings

To the blogger who makes everyone feel welcome and special, Lori of Faerie Window

To the one whose journals I greatly admire, Karin of Creative Chaos

To my friend and first swap buddy, Whitney of Kindred Joy

To Lori of Pink Faded Roses, to help brighten her day :)

To Jenn of Mysteries of the Juniper for being so very encouraging about my art journal

And last but not least, to my Silver Bella buddy Joanna of Sweet Finds (we are going to have so much fun!)

You all are Brilliant!

Have a beautiful weekend!