Box - o - goodies has arrived!

Chris sent me a wonderful box full of goodies!

So many fun and creative things.

This caught my eye right away. It's a glass bottle that is shaped to look like a lightbulb (sorry about the sideways view). I think it is supposed to be an oil or vinegar bottle because there is a small hole in the top of it. Doesn't really matter because it will be in my craft room filled with something colorful.

A free spirited, fun, flying fairy that I have named Myrtle. She will be my creative Muse and hang out with me in my sewing space.

A fun and funky zip pouch. Maybe if I put some money in it the money will start to multiply like magic?

I absolutely LOVE these socks!! The monsters are so bright against the black and white. My inner funky side will be glowing when I wear these.

I will be putting up a blog post tomorrow (hopefully) with more pics of the individual items.

Thanks Chris!!

Coming soon.....

Coming to a mailbox near you.........

Sept package received!!!!

I got a VERY lovely package from Robin! Check it out:

The birdie item in the middle is a great potholder that I have already tested out :-)  It works quite well!! Also, it's hard to tell in the pic- but that fuzzy black thing is a mouse made out of fun fiber.. there was three of them, but my daughter got the black one and was the only one that would bring it back to me for a picture :-)  The boys have hid the other two from me! lol  The mouse on the far right is MINE!  I have him hanging right by my computer so I can see him every day.  In the upper lefthand corner is the card that came with the package.  Isn't it lovely!! I am keeping it to use in paper crafts :-)

Thank you so much Robin it was awesomesauce!! I will be putting yours in the mail tomorrow!!

June Gnomes

Box of goodies

Kim was my June partner. Unfortunately her mailman wanted to join in and "misplaced" the package she sent me. Eventually they tracked it down and it finally made it to me.

A fun box of goodies was waiting for me when I got home from my most recent MRI/arthogram. It was a great thing to come home to after a long day of being tortured. Even the box is fun!

Our theme was Gnomes. I think of these like the Hansel and Gretel of the Gnome world. They even have a nice tree home to live in.

Gingerbread people doilies

Snowman pine cone ornament and painted pine cones

ribbon, beads, and buttons

train ornament, cork bottle caps, and curling ribbon

scrapbook signs

some kind of cards (I think)

Teeny, tiny adorable crocheted Mr. and Mrs. Claus. I know alot of work went into these. The thread is so thin and the crochet hooks are teeny, tiny.

and a fun apron. I think the universe is trying to tell me that I need aprons because Kim is the second person to send me an apron.

Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes

Kim was my partner for June. I  made her a felt ornament and a crocheted stuffie. Once again this poor Gnome has no arms or legs. Keeps them out of trouble that way, right?

I also made her this felt Gnome banner. I guess I can only do "cute" things. I've tried to go over to the "dark" side but I guess it's just not me lol. I used mushroom ribbon for the tabs. I love being able to add little touches like that. The ribbons were sent to me earlier in the swap. Sorry, but I don't remember from who. I'm rotten that way.


***Gary the Gnomes 4th of July***

As usual it rained for most of the day. I can't remember a year that we didn't have rain for most of the 4th. Gary watched the rain fall hoping it would let up in time for fireworks.

While it rained outside Gary was inside telling me how to sew properly. Ha! Gary has no sense of color. He's even worse than I am!

The rain let up enough later in the day so we could go outside and play with Robbie on the dome.

Gary helped Daddy grill up some burgers. They were delicious! I am horrible at grilling burgers so we let Daddy take care of the burgers. I made 6 pounds of tater salad and we also made some pickled beets. Open a can of Bush's grillin' beans and you have a nice meal.

No fireworks pictures because I was in charge of holding the dog's leash. She was determined to jump up into the sky to catch the bright lights. Silly dog. After fireworks we went inside to eat some red, white, and blue Jello cake. A sweet end to a sweet day :)



A little extra bragging...

I was featured to day over at Stitchin' Heaven. WooHoo!!

Gary the Gnome

This is Gary the Gnome. He is my gnome doll buddy for this month. He is a happy lil fellow that enjoys spending time outside in the trees. Unfortunately for him we do not have many trees in our yard. He is sitting on the one stump that hasn't been removed. I won't let Hubby take it out because I like the charm it gives the yard. We have a grapefruit tree and a mystery fruit tree in the back yard. We have lived here for 8 years and the tree has produced one fruit 3 times so far. The first time the lone fruit was picked by our youngest who was 4 at the time. The next time Hurricane Charley came through and blew the fruit off the tree. This year there is another fruit way up high. Hopefully it will be able to ripen before something happens to it.

Another swapper spoiled by Kerry

My package from Kerry arrived today! Boy was I spoiled! I thought I would take you on a little tour.

The box felt very heavy for an ornament swap. My son (11) was so excited to open it to see if there was any chocolates in there that I made him wait until I opened up all the other mail first. When I opened it all I saw was PURPLE! WooHoo! My favorite color!

I gently took off the top layer of shredded paper and found this. I saved the shredded paper to recycle to use another month.

Inside I found these two adorable birdie jars with Mike n Ikes and jelly beans. Of course we had to stop right here and try the candies. Just to make sure they made the trip safely of course. These jars are so cute they will be staying on my sewing table with buttons once they are empty.

Four wonderful coasters. I have one at my table by the couch, Hubby has one on his side, Robbie (11) has another on my table and the last one went to my daughter's (19) room.  See how Kerry carried the birdie theme throughout so far?

Such a pretty birdie with jingle bells. I love jingle bells! There is something about the sound of jingle bells and wind chimes that make me smile.

Another sweet birdie. Robbie thought this one was made of chocolate. I think he has been craving chocolate a bit too much lately lol.

Was that it?......

Nope! This is one of those iron on embroidery patterns that I love so much. This is perfect timing too. I have a swap coming up that involves birdhouses and these will be perfect!

My Kerry made scrapbook. I tried to explain what a scrapbook is used for pertaining to this swap but he just didn't get it. I'm obviously not a scrapbooker so it isn't something he is used to.

Last but not least...some gorgeous fabric. If you look closely you can see a little butterfly charm. I love butterflies and dragonflies so this was fun to see.

Thank you Kerry for everything! You have gone above and beyond.

Mushrooms and Toadstools

 

These houses were fun to make! I really enjoyed just sitting down and hand stitching. It's nice to just slow down and relax.

Spoiled!

This is going to be a great year if we all keep getting spoiled each month!!

 

This is the fabulous package that arrived on my doorstep from Ramie. Ramie managed to fit lots of goodies into a small package.

 

Ramie made me the cutest little fairy.

I put up a bunch of pictures over on my blog if you want to see closeups of everything.

No birds for me

I've decided to not take part in feeding the birds this month. We live in SW Florida (Cape Coral) in a decently populated area. There used to be only 3 houses in our neighborhood but now there's around 25. We used to have lots of birds and even some foxes that would come by regularly to get a bite to eat. After the area started developing around 5 years ago the wildlife has mostly disappeared. I don't mind that the skunks found a new home but we do miss the birds and foxes.

What we do have is giant Turkey Vultures. I took this picture standing at my back door. The vultures found something across the back road. It must have been a small creature because we had a dozen vultures stop by but only a couple stayed around for a daytime snack.

This one fle right over our heads and ended up coming back to land next to our house. These birds stand 2 feet tall and have wing spans of up to 6 feet across. It is amazing to see them sitting a few feet away.

We've tried all kinds of things to attract birds to our yard. Bird seed, peanut butter items, bread, popcorn, cereal...no visitors. Every once in awhile we will see some smaller birds come by to steal a sip from out grapefruits but that is it.

For my RAOK I have knit a couple hats to send to an online friend that is knitting for her local hospital. She is trying to meet a goal she has set for herself and I want to help out throughout the year. I was hoping to make more by now but have had a few orders that took up lots of my time.