Show & Tell

I haven't done one of Kelli's Show & Tell Fridays in a long time. For those of you that are new to my site, welcome! I am so glad that you came by for a visit.

Below are three of my most prized possessions. The first one is a cranberry colored glass canister and cup that belonged to my great grandma Adams. This is the same grandmother whose lovely french wedding shoes and lace I posted pictures of months ago. She had the most beautiful blue eyes that God ever made. They just hypnotized you. I have to find a picture of her to share with you all.

I especially love the cup, because of what is engraved on it. It was given to her by my great grandfather on their wedding day back in 1903. I hold this glass with such care on that rare occasion, and keep it locked up in my china cabinet. It is just so dear to me.

Below is a silver fruit bowl that belonged to my Grandma Ann who was my Grandma Adams' daughter. She wanted me to have this bowl after I married. I had never seen it until my mom passed it along to me after I was married.

I love all of the details, especially the little balls on the rim.

And I am assuming that this is the date, and my mother has confirmed that it was passed down in her family (which is mine too of course, but you get what I mean). So, if this is the date, it is even more special to me because that means it was made exactly 100 years before I was born. Talk about a coincidence. I think the bowl was meant to be mine.

I hope that you enjoyed my treasures. Have a great weekend and visit again soon!

Rhonda...

My Studio Chaos Part 1

I love the comments that I have received from my last post. It is funny to be told I had guts to post pics of my messy studio. And I agree with others who say they love to see "real" pictures inside their friends lives. I agree with that and love it when people post pics of their mess. Sometimes it gives me a grand idea.



This morning, I walked into my studio and began to snap pictures of it exactly as it was. And of course, Coco took his place on the floor which you can actually see more of at the moment. My studio is constantly changing, but I am going to do a few posts about these "as is" shots I took.

This has become one of my favorite spots because not only is it home to all of my itty bitty books, but it holds many swap items and gifts from friends.

Summer tin from Kathy at Vintage Snaps & Scraps.


Birds & Bonnets Panels as well as my own Les Emotions de la France book, hosted by me. If you notice the spot above this cabinet, you will see two plates that my mom made with her name and my dad's.



For The Birds & Itty Bitty House

Itty Bitty Robin's Egg Blue & Gifts From Generous Friend

Itty Bitty Prom Dress

Button Card Swap & A Fun Friday Challenge

(Hey Caz, check out my robin)!

Spring Tin Swap From Marilyn at Unshelved Words - A Purchased Tin From Kathy & A Gift From Tiffany at Ric Rac Sally.

A Beautiful Flower From Tiffany & An Amazing Tin From Nancy from My Crafty Little Page.

This is from a newer swap through my other home Button Floozies. It was made by Rachel from Mine To Thine and I LOVE it! A huge thanks to the amazing Abbie the Queen floozie (Damsel Designs) for hosting this fantastic swap! Be sure to check out Abbie's newest blog The Vintage Moth where she posts lots of free and amazing images.

Itty Bitty Prom Dress

Lovely Gifts

I love my For The Birds swap made by Angela from A Day At A Time.

Birds & Bonnets Panels

Hope you enjoyed this one tiny yet meaningful spot of my studio. Come back soon and visit because I will be posting more studio truths from my morning pics. The remaining pictures show a little bit of carpet, and a lot of organized chaos.

Rhonda...

Making Art With My Furry Friend

This is a little creation that I made to contribute to a cheer up book made for my friend Mary Ann. I love it when I sit down to make something, and it all just comes together.

I love this image. It is from one of my newest rubber stamps, that I have way too many of, but at least I use them. That makes all of those rubber stamps excusable, right? My husband probably doesn't think so and I am sure it is best that they are in another room behind closed doors.

Okay, below is the picture that I can't believe I am going to share. I can share pictures of the walls in my "studio", but not pictures of the floor. I clean it all up, vacuum the floor and it looks great, and then I have a project or two, or three that I am working on and my floor literally becomes my desk. I have two desks in my studio and neither of them is really used for work. They are used for stacking things on and keeping things away from my girls.

My floor is my desk, and if you think of it that way, maybe it doesn't look as bad. And there has to be a huge spot for my wide load butt to sit. The white work top that my cat is next too, my hard desk surface, is actually a left over shelf from the amazing laundry room that my husband made for me. We had a very large room that was considered a formal dining and living room. It took up most of the length of our house. For me, it was actually a place to put my junk, clutter, stuff that needs to be put away, and then there was a large spot by the doorway to the kitchen where the never ending pile of laundry would collect. I had a pantry type area (now the craft/game closet for the girls) where the washer and dryer were. My husband put up a wall, electric, ran the pipes, added many, many cabinets, and presto chango, an amazing laundry room and a new family room now/dining room one day. We don't use that formal table enough, so it can be in the attic until the girls are older. Gee, got off track there.

So, below is my wonderful cat Coco (short for Ko-nee-co which is Japanese for kitten). He stays with me pretty much all day, but especially when I am in my studio. He just gets comfy right in front of me and keeps me company. I love him!

Awwww, how cute!

And his little paw paws lay just on top of my work surface.

And here is another one of my four babies, Tiger, who thinks this bird bath is her throne.

Purr purr, purr purr purr!

Rhonda...

An Update on Mom And Many Thanks!

Mom is staying strong, and still wearing me out! She was like the energizer bunny this weekend, just kept going, and going, and going. She wants to get in all that she can before she starts daily rads, which begins tomorrow. Still no word on the possibility of chemo.

Please stop by my flickr page to check out more of the wonderful cards and gifts for mom:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/796376@N24/pool/

Mom can only spend so much time on the computer because of her eyes. In fact, it is the health of her eyes that caused her to not be totally sedated during her breast surgery. I bet she said a lot of goofy things that she doesn't even remember. So, because of her eyes, she can only look at a computer screen for about 15 minutes before her eyes start to give her trouble. She wanted me to explain this, because she would love to come on here and thank you each personally. She is so touched by every one's generosity, prayers, and thoughtfulness. You are each giving her so much strength to hang in there, and with each card she gets even stronger.

I could never thank you all enough or properly enough. I am so touched with the kind hearts out there. Thank you so much for helping my mom. It means so much to us both! I will keep you posted, and I thank you for all of the love, comments, thoughtfulness and for keeping track of her.

Have a great day!

Rhonda...

Kathy's Tin And An Update On Mom

Hello to you all! Gosh I am so behind on my blog and my posting of pictures. I just took several more of the beautiful cards and goodies sent to mom, and to me as well. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people from this community who have become true friends and have been so very supportive. I could never thank you all enough! God Bless You!

One of my favorite and dearest blogger friends, Kathy, from Vintage Snaps & Scraps sent mom this beautiful tin that I had mentioned in an earlier post. I had to pry it from her hands to take pics of it, and understandably so. It is a beautiful piece that emanates such positive love and energy. Thank you again Kathy, mom loves this tin! Kathy makes such beautiful work, and is a great person too.





Mom had her first blast of radiation this week, and all she could do was giggle that it reminded her of the movie "Solent Green". She is a big Sci Fi buff. She will begin her daily treatments next week and we still don't know about the chemo.

And I'll tell you what... that woman is wearing my butt out! She wants to get in as much as possible before her daily treatments and we have been doing so much together, and I have loved every second.

In the past week, we have had an amazing lunch with drinks, then off to the second hand book store where I found some great Parisian delights. Another day, my dad dropped her off and we sat in my studio for a few hours and chatted and discussed our plans for all of our Itty Bitty books (she is addicted and way ahead of me on them all). Then yesterday we did some antiquing with my oldest in tow and then lunch. It was great. And the school calling me right as we were leaving to tell me my daughter's eyes were bothering her didn't stop us at all. Actually, she was very excited when her grandma and I picked her up. I think some of it was just her missing me during her new longer days as a first grader. Plus, we found out that she is allergic to guinea pigs. All she has to do is be in a house with one and her face puffs up. It is VERY scary, and odd, seeing how we have four cats, two dogs, and a bunny. Her little friend next door has one and yesterday, after playing no where near the guinea pig, her eyes swelled up. Poor thing.

So, today mom is off with us for my youngest first dance class. We are really excited and she is going to love it. Mom & I even have plans on Saturday for more shopping.

On another note, I have noticed the past few weeks that mom has been reminiscing A LOT lately. She is constantly telling stories about her childhood, or stories about when my non existing piece of crap brother (yes, I said it), sister and I were kids. She has also been repeating herself a great deal as well. So the other day, I just mentioned it. I said, "Mom, you have really been reminiscing a lot lately and repeating things you told me just a couple of days before". At least it made her get a good cry out and admit that she was scared. She still won't cry in front of dad, which, in a way, I can't blame her. When I mentioned this to my dad after he came to get her (and mind you, he has been with one or both girls during our adventures because he is an awesome baby sitter, dad, grandfather) he put her in the car, shut the door, and stood behind the car weeping. When my dad cries, it is heart breaking and SO hard to be strong for. But I was. I like that I can take care of them both now and be there for them. And mom will tell me that she hates putting it all on me, but I want that. I am so happy we have this relationship and I can be there for her, because that is what your children should do. And then I reminded her that is was okay, because then I can go in and talk to my husband if I need to, and he is an awesome listener, tolerant when I cry hysterically, emotionally, and weepy womanly. He is the best!

So, I will quit babbling for now. I have lots of pics to follow, and lots to catch up on... I need to email Carolyn and we have been in chats for a while now about throwing an 80's blog party. I need to write to Nancy about the round robin book we are doing and her amazing gift to mom, and need to post all of the wonderful things that have been sent to mom. I need to check every one's blogs and touch base with so many of you. But, hopefully you are reading this and know that I am thinking of you and will touch base with you all soon. Today, I need to get some finishing touches on some swaps done, and get a couple of orders out. But, I am blessed and thankful that I have all of these things to do and all of these amazing people in my life.

I hope you are all doing well! Much love and God bless!

Rhonda...

Pinkalicious Swap Goodies

I recently received my package of Pinkalicious swap goodies from Shanan at All My Kids 123. She had sent one package that never arrived, and then was nice enough to send a new package out to me. It came at a perfect time as well because I was kind of down in the dumps that day.

I LOVE this giraffe pink and brown bag. It is my favorite color combination and is just too cute! There were lots of other great goodies to pamper myself with and also for my girls to enjoy. They couldn't keep their hands off of all of the goodies and I am sorry to say that they are not all pictured.

I especially loved this bracelet because, as many of you know, my mom is currently fighting breast cancer. Just a nice little reminder to have "hope, strength and courage". I will wear it for mom and I both when I take her to get her radiation treatments which she starts next week.

We still don't know if she will need chemo. Seems the doctor "forgot" to send her tests out, as she found out the day of her appointment to get the results. At least she didn't drive all the way to the doctor's office to find out that bit of info. She is hanging in there and I have a lot of new pictures of cards and gifts that she has received for "A Card A Day For Lynn" coming soon! It is really giving her strength so thank you so much to all of you who have participated thus far.

Any who, thank you so much to Shanan for her thoughtfulness and the wonderful swap package. I loved it all! Be sure to give her blog a visit. She is adorable and her kids are absolutely gorgeous!

Rhonda...

Two Amazing Ladies That Are Also Sisters & An Award

Isn't it amazing how God brings fantastic people into our lives. I actually met two wonderful gals separately, and then found out they are sisters. They have both meant the world to me, inspired me, helped me to become a better artists, and have gone out of their way to put a smile on my face on more then one occasion.

So, first, there is Mary Ann from Follow Your Bliss, but some of us also know her as mainer at heart06. She had a give away, many months ago, and I won a set of three magazines. Well, you can see from the last three pictures that the USPS kind of ate them. It was hysterical, but also VERY disappointing at the same time. I REALLY wanted the issue of Altered Arts Magazine and was so completely bummed.





Do you know what Mary Ann did? She later found another copy of that SAME issue, purchased it just for little ole me and resent it with a couple more. I mean, how completely thoughtful is that!





We had a good giggle from the whole thing, but have continued our friendship. Mary Ann has had a huge influence on my as a creator because she has gotten so many of us addicted to those wonderful itty bitty books. I love them and my mom is contributing to them as well now.





Anyway, Mary Ann seems to have a way with people and has been so thoughtful to so many and I could never thank her enough for that of for her belief in me as an artist. She is an amazing gal with amazing stories and a zest for life that spreads to us all.

My Amazing Magazine Gifts



Too Cool!

Oh yes, they care. They care enough to eat my magazines!

Thank you again for your thoughtfulness Mary Ann.

So, next comes this amazing gal named Jo, from Labor of Love but is also known as 3littlemiracles. She is my "french" sister and has an obsession for french things as much as me, which is very odd to say. She makes me laugh and has also inspired me as an artist.



After chatting for a bit, I put two and two together and realized that she and Mary Ann were sisters. And if you visit either of their blogs and read about their times together, you realize what a great love and friendship they have with one another. I think to myself, "Gosh I wish I could hang out with the two of them and be a sister too".



Jo recently gave me the Brilliante Weblog Premio Award 2008 and I am just so honored that she thinks that highly of me and I could never thank you enough Jo. It is always a joy to know you have made a difference to someone, and I hope that you know, Jo & Mary Ann, what a difference you have both made in my life. I love you both dearly!



I still need to pass this award along, and that will soon follow.

Be sure to give these two amazing women a visit if you don't already know them. They are so beautiful inspirational and I just know that you too will feel blessed to meet them.

God Bless!

Rhonda...

Just For Fun

I love to just sit in my "studio" and have time to just create. I found this picture some time ago and wanted to do something with it, and this is what I came up with.

It was nice to just sit (the girls were asleep) and go from start to finish and just see what would happen. I think I might list this in my etsy shop. I would like to list more one of a kind pieces like this. I think I will list my Bingo Babes as well. Any who...

Hope you feel inspired!

Rhonda...