Take a walk in my garden ...

Today is the last day of June and we are finally into the summer here - we've waited a long time for it in northern New England. And the last few days have been really beautiful. Today it's sunny and warm yet there's a beautiful cool breeze blowing which makes the curtains dance and makes you happy to be alive.
I am so happy this year too, that my favorite flower bushes - my hydrangeas - all have MANY blossoms on them! When I first got them they had them and then each year after that they produced nothing or only one bloom if I was lucky. But this year, I don't really know what happened but each plant is full of blooms! It's silly what makes me happy!


Our little strawberry patch too is the same - doesn't look like much in the pictures but has produced many edible, good-sized berries. Super fun for the kids to pick and eat. Especially when they're out swimming in our new pool that my husband put up this year. Our summer now revolves around that - sunscreen, swimming, and then hanging out the towels to dry for the next time. :) I could think of worse things!


Here's a wreath I made today which will go in my shop Trinkets tonight.
Hope you're all enjoying your summer so far.

Thank You Teachers! :)

Welcome to the final installment of the "Thank You To Our Teachers Blog Hop"! It's been a pleasure having all of you come visit - I really appreciate all your kind comments and I hope you'll become a follower and come back and visit me again sometime! :)
If you want to start again at the beginning head here: Memories with Jen..
My last project is another fairly simple thing to make if you can sew a straight stitch! These are stress-relieving pillows filled with plain white, uncooked rice. The pillows can be left in the freezer and used as cold packs for all kinds of injuries and little bumps and bruises. The can also be heated in the microwave for a few minutes for a re-usable heating pad. When I pulled a muscle in my back these were a lifesaver! Imagine what a great gift this would make for a tired teacher!

Thank you to everyone who has come by already and left comments! I am excited to meet you and see your blogs as well! Here's the next blog in the hop! AnitaAndBugs.



Also - check out this month's "Simply Handmade" magazine for a tutorial on one of my rolled flower headbands! :)

Teachers Blog Hop Post #2

Welcome to the Thank You To Our Teachers Blog Hop! If you have arrived here from Say It With Letters then you are on the right track. If you just happened to stop by my blog for a visit and want to hop along with us, start from the beginning with Memories with Jen.
This is a week long hop and we will be posting on 3 separate days. (June 5th, 8th and 11th). Please make sure you hop on those days or throughout the week to see all the wonderful inspiration on what to make our teachers for thank you gifts.

This is my second project idea. Here I've used fabric scraps to make some pretty and functional drink coasters. For these, all you need is some clothesline and a sewing machine, and lots of fun scraps. I made sets of these for Christmas gifts, and people really loved them! They're highly absorbent too, which is especially great in the summer!


Another fun project using these same supplies is little fabric bowls. These are fun to make up and don't take very long. They look super cute holding craft supplies or paper clips. These would make a great teacher's gift too if you filled it with something yummy or useful!


Thank you to everyone who has come by already and left comments! I am excited to meet you and see your blogs as well! Here's the next blog in the hop! AnitaAndBugs.
Also - while I have your attention - go check out my friend Natalie's cute Etsy shop Hot Glue Hangover. (Isn't that a cute name?) She has the most gorgeous handmade wreaths and other fun stuff! She recently did a feature on my shop, just to be nice! And now I want to return the favor! Go see some cute stuff!

Thank You to Our Teachers BLOG HOP!

Welcome to the Thank You To Our Teachers Blog Hop! If you have arrived here from Say It With Letters then you are on the right track. If you just happened to stop by my blog for a visit and want to hop along with us, start from the beginning with Memories with Jen.

This is a week long hop and we will be posting on 3 separate days. (June 5th, 8th and 11th) Please make sure you hop on those days or throughout the week to see all the wonderful inspiration on what to make our teachers for thank you gifts.

Here's my first project honoring teachers. This gift is neither functional or edible (ha!) but I do think it's cute and a constant reminder to your teacher that you value them. I have made many of these this spring and also sold a lot of them in my shop Trinkets .


Each one is made from text printed on my computer and heat set with an iron. I then stitch it on to the front of the pillow in a zig zag stitch and add a cute little owl or other decoration. They are filled with polyester fiberfill but could also be filled with lavender! These would look super cute as a gift topper as well or with a bouquet of flowers. Thanks teachers! :)

Here's the next blog in the hop! AnitaAndBugs. Thank you for stopping by - please leave a comment! Have fun! :)

Adorable Projects!

Hey Everyone -
Just wanted to show you some pictures of adorable creations that some of my Trinkets' customers sent me recently. Each uses Trinkets' flowers in creative fun ways. Check out what one of my favorite customers, Maria, has made!
This is her beautiful daughter modeling things she sews. She then adds some of my flowers for decoration.

Check out her adorable Etsy store Ri Lala and her Ri Lala Webshop Shop Ri Lala .
Maria lives in Hawaii and I'm jealous! And she is the sweetest! Another of my customers also lives in Hawaii and she created this beautiful dress adorned with one of my bird appliques. Her name is Desiree and she has a gorgeous Etsy shop called Palm Tree Princess . Her shop is colorful and filled with more yummy goodness!


And here's some things that another great customer made - Monica used a flower to be the "O" in the word Home on these cute blocks she decorated. She also made this bag. Very creative, isn't it? Here's a link to Monica's blog: CC Vinyl . I love seeing these projects! Thanks to everyone who sent them in - send me more and I'll post them! :)


Oh! Before I forget - just wanted to show you another project I created for Say It With Letters! with some of their spring shapes.
I did the word "bloom" and I love the bright cheery way it came out! I added some of my Trinkets' flowers to these, too! Go check out Say It With Letters! for some fun of your own!

Check it Out!

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to pop in to say hello and see how you're all holding up with this winter! I am starting to get a little bit stir crazy - but on a good note, at the store today I saw spring items for sale! Garden gnomes, rabbits and sprinklers - that's got to be a good sign, - right? It was for me.
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Also wanted to tell you about this:
A company I design for - Say It With Letters is one of the sponsors over at the
1 Month 2 Win It site! Hot off the tails of 'So You Think You're Crafty', four of the contestants from that competition have started '1 month 2 win it', a crafting competition. You can visit the site for more details on how to enter or even just to see the projects. Anyone can win it!
What is it?
One Month to Win It is a monthly craft competition that anyone can win!
How do you join?
Audition info can be found here. For Season 1 (held in March), the auditions will be on The Country Chic Cottage February 9th through 16th. Watch for a linky party! The judges will pick 11 contestants from the audition and the 12th contestant (The Wild Card) will be chosen via randomizer.org. Yep -- anyone can win this competition!
Who are the judges?
Angie with The Country Chic Cottage
Mandy with Sugar Bee Craft Edition
Jessica with Running with Scissors
Kalleen with At Second Street
Kirstin and Jordan with kojo designs
Wanna learn all about the judges?? Head on over here and read all about us!
Are there prizes?
Yep there will be prizes....you will have to stay tuned to find out what! SIWL is one of the sponsors. :) Ready to join in the fun?
Be sure to follow One Month To Win It to keep up with the competition! And get your projects ready to link up at the audition starting February 9th at The Country Chic Cottage! It sounds super fun and you all should give it a try! :)
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I've been making lots of spring things in my shop to get me out of my winter doldrums - but now I'm sleepy! It's late - off to bed!

About Time I Posted

So... my good friend reminded me AGAIN that I needed to update my blog! It's pretty bad when it's nearly February and I still have Christmas pictures up! I have been a horrible blogger lately! I have just been so busy with projects and kids. And snow shoveling - let's not forget that!

We built these snowmen - my daughter and I - over Christmas break. And they still stand tall and proud in our yard nearly a month later. When the new snow piles on their heads and they look like coneheads, we just go out (over the giant snowbanks!) and smooth their heads over and readjust their eyes. :) I like coming around the corner in my car and seeing them every day. :)

What have I been up to? Mostly taking care of the ever-growing needs of my kids, keeping up with all their school functions and spending time in my studio with my cat, Badger. He follows me around the house like my shadow. It's a good thing I like him so much. He's also very photogenic!

Also - a lot of my time is taken up with the very important tasks of attending to the Barbie population here in my home. They all need to change their outfits numerous times, and here you can see we've had an awesome fashion show, complete with runway! :)

I've also been making piles and piles of flowers! What have all of you been up to???

Merry Christmas!

I had to post something here for a few friends who must think that I have fallen off the face of the earth! I'm still here, -- just caught up in the whirlwind of the holidays.
But I wanted to send out greetings to all of you for a Merry Christmas and hope you can stop wrapping, grocery shopping, crafting (for others) and cooking long enough to enjoy a little bit of this holiday and get a little rest in before January starts! I know a lot of you are like me and just don't slow down!....
But I have been enjoying the company of some nice people - been working at my kids' school helping out. We had a very nice "Holiday Shop" for the kids and I made items for that and helped decorate and wrap. It really came together nicely and I so enjoyed watching the kids shop for their families.
I have also been spending a lot of time with my kids - and I can't imagine time better spent. We watched our traditional "Home Alone" movie last night together, all curled up on the big bed with a comforter over us. I never want to lose that tradition. We've also made a lot of cookies, fudge, and wrapped a lot of gifts together. We are super excited for Christmas! Happy Holidays to all of you!

Look What I Won!

I am late posting this, but I had to show you all these adorable little guys I won from Carrie over at the The Violet Cottage. Aren't they so cute? You have to go check out her blog and store - very cool! (I stole the picture she took of them - I hope she doesn't mind!) Thank you so much Carrie - my daughter and I loved these and enjoyed displaying them this Halloween! :)

Also wanted to show you this that I made from "Say It With Letters" products. It's a free-standing Christmas tree and of course I covered it in fabric! I love the colorful way it came out. And SIWL is having a big giveaway over at Everything Etsy. Go check it out and see what you could win!

And look at this adorable treasury that my Trinkets' items were featured in today! Don't you just want one of everything??? I do!
Lastly, these are new to my shop this week. I love them because they feature birds in the center that are really beautiful, detailed fabric pieces. I love the colors - imagine how cute they would look on a t-shirt or tote bag as decoration? I am a bird lover. :)

Okay - off to craft some Christmas ornaments - happy creating! :)

Check out "Say It With Letters"!

Hi Everyone -
Today I just wanted to tell everyone about a fabulous company I have been doing business with for the last couple of years - Say It With Letters! If you're a crafter like me, then you love painting and altering things, -- right? Well, this company sells unfinished shapes and big letters that you will be dying to get your hands on to create with!
Check out some of these shapes!


Here's some of the fun things you can create with them!


I have been lucky enough to have a coveted spot on the Damboise Design / Say It With Letters Design team for a while, and the owner, Deb, is super friendly and easy to work with! They are coming out with new shapes all the time, and you can custom order children's names or practically any letter in any font or size you want to hang on your wall! Check out her Etsy shop here: Say It With Letters!


Here's a link to check out the blog: Say It With Letters too!