Better than flowers…

One of my favorite things about making charms is knowing that I can be a part of preserving and sharing family memories and history.

I wanted to include the original picture because it didn’t come out very clear in my photo of the charm.  This is such a beautiful picture and it says so much.

Marie’s grandfather is leaving on a train for the Korean War.  He has a  loving wife and three beautiful little girls…and one on the way.

Saying Goodbye!

I also did a Christmas ornament for her.

I’m wishing I had worked a little harder on my pictures here.  Winter’s light is not always good to me…

Speaking of Christmas ornaments…

Before Christmas I was able to get an ornament and a charm out to a friend.

She had been in the hospital and her family asked that no flowers be sent.  It doesn’t sound like too many people ‘listened’ to that request but it encouraged me to think about what else I could do for her.

With my mom’s resent visit{s} to the hospital I knew that although flowers are nice they are SO expensive and it’s hard when you are trying to recover from a serious illness/surgery to lay there and watch your beautiful flowers die.

I’m just being real here…

Is it possible that we send flowers to make ourselves feel better?

My mom had one gal show up with two quilting magazines {knowing my mom loves quilting} and a crossword puzzle book.  very thoughtful

I was thankful that Amber~Tres Birds Photography had recently done a photo shoot with this family so, with her permission, I grabbed a few pictures and went to work.  My dear friend has some challenging months ahead of her and she mentioned that she would be wearing her charm everyday as she walks through this journey.

Better than flowers?   I think so!

cause for celebration…

Congratulations, Lori – You’re the winner of the Custom Charm Give-a-Way!  Here is Lori’s comment…

Elaine….I would LOVE a custom charm! My Dad passed away 5 years ago and I miss him so much. I would love to wear a charm with his picture around my neck. People could ask me who it was and I could talk about my Dad daily and tell wonderful stories about him. This would be so wonderful. I would LOVE to Win…..

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I’ve decided to add one of these bars of soap to the give-a-way.  They are made by Shari Thompson-Brown.   I have done a few shows with Shari and really, really love her soap.

For my Art Retreats I love to give one of her small bars  to each gal with her set of towels.  Because my next one is in October, I’ve ordered some of the ‘pink ribbon‘ soaps for it.

♣ ~ ♥ ~ ♣

I’m going to {side-step} here and show you my new dress:

Oh, My!…let’s celebrate LIFE!

Miscellany~

Miscellany…that has a ring to it, don’t you think?

Over the years many people…mostly children…have called me Miss Elaine

And a few have even called my Lainey

Miscellany –

if I had thought of that one a few years back it would have been a good business or blog name ~ oh well, it’s too late and now that I’m totally off track…actually, w/a post titled ‘miscellany’, it’s not possible to get off track ~ so on to my three random thoughts for the day…

1}  It is always fortuitous when I have a pocket for my journey to the hen house!

2}  such a wonderful reminder of spring

thx. Mr T

3}  These mini monograms all went out yesterday to the winners! They are so fun to take pictures of that I couldn’t resist. I also couldn’t resist making my mom’s a little extra special by adding a few beads that belonged to her mom.

She’s more than deserving of a little something extra!

Charming…

side one

I had a customer, Cheryl, design this charm for sister.

side two

Her sister owns a shop with the name of, “Old Farm Girl” and it specializes in:  spinning, weaving, knitting, crochet, felting and tatting.

This sounds like a place where I would love to visit.

These two charms have gone out  in the mail too.

I haven’t been very ‘charming’ since before Christmas so it was fun to get creative with that again.  I love, love, love the oh-so-thoughtful Christmas gift that Mr T gave me.  A beautiful little TV and a tiny little DVD player to go with it.  I find that watching listening to a movie while I’m working on these tedious little numbers makes the time I spend there more enjoyable.

Thanks Mr T!

quenchable goodnes…

I love♥, love♥, love♥, my new iced insulated To Go Starbucks cup that my girl Lauren got me for my birthday.

It’s just such a perfect ME gift!  thx. dear!

a gift for baby #6…

Yesterday morning I was invited to a baby shower that was last night.

I made some burp rags by adding a strip of fun fabric down the middle of some new Gerber Diapers.  They are trying to decide on a name ~ I mentioned that there were some great options on one of the burp rags that might help them:

Owen, Luke, Slim, Squirt, Tex, Polecat…

side 1 of charm

With the arrival of baby #6, I decided that a little something for mom would be in order.

side 2 of charm