Another Gift Has Arrived!

Back in December, Vicki, over at Cherry Chick Jewelry, was kind enough to give me a $10.00 gift card to Artbeads.com. What a GREAT site that I had no clue even existed. I had wanted some of the jump rings she uses in her jewelry making and some little silver ball thingies so those are what I ordered - all for $10.00 - and just look at the precious way the company packages and sends out their things. It is a lovely touch. If you are a dabbler in little making little necklaces and other small or large things, this is the perfect site for you to visit. The prices are reasonable, the delivery is prompt, and when your order arrives it looks like you have just received a birthday present. Now, I am waiting for all the other stuff I bought...boy, have they made a custom out of this old gal! Thank you so much, Vicki, for thinking of me. I love my goodies...but then,  you knew I would!

M.E. Monday

Here we are on Sunday night, and it is time to join in with Vicki over at Cherry Chick and post our Mary Engelbreit goodies for the week. If you have never stopped by, be sure to do it because you will not be disappointed.

A while back I read about this M.E. scrapbooking paper kit and immediately ordered if off of Amazon for $13.00.  The papers are precious and the collection is made up of her most favorite prints, sayings, and all kinds of other odds and ends of paper....even some ric rac.  I have been using it for all sorts of little projects and am so glad I went ahead and bought it.  I stopped scrapbooking about 5 years ago because I had a total “burn out” after many years of doing is constantly. All of my collection of unused Creative Memories scrapbooks are packed away in a huge brown box sitting out in one or our old outbuildings. I’ve retired from the scrapbooking, but I can surely use her papers for other fun things.

Here are some of my favorites.

  

It’s M.E. Monday...YEAH!

M.E. Monday is upon us again so go by Vicki’s blog over at Cherry Chick and check out all of our entries. If you haven’t joined in on the fun, please do. Trust me, you won’t regret it! This week I am focusing on my friend, Weezie, in North Carolina. I drove to see her last week after a 2 year hiatus, and we had the best time. By the way, a real miracle took place today as I was preparing this post. I have been using Vicki’s blinking M.E. heart for ages, but it would never blink for me no matter what I did.  All I can say is, the blinker must have known just how much I was missing my Weezie, and it decided to start blinking in her honor. Miracles happen at the strangest times and places and when you least expect them. I am so happy the heart is finally blinking! Below is a little M.E. ceramic picture I gave her years ago, and it continues to sit in her kitties right where she drinks her tea and watches her little TV.  There are no words to express what dear friends we have been for 40+ years so I won’t even try. I think you all have already figured it out. 

The two of us love this banner, and it always hangs in a prominent place whenever we are together.  Someone else might have considered the love our two families had for one another as being dysfunctional, but for us it was “normal!" There were seven children total, 5 boys and 2 girls, and basically, 4 parents.  There were no baby-sitters or house-sitters....we always looked after one another. We carpooled, ate together, played together, vacationed together, traveled together.....it was just the best of the best.  We lived across the street from one another for 18 years, and it was a WONDERFUL time for all of us...many, many happy memories for the two of us ...and all of our children...to reflect back upon as we all age.

Please excuse the quality of this picture, but my printer is about out of ink. If you all could have seen Weezie and me trying to get the silly camera set up on the dining room table at just the correct height to take our photo on time delay you would have cracked up.  We did it at least 10 times having to shift the camera to the right and then the left or put another book under it.  I am going to have a “real” picture made from it for my “Pals" frame, but I can’t get it done in time for Vicki’s M.E. Monday Post at 8:00 tonight. Sorry about that...but I did get my post up on time! As I say every week at this time....Happy M.E. Monday to all of you.

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”

~Annonomous

Rednesday

Here is a real hodgepodge of reds for you. They range from our tomatoes and our precious granddaughter (on the right) and her best pal to sites around the county, one of my quilting squares for the “Rainbow Around The Block” charity project, and my most special red pendant made my Vicki Anderson at Cherry Chick.  I bought two of her Mary Engelhreit inspired pendants and they are my favorite things to wear. Click on the pictures to get a larger version. 

“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight...the truly wise person is colorblind.”

~Albert Schweitzer

Telephoto Practice Flower Mosaic

Year before last I sponsored our middle school yearbook and had the opportunity to use a Canon EOS Rebel XSi. Then last year I went through a hugh “camera withdrawal” having to do back to my point and school Canon.  Finally, about 6 months ago I decided to treat myself to the same camera - which incidentally is not being made anymore - which came with a fine Canon EFS 18-55mm lens. I used it until about a month ago when I ordered a refurbished Canon  EFS 55-250mm lens. Well, it is the greatest with a magnification from afar which is unbelievable.  These are all flowers from around our house using Big Blue Labs Mosaic Maker - I followed the tutorial from Little Red House entitled  “Making Photo Mosaics: A Tutorial.”  Also, and so VERY important, Vicki over at  Cherry Chick has been the best teacher in the world for me.  Her patience and continual help with my blog is greatly appreciated. She is so patient with my being so slow at catching on!  If you have not checked out her blog be sure to do so RIGHT NOW!!! She is even having a give-away which is especially nice of her. Click on the “Cherry Chick” above and you will go right there.

“You don’t take a photograph.  You ask, quietly, to borrow it.”
~Author Unknown

I Got a “Susprise” Today!

Vicki Anderson of Cherry Chick loves Mary Engelbreit just like I do, though on a scale of from 1-10 she is definitely a 100!  Not only does she collect ME’s wonderful creations, she is an artist in her own right.  On her site you will find all types of precious jewelry she has made and has for sale through Etsy. I kept looking and looking at her things, and then decided to get two of her darling pendants. Well, today they came and I was like a child in a candy store when I opened her little package. These photos tell the story...

...and here they are on my chain.....thank you, Vicki....I LOVE THEM!

Not only is her work lovely, the way she packages the things she sells is extra special.  The entire presentation was so dear I decided I just had to share it will all of you who enjoy visiting her site and take part in her ME Mondays.

“Just as there is a trend  toward high tech today, there is a trend toward high touch - homemade and wholesome.”
~Meryl Gardner

It’s ME Monday, and I Found My Missing ME Decoupage Pin

     Thanks to Vicki at Cherry Chick and her wonderful SmileBox presentation of some of her many unique, signed ME collectables, and in particular her pictures of Mary’s little decoupage  pins, I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to search for the ONE I have had for years but couldn’t find anywhere. I was frantic I’d lost it...like a friend missing... but much to my great joy and surprise I found it almost immediately under my bathroom sink in my “pin basket”...just where it was supposed to be...isn’t that usually the case?  Like I told Vicki, that poor little pin has been through the washer and dryer so many times I cannot count them, but what ME does she does well and for that reason it is in really good condition. Thank you V. for triggering my fading memory and sending me on my searching mission. I am such a happy camper this afternoon :-)!


“Friends though absent are still present.”
~Marcus Tillius Cicero - 106BC-43BC

M.E. Monday - THE BEGINNING!

Queen Elizabeth may think she is the Queen Mother, but on this side of the pond she is sadly mistaken.....I am the Queen Mother!  Many years ago my best friend gave me this  Mary Engelbreit “potholder”, but as you can see it has never been used as one. She is the topic of my Blessing #5 which you can read at flossingmyblessings.blogspot.com. Instead it sits either on my pillow or on the back of my blue, heated recliner. It may not be the most unique ME thing I have, but it is definitely one of the most special because Weezie gave it to me.  In honor of her friendship and faithfulness to me through the years, I have decided to use my “Queen Mother” as my first contribution to Vicki’s ME Challenge.

“So many people come into our lives and then leave the way they came. But there are those precious few who touch our hearts so deeply we will never be the same."
~Mary Engelbreit

Last Day of School Rednesday

Thanks to Vicki’s guidance over at Cherry Chick, I was finally able to figure out how to put together a mosaic of photos.  It took me all afternoon to make it work, but “I DID IT!” Don’t ever let anyone tell you you are too old to learn something new. Since today was our last day of middle school for the year, I decided to take some red shots from around and about out building. If any of you are interested in putting one together, you will need to connect your blog to your Flickr account first....that was my boo-boo. The mosaic instructional site is:  favorite mosaics on Flickr. Again, thanks to Vicki we have that address.

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1. Obey 2. Need Coffee 3. Red Lot 4. Lunch Read 5. The Queen’s Throne 6. Room with a View 7. Oldies Found 8. Fun Day 9. Rockbridge Middle 10. Stuff 11. Waiting for Snow 12. Fire Drill 13. Duck 14. Pi Day 15. Recycle 16. Come In