My Trusty Stamp Set

Here's something that I have never done a show and tell of and that is amazing because of how much I use it! This is my print set. It is from my Great Aunt Lyna Hoone. She was a school teacher back in the time when teachers rarely married and you presided over a whole school house full of students. This was the stamp set that she used in her one room school house and it is the one that I use today to do all of my stamping for my tags and cards. I actually had the thought that I should retire this beautiful artifact when I was out antique shopping with my sister and saw a set of just 6 of these stamps going for almost $30.00!!! But it is one of my very favorite items and it means so much to me. It is actually a little box with three tray drawers, the top one has a tray full of picture stamps and this is the second one full of words and letters and numbers. The bottom tray is empty (I suppose for your school papers!) You can see that I still have the old ink bottles and brushes in there!!!

The reason why my trusty little print set is out is this:

It's show time,! And the first for me of the season this weekend. I am gearing up, lots of stamping, inventory checking and pricing. I enjoy all parts of this, but it is amazing the amount of time it takes me to get my pins ready for their big debut!!!

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend everyone! Enjoy the summer days, eat lots of good food, and spend your moments with the ones that make you smile!!!!

Back To School

Man! I can't believe it!!! Don't get me started on my "Where has the summer gone?" rant. I simply cannot believe that it is time to go back to school. While, I have been out of school for some time, tonight really feels like the night before the first day. I remember that it would be a hot and sticky night and I could not even comprehend going to bed at a decent hour. My new outfit and new back pack (with a new notebook inside) and (the best part) a brand new and shiny pencil box with an assortment of pencils and little erasers in the shapes of fruits or cars or something of the like would be all laid out and ready go. Ah, now looking back on it, what wonderful memories (even though I was probably not happy at all about going back to school.)

Anyway, I made these guys way back in June, when the thought of books and pencils were just too ridiculous to even think about. Well, it goes without saying that unlike many little tykes getting ready for their first day, these little guys are ECSTATIC about it!

So Everyone, here's to a wonderful school year filled with lots of fun things to learn and neat activities to do!

Blooms

My Mom and I are both big fans of zinnia flowers. She has an enormous garden of just zinnias, we save our blooms in big bags and plant them the next year. I personally cannot get enough of them, their colors, so varied and vibrant and their perfectly shaped dome of petals - this is one that I just cut for and inside bouquet

Also, a brilliant rose. Here's the story, we were given a tiny rose bush at the beginning of summer and Ed and I both scratched our heads as to how to tend to a rose bush. Did it need sun? Shade? Special rose bush food? I had no idea, so we just planted it and hoped for the best!! It seemed to be doing okay after the shock of replanting until one day . . . I completely broke the one and only stem off with the garden hose! I was sure that I had killed it, but we tried to save it and lo and behold . . . on this tiny little injured stem an ENORMOUS rose bloomed!!!

A rose bush miracle and perhaps a good life lesson somewhere in there as well. . .

That's Me Too.

It seems like there are lots of long gaps between posts, and while I am not doing so much of the "showing and telling," I am busy making things (in between tending to the rapidly producing garden and keeping three flower beds alive - whew!) It's funny because most of the things that I am working on in late summer are fall and other holiday things and it seems so funny to post about them yet, so perhaps I will just snap some photos and show them all to you later on.

Anyway, along with my Pea Soup sites on Etsy and DaWanda, I have been slowly working on a different kind of site. This one is on Etsy and it is called "Elmer and Eleanor" (which happens to be the names of my Grandparents.) Here is the shop. I decided in the beginning of the year that I must do something about my absolute crazy love and passion for all things jewelry and bead related. I LOVE jewelry. I collect jewelry and cannot be without one necklace, and at least three to four bracelets on. (Though I never got my ears pierced - weird??)

Elmer and Eleanor will be a shop for picking up some pretty beads and I have also started making pendants. Eventually there will be one of a kind jewelry pieces, I am hoping some really big, interesting "statement" kind of things, which I LOVE to wear. The problem is, the few things that I have made, I have wanted to keep for myself. I am really trying to get better about this, really. The above picture are two pendants that I am working on, they are drawings transferred to wooden discs - very fun to make. Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble on about the new adventure!

New Pictures and Old Favorites

One of my tasks that I am working on is revamping my Etsy and DaWanda sites a bit, it's been slow, verrry slow, but I do have a tiny bit of work to show for it.


Some of pictures were in desperate need of a redo and so, the light being just right one evening, I got some new pictures of some old favorites:

The Crazy Bug Pin:

The Honey Bee Pin (I just a made a nice big batch of these too!)

And this little lady, I love the picture!! I used to make a lot of these pins and haven't lately. They are so much fun to make with different hair colors and bows, they need to get back into the shops!

By the way, the little bugs are in both Etsy and DaWanda shops, if you are interested!