swaps from amy

i forgot to add these last week. here are our two most recent swaps. my sister amy and i do a monthly craft swap. for july i got all packaging and wrapping supplies. and for this month i got sparkely things. she also sent a few sweet surprises.



sparkly swap. the paper is glittery! pretty sparkly pom poms, trims and love the extras too! the cupcake notepad is so sweet and i LOVE the owl stamp!

care bear and strawberry shortcake treat bags.

cute stamps and only .50 cents! amy is the best bargain hunter!


thank you amy! i love everything! you find the best bargains!

FLEA MARKET FINDS

we went to a little flea market today and i found some vintage rhinestone pins. i love cameos..so i had to get that one! my favorite is the butterfly..i love the multi pastel rhinestones. i actually got a fourth pin.. but it is a gift.. so nope you cannot see!

a little drawing

my sister has an apple themed kitchen and she has been saying.. for a few years that she'd like some apple pictures for it. so for the last few years i have been meaning to do them.. but just haven't actually done it. first i wanted to paint them in acrylic. i recently decided..i don't really like acrylic paint.. which is not so good since i bought a bunch of it. so then i thought i'd draw them or water color. well i knew i had paper..somewhere. well yesterday...while looking for something else, i finally found the paper and did this practice apple. i had not picture or actual apple to use. so i did it from memory. it is a gala apple. what do you all think? please be kind.. i haven't drawn in years! it can be found on etsy if you like it.
amy you'll get yours soon! just gotta get some apples so i can actually have something to look at while i draw them.

my teeth!

are getting so straight! had the braces tightened last monday. this time was more painful. pain for three days. i think they put stronger wires this time. and i got lavender rubber bands this time!

snail mail...

recent snail mail arrivals...



swap from jane. do you remember these? keypers.. from the 80's they have a secret hiding space you open with a key. thank you jane!

rainbow yarns in 100% wool.


cute little lady bug raggedy ann type doll. my mom bought me this sweetie! she flew all the way from Thailand! thank you mom!

also from mom. love these plastic hair clips! thank you mom!

swap from liza. gotta love anything with owls! thank you liza!

doll show finds...

we went to the doll show last sunday. and here is what i brought home.


fancy trims and buttons and hooks and eyes on an old card. won't be keeping those ugly buttons!


vintage and antique ribbons in pretty satins and silks.



my first little pullip. this one is from the alice in wonderland series. she is called march hare. i love her make up and hair. and her little head can be tilted to the side she is really sweet!


party pleaser orange blossom. with hat attached to her head!\



izzie frizzie doll. these are so adorable! i couldn't resist!

today is the day!

i am expecting a new nephew today! or tomorrow if he is slow coming.. i am very excited to see the precious new baby! my thoughts and prayers are with my sister and her family! i know it'll be a slow day waiting to hear that he has arrived!

doll and bear show

we went to the doll show in valparaiso indiana on sunday. t was really fun as usual. i'll show you what i brought home with me later.. but meanwhile here are some pics. all of the bears are made by my friend donna hager. aren't they adorable! and check out the pretty vintage dolls too.




this was my favorite one. little pink and black witch. she has a cute necklace one and her cute witch hat is trimmed with pretty trimming.. and that little bottle is full of a glittery potion! no, she didn't get to come home with me.. but i loved her!

this bright little guy could brighten any room!


this elf bear is so adorable! check out the pointed ears and shoes! and he had beautiful wings too!


a sweet purple bear.

i love this one too. look at the sweet toes! and the colors are beautiful! i love their sweet faces!

this one is a real sweetie too! gotta love the toes again! thank you donna for letting me take pictures! i love your bears!

friday etiquette

from mrs. annie r. white. 1891.
home manners chapter. a mother's duty. many children will acquire bad qualities through the carelessness of those who have them in their care- such as malice, greediness, lack of personal neatness and rough indifference to the comfort of others. all these faults it is the mother's duty to eradicate. her first care must be to teach them self respect; and one of the first evidences of this feeling, is good manners.
all children have an inborn sense of justice, and should never be reproved before strangers for any remissness. a rebellious spirit is aroused, which often breaks out in open defiance or sullen resentment. children can be trained to reciprocate courtesies and behave politely everywhere, without making prim little martinets of them. teach them to respect each others rights- to enjoy their merry romp and innocent fun without hurting each other's feelings or playing upon some weakness. games and romps should be encouraged at home; but let the stronger children guard the weaker, nor forget that even fun may become rough and wearisome.

time traveler's wife

on saturday..my hubby and i went on a date.. first time in a few months. so it was nice to get away. we went to see the time traveler's wife which was really good. it is a sweet and sad story.. you really should go see it if you can. now i am anxious to read the book. and the best thing was that mikey behaved super well for his caretaker!

kane county flea market.

we took a long drive to the kane county flea market this morning. and now i am home alone. daddy and mikey went to visit grandma.. giving me a little break.
anyways here is what i bought..





vintage velvet hat with millinery flowers and netting overlay.


vintage buttons.. these didn't photograph well. the lighter blue are pearly and the dark blue have flowers.




i loved these boxes! they are so pretty! cardboard print with netting and millinery flowers. i wonder what these originally held....
so that's all. i didn't spend much.. so that's good .. it's always alot of fun to look!

anthropologie arrived already!

orderer wed wed arrived friday with the regular shipping. that is another thing i love about them.. the shipping is lightning fast. forever 21 is really slow. anyways i took a few quick pic of the beautiful details on the two things i ordered.

a bit of etiquette

from
mrs annie whie...
i forgot all about adding these bits of advise here. so i will try to add something every week. keep in mind this book is from1891...

never pick the teeth, scratch he head, bow your nose or clean you nail in company.

do not go into company smelling of onions or garlic, the are offensive to most people.

it is rude to turn your chair so that your back will be presented to anyone.

do not laugh at your own wit. allow others to do that.

if a lady would retain her influence with her husband, she would never appear untidily dressed. no man is pleased with careless, or un slovenly dress. and no woman can respect an untidy husband. both should dress for each other's eyes and not neglect those little efforts to beautify themselves, that pleased them so much when they were single. the most sensible and hard headed men take pride in their wives and daughters' appearance.
and it is with a feeling of certainty that he invites a friend to accompany him home at anytime, knowing that he will not be mortified by finding his wife is not presentable. (i am afraid i am guilty of this one, as are most women..i think)
so that's all for this week. maybe i'll do this every friday.. friday etiquette!

anthropologie sale

anthropologie is having a big clearance right now. lots of pretty tops, scarves, sun hats and other goodies. so i got two things.


licury tank. with sweet embroidered flowers. i love the color. this was only 9.95!


light dazzle scarf. this looks so pretty. i love the stained glass colors and see the butterflies? i'll post some real pics of this when it arrives.

reading...

i have still been in a reading mood. this is lasting longer than usual. i have read.. the notebook, not without my daughter, dear john, my sister's keeper, the wedding and i am now reading eat, love pray.
out of these i liked the wedding and my sister's keeper best.
i liked the notebook book better that the movie and feel like i understand the story better.
so now i am reading eat love pray by elizabeth gilbert. this was borrowed from a friend. so far it is very interesting. i may have to look for more of her work in the future.
on standby are two amy tan books and jodi picoult's the pact and stephanie meyer's the host. after that i don't know what i'll read.. so any suggestions are great!
i think i'm going to add a list here to keep track of that i've read.
ooh also i found out that nicholas sparks has a new book coming out this month.. so i might have to get that one.

yesterday

was just plain rotten! mikey had a very bad day of tantrums and screaming. which included a major one right before we were going to leave him with his aide to go to his school meeting. and he was bad! throwing himself around, trying to bite and headbanging etc..
so we didn't want to leave him with his aide like that so daddy stayed with the wild child and his aide and i went to the meeting.
so the meeting went ok. he will still have school at home and i will go with him twice a week..and he will have his therapy at school. so at least they aren't trying to get him in there full time or anything.
so later i think i discovered what was making him so fussy.. he needed to go poop! he had been passing gas before that so i think that is really what the problem was.
so hopefully he'll be better today! so far he seems pretty happy.