Pink Saturday

If I was at home, I would think of sharing photos of pink lustre tea cups or pretty pink linens or the pink pointsettia I purchased for the shop.

But I am in the desert and discovered there are some beautiful pinks amongst the succulents!

A Barrel Cactus

Different Barrel Cacti


Prickly Pear
genus Opuntia
(genus info supplied by my environmentalist son)


Prickly Pear
with insect residue.
(I tried to remove it to make a prettier picture, but well, that seemed a little to0 punctilious, even for me!)


Being together with our kids is such a joy. We all went to The Living Desert the day before Christmas. The guys went hiking, the women looked at the animals (cats were the favs). When my daughter got tired of it all and wanted to read Harry Potter, I wandered off into the gardens, happily taking pictures and enjoying the quiet of being by myself.

Happy Boxing Day!
Hope your Christmas was full of love, joy, family and good things.

and now, since we are at a desert resort, we're all going swimming!

Out and Back Again

My dear friend Lori wrote and asked if all was well. After sending her a long note I thought I ought to post something here.

I've just been working out some personal issues.
I'm fine and all is well with my family!

We are off to the desert for Christmas.

My son's internship is out near Death Valley and since he wasn't coming home, we decided to go out and hang with him.

I promise to share all my fun things of Silver Bella and the antiquing trip home, and our holiday in sun, sand and cactus after the new year.

ps these photos were taken by my son. I think they are amazing!
correction, the desert photos were taken by my son.

Antiquing in Iowa

Who Knew?
Iowa is a fantastic place to antique.
I am writing this from the Amana Visitors Center.
I will post pictures when I can.
I am having a blast and can't wait to share all the pretty images and cool stuff I have been able to find on this trip home.

Later Friends,
~Marilee

On My Way Back Home

Again, if I had music on this blog, it would be playing what I think might be a Paul McCartney tune from his first solo album. As I remember it, some where in it there are the lines I'm on my way home/ on/ my/ way/ back/ home. I can hear it in my head, but couldn't find it on goggle.

I'd hum it for you, but you'd never get it then!
If you can remember it, do let me know.


The same bags going home.


Plus all these fabulous swap treasures.

Silver Bella was amazing. I am still processing it all. The classes were incredible. I felt such a connection with all the teachers and learned so many new techniques. I did the vendor fair and that was another great learning experience. I will post more about this adventure when I return home.

Play Day

Saturday was all about play and it had lots of different components.

UP IN THE AIR JUNIOR BIRDMAN

I took the day off from glittering and Kath took the day off from policy making and we played!


We didn't go up in the plane, which is playing for Kathy & her friends.

The wind would just have bounced the aircraft around.

I am being offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly in a WWII training plane.
It wouldn't work out time-wise, but the truth is, I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to little planes.

FARM GIRL FOR A DAY

Down the road from the hangars, a family related farm festival was going on.

Broom Making

Sorghum is used to make the brooms.

Colored Sorghum.

Corn
Turned in to meal and made into pancakes.
We bought a bag of mix and it's today's breakfast!

I like the historical irony!

This wringer washing machine certainly would not be considered easy by today's standards. But I bet it was a whole lot easier than what the farm wife had before.

Vintage and antique farm equipment

Well used, rusty vehicles.

Equipment in show condition.

Notice the blades of grass out of focus at the bottom on this pic?

Kath was down on the grass taking beautiful close-up arty photographs.

I grabbed the camera out of her hands, told her to stay put and captured her "technique!"
Hard not to laugh!

On My Way

If I had music on this blog, it would be playing the catchy opening tune of Ice Age.

As I don't, you'll just have to hum it yourself!

My bags are packed.


Here's my packing list.
Notice how close-up I could get on this photo?


I have a new camera and it is fabulous!
10x zoom, smallish and oh so easy to use!
Can't wait to take pics of all the wonderful things along the way.

Happy Halloween

The images seem right for the season, don't they?

I have not done much Halloween decorating this year. With no kids at home and no trick or treaters (really, no one comes to our house), I just never got around to it.


As I was hanging this lace from the clothesline I was reminded of cobwebs in school carnival haunted houses. Its as close to Halloween decorating as I got this year!


Have I mentioned the intense involvement I had in my kids' elementary school PTA? Maybe one day I will write about the joy (and frustration) I found in that full-time, unpaid position. Needless to say, I am very familiar with school carnival haunted houses!

The wind was picking up when I hung these pieces of lace.

Untangling lace is almost as difficult as untangling small necklace chains and much scarier!


Have a wonderful day & evening.
I'll be thinking of my kids and wondering, despite their 20-something-ness, are out there in great costumes, politely (or not) calling
"TRICK OR TREAT!"

So Fun!

Yesterday was a wonderful day!

Elyse and her sister visited my shop.
They showed up just as I was turning on the lights and we had a really fun visit.


This is one of her beautiful soup can pencil holders. It is sitting out on my desk as I type this!

Elyse and her sister.
In real life, they are in much sharper focus!


Elyse & me.
When Elyse posts her pictures at cottage, they may be in better focus. She has a new camera and I forgot to turn my flash on.

After Elyse left to visit Vintage Lizzie, down the road, I had other delightful people in. It was like a ray of appreciation came in with Elyse and her sister and brightened up everyone who stopped by -- another sister duo from NJ and Washington state and a mom & daughter from around the corner. It was really fun to spend the day in the shop with like minded women who enjoyed my taste and were friendly.



Knowing the sun would be out, and I had linens to clean & sun bleach, I left a load in the washing machine to soak overnight. This morning I wiped the clothesline clean -- I do not know how a thin piece of plastic covered wire can get so dirty. 45 minutes, a bleach soaked rag & some coriander scented all purpose clearer later, I could hang out these pretties.

A square piece to put over one's bed pillow.

Just beyond the clothes line are plants that always remind me of Autumn.


Bittersweet.
They are invasive plants in the northeast and my son has worked hard to eradicate them.
Sorry Ter, they are back.

Its All About Me

To see Natasha's post and the other participants, CLICK here!

When I signed up for this blog party, I had no idea what I would do. I just knew it would be good to do something for me.

Then my local scrapbooking store sent an email telling me about a day long crafting event called "Stamptoberfest." The projects looked terrific, and I signed up, realizing it was the perfect "all about me" day! For more about fun activities, check out {creative chick headquarters} These are some of the wonderful ladies behind the day.

My schedule.

It was a great day. There were 5 teachers/5 classes. The students were divided into groups and went from one table to the next.


There were signs for each station, but I'm afraid this is the only one I snapped. Once we got going it was fast & intense and I was just glad to keep up.

My Tin Woman


We used plastic templates and rubbed the metal over them to add designs, then sand papered it to bring out the details. Because each class section was just 45 minutes, the teachers did a lot of prep work, including covering the legs with dictionary pages & painting the boots, arms, wings.


This is Erin & Melissa M.
Melissa taught my next class. We made a very wonderful pin out of a stamped image and swarovski crystals. You notice there is no photo? I gave the pin to my daughter and forgot to take a snap. I'm pretty sure she likes it, as it is a paisley shape and autumnal colors.
I loved how it turned out.

Erin took lots of photos of the day, staffed the register & rang the bell to keep us all on track.
She teaches at Colorful Creations for other events.


I always thought making charms was difficult. You had to solder and probably burn yourself (I have worked with glue guns and know about burns) and maybe have 2-handed coordination (I'm so awfully right handed).
NOT SO!

We got 3 kits for charms. We had time to make 2 and the one above is awaiting me.

These are the charms we made.
I learned how to use distress stamp pads to color tags & how to put these charm pieces together (no soldering needed). The teachers are so creative. The little charm on the left has tiny beads, starfish & shell shaking around. The fishnet was a great touch.


The next class was twice the time so we could make a tag book.

My finished book

I'll tell you a secret. The metal pieces the ribbon is strung thru are one of those mothers of invention things. I made a mess punching the holes and ripped the cover. Those metal pieces were part of the kit, I string & glued them and viola, no tears showing!

Inside of Tag Book.

Tags in a row.


No drawing required!
This was all done with stamps, watercolor pens & brush.


Thank you Natasha for hosting this lovely party. I had such a good time at my day of art. I learned lots of new techniques. I discovered my ArtBin is useless for holding supplies at this kind of event, and if I can swing it, I want to get a better camera for Silver Bella. Who would guess so much great knowledge would come out of planning a day all about me?