The Recipe book of Don't Eat Pete

Once upon a time there was a children's book called "Don't Eat Pete". The sales were poor, so these books showed up in $.99 Stores. Of course I can not buy just one of anything, so I bought 1 case of "Don't Eat Pete" books.

This is an altered "Don't Eat Pete". The pages on the left are hard book board, and there are about 5 pages. One the right is a tin, like an altoid tin. It is attached. So. , . . .

The process is long to get the books ready. Sanding, gesso, painting, etc. Then the fun begins.

Here is my "Recipe Book". The tin on the right holds recipe cards. The pages are all related to food and cooking. I want to add little glassine envelopes to the pages and put recipes in the envelopes, but I can't find any... I might have to resort to making my own out of vellum, which would be fine.

But, all in all, I am happy with how it turned out....

Things that "Make me happy"

My Studio is so crowded with sewing, scrapbooking, beading, quilting, etc. I have to find ways to stay organized. I have been gathering old suitcases for the past year or so... and this is what I do with them.

They containe things that "work together". One has feathers and flowers. One has lace and trims. One has fabric. Get the idea. So when I need a specific thing, I know where it is. And I think this is better than plastic drawers.

Etsy or bust

Today I learned something new... And it took me ALL DAY.

I am now on Etsy... and I have 3 things listed. It has taken me the entire afternoon to do this. In the process I broke my glasses, ate dinner on my laptop, and here I still am... I just finished.

I glady give thanks to Rebecca Sower for the challenge to donate something to help HBH (Haiti By Hand). And in the doing, I also put 2 receiving blankets with burp clothes on Etsy. It has been a labor of love.... A labor to post the items, but I loved making them. I imagine the little ones the blanket will wrap around.....

"Pay it forward" and donate something to http://www.etsy.com/shop/haitibyhand.



This is a sneak peek of one of the pages in the Cloth Sister Book. It is filled with love!

Hopefully tomorrow I can create again....

A "HaitibyHand" by Rebecca Sower

I have a friend. She lives somewhere I have never been. Somewhere in Cyberspace. But she is my dear friend. She has helped unlock my creativity block more than once. She posts quick and precise things on her blog. She always adds wonderful photos of her art work, or her farm, or a flower, or of things she finds delightful, and in the process, she delights me.

She has a strong faith, in her family a unbending love, in her commitment to do good for others is action and not words.

My friend Rebecca Sower has been published many times in many different magazines. She has a line of Scrapbook supplies, and her talents have no bounds. She is one of the most incredible people I have never met. http://www.rebeccasower.typepad.com/ is where I go to stay in touch with her. To be uplifted by her. To "wet" my appetite to create. Her work is beautiful! Most is hand made, and lot of hand stitching...... her work speaks to me.

Recently she took a trip to Haiti, and a week after her returning home, the earthquake hit Haiti. She has posted photos of some of the people she met, some of the sights she saw, and with only a few words, and a few photos, we all fell in love with her all over again. She is the type of person who puts her money where her mouth is. She lives her faith to love and do for others. She teaches by example to her children and to all of us. She has energy to do so many loving and sweet things for people. The women in Haiti are her friends, and she cares deeply for them.

After the earthquake, she again, reached out to serve others. She started a web based charity to help the people she had met. She learned from the Master, our Savior, Jesus Christ. She is teaching and helping the women in Haiti to "fish". Other organizations are just giving those who need help "fish". When the time passes, and the water has been delivered, and the blankets, and the celebrities have donated, and when people move onto another "cause", what about the ladies in Haiti. Through Rebecca and her many friends, she is gathering another form of "stability" for the people in Haiti. She is collecting embroidery floss, thread, felt, beads, buttons, fabric....... to send to those ladies. Because Rebecca is helping the ladies in Haiti to "fish".

As women, who love to take part in all types of art, whether it is sewing, photography, crocheting, scrapbooking, whatever.... we need to create. We need our supplies, our thread or paper or glue, and when we have time, or an inspiration, we just "do it". It heals us. That creative juice flows through our minds, blood, heart, and through our hands. Our hands. We just get to "do it". We fish. With glue, paper, fabric, we fish.

Go check out Rebecca's page. Read her words. Get to know her. And try to be just a little bit like her. I am throwing out the challenge to all my friends, the ones I know personally. Put your money, and your talent out there. I am doing it.

First, I went to the link on Rebecca's page and shopped at http://www.etsy.com/shop/haitibyhand and I bought....


...

She is beautiful!! I love love love love her!

I got an email from Rebecca after I bought this. I got an email from the artist Vicki Moletterire. I had sent them a brief email of my support for the cause, for my appreciation of their talents, and my feelings of obtaining this Vintage Angel.

So, for the last several days, hours and hours of work (while watching the Olympics) I have made something to donate to the "Haitibyhand" web site.
I have a few touch ups to do before I list this on http://www.etsy.com/ to be sold for "haitibyhand". However, no matter who will get this book, I know that my hands have enjoyed every stitch, every button, every quote, every moment making and creating this book. I started it with the desire to help raise money for the women in Haiti, who, like me..... Just like to "fish".

Thank you Rebecca Sower, and all those who help me do what I do. Who understand what I do. Who do it too. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You. You are my sisters in a common goal. My Friends who know what it means. My companions in helping others.

So, to any of you who want to help raise the money that will go directly to the women, please go shopping. No one is taking out any reimbursement, charging for shipping, or any other monitory gain. This effort benefits 100% the women in Haiti. Please join me in helping. You won't believe the spirit you will feel as you do it. Whether you make, create, or buy.... you will be glad you did.

Let's all "pay it forward".

Teaching myself "no biggie"

An old package of needles I purchased at a recent yard sale.

The paper is all yellowed to a brown color.

I love it.

I love to thread the new sharp needles and sew.

Creativity strikes again

I love the feel of "a needle pulling thread".

I love "brown paper packages tied up in string"

I love just the "doing" and "creating" and let it fall where it may.

I have a new love of fabric. I love the textures, the colors, the touch.

Fabric can fray, or stretch or be firm, or surprise me.

It can be layered, or trimmed, or hemmed, or be unfinished, or finished.

Fabric can be "bound" much easier than paper.

It doesn't need crisp folds or precise measuring.

No sticky glue, just lots of threads....

Putting fabric through a printer is easy, as well.

Photos, sayings, quotes, ..... it is endless.

Ribbons, buttons, lace, canvas, twill, floss, anything works....

Silk flowers, brads, beads, yarn,....

And treasured photos.. . . . This is me, age 23, Nikki, about 1 1/2 years old,

And my grandma Walters, and my great grandma Johnson.

Embroidery floss has a gazillion uses...

it is almost as good as duct tape...

Old tea towels (yes, I got it from a Thrift Store) are a great fabric

source for a foundation to "play on".

So, I pile and pile and the many pages I have made, and then one day I will sew them all together. And then what will I do??? Make more.... sell them on Etsy....?

Hummm, that's a thought.

Visiting Mom and Dad in St. George

It was a weekend with nothing planned, and the next 6 weekends are booked already. So we decided to make a quick trip to St. George and see my folks. Varce's brother, Errol and his wife Myrna live there as well, so we took advantage of our time and headed north. And no rain in the forcast was going to interfere with our plans.

Things to do:

#1 Garage Sales

#2 Go to Thai Pan

#3 Eat

#4 Visit Errol and Myrna

And not necessarily in that order.

Here are a few things I got at the garage sales:

A hand crocheted lace collar. I was going to use it for my books, but I can't bring my self to cut it up into smaller pieces....

Found this really nice table, and had to take the legs off it to get it into the truck. Mom and all her friends wanted it, but it is pretty big, and no else had room for it. So I was glad to get it home and put it in my living room. It was a great buy!





This green bowl weighs a lot! It is old! And it was covered with dirt, and had been rained on, but I could see the beauty underneath. It is simply lovely. I don't know where I am going to put it, but sure do like it!


My loving dad.

Mom and Dad were so fun to be with.

It rained hard while we were in Utah, but it didn't dampen our fun.

Salads at Artic Circle, driving around and seeing the red rocks........memories!

My beautiful mother!

My parents are such good examples to me in so many ways. They teach by example. They have taught me to "be thrifty" and I am. I find joy in second hand items, whether it is clothes from my friends or yard sales, or used furniture that just needs a new home, or books from the DI or a Thrift Store. I find as much joy in "the hunt" as I do in "the find".
I could go and buy what I want or need at a regular store, but I find going to yard sales and finding things I didn't know I wanted or needed is so much more fun!


Sunday we headed for home. We left St. George under cloudy skies and light rain.
Just south of Kingman we got into some heavier rain, and saw this rainbow.
It started out as a little color right down on the ground, and it grew and grew, and a second rainbow joined it. A point and shoot camera doesn't do it justice, but I think you get the idea.



The following are a few of the things I didn't buy at garage sales: for which my sweet husband it grateful!

Horns with the skull attached, old trunk....

a bucket full of dirty rusty flatware

and a dog kennel that was full of chickens.....

Who sells chickens in dog kennels?????? at yard sells??? in the rain??

It is a BOY

After what has seemed to be an eternity we now know we are having a baby boy grandson joining our family. I have kept my crochet hook going since finding out the new addition was coming to our family. I knew it was a boy.... the photos is the first recieving blanket and 2 burp clothes I did, and I have done more since then.....

Tyia is still trying to grasp the idea of a baby boy, she was convinced it was a girl....

The night it rained

The only people I know who likes rain as much as me, are my kids. When a storm comes to Arizona we call each other.... what is it doing in Surprise? Can you hear thunder? Are you outside?

Even when I worked at Arrowhead Lakes Dentistry I would go outside and "frolic" in the rain. Dr. Shelley thought I was crazy. He was so good to just stop working for a few minutes just to let me go out back and go out side, or smell the air, or just listen to it pound on the roof. He has a down spout from the roof in his office, and it is really noisey when it rains. The down spout dumps all the rain behind the office.

This storm was the best we have had in Arizona for years. I loved it. Yes, I went outside. Yes, I got my hair wet. Yes, our pool got really full! Yes, by morning it had all soaked into the ground, and yes, it was still cloudy, and yes, it rained some more the next day, but not as hard or as much.

And yes, our grass, a week later is really green...as Varce had fertilized the grass the day before it rained.... good timing!